Datasets:

---

ChuGyouk

/

StackExchange-Medical

like 1

[ { "answer_id": 2701, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I don't think the length of program should be a direct factor when deciding on a masters program. I think you need to think about what each program gives your for your investment (time and possibly money).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2705, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>One-year master's programs in computer science are usually terminal course-based degrees. They are essentially useless for a future research career, because they do not include time to do research. (PhD admissions committees care about your research potential much more than your grades.) Put brutally, professional MS programs exist for the sole purpose of trading tuition for the promise of a higher salary. The advantage of these programs is that successful graduates (at least from my department) actually <em>do</em> get higher salaries, and the program only takes one year. Also, if you work for a particularly enlightened employer, they may be willing to (help) pay your tuition.</p>\n\n<p>Two-year master's programs in computer science are more research-based. In addition to classes, most research master's students write a thesis describing original research; that's why it takes two years instead of just one. That's also one of the advantages of the program; you have more time to learn outside the formal classroom environment. You <em>may</em> also be able to secure funding through research or teaching assistantships; these are almost unheard of for professional master's students. The disadvantage is that if you're <em>not</em> interested in research, the program takes two years instead of one. On the other hand, a research masters seems to have the same effect on salary as a professional masters, in part because it's impossible to tell from a resume what type of MS you have.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2696", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2721, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Yes</strong>, it's worth paying for an advertisement if you end up hiring a stronger candidate. I tend to be fairly frugal, but I think of your situation in terms of <em>one-time cost</em> vs. <em>recurring cost</em>. When you pay for the ad, <strong>you pay just once</strong>. When you hire a weaker candidate, <strong>you pay every day</strong> in terms of lower productivity and lower quality results.</p>\n\n<p>In the U.S., a typical annual salary for a postdoc in math might be in the range of $40,000-45,000 (33,000-36,500 €); in CS, it would likely be higher. Even the IEEE price (the highest of those you list) is roughly 1% of that. So, if you're fairly confident you'll get a better candidate by paying for a few ads, IMHO, <strong>you'd be foolish not to do so.</strong></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2723, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The research center I am affiliated with had a difficult time filling a couple of the senior level posts. Basically, they were looking for people with associate professor type qualifications who were willing to work on a 3 year project with limited research freedom, but generous funding. We resorted to using a head hunter, which was a couple of order of magnitude more expensive, but well worth it. The head hunter found candidates that we couldn't.</p>\n\n<p>For studentships and postdocs, I am not sure the people you are looking for are browsing the pay sites. The amount of money is small enough that it is probably worth it, especially if you can get a couple of posts into one advertisement. I would suggest building up your groups network. Talk to your colleagues at other universities. I think in general there isn't a shortage of good phd students and post docs, it is just getting an inside scoop on who they are.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2699", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/379/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2718, "author": "walkmanyi", "author_id": 1265, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>The best way to start a collaboration is to engage in a face-to-face brainstorming/working session so that you 1) formulate a problem of a mutual interest, 2) jointly sketch a scaffolding of a joint paper, and 3) come up with a plan to proceed, or at least agree on how to arrive to such a plan. Before the meeting consider the topic semi-open (unless you are dead-sure you know what you want to work on with the person), you never know what new/interesting/unexpected will come out of your discussions.</p>\n\n<p>Now to get to a meeting/a few days stay, you need to arrange for a visit at the (future) collaborator's place and it seems that what you are asking is about a particular way to do that. From my personal experience, there is no <em>right</em>, nor a <em>wrong</em> way to do it. I understand these things in terms of <em>signalling</em>. That is, the form is <strong>less</strong> important that the signal you are sending. In my opinion/experience it does not matter whether you write a short notice like</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Hello Joe, we met there and there and I got intrigued by the topic we discussed. Would it be possible for me to visit your lab/group and expand on those ideas? Fred.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>or expand in a two-page argument about why it is beneficial for both of you to meet. In both cases the signal is the same: <strong>would you be willing to speak to me?</strong> and that is the only thing which matters.</p>\n\n<p>And you should read the reply in exactly the same manner. Whatever is written there, the only thing which matters is whether the answer is <strong>yes, let's see what comes out</strong>, or <strong>no, blah, blah</strong>. All the rest can be discussed during the meeting, given the reply is positive. If it's negative, most probably the collaboration wouldn't work out anyway. Being open-minded is a state of mind, a personality trait.</p>\n\n<p>Now to your concern about the collaborator's higher rank/position at a prominent university: I do not know about the culture and social interactions in communities concerned with humanities, but my general observation is that the <em>better</em> a scientist (whatever <em>better</em> means), the more humble and modest the person is with respect to the corporate structure and seniority ladder. That is, the majority of really good/respectable researchers in my experience do not care for your rank, they care for what you say. </p>\n\n<p>The point I wanted to convey above is the following:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>if the person you want to collaborate with is open minded and thus a potentially a good collaborator, it does not really matter how you approach him/her, <strong>just do it</strong>. In the case you have something important/significant/novel to say, he/she will engage you and the collaboration will start. Just remember, it's you who approached the other party, hence you want something from her/him, therefore it is important that you understand that you will be the driver of the collaboration, at least at the beginning - the ball is initially on your side - unless you touch a topic the other party is working on and has some solutions for anyway.</p>\n</blockquote>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2725, "author": "Adam Crymble", "author_id": 1401, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1401", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There's no sense beating around the bush. Just ask. If they are interested they will show a sign. If not, then at least you havn't wasted weeks writing up documents that may never get used. It's flattering to have someone approach you out of the blue.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2707", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1392/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2711, "author": "Ran G.", "author_id": 324, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/324", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Yes you can, and this is exactly what CPT is for. (assuming you get paid for the internship. If you are not being paid - I'm not sure what the rules are, but it might be easier than CPT)</p>\n\n<p>You can do it for up to 12 month (not necessarily consecutive) during your degree. Check again with your international Office for the exact rules (you might still need to be enrolled to 12 units if not summer quarter/semester).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2720, "author": "Aru Ray", "author_id": 948, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I was an international undergraduate in the US and I participated in summer research programs twice during those 4 years. This is slightly different from what the OP is asking, since I was working at a different university as opposed to a company. The way it worked for me was the following: I needed a faculty member at my home institution to be my 'sponsor', and I had to register for a 2 credit course over the relevant summer. Having finished my summer research, I was required to give a presentation (to some sort of relevant audience, for example, once to an 'Introduction to Research' class) and submit a journal/report. I believe my supervisor from the institution where I did my summer work was asked for a short report on my activities. That was all. </p>\n\n<p>The biggest hurdle for me was to find summer programs which are willing to accept international students, or at least to fund us (in mathematics, for example, REUs are typically funded by the NSF, which prevents them from accepting international students). In Math I was only able to find 2-3 programs which would do so. There were many more in biology/biochemistry. I have a list around here somewhere if anyone is seeking such information. On the other hand, this might be different if one is looking at industry. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 65748, "author": "avinash v p", "author_id": 51271, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/51271", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>F-1 visa and his corresponding OPT and CPT are some or what the same for bachelors , Masters and PHD. , you can do internships whenever you want if you are a international student provided the following status.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>you want to do 40 hour intern in summer - you can apply for CPT.</p></li>\n<li><p>you want to do 20 hr. intern in fall or spring - you can apply for CPT.</p></li>\n<li><p>you want to do 40 hr. intern in fall or spring - you can apply for pre OPT but please note that this is you OPT period.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>But all these would work if your university or college agrees on your intern , in my case , I had intern in spring in north and my univ was in South my department denied my CPT since it was far away from my univ stating that it would effect my academic performance.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2708", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2710, "author": "davidlowryduda", "author_id": 127, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/127", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Too long to be a comment, and originally written for Math.SE - </p>\n\n<p>Firstly, if you're set on a math PhD, then you will probably never apply for a Master's program. Most math PhDs apply straight to PhD, and these are generally funded (this is all under the assumption that you stay in the US). </p>\n\n<p>The typical accepted candidate to a good math PhD program has a good background in the following: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>GPA</li>\n<li>Research</li>\n<li>Math knowledge</li>\n<li>GRE/Math GRE</li>\n<li>Recommendations</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>One doesn't need to be perfect at everything, and everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. The exception to this rule is that you must have great recs - there is a certain recommendation inflation right now, and it seems to me that recommendations are judged just as harshly by what is not said. I say this only because without grad courses/research/high gpa, it might be challenging for one of your professors to speak highly on your behalf. Or maybe not - it's case by case, right?</p>\n\n<p>I cannot speak as to how strong your exact application would be, as I don't know the specifics. Your best feedback would probably come from a mentor or advisor from your department, or one of the professors whom you would ask for a recommendation.</p>\n\n<p>Without knowing specifics, I might also ask: what is the rush for? (rhetorically)</p>\n\n<p>As a final note, I should mention that it might be possible, depending on your school's policy, to apply for grad programs and decide to actually graduate only if you get accepted/have positive feedback. But this is not ideal, as it's sort of a punt. Were you to not get accepted, you wouldn't have set up summer plans and your last year would be somewhat hodge-podge. Yet these are the exact things that would improve your application for the next year.</p>\n\n<p>Food for thought.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2712, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Your answer will depend partly on what you want to do in academia. If you want to teach, but don't really want to emphasize research much, you might do fine to graduate now. However, if <strong>your goal is to become a professor at a research intensive school, then you really should go to the strongest grad school you can get into.</strong> (Based on your description, I strongly suspect that if you bust your butt for another year or two, in particular working to earn one or two strong letters of rec, you could get into a better grad school than you can currently.) </p>\n\n<p>Yes, I know there are considerations about who you will work with, perhaps geography, potential two-body problems, etc. So, why's it so important to go to the best school you can? Again and again I see that in academia (as everywhere) networking is crucial. Generalizing and stereotyping a bit: <em>the best schools have the best researchers, who know the other best researchers, who have the biggest grants, which fund the nicest postdocs, etc.</em> <strong>If you want to thrive as a researcher, you will do well to get into that network.</strong> (To a large extent, it's a rich get richer system.) As an undergrad or early grad student, one way you can get into that network is to work with a professor who is a central part of it, and is willing to weave you in. And your chances of working with said professor typically go up with the reputation of the school.</p>\n\n<p>Now a personal digression. Through high school and undergrad I was in a hurry to get to the next level as soon as possible. I skipped 7th grade, finished undergrad in 3 years, and started grad school at the age of 20. I even turned down a year abroad in the Budapest Semester in Math, because I was worried I'd miss out if I waited too long to get to grad school. The sad truth is that I wasn't ready. Maybe <em>you</em> would be; I've never met you, so I can't say.</p>\n\n<p>Eventually (after 8 years), I finished a PhD, and am fairly happy with where my career is headed. However, I don't regret that time in grad school at all. I learned a lot of useful stuff. In fact, I think it's <em>because</em> I took my time in grad school that my career has gone as well as it has. One interesting feature of academia is that you're typically judged by your productivity relative to the time since you earned your PhD (rather than your age). As a result, I encourage you to take your time and learn as much as you can. You'll never again have as much free time as you do now.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2722, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I want to add a couple of remarks to Dan C's excellent answer.</p>\n\n<p><strong>No, you should not graduate early, unless your finances force it.</strong> Except for cost, there is <em>no</em> advantage to finishing early. Admissions committees will compare you to other undergraduate applicants, not other applicants your age; age discrimination is illegal. They will not care about your grades, as long as they're good; everyone applying to those departments has fantastic grades. I suspect almost all applicants to top math departments skipped their low-level math classes. I assume you'll ace the math GRE, but then so will everyone else.</p>\n\n<p>What sets the successful applicants to top PhD programs apart is <strong>strong evidence of research potential</strong>. To gain admission to the top departments you <em>must</em> have strong letters <em>from faculty</em> that directly praise your potential for mathematical research in specific, personal, and credible detail. The only way to get those letters is to work directly with faculty <em>outside</em> the classroom. Fortunately, because you skipped your freshman classes, you have room in your schedule to do that.</p>\n\n<p>You mention \"out of state\", so I'm guessing you're at a big state school (like mine); your classes so far probably had hundreds of students, and many were taught by graduate students or adjuncts. You have to break out of that; you <em>must</em> get to know some faculty. And because you're at a big state school, this is going to require considerable initiative on your part.</p>\n\n<p>Taking graduate classes is a good way to meet faculty, but it's just a start. <strong>Do not just sit quietly in class and get an A.</strong> Meet with your instructor early in the semester, explain you ambition for academia, and ask about opportunities for research and/or independent study. Be prepared to explain what kind of mathematics you're best at, and what kind of math inspires you. The first prof you talk to is not likely to be a good match for your specific interests; ask them for suggestions of other faculty to talk to. Repeat ad infinitum.</p>\n\n<p>There are many other reasons not to graduate early, which are less professional, but no less important. Give yourself some time to grow up.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2990, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>To complement other answers: the \"research\" issue is volatile. Ill-informed, childish \"research\" is not a plus in applications to elite grad programs. I think it might be more apt to be able to give evidence of _getting_in_sync_with_ some contemporary <em>serious</em> research, even if one isn't yet able to make one's own contribution. Better to be an apprentice at something serious, than journeyman at something of dubious interest to professionals.</p>\n\n<p>And, the same thing said in a different context: coursework per se is nice, but is (almost entirely) miles away from live mathematics. Thus, the point is not to \"bluff\" \"research\", but to get beyond the sterile, formal classroom/textbook mathematics. Live discussions with faculty and presence in seminars are substantive steps in the right direction, without the too-facile pretense that one is doing a big research project in 10 weeks in the summer, based on scant prior information. :)</p>\n\n<p>Being able to have people speak on your behalf, that you have ably moved beyond \"school math\", and that that's what you are interest in, and have talent for (never mind classrooms) is what will get you into an elite program. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2709", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1393/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2715, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The principal reason for writing any letter of recommendation is to benefit the person for whom you are writing it. If a student is talented, helping him or her get into a good program is its own incentive. I can't imagine writing a letter with the motive of showing off my perceptiveness.</p>\n\n<p>An additional motive is that others wrote letters for the writer once, and he/she can show gratitude by paying it forward. From David Keyes' excellent essay on <a href=\"http://www.siam.org/news/news.php?id=1777\">procuring reference letters</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Everyone in a position to write a career-changing letter of reference\n is there by the grace of earlier generations of mentors at school or\n work who poured their lives into today's writer and then wrote about\n the results in now dusty letters. The only gifts today's authors\n expect from today's candidates are those \"in kind\" or better to be\n delivered to tomorrow's candidates, in one-way cross-generational\n equity. Writers have their own rewards in the success of their\n protégés, and though they will moan to each other about the burden,\n they recognize that reference letters are key components of an\n imperfect system that nevertheless is on the whole effective in\n keeping their discipline healthy and growing.</p>\n</blockquote>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2716, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I guess the best incentive you can give a professor to write you a good letter is to 1) develop a relationship with the professor so that he or she knows something more about you than the grade you earned in their class, and 2) impress them in some way so that he or she has something good to say about you. </p>\n\n<p>I agree with David Ketcheson. My sole purpose for writing letters of recommendation is to help the student. Letters of recommendation are read by committees that read hundreds of them every year, and I want the committee to have a strong impression of the student after they read my letter, not of me.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, my students don't automatically get the \"best\" or \"strongest\" recommendation I can write. They get the recommendation they earn. For example, I cannot justify describing a C student as having strong academic potential. I can't write favorably about an undergraduate who signed up for a research project and then never showed up. And, I usually cannot say all that much about students I don't know very well. No matter what, I will take what I know about the student's strengths and weaknesses and try to paint the best picture possible; it just might not be glowing.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2724, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As others have said, the main incentive is to help the students.</p>\n\n<p>But recommendation letters are also a service to the departments who read them. <em>Your colleagues</em> will read your letters to help them make admissions or hiring decisions.</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, over time, faculty build up reputations for the kinds of letters they write. Faculty that are known to write overly effusive letters (as an extreme example: \"best student in five years!\" every year) are not taken seriously. On the other hand, a strong letter from someone who is known to write measured but accurate letters has a big impact. So writing perceptive letters is not useful only to the present student, but to future students as well.</p>\n\n<p>The reputation effect becomes more significant (but more entangled with <em>research</em> reputation) as you climb the academic food chain. For graduate admissions, it's fairly subtle. For faculty hiring, it's much more noticeable, because hiring letters tend to come from a smaller pool. For tenure and promotion, where the pool of writers is even smaller, the reputation effect is quite significant.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2739, "author": "Ellen Spertus", "author_id": 269, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/269", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In addition to the excellent points others made, it reflects well on a faculty member and a department for their students to be successful. While I primarily write letters for the benefit of the students, it's great to be able to say when recruiting other students, or when talking to the Provost, that our graduates are getting great jobs.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 55271, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In addition to the other reasons that have been discussed by other answers, many of which are true, there is one more fairly distinct reason: They may some day need a letter in return.</p>\n\n<p>For example, there are often nomination letters for awards, or promotions from students. I've been in the position to write at least three letters for someone who wrote me a letter of recommendation in the past, and while I'd like to think it didn't bias my letter, it certainly made it easier to justify the time and effort that went into crafting it.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2714", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/77/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2732, "author": "Nate Eldredge", "author_id": 1010, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The Committee on Publication Ethics has published <a href=\"http://publicationethics.org/category/keywords/disputed-authorship\">reports</a> on a number of cases of this sort.</p>\n\n<p>I do not know very much about this, but it appears that the COPE is an independent organization who investigate and provide advice on ethical questions involving scholarly publication, upon request; they do not have an enforcement role. As one might expect, the cases they discuss vary widely in circumstances and in outcomes (and in many cases the outcomes were never reported back to COPE). They generally begin with the objecting author contacting the journal's editor, and in some cases the defending author's institutional authorities become involved. As to outcomes, when the complaint was determined to be justified, a common response was to publish a note in the journal correcting the authorship; in some other cases the article was retroactively withdrawn.</p>\n\n<p>I am <strong>not</strong> offering this as advice on how to proceed; I don't have enough experience to offer any useful advice at all. I just thought it might be helpful as context.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2741, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The first thing to do is to realize that you are on dangerous ground and that nothing good is going to come out of this situation. Having your colleagues (including your PI) think that you are accusing your PI of academic dishonesty is a major black mark against you, even if your PI has done something wrong.</p>\n\n<p>While it is important to vent, you need to do this very carefully. You cannot vent to any of your work colleagues or anyone who knows your PI. Even a post in a public forum like this is dangerous. Yelling in your closet at home is probably best. Even better would be in a closet in a hotel in a foreign country. I am not kidding, no one can know about this until you can deal with it calmly. </p>\n\n<p>Once you can calmly deal with the issue calmly, schedule a meeting with your PI to ask what you could have done to get authorship on the review. Do not accuse your PI of stealing your work, or even hint that you deserved authorship. Hopefully this discussion goes well.</p>\n\n<p>If the discussion doesn't go well, or even if it does, after a little bit, schedule a different meeting to discuss authorship on all the work you are currently undertaking. This is something that doesn't get done enough, and can cause major problems like this. </p>\n\n<p>At that point you will hopefully have a clear understanding of your PI's policies on authorship. Now you need to decide if they are unfair, or were not applied in the case of this review. If the PI's policies are unfair (or not applied fairly), you need to find a new advisor ASAP. Once you have secured another position, but not before, think about leveeing accusations of academic dishonesty.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 12474, "author": "Emma", "author_id": 8498, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8498", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Go to the graduate college with proof and talk to dean. It's unethical and the PI should at a minimum be reprimanded publicly. I don't think it matters what others think as long as you are honest and can prove your points. The exception is that you are happy in your position.. Of course talk to the PI first if you haven't already and find out why. There is nothing dangerous about this and its cut and dry. Stop fearing these A-Holes and cut them of at the knees - they aren't as immune to the system as they want you to believe and I am sick of the fear factor. The person that should be worried is the PI if they are behaving bad, just saying!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 150405, "author": "Francesco", "author_id": 123101, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/123101", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I know a PhD candidate in Norway that had the same issue with one co-author (the supervisor). Right after the paper was submitted without consent, the candidate sent an email to the journal editors and they rejected the paper based on evidence and for the sake of doubt. They asked the supervisor to re-submit the paper with signed declarations by all the authors and contribution declarations. At the end, the supervisor recognized that the paper was submitted without consent and the paper re-submitted with a new approved version.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2730", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2732, "author": "Nate Eldredge", "author_id": 1010, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The Committee on Publication Ethics has published <a href=\"http://publicationethics.org/category/keywords/disputed-authorship\">reports</a> on a number of cases of this sort.</p>\n\n<p>I do not know very much about this, but it appears that the COPE is an independent organization who investigate and provide advice on ethical questions involving scholarly publication, upon request; they do not have an enforcement role. As one might expect, the cases they discuss vary widely in circumstances and in outcomes (and in many cases the outcomes were never reported back to COPE). They generally begin with the objecting author contacting the journal's editor, and in some cases the defending author's institutional authorities become involved. As to outcomes, when the complaint was determined to be justified, a common response was to publish a note in the journal correcting the authorship; in some other cases the article was retroactively withdrawn.</p>\n\n<p>I am <strong>not</strong> offering this as advice on how to proceed; I don't have enough experience to offer any useful advice at all. I just thought it might be helpful as context.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2741, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The first thing to do is to realize that you are on dangerous ground and that nothing good is going to come out of this situation. Having your colleagues (including your PI) think that you are accusing your PI of academic dishonesty is a major black mark against you, even if your PI has done something wrong.</p>\n\n<p>While it is important to vent, you need to do this very carefully. You cannot vent to any of your work colleagues or anyone who knows your PI. Even a post in a public forum like this is dangerous. Yelling in your closet at home is probably best. Even better would be in a closet in a hotel in a foreign country. I am not kidding, no one can know about this until you can deal with it calmly. </p>\n\n<p>Once you can calmly deal with the issue calmly, schedule a meeting with your PI to ask what you could have done to get authorship on the review. Do not accuse your PI of stealing your work, or even hint that you deserved authorship. Hopefully this discussion goes well.</p>\n\n<p>If the discussion doesn't go well, or even if it does, after a little bit, schedule a different meeting to discuss authorship on all the work you are currently undertaking. This is something that doesn't get done enough, and can cause major problems like this. </p>\n\n<p>At that point you will hopefully have a clear understanding of your PI's policies on authorship. Now you need to decide if they are unfair, or were not applied in the case of this review. If the PI's policies are unfair (or not applied fairly), you need to find a new advisor ASAP. Once you have secured another position, but not before, think about leveeing accusations of academic dishonesty.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 12474, "author": "Emma", "author_id": 8498, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8498", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Go to the graduate college with proof and talk to dean. It's unethical and the PI should at a minimum be reprimanded publicly. I don't think it matters what others think as long as you are honest and can prove your points. The exception is that you are happy in your position.. Of course talk to the PI first if you haven't already and find out why. There is nothing dangerous about this and its cut and dry. Stop fearing these A-Holes and cut them of at the knees - they aren't as immune to the system as they want you to believe and I am sick of the fear factor. The person that should be worried is the PI if they are behaving bad, just saying!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 150405, "author": "Francesco", "author_id": 123101, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/123101", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I know a PhD candidate in Norway that had the same issue with one co-author (the supervisor). Right after the paper was submitted without consent, the candidate sent an email to the journal editors and they rejected the paper based on evidence and for the sake of doubt. They asked the supervisor to re-submit the paper with signed declarations by all the authors and contribution declarations. At the end, the supervisor recognized that the paper was submitted without consent and the paper re-submitted with a new approved version.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2734", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/344/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2746, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>From what I can see, some key issues to think about are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Social media integration and analytics. These sites will help you advertise your presentation and gather data on who views it.</p></li>\n<li><p>Downloading. You can make it inconvenient or impossible to download the slides. That's an advantage if you want to control the presentation and keep anyone from archiving a copy or extracting figures (you can't stop someone determined and knowledgeable, but you can stop casual users).</p></li>\n<li><p>Accessibility on devices. My smartphone cannot view Present.me presentations at all, and it has a little trouble with SpeakerDeck and Slideshare presentations. (I can view them, but they are awfully small and I cannot zoom in.) I don't usually view slides on my phone, but I do every so often.</p></li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2747, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I agree with Anonymous Mathematician, but I want to add an additional key issue:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Rendering Compatibility: Can whichever method you choose properly render all of your content? I have had trouble converting PowerPoint files containing chemical structures drawn in ChemDraw (which are vector graphic objects). Creating PDFs seems to be hit or miss depending on the method I use. Notably, Office is better at it than Adobe software. Slideshare will not render these objects at all. I do not have experience with Present.me or SpeakerDeck.</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2765, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I typically <strong>post my slides on my website as pdfs</strong>. On the <strong>title page of my slides</strong>, I have started adding a line that says something like <strong>\"slides available on my preprint page\"</strong>, and sometimes I'll mention this at the start of my talk. On my website, I have a page for all my slides and I also link to the relevant slides on my preprints page. Personally, I prefer when speakers make their slides available as pdfs, because I like being able to download them and file them away, rather than needing to bookmark a website. Similar to my preprints, I'm <em>excited</em> to have folks download my slides (so I don't see any reason to control their distribution).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2770, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I found <a href=\"http://www.scribd.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">scribd</a> to be useful in sharing files/papers. You can also know who accessed and downloaded your paper or at least you would know how many times it was downloaded.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2807, "author": "Wiliam", "author_id": 481, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/481", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you want to keep track of the people viewing our work, <a href=\"http://figshare.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Figshare</a> might be worth a try. </p>\n\n<p>I do not think they provide the nicest viewer for presentation, but they keep track of the people viewing and sharing your work. They also enable your work to be citable but providing a permanent link to it. The only drawback is that once you publicly publish something, they do not allow you to remove it...</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2849, "author": "user454322", "author_id": 1353, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1353", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If your presentation is in LaTeX, you may want to try <a href=\"https://www.writelatex.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>writeLATEX</strong></a>. You can actually make your presentation in writeLATEX, and share it from there once it is ready.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><strong>Google Docs</strong> is another option that allows you to:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http://support.google.com/docs/bin/answer.py?hl=en&amp;answer=86101\" rel=\"nofollow\">Embed the presentation on your site with a nice interface</a>.</li>\n<li>Provide a public link to the presentation, where viewers will have the option to download as PDF, PowerPoint or Text.</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://support.google.com/drive/bin/answer.py?hl=en&amp;answer=2494886&amp;rd=1\" rel=\"nofollow\">Make lists of viewers (possible contributors) authorized to comment or edit</a>.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Additionally, <br />\nWhile making the presentation: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Work from school, home or anywhere with an internet connection, without the need of manually synchronize.</li>\n<li>Work collaboratively, collaborators can edit or comment.</li>\n<li>Revision history (who changed what) with the possibility to revert changes.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>During the presentation: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>See your notes using <em>speaker notes</em>.</li>\n<li>Present remotely using <em>Google+ Hangouts</em></li>\n</ol>\n" }, { "answer_id": 8151, "author": "Ali Khalili", "author_id": 6099, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6099", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I am one of the developers of SlideWiki and would suggest you to use that (<a href=\"http://slidewiki.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://slidewiki.org</a>)</p>\n\n<p>SlideWiki <em>features</em> include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>WYSIWYG slide authoring</li>\n<li>Logical slide and deck representation</li>\n<li>LaTeX/MathML integration</li>\n<li>Multilingual decks / semi-automatic translation in 50+ languages</li>\n<li>PowerPoint/HTML import</li>\n<li>Source code highlighting within slides</li>\n<li>Dynamic CSS themability and transitions</li>\n<li>Social networking activities</li>\n<li>Full revisioning and branching of slides and decks</li>\n<li>E-Learning with self-assessment questionnaires</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 15357, "author": "Reuben Tozman", "author_id": 10490, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10490", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>SlideJar is a great platform (<a href=\"http://www.slidejar.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.slidejar.com</a>) since it provides search and results at a slide level. It also has a way for you to provide real value to the folks who you want to share with as they can mash up individual slides into new presentations and save them for later reference. ANyone can set up their own slidejar site (see <a href=\"http://neillasher.slidejar.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://neillasher.slidejar.com</a> as a reference) and can actually earn revenue by people mashing up their slides and saving them.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 66799, "author": "Quizzical Creature", "author_id": 47906, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/47906", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you are specifically interested in getting your research out there and tracking who looks at your research, I suggest ResearchGate: <a href=\"https://www.researchgate.net\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.researchgate.net</a></p>\n\n<p>ResearchGate is generally for developing a research profile for yourself based on your publications and communication with other researchers. But recently I have noticed people uploading presentations to their profile which then get added to their publication record on the site. People can provide feedback on the presentations and the site provides some decent analytics on activity. It also provides a means for people to cite the work.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2744", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2756, "author": "Kaveh", "author_id": 163, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/163", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You may want to try Coursera. <a href=\"https://www.coursera.org/courses\">Their courses</a> are quite good and the instructors are some of the top computer scientists in their fields. </p>\n\n<p>They give you a certificate signed by the instructor if you finish the course well.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 10317, "author": "Amanda Call", "author_id": 7280, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7280", "pm_score": -1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You can use this <a href=\"http://www.distancelearning.com/degrees/computers-and-it/\" rel=\"nofollow\">tool</a> and refine your search, and also checkout this <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/10/the-top-online-colleges-u_n_1194479.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">article</a> from Huffington Post. </p>\n\n<p>~Hope this helps.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2748", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1412/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2750, "author": "Baz", "author_id": 1172, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1172", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If it's your honest opinion, then I would compliment the talk. However, I wouldn't do it just to be polite. There is no need for false kindness.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2751, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My personal preference is <strong>not to offer a compliment in this setting</strong>. It often strikes me as less sincere (off-handed or perfunctory). If I really want to compliment someone, I tend to catch up with them later and start with something like \"I really enjoyed your talk. If you have a minute to talk, I have a question for you about...\" On the other hand, I know that some people feel like asking questions (especially if they are critical of some aspect of the work) can feel hostile, and so they find the compliment as a good way to off-set that.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2767, "author": "Szymon Bęczkowski", "author_id": 1312, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1312", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think if you reason why you compliment the person, like \"I really enjoyed your talk <strong>because</strong> [state your specific reason here]\", it will always be warmly accepted. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2768, "author": "Nicholas", "author_id": 1424, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I agree with the other posters. </p>\n\n<p>Personally, I try to make my tone of voice, attitude and choice of words respectful when asking a question while the conference is in session (and of course otherwise). I try to indicate indirectly that I enjoyed the talk (if indeed I did), without offering a direct compliment.</p>\n\n<p>You note your favourite scientists being complimentary to speakers. I expect that these scientists are well-established, well-regarded and that they know that any praise from them would be a particular boost to, in particular, more junior scientists. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2769, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>When asking a question, it is desirable to explicitly establish a non-confrontational tone. <strong>It is natural and common (though of course not correct) to interpret even well-meaning questions in an antagonistic way.</strong> If the speaker feels threatened, they will be less able to focus on the content of the question and may instead become defensive. <strong>A question that is interpreted as non-confrontational is therefore likely to get a better answer.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Complimenting the speaker is one way to make your subsequent question non-confrontational, and is a good idea as long as you are sincere. Other ways include saying something nice about the topic itself (\"you're studying a very interesting question\"), smiling, and carefully controlling your tone of voice. These are especially important if your question amounts to a criticism of the presented material.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2771, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Somewhat like @Dan C suggested...</p>\n\n<p>If you really felt inspired and got something new from the talk you should offer verbal appreciation. If you very much liked the presentation and is relevant to your research, it would be a good idea to talk in person.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2773, "author": "Sylvain Peyronnet", "author_id": 43, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It is not desirable, but you can do it if you want. But do it shortly, because there is not a lot of time for questions after a talk.\nPersonally, I think that saving the compliment as a way to start a discussion later with the speaker is preferable. </p>\n\n<p>To tell the truth, I also think that, except for clarification requests, questions are better asked in a discussion with the speaker, after the session. This is the only way to have complete and clear answers.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2749", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1413/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2753, "author": "Tsuyoshi Ito", "author_id": 1416, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1416", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I understand your logic, but I do not think that many people treat papers on arXiv in that way. Papers on arXiv are public unlike the papers you reviewed or the work you just heard by personal communication. As such, extending the results in a paper on arXiv is a perfectly acceptable practice as long as the second paper cites the paper on arXiv properly.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2754, "author": "Jérémie", "author_id": 23563, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23563", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I feel like publishing something on arXiv is an act of \"publishing\" nonetheless.</p>\n\n<p>It has the advantages of publishing. These include: getting your work out there (with more visibility than if simply posting it on your webpage , which requires people be looking for your articles), getting people interested in it, and perhaps even getting citations before the paper has gone through the long and grueling process of being validated by a journal. It also had the advantage of showing that this is your result, thus preventing anybody from \"preempting\" you.</p>\n\n<p>But then it also has the \"disadvantage\" that someone may run with your idea, and extend it, possibly even obtaining a result that is more significant than your own.</p>\n\n<p>This does not mean publishing things on arXiv should be seen as a risk. It means that publishing on arXiv, like anywhere else, should be a well-thought decision. Note that with all the turmoil surrounding official journals, and common practices, it seems we are slowly evolving towards archives such as arXiv getting increasing legitimacy.</p>\n\n<p>So to answer your question: an article on arXiv is not \"unpublished\" at all (unlike papers you get to read as a referee, or which a colleague has shared with you in confidence---those are other issues altogether), so yes, there is generally nothing wrong with extending results.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2755, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As the other replies say, putting your paper on a public archive is a way of making it public, and so other researchers may build on the results.</p>\n\n<p>One thing to do when you want to make your work public, but you're also working on extensions that will take more time to establish, is to explicitly write in the paper you publish that you have an ongoing work on those extensions.\nThis at least lets people know what the situation is. You can't control what people are going to do with this information, but I think that reasonable people would not immediately start working on the same extensions, and, if at some point they do want to work on these extensions, they are likely to contact you to check what's going on. </p>\n\n<p>Of course, this \"ongoing work\" statement should be used only when it's appropriate and there's really an ongoing work that is likely to be completed within a reasonable amount of time.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2762, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>There is however one more important distinction between arXiv and journals/conferences. Whatever is published in journals/conferences is final and can no more be revised. It is as if the author has said all that he has to say on the topic and it is now fair game for others to say what they want.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Whether this is a meaningful distinction depends on the circumstances: it's common to write a series of papers on a given topic, in which case no single paper contains all the author has to say on the topic.</p>\n\n<p>The other answers have clearly explained how the communities that use the arXiv view this matter. However, I'd go a step further: a system where people could stake out credit for unpublished work while preventing other people from building on it would be bad for science. Currently, this is the trade-off researchers face. You can keep your ideas private for as long as you want, to give you time to exploit them fully. However, you run the risk that someone else may independently discover them. In that case, the best you can hope for is to share the credit if you promptly make your work public (and make a convincing case that it was independent). On the other hand, if you circulate a paper publicly, then you no longer need to worry about credit, but anyone can use your ideas. This is very reasonable: credit is not awarded for being smart or accomplished, but rather for contributing to the community, and that contribution is the ideas. Being able to use and build on these ideas is why they are so valuable, and this is the justification for awarding credit.</p>\n\n<p>The alternative to this trade-off would be to allow researchers to claim credit while temporarily reserving the exclusive right to do follow-up work. In that case, the optimal strategy would be clear: make a public announcement as soon as you cross the neecessary threshold, but then delay finalizing the work for as long as possible. This would be very disruptive for the research community.</p>\n\n<p>In practice, things are slightly less black and white than I've described them above. It can be considered rude to compete too strenuously without a very good reason. If you come up with a minor idea building on someone else's work in progress, it's common to donate it to them rather than competing, and a major idea may lead to a collaboration. However, this is a matter of politeness rather than ethics.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2763, "author": "Nate Eldredge", "author_id": 1010, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In mathematics, it is very common to build on papers that are on arXiv. Indeed, this is more or less the whole point of arXiv: to disseminate work faster than the journal publication cycle, so that the community can immediately begin to make use of it, which includes extending it. If you wait until the paper is published, you will be well behind the curve.</p>\n\n<p>I don't think your reservations about building on \"unpublished\" work are applicable here. At least in mathematics, preprints are generally posted on arXiv at the same time as they are <em>submitted</em> for publication; they are thus already in the \"final\" form intended by the authors. Of course it may be that further revisions take place before publication (perhaps as a result of the peer review process), but the arXiv version is usually perfectly suitable as a foundation for future work.</p>\n\n<p>However, a few extra caveats are in order:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Since a paper from arXiv has not passed peer review yet, you should probably be even more diligent than usual about checking its results before using them. If you find errors or unclear points, it would behoove you to alert the authors, since they may be able to be corrected before publication. </p></li>\n<li><p>Conversely, you should also keep an eye out for updates to the preprint which may contain important corrections.</p></li>\n<li><p>You may certainly cite the arXiv preprint in your own paper. However, you should check for a published version before final acceptance of your own (and again when correcting the proofs), and update the citation if necessary.</p></li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2764, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I upvoted all the earlier answers... and want to reiterate certain points. First, arXiv (and stable personally-maintained web-sites, e.g., at universities) should count as \"publication\" in the sense of making the information <em>available</em>, which is the ideal point of research.</p>\n\n<p>Yes, there is some conflict with \"the other\" point, namely, staking a claim, getting credit, getting a job, getting tenure. But, as others have pointed out, it would have a bad effect if one could \"stake a claim\" without divulging details, thereby stifling others' work (if they needed to hope to get some \"credit\" also). </p>\n\n<p>(There has always been an analogous hazard for beginners, all the worse pre-internet, that senior people can be \"rumored\" to be \"working on something\", circulated in mimeo to friends, etc. Mercifully, this is now diminished, I think, exactly because there's no excuse for limiting circulation.)</p>\n\n<p>As Anon Math and others said, of <em>course</em> it is more civil to offer collaboration rather than to compete directly, etc., and this is vastly more consistent with our ideal of advancing knowledge (rather than mere <em>self</em>-advancement, as necessary as some of the latter may be). </p>\n\n<p>In summary, then, yes, a relative novice risks having their ideas taken up by more experienced people. Yes, in particular, some people are able to rationalize that non-refereed papers need not be cited at all! This is, of course, barbaric. :)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2766, "author": "Federico Poloni", "author_id": 958, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There is a risk in releasing your results early (since others may build on your work before you do it), but there is also a risk in <em>not</em> doing it (since an article doing the exact same thing may appear before you make your preprint public).</p>\n\n<p>There are also other advantages in publishing early (and, more in general, making your work known in conferences before it is fully peer-reviewed):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>instead of \"stealing your ideas\", people may contact you and propose a collaboration.</li>\n<li>if people know your work, they can cite you.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>That is why I suggest releasing early, at least in my field (numerical linear algebra --- which, I realize, is a quite friendly and relaxed field, so your mileage may vary).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 44768, "author": "Joel", "author_id": 30852, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30852", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A few points to add -</p>\n\n<p>Why publish things on arxiv? So that others know your results. This is only relevant if you can get others to start using your results. It'll increase your citation count and speed up progress. You run the risk of getting people who publish things you want to do in the future.</p>\n\n<p>What to do about the risk? You can explicitly state you plan on doing X. If I'm already doing X, that might light a fire and get me to quickly finish. Or I might try to collaborate with you. If I'm not already doing X, would it be wise for me to compete with you? I don't know how far along you are, but you're almost surely ahead of me - would I really put in the effort to try to catch up with such a high risk of being scooped? No.</p>\n\n<p>So if you tell people you plan to do an extension the real risk you run is that someone else who is already doing it might speed up their work, not that someone will come along and start up quickly.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2752", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1417/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2775, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>In short, tenure means that you cannot be fired (you have a very permanent position). For more details, look at this question:\n<a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/185/in-practice-how-secure-is-a-tenured-position-in-the-us\">In practice, how secure is a tenured position in the US?</a> In particular, look at the first link in the <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/186/15723\">first answer</a> to that question, which is an article in <em>Science</em> that talks about the role of tenure.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2777, "author": "Nicholas", "author_id": 1424, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>To have tenure is an acknowledgement from the host institution of the academic's record of published research, teaching and contribution to the administrative life of their department/institute/college. </p>\n\n<p>It is difficult, but not impossible, to fire a tenured academic from their host institution. See e.g. <a href=\"http://www.hr.msu.edu/documents/facacadhandbooks/facultyhandbook/dismissal.htm\">http://www.hr.msu.edu/documents/facacadhandbooks/facultyhandbook/dismissal.htm</a></p>\n\n<p>An academic with tenure is typically only dismissable on very serious grounds of misconduct. That it is so difficult to dismiss a tenured academic arises, historically, from the idea that university researchers should enjoy <strong>academic freedom</strong> - the ability to research unfavourable topics, persue and advance unpopular or controversial theories, to challenge the status quo without fear of reprisal in the form of dismissal.</p>\n\n<p>The tenure system is itself, somewhat controversial, see e.g. <a href=\"http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2012/07/how_to_save_tenurecut_it_way_b.html\">http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2012/07/how_to_save_tenurecut_it_way_b.html</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 5532, "author": "user244795", "author_id": 1352, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1352", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The implementation is a tenure contract, which specifies a starting salary, starting date, and often a maximum duration (e.g. 30 years). Other possible details include startup funds (e.g. US$1M over 10 years), lab space (dry/wet lab, exclusive use square footage), and access to shared facilities (big experimental equipment). Lab space and shared facilities aren't free, so the cost is often deducted from your startup funds.</p>\n\n<p>There may be requirements in the contract about the maximum number of days you can spend off-campus doing consulting work, the minimum amount of lab activity required to be considered active (papers per year, grants submitted/funded per year, students trained per year), minimum service work (hours spent on committees, hours spent writing policy documents), and minimum teaching commitment.</p>\n\n<p>If you fail to meet the minimums, your department may start to revoke some of your privileges. You may wish to read this other <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/185/in-practice-how-secure-is-a-tenured-position-in-the-us/5521#5521\">question about enforcement of the policies</a>.</p>\n\n<p>There's a wide variation between different universities and departments about what gets written in the contract and what is actually required due to departmental politics. The political part of the equation can be a lot more important than the text in the contract on a day-to-day basis. Consider what could happen if the department runs out of lab space or if you have trouble getting new grant funding for a couple years.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2774", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/675/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2780, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In mathematics, traditionally, and I think currently, very few books are reviewed at all in any serious sense. One possible sense would be \"critical appraisal\", and this is rare: a handful of books is given serious reviews in the Amer. Math. Soc.'s \"Bulletin\". The other possible sense of \"peer review\" is in a sense adding something to one's CV for jobs, tenure, promotion, grants. Almost by definition, this never happens. That is, \"refereeing\" is done for the conventional <em>journals</em>, whether paper or electronic, and referees are solicited by the editors, for <em>papers</em> submitted to that journal. The \"valuation\" of books is typically done not via \"reviews\", but by the status of the publishing house, and the status gain from publishing a book is probably less than a small paper in a medium-status journal. Thus, in particular, self-publication confers none of that cachet. And I'd wager that self-publication would compromise \"review\" in the sense of <em>appraisal</em>, as well, because other publications would have higher priority for the reason of status.</p>\n\n<p>(I do hope things improve, but I do think this is the current state, in mathematics.)</p>\n\n<p>Edit: As examples of \"self-publication\", disregarding the \"peer review\" idea entirely, a certain number of relatively senior (and not only!) people put book-like items on-line at their web-sites, often at universities. I heartily endorse this (and have been doing it myself for quite a while!) However (?), this appears to confer even less status than \"books\" published in physical hard-cover, I presume because there has been no hurdle of sufficiently-impressing publishers (who do ask opinions before \"consenting\" to publish). </p>\n\n<p>The more legitimate issue of \"(peer?) review\" to ascertain correctness, or helpfulness, etc., I think has so few precedents that little is happening. First, Math Reviews has no procedure in place to review such things, and it doesn't happen. Second, there appears to be considerable reticence to <em>cite</em> such things, even in stable situations, for a variety of (not entirely sensible) reasons. Third, while one might imagine that on-line, thus, <em>dynamic</em>, documents <em>could</em> be <em>more</em> reliable, by virtue of being <em>correctible</em> (indefinitely!), this actually disturbs/perturbs many people... Further, third(b), disappointingly to me, very, very few people have ever given me any feeback/corrections about my on-line stuff, or even asked for clarification (in some cases leading to correction or, anyway, better writing). I can imagine that some of this is politeness, or respect, which is understandable.</p>\n\n<p>But, I might claim, the real \"problem\" is lack of precedent. The \"refereed journal\" model is 150+ years old, and itself depended upon evolution beyond the \"reading before the Academy\" 200+ years ago when printing itself was a non-trivial matter, etc.</p>\n\n<p>Thus, rethinking the action-oriented sense of the original question: since \"self-published\" ought mean nothing, really, in today's context, apart from the fact that it doesn't have a \"prior\" approval from status-conferring entities... to \"get an expert opinion\" one (\"gosh, let's just try to think clearly for a sec!\" :) would send th'thing to (web-obtained?) experts, asking very politely whether they'd be so kind as to offer critical remarks... and as a very polite secondary question, whether they'd be willing to be quoted in such remarks.</p>\n\n<p>(This has led me to thinking that the difficulty in quantifying \"civility\" and \"politness\", especially between different generations (if only in convention and usage), potentially causes substantial difficulties in on-line forums, and/or \"stack-exchanges\", and or . Not that I think high-status entities have a \"moral\" superiority, which is the stereotypical exaggeration-to-disqualify, and which is a popular (mis-) interpretation of that elite, but that experience <em>can</em> be worth something, and that something is not easily acquired by any other means.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2883, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The question is extremely vague. The OP could be a professor of creative writing who has written a novel, a math professor who wrote a calculus textbook, a sociology professor who wrote a monograph on water rights in 19th-century Oregon, or a physics crank who wrote a book proving Einstein wrong.</p>\n\n<p>In the case that this is research: --- In some fields of academia (e.g., literature, sociology), it's normal to publish books and monographs on one's research, and these are considered professional pluses (e.g., for tenure). In other fields (such as physics), this is not normally done, and a book is not a feather in the author's cap. If this is a field where research often is published in book form, then the way to get peer review is to submit the book to publishing houses, whose acquisition editors, if they think the proposal/manuscript has possible merit, may try to get academics in the field to review it. Yes, the acquisition editor is a gatekeeper. No, there is no way to get around the gatekeeper and convince random academics that they should read a manuscript. There's a reason that acquisition editors are paid money. It's because the job they do is dreary and thankless. Random academics are not going to wade through a slush pile for free.</p>\n\n<p>In the case that this is a textbook: --- There is a model that has been going on forever, which is that you distribute the book to your students via the best available technology of your era (quill pens, purple mimeos, internet), hone the book over years of teaching the same course over and over, and then, finally, send it out to publishers. A typical modern exmaple of this model is that Sean Carroll posted his textbook on general relativity on the internet <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/?9712019\">here</a> in 1997, and in 2003 it was published in dead-tree format by Benjamin Cummings. If, like Sean Carroll, you're ethical, you make sure that your own students can get the book without paying you money. If you succeed in getting the book published in print by a traditional publisher, you can usually, if it's important to you, negotiate a clause in your contract allowing you to keep the book online for free.</p>\n\n<p>Some people do self-publish textbooks as an alternative to traditional dead-tree publishing (rather than as a preliminary to dead-tree or a last resort after failing at dead-tree). A few of these projects are successful in the sense of gaining adoptions by other professors. This path does not involve peer review.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2776", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1194/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2779, "author": "Hauser", "author_id": 213, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/213", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Some points for STEM:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emerging_technologies\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">What are worldwide current emerging technologies?</a> Which topics become attention by scholars, industry and funding institutions in journals.</p></li>\n<li><p>Funding: What topics (like green energy in Germany) are on the local research agenda of your country for the next decades?</p></li>\n<li><p>Fundamental research: where are contradictions of widely-accepted but incomplete theories in a field. Are the major paradigms consistent? (e.g. bringing together general relativity and particle physics). See my answer <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/1458/213\">here</a> on open problems</p></li>\n<li><p>Meterology improvement/measurement methodology. Often very tricky, time- and cost-intensive engineering problems, but often making falsification/discovering of new phenomenons possible at all, opportunity to develop patents</p></li>\n<li><p>Are there enough possible and qualified students, scholars for collaboration in a special (new) research field you can hire/attract? Of course, someone has to make the first step, but in STEM money and manpower is often the crucial factor to compete with other research groups, otherwise it's easy to waste a lot of money and time while someone already published the results you are still trying to measure. Without good students and a well-equipped lab it will be hard to attract money, students and scholars. In Germany you see this in form of \"clustering\" of several research institutions interested in semiconductors and chip-technology in German silicon valley near the city of Dresden.</p></li>\n<li><p>Can you and your group dive easily into a new or related research topic? Do you have the infrastructure, is the gap of knowledge too big? How big is the risk, if you fail in this topic or it becomes suddenly un-trendy/unimportant. That's why research groups often do some diversification of research interests. Don't put all your money on a single stock.</p></li>\n<li><p>a really good nose, overview and knowledge of current state of the art and knowledge.</p></li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2781, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Are you passionate about it?</strong></p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Are you good at it?</strong> </p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Will people pay you to do it?</strong></p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Everything else is noise.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2778", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/675/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2786, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>These meetings can serve a variety of purposes, but many of them fall into the broad category of <strong>keeping the adviser and all the group members updated on what everyone in the group is doing</strong>. Below are some of the secondary benefits of a group meeting:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>saves the adviser time (compared to meeting with students individually)</li>\n<li>motivates the students to keep doing work, so they have something to report at the meeting</li>\n<li>fosters a sense of community with the group</li>\n<li>provides the students experience giving informal presentations</li>\n<li>often leads to the more senior students mentoring the junior students</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>To answer your follow-up question in the description, <strong>no, some faculty meet with each student individually</strong>; in fact these separate meetings are common, for example, in mathematics.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2789, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Aside from Dan's answer, which is probably one of the main points, having the lab members present in group meetings also helps significantly in developing public speaking skills in a low-pressure environment. Many of the lab meetings that I've attended focused on the ability of the presenter, often a graduate student, to present an idea clearly, concisely, and persuasively. As an added bonus, at well-run meetings, there are often many questions, which helps the presenter learn to field (sometimes difficult) questions on-the-fly. These skills are pretty important in academia.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2790, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As one of these advisors who has both individual meetings with students as well as group meetings, I can attest that I use the group meetings more for skills development rather than just rehashing research-related issues.</p>\n\n<p>It serves a number of purposes: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Presentation of skills and tools that will be useful to the entire group (for example, in my group, that means programming tools, content management software like Git or Subversion), as well as things like \"How do you write an abstract?\"</li>\n<li>Presentation by group members of their own research work</li>\n<li>Presentation by group members of <em>other people's work</em> (often through a discussion of a paper in the literature, or a group of papers clustered around a common topic)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Now, my group happens to be bifurcated in purpose: I have people working in two very different application fields. I still have everybody present to the entire group for the simple reason that if they can't inform group members with whom they have methods and techniques in common about their research, how are they going to explain their work to anybody else?</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2796, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>While I generally agree with the other answers, I see three additional purposes of group meetings that I cannot accomplish easily in my individual meetings. While the meetings are weekly, I like to have lab members think about the upcoming month.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Notifications about upcoming events: I might tell people about an upcoming conference deadline at our individual meetings, but I often will forget to tell someone.</li>\n<li>Management of shared resources: Getting everyone to briefly say what they are planning to do in the upcoming weeks often highlights that there is going to be high demand for a resource and lets us work out alternative arrangements</li>\n<li>Managing my (PIs) time: Maybe this is also a shared resource, but I try and let people know my teaching, marking, reviewing, writing, etc loads. I also try and get people to tell me what they want me to do over the next month. I think this helps people (both myself and lab members) adjust their schedules so that we can tackle tasks efficiently.</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2799, "author": "Szymon Bęczkowski", "author_id": 1312, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1312", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The main purpose is to waste some time. Probably the only thing that does not happen during these meetings is work. Unfortunately, lot of managers and professors think that we need to meet in order to know what everyone else is doing (seen from PhD position). We <strong>do</strong> meet each other in the coffee room, in the lab, while commuting, after hours, in the elevator and so on. We talk. We know. If we have a problem, we talk. Sorry for the rant, but I had to counterweight all the positivity in other answers. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2785", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/77/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2792, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Generally speaking, any critiques should be brief and directed (i.e., \"the cited works failed to consider &lt;X&gt; in their analysis\", \"to simplify their model, they assumed &lt;X&gt;, whereas in reality &lt;Y&gt;\").</p>\n\n<p>If you're criticizing <strong>assumptions</strong>, be sure to specifically state which assumptions you challenge, and clearly deliniate (with references) why they are incorrect. Note that many papers use incorrect assumptions to begin work in a new field, and your critique should recognize that (i.e., \"The seminal paper assumed &lt;X&gt; [1]. We extend this work by removing said assumption.\")</p>\n\n<p>If you're criticizing <strong>conclusions</strong>, again state specifically which conclusion you disagree with, and be sure to provide data/analyses to back up your conclusion.</p>\n\n<p>If you're challenging their <strong>data</strong>, note that (in neuroscience, at least) this is perfectly common; findings differ all the time. Progress often stems from finding the cause of these differences between data. You should note the difference and mention something along the lines of \"Our findings differ from those of &lt;X&gt; [1], and we believe this is because &lt;Y&gt;\". Note that it is almost a requirement to mention something like this; if you don't, (1) the researchers whose paper you missed will probably mildly insulted, and (2) people familiar with the field will assume you didn't do your basic literature search, which makes you look stupid.</p>\n\n<p>Needless to say, ad hominem attacks are always inappropriate and should never appear in scientific literature.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2795, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think that simply by thinking in terms of \"criticism\" you have already gone too far. I try and point out what the previous work has done and demonstrate how my work builds on that. Things like reducing the number of assumptions, doing additional analysis, or using a better method, don't require you to criticize the previous work.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2791", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/675/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2792, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Generally speaking, any critiques should be brief and directed (i.e., \"the cited works failed to consider &lt;X&gt; in their analysis\", \"to simplify their model, they assumed &lt;X&gt;, whereas in reality &lt;Y&gt;\").</p>\n\n<p>If you're criticizing <strong>assumptions</strong>, be sure to specifically state which assumptions you challenge, and clearly deliniate (with references) why they are incorrect. Note that many papers use incorrect assumptions to begin work in a new field, and your critique should recognize that (i.e., \"The seminal paper assumed &lt;X&gt; [1]. We extend this work by removing said assumption.\")</p>\n\n<p>If you're criticizing <strong>conclusions</strong>, again state specifically which conclusion you disagree with, and be sure to provide data/analyses to back up your conclusion.</p>\n\n<p>If you're challenging their <strong>data</strong>, note that (in neuroscience, at least) this is perfectly common; findings differ all the time. Progress often stems from finding the cause of these differences between data. You should note the difference and mention something along the lines of \"Our findings differ from those of &lt;X&gt; [1], and we believe this is because &lt;Y&gt;\". Note that it is almost a requirement to mention something like this; if you don't, (1) the researchers whose paper you missed will probably mildly insulted, and (2) people familiar with the field will assume you didn't do your basic literature search, which makes you look stupid.</p>\n\n<p>Needless to say, ad hominem attacks are always inappropriate and should never appear in scientific literature.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2795, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think that simply by thinking in terms of \"criticism\" you have already gone too far. I try and point out what the previous work has done and demonstrate how my work builds on that. Things like reducing the number of assumptions, doing additional analysis, or using a better method, don't require you to criticize the previous work.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2793", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/319/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2801, "author": "jogloran", "author_id": 1435, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1435", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The Australian Research Council (ARC) publishes a comprehensive ranking of journals which classified each as A*, A, B or C. This list can be found <a href=\"http://www.arc.gov.au/era/era_2012/era_2012.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>.</p>\n\n<p>The best way, however, is to talk to researchers or faculty members from the relevant field. I would be surprised if any researcher worth their salt didn't know what the main conferences are, each conference's preferences and biases, or what notional level of prestige is associated with each.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2806, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Some fields rank conferences by <em>geographic scope</em>. For example, you may have local, regional, national, and international conferences. Presumably, but not always, the prestige of the conference increases as it caters to a larger audience. If the conference has enough draw to convince individuals from other countries to pay the travel expenses, it will be more prestigious than a conferences attended only by people who live within 50 miles of the location.</p>\n\n<p>You should also be able to distinguish conferences based on how well-known speakers are. Most conferences release their programs in advance. If your conference has multiple well-known researchers in your field giving several talks each, or maybe a keynote given by a Nobel Laureate, it is probably a serious conference. </p>\n\n<p>I would not judge the prestige of a conference on the physical size, i.e the number of participants. The <a href=\"http://www.grc.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Gordon</a> <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Research_Conferences\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Research Conferences</a> are very well thought of, but often quite small.</p>\n\n<p>The last paragraph of <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2800/is-there-any-level-or-tiers-in-conferences-or-all-conferences-are-of-same-level/2801#2801\">jogloran's answer</a> is good advice. Ask your colleagues in your discipline. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 67672, "author": "DMML", "author_id": 52658, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/52658", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Depending on your discipline, you may be able to find an established ranking of conferences. Computer science-related disciplines heavily gear their publishing towards conference proceedings and, as such, there are resources, depending on the sub-discipline, that can give a hierarchical ranking of 'top conferences' (perhaps, depending on your discipline, a simple Google search could resolve).</p>\n\n<p>As has already been mentioned, conference prestige is often associated with levels of geography, \"international\" being the highest level. This typically means anyone can submit and so, given the larger audience, there is usually correspondingly larger degree of prestige associated.</p>\n\n<p>Also, it may worth noting that conference impact factor statistics has been an emerging trend as of late. This may also be used, where available, to assess conference prestige.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2800", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1434/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2803, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p><strong>No.</strong> Once you have a PhD, nobody cares about your previous degrees, or if you even graduated from high school.</p>\n\n<p>(I know at least one <a href=\"http://erikdemaine.org/\">tenured professor who did not graduate from high school</a>.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2804, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This answers the title question. </p>\n\n<p>It is not a bad idea to take a break between a BSc and a PhD, just to see what else is out there in the world. Maybe do a bit of travel or work for six months or year. The disadvantage thus of doing a PhD right after a BSc is that you spend too much time in school, getting deeper and deeper into one topic, without taking an opportunity to broaden your perspective.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2812, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>To amplify JeffE's answer, there are some instances where it will be inconvenient, in the sense that you will have to explain your situation.</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I hold no master's degree. When I started my present job in Germany, this was looked upon as very unusual, and I had to explain that I attended a degree-granting university that did not require a master's for admission to PhD candidacy. (In Europe, the norm is that you essentially <em>have</em> to have a master's before beginning your PhD candidacy.)</p>\n\n<p>Beyond that, however, there is generally no concerns beyond things that can be relatively easily explained. (The only thing I can think of is that if qualifications for a position are based on \"years of experience,\" the truncated education may mean more post-educational work is required to satisfy the requirement.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2823, "author": "Peter Boothe", "author_id": 1446, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1446", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I don't have an MS, but I do have a BS and a PhD in the same field. I have had no professional problems as a result.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3077, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Mainly, the answer is <strong>no</strong>, if you have a PhD no one will care whether you have a master's degree in the same area or not. </p>\n\n<p>However, I <em>disagree with JeffE</em> that no one will ever care about your previous degrees. This <strong>statement is nearly true with regard to research</strong>, but I think it <strong>may be false for some other areas</strong>. For example, if you want to teach at a liberal arts school (undergraduate-only, focused more on breadth than many schools), then you'll have a better chance to land such a job if you got your bachelor's degree at a school like that. At times I find it helpful to mention that I got a master's degree in <em>optimization and algorithms</em>, rather than just saying that I have a master's in math. I think this can more readily convey the particular skill set I acquired. If the people evaluating you always did so rationally and with due diligence, yours master's degree (or lack thereof) probably wouldn't matter. However, <strong>humans are often lazy and/or emotional, so your mileage may vary</strong>.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2802", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/675/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2813, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In general, I think graduate schools want students to pursue their entire PhD candidacy at a given institution. Moreover, schools may be reluctant to count work done a long time ago as part of the requirements for obtaining a degree, as it likely sets a bad precedent. </p>\n\n<p>Moreover, there's the question of financing. If you're in a program where students are financed through TA's, it's a lot easier to convince a school to take a chance, rather than in the sciences. The reason for this is that funding in the sciences is often tied to specific projects—which means that you will most likely need to change topics if you pursue a PhD in such a department. This would of course set your time to degree back considerably.</p>\n\n<p>That said, you may find a sympathetic department that's willing to take a chance. My best advice is try to talk to the graduate admissions officers of some of the departments you're thinking of applying to. They'll help you to figure out what are the requirements and possibilities. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2832, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This situation surprises me: in the U.S., one could likely file (and win) a lawsuit alleging discrimination, in such a situation.</p>\n\n<p>Dismissal from a college or university on grounds that one is ill is not legal, I think. Accommodation must be made, so that perhaps things are delayed, but not simply cancelled.</p>\n\n<p>Outright dismissal from a job (such as research assistant or teaching assistant) on medical grounds I think is not allowed, either. One may be required to take a leave of absence if one absolutely cannot do one's job even with accommodation, but there is substantial legal (and moral) push to accommodate and reach a compromise.</p>\n\n<p>I think discrimination on admissions, on medical grounds, would also be essentially illegal.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: you should talk to a laywer conversant with such things, who might be willing to talk to you without a huge fee if you describe your situation to their screening personnel. The situation is rife with lawyerism, indeed. Be careful.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 14914, "author": "Hedge Fund", "author_id": 10098, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10098", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think you should try to fight it diplomatically but legally with the school. It doesn't seem fair or legal. It would be nearly impossible to continue in another institution unless you have relationships and also the reputation of the former school is considerably higher, which you wouldn't want to do anyway.</p>\n\n<p>Depends if really the time you were away was strictly due to sickness. If you took several years more afterwards it is unlikely for you to win. Doctoral programs routinely turn away people who started, left, went to the real world, didn't like it, and want to return. They believe that somewhat freshness of knowledge and being current in the topics is important. Also they have some strange ideas about academic virginity that you want to take into account.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2808", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1438/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2811, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>From my experience, having cross-department committee members is very common, and can actually be very beneficial to the student, as you gain access to expertise and perspective you might otherwise miss. There's usually at least some connection between the research being done and the expertise of the faculty member. To use myself as an example, my research involved behavioral neuroscience, but I had both an electrical engineering faculty with signal processing experience and a psychology faculty on my committee, and they both gave <em>very</em> useful advice with my project. That being said, I had a committee member who was completely unrelated to my work (my focus shifted midway through my PhD career), and he requested to still stay on despite the lack of direct research connection; he was happy just to give advice and provide feedback.</p>\n\n<p>You can find potential committee members by talking to other graduate students, and by looking at what theses professors have worked on (as you suggest above). I definitely recommend talking to other students; some professors are more difficult to work with than others, and you likely won't get that type of information from your advisor.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding how to go about talking to the professor, I would just send a simple email asking for a meeting about this topic. If they're simply not interested, they'll say so, and you'll save yourself time. If they are, meet to discuss the following:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>who you work for</li>\n<li>what you're researching (both the ten-year research goal, if there is one, as well as your specific project)</li>\n<li>why you think this faculty member can help you</li>\n<li>why this person should be interested (this should be tacit; i.e., you shouldn't have to say it explicitly, he should understand it from the above items)</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2814, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As eykanal mentioned, this is very common. Likely the same requirement exists in the other departments at your institution. Your request will not get rejected solely because you are from a different program. They may still decline if they feel that they know too little about your field.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to maximize your chances of identifying a professor who will agree, then approach professors who have participated in the committees of other members of your group. Which professor(s) sat on the committees of recent graduates? Which professors have your fellow group members gone to? Perhaps your adviser has an unofficial reciprocal agreement with one or more faculty members in different departments. Mine did. </p>\n\n<p>If there is already a connection between your group and a professor, then an email from you like the kind eykanal describes will not actually seem so random to that individual.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2810", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2816, "author": "NIlesh Sharma", "author_id": 1434, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1434", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Look at these options, I personally prefer the third option as Latex is always the best.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><a href=\"http://www2.imm.dtu.dk/teaching/phd/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www2.imm.dtu.dk/teaching/phd/</a></p></li>\n<li><p><a href=\"http://www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/c.clack/phd.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/c.clack/phd.html</a></p></li>\n<li><p><a href=\"http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/latex/thesis/thesis_a4.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/latex/thesis/thesis_a4.pdf</a></p></li>\n</ol>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2817, "author": "Marc van Dongen", "author_id": 1194, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1194", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The following are all LaTeX related.</p>\n\n<p>I really like Uggedal's thesis design. You may download the sources from <a href=\"https://github.com/jrk/uggedal-thesis\">https://github.com/jrk/uggedal-thesis</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Other starting points are Andre Miede's <code>classicthesis</code> and Lorenzo Pantieri's <code>classicthesis</code> packages.</p>\n\n<pre><code>@Manual{classicthesis,\n author = {Miede, Andr{\\'e}},\n title = {The Classic Thesis Style},\n keywords = {latex},\n date = {2010-01-24},\n}\n\n@Manual{arsclassica,\n author = {Pantieri, Lorenzo},\n title = {Customizing \\texttt{classicthesis}\n with the \\texttt{arsclassica} Package},\n keywords = {latex},\n date = {2010},\n}\n</code></pre>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2822, "author": "Peter Boothe", "author_id": 1446, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1446", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Use the one that is provided by your institution. The formatting guidelines are not \"guidelines\", but are instead \"requirements\" that are checked by someone who deeply cares about them. So you should use a template that has successfully been used in the past at your institution. If you do otherwise, you are setting yourself up for a <strong>lot</strong> of formatting work. All of that said, University of Oregon's style file, which I used for my degree there, may be found here: <a href=\"http://www.ctan.org/pkg/uothesis\">http://www.ctan.org/pkg/uothesis</a></p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2815", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1443/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2819, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Often a university will have many campuses, and some campuses will be <strong>much more prestigious</strong> than others. (One well-known example is the University of California, Berkeley, versus UC Merced.) In that case your degree will generally be more highly regarded if you go to the more prestigious campus.</p>\n\n<p>However, I think the example you mentioned does not fall into this case. (After reading the link you sent, I couldn't quite decide, but I got more information from the wikipedia page for <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_South_Wales\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">UNSW</a>.) So in your case, I would ask about which resources, particularly classes and faculty members, you will have access to. <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2709/college-vs-grad-school/2712#2712\">Elsewhere</a> I've written about why you should go to the best grad school you can get into. One big reason is <strong>networking</strong> and another is the culture and <strong>mindset</strong> you will absorb from your classmates and faculty. Even if you have the same degree on paper, many people will know (or think they do) if there's a difference in the quality of your training.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2820, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>The quality of the department has much more influence on the degree than the \"famousness\" of the campus—whether it is a \"main\" campus or a \"branch\" campus. </p>\n\n<p>For instance, in my field, Chemical Engineering, the University of California has two departments that are widely acknowledged to be top ten: Berkeley and Santa Barbara. A degree from either of these schools would be recognized as essentially equal; degrees from campuses like Davis or Los Angeles would be slightly less well received, but still be considered good.</p>\n\n<p>So, to some extent, it's more the issue of the resources available at a given department, and its reputation within the community as a whole, that makes the difference. The campus as a whole is a distant second. (As a similar example, the University of Minnesota is recognized as a top-five program in my field; nobody would rank UMN as top five nationwide overall.)</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2818", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/675/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2825, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>While field-specific research experience is always the best kind, I think there is a role for good research experience in any <em>related</em> field. Close-by disciplines that share similar research methods and approaches will carry much more weight than something much further removed. (For instance, as a chemical engineer, I wouldn't put much stock in somebody doing sociology or clinical medical research, but somebody who had a background in research in applied mathematics or mechanical engineering would be potentially of interest.)</p>\n\n<p>So, if you're going to go into an area of economics where your mathematical statistics background will be of benefit, I think that will (or at least <em>should</em>) be viewed favorably by an admissions committee.</p>\n\n<p>That said, you will want to make sure that your research supervisor understands that you're applying to economics programs, and tailors her letter of recommendation accordingly. Also, if you have a lot of experience in a different field, you will need to make clear to the admissions committee why it is you want to pursue the new field.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2826, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A graduate program in any research field considers a variety of criteria for each applicant. The contents of a <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/958/priority-of-application-materials-for-admission-decision/961#961\">good application to graduate school</a> have been <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1136/how-can-i-improve-my-research-experience-for-phd-application?rq=1\">addressed here before</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Most admissions committees look at several criteria, which are often weighted, but none weighted so high as to dominate the whole decision. A strong showing in one category can offset a weaker showing in another. Among them are: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Basic knowledge of the field: You demonstrate this by completing a Bachelor's Degree in the field or a related field, or presenting evidence that you will do so by the time you matriculate. For example, in your question you mention that you are majoring in economics and want to go to graduate school in economics. No conflicts there. If you were majoring in philosophy and wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry, you would be a harder sell. What constitutes a related field may vary, but I know that a B.S. in mathematics can get you into graduate programs in engineering. </li>\n<li>Academic ability: You demonstrate this through your grades in your courses, especially those relevant to the graduate program you want to enroll in, and through your scores on whatever standardized tests the program asks you to take before you apply. </li>\n<li>Research potential: You demonstrate this one of two ways. If you were lucky enough to publish your research as an undergraduate, then the committee can assess what you did directly. If not, then you need one or more letters of recommendation from someone who has supervised you in a research setting. The admissions committee wants evidence that you have certain qualities that make good researchers, regardless of discipline: curiosity, critical-thinking, creativity, strong work ethic, passion or drive, etc. A good research experience in another field is worth much more than a bad one in your own field. </li>\n<li>Communications skills: You demonstrate these through your personal statement (or essay or letter) that you must write. Spelling and grammar errors or worse writing problems in this document are more damning than a bad letter of recommendation! </li>\n<li>And as JeffE mentions in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/958/priority-of-application-materials-for-admission-decision/961#961\">his answer to a related question</a>: <strong>No Red Flags</strong></li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2824", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/676/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2829, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>When you cite <em>any</em> source, you should give enough that the reader can, at least in principle, read that source for themselves. This information is especially important when you cite something <em>as a source for further information</em>, as it is in your example paper.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This paper presents the framework of such a complete phenomenological model <strong>outlined by Sayeedvafa (2002)</strong> that provides a description of a wide range of the observed behavior, which are both tractable from analytical as well as computational viewpoint.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>For example, citations of technical reports (like your first example) should uniquely identify both the institution and the report, so that the reader knows who and how to ask for a copy. In particular, if the report is available on the web at a stable location, the citation should include a stable URL.</p>\n\n<p>If a source is likely to be inaccessible to most readers (like your second example), you should also cite an accessible secondary source that describes the relevant content in detail. (If you really want to be helpful, the primary source citation should include a pointer like \"Cited in [xxx].\") Otherwise, you're just asking for the reader's <em>blind trust</em> that the source has the missing details you claim, or proves the result that you claim, or is as important as you claim, or even exists at all.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2833, "author": "Ran G.", "author_id": 324, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/324", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Citing a paper serves two roles. One is as a reference - a place for the reader to go and check the details. @JeffE's excellent answer deals with this case. For the completeness of the answer, let me discuss the other case.</p>\n\n<p>The other role of citation is <em>acknowledgment</em>, that is, acknowledging that somebody else did that piece of work, rather than the authors. That should be the only reason for you to cite a paper which is not publicly available (for instance, because it is not yet ready, etc.) Some time you can find a citation that says \"Author A., Private Communication\", which usally means you had a bunch of emails from Mr. Author, and the result/claim/lemma is actually based on what he told you or the draft of his paper that he sent only to you, etc., and you fully acknowledge him for that contribution. </p>\n\n<p>Personally, I never liked citation to Private communication, but they do exists. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2827", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/675/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2835, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": -1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There is no \"best\" way, everyone has their own way. I like to read the abstract and the discussion, and then the figures, and after that, the text. Its not something thats been tried and tested, you just develop your style over time reading hundreds of papers.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2836, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As gkadam said, there is no absolute best way, and finding the way that suits you the best is also part of the learning process, and it can strongly depend on how your memory work. For some people, it's enough to just add some tags or keyword on the paper, allowing them to retrieve the information later, while other people needs to rewrite some parts in order to remember it. </p>\n\n<p>For instance, the first time I read a paper, I do it without a pen, because I want to get a \"feel\" of the paper first, and if there is a point that I don't understand or that I think it's really important, I just leave it for later. I then read some of the references of the paper to see if I can't find a similar idea explained a bit differently (typically when there is an extended version of the paper I'm reading). After reading several papers, I start to have a good idea of the problem, and what part of which paper is the most important, and at this point I can read again, in detail, with a pen and some paper, to go through the tough parts of the paper. </p>\n\n<p>The time you \"lose\" by reading the same paper several times, you gain it by focusing on the most important parts and by \"skipping\" the redundant ones. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2838, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Since I read papers electronically, and save the PDFs to my drive, I put the most useful part of the paper, along with the first author's name, journal abbreviation, and year in the file name. It means I have long crazy file names but I always know why I saved that paper even if it was years ago. For example:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Chang_ChemRev_2009 - polymers for photovoltaics - PPV on p. 5874 and figure 3.pdf</p>\n</blockquote>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2841, "author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX", "author_id": 725, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I'm using jabref as reference manager (I read the comment that you use Sente, which I don't know). Jabref allows me to assign a paper to different groups, and also to set up grouping in a hierarchical way. </p>\n\n<p>In addition, I can put notes that are searchable (however, usually I don't do that but write them on the paper). I guess that's what I'd do with your JAK/STAT things. Sometimes I write the important stuff on a new sheet (if the margins of the paper are too small) and file that together with the paper.</p>\n\n<p>I'm still going mainly with printed papers, as I can have a whole bunch of them besides each other and keep the overview which says what while writing. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2850, "author": "Artem Kaznatcheev", "author_id": 66, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/66", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I find it important to <strong>be as active as possible</strong> in your reading, especially for papers close to the questions you are working on. If you are only highlighting, then this is largely a passive activity, and does not help much with retention or even later rereading. If you are making notes, it is a little bit better, but still largely passive. </p>\n\n<p>For important papers, I try to read the paper and then <strong>write up a quick summary for myself</strong> of the key ideas relevant to my interests: a sort of mini-review or personalized-abstract of the paper. For papers that don't contain important tools I use, but contain facts I have to cite I usually include a section that lists in what settings I would expect to cite this paper. This helps a lot at the writing stage. These little summaries of the paper are usually too rough and critical to be useful to others, so I keep them private. </p>\n\n<p>I usually organize these summaries in a little personal wiki like <a href=\"http://tiddlywiki.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Tiddly Wiki</a> where I can tag and do full text search as well as include links to the original PDF of my computer. Each article gets its own tiddle and is tagged according to topic. Other useful tools are available in: </p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/109/66\">Is there any efficient non-linear note-taking software?</a></p>\n\n<p>For some heavy papers (say important math papers) the reading has to be even more active. Usually including reproving the theorems and sometimes presenting these proofs to others in my group.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2933, "author": "Live", "author_id": 1448, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1448", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I started a new strategy as follow: I am reading the article, taking notes, and then generating Q&amp;A of the most relevant facts. I am using a flash card software with spaced repetition to help me review them. By doing so, I am no longer worried about forgetting things and more concentrated on understanding things. As I read more and more, I hope to reach the stage where only the recently published idea/concept are the ones which goes into my flash cards program. I know it's a tedious workflow, but I believe it will pay off soon.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 14528, "author": "Stan", "author_id": 9802, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9802", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I tried to copy-paste the key (\"most relevant\") sentences from the paper in a form of list, by using just text editor (to make it searchable).\nDrawbacks: 1. after 30-40 papers this text file started to be really big and difficult to search. 2. when I come back to this paper again the \"important\" parts are, in many cases, different from what was annotated from previous reading. 3. unable to sort the notes easily to categories. 4. in many cases even several sentences are not enough to express the finding. </p>\n\n<p>Then I decided to excerpt the facts from the article pretty much the same way as they are prepared for Beilstein chemical database. I read an article briefly for the first time to roughly split it into logical pieces. Then I read it thoroughly sentence-by-sentence and make sort of reference card for every fact originally described in it (no information from references is included even though it may be relevant), although facts that go with \"data not shown\" count. In the reference card I have special fields to specify all available information on how particular fact was discovered including methods, experimental model etc. Every card contains reference to the original article, list of tags that can be key words or any other words that help to find it including their synonyms and abbreviations to facilitate search and grouping similar facts from different articles together. The card may also contain relevant references (if any). Tagging enables to assign the same fact to several different categories.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 54565, "author": "nathanielng", "author_id": 23382, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23382", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My current approach consists of two parts.</p>\n\n<p>First, I make use of a <strong>Reference Management Software</strong> (in my case <a href=\"http://www.papersapp.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Papers</a>), which allows me to highlight/annotate PDFs and to write notes for each PDF. It's easy to do a search which covers all the notes that I write, and even the internal text of the PDF. PDFs may be tagged or assigned to multiple categories/subfolders; they can also be exported with or without annotations.</p>\n\n<p>Some examples of Reference Management Software (of which I have experience with 1-4):</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.papersapp.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Papers</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.mendeley.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mendeley</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.zotero.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">Zotero</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.thirdstreetsoftware.com/site/Sente.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Sente</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://endnote.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Endnote</a></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Second, I write a summary in a <strong>review article</strong> for each major topic that I am looking into seriously. I previously used Microsoft Word to do this, but have since switched to LaTeX/bibtex due to the convenience of being able to handle hundreds of references (or equations). The usefulness of a review article format is that it is easy to convert into a manuscript (keeping equations, references intact) when the time comes to write a journal paper. Furthermore, should I need to revisit a research area that I have not touched for many years, a review article allows me to quickly refresh my memory. Having all the relevant references in a single place also helps. A side benefit is that I sometimes send my review articles to collaborators to help them get up to speed.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2834", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1448/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2839, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>The answer to your question is probably \"Yes and No\" or, more properly, it depends on who is telling you this and why.</p>\n\n<p>If the individual wants you to find his or her research, then \"in Nature\" might mean in <em>Nature</em>. However, if someone wants you to find research, why aren't they giving you a full citation?</p>\n\n<p>Usually someone would say their work is published \"in Nature\" to make themselves sound important (sometimes rightfully so). In this case, I doubt that the individual would make a distinction between <em>Nature</em> and the derivative journals, most of which also have high impact factors. The person is more likely to be vague if the field-specific NPG journal in which the work is published has a much lower impact factor than <em>Nature</em>. </p>\n\n<p>In the field of chemistry, <em>Nature Chemistry</em> is relatively new, 4 years old. Since <em>NChem</em> is so new, most folks I talk to distinguish whether they mean <em>Nature</em> or <em>NChem</em>. <em>NChem</em>'s newness leaves it with a lower impact factor (20.524 for 2011, the first year it qualified for one) vs. <em>Nature</em> (36.280 in 2011).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2842, "author": "Ana", "author_id": 322, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/322", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I've never heard a neuroscientist say they published in Nature, if it was in Nature Neuroscience.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2851, "author": "JRN", "author_id": 64, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/nature/authors/get_published/1b_Accept_pub.pdf\">Nature guide to authors</a> uses the phrase \"<em>Nature</em> and the Nature research journals.\" Also, the <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/authors/policies/index.html\">editorial policies website</a> states</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The Nature journals' editorial policies concerning publication of\n primary scientific research can be found on the pages listed below.\n The policies described are those of <em>Nature</em> and the journals with\n \"Nature\" in their titles.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This implies that when the Nature Publishing Group uses the word \"Nature\" in italics, they are referring to the journal <em>Nature</em> and not to their other journals. If they want to refer to any of their journals, they use the phrase \"Nature journal\" (without italics).</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2837", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/879/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2854, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>If your department has a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document_camera\">document camera</a>, especially a newer model, then you could use that. I currently use a document camera for my regular lectures. I write on the paper under the camera, the camera sends it to the computer and the computer sends it to a projector, where it gets projected onto the big screen in the lecture hall. This way I can look at my class the class the entire time and I do not have to worry about whether students in the back can read the writing on the whiteboard in front. </p>\n\n<p>The document camera I use can also be set up to display the images it captures on the computer. Then, with video capture software, (<a href=\"http://camstudio.org/\">CamStudio</a> is an example of one with a free option), you could record a video as you write.</p>\n\n<p>If your department does not have a document camera, you can set up something similar with a webcam, which would be cheaper to buy but produces lower video quality. Set it to look down on the paper. You write your lecture, and the computer records it. Alternatively, your institution may have an instructional technology office that could loan you a document camera (or may even have a more advanced set up).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2855, "author": "Federico Poloni", "author_id": 958, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>We went this path heavily some years ago with the Italian Math Olympiad organizing committee. (you can see some of our lectures, in Italian, on <a href=\"http://olimpiadi.dm.unibo.it/videolezioni/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://olimpiadi.dm.unibo.it/videolezioni/</a>).</p>\n\n<p>You will obtain the best results with a tablet pc with a Wacom active digitizer. The quality of the pen writing cannot be matched by iPads and the like. Unfortunately, that is a toy that does cost hundreds of dollars. You may get a used one off eBay for cheaper. I never used one, but I heard that the HP Touchsmart TM2 was one of the most appreciated models in the past years, and now it should be quite cheap to get one.</p>\n\n<p>There is no cheaper option, as far as I know, that will provide the same overall quality. Graphic tablets such as the one you are considering are a reasonable substitute, but, apart from the size issue, they have a higher learning curve (since you have to learn to watch in point A and write in point B --- no problem after some training if you are the one teaching, but this will prevent you from asking the students to solve exercises in a class, for instance).</p>\n\n<p>Forget about iPads and anything that does not have an active digitizer --- the writing quality will simply not be sufficient for your needs.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: clarification: I wrote \"we\" but I am just one member of the project and only a few of those lectures are mine.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2856, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>What about using some kind of screen recorder that also do editing?</p>\n\n<p>I find <a href=\"http://www.bbsoftware.co.uk/BBFlashBack_FreePlayer.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow\">BB FlashBack Express</a>, <a href=\"http://www.debugmode.com/wink/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wink</a> and <a href=\"http://www.screen-record.com/screen2exe.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a> to be good ones.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 9157, "author": "bobobobo", "author_id": 2745, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2745", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Yes</strong>, by all means use a Wacom (any device). You need screen capturing s/w and audio capturing. You can then post the video afterwards (which will just be the computer screen, and your voice talking over it).</p>\n\n<h2>Windows:</h2>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Use OneNote for your notes + Camtasia for audio/video capturing. You might also use an external MP3 recorder for sound if your PC mic is not good and then blend them yourself after (more tedious).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<h2>Mac:</h2>\n\n<ul>\n<li>I use a series of Pixelmator images for \"writing\" math on a Mac. Create a 4096x4096 image gives you a fairly large canvas. A new page can be added by adding a new \"layer\". To record what you're doing, if you combine <a href=\"http://cycling74.com/soundflower-landing-page/\" rel=\"nofollow\">SoundFlower</a> + QuickTime you can have screen+audio recording (see youtube for <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TaXe75qiSY\" rel=\"nofollow\">videos on how</a>)</li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2853", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1462/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2858, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Some of your expectations fall within the norms and some may not. There may be some variation by field.</p>\n\n<p>Having never organized a conference, but having attended and presented as several, these seem to be the norms I have encountered:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Where would one publish a \"call for papers\" on specific areas of military history?</strong> </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Anywhere and everywhere. Send emails (or snailmail) to the history departments at nearby colleges and universities. Pass the word along to other organizations with similar interests. Are you close to a military academy? Is there a military museum nearby? Those are other good places to find speakers.Make sure that all correspondence includes the soft deadline (i.e. about a week before your real cutoff) for submission, and the process by which an individual signs up to speak. Also, you need to make clear the type of talk you are expecting based on the audience. Should this be a talk for experts, for enthusiasts, or for the general public? These announcements also serve as advertising for your event.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>What would be expected to be provided for presenters who are accepted?</strong> </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Generally, at large conferences with hundreds of talks, the travel costs are paid by the speakers. For a small conference, you may want to offer to reimburse some costs on a first-come-first-served basis, however, very few folks should be put out by lack of financial support. I would save honoraria for their true purpose: providing an award for someone and/or attracting a really big name.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Would sample presentation videos be excessive?</strong> </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes. The situation you describe is a known danger, but it is not normal to ask for videos. Your better bet is to send people to attend other talks by your speakers and evaluate them unofficially, but you should still let them speak. If you secure a big name in the field, you will attract an audience, even if said person is a horrible speaker. If you are attracting academic speakers and you have a nearby university, asks folks in the relevant departments if they know of good speakers and try to target those individuals.</p>\n\n<p>You might get away with suggesting that individuals who wish to be considered for the keynote spot send in a short clip of them presenting elsewhere, but that would still be pushing it.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How long a presentation would be acceptable from the speaker's perspective? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Depending on the number of speakers you hope to attract and the length of the conference, block off 30 minute or 60 minute blocks. 15 minutes is a little short, and you should only exceed one hour for keynotes/plenaries. Most academics would interpret a 30 minute block of time as 20 minutes of presentation and 10 minutes of questions and answers, which sounds like what you want.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 20228, "author": "Anonymous", "author_id": 11565, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A couple additions to Ben Norris's answer:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Understand that, unfortunately, lots of people will regard your invitation as spam and ignore it. You can't help this, try not to worry about this too much.</p></li>\n<li><p>If you can't fund the speakers' travel, say so. In my field, it is customary to pay the travel expenses of invited speakers, but if you can't then it is fine to simply say \"Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide funding for your travel expenses\" in your message.</p></li>\n</ol>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2857", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1464/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2863, "author": "schultem", "author_id": 206, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/206", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You need <a href=\"http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatpro.html\">Adobe Acrobat Pro</a> to record audio and integrate it into your PDF files.\nAnybody can access the PDF+audio via the free <a href=\"http://get.adobe.com/reader/\">Adobe Reader</a>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2882, "author": "nullUser", "author_id": 1481, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1481", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you don't want to pay for Adobe Acrobat Pro, as @schultem mentions, LaTeX can do this with embedded hyperlinks. See <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20170226134025/http://www.bio.lmu.de/~benda/software/latex/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">this page</a>, Section 3.5 for more information. Note that if you use this method (as far as I know) you will have to click for sound, it cannot be automatic.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 4945, "author": "F'x", "author_id": 2700, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you don't mind hosting your files online, <a href=\"http://www.slideshare.net\" rel=\"noreferrer\">SlideShare</a> is a good solution. You can create an online audio presentation by combining your slides with an audio recording of yourself (MP3 format, for example) and a list of timings at which slides go forward.</p>\n\n<p>I have used it myself, and it is a decent tool for this purpose.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Another solution, which is technically far from optimal but just works, is to convert your slides + audio file into a movie. This can be done with any AV recording/capture software. Then, you encode the movie into a Web-suitable format before putting it online.</p>\n\n<p>Depending on your OS of choice, there are tools to do that. My wife does it on the iPad, for example, with <a href=\"http://www.explaineverything.com\" rel=\"noreferrer\">ExplainEverything</a> and the workflow is quite neat.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 129781, "author": "augustin", "author_id": 108202, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/108202", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You can make slides with LaTeX/Beamer and embed audio (and video) with the media9 package --- \\usepackage[...]{media9}. The presentation becomes system-dependent, however. Embedded sound in my slides plays in Acrobat Reader but not (on a Mac) in Preview.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 145803, "author": "schultem", "author_id": 206, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/206", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>another way to approach this is the LaTeX route with beamer for generating the slides and use a screencast software (eg Camtasia - but there are also free versions around) to record your voice ... this works really well for me</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 145806, "author": "Jeff", "author_id": 57314, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/57314", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You can do this easily using <strong>Jupyter Notebooks</strong>. It works great if you have embedded code (in Python, R or Julia), but the code element isn't necessary - it makes very pretty slides using markdown.</p>\n\n<p>See <a href=\"https://stackoverflow.com/a/30741861/5534457\">this StackOverflow answer</a> for guidance. You can add the autoplay=True argument, and the audio file can also be <a href=\"https://ipython.org/ipython-doc/dev/api/generated/IPython.display.html#IPython.display.Audio\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">audio from a url</a>.</p>\n\n<p>If you've never worked with code in Python, R, or similar, then the learning curve on implementing this will be steeper. But wouldn't this be a great time to learn the hot open-source languages anyway?</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 147053, "author": "user760900", "author_id": 122069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/122069", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Depends what you need. The other comments provide enough sources for typed out equations. However, in the event that you are doing this live/informally, I find it sometimes better to use handwritten equations, it which case I use <a href=\"https://www.gingerlabs.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Notability</a>.</p>\n\n<p>This may be an extremely niche use case, but it comes up often enough that you may want to consider it.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 147062, "author": "I Like to Code", "author_id": 8802, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8802", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Note: This is not an answer to the question!</p>\n\n<p>As the answers have explained,\nyou can embed audio into a PDF file,\n<strong>but why would you want to do that?</strong></p>\n\n<p>Personally, I make my slides using Google Slides,\nand make a video recording, which I post on my YouTube channel.\nThe result is, in my opinion, <strong>superior</strong> to a PDF file with audio,\nbecause I can use a pointer (a red dot that moves as you move your mouse)\nto highlight the portion of the slide which I want students to focus on.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, although I haven't tried it myself,\nI believe that it is possible to draw on your slides by hand,\ne.g., using an iPad, as you are delivering your presentation.</p>\n\n<p>By using a pointer and/or handdrawn annotations on your slides,\nyou can communicate your ideas far more effectively and dynamically\nthan if you use PDF slides alone, which tend to be static.</p>\n\n<p>(Yes, I know that you can program animations into your slides,\nbut the effort-to-reward ratio does not seem worth it to me,\nin almost all cases.)</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2862", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2868, "author": "Federico Poloni", "author_id": 958, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If I read correctly, in all those HTML slide systems you write the HTML file directly, it is not produced by some external tool. So I think you can simply put an <a href=\"http://www.w3schools.com/html5/tag_audio.asp\">audio tag</a> in it. Or am I missing something?</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2869, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A different option would be creating a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screencast\" rel=\"nofollow\">screencast</a>. A screencasting program would record your slides as they play as well as recording voice (or other sounds) from the microphone. <a href=\"http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Jing</a> is a free, though limited, screencast program. <a href=\"http://camstudio.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">CamStudio</a> is another free program. There programs you can purchase that include advanced features, including editing and post-production.</p>\n\n<p>The benefit of this method is that your lecture is now a video file, which rarely requires any type of special software, and you can share them easily on youtube, vimeo, or social media.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2864", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2871, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I believe that career changes and \"reinventions\" are a regular part of modern careers in highly specialized fields. Very few people will be able to work in a single domain for their entire careers, and the ability to move laterally between \"adjacent\" fields will be a critical skill enabling one to have greater chances and opportunities for success.</p>\n\n<p>Now, that said, your chances of success in any <em>particular</em> job hunt will depend to some extent on how \"enlightened\" your future boss (or hiring staff) are: some will actively seek out anyone with the appropriate skill set and enthusiasm for the work, while others will be more focused on people who have the \"direct\" skills they need, assuming such people will require less training to be able to carry out their work. Neither of these positions is \"better\"; they just happen to coexist.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2909, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The most important of all criteria is the interest you have and confidence you feel in the new or adjacent field. In addition to this you need to convince your future post-doc supervisor that you are capable of pursuing post-doc in computer science. This would need from you a specific and honest cover letter and curriculum vitae that highlights your new intentions. </p>\n\n<p>Also, <em>computer science</em> is a broad area and I am not sure if someone offers post-doc in just <em>computer science</em>. This supported by @JeffE (see his comments down) also.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2870", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2873, "author": "Piotr Migdal", "author_id": 49, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Personally, I think that (in academia) sticking to official e-mail addresses is an atavism.</p>\n\n<p>Currently, one's personal e-mail (say, <code>[email protected]</code>) is better because:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>usually more efficient/stable/etc,</li>\n<li>lasts for longer than 1-4 years.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>While names like <code>mad_theoretican_666@...</code> may sound ridiculous for professional communications (but it's rather a matter of taste than anything else), I don't see anything wrong with e-mails like <code>name.surname@</code> or <code>n.surname@</code>.</p>\n\n<p>However, I heard quite a few times that non-institutional e-mails sounds less serious. </p>\n\n<p>But honestly, if someone builds his/her value depending on how his/her e-mail sounds (and doing it against very practical reasons), it is the thing that is ridiculous.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2874, "author": "Nicholas", "author_id": 1424, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Should we use a stable email address?</strong></p>\n\n<p>I agree that seeing @gmail.com, @hotmail.com, @yahoo.com in email addresses for academic papers is somewhat jarring. That it should be the case probably says more about our assumptions about the author than it should (why doesn't he/she have a <em>proper</em> email address?). The benefits of having a stable email account - for those of us still moving frequently from post to post - is undeniable, but we choose not to use it for these reasons. Will that attitude change? Not impossible, but don't count on it.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Should we put pressure on sysadmins to maintain forwards on our old emails?</strong></p>\n\n<p>I'm not a sysadmin but I doubt whether any sysadmin would look favourably on maintaining indefinitely forwards in this way. After two or three hops, your email chain starts getting long and vulnerable.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Should we get rid of addresses altogether?</strong> </p>\n\n<p>Probably not. We need some way of being contactable.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Should we insist that the journal publishers set up an alternative contact system</strong></p>\n\n<p>I like this idea but appreciate that getting the publishers to do this would be difficult.</p>\n\n<p>What if there was a third party site which stored up-to-date contact data and was linked to by the journals? A freely accessible, central repository of author contact data. The authors would be responsible for maintaining their contact information. </p>\n\n<p>Users of the repository would themselves have to log in to prevent massive downloading of users' data by spammers. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2875, "author": "Nate Eldredge", "author_id": 1010, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The American Mathematical Society had a <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/membership/individual/benefits/mail_forward\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">email forwarding</a> service for its members, which gives them a stable @member.ams.org address that they can update as they move. However, this email forwarding service is no longer available. Still, something like this could be a good solution.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2876, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Should we (well, the ones of us that have tenure and power) put pressure on system administrator to change this practice? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Implementing a direct forward (i.e., your mailbox no longer exists, so no disk space problem) is not really hard, and I have currently two previous email addresses forwarded. The volume of emails decreases </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should we use in our publications a different, more stable e-mail address than the academic one? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>What makes you think that a gmail address is more stable than an academic one? What if gmail decides to switch to a different business model where you would have to pay for that address, would you necessarily keep it? Would you say that your yahoo email is stable? Maybe it was 3 years ago, but now, I wouldn't be so sure. Academic institutions tend to last longer. </p>\n\n<p>In addition, as you said, personal addresses look unprofessional, because they cannot be trusted. It won't cause your paper to be rejected, but that's not going to be a plus side. And it won't change the fact that readers of your papers can contact you or not. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should we maybe get rid of the e-mail and contact address in papers overall? Should we insist that the journal publishers set up an alternative contact system (good luck with that)?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As other people mentioned, the important point for contact is actually that people can find you. An email is a unique ID, you can put it on your current page so as to be indexed by search engines. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2885, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I make a point of offering all of my papers for download from my website. So if readers discover me via a paper I've written, it should be easy for them to find my website (just google my name and the title of the paper). On my website I list my current email address. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2886, "author": "Tobias Kienzler", "author_id": 442, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/442", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Since <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/2873/442\">Piotr's answer</a> and the discussion following it states the most important points (while an academic email address may become invalid, a private one provides no means to verify the author's actual affiliation, or even suggest the author doesn't <em>identify</em> with it), here's my suggestion:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Create a PGP key⁺ for your private email address\n\n<ul>\n<li>optionally add your academic email address as another identity</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>Have your key signed, e.g. by\n\n<ul>\n<li>colleagues</li>\n<li>your institution's sysadmin</li>\n<li>a key exclusively for your academic email adress</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>Publish the key, e.g. at <a href=\"http://pgp.mit.edu/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://pgp.mit.edu/</a></li>\n<li>Ask the publisher to include your <em>public</em> key⁺ or at least the footprint in the publication\n\n<ul>\n<li>The online version should even link to the key entry to make verification easier</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Now everyone can easily check your affiliation while you've made sure you can be contacted in the future - you can even add alternative email addresses to you key later on (the upload can be updated), and everyone will be able to deduce that should your original address not be reachable any more, you might be reachable via one of the other addresses associated with your public key.</p>\n\n<p>As an additional benefit, now both you and your co-authors can sign the publication itself, adding another level of trust that this is truly authored (or sometimes rather endorsed, if you're so honest ;) by each of you. <em>And</em> since you now have PGP keys anyway, you can also sign and/or encrypt your emails, making electronic communication both more trustworthy <em>and</em> less prone to leaks. Also, it keeps the NSA out for a while.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>⁺ In case you're not familiar with PGP:</p>\n\n<p>You create a pair of keys consisting of a <em>secret</em> key (which you and <em>only</em> you shall ever possess) and a <em>public</em> key (which you are supposed to make as public as possible/required). The secret key can be used to put a signature on anything digital, like messages, files, protocols, papers or other people's public key, and anyone can use the matching public key to verify that this signature stems from that secret key, and thus (hopefully) from you. Reversely, anyone can encrypt data for you with your public key that only you can decrypt again with your secret key (messages can be encrypted for multiple recipients as well if required). Since everyone can sign anyone's key, you obtain the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Web of trust</a>, a network of keys that allows you to estimate how reliable the association of a key to an actual person is without having to exchange public keys in person. (The downside is, your email address is public and social engineering is possible, but we're responsible adults, right?)</p>\n\n<p>A great open source implementation of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenPGP\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Open PGP</a> standard is the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Privacy_Guard\" rel=\"noreferrer\">GNU Privacy Guard</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2892, "author": "walkmanyi", "author_id": 1265, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the age of search engines and relatively high mobility on the side of researchers, personally I see no reason to include an e-mail address on research papers. Whenever possible (i.e., the published/editor does not explicitly ask for it), I do not include it at all and if I must, I use the currently valid one. The reason is exactly that it becomes invalid quite quickly. The e-mail address is not useful even as a means for author identity disambiguation. For lucky guys bearing a name like \"John Smith\" in various languages (I am such a case as well), it's relatively common to encounter a guy with the same name, or initials working at the same university, or sharing part of academic history.</p>\n\n<p>A complementary issue to the original question posed is this:</p>\n\n<p><strong>How many times in the last ten years did you used an e-mail address stated in the paper as a means to contact the author(s) of the paper?</strong> </p>\n\n<p>I did so exactly zero times and know of nobody who did so more than that (and yes, I asked several colleagues about this in the course of the last few years).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2907, "author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX", "author_id": 725, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>While I like <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/2886/725\">Tobias' approach</a> I agree that it is overkill. However, I wonder whether it would just be a rather simple solution to give two email adresses of the corresponding author: the institutional and the stable personal one.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, while I do sometimes contact authors using the contact email address, I consider this a convenience rather than a necessity.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>It is usually quite easy to track down the author even if he moved on. People at the old institute usually know where he went.</p></li>\n<li><p>If the author has been moving on so often that the old institute doesn't know any longer where to find him, </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>usually that means that he (or the institute) moved to a different field,</li>\n<li>and this happens mostly for papers that were published quite a while ago (but if he has continued working in that field, you usually find newer work with newer contact address)</li>\n<li>consequently, there's a high probability that he anyways doesn't remember the details I want to ask...</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2977, "author": "N. Virgo", "author_id": 1534, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1534", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>When I see a gmail address on a paper I think &quot;this is an IT-savvy author who realises their current institutional email address will probably be gone in a few years and wants people to be able to contact them after that.&quot; It doesn't look at all unprofessional to me.</p>\n<p>But if you're concerned about the appearance of such an address, one solution would be to register your own domain name and have an email address like <code>[email protected]</code>, which forwards to (for example) a gmail account. You can also put your own academic web site at this domain, meaning you can take that with you when you change institutions as well.</p>\n<p>_{(Edit from years later: if you do this, make sure that you will be able to keep the domain name registered decades hence. I didn't receive emails from the registration company I used - ironically, because my email address changed - and consequently the domain now points to a spam site, and I can't get it back. So I'm kind of glad I stuck with gmail for my publications.)\n}</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2985, "author": "Federico Poloni", "author_id": 958, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Eventually, if <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORCID\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">ORCID</a> (discussed also <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/2982/958\">in this answer</a>) takes momentum (and it seems it will, since it is backed by the most important publishers), it could solve this problem: the paper contains the ORCID number of the author, and points to an online profile which the researcher themselves can update.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 14727, "author": "Namey", "author_id": 7930, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7930", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>We should just use the email of our current academic institution, and academic institutions should provide user-controlled forwarding of some type (so people don't need to ask a sys admin if their forwarding address changes). Simple, effective.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should we (well, the ones of us that have tenure and power) put pressure on system administrator to change this practice?\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes. Unqualifiedly. In my opinion, any institution that fails to do that does a massive disservice to its students and non-tenured researchers (i.e., anyone who might leave during their career). Email forwarding is not hard, nor is it costly. If someone tells me their institution doesn't forward, I would suspect they have a mediocre administrative infrastructure for research. Research institutions are built on the successes of their professors and professor's successes are built (in part) on the success of their students and research staff. If you could improve your school's standing in the research community by one peg by adding email forwarding, wouldn't it look pretty stupid not to do it?</p>\n\n<p>Disconnecting those researchers' emails entirely is a small but non-trivial obstacle that could impact their research careers, which trickles back to the institution (particularly with PhD recipients). They might miss out on invitations to collaborate, book chapters, and even a heads-up on job opportunities. To those who say \"Well, I always Google anyway,\" you probably aren't emailing a couple dozen people to contribute to a book (or, for an encyclopedia, think 100+ contributors). If you did and a couple emails bounced, how much time will you spend trying to hunt down the new emails?</p>\n\n<p>I've been affiliated with an institution that did provide email forwarding, by a mechanism that I thought was pretty flexible. At the end of your time there, they closed down your email account after a couple months (the storage, that is). You could request that your emails be forwarded to an alumni address. This alumni address was controlled by you, in terms of where it forwarded.</p>\n\n<p>So then, you would do the following:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Create an alumni address</li>\n<li>Set up your original email at the institution to forward to the alumni account</li>\n<li>Set up the alumni address to forward to a stable account (e.g., Gmail)</li>\n<li>Emails to either your original or alumni emails would forward to the permanent email</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>So long as your permanent email doesn't change, you only need to do this process once per institution. Even if you did change your permanent email, it would take only a small amount of time to re-route your forwarding (one re-route per past institution). </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2872", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2880, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Considering that public telephone directories with names, addresses, and phone numbers have been around for decades, I don't think there's a significant risk of identity theft here. You could consider using a distinct email for your resume such that if you begin getting too much spam you could manage it separately, but even that's probably not necessary.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2881, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Supporting @eykanal, it is not a big issue since data pertaining to many of the social network accounts are not completely private and many do have access to them for various reasons. One option is to put your university/office address on your CV since your name would in general be there on the university website. Also, as a side point at least do not put your photograph on the CV.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2884, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I know many professors and graduate students who post full information in their website copy of the CV, including home address &amp; home/cell telephone numbers.</p>\n\n<p>I don't think posting this kind of information is necessary at all for the online CV. I guess most readers/browsers of your <em>online</em> resume are interested in learning about your background, education, honors, grants, projects, experience, positions, and publications, rather than calling you on the phone, or paying you a home visit. Including your email adress is enough I guess.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2889, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>To complement the other answers, very often nowadays home address and home phone can be suppressed, and, indeed, are not \"public\" information in the U.S. Workplace contact info suffices.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2878", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1476/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2894, "author": "Federico Poloni", "author_id": 958, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As a referee, I would not have problems with either way of referencing your previous paper. I would be more pissed off if I checked one of your earlier papers and found that a section was ripped off that without notice.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2895, "author": "410 gone", "author_id": 96, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Firstly, quoting any work, <strong>including your own</strong>, without explicit attribution of the quote, is going to earn you a very bad reputation for plagiarism sooner or later. Just say no.</p>\n\n<p>Secondly, and to state the obvious, the introduction is there to introduce the rest of the paper. As each paper will be unique, so should the introduction be: the point is to lead the user into the paper, rather than to give a grounding in the whole subject area.</p>\n\n<p>Thirdly, why not wrap up all of the things you want to say in all of the papers' introductions, into a single review paper? It would contain all of the literature review, motivations, unsolved problems, areas for future research, that you want to reference in your other papers. And then, those other papers can just briefly &amp; concisely properly reference and quote the relevant bits of that review paper in their introduction. It won't be as brief as <em>\"for review and motivation, see my paper DOI:ABC.DEF.GHI\"</em>, but you should be able to distil the review paper down to a paragraph or two for each subsequent paper, and those words will be unique for each subsequent paper, drawing only on the elements you need for that paper.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2896, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>To what extent is self-plagiarism in non-technical bits considered acceptable? I often see authors recycle paragraphs but I have never seen anyone cut-and-paste the entire section outright.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There is no strict rule about that, apart from the fact that \"the overlap between two papers must not be substantial\". I think it's mostly a matter of content than size. For instance, if you were in your paper to reuse a technique/theory/tool that has been previously defined, by you or someone else. Then having a short section reintroducing the tool (for the sake of the self-containment of the paper) that is a copy/paste from another paper is OK. You found a nice and concise way to present a technique/theory/tool, there is no real need to reinvent it. </p>\n\n<p>However, the introduction is quite different, because that's the part that motivates your paper, and present the results detailed in the paper. There is of course some high-level paragraphs/sentences that you can reuse (The need of general-appraoch is paramount in the context of general-problem because of general-reason), but somehow, if 90% of your introduction is the same than for another paper, then that probably means that either the 10% is not enough as a contribution alone (which doesn't seem to be the case) or that your introduction does not focus enough on why those 10% are important. If the major part of your 90% is background and related work, then move them to explicit sections. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I'd be particularly interested in learning whether norms on this vary across different scientific communities.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I couldn't speak for other communities, but something that is usually frowned upon (but many people still do it) in CS is \"incremental research\", where your next paper is just a small improvement of a previous paper of yours, and where your strategy from the beginning is to maximize the number of publications you can get from one idea, instead of trying to publish directly the full idea. In this context, self-plagiarism, especially in the introduction, could be seen as a blatant proof of incremental research. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How often do scholars find themselves trying to same the same thing in different words to avoid self-plagiarism?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Personally not that often, as I will mostly reuse \"technical\" parts, and try to write from scratch non-technical ones for each paper. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Supposing I insert a sentence to the effect of: \"The introductory section 1.2 is taken verbatim from the author's earlier paper [1].\" How likely are journal editors and reviewers to complain about this?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>For the above reasons, I would complain about it: if your introduction is taken verbatim from another paper, then maybe the contribution of the paper I'm reviewing is not that novel. For background/related work section, I wouldn't bother mentioning that it's a copy/paste from another paper, however, I would certainly like to be directed to \"full\" version of the sections. Also, and that might be something field-specific, some submissions are double-blind, i.e., the reviewers are not supposed to know the identify of the authors, and obvious self-references are forbidden. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2903, "author": "Jukka Suomela", "author_id": 351, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/351", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Typically, you will not write all of these papers simultaneously in parallel, but one after another. And each time you write a new paper related to the topic, you will have a learned a lot more, and you will have a much better idea of how to explain the setting, what are the right definitions, etc.</p>\n\n<p>Therefore you have a very good reason to re-write your introduction for each paper, and tailor it for the specific question studied in this particular paper. And this way there is no risk of anyone accusing you of self-plagiarism.</p>\n\n<p>Incidentally, this way you can even go as far as <em>experiment</em> with different ways of explaining the basic setting of your work, and see if you get different feedback... After all, your introduction is the most important part of your work from the marketing perspective, and it is not easy to get it right.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2905, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There is a very dangerous (for your career) issue here. If your papers are so similar that the same introduction could be repeated almost verbatim in each, it may be that the content of the individual papers don't represent a truly significant advance. As an obvious example, if you are just changing one parameter in your code and running it again, with no new analysis or insight, you will run into trouble and may even get banned from submitting to offended journals.</p>\n\n<p>I realize this is not a direct answer to the question, but I think it may be useful to people interested in this question.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2940, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You should definitely cite everything you copy verbatim, no matter what. (I.e., you should say something like \"the following background information is repeated nearly verbatim from Section 2 of BLAH\", so the situation is unambiguous. It's not enough to cite the source without making the copying clear.)</p>\n\n<p>To see why, note that there are four possible types of people:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>People who think it is OK to copy your own text without citation, and think it is OK with citation.</p></li>\n<li><p>People who think it is not OK without citation, but is OK with citation.</p></li>\n<li><p>People who think it is not OK in either case.</p></li>\n<li><p>People who think it is OK without citation and in fact you must not cite it.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I don't believe people of type 4 exist. This means you should always cite any text you copy (even if you wrote it in the first place). There's no way you can lose: people of type 2 require the citation, people of type 1 don't mind, and people of type 3 are a moot point since they don't want you to copy it in the first place.</p>\n\n<p>In practice, I think a large majority of academics are type 2, but it really doesn't matter.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 7458, "author": "Leon palafox", "author_id": 2806, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Recently, we submitted a paper to an IEEE Journal, the student in charge, apparently copied large parts of the text from a previous article we had in an IEEE conference.</p>\n\n<p>We got a response letter from the editor that said something like this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Every IEEE paper is checked for instances of plagiarism (including self-plagiarism), and we found that you made extensive use of copy-paste from your previous article BLA to write the current article BLA.\n I'm afraid I can't accept the paper with so much previously Published text.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Just a word of caution for these practices in IEEE Journals and Conferences</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 79913, "author": "Mr. C", "author_id": 64877, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64877", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Imo self plagiarism is an absurd concept. Because the very name implies that you have stolen your own ideas. Which is impossible.</p>\n\n<p>A lot of if not all of what gets labelled as self plagiarism should really be called academic dishonesty.</p>\n\n<p>There is also a huge cultural divide here. In some countries/cultures reusing your own work is not only acceptable but is in fact encouraged. After all if I have already written an image manipulation library that utilises the gpu writing it again from scratch is absurd but updating it to support new gpu features, fixing bugs and releasing it under the gplv3 licese is of course very desirable.</p>\n\n<p>If everything is properly cited (what constitutes a proper citation is again a cultural issue) I really don't see any issue with using this code for several courses if it is applicable to them.</p>\n\n<p>Also if an academic institution allows students to take courses similar enough that copy&amp;pasting things between them is viable such an institution is at least partially at fault too.</p>\n\n<p>And then there is the whole semantic issue since self plagiarism is in many languages similar to theft from oneself or to self victimisation (how exactly am I a victim if I take some lsd (well eth-lad since it's better but whatever) and have a nice 10 hour long trip with some nice sensory and mental effects). </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 83308, "author": "f.thorpe", "author_id": 16083, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16083", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p><a href=\"http://www.ithenticate.com/plagiarism-detection-blog/bid/65061/What-Is-Self-Plagiarism-and-How-to-Avoid-It#.WHw2JtIrJdJ\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">iThenticate</a> has a white paper called <a href=\"http://www.ithenticate.com/hs-fs/hub/92785/file-5414624-pdf/media/ith-selfplagiarism-whitepaper.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">The Ethics of Self Plagiarism</a>. Within it are reasons not so self-plagiarise, namely copyright issues and the fact that some definitions of plagiarism include copying one's own work (which is contrary to other definitions).</p>\n\n<p>They also go on to give guidelines on how to avoid self-plagiarism, which are helpful:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>• Guideline 10: Authors who submit a manuscript for publication containing data, reviews, conclusions,\n etc., that have already been disseminated in some significant manner (e.g., published as an article in\n another journal, presented at a conference, posted on the internet) must clearly indicate to the editors\n and readers the nature of the previous dissemination.</p>\n \n <p>• Guideline 11: Authors of complex studies should heed the advice previously put forth by Angell &amp;\n Relman (1989). If the results of a single complex study are best presented as a ‘cohesive’ single whole,\n they should not be partitioned into individual papers. Furthermore, if there is any doubt as to whether\n a paper submitted for publication represents fragmented data, authors should enclose other papers\n (published or unpublished) that might be part of the paper under consideration (Kassirer &amp; Angell, 1995).\n Similarly, old data that has been merely augmented with additional data points and that is subsequently\n presented as a new study is an equally serious ethical breach.</p>\n \n <p>• Guideline 12: Because some instances of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and even some writing practices\n that might otherwise be acceptable (e.g., extensive paraphrasing or quoting of key elements of a book)\n can constitute copyright infringement, authors are strongly encouraged to become familiar with basic\n elements of copyright law.</p>\n \n <p>• Guideline 13: While there are some situations where text recycling is an acceptable practice, it may not\n be so in other situations. Authors are urged to adhere to the spirit of ethical writing and avoid reusing\n their own previously published text, unless it is done in a manner consistent with standard scholarly\n conventions (e.g., by using of quotations and proper paraphrasing) (pg. 19-25).</p>\n</blockquote>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2893", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1344/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2899, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The GRE subject tests are useful measuring sticks in disciplines where it's available, as they test understanding in a single discipline in a way that is hopefully \"neutral\" across different schools. </p>\n\n<p>That said, you'll need to have a very strong <em>overall</em> package in order to <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/324/how-do-you-get-a-bad-transcript-past-ph-d-admissions\">overcome the weakness in your GPA</a>. A strong showing on the GRE subject test will help, as will strong letters of recommendation from several of your instructors. These letters should clearly indicate structural reasons why you can't do research, and should find some way to indicate your aptitude for graduate studies. If it is possible, you should also get an official note on your transcript indicating your class rank. </p>\n\n<p>I can't really comment on the funding situation in CS; perhaps one of our other site users can fill in that part of the picture.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2900, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In short, a good GRE score does compensate for your getting an undergraduate degree from \"not among the best institutes\". As for funding, a graduate student in US generally gets funded through either (1) some research project funding, or (2) the department. In the former case you become a Graduate Research Assistance (GRA) where you assist a professor or a researcher in his/her research. In the later case you help the department (through some professor/teacher) in work related to teaching e.g. grading homework and so on. This position is called Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA). Apart form these two ways of getting financial support there is fellowship but that is achieved generally by those with exceptional academic and research experience. </p>\n\n<p>With your background and expertise, the only feasible option is to get a GTA. I would suggest doing your best to get good GRE score (general and specific -CS) and then do a good search on available GTA and write to the professors (top and medium level universities) how you can hep them teach classes. Your cover letter must clearly and honestly state your abilities and interests. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2902, "author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten", "author_id": 440, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Pure anecdote.</p>\n\n<p>I got a peak at the notes that were written on my file¹ at one place I applied to after a ... uh ... less than stellar performance at my undergraduate institution.</p>\n\n<p>Things on the lines of</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Great test scores. What was he doing in school?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That program offered to admit me without support. In fact, a lot of places offered to admit me without support.</p>\n\n<p>Grad school is <em>very</em> hard if you have to work too. The program I eventually chose gave me support about a year in, and it is just as well because I wouldn't have been able to keep it up much longer.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>¹No cloak and dagger stuff here, the reviewers wrote summaries on a sheet affixed to the front of the file which was left were I could see it while the departmental admin stepped out to flag someone down.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2913, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Regarding research, I don't have possibility of doing any research and it is not a top priority here, so we aren't provided opportunities for research.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>For purposes of graduate school admissions, any self-directed intellectual activity counts as research. Have you contributed to any open-source projects? Have you written any Android or iPhone apps? Did you solve all the double-starred problems in Hopcroft and Ullman? Did you write a confluently persistent graph data structure library? Did you participate in (or better yet, coach for) the International Olympiad in Informatics? What about Google Summer of Code? Do you contribute regularly to a StackExchange site? Have you rebuilt a pinball machine? <strong>These are all real examples.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Research opportunities are not something you're <em>provided</em>; they're something you <em>hunt down and kill</em>.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2897", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1487/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2904, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I'm not a recruiter (we have some here, I hope they'll answer to you), but I've been applying to quite a fair number of positions in the past years, so I can tell you how I've <em>felt</em> I've been judged and evaluated. </p>\n\n<p>For a project postdoc (i.e., a postdoc where your research plan is already predefined), you need to prove that you can address the research problem of the project. I've usually felt that the evaluation process could be quite fast, and in this case, you might be judged a bit in the absolute: if there is another candidate with a better application (which is of course not limited to your publication track), she might be selected. Furthermore, in this case, the problem could mostly be the fact that you can't work full-time: if I have a budget for a 1 or 2 years postdoc, I might not be able to use the 25% of the budget elsewhere, so I might have little incentive in hiring a 75% postdoc. </p>\n\n<p>For a permanent academic position, there are a priori hiring for life, and you might be more judged on your long-term research agenda. I've been applying to some positions in the UK, and all the forms ask you to indicate if you have any disability and if you need some specific treatment (for instance, if you are in a wheelchair, you might not be able to access some parts of the building). I would think that having a part-time is not necessarily a problem, as they can probably reuse the 25% of the budget (but of course, that would completely depend on the university). </p>\n\n<p>In general, I've had the feeling that you're judged before all on how you have used the resources you had, and how you have progressed, rather than a simple look at your publication list. An academic application is quite huge, you can have a cover letter, a research statement, a teaching statement, a description of your best publications, a full academic CV, and some recommendation letters. </p>\n\n<p>So, in summary, from how I can see people think and act in academia, I don't think they would care about your illness, and you should be evaluated taking that factor into account. The main question might rather be whether they would be interested in a part-time position. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2908, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Self-identifying a disability at some stage during the interview process is usually in your best interest. Being upfront with a potential employer can make all the difference, especially because of the legal protections it affords you in most academic settings. It's also important because then expectations are properly set at the beginning of the process, rather than having to \"adjust\" later on.</p>\n\n<p>Additionally, many application processes (at least in the EU) allow for self-identification of illnesses and handicaps that could \"slow down\" one's career. This allows one to \"lengthen\" the eligibility clocks for many programs. This helps to ameliorate the problems you mentioned of being judged against a cohort that has had more time to work.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2901", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2910, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think the primary issue is the fact that because different publishers are responsible for maintaining the different author and referee databases, it's impractical (or perhaps even impossible) to share them between different journals. If you had the ability to get somebody else's database, it would be a potentially tempting target. So I think that everything is locked to a specific journal, without the ability to transfer between them. You can probably use the same login information for all of the different journals, but you'll need to register for each one separately.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2958, "author": "Jasper Simons", "author_id": 1523, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1523", "pm_score": 3, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Thank you for your question. My name is Jasper Simons and I work for Thomson Reuters, the organization behind ScholarOne. Our platform is configured by our publishers as they service their authors and editors. Publishers seek to maximize the value they offer to their journals, their editors and their authors through specific configurations of the ScholarOne peer-review workflow. This doesn't address your concern, but I hope that it sheds some light on the reasoning behind the multiple login requirements for authors. In short, there is one ScholarOne platform but there are many site configurations.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 44337, "author": "JanK", "author_id": 33719, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33719", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I understand there is a reson for keeping it separate, but ScholarOne allows to connect to ORCID to get information from it (sadly only gets name and few other bits, not a real help).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 148637, "author": "Greg Mowery", "author_id": 122341, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/122341", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The ScholarOne platform is very capable of allowing a user to have a single login across all journals. Unfortunately, each journal (or in some cases publishers) has required their user accounts to not be shared with other journals or publishers. @aeismail answer pretty much sums up the reason (its not impossible however). At ScholarOne, we realize this is probably the most frustrating parts of the system, and are always looking for ways to help reduce the pain associated with this. </p>\n\n<p>Disclaimer: I am an employee at ScholarOne, but my posts and opinions are my own!</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2906", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/384/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2912, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>From my experience, researchers are free to re-use a given dataset as many times as they want in numerous publications. I've been involved in single datasets (which, admittedly, took years to build) that generated <em>dozens</em> of papers, and that is by no means a unique scenario. My understanding is that researchers are to refrain from publishing an identical analysis on an identical dataset in different papers. If you're using a single dataset for multiple analyses, there's no need to re-generate the data.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 8038, "author": "luispedro", "author_id": 166, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/166", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I agree with the other answer that this is a normal occurrence.</p>\n\n<p>To avoid any confusion, be clear and cite the previous publication as the source/original presentation of the data. It is <em>not citing</em> (even yourself), which is an ethical breach, as it makes it seem that have done more than you really have.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2911", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2916, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In Belgium, we have two kinds of ways of paying PhD students. One is a bursary, which is untaxed. The other is a salary, which is taxed. The amount the student gets in the hand is roughly the same, though there are factors such as amount of experience, whether there's a family and/or children, etc, that affect the value.</p>\n\n<p>Whether a bursary or salary was offered depends upon where the funding comes from. In practice, the tasks of the students in each case are the same. No additional money is provided for tutoring, though it is expected that students help out with tutoring and other activities.</p>\n\n<p>Tuition fees (less that 1000 euro per year) are not covered by the scholarship. Money for books is not provided, though in our department students can order books for the library and keep them on their desk for as long as they want to. Sufficient money for conference attendance is generally available, independent of the scholarship, as far as the student is concerned (which means, managed collectively by the supervisor).</p>\n\n<p>Belgian PhD students earn a comparatively good amount of money, I think almost the highest among PhD students in Europe. (I can't find a reference for that at the moment.) </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2918, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Taxation does depend very much on the country, as well as the type of award you receive. The amounts similarly vary from nation to nation. To give two examples:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>In the US, scholarships and fellowship stipends are taxed as ordinary income. However, in some cases, for externally funded awards, you need to be careful, as the university might <em>not</em> withhold taxes. In that case, however, you would need to make estimated tax payments, as you are still responsible for paying the tax \"on time!\" \nDon't forget that your tax burden may also include <em>state</em> and <em>local</em> income taxes, depending on where you live. Making matters even more complicated, cost of living fluctuates wildly: you're probably better off with a $25,000 award in the midwest than a $35,000 or $40,000 award in New York City.</p></li>\n<li><p>In other countries, the system can vary. In Germany, for instance, graduate fellowships are not taxed, while \"standard\" graduate positions, which are considered employees of the state, are taxed. At the same time, however, people receiving the taxed positions receive health benefits and pay into the social security system. Stipend recipients are responsible for their own health insurance, and do not accrue time in the social security system. </p></li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2934, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>When thinking about taxation you need to consider how tuition and fees are handled. Under some circumstances, you could be responsible for paying tax on the money used to pay your tuition.</p>\n\n<p>You also need to think about minimum earnings. If your only income is your scholarship, the tax burden will be small. If you have additional income, then the additional tax burden from the scholarship could be very large.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 5230, "author": "Herman Toothrot", "author_id": 4050, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4050", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I am in a similar situation. Based on my research on departments in Canada, Australia, and the US, as already been mentioned the stipend is always taxed. Sometimes though you are in a lower tax bracket.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: I found this information about the UK</p>\n\n<p>Income Tax \n58. Payments made as part of a NERC studentship are not regarded as income for income tax purposes.<br>\nStudents should note, however, that earnings received during the final year from sources such as teaching \nand demonstrating should be aggregated with income from post-award employment when assessing income \ntax liability for the tax year in which the award ends. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2914", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1243/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2922, "author": "Federico Poloni", "author_id": 958, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Every school has its own requirements: typically, letters of recommendation, GRE tests, language tests. Check them with much advance: 1 year is not too soon, especially if you are applying for a US school as a foreigner.</p>\n\n<p>Apart from that, nothing special: have a good academic record, and make sure that the first Google result for your name is not a college party Facebook picture in which you are drunken and naked.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2923, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<ul>\n<li>Get good grades. </li>\n<li>Make sure (some of) your lecturers know who you are, so that you can ask for a recommendation letter.</li>\n<li>Get involved in some kind of research, either a thesis or something extracurricular.</li>\n<li>Work out what topic you want to study; at least have a first idea.</li>\n<li>Select relevant coursework based on the previous point.</li>\n<li>Don't be afraid of going abroad. Prepare yourself mentally for this <strong>now</strong>, so when the time comes to actually decide, you'll be ready. Check details such as visa requirements, as these can take 3-4 months to obtain.</li>\n<li>Research good universities who do what you want to do. Find out about their application procedure is and their deadline. </li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2943, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Apart from @Dave 's quite long list, I would also like to mention that by now you may decide on what area of research are you interested in and feel most confident about. This would help you to find the right professor/adviser and university and also keep you motivated in all good and bad times during your PhD.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2917", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/827/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2924, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>This recent <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100113/full/463148a.html\"><em>Nature</em> news item</a> would seem to suggest rather strongly that SCIRP is not a serious outfit. Given the ethical improprieties mentioned in that article, staying away from such journals with a ten-foot pole (or longer) seems advisable.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3140, "author": "JRN", "author_id": 64, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Scientific Research Publishing is currently listed in <a href=\"http://metadata.posterous.com/83235355\">Beall's List of Predatory, Open-Access Publishers</a>, so it isn't a good idea to submit papers to their journals.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 7766, "author": "Nate Eldredge", "author_id": 1010, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Yes, I do indeed have some direct experience with them. I've <a href=\"http://thatsmathematics.com/blog/archives/102\">written about it on my blog</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Summary: The SCIRP journal <em>Advances in Pure Mathematics</em> provisionally accepted a randomly-generated nonsense paper. This seems a clear indication that their peer-review process is a sham, and that they are essentially a vanity press, and not a \"serious outfit\" at all.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 8567, "author": "Anon", "author_id": 6211, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6211", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you have preprints posted on a preprint server or on the arXiv, they will ask you to remove them before reviewing your work. I am unaware of other open access publishers who insist that all prior revisions of a work be removed before the current version is reviewed. Submission to a preprint server such as the arXiv is encouraged by some journals in some fields (e.g., mathematics). Removal from the arXiv is all but impossible after submission. The refereeing process does not strike me as serious, e.g., referees have been known to ask authors to remove citations to personal communications from submitted manuscripts. There is nothing wrong with citing correspondence; disallowing such citations is bizarre, goes against accepted scholarly practice and, at worst, encourages plagiarism.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2919", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/495/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2921, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would argue that so-called \"travel junkets\"—such as conferences with dubious scientific or technical content—that are organized in exotic locales <em>more</em> to provide a vacation for attendees than to provide a rewarding scientific exchange are largely indefensible, and I certainly would not authorize use of my group's travel funds to attend such conferences, either for myself or for my group members.</p>\n\n<p>However, I see nothing wrong with combining a high-quality scientific program with pleasant surroundings and environments that make attending more of a pleasure. Academics are humans, too, and can certainly enjoy aesthetics and exploration just as much as anybody else! For instance, I much prefer attending conferences in cities like Boston or San Francisco in the US than I do conferences in (for example) Cincinnati or Salt Lake City, because of the range of things to do and see in the former cities is so much greater than in the latter. That doesn't mean I won't go to the latter—but it does mean that the conference will have to do a better job of selling itself than one that's located somewhere more \"interesting.\"</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2925, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Fairness is not a point at all in the organisation of conferences. The goals of the organisers of an event (scientific or not) is to have as much incentive as possible for people to come. \nIndeed, most of the time, the organisation part has to be done <em>before</em> knowing the exact number of attendees, and the organisers still need to cover the expenses in terms of room rental, catering, etc. There are many ways to attract researchers for a conference: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Organise a high quality conference, where the scientific interest alone make it worth to come. </li>\n<li>Select a \"paradise\" location, such that the attendees can just show up for their session, and then relax on the beach or on the ski slopes. </li>\n<li>Select an \"interesting\" location, where people wouldn't go normally in vacation, but that could be a good opportunity. </li>\n<li>Select a quiet place, with few distractions, allowing the attendees to focus as much as possible on work. The <a href=\"http://www.dagstuhl.de/en/program/dagstuhl-seminars/\">Dagstuhl seminars</a> are quite famous for that. </li>\n<li>Select a conveniently located place, such that it will be easy (and cheap) for many attendees to come. </li>\n<li>Select a \"cheap\" place, for instance by organising during summer in a university, where you get the rooms for free, and where housing can be cheap. It can be a nice way to attract many students. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Clearly, in general, it's a mix of those, and you can't maximise all of them. And then, as aeismail said, it's a matter of whether you can get funding to attend the conference. But the question of whether is fair or not is not really relevant. </p>\n\n<p>EDIT: I have rephrased the answer following David's comment. Clearly, an important point is that there is always a targeted audience for any event. If you want to organise a conference on an extremely specific topic, maybe there are only 20 researchers who could be interested. The job of the organisers is therefore to find the best way to attract as many as possible from these 20. I also want to make the difference between the <em>reason</em> behind organising an event, e.g., advance science, create collaboration, make money (for some scam conf) and the goals to reach in terms of organisation. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 35348, "author": "Ian", "author_id": 9902, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9902", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Often a “beautiful tourist place”</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Has cheap flights to it.</li>\n<li>Has cheap hotels.</li>\n<li>Has lots of flights to it.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Even for conferences that only have people from the UK going, it can often be more cost effective to run them outside of the UK.</p>\n\n<p>But even given the above, it can be a problem being seen to be going if public funds are paying. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2920", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/379/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2927, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You should not accept both.</p>\n\n<p>To check the rules, you should notify each of the providers, in case this is not allowed by one of the universities. I know of one student thrown out of two universities because of this (one of them was a Dutch university). This is more or less equivalent to <strong>goodbye academic career</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>You may be able to get funding from one university and supplement it with further funding from the same university, assuming that this is within the rules.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2931, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Dave's answer is mostly correct: you should not accept both <em>without the explicit written permission of both scholarship providers.</em></p>\n\n<p>Some scholarships can be combined, if the fellowship sponsor allows it. However, in general, large-scale fellowships cannot usually be accepted in conjunction with other fellowships. You'll need to choose one or the other. </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if you're talking about actual scholarships—by which I mean cash awards directly to you, without being tied to a specific course of study at a specific university—the rules may be more relaxed. </p>\n\n<p>The important thing is to read the rules and conditions associated with each award, and then to ask the sponsors if you have any questions.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2926", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1243/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2942, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Actually, this greatly depends on where you get your degree from. Sometimes people who have done just MS are able to get to the bottom of the thing and can use their knowledge of statistics on a practical level. It depends on how solid your concepts are. Once you are in some position earned through your sound academic record you can grow quite fast.</p>\n\n<p>So, if you have good record (not just grades but grasp), you may be able to get to the same level of salary as a PhD would. This is because statistics is an applied branch and is in demand.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2983, "author": "carandraug", "author_id": 1539, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1539", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Well, there's something different to consider. As a MS student you pay to study. As a PhD, you are paid to study. I know that depends between countries but where I am, a MS is terribly expensive. </p>\n\n<p>The only reasons I see to do a MS instead of a PhD is when someone doesn't have good enough grades to get into a PhD or because they want to shift their area a lot: for example, a chemist taking a master in Biochemistry because he wants a PhD in Cell biology.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2928", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1502/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2930, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There are no explicit regulations regarding impact factors; the definition is too simple. (In terms of complexity, it's a lot like calculating a slugging average in baseball. So it's open to a lot of manipulation, and all of it is permissible. However, permissible does <em>not</em> mean ethical, and this is clearly a situation where, if true, the journal editors are trying to manipulate statistics to make their journal look better. Such a policy, if done with the intent of manipulating statistics, is deplorable, and should be denounced—via web campaigns, blog posts, open letters, and so on.</p>\n\n<p>That said, there is a counterargument that is less nefarious in aim. It is possible to argue that you should, in general, cite <em>some</em> article from the journal you're submitting a paper to. If you can't do that, why is your article suitable for submission to that journal (let's call it journal X)? Presumably, there are a number of other journals (A, B, C, etc.) whose works you have cited instead of X. In that case, the journal could argue that your paper is a better fit for journals A, B, and C instead.</p>\n\n<p>Since it's not clear <em>for which reason</em> the journal has the self-citing policy, I would make sure that you can determine it convincingly, one way or the other, to avoid embarrassing yourself. The last thing you want to do is spearhead a campaign that turns a molehill into a mountain.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 10051, "author": "Dikran Marsupial", "author_id": 2827, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2827", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Not quite the same thing, but I was once requested by the EIC of a journal to add some references to papers published in the journal in question to a paper that I had submitted, explicitly to promote the journal by improving its impact factor. I did not comply with this request; the papers that were relevant were already in the reference list. Sadly this sort of thing is becoming increasingly common (as is manipulation of review times etc.), although rejecting a paper on such grounds would be taking things to another level!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 10178, "author": "StasK", "author_id": 739, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The impact factor is what, 3-year moving average? 5-year moving average? Cite something that is 17 or 20 years old, let them have it.</p>\n<p>I wonder, though, if you can find any suitable wording in <a href=\"http://www.amstat.org/about/ethicalguidelines.cfm\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">the Ethical Guidelines of the American Statistical Association</a>, say, that would indicate the editor stepping over them. Article A.10 requires</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Disclose conflicts of interest, financial and otherwise, and resolve them. This may sometimes require divestiture of the conflicting personal interest or withdrawal from the professional activity. Examples where conflict of interest may be problematic include grant reviews, other peer reviews, and tensions between scholarship and personal or family financial interests.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>If the editor is paid more for the greater impact factor, or is more likely to get promoted, then of course this constitutes a clear conflict of interest. This is not as ridiculous as it sounds: if editorship of a prestigious journal is considered to be a part of the service component of a university professor evaluation, and the said editor claims in their annual report that the IF of the journal went up last year, and finally that on the basis of this claim the professor gets their annual raise, then the causal chain does link the greater impact factor with money.</p>\n<p>Articles H.4 and H.5 state:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Support sound statistical analysis and expose incompetent or corrupt statistical practice. In cases of conflict, statistical practitioners and those employing them are encouraged to resolve issues of ethical practice privately. If private resolution is not possible, recognize that statistical practitioners have an ethical obligation to expose incompetent or corrupt practice before it can cause harm to research subjects or society at large.</p>\n<p>Recognize that within organizations and within professions using statistical methods generally, statistics practitioners with greater prestige, power, or status have a responsibility to protect the professional freedom and responsibility of more subordinate statistical practitioners who comply with these guidelines.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>So the editor, being in the position of power, has this responsibility to protect your professional freedom of citing whatever you consider relevant. You, however, also have the ethical obligation to expose the corrupt practices... which you are doing here on this website, and I commend you for reaching out.</p>\n<p>I think it is appropriate to send an email to the leader of whatever professional organization you expect the editors to be members of, and inquire whether the request for citations would constitute a breach in the ethics. Knowing a little bit about how ASA works, I can help you identify the relevant person.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2929", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2938, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In general, this is allowed, even encouraged. </p>\n\n<p>The answer depends on what kind of book you are publishing. If it is the regular dissertation, then you can publish in journals. If it is a properly published book by Springer or equivalent, then I doubt that you can publish again.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2941, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>As a general rule, you cannot publish anything as original research that has already been published. (You may be able to reprint it in other venues, but most research journals do not do this.)</p>\n\n<p>Of course, the trick is what counts as \"already published\". Nowadays, many publishers (including all mathematics publishers, for example) do not count informal distribution on the internet as prior publication. It's common not to count extended abstracts from conference proceedings, although the journal may require some revisions or extensions. Nobody counts submitting a dissertation as prior publication, even if the university makes it available for download or purchase, and technical reports are generally in the same category.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, publication as a \"real book\" definitely counts as prior publication and would rule out journals. Of course, this just brings up the question of what a \"real book\" is. Basically, if it's published by a serious academic publisher, with some nontrivial selection and editorial advice, then that counts as publication. On the other hand, if it's some random publisher printing copies of Ph.D. theses and selling them online, then you could make a strong case that it's not really published (and that this is not so different from ordering a dissertation copy).</p>\n\n<p>However, I think you need to discuss this explicitly when submitting your paper. For example, you could add a sentence to your submission letter along the lines of \"This work is based on my thesis from University X, which is available for sale by Y but has not been traditionally published\". It's much better to deal with this upfront than to have someone later ask \"Wait, why is someone selling copies of this work online?\"</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2937", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1513/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2949, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>The context for what the CV is going to be used for is key. I have a single CV that includes \"everything\" since I started grad school and selected things from before then including seemingly unimportant part time jobs. Having a long CV makes it easier for me to create short CVs because it means I need to delete things instead of remember things.</p>\n\n<p>For your intended context, I would not include the work experience, but might include the degree in politics. Including that degree will likely lead people looking at your CV to think you are older (which might be a pro or a con). If you are worried about age discrimination, I would drop it completely.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2954, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Your intuition is correct; filler like that is very easily detected as filler. However, it does serve a useful purpose, in that it informs the person reading the CV what you've been doing for the past few years. If you do mention anything, I would just list the single most recent item. Any more than that would simply exaggerate the fact that you made a career shift, and doesn't provide any useful information.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2961, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If I understood you correctly, even for getting the side benefits (attending conference,travel funds) you need not include <em>irrelevant</em> information in your CV.</p>\n\n<p>One need not <em>clutter</em> the CV with something that is far from the requirement of the job. It does not matter how many things you did but rather how much of few things you did. These were my thoughts on your question.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2944", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/52/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2947, "author": "Henry", "author_id": 8, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Authorial \"we\" is quite common, even in single author papers (at least in math and related fields). The explanation I've heard is that it should be read as both the writer and the reader (as in \"we now prove...\", meaning that we two shall now prove it together). Some people find it awkward, and insist on \"I\", but this is unusual (and I've heard of referees demanding \"we\"). In cases where \"we\" is truly nonsensical (for instance, introducing a list of people being thanked), people who avoid \"I\" either find an alternate phrasing or refer to themselves in the third person (\"The author would like to thank...\").</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2948, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 8, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Very rarely is 'I' used in scholarly writing (at least in math and the sciences). A much more common choice is 'we', as in &quot;the author and the reader&quot;. For example: &quot;We examine the case when...&quot;</p>\n<p>One exception to this rule is if you're writing a memoir or some other sort of &quot;personal piece&quot; for which the identity of the author is particularly relevant.</p>\n<p>Now let me quote Paul Halmos (Section 12 of &quot;How to Write Mathematics&quot;):</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>One aspect of expository style that frequently bothers beginning authors is the use of the editorial &quot;we&quot;, as opposed to the singular &quot;I&quot;, or the neutral &quot;one&quot;. It is in matters like this that common sense is most important. For what it's worth, I present here my recommendation.</p>\n<p>Since the best expository style is the least obtrusive one, I tend nowadays to prefer the neutral approach. That does <em>not</em> mean using &quot;one&quot; often, or ever; sentences like &quot;one has thus proved that...&quot; are awful. It does mean the complete avoidance of the first person pronouns in either singular or plural. &quot;Since <em>p</em>, it follows that <em>q</em>.&quot; &quot;This implies <em>p</em>.&quot; &quot;An application of <em>p</em> to <em>q</em> yields <em>r</em>.&quot; Most (all ?) mathematical writing is (should be ?) factual; simple declarative statements are the best for communicating facts.</p>\n<p>A frequently effective time-saving device is the use of the imperative. &quot;To find <em>p</em>, multiply <em>q</em> by <em>r</em>.&quot; &quot;Given <em>p</em>, put <em>q</em> equal to <em>r</em>.&quot;...</p>\n<p>There is nothing wrong with the editorial &quot;we&quot;, but if you like it, do not misuse it. Let &quot;we&quot; mean &quot;the author and the reader&quot; (or &quot;the lecturer and the audience&quot;). Thus, it is fine to say &quot;Using Lemma 2 we can generalize Theorem 1&quot;, or &quot;Lemma 3 gives us a technique for proving Theorem 4&quot;. It is not good to say &quot;Our work on this result was done in 1969&quot; (unless the voice is that of two authors, or more, speaking in unison), and &quot;We thank our wife for her help with the typing&quot; is always bad.</p>\n<p>The use of &quot;I&quot;, and especially its overuse, sometimes has a repellent effect, as arrogance or ex-cathedra preaching, and, for that reason, I like to avoid it whenever possible. In short notes, obviously in personal historical remarks, and perhaps, in essays such as this, it has its place.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>You can download the pdf of <a href=\"http://www.math.washington.edu/~lind/Resources/Halmos.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Halmos' complete essay</a>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2957, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In single-author papers, I think consistency trumps any particular rule or style. As the Haimos essay suggests, you can achieve whatever style you choose; you just need to make sure that it makes sense.</p>\n\n<p>For instance, don't switch back and forth between \"I\" and \"we,\" or between active and passive constructions too close to one another. Make the use of \"I\" and \"we\" clear to indicate active participation in the project (for instance, for assumptions or approximations made, <em>you</em> choose that—unless it's something <em>everybody</em> does).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 45270, "author": "Pouya", "author_id": 12666, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12666", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There are already two good answers for this entry, one is also accepted. But I'm going to give my two cent answer anyway... </p>\n\n<p>This is what I learned from a workshop on writing scientific texts. Basically, my suggestion would be avoid using either \"we\" or \"I\" in the whole paper, except the \"Experiment and results\" section¹. The idea is that by using passive form in the text, you avoid both issues related to being egotistical or ungrammatical. </p>\n\n<p>Then in the \"Experiment and results\" you use \"We\"². Why not using passive form in \"Experiment\" section? Well, you could but the idea here is that these results can be produced by everyone, including readers. So \"we\" is not referring to author(s), but to author(s) and readers.\n<hr>\n_{1. This might not be the case in fields that papers do not have an experimental section.}\n<br>_{2. Once could object that this will result in inconstancy in paper which is a valid objection.}</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 100518, "author": "Nat", "author_id": 38709, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38709", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<h3>The &quot;<em>royal we</em>&quot; works</h3>\n<p>The <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_we\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">&quot;<em>royal we</em>&quot;</a> suggests a hypothetical population of peers who hold some position. This hypothetical population may-or-may-not include the reader, at the reader's option. And since it's a hypothetical population with a subjective number of members, &quot;<em>we</em>&quot; is appropriate.</p>\n<p>Even if you're talking about a real-world action that you did to perform a specific experimental step, it's still accurate to describe the hypothetical population as having performed that action.</p>\n<p>This approach has a few advantages:</p>\n<ol>\n<li><p>It's easier for readers to put themselves into your shoes as a member of the population engaging in the study.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>It avoids distracting the reader with inconsistent pronouns for the authors across papers.</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n" }, { "answer_id": 100520, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>When not faced with a journal/publisher specific style, my go to style guide is APA. I really like the APA style blog. In this <a href=\"http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2014/05/me-me-me.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">post</a> they explain:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If you’re writing a paper alone, use I as your pronoun. If you have coauthors, use we.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>They go on to lash out against the editorial <em>we</em></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>However, avoid using we to refer to broader sets of people—researchers, students, psychologists, Americans, people in general, or even all of humanity—without specifying who you mean (a practice called using the editorial “we”). This can introduce ambiguity into your writing.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There is also another <a href=\"http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/09/use-of-first-person-in-apa-style.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">related post</a> about using <em>we</em> and avoiding ambiguity.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 101704, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It's field-dependent. English teachers told me the following:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>In STEM you use \"we\" for \"the reader and the author(s)\", regardless of how many authors you have. (Note that the \"royal we\" would be the wrong term, since the authors don't wish to sound as ostentatious in \"we, the king of ...\".)</p></li>\n<li><p>In languages, you use \"I\" if you are the sole author.</p></li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2945", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2952, "author": "Pieter Naaijkens", "author_id": 22, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>This is basically the last chance to fix anything (non-substantial) in the paper, so in addition to the things you mentioned, I usually check for spelling or grammatical errors, misprints in formulas, etc. Sometimes one might want to add a sentence to clarify something.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, if the journal did any copy-editing, you should check its job. Some journals provide a list of changes they made for that purpose. You should also check if the pictures and formulas are still in the right places.</p>\n\n<p>Added: sometimes it's necessary to update the literature list, for example if preprints cited there have been published in the meantime.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2953, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Between your manuscript being accepted and the proofs being created two things are likely to happen: a copy editor may make changes and portions of the manuscript (e.g., tables) may be retyped (as the manuscript is converted from the format you submitted into the journal format). I know a number of PIs who get two people to look at the proofs. One person reads the proof out loud while the other person compares what was in the submitted version. I know one group that goes sentence-by-sentence backwards. The idea is you never know what will get screwed up in the conversion process. While I like the concept, I spend a lot less time going through the proofs.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2956, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>One other thing to be concerned about is overzealous copy editors, particularly when it comes to highly mathematical papers. In one of the first manuscripts I ever submitted, the copy editor in question decided that what I wrote as (1/2)x really ought to be 1/(2x). This would have completely altered the intent and the results of the derivation and everything that followed!</p>\n\n<p>So, the lesson of this is that you need to check <em>everything</em> that was changed by the copy editors. If they give you a \"mark-up,\" review that first, and then make sure everything has been transferred correctly to the paper. If not, you'll need to go side-by-side with the submitted manuscript and the final proof, and make sure eveyrhing is as you intended it to be.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 4760, "author": "F'x", "author_id": 2700, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I always proofread the full paper, but not necessarily by comparing it word by word with the original. However, I give particular attention to:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Title, authors, affiliations</strong></li>\n<li>Abstract, introduction and conclusion</li>\n<li><p><strong>Figures and figure captions</strong>. In particular:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>quality of the graphics produced</li>\n<li>do color and symbols mentioned in the caption match the figure?</li>\n<li>if the journal has black &amp; white figures in print, is the figure understandable in black and white?</li>\n<li>if the journal has color figures only in the online version: does the caption make sense for both version (color and B&amp;W)?</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li><p><strong>Equations</strong>: most problems I saw introduced during typesetting were in equations. For many publishers, the text is transformed semi-automatically from your original file, but equations are re-keyed by an operator. People make mistakes.</p></li>\n<li><strong>Numbers</strong>: all tables, all inline numbers. Units (a “kJ/mol” might become a “kJ mol”).</li>\n<li><p>References (citations are a key part of doing research):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>if references are hyperlinked (using DOI number), click on each to check that they match the right online paper</li>\n<li>if a paper is “in press” or “accepted for publication” or something else, update its status if it has been published</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li><p>Acknowledgment: somehow, I often find that I might have missed someone in the acknowledgment when writing the initial paper, and for most publishers it is not too late to add them :)</p></li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 17391, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>For those who can afford Adobe Acrobat, there is a function called <a href=\"http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/file-compare-two-pdf-files.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">compare documents</a>. Here is how I usually proceed.</p>\n\n<p>I generate the PDF of my submitted article. My PDF can even miss several items, like tables and figures (often submitted separateley). Then, I proceed to compare <em>the text</em> of my PDF and the proof. Text-only comparison is an option to be checked when comparing the documents.</p>\n\n<p>The following is a screenshot of what I obtain. It is the proof with some highlighted parts of text. When I move the mouse pointer over the highlighted text, I see what the change was. </p>\n\n<p>In the screenshot, I can see that I wrote <em>psychometrics”1.</em> while they wrote <em>psychometrics”.1</em>, inverting the <em>dot</em> and the <em>1</em>.</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/HRIQj.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>The approach works pretty good with tables.</p>\n\n<p>I know it is not a great answer to tell people to buy an expensive proprietary software. However, it works fine for me. Hopefully there is a free/opensource PDF solution that does the same job.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 37910, "author": "Andreas Blass", "author_id": 14506, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>One more thing to watch for if the format has changed, say if you submitted the paper in some garden-variety LaTeX style and the journal converted it to its own style: The new line breaks can create hyphenation errors. In general, TeX is amazingly good at getting hyphenation right, but it's not infallible. One of my papers had the misfortune that \"colimit\" landed on a line break and was hyphenated \"col-imit\".</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2951", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/319/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2964, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>A good letter of support, in my mind, should:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Convey a clear understanding of the proposal in question;</li>\n<li>Demonstrate that the letter writer is in a position to support the application—in other words, she has the requisite experience to contribute;</li>\n<li>Clearly indicate what the writer will do to support the grant in the event it gets funded.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I recently contributed such a letter for an educational grant. I cited my research, which was a fit for the program; and conveyed support for the program as the academic administrator of a summer program as well as a mentor in that same program. I also clearly conveyed my intention to support the program by directly mentoring a program fellow.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2968, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There are usually specific guidelines for letters of support. For example, the NSF discourages letters of support for typical grant applications unless the support letter lists concrete things the letter writer will be contributing to the project (and then those things need to be listed). Since you're writing a letter for someone else's application, it's best to ask them. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2970, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Avoid writing anything negative in the letter, even if it is constructive criticism. Some committees processing grant applications will use any evidence they can find to kill a proposal. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2962", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/386/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2965, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I <strong>don't know of any such journal</strong>. The closest I've come to this is that often <strong>after I've listened to a talk, I've asked the speaker for his slides</strong>. I can't recall ever being turned down. Alternatively, if you can't attend a talk, you might still ask the speaker for his/her slides. This request will likely be a bit more successful in person, but even via email it can't hurt to try.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2969, "author": "walkmanyi", "author_id": 1265, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I do not know about any such journal. But one idea could be to archive your papers on a pre-print server, such as arXiv and always append your slides as an appendix. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2984, "author": "mac389", "author_id": 28, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>All the Nature journals and Science make their figures available as PPT slides with the captions available as comments, presumably to facilitate their use in journal clubs. Tinkering with something such as TikZ for a bit will tell you that it's not trivial to productively annotate equations. </p>\n\n<p>Perhaps, and I don't say this glibly, you would deepen your understanding of difficult papers by making the slides you wish you had. It helped me.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 27264, "author": "Dmitry Savostyanov", "author_id": 17418, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Elsevier journals now offer <a href=\"http://www.elsevier.com/about/content-innovation/audioslides-author-presentations-for-journal-articles\" rel=\"nofollow\">AudioSlides</a>, </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>short, webcast-style presentations that are shown next to the online article on ScienceDirect. This format gives authors the opportunity to present their research in their own words, helping readers to quickly understand what a paper is about and appreciate its relevance.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Hopefully this is what you're looking for.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 27265, "author": "Peter Jansson", "author_id": 4394, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>With many, perhaps most) journals it is possible to add materials,often referred to as <em>Supplementary Material</em> or <em>Supporting Information</em> or something similar. This can be word files, powerpoint files, excel files (or equivalents), media files (sound, movies, animations) containing material that support the article but cannot be accommodated within the usual journal format. </p>\n\n<p>I am, however, not sure if a slide presentation of the article material would be permitted since it would not necessarily add anything new but rather be a simplification of the article content.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2963", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2967, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the olden days, you could buy little sticky circles that you'd place around the holes and this would prevent the pages tearing out of the binder.</p>\n\n<p>Another approach is to put the whole thing in a box.</p>\n\n<p>Or maybe scan the document and carry it around on your iPad – that's probably the modern solution.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2972, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Find someone who has access to a document scanner and scan it. Our departmental copier/printer can also scan (I think the spec is 100 ppm), so 2000 pages will take a while, but not forever.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: Have you contacted the author to see if an electronic version is available?</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2973, "author": "Rody Oldenhuis", "author_id": 1243, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1243", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>You could take the book to a copy shop, and have it binded properly (e.g., hot glue, hardback, etc.). Here in the Netherlands, that costs about 3 euros for a simple but effective glued back. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 48909, "author": "kirsten", "author_id": 37294, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/37294", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Manufacturers should either reinforce the page edges or stop hole-punching the pages; the paper is just too thin for the books to be used in 3-ring binders. One solution I found is to use reinforcing strips. They are pre-cut to page-size (10.75\" by 1\"), but are not hole-punched. You stick them on the page edge and then hole-punch it. You don't necessarily need to reinforce all of the pages of your book, just the first few pages in the front and back and the occasional page that gets torn out.</p>\n\n<p>One of the advantages of loose-leaf books is that you don't have to carry all of the chapters in your backpack. You can take the chapter you are reading, and possibly the index, glossary, answers, etc., and leave the rest of the weight at home. One way to do this is to use swing-clip or zip-up report covers. Since the covers can be reused, this is also an environmentally-friendly way to solve the problem. After all, one of the reasons loose-leaf books are made is to reduce waste, especially for books that become outdated each year when a new edition is printed. Loose-leaf books require less material to manufacture and less fuel to ship.</p>\n\n<p>One final idea is to bind the book using binding post screws or brads (available at office supply stores). Make a cover for your book with two pieces of cardboard (possibly from the backs of old notebooks), hole-punch, place your pages inside, and then bind the whole thing with screws or brads.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 48912, "author": "Jeff", "author_id": 1171, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1171", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I use Acco Pressboard Covers for exactly this purpose, and they work great.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 54810, "author": "Jen Noon", "author_id": 41462, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/41462", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>These work wonderfully.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.bindingdepot.com/Shop-BD/Chicago-SCREW-POSTS/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.bindingdepot.com/Shop-BD/Chicago-SCREW-POSTS/</a></p>\n\n<p>you can break it up into groups of chapters, but make a copy of the front table of contents and the back index for each bound group that you want. these posts unscrew so you can switch it around when you want.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 154600, "author": "user128927", "author_id": 128927, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/128927", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I use a binder AND a pressboard. In the binder I use tabbed dividers, one at table of contents one at the break between chapters I am currently using and one at the start of the index. Then in the press board I only have the current working chapter.\nIt works for me. My original idea was just to pressboard all the chapters but I ran out of them before I got done, so binder and 1 pressboard.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 154604, "author": "sam", "author_id": 123704, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/123704", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the past, I have bought a small 3 ring binder, and just removed 1 chapter at a time to put in the binder. The great thing about this is you don't have to carry around hundreds of pages the entire year, when you only are using a few dozen at a time.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2966", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1526/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2974, "author": "Roaring Fish", "author_id": 864, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/864", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Pros... it certainly doesn't do any harm, you will learn something, and there is always the personal development aspect.</p>\n\n<p>Cons... if you are going to make the effort to get a second Masters, why not build on the existing Masters and get a PhD? That is worth a lot more than a second Masters.</p>\n\n<p>MBA... in my opinion, not worth a thing. A con. Not a true Masters by any standard.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2975, "author": "Aaron", "author_id": 1508, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1508", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Learning something new is always a plus. Anything that makes you better at what you do and furthers your academic/career goals is definitely a good thing.</p>\n\n<p>It's hard to come up with a \"con\" of having multiple degrees. If I had to come up with something, I would say that it may give the impression that you lack focus for a particular field. So just be prepared to answer questions as to \"why\" you pursued master's degrees (in different fields) in an interview.</p>\n\n<p>To echo what Roaring Fish said; I won't go so far as to say that a MBA is not worth it. But the truth is that many, many people in business have MBAs today. So many, that (my opinion) getting one doesn't help you stand-out professionally any more than having a bachelor's degree does. That is where having a master's degree (or multiple in your case) is a definite plus.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2976, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Since control systems like Mechatronics is related to both Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering (EE) and doing a Masters is not bad but why not get a PhD in EE with Mechatronics as specialization. This would not only take you to a higher level but also deepen your knowledge. But this is only reasonable when you are available full time and are able able to get into a university that offer such course/opportunity. This may not be easy. </p>\n\n<p>Having said that, if you want to just deepen your knowledge of electrical and automation field <strong>which you think is must for you</strong>, it is faster to do a Masters. I do not think it has any big disadvantage. In addition, it is relatively easier to get into a program (including part time).</p>\n\n<p>As for MBA, if you are thinking of doing it after 5-6 years, why bother about that now. So many things can change by then. Since, it is an entirely different training of your carreer, I do not think you will have to regret it being a third Masters degree.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2978, "author": "lyncas", "author_id": 1536, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1536", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I have a BS in Electrical Engineering , MS in Mechanical Engineering and MS in Computer Science. I now work at a small company that allows me to practice a bit of software, circuits and mechanical design. </p>\n\n<h2>Pros:</h2>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Gain academic insight into the details of each field. </li>\n<li>Helps in placement in jobs requiring skills in many discplines. </li>\n<li>My research and paper writing skills greatly improved after the 2nd masters (and thesis)</li>\n<li>I was in the MS/PHD program and had no tuition costs for my 4 years of grad school. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<h2>Cons:</h2>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Lots of time in school ( I spent 8 years in the university setting) </li>\n<li>Loss of potential earnings while in school</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><em>Summary:</em> I have no regrets about my graduate degree history. However, I would probably spend more time choosing advisors and research topics if I had to do it all over again. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 187876, "author": "TheGraduate", "author_id": 155131, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/155131", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As someone who holds an MBA (Cum Laude) from a prestigious British business school, and who has gone on to teach at several highly ranked B Schools around the world, I can tell you why MBAs are receiving a poor reputation. It is that about 25-30 years ago they were seen as a &quot;wonder drug&quot;. We'll just ship this person off to business school and in 2 years we will have our new CEO.</p>\n<p>On the first day of our registration for the MBA our Dean came to speak to the new class and he emphasized one thing. &quot;The MBA is just a ticket to the ball - You still have to dance!&quot; What that means is that while the MBA should open doors quicker for you, you would still have to prove your competence in the various business areas you work in. The MBA is meant to give business professionals who are skilled in one particular area of business (say finance) insight into how other areas of business (marketing or human resources) are inter-related.</p>\n<p>It was never meant to build business professionals (you were supposed to be that already when you arrived) it is meant to build a holistic vision of a business, so that strategy can be developed and executed.</p>\n<p>Too often people think their MBA is supposed to be functional specific. A HR professional should be promoted to senior HR professional because she has a an MBA. That is unrealistic. HR is still HR and promotion depends on your competence in HR, but when you start entering more senior management and you need to understand how brand management affects your ability to hire and attract the best staff or how HR professionals have to assess a HR project to incorporate different and the right skills into the completion of a project and why that project has to be completed within a specific time frame and budget, then the actual role of the MBA is seen.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2971", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1529/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2982, "author": "walkmanyi", "author_id": 1265, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p><a href=\"http://about.orcid.org/\">ORCID</a> is supposed to take care of that and it seems to gain significant traction. According to <a href=\"http://about.orcid.org/content/orcid-staus-and-plans-2012\">this presentation</a>, it should be launched in fall this year (2012). However, I am not sure whether it falls under your definition of \"non-commercial\".</p>\n\n<p>I am myself very curious about it, my hopes are that finally it will take care of disambiguation of names like \"John Smith\" - for me e.g., Web of Science database is practically unusable as it shows several thousands of papers for my name :-|.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2989, "author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten", "author_id": 440, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>For those of us in particle physics and related fields <a href=\"http://inspirehep.net/?ln=en\" rel=\"nofollow\">inSPIRE</a>'s <a href=\"http://inspirehep.net/collection/HepNames\" rel=\"nofollow\">HepNames</a>¹ service assigns a unique ID to each researcher (though they are rarely used outside of the database) and keeps track of their professional history, publications, citations and so on. <a href=\"http://inspirehep.net/record/1046133?ln=en\" rel=\"nofollow\">My inSPIRE record</a> is not really that inspiring, but there it is.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>¹ The successor project to the original SPIRES; inSPIRE also supports a rich search operation across affiliations, publications, names, and other data.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 68970, "author": "Christian", "author_id": 10073, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10073", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p><a href=\"https://www.wikidata.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wikidata</a> seems to build up a system where researchers who write articles that are citable by Wikipedia get unique IDs.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2981", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1537/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2992, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Partly, you'll want to <strong>copy what others are doing</strong>. If everyone else only talks for 15 or 20 seconds, then almost anything that you say in a 3-minute monologue will be poorly received. Information that you'll likely want to mention includes: <strong>name</strong>, <strong>department</strong>, <strong>research interests</strong>, possibly <strong>where you've just moved from</strong>, and maybe <strong>a bit about you personally</strong> (I enjoy triathlons; married with two kids; active in a barbershop quartet; etc.) One point about your research interests: keep it <strong>very nontechnical</strong>. Rather than give many details, say something like <em>I write computer programs to help blind people use computers</em>, or <em>I study 18th century literature, particularly the works of SoandSo</em>. Most likely, this activity will be pretty informal. If you're still a little nervous about it, you might ask another junior faculty member in your department.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 95660, "author": "RAJES K R", "author_id": 79582, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/79582", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Assuming you have many departments, mostly your speech shouldn't cross 1 minute max. You should include below details.\nFull Name and Native Place\nDepartment, \nJob post ( Jr / Sr / Head etc )<br>\nYear of experience, Previous work place if any\nSpecialization/ Research subject, Anything additional course you are taking for future, future prospects.\nif time permits abt family. Welcome others and happy to join the team to move further.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2991", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1547/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2995, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You already said, <em>\"we are thinking about making same midterms and same finals exams to all sections, but obviously this is not enough\"</em>. </p>\n\n<p>In effect it is not possible on a practical level to be equal since it all depends on how each professor teach and interact with his/her students. Each professor has specific personality and way of doing things which different people/student would like and dislike. However, somehow the following principles are followed by each professor, each class may be comparably good:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Professors are dedicated to student's welfare</li>\n<li>There is a good understanding among the professors and they are in agreement with what should be taught (This may include regular meetings among themselves)</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Apart from this each professor has his/her natural way of teaching that he/she is most confident about and this cannot be separated.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2997, "author": "JRN", "author_id": 64, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Aside from having common exams, one possibility is to withhold the names of the instructors until the registration is finished. In that way, students cannot choose sections based on who is teaching it.</p>\n\n<p>Another possibility is to have all, say, 4 teachers teach all 4 sections: Teacher \"W\" teaches section \"A\" during the first quarter, then teaches section \"B\" during the second quarter, ..., while teacher \"X\" teaches section \"B\" during the first quarter, etc.</p>\n\n<p>I do not completely agree with your statement that \"the student grade in any section will strongly depend on who is teaching it.\" I think that the teacher is a factor, but not the main factor. An extremely lazy and weak student will fail no matter who the teacher is; An extremely hardworking and strong student will pass no matter who the teacher is. I believe the student is the main factor.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2998, "author": "Ran G.", "author_id": 324, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/324", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The above is the common situation in Israel. Most of the freshmen-year classes are given by multiple lecturers, while the students are tested by the same midterm and final. They also have exactly the same homeworks and due dates, etc.</p>\n\n<p>Officially, the sections are \"identical\". One professor is declared as the leading-professor and s/he sets the syllabus and takes any course-wide decision. Since all the professors are aware that the homeworks/exams are the same, they all teach the same material, more or less, giving the same emphasis on different subjects, more or less, etc. It should be the case that if one student misses one lecture at some week, s/he can go the the other lecture and be able to continue from the same point.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, this is not perfect, and the different sections are not \"identical\", but rather, \"close enough\". In addition, an important thing is that students can choose which section to go. Indeed, sometimes \"good lecturers\" gets a class full of students (with people sitting on the floor, etc) while \"bad\" lecturers teach a half-empty class. Most of the times, there are no \"bad\" lecturers (there are better and worse, but many time the difference is not substantial enough that students change their schedule), so most of the classes are 70-90% full on avg.</p>\n\n<p>Exams are graded by the same team, regardless of the section you are enrolled to. In general, the sections are \"technical\" partition, and any decision is course-wide and not section-wide. All students from all sections should be treated the same in the most objective way.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3001, "author": "Sylvain Peyronnet", "author_id": 43, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>So far, I think this is better to make a rotation of the instructor. Split the course in 4 parts, each part being taught by one instructor to all the students. Each part is graded independently by each instructor as well.</p>\n\n<p>If this is not doable (slots in parallel, with a strong sequencing of the content), then the only thing I can think of this making as much grading as possible in common (same exam, etc.) and normalize the grades for the rest.</p>\n\n<p>Another possible way of action is to randomly select the correspondence between groups and exams. Let me be clearer: let say that two instructors A and B give a lecture in common. We toss a coin to decide whether group A (or B) have exam by instructor A. In that way, students cannot have a strategy that maximizes their grades.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3002, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>The more common problem across multiple sections of large courses taught by several different instructors is content drift, not grade drift. At my institution we have three General Chemistry I sections, and the distributions of A's, B's, and C's among the students does not change significantly depending on which of 6 people teach the course. The distribution of D's and F's does vary, however. What is more troublesome to us is that some instructors will cover 8 chapters, some will cover 9, some 10, and so on.</p>\n\n<p>However, if you really want to minimize grade drift, then do the following, which will also eliminate content drift:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Coordinate the class - same textbook, same syllabus, identical assignments, exams, everything.</li>\n<li>Agree ahead of time on a common grading policy, including cutoffs, curves, grade disputes, etc., <strong>and enforce it uniformly</strong>.</li>\n<li>Teach from a common outline so that all sections get the same material in the same week. </li>\n<li>Meet frequently, including at least one meeting before the class starts.</li>\n<li>Grade equitably, which may seem difficult, unless you do the following: Professor A grades all of Assignment 1 across all 4 sections. Professor B grades all of assignment 2, etc. Better yet, hire one person (a grad student maybe) to do all of the grading for all 4 sections.</li>\n</ol>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3003, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I did upvote most of the other answers... but would like to add something:</p>\n\n<p>Yes, it is important to try to be \"fair\". Sometimes, \"uniformity\" is the best approximation we can systematically arrange to \"fairness\". Other answers discussed how to implement this (common mid-terms, common finals).</p>\n\n<p>However, there is sometimes a danger that \"uniformity\" seems to demand that everyone's situation be degraded to that which can be guaranteed for everyone else. That is, while it is highly desirable to guard against bad effects of poor teaching, it is surely also desirable to not prevent <em>benefits</em> of <em>good</em> teaching, as a side effect of administrative design.</p>\n\n<p>Similarly, while the impulse is understandable, keeping instructors \"secret\" so that students cannot seek out desirable instructors (desirable for both wholesome and less-than-wholesome reasons) is a bit perverse, in my opinion. Namely, it always seems to me that \"equality\" achieved by suppressing information is not at all moving to maximize social welfare, but only \"equalizing\" it in a rather poor, default sense.</p>\n\n<p>Students \"voting with their feet\" is a \"problem\" at all levels, and some of that is reasonable, some unreasonable, of course. But the \"solution\" of having instructors be \"secret\" amounts to merely ignoring <em>genuine</em> issues in the situation by trying to obliterate information.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2994", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1547/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3008, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>The authors need to make it clear that the paper makes a contribution and to be explicit about what that contribution is. Otherwise the work is not original and does not deserve to be published. (This excludes survey papers and such things.)</p>\n\n<p>The emphasis on novelty need not, however, be placed so explicitly in the title.</p>\n\n<p>Good ways of emphasizing the novelty are </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Include a short discussion at the end of the introduction stating explicitly what the contributions of the paper are.</li>\n<li>Back this up with <strong>evidence</strong> in the body of the paper.</li>\n<li>A proper <strong>comparison</strong> with related work. (As El Cid's answer states.)</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3013, "author": "ElCid", "author_id": 1520, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1520", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would rather comment on @Dave's points, but since I have no reputation, here goes my comment/answer :-)</p>\n\n<p>I personally was taught not to put \"novel\" or \"to-the-best-of-my-knowledge\" or any other weasel words in the papers, so I also do not like the cited examples, if and when I review papers.</p>\n\n<p>What is most often overseen in papers is the \"related work\" (apart from the discussion section, which I believe belongs more to a journal-type publication), and how the paper makes an advance to the field. The authors should emphasise what the state of the art is, and how the paper advances it. That is what makes me judge for an accept or reject, rather than \"incredible results\". But it is also true that when you're growing \"older\" you look for different things in papers, and that \"younger\" reviewers are more easily captivated by strong claims.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3015, "author": "subsub", "author_id": 1557, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1557", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I usually employ the following interpretations: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>\"best-of-our-knowledge\" means that the authors were too lazy to search for existing work. </li>\n<li>\"novel\" and the like in the title means that something very close already exists for ages.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Novelty (a contribution improving on the previous state-of-the-art) is necessary, such emphasis is not. </p>\n\n<p>Regarding how to \"convey novelty\": It is absolutely required to explain why it is new instead of asserting that it is. This holds for both the title and the body of the article. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3007", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3011, "author": "Bravo", "author_id": 411, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411", "pm_score": 8, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Absolutely not. Affiliations do not matter; what matters is the value and the fit of the contribution to the journal or the conference to which you are submitting.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3012, "author": "ElCid", "author_id": 1520, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1520", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p>While it is not true that you should be in academia to publish papers, I'll give my two cents on what I learned so far:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>If you work in industry and you write technical papers, your contributions are well-accepted, although they're typically more focused on certain practical aspects.</p></li>\n<li><p>Authors writing by themselves are welcome, but they somehow are not very common because they lack the ability of writing an academic paper: they do not lack the message or the content of a paper, but just the structure, and that's something that you learn in an academic environment.</p></li>\n<li><p>The reviewing process is not everywhere \"double-blinded\", so as a reviewer you do see the affiliation of who wrote the article, while they do not know you as a reviewer. I know that it's frowned upon, but I've read comments in the afterwards discussion (before the formal decisions) where reviewers pointed at the lack of a proper affiliation, or the \"Who's this guy? where's s/he coming from?\" sort of questions.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>So all in all, there's no need to be an academic. But if you're not, stress enough your industry affiliation!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3032, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Technically, Maurice is right. You really don't <em>have</em> to be in academia to publish (even in academic journals). One famous example is Paul Erdos ( <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s#Career\">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s#Career</a> ), who I believe had no affiliation (at least in practice) for much of his life. However, <strong>most cultures have certain standard ways of doing things</strong>. Academia, and in particular the part of it that you want publish in, is no exception. </p>\n\n<p>One thing you can do to help get your ideas accepted is to <strong>learn to write and talk in the language common to your research area</strong>. Specifically, find some papers in your area that you really like (even better if they are widely cited) and study how they are written. When you write your own papers, make a conscious effort to <strong>copy the writing style</strong> of the papers you like. One key part of this is to thoroughly know the relevant literature (previous work on the problem) and to mention it in your introduction and explain how your work relates to it. For each research area, there are numerous other hurdles you should jump. For example, if you're writing a math paper, do it in LaTeX. If you don't know LaTeX, learn it (ask Google, if you need help), since using it will make your paper more readily accepted. For a list of other criteria often used by mathematicians to quickly judge a paper, read <a href=\"http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=304\">http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=304</a> .</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 15935, "author": "h22", "author_id": 10920, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10920", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Theoretically yes not but this is generally difficult, as requirements for the article will be higher and chances to prepare it really well are lower.</p>\n\n<p>I would suggest to cooperate with some scientific institution that may also give good ideas how to improve the article. Maybe some extra experiments could be done using resources of that university. Or, if you represent a company, maybe a shared grant can be written getting more money for your project. </p>\n\n<p>Also, unless you have experience in writing the scientific paper, it is very difficult to put everything into required structure, provide reasonable introduction with all necessary references and the like. A university professor can do this much easier as he does all the time.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 37230, "author": "Corvus", "author_id": 27900, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The <a href=\"http://ronininstitute.org/mission/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Ronin Institute</a> aims to facilitate precisely this type of independent scholarship. Its members include a number of very accomplished scholars who not do have university appointments yet publish regularly in top journals. Doubtless this is not the easiest route, but it clearly is not impossible either. </p>\n\n<p>That said, the original question suggests that the researcher in question a bachelor's degree but no PhD. In general, publishing from this position would be more difficult than for a PhD who has left academia, because one would not have had the extensive immersion in academic culture and the experience in scholarly writing that comes with it. </p>\n\n<p>Similar institutes are listed <a href=\"http://ronininstitute.org/fellow-travelers/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">here</a> .</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 74778, "author": "user60030", "author_id": 60030, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/60030", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Not necessarily. You can publish with your name only. In fact the value of the work is judged mainly by the readers who are the end users, and if you believe you can add something meaningful to the knowledge then go for it.</p>\n\n<p>From my own experience, some universities take advantage of having their name thrown in while they provide little support to the work produced. Go for it and best of luck </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 74787, "author": "Alexey B.", "author_id": 52615, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/52615", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In theory, no. There's though a practical implication that you will have to pay the publication costs from your own money. For example, if your paper is accepted to a conference, you'll have to pay the participation fee and then actually travel there.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 102519, "author": "Hexal", "author_id": 85610, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/85610", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Does one need to be part of a university or a learning institution to publish papers?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No, one doesn't. If your company is unrelated to your submission, it might be even wrong to put its name on it. However there is a practical aspect: providing the editor or the PC with the affiliation tells them a potential source of the conflicts of interest (COI). In other words, finding a reviewer without COI might get easier for them if the affiliation is listed. It is in your interest to support their work.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 111358, "author": "Scientist", "author_id": 66782, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/66782", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>In principle no, but...</strong></p>\n\n<p>In my field of study, you <strong>do</strong> have to declare some affiliation as an author. Publishers are claiming their submission system needs <em>some</em> official affiliation. A friend of mine was a senior co-author on one of my papers, and yet he holds no official degree (a renowned part-time investigator working as an architect). He opted to declare an institution within which he had many friends, and the editor was happy enough.</p>\n\n<p>I believe however any official institution will do, even if not academic (e.g. Ministry for Environment, some private company).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 111366, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Interesting question. You do not have to be affiliated to a university to publish papers, however, your paper will most likely be reviewed by (early) academics. They will judge your work according to their academic standards. </p>\n\n<p>I am currently doing a PhD next to my work in public-private sector. I use a university affiliation when I publish. The interesting part is that often reviewers consider my (generalised) research questions and case studies to be unrealistic or non-relevant, while in fact they are directly obtained from my work and relevant. </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if I stress the practical part (applied science), reviewers tend to judge my work as not novel (or should be well known) while my contributions are a novel application of scientific methods in practice. </p>\n\n<p>In my modest experience it is difficult to bridge a gap between science and practice in publishing. Of course it also depends on the type of journal and its reviewers. It is not impossible. I am making progress.</p>\n\n<p>In one of the answers is suggested to stress your industry affiliation. The author may be right. Reviewers may use different standards, or an editor may select reviewers with industry experience. I have not yet tried that approach.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 126557, "author": "Ooker", "author_id": 14341, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14341", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Some preprint services, such as <a href=\"https://mindrxiv.org/discover\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">MindRxiv</a>, require you to have an affiliation with an institute to submit.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3010", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1556/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3018, "author": "ElCid", "author_id": 1520, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1520", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In this case I would say <em>Be Honest</em>: only cite the references that you have read. Even if you have read the \"rev 1\", you might be (wrongly) citing as \"rev 2\" a sentence from \"rev 1\" that was removed in \"rev 2\"...</p>\n\n<p>It might be obvious, but sloppy mistakes like that happen</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3019, "author": "Rody Oldenhuis", "author_id": 1243, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1243", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It is always best and safest to cite the sources you've <em>actually</em> used. </p>\n\n<p>If there are two (or more editions) of a book, you generally don't have a complete list of changes from one version to the next. The relevant information might not be in the first edition, or might be outdated from the one you've used. So: use the edition you've actually read. </p>\n\n<p>This is also true if you've <em>used</em> an eprint on the arXiv, but you later find out that it is published (or will be published) in a journal: still use the arXiv reference. </p>\n\n<p>This is subtle: the eprint wasn't ever peer reviewed, and thus is a less authoritative source. Your wording should <em>always</em> reflect that. If then the e-print is published in a journal, and you <em>only</em> change the reference it's like saying <strong>you don't care about peer review</strong>. It occurs all too often, but it's simply bad science, even if the contents of the two is word-for-word the same. If you change the reference, re-write the relevant sections as well. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3020, "author": "JRN", "author_id": 64, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>If the journal uses the American Psychological Association (APA) style, then you cite the year of the edition and you do not mention earlier editions.</p>\n\n<p>For example, if you are using the 4th edition (published in 1994) of the APA publication manual, you would cite it as (American Psychological Association, 1994) and its bibliographic entry would be:</p>\n\n<p>American Psychological Association. (1994). <em>Publication manual of the American Psychological Association</em> (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3030, "author": "Rodrigo Guedes", "author_id": 1560, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1560", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I believe that the best option is citing the edition you actually used for two reasons: 1- It's more honest (since you're not citing something that maybe you didn't really read); and 2- In some cases the original text may have been revised in a way that may contradict your text.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3017", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1534/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3024, "author": "Pieter Naaijkens", "author_id": 22, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I assume that during this period you can respond to any questions or criticisms raised during the review of the paper. After this round of feedback the final decisions will be made.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3025, "author": "ElCid", "author_id": 1520, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1520", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>It has to be a conference with a <em>rebuttal</em> phase, where the authors can answer the main points raised by the reviewers, who in turn will be able to draw more conclusive remarks on the paper itself</p>\n\n<p>see also here: <a href=\"http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mckinley/notes/blind.html\">http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mckinley/notes/blind.html</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3026, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As ElCid and Pieter said, there is a rebuttal phase in the reviewing process (last paragraph of the CfP). </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The review process this year incorporates several improvements. Authors, reviewers, and area chairs indicate subject areas. With the help of these subject areas, area chairs and reviewers bid for papers. A first reviewer for each paper will be selected from those bids. New this year, two area chairs will also be assigned to oversee reviewing of each paper. Each area chair will manually appoint an additional reviewer for each paper using input from the bids. Authors will have the opportunity to see and respond to the reviews (and optionally revise their paper) before a final decision is made. Final decisions will be made using the input from all reviewers, the author feedback, the area chairs, and the program chairs. Reviewing for ICML 2012 is double blind between authors and reviewers.</p>\n</blockquote>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3022", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/379/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3027, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Ultimately, <strong>your committee has total say about what constitutes a successful thesis proposal</strong>. As JeffE mentioned, you should <strong>ask them</strong> (particularly your chair). In my case, I scheduled short meetings (10-20 minutes) with each of my committee members. (Ideally, this should happen at least 3 before your proposal.) I asked each one <strong>\"What are you looking for in my thesis [proposal] for you to judge it as successful?\"</strong> I don't remember all of their answers. From three of the four members of my committee (including my chair) I had clear expectations, which I knew I could meet.</p>\n\n<p>Sadly, from one member, I never really got a clear answer. Not surprisingly (in retrospect), part way through my presentation he complained because he thought that what I was presenting was off-topic. In the end, everything was okay. However, I think he was a bit unhappy and had to be <em>persuaded</em> to pass me. The <strong>single most important thing you can do to guarantee a successful proposal (or defense) is to make sure that your chair will strongly support you if you get resistance from another committee member</strong>. Besides that, you should schedule meetings (as I mentioned above) to ask what your committee is looking for. Start with your chair and get advice from him/her about how to approach your other members. If you don't get a good answer from one member, try scheduling another meeting to ask again (perhaps after meeting with your chair a second time to ask for help on how to approach the troublesome member).</p>\n\n<p>Edited to account for EnergyNumber's comment. My own experience (mentioned above) was actually with my thesis defense, but I think the advice applies equally well to a thesis proposal, so I've edited my answer to address that (since it was the subject of the question).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3028, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>JeffE is correct; talk to your chair and get feedback. That being said, you'll want to include the following in your talk:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>An overview of your research topic</li>\n<li>A discussion of relevant literature (to demonstrate that you've researched the topic)</li>\n<li>A discussion of your specific problem</li>\n<li>Another literature discussion, much more focused on your specific problem</li>\n<li>Any preliminary results of experiments you may have run, if any</li>\n<li>What you plan on doing for the next few years</li>\n<li><em>(Possibly most important)</em> Any specific issues/problems that your advisors have raised about your research. You should specifically address these to show that you're paying attention to what they say and that you listen to their comments.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The best way to prepare is to talk with everyone in advance and find out what their objections/comments/issues/questions will be as much as possible, and then do your best to prepare for that and any related issues. If that sounds like a lot of work, it's because it is a lot of work.</p>\n\n<p>Dan's comments are also spot on; you may have some very difficult committee members who will ask all sorts of questions, and you should make sure your advisor is on your side from the get-go.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 94946, "author": "einpoklum", "author_id": 7319, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>What are the key elements that I should include / exclude?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Your university should have clear regulations about that. Also, ask your supervisor/advisor.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What criteria typically used to judge whether the proposal defense is successful?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So, I'll list a few that should be generally applicable, but if your supervisor feels confident to have you submit your proposal, it's likely you've already met the criteria or close enough to doing so. While the committee can reject your proposal, this isn't like an exam at the end of a course; if you do your work seriously up to the proposal you should pass without surprises. In fact, the defense of the proposal is an opportunity to get useful feedback and guidance.</p>\n\n<p>A few general criteria I believe are always applicable:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Novelty</strong> - It must be something that hasn't done before, more than a rehash of existing work. This could be in terms of the results (discovering something we didn't know, creating/manufacturing something which had not previously been attainable) or the methods (e.g. using a novel technique to prove an important mathematical theorem).</li>\n<li><strong>Relevance</strong> - Your work on efficient separation of mud cakes by the time spent in the sun might not be useful to anyone even if it's novel. This criterion may degenerate into \"fashionability\" - hopefully not.</li>\n<li><strong>Expected breadth of work</strong> - The research should involve enough work to be significant but not too much as to risk you not concluding it even with reasonable diligence. Of course, you might eventually be able to get it all done in a week if you're a genius and it's theory rather than experiments; but that's not likely.</li>\n<li><strong>Your background</strong> - Is it reasonable to assume you personally will be able to carry out this kind of research?</li>\n<li><strong>Means and environment</strong> - are your supervisor, research group, faculty, university and related facilities and resources likely to be sufficient support for you to pursue your line of research effectively?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Are the committee's feedback of the proposal typically used as a criteria for the full fledged dissertation defense?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So that really depends on your field and on the composition of the committee. Very often the answer is \"no\" (from my own personal experience it was \"not at all\"), but it's certainly possible.</p>\n\n<p>Note, however, that if your results get published in journals and conferences, the final dissertation is, again, unlikely to be rejected - since the community will already have recognized your contribution.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3023", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3031, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Coherent research focus</strong>:\nTry to make sure that the members of your group work on topics that are close together, to create synergy between topics and allow experienced members to work closely with less experienced ones to allow their skills to pass on and build an environment where internal collaboration is the norm.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3033, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I try to only work with people who are capable of excelling in all the skills needed to perform and write up high-quality research. </p>\n\n<p>That's not to say that some of them (particularly students) won't need training in those skills in order to excel, of course. But I definitely don't believe in having 1 guy who only collects data, 1 who only analyzes data, and 1 who only writes (or some such scheme). If you pursue such a scheme, you may be crippling people. They'll likely have a hard time in their next job, when nobody holds their hand through the other parts.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3034, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Setting goals</strong>: As a PI, you need some skills on top of the obvious (like writing grants). One important skill involves setting goals. You need to be able to set reasonable and attainable (but not necessarily easy) short-term goals for your group. At the same time, you need to be able to clearly articulate the overarching long-term, big-picture goals of your research. Good goal setting will help you attract capable researchers to your group. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3035, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Some team-related skills:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Interviewing</strong>. You have to build your own team, and that team has to fit together very well. Given that your research group will likely be small and that your work can be measured in years, a few mistakes here can be very costly to your ability to produce. Be sure you know who you're bringing in, whether you can work with them, and whether when they can work with the rest of your group.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Delegation</strong>. There's an art to knowing what to delegate and what to do yourself. This will vary from researcher to researcher, and from one graduate student/postdoc/lab technician to the next. Make sure you don't give someone more than they can handle, and make sure that each person has enough to keep them busy.</p></li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3029", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1520/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3038, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The answer, as oft seems true on this site, is that it depends. I'll lay out a couple things that might change how long a PhD might take, and where coming in with a Masters or Bachelors might change that.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Is there a large course sequence?</strong> And will your department accept previous coursework? If there's many classes to take at the graduate level <em>and</em> your PhD university accepts the classes from your Masters, having obtained an MS would likely trim the time from enrollment to PhD compared to a student with a bachelors degree starting at the same time. However, if the department <em>doesn't</em> accept those courses (and many good programs might not) then you're not necessarily all that far ahread.</li>\n<li><strong>Is it easier to get funding?</strong> If your department treats students who have not yet gotten their MS (in a sequence where the path from bachelors to PhD also involves getting an MS midstream) as transient and less likely to be funded, you might find yourself distracted and pulled in the direction of \"rent needs to get paid\" more than a better funded student.</li>\n<li><strong>Your Dissertation</strong>. Want to know what makes a PhD take X amount of time? By and large, its how fast your dissertation gets done. How quickly that happens has, in my experience, far more to do with how long a program takes then what letters you have after your name coming in.</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3207, "author": "Legendre", "author_id": 1190, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1190", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It depends on whether you are in the UK or the USA (or another country). The system is different in the UK in several ways.</p>\n\n<p><strong>1) You might get a \"discount\" on your PhD length if you have a masters in the same department.</strong></p>\n\n<p>I am not sure about other universities but for Oxford and Cambridge, many of their masters (or \"MPhil\"s) are meant to be the first year (or first two years) of the PhD program. A PhD usually takes 3-4 years in the UK, but if you continued directly from such a masters, it can be reduced to two years.</p>\n\n<p><strong>2) Your masters dissertation might count as your PhD project.</strong></p>\n\n<p>It depends on the department but at least for mathematics, there are people who use their master's dissertation in place of the first year of the PhD. Once again, I am unfamiliar with universities outside of Oxbridge. But at Oxbridge, the first year is usually spent putting together an in-depth research proposal outlining research goals, literature, and methodology. Then, students go through a \"transfer of status\" where their proposal is evaluated and green lighted as PhD dissertation. I suppose this is similar to qualifying exams in the USA, minus the coursework.</p>\n\n<p>But if you have done all these during your master's, and the department thinks your master's dissertation is of sufficient quality, then it can count as your transfer and save you a year.</p>\n\n<p><strong>3) The research experience saves you time.</strong></p>\n\n<p>This applies to both the US and UK. It can take some time to pick up various research skills. Master's programs with a significant research component that allows you to pick up these skills can help save time. Sometimes, A LOT of time.</p>\n\n<p><strong>For the USA:</strong></p>\n\n<p>In the USA, based on what I have read (so far) on the websites of various mathematics departments, all PhD students have to go through coursework and obtain an M.S., regardless of whether they have a masters degree. This policy need not be universal. I suppose the best thing to do is to email the departments that you are interested in and ask about their policy.</p>\n\n<p><strong>P.S.</strong> I recently completed a master's degree in the UK and am applying to USA departments for PhD.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3036", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1565/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3069, "author": "recluze", "author_id": 501, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/501", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Have you tried the following: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers. Chicago: University of\n Chicago, 1987. Print.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It's a very nice book and is applicable to CS (unlike many other research methodology books). </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 67621, "author": "Prof. Santa Claus", "author_id": 47727, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/47727", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<ol>\n<li>Formulating good research problems comes from experience. If you understand an area well, you will see the fundamental concepts. From there, your problem statement is simply an articulation of these concepts. For a beginner, this is very hard. Advice: try to cut down the problems into sub-problems. Some will be easy, and some will be 'hard', and solving them means the rests become easy or open new doors. So construct a work breakdown structure (WBS).</li>\n<li>Try to formalize the problem; i.e., derive a mathematical model for the problem at hand. This will help focus your mind on key concepts or variables. For example, for an optimization problem, you might decide on an objective function, and after that determine all relevant constraints. This will be an iterative process.</li>\n<li>Start with a toy example, with as many assumptions that you need to make it a toy example. Then slowly generalize and once you have enough intuition, then formulate the key problem to be solved.</li>\n</ol>\n" }, { "answer_id": 100270, "author": "Prof DP Sharma", "author_id": 84272, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/84272", "pm_score": -1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Problem formulation is crucial phase in the research process. It start from; what is known at certain point of time and what is gape/defect/uncertainty/challenge/weakness in existing knowledge/system/model/solution or answer to a quest. Also Problem formulation starts from thrust/quest/hunger for new knowledge/knowing to unknown or need for exploration/extension/enhancement of the existing knowledge at a point of time. Finally Problem formulation precisely needs to define and draft the statement of the weakness in aforementioned knowledge using crystal clear words with preferably directional hypothesis. In statement it should cover 1)what is required?, 2) desired inputs and outputs with desired features and inter-linkage.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3039", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1570/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3045, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>If the result reads like a newspaper, I would say, no, it's not alright.</p>\n\n<p>If it reads like <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractatus_Logico-Philosophicus\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus</a>, then you are probably doing something right.</p>\n\n<p>Unless you are an exceptional writer, my advice is to follow the accepted conventions of your field, which probably includes block paragraphs.</p>\n\n<p>A longer paragraph allows one to build up an idea and explore it more thoroughly. The first sentence introduces the idea. Subsequent sentences explore it in more detail. There should be a logical connection between sentences, and sentences should ideally vary in length. Developing good style is matter of practice and reflection. And there is more to good style than the length of a paragraph.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3046, "author": "Bravo", "author_id": 411, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The Wikipedia article on <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paragraph\">paragraph</a> says a para could contain one or more sentences. The very purpose of grouping content into paragraphs is to organise similar thoughts into one unit. Too many small or one-sentence paragraphs will affect the cohesiveness of your content.</p>\n\n<p>But a one-sentence para may be fine at the end of a section in a paper if it adequately summarises the content within. (Like this, perhaps!)</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3044", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/773/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3056, "author": "ElCid", "author_id": 1520, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1520", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>all the major conferences and journals provide <em>templates</em> to use in order to format properly a submission, and they are circulated mostly in doc (Microsoft) and tex (LaTex) formats. </p>\n\n<p>That said, LibreOffice and OpenOffice are mostly identical, but they're divided by a large political/philosophical diatribe (see <a href=\"https://askubuntu.com/questions/141701/what-is-the-difference-between-libre-office-and-open-office-what-are-the-advan\">here</a>). Generally Libre-/OpenOffice can open the doc templates without problems, but they tend to loose some formatting against the latest docx format (see <a href=\"http://www.techbroil.com/2012/02/libreoffice-docx-support-is-terrible.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here</a>), and they sometimes \"break\" the docx files that coauthors give back to LibreOffice users (like in <a href=\"http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/msg16773.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here</a>)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3058, "author": "Noble P. Abraham", "author_id": 1580, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1580", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The answer depends a lot on one's field of work, where the end product will appear, whether the collaborator's mutually agree upon the package and finally the OS one use.</p>\n\n<p>Most journals or conferences accept manuscripts in <code>DOC</code> or <code>DOCX</code> format; other than <code>TeX</code>. Native formats of <em>OpenOffice</em> or <em>LibreOffice</em> are not [always] supported in most DTP centres/print or publishing houses. </p>\n\n<p>Say, for example if you are in Science; esp in Physics or Mathematics, most of your academic writing will have lot of equations. In that case it better to opt for MS Office (along with MathType). This is because the equation editor that comes with OpenOffice or LibreOffice is not compatible with MS Office and vice versa. The equation either get converted as a figure or appear scrambled when opened in a non-native package.</p>\n\n<p>If the collaborator uses a different package, compatibility is a big problem. </p>\n\n<p>If one has to work in different OS's; compatibility issues comes in there as well. For e.g. MS Office cannot function natively on Linux systems. </p>\n\n<p>So considering the fact that <em>the academic work always reach a different kind of post-processing mechanism, it is better to use the most popular package</em>, MS Office. </p>\n\n<p>If typesetting and publishing are done by self/in-house, compatibility is not an issue and any package is as good as any other package.</p>\n\n<p>(As question is about three specific office packages, references to <code>LaTeX</code> is avoided; which may be the best choice, irrespective of one's field of work/typesetting environment as @marc-van-dongen has already pointed out.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3062, "author": "Rex Kerr", "author_id": 669, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you are in a field with lots of equations, the journals you are going to publish in will almost certainly take .tex. So write in LaTeX. Otherwise you will not be writing your equations rapidly or with ease (compared to those who know LaTeX)*. Use a front end like LyX if you want some WYSIWYGness.</p>\n\n<p>If you are in any non-equation-heavy field, use MS Office, for the simple reason that every journal takes .doc files and only some take other formats. OpenOffice and LibreOffice are not yet compatible enough for publication-quality work. (I have tried repeatedly.) It's not that OpenOffice/LibreOffice can't do the right thing, it's that the journals only support Word. And so either your manuscript will be full of errors that you have to hope you will catch and correct when you get page proofs, or you will have to end up using Word anyway. Kind of sad, but that's the way things are (and have been for the past decade).</p>\n\n<p>*^{Once you know LaTeX, <em>everything</em> is faster and easier, especially because you can save old solutions for formatting, shortcut macros, etc. etc., and import them with a cut and paste. But it does take a non-negligible amount of time to learn, so if you're too impatient to learn new skills or under a very tight time deadline right now, LaTeX is not for you. Unless you're doing equations--LaTeX still does those enough better that you may as well just use it regardless.}</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3064, "author": "Piotr Migdal", "author_id": 49, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you really don't want to have LaTeX, then also <a href=\"https://docs.google.com\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">GoogleDocs</a> may be an option. It has a big advantage, when it comes to collaboration (even for real-time; no problems with mismatching versions of editors, no problems with &quot;which version is the most recent?&quot; or &quot;where (s)he made the changes?&quot;).</p>\n<p>But also you might consider <a href=\"http://www.lyx.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">LyX</a>:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>LyX is a document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents (WYSIWYM) and not simply their appearance (WYSIWYG).</p>\n<p>LyX combines the power and flexibility of TeX/LaTeX with the ease of use of a graphical interface.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>So, in short, you can at the same time write in the way you are used to (without learning anything just to start) and use benefits of LaTeX (formatting, bibliography (!), formulas (!)).</p>\n<p>Quite a few of my friends started their adventure with LaTeX with LyX.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3075, "author": "kena", "author_id": 1282, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1282", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I am surprised no one mentioned reStructured text (<a href=\"http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>, <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructured_Text\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>). This is a markup syntax where you can write your paper using pure text only. It also support math, automatic conversion to both LaTeX and PDF, and rendering on web pages. Check it out!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3084, "author": "Eric G", "author_id": 1546, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1546", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would highly recommend using a LaTeX whenever possible or Lyx. For Lyx you can also export to LaTex. A recent submission actually only accepted word, but that is not a problem if you start in Lyx or LaTeX. You can export for Lyx to Tex. I have found that if I do need to move to Word for submission or having someone help with editing, I can take the LaTeX/Tex file and use a converter (there are a lot you can try, here is an <a href=\"http://sourceforge.net/projects/latex2rtf/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">open source one on SF</a>) to get RTF which will open in Word just fine.</p>\n\n<p>There are also other editors, Such as <a href=\"http://www.mackichan.com/index.html?products/swp.html~mainFrame\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Scientific Workplace</a> which are more geared towards technical writing.</p>\n\n<p>Another thing you may want to consider is using something very simple like Markdown with some extension for citations and the such. Here are some related links:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://mandown.rubyforge.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Academic writing extensions to Markdown‘mandown’</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://fieldnoise.com/2012/08/14/the-digital-dissertator-writing-footnoting-markdown/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Writing and Footnotes in Markdown</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/README.html#pandocs-markdown\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Pandoc</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>You may also want to check out this <a href=\"https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1086797/wysiwyg-vs-wysiwym\">Stack Overflow question on WYSIWYG vs WYSIWYM</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3527, "author": "Creasixtine", "author_id": 2747, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2747", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As kena said, there are other ways of producting documents. I personnally use <strong><a href=\"http://org-mode.org\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">org-mode</a></strong>. There are saveral reasons :</p>\n<ul>\n<li>The document you type can be <strong>exported into another formats</strong>, including <strong>HTML, OpenDocument (LibreOffice / OpenOffice), or LaTeX</strong>. In that way, your can publish your document without restriction.</li>\n<li>This language is <strong>much easier than LaTeX</strong>, and you can write directly in plain text.</li>\n<li>As you write in plain text, <strong>any editor can fit</strong> (even though Emacs has the org-mode by default).</li>\n<li>As you write in plain text, <strong>an editor in wide screen prevents you from disturbances</strong> (and this is a main point).</li>\n<li>With the references system, you can also write <strong>notes and outlines</strong> in separate files, <strong>as in Scrivener</strong> for example.</li>\n<li>The syntax for tables, pictures and links is simple, so you shall write <strong>the whole book in org-mode, then export it directly</strong>. Few processing may be necessary then, you only have to set your environment in LibreOffice or LaTeX.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>When I tried that, I enjoyed it at once :-)</p>\n<p><strong>Note :</strong> Of course ReStructuredText and Markdown can export to HTML, ODT and LaTeX, but I prefer Org-Mode for its flexibility.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 4732, "author": "dearN", "author_id": 21, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<h1>Preamble</h1>\n\n<p>I wrote my master's report in Microsoft word.\nThen I moved on to better environments -- I wrote my PhD dissertation in latex. </p>\n\n<h1>My take on which to use: MS Word/Libreoffice</h1>\n\n<p>If you are short on time and are fine with sleepless nights, definitely go for Microsoft word. However, if you have lots of equations in your work, MSWord will just make it look very unprofessional and ugly (but may still be acceptable by your committee).</p>\n\n<p>Your grad school may have \"how to do it\" videos for MS Word. Have you checked with them to see if they have appropriate templates/packages for MS Word? What does the majority of you group use? If you are short on time, do what is tried and tested, do stuff that you have help readily available for (peers, adviser etc.)</p>\n\n<h1>Advantages of using LaTeX (I had to provide it just for completion)</h1>\n\n<p>The other option (much harangued obviously <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/3062/21\">1</a>, <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/3084/21\">2</a>) is LaTeX. It takes the strain out of writing as you have to only provide content and can concentrate on actually <strong>writing</strong> instead of spending a lot of time on formatting.</p>\n\n<p>There is a world of difference with LaTeX far superior to Microsoft products, <strong>for academic writing</strong>. Yes, lots (don't quite have a number right now) of people still use MS Office. They write their theses/dissertations/reports, submit it for review to gradschool, it comes back with formatting corrections (even though they use templates provided by the gradschool). So then they spend countless sleepless hours jutting their images around.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 5429, "author": "Eekhoorn", "author_id": 3885, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3885", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>To add to the answers, I would definitely NOT use LibreOffice Writer. It is extremely unstable and my Bachelor student and a friend of mine writing his Master's thesis messed up their files completely last minute. The windows version crashes when a large PDF is to be generated.</p>\n\n<p>I had to help my friend convert all the thesis to LaTeX last minute, which worked perfectly, and I'm using it right now to write my dissertation.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3054", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/675/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3060, "author": "Zenon", "author_id": 257, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/257", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Two really well presented and interesting books are in the well known O'Reilly collections:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920000617.do\" rel=\"nofollow\">Beautiful Visualization Looking at Data through the Eyes of Experts</a></li>\n</ol>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Visualization is the graphic presentation of data -- portrayals meant to reveal complex information at a glance. Think of the familiar map of the New York City subway system, or a diagram of the human brain. Successful visualizations are beautiful not only for their aesthetic design, but also for elegant layers of detail that efficiently generate insight and new understanding.</p>\n \n <p>This book examines the methods of two dozen visualization experts who approach their projects from a variety of perspectives -- as artists, designers, commentators, scientists, analysts, statisticians, and more. Together they demonstrate how visualization can help us make sense of the world.</p>\n \n <p>Explore the importance of storytelling with a simple visualization exercise\n Learn how color conveys information that our brains recognize before we're fully aware of it\n Discover how the books we buy and the people we associate with reveal clues to our deeper selves\n Recognize a method to the madness of air travel with a visualization of civilian air traffic\n Find out how researchers investigate unknown phenomena, from initial sketches to published papers</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596157128.do\" rel=\"nofollow\">Beautiful Data The Stories Behind Elegant Data Solutions</a></li>\n</ol>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In this insightful book, you'll learn from the best data practitioners in the field just how wide-ranging -- and beautiful -- working with data can be. Join 39 contributors as they explain how they developed simple and elegant solutions on projects ranging from the Mars lander to a Radiohead video.</p>\n \n <p>With Beautiful Data, you will:</p>\n \n <p>Explore the opportunities and challenges involved in working with the vast number of datasets made available by the Web\n Learn how to visualize trends in urban crime, using maps and data mashups\n Discover the challenges of designing a data processing system that works within the constraints of space travel\n Learn how crowdsourcing and transparency have combined to advance the state of drug research\n Understand how new data can automatically trigger alerts when it matches or overlaps pre-existing data\n Learn about the massive infrastructure required to create, capture, and process DNA data\n That's only small sample of what you'll find in Beautiful Data. For anyone who handles data, this is a truly fascinating book. </p>\n</blockquote>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3061, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>The preeminent author on this topic is Edward Tufte, who wrote <a href=\"http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi\">\"The Visual Display of Quantitative Information\"</a>. He has a few other books also available on his site (see previous link) that are worth checking out.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3574, "author": "crsh", "author_id": 927, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/927", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A book I would recommend is Kosslyn's <em><a href=\"http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Psychology/CognitivePsychology/?view=usa&amp;ci=9780195311846\" rel=\"nofollow\">Graph Design for the Eye and Mind</a></em>. What I particularly like about this book is that all recommendations are based on scientific findings and are discussed as such:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Graphs have become a fixture of everyday life, used in scientific and business publications, in magazines and newspapers, on television, on billboards, and even on cereal boxes. Nonetheless, surprisingly few graphs communicate effectively, and most graphs fail because they do not take into account the goals, needs, and abilities of the viewers. In Graph Design for Eye and Mind, Stephen Kosslyn addresses these problems by presenting eight psychological principles for constructing effective graphs. Each principle is solidly rooted both in the scientific literature on how we perceive and comprehend graphs and in general facts about how our eyes and brains process visual information. Kosslyn then uses these eight psychological principles as the basis for hundreds of specific recommendations that serve as a concrete, step-by-step guide to deciding whether a graph is an appropriate display to use, choosing the correct type of graph for a specific type of data and message, and then constructing graphs that will be understood at a glance. Kosslyn also includes a complete review of the scientific literature on graph perception and comprehension, and appendices that provide a quick tutorial on basic statistics and a checklist for evaluating computer-graphics programs. Graph Design for Eye and Mind is an invaluable reference for anyone who uses visual displays to convey information in the sciences, humanities, and businesses such as finance, marketing, and advertising.</p>\n</blockquote>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3610, "author": "Rob", "author_id": 2786, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2786", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I'd recommend David Mcandless's \"<a href=\"http://www.davidmccandless.com/books/\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Visual Miscellaneum</a>\". The author does information visualization for The Guardian. This book is probably best for \"wow, that was a great way of getting this information across visually!\" It's a lot less academic than say, Tufte's work but a great tool nonetheless. </p>\n\n<p>Nathan Yau's \"<a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0470944889\" rel=\"nofollow\">Visualize This</a>\" is a fantastic book that ranges from the \"why\" to the \"how to implement.\"</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3059", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/316/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3088, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You'll want to ask some standard questions that any experienced educator would ask a potential teacher:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Request to see a model lesson. It doesn't have to be a full lecture, just something to see their style. Ideally the entire committee should be there for this part.</li>\n<li>Ask to see a university-level lesson plan of their creation.</li>\n<li>Ask how they would approach creating a semester-long curriculum for an advanced \"special topics\" course. I suggest the \"special topics\" idea because this lets you see whether they can do it for themselves or whether they are only able to follow pre-set curricula.</li>\n<li>Ask how they'll ensure that the top students are being adequately challenged while the weaker students aren't being left behind.</li>\n<li>Ask how they handle unruly students. Even though this is fairly rare at the university level, they should have a ready answer.</li>\n<li>Have them explain some concepts to you and make sure for yourself that you are comfortable with how they explain them. (Similar to model lesson, but for specific topics.)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>You may also want to mention things like office hours requirements, whether they'll get a TA, and related administrative stuff.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3104, "author": "Szymon Bęczkowski", "author_id": 1312, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1312", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My university requires a teaching portfolio to be attached to the job application. This will typically include: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Teaching practice (your education, courses)</li>\n<li>History of teaching (activities, awards)</li>\n<li>Student feedback (with comments on how did your teaching chanre as a response to these comments)</li>\n<li>Materials you prepared for students (with comments on how and why they evolved)</li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3063", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1547/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3066, "author": "Noble P. Abraham", "author_id": 1580, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1580", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Would like to add a partial answer. Don't know the answer to the first one.</p>\n\n<p>But about the second: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Do one needs to update citations to papers .....?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, they need to be updated. Most publishers ask to update bibliography with latest information. </p>\n\n<p>But if the original content that appeared in arXiv is changed in the final publication, it is better to keep the original citation in your paper, specifying the exact version that you cited. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3067, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The answer to both of these questions is <strong>it's your choice</strong>. However, I definitely <strong>recommend that you update the citation information</strong>, because (a) it probably won't take long and (b) it will possibly be quite helpful to your readers. </p>\n\n<p>I work in a field where it's uncommon for much to change between the time that I first submit and that I resubmit. Perhaps I might find out that someone proved a result in our paper about the same time that we did. In that case, I would add a line in the acknowledgments section stating so, and add a citation to the relevant paper or preprint.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3070, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p><strong>Yes, you should update your references at <em>every</em> possible opportunity.</strong> Whenever the manuscript is in your hands, if it is possible for you to update the references, you should do so. Paper rejected? Update the references before resubmission. Paper accepted? Update the references before sending back the revision. Multiple rounds of reviewing? Update the references after each round. Submitting a journal version of a conference paper? Update the references before submission. Reviewing galley proofs? Okay, then you probably <em>can't</em> update the references.</p>\n\n<p>Your paper serves as not only a description of <em>your</em> new result but also as a guide to the surrounding literature. Your readers (including referees and editors) are best served by the most up-to-date snapshot possible.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, if one of the papers you cite has undergone a revision (for example, and ArXiv preprint has appeared in a journal), <em>you must read the new revision yourself</em> to make sure that the cited information is still there, so that you know <em>how</em> to appropriately cite it.</p>\n\n<p>I typically tag completely new references (for example, a relevant ArXiv preprint appears while my paper is under review) with phrases like \"Since this paper was submitted...\" or (since I'm in computer science) \"Since the preliminary version of this paper appeared....\"</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3072, "author": "Rex Kerr", "author_id": 669, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Might some of the reviewers have published the relevant paper(s) that have come out and which you are not citing? Yes? Might they appreciate it if you cite rather than ignore their work? Yes? Better update your citations, then.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3065", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/324/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3083, "author": "Noble P. Abraham", "author_id": 1580, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1580", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>There seems to be no service or tool that let's you download articles in bulk. This is probably so because most journals <em>do have zero tolerance</em> for bulk/automated downloads. <strong>Automated downloads are some times (may be most of the times) an attempt to infringe the copyrights.</strong> </p>\n\n<p>For example, <a href=\"http://librarians.acm.org/policies\">ACM Digital Library ToS</a> has this restriction.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Under no circumstances are the following actions permitted:</strong></p>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Using scripts or spiders to automatically download articles or harvest metadata from the ACM Digital Library. This activity is a serious violation of ACM’s DL usage policy and will result in the temporary or permanent termination of download rights for the subscribing institution. </li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That being said, irrespective of the field of research, here are some services (free and paid) that offers you a list of citations / <em>cited by</em> articles (other than the journal's webpage for the article).</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.crossref.org/\">CrossRef</a> (some services are paid ones)</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://wokinfo.com/products_tools/multidisciplinary/webofscience/\">Web of Science</a> (Paid)</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://scholar.google.com/\">Google Scholar</a> (Free)</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.adsabs.harvard.edu/\">NASA ADS</a> (for astronomy and allied fields. Free)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>While <a href=\"http://dl.acm.org/\">ACM</a> provide free <em>Cited by</em> list, <a href=\"http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/home.jsp\">IEEE</a> provides this for subscribers/members.</p>\n\n<p>Also please note, <a href=\"http://doc.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs_doc/faq.html\">from NASA ADS FAQ</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In addition, references may be incomplete due to our inability to\n match them with 100% accuracy (e.g. in press, private communications,\n author errors, some conference series, etc.). Anyone using the\n citations for analysis of publishing records should keep this in mind.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>which is true for any citation / <em>Cited by</em> lists.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3116, "author": "userJT", "author_id": 1537, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1537", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>PubMedCentral gives you full text and their API may be able to do it.</p>\n\n<p>But getting all article PMIDs which are cited by paper X is the necessary step for that and this is hard - I don't think thre is a service..</p>\n\n<p>Unless you parse the full text yourself using your own code.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 96403, "author": "aplaice", "author_id": 65952, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65952", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It seems that crossref.org is beginning to roll out providing a list of citations (the works that a given work cites):</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.crossref.org/blog/distributing-references-via-crossref/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.crossref.org/blog/distributing-references-via-crossref/</a></p>\n\n<p>[See the aptly named section \"OMG! OMG! OMG! Does this mean I can get references from api.crossref.org?\"]</p>\n\n<p>Using the example doi from the above link (doi:10.7554/eLife.10288), you could obtain the list of citations in that work at: <a href=\"https://api.crossref.org/v1/works/10.7554/eLife.10288.xml\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://api.crossref.org/v1/works/10.7554/eLife.10288.xml</a> </p>\n\n<p>Alternatively, with <a href=\"https://citation.crosscite.org/docs.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">content negotiation</a>, you could just use:</p>\n\n<pre><code>curl -L -H \"Accept: application/vnd.crossref.unixsd+xml\" \\\n https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10288 &gt; data.xml\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>The citations are listed in the <code>&lt;citation_list&gt;</code> element.</p>\n\n<p>Warning: The citation data is, according to the link above, only available in the XML, not the JSON, representation. Also, the service is not available for all works, yet.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3078", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/828/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3170, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>It's not uncommon for people to move because of two-body issues, and if you're not comfortable disclosing the specific reasons, one possibility is to mention (at interview time) that you have non-academic constraints that force your departure from a place that you like.</p>\n\n<p>Having said that, you're not going to get an interview call unless you're a superstar and everyone wants you OR you have some positive argument for why you're interested in a particular university. So in your cover letter you'll at least need to provide some positive reasons. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 128416, "author": "Industrademic", "author_id": 9181, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9181", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Just watched a friend do this, with a two body problem. His line: the place he was at was a good fit, tenure was all but assured, BUT he was convinced the place he was interviewing was enough a superior fit to consider a pre-tenure jump. He would always fall back to that line of flattery. He and his husband were hired, after the usual two body drama; meaningless counteroffers, offers of a later position opening, etc.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3079", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1585/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3090, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My opinion, which is worth what you are paying for it: </p>\n\n<p>The most important thing is the quality of your dissertation. </p>\n\n<p>The second most important thing is the reputation of your thesis advisor. </p>\n\n<p>The ranking of the department only comes in third. </p>\n\n<p>Of course, these things are not independent of each other. It may be that at a higher-ranked department you'll get a better education and write a better thesis. </p>\n\n<p>Probably best to speak to someone at your current institution (or your undergrad institution) who knows you well and can give you better advice. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3091, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>First, let me answer an easy question. It is <strong>not frowned on to get a masters at one school, then transfer elsewhere for a Phd</strong>. In fact, this is <strong>often encouraged</strong>. Next, let me confirm that <strong>yes, the ranking of your PhD institution really does matter</strong> for a future career as a research mathematician.</p>\n\n<p>In some sense, Gerry is right when he says that the ranking of importance is (1) quality of dissertation, (2) reputation of adviser, and (3) ranking of department.\nOne big problem though, is that <strong>many of the people evaluating you won't know how to evaluate criteria (1) and (2).</strong> Hiring committees often include many (all?) people who are not familiar with your research area. So they will often rely on what they (at least think that they) know, which is <em>quality of department</em>.</p>\n\n<p>I have <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2709/college-vs-grad-school/2712#2712\">written elsewhere</a> about why you should go to the strongest program that you can get into, particularly if you want a career as a research mathematician.\nI don't know all the details of your personal situation, but I strongly encourage you to at least take the GRE again and reapply. It may be possible for you to wait to see whether you get accepted to a school that you prefer before you decide whether you'll leave with a terminal masters or not. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3089", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3101, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This is a horrible idea. DOIs are not meant for human consumption; bibliographies are.</p>\n\n<p><strong>You <em>cannot</em> assume that your readers are always connected to the internet while reading your paper, even if that paper is published only electronically.</strong> They might be reading a paper printout. They might be reading the paper on an airplane. They might be describing the results to students in a seminar, or to a colleague over the phone. The campus network might be down, or overloaded by students google-studying for finals. Their cellular data carrier might be unreliable.</p>\n\n<p>Even so, the reader might have access to your cited papers by other means, like (gasp) the actual library. Or they might be interested in when your references were published, or in which venues, or by whom. Or they might want to track citations to other papers which are not identified by DOIs elsewhere. Or they might want the raw bibliographic information for some other reason which you and I can't think of, but which they've learned to expect because every other publication includes it.</p>\n\n<p>tl;dr: Stop whining and just type the stupid page numbers already.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3102, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I agree with JeffE and Users 17670, but there's another fundamental reason why DOIs alone are problematic: they don't have enough redundancy to correct errors. If you have a typo in your DOI, then it will be very difficult to determine what you meant to refer to. Of course, most DOIs are copied and pasted, and it's not hard to check that they work by pasting them into <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org\">http://dx.doi.org</a>, so I'm sure the error rate would be very low. However, it would not be zero. (I once found a typo in the DOI listed on a publisher's web page. I have no idea how it got there, but it did.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3161, "author": "Joe", "author_id": 1622, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1622", "pm_score": 3, "selected": true, "text": "<p>It's not the horrible suggestion that many people seem to think it is -- there have been some complaints about miscounts in citation counts because of improper parsing of references; mostly because of some journals allowing non-standard abbreviations. (does <code>A&amp;A</code> mean <a href=\"http://www.aanda.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Astronomy and Astrophysics</a> or <a href=\"http://www.artsandarchitecture.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Arts &amp; Architecture</a>? Many citation parsers don't use the context and have alternate rules for what journal the citation came from.</p>\n\n<p>This could also bring up some other problems -- if someone's published a pre-print in arXiv ... but the final publication which may be substantially different. Very few people cite the arXiv paper directly, but it might actually be more appropriate than citing the final published version in some circumstances. (although, it would also show that perhaps those portions that you're citing didn't stand up under peer-review); you couldn't cite the arXiv via DOI, only via <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibcode\" rel=\"nofollow\">bibcode</a>.</p>\n\n<p>...</p>\n\n<p>Now, in most situations, the reference list for some journals is handled differently from the rest of the paper. In talking with the editor for <a href=\"http://www.springer.com/astronomy/astrophysics+and+astroparticles/journal/11207\" rel=\"nofollow\">Solar Physics</a>, when I talked to him regarding a proposal for <a href=\"http://docs.virtualsolar.org/wiki/Citation\" rel=\"nofollow\">data citation</a>, he mentioned that a problem was that giving a second URL to provide specifics would be an issue, and I believe he hinted that it was the publisher and not something locally developed.</p>\n\n<p>Ideally, this whole thing would be integrated into the submission process, and then the reviewers would have the list expanded so that they can do their work. (and you'd probably want the submitter to verify the expansions) ... but this of course will take time from the publishers, who aren't exactly known to be nimble for the most part.</p>\n\n<p>...</p>\n\n<p>What I'd suggest, so that you can get the benefits that you want, without waiting for the journals to make any changes, is to look into <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software\" rel=\"nofollow\">reference manager software</a>, which let you collect your references in a database, with notes, and can then generate a reference list using the appropriate format. I've heard good things about a number of them (but never had a need for this purpose (the ones I've used were for shared project bibliographies). I'd look to see which ones can generate whatever citation style is appropriate for the journal(s) you submit to, or ask around to see if any of the people you collaborate might use one (as using the same one could be of benefit when collaborating).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 9137, "author": "userJT", "author_id": 1537, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1537", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>People already see this as a problem and try to go from PDF to a list of DOIs. See the project here: <a href=\"http://labs.crossref.org/pdfextract\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://labs.crossref.org/pdfextract</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 9166, "author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX", "author_id": 725, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Personally, I try to \"sneak in\" DOIs into reference lists even if the journal's instructions are for short citation formats. Just as I try to sneak in the title of the paper. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>As reader and reviewer, I find it horrible to have no clue at all what the paper by J. Doe <em>et al.</em>, Some Jounal, 42, 5678-91 is about. Particularly, when seeking a particular kind of information. That is for the title.</p></li>\n<li><p>As reader and reviewer, I find it very convenient to just click on the link to get to the paper. So please, do not only spell out the DOI, but use its inherent hyperlinking capability. </p></li>\n<li><p>My experience is that broken citations are fairly common already with the traditional \"Author, journal, volume, pages\" format. Usually it is possible to arrive at the paper with some effort. Having the title is then the most useful information to get to the paper. Having only a DOI with typo pretty much prevents any possible correction.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Conclusion: I think both title and DOI are worth the additional ink.</strong></p></li>\n<li><p>Even if the journal insists on their more compressed format, I'd like to have at least the reviewers the benefit of immediately seeing what papers I refer to.</p></li>\n<li><p>I've never had a reviewer complaining about this information in the references.</p></li>\n<li><p>I'm using mostly biblatex, which makes it easy to automatically have both title and the DOI (already properly linked) output together with the rest of the information. No effort at all.</p></li>\n<li><p>I don't care if you prefer to store your literature database as DOI only, and expand the DOI list when writing the paper. However, personally I perfer to have a searchable base, and more meaningful citation keys (I use mostly AuthorYEAR Bibtex keys, for books the title), so I can remember them more easily when writing.</p></li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3097", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1537/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3103, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 7, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Unless the paper is available under a very permissive license, such as <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution</a>, you will need to seek permission. (There may be other legal possibilities, such as fair use or fair dealing, but that's a little subtle. See <a href=\"http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2007/04/26/is-reprinting-a-figure-fair-us/\">this story</a> for more information on that.)</p>\n\n<p>The copyright owner is the person you need permission from. Who that is will generally be marked on the published paper (often it is the publisher, and sometimes the author). If the publisher holds the copyright, then it is still polite to ask permission from the authors as well, although this is not legally required.</p>\n\n<p>Big commercial publishers will often have a department for dealing with this, typically with a name like \"Permissions\". If you can't find such a department, then you can try just writing to the journal in question (look at their web page to try to find e-mail addresses).</p>\n\n<p>If you are lucky, they will quickly approve your use of the figure. If you are not lucky, they will ask for money.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>And, finally, how does the answer vary for (a) those wishing to republish the figure in their own work, </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There are definitely legal issues here.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(b) those not wishing to publish the figure e.g. for student coursework.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you never make the work available to the public, then it is hard to imagine that the copyright owner will ever learn about it or complain (and they would look foolish if they tried to sue someone for using their figure in a homework assignment). However, you still have a moral obligation to cite the source of the figure.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3105, "author": "ElCid", "author_id": 1520, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1520", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In addition to the answer by @AnonymousMathematician, it's important to remember <em>how to cite a figure from another paper in your own</em>. This <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20171019090302/http://library.nmu.edu/guides/userguides/apacitingtables.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">link</a> gives a good explanation on how to do so: for publications using the APA style guide, for instance, it should be in the format</p>\n<p><strong>Figure #. Description/Note.</strong> <em>Adapted from “Title of Article,” by F. M. Author and C. D. Author, year,\nTitle of Journal, volume, p. xx. Copyright year by the Name of Copyright Holder. Adapted [or Reprinted] with\npermission.</em></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 85457, "author": "jcchuks", "author_id": 69770, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/69770", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In case some one wants IEEE-related answer (similar to what other responders have said), see page <a href=\"http://www.ieee.org.sv/files/politicayetica.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">17 of this IEEE presentation</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <h3>Reuse of Published Materials</h3>\n \n <ul>\n <li><p>You must cite and acknowledge any published materials that you make re-use of </p>\n \n <ul>\n <li><p>Examples: Diagrams/figures from an existing \n paper </p>\n \n <ul>\n <li><p>Extracted and re-used => must get permission from author/publisher (copyright owner) and cite and acknowledge </p></li>\n <li><p>Redrawn with modifications => should cite and \n indicated “adapted from” or “based on” </p></li>\n </ul></li>\n </ul></li>\n <li><p>This includes your own prior published work!</p></li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n" }, { "answer_id": 110353, "author": "Á. F. López de Quadros", "author_id": 93270, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/93270", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The prestigious <em>American Institute of Physics</em> (AIP) has a FAQ page that is golden:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://publishing.aip.org/authors/author-permission-faq\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://publishing.aip.org/authors/author-permission-faq</a></p>\n\n<p>Answered questions include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>When do I need permission to reuse material</li>\n<li>Must permission be in writing?</li>\n<li>How do I obtain permissions?</li>\n<li>What is a credit line and where does it go?</li>\n<li>What do I do with the permissions once I receive them?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Continuing with aeismail comment under ElCid's answer,</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I edited this because different publishers have different guidelines.\n In some cases, you can say \"Reprinted from Ref. XX with permission,\"\n and the longer copyright notice isn't required. – aeismail</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The AIP states the following:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[...] The original publisher will provide you with their preferred wording\n for the credit line (in most cases). A credit line consisting only of\n “Used with permission” is not sufficient. An example of a typical\n complete credit line appears as:</p>\n \n <p>Reproduced with permission from J. Org. Chem. 63, 99 (1998). Copyright\n 1998 American Chemical Society.</p>\n \n <p>Note that even when reusing material in the public domain (for which\n obtaining permission does not apply), you must include an appropriate\n credit line, which states the original source. An example of an\n appropriate credit line for material in the public domain follows:</p>\n \n <p>Reprinted from A. H. Harvey and J. C. Bellows, Evaluation and\n Correlation of Steam Solubility Data for Salts and Minerals of\n Interest in the Power Industry, NIST Technical Note 1387 (U.S. GPO,\n Washington, DC, 1997).</p>\n \n <p><a href=\"https://publishing.aip.org/authors/author-permission-faq\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://publishing.aip.org/authors/author-permission-faq</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3100", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1572/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3109, "author": "Noble P. Abraham", "author_id": 1580, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1580", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Though this is not a direct answer to your query, this hopes to lead to more productive / useful answers.</p>\n\n<p>See this <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-index\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wiki article</a>, on Hirsch index or h-index that is a widely accepted measure of </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist\n or scholar.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The article also points to other indices on scientific/academic productivity and impact in the field.</p>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"http://adsabs.harvard.edu/ads_abstracts.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstract Service</a> provides a gateway to the online Astronomy and Physics literature. A new interface of the ADS provides a tool to visualize the author and paper networks; that tells you how productive the author is, quantified with the number of collaborators and papers produced.</p>\n\n<p>For e.g. see this <a href=\"http://labs.adsabs.harvard.edu/ui/cgi-bin/topicSearch?q=Narlikar&amp;qtype=NEW&amp;db_key=AST&amp;db_key=PRE&amp;arxiv_sel=astro-ph&amp;arxiv_sel=gr-qc\" rel=\"nofollow\">link</a>; a search for the name <strong>Narlikar</strong>. On top of the resulting page, next to <em>Top 200 results</em>, you can see a drop-down menu, on which you can select various options like Author Network, Paper Network etc to get various visualizations.</p>\n\n<p>You can contact the project personnels here <a href=\"http://adsabs.harvard.edu/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://adsabs.harvard.edu/</a> . They do conduct studies on bibliographic data, which is one of the measure of academic productivity.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Update :</p>\n\n<p>Here is a link to the articles that cite <a href=\"http://www.pnas.org/content/102/46/16569.full\" rel=\"nofollow\">J. E. Hirsch</a>'s article - <em>An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output</em>- on h-index via Google Scholar <a href=\"http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=link:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pnas.org%2Fcontent%2F102%2F46%2F16569.abstract\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=link:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pnas.org%2Fcontent%2F102%2F46%2F16569.abstract</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3155, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A comprehensive review was conducted in the field of <a href=\"http://pss.sagepub.com/content/18/4/283.short\" rel=\"nofollow\">psychology</a> in relation to publication rates and tenure. There is also a \"fun\" review related to beer consumption and publication in the field of <a href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0030-1299.2008.16551.x/full\" rel=\"nofollow\">avian evolutionary biology</a>.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01889.x\nPsychological Science April 2007 vol. 18 no. 4 283-286</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 43678, "author": "Sander Heinsalu", "author_id": 6313, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6313", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Papers on coauthorship networks such as <a href=\"http://www.pnas.org/content/101/suppl_1/5200.full\" rel=\"nofollow\">Newman (2004)</a> have the descriptive statistics on publication rates in different fields, e.g. publications per person per year.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 97629, "author": "Stefan_W", "author_id": 73521, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73521", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the subject that I am familiar with, political science, there is a recent study using bibliometric data on patterns of publishing in journals - maybe this could be interesting (and might be similar to already mentioned work in other comments): <a href=\"https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/patterns-of-publishing-in-political-science-journals-an-overview-of-our-profession-using-bibliographic-data-and-a-coauthorship-network/D946105595ED2C314AE2A04138F7A5B6\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/patterns-of-publishing-in-political-science-journals-an-overview-of-our-profession-using-bibliographic-data-and-a-coauthorship-network/D946105595ED2C314AE2A04138F7A5B6</a></p>\n\n<p>As the authors state:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>We drew on more than 67,000 papers published from 1990 to 2013 in one\n of today’s 96 core journals. The network consists of more than 40,000\n authors located worldwide.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>and regarding your question, they find this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Whereas some are highly productive in terms of publications, the\n majority of authors published only a single paper, which suggests\n significant turnover in the community.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You should have a closer look at it (although polsci is not in your list of mentioned disciplines)</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3108", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/184/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3127, "author": "Yves", "author_id": 1611, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1611", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There are good chances that they are selling the books back to students. Given the price of academic books, this is is the most profitable way of \"recycling\" a book.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3128, "author": "Nate Eldredge", "author_id": 1010, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would refrain from doing any business with these buyers, mainly because I find their solicitations annoying. I wouldn't want to encourage them to continue bothering me or my colleagues.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to ask whether it is ethical to resell evaluation copies at all, start a new question.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3129, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I agree with Yves that they are selling the books back to students. Then I think the economics works out as follows:</p>\n\n<p>The faculty selling the books and the book buyers benefit a lot. The publishers stand to lose some money, since reselling the books hurts the market for new ones. They presumably pass some or all of this cost on to students through price increases, so the students also lose money in aggregate. Now the question becomes what price the books are being resold at. If they are resold cheaply (used book prices), then the students who buy the resold books benefit (they get near-new copies at cheap prices), at the expense of the other students. If the books are resold at new prices, then no students benefit.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3152, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Paper, printing, and binding (PPB) are typically a small fraction of the retail price of the book. It depends on a lot of factors, but as a ballpark figure, if you take the total cost of PPB for the nth edition of a big-selling 3-color college freshman textbook, and divide by the number of copies sold, it's probably ~$10, or ~ 1/10 of the ~$100 retail price.</p>\n\n<p>Not only that, but the <em>incremental</em> price is even smaller. In traditional printing (not print on demand), printing costs are almost all setup costs. Once you have the print run going, the cost of producing one more book is nearly zero. Again, it depends on a lot of factors, but a ballpark figure would be about $1, or ~1% of the retail price.</p>\n\n<p>This explains why publishers are seemingly so wasteful about sending out these unsolicited copies so indiscriminately to professors. It's not wasteful at all, because the incremental cost of printing a book is so low.</p>\n\n<p>I always just pass the books on to students for free. This is good for the student who gets the book, and the money spent by the publisher to produce the book is so small that essentially no cost gets passed on to students. If I give it to a student, and the student then turns around and resells it, I think that's fine, too. It has the effect of undermining the <em>$&amp;%^#</em>&amp; evil publishers' exploitative pricing by helping to maintain a healthy market in used copies, while the nth edition is still in use. Part of their reprehensible scheme for maintaining exploitative prices is to kill off the used marked for edition n by rapidly bringing out edition n+1. The evaluation copy they send me might get out on the used market early enough to get some use before then.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3454, "author": "Noble P. Abraham", "author_id": 1580, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1580", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would say that these book buyers are legitimate from personal experience, as a student, from Kerala, India. May be the perspective is different in different parts of the globe.</p>\n\n<p>I have seen a lot of second-hand book sellers and street vendors, selling used academic books. I don't think they are making much profits by selling them. They acquire books at no price or at very low prices directly from the users, students or faculties, and sell at one-fourth or even one-sixth of the original price of the book. They manage to do so, because they do not pay taxes to the government (either they are not bound to pay or they simply do not pay). They usually do not have permanent shop for selling the books. Sometimes they acquire books in exchange; the customer exchanges some of their books with the seller, for more useful ones, without money transaction. This is the kind of <em>recycling</em> that happens.</p>\n\n<p>The reason why I argue that they are benefiting the academia is; they market their books, saying that they are used by scholars and has lots of annotations, side markings, simple explanations on the margin etc. I have even heard one fellow saying 'this book was used by a famous rank holder of the university'. </p>\n\n<p>As the demand of used books is large, they are actually fulfilling the customer interest. </p>\n\n<p>The reason for giving away of the books vary; having an extra copy, or the book is too old (some like new books), or the area of interest has changed or one has moved to higher class.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3112", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/248/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3114, "author": "410 gone", "author_id": 96, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Well someone's got to pay. If it's the reader, then howls go up about Open Access. So that leaves the authors.</p>\n\n<p><strong>The costs of publishing</strong></p>\n\n<p>A high-quality journal needs high-quality editors. An awful lot of literature still gets printed and distributed around the world and that's expensive. Remember, reading this, we are the ones who are most active online, and so our paper-reading habits are much more likely to be skewed towards predominantly (or even exclusively) online access, so are not fully representative. High-quality journals often also get involved in conference sponsorship, publicity, and so on. The peer-reviews get co-ordinated; there is often some vetting of suitable reviewers; their responses need to be interpreted correctly; special issues get co-ordinated; someone ensures a good balance of articles covering the journal's remit.</p>\n\n<p>So, there's a lot of costs, and someone's got to cover them. If we want to publish at almost-zero overheads, we write a blog. A journal is much much more than a blog - and some of the things that make it much more than a blog, cost money.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Not necessarily an efficient market</strong></p>\n\n<p>That's not to say that in certain sectors, there isn't a market failure: some sectors do have suspiciously high profit margins. And market regulators should be looking at removing barriers to entry. Those barriers certainly aren't insurmountable, as notable new scientific publishers have emerged recently, with new business models: <a href=\"http://www.plos.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">PLOS</a> being an obvious example, founded in 2000 to support Open Access, and <a href=\"http://www.plos.org/about/what-is-plos/early-history/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">becoming a publisher in its own right in 2003</a>; and now a serious player, using the author-pays model.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Author beware</strong></p>\n\n<p>There are also plenty of scammers using the author-pays model. So be careful out there. Talk to colleagues about who's reputable and who's not. Read the journals. And there are lists online of the disreputable publishers. Read more about that on this site at <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/101/96\">How do you judge the quality of a journal?</a> </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3115, "author": "userJT", "author_id": 1537, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1537", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It does make sense to pay but I think the fees now went through the roof.</p>\n\n<p>for example BMJ charges 2500 british pounds (all article are forced into paying open access) and they still sell printed copies.</p>\n\n<p>Hybrid model of optional payment for open access seems to be dying in favor of all open access and all journals charge an article fee.</p>\n\n<p>(medical field answer)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3118, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A market in which authors pay to publish and their careers depend on the number of publications they have opens new possibilities for unethical practices, and those are being actively exploited by <a href=\"https://symomega.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/academic-spam\">vanity press \"gold open access\" journals</a>. On the other hand, there are very reputable journals like <a href=\"http://www.plosone.org/\">PlosONE</a> that charge authors but maintain highly ethical standards.</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I think <a href=\"http://scienceinthesands.blogspot.com/2011/12/in-defense-of-submission-in-scientific.html\">open submission is even more important than open access</a>. For a more thorough criticism of the author-pay model, see <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/notices/201109/rtx110901294p.pdf\">these</a> <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/notices/200803/tx080300381p.pdf\">articles</a> from the Notices of the American Mathematical Society.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3120, "author": "Benoît Kloeckner", "author_id": 946, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This is an answer about the cost of publishing science article.</p>\n\n<p>A math paper, where the author gives a pretty good draft (we use LaTeX) still has to manage peer-review (which usually means paying a secretary to contact authors, late referees, and so on) and to typeset articles. I have heard that the overall cost is $50 per page for a cheap journal (and math pages tend to be small since we mostly write with a single column).</p>\n\n<p>It has been computed in the (very interesting) blog SV-POW that subscription earn the publisher more than $5000 on average. But of course, we are cheated a lot with those prices.</p>\n\n<p>PLoS ONE gains money (and reinvest it, since PLoS is non-profit) and charges \"only\" $1350 per article.</p>\n\n<p>Recently, Cambridge University Press announced the launch of a math journal in gold OA for $750 a paper -- after three years of fee waivers for everyone.</p>\n\n<p>Last, PeerJ claims to be able to publish all the paper one wants for a few hundred dollar, paid once in one's life (plus yearly reviewer duty).</p>\n\n<p>My conclusion: there is a wide range of prices, and a wide range of services a journal can provide, or not.</p>\n\n<p>Concerning the actual question, I would say there is no ethical problem with paying a publisher for the work it does, as soon as the editors are independent from the money flow; but there are some issues with a system where most journals would run such a model.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 73153, "author": "NRA", "author_id": 58424, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/58424", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I don't think it is ethical to ask individuals to pay to publish papers. If anything they should be paid for their contribution to the journal. If anyone should pay it should be the reader...subscription fees etc</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3113", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3601, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In my experience, professional society memberships generally fall into a gray area due to taxes. It is useful to split them into two categories. The first is where you get no financial benefits that offset the cost. The second is where membership gets you a discount for publication, meeting registration, or access to a journal. </p>\n\n<p>In my experience the first cases is not allowable since it is considered a personal benefit and is tax deductible. I have never been able to charge these to any grant. The second case often results in fights with the finance office. They would prefer to charge the grant the extra money and not pay for membership. With a little bit of fighting, I have never had a problem getting them to pay the membership at the time of meeting registration when they can see the savings fully offsets the cost of membership (as it often does in my field). I have no idea what would happen if it was only a partial offset.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3605, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p><a href=\"http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2011/nihgps_ch7.htm#preaward_preagreement_costs\">The page you linked to in your question</a> directly addresses memberships for NIH:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Dues or Membership Fees</strong></p>\n \n <p>Allowable as an F&amp;A cost for organizational membership in business, professional, or technical organizations or societies.</p>\n \n <p>Payment of dues or membership fees for an individual’s membership in a professional or technical organization is allowable as a fringe benefit or an employee development cost, if paid according to an established organizational policy consistently applied regardless of the source of funds.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I agree with your conclusion about books for NSF grants, and their page oddly doesn't list information about memberships. I would imagine that it could arguably fall under the section related to conference fees, but that's conjecture.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 28486, "author": "Andreas Blass", "author_id": 14506, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I have occasionally bought books with NSF grant money. At the time, I was told, by the staff in charge of grant accounting, that books are an allowable expense provided they directly relate to the research being done under the grant. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3117", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 4771, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 3, "selected": true, "text": "<p>The question is not answerable at this level of abstraction, because grad school admission is not decided on the basis of easily described rules. If you're a coauthor on a brilliant and important paper, you may still be rejected if the committee doubts you were a major contributor to the paper. On the other hand, some applicants with no publications at all may be accepted.</p>\n\n<p>As a general rule, nobody on the committee will read the paper itself. That would be both time-consuming and unlikely to be fruitful, since the committee probably doesn't even have an expert in this specific area. They may get a little information from the abstract or your personal statement, but everything else they know about the paper will come from your letters of recommendation.</p>\n\n<p>The letters need to indicate why this paper should help your case for admission. Specifically, they need to explain why the paper is interesting, what you contributed to it if you are not the only author, and why your work was impressive.</p>\n\n<p>This task will be easier if the paper is really good, and that's correlated with being published in a top journal, but this is not really necessary. For example, if an undergraduate makes a major contribution to a solid but not exceptional research paper, then that could mean a lot, even if the paper doesn't get accepted to a leading journal. Of course the paper needs to meet at least some standards - publishing in a junk journal or vanity press doesn't count. However, the most important issue is demonstrating that you can carry out good research, not getting your name in a prestigious venue.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 4781, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The answer depends on how the admissions process works. In my school you need to find someone who is willing to be your primary advisor to have any chance of being accepted. I am much more likely to spend a few extra minutes considering a candidate with a publication. In fact, I would say that I would schedule an informal phone interview with anyone with a publication nearly independent of the CV. Beyond this initial stage, which in my opinion counts for a lot, but not everything, things get too complicated to speak generally.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3119", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1190/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3122, "author": "Ran G.", "author_id": 324, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/324", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>(<strong>EDT</strong>: \"in this case..\" ) There's no such thing as self-plagiarism. It's your figure. you drew it, you have the right to use it anywhere you want any time you wish and as much as possible. I don't even see a need to cite previous appearances of the same figure (unless this figure is the main theorem/claim/result rather than an explanatory tool.)</p>\n\n<p>The only thing to check is that the conf that published your paper doesn't hold some rights on it, due to editing it, improving it or that you gave up your rights when you signed a copyright-transfer form (as the Anonymous Mathematician mentioned in his comment)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3126, "author": "JRN", "author_id": 64, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>There <em>is</em> such a thing as <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-plagiarism#Self-plagiarism\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">self-plagiarism</a>, but I would say that your case (reusing a figure that you created and providing a citation to it) is not an instance of it. I also don't think it is unethical or unprofessional. As Ran G. says in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/3122/64\">his answer</a>, just make sure you ask permission from the copyright holder (if it isn't you).</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3121", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1607/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3130, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Yes, it is possible to get an admission for MS or PhD in a US university having studied Bachelor degree in 'Non Circuit\" field. This is more true if you have <em>strong drive, skills and suitable projects, seminars, publications to support the same</em>. However, to get into the top 20s would be a special case though not impossible. </p>\n\n<p>Try approaching professors from top universities in CS showing them your credentials. If you are able to convince a professor, the battle is more or less won.</p>\n\n<p>One of my friend did his Bachelor in Civil Engg. from a reasonably good non-US university but got admission in Electrical Engg. in a US university of medium rank.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3132, "author": "Marc van Dongen", "author_id": 1194, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1194", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Having to deal with applications for admission to a taught MSc CS programmes, I am sorry to say that we only accept CS BSc graduates or ``equivalent''.</p>\n\n<p>Even if applicants come form ``related'' areas such as electronic engineering, they usually lack experience in basic (and non-basic) CS areas such as programming, databases, operating systems, security, discrete math, and web technology.</p>\n\n<p>Sure, it's possible to learn about these matters but to enter the programme you must prove you've mastered them on a formal basis. (Otherwise, we might as well let anybody enter.) We're willing to accept applicants with provable industrial experience, provided applicants can back up the experience with a relevant CV and some references.</p>\n\n<p>When it comes to non-CS BSc graduates, we simply cannot accept them <em>unless</em> they can prove they've studied CS on a formal basis. In short this usually means you always need a BSc in CS or the equivalent of a CS conversion degree.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 12318, "author": "Grey", "author_id": 8381, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8381", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As @Stat-R said, it is possible to change fields for your M.S. or your Ph.D., but it is harder to get in and you need all those things that @Stat-R said. In addition you may find some M.S. programs in C.S., offered for non-CS major students. I know that U. Penn has such a <a href=\"http://www.cis.upenn.edu/grad/mcit/index.shtml\" rel=\"nofollow\">program</a>. If you are in Mechanical Engineering, you might have worked with robotics. Robotics Institute of CMU <a href=\"http://www.ri.cmu.edu/ri_static_content.html?menu_id=273\" rel=\"nofollow\">offers</a> both M.S. and a Ph.D. and they accept Mechanical Engineering major students too. </p>\n\n<p>I think that it is harder to get into a Ph.D. program, especially if you haven't done any research on related topics, but I think you can easily get into an M.S. program.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3123", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1609/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3125, "author": "JRN", "author_id": 64, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64", "pm_score": 7, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I suggest that you write a formal letter to the journal editor who handled your submission. (Make sure it is the same editor.) Give <em>all</em> the relevant details, including dated copies of all correspondence (whether electronic or printed).</p>\n\n<p>The editor should know who refereed your paper, and although the editor will not reveal their names to you (I assume that blind refereeing was done), he or she would be in the best position to act on the matter.</p>\n\n<p>Perhaps the best thing that could happen is the editor agrees that some unethical behavior occurred, the editor helps you file a case against the erring referee, the erring referee gets penalized, and proper attribution is given to you.</p>\n\n<p>Perhaps the worst thing that could happen is the editor does not believe your story, thinks you are just looking for trouble, and tells other editors and referees that you are a \"bad, crazy person.\" Or the editor does believe your story but is a close friend of the erring referee and so acts as if he or she does not believe your story.</p>\n\n<p>Either way, at least they know that you are aware of this unethical behavior and this will perhaps discourage the erring referee to continue with the unethical behavior in the future.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3136, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There are some useful resources at <a href=\"http://www.siam.org/journals/plagiarism.php\">http://www.siam.org/journals/plagiarism.php</a> (especially if you submitted the paper to a SIAM journal, but some of them are more broadly useful).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My co-authors would prefer to err on the side of caution and include a reference to the result in our revised paper, but I would really like to reclaim my work...</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I strongly agree with you on this. You have a right not to share credit with a plagiarist, and you also don't want to seem to be treating it as independent work.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I am attempting to find a copy of the thesis since it was deposited before I submitted my paper to the journal.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That sounds valuable to me.</p>\n\n<p>Joel's suggestion of contacting the editor seems like the best way to start, especially since the editor may have critical information (if the plagiarist was indeed the referee, then the editor would have proof), but there are also several other ways you could follow up:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>You can ask a professional society you are a member of to investigate. For example, the American Mathematical Society has a Committee on Professional Ethics.</p></li>\n<li><p>You can complain to the publisher of the book. A respectable academic publisher should seriously investigate the complaint, but unfortunately some publishers are not respectable.</p></li>\n<li><p>If you discover any evidence of plagiarism in the dissertation as submitted to the university, you can bring it to the attention of the university. Even if the dissertation was submitted prior to your paper, it could be worth doing some web searches to look for other plagiarism in it. If you can document previous plagiarism, it will establish a pattern that may help make your case even more convincing. I'd be surprised if this is the first or only time this person has plagiarized.</p></li>\n<li><p>If the plagiarist is employed at a university or research lab, you can complain to their employer (since plagiarism is a form of professional misconduct).</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, you may never reach a really satisfactory conclusion (see <a href=\"http://www.siam.org/journals/plagiary/index.php\">http://www.siam.org/journals/plagiary/index.php</a> for a case study). For example, it may end up with the plagiarist using flimsy excuses (\"I copied the text by accident when I mistook my notes on your paper for my own research\", \"my undergraduate research assistant copied it without my knowledge\", etc.) and basically getting away with no serious consequences. However, if all goes well you should end up with an authority figure, such as an editorial board or ethics committee, agreeing that your results were stolen.</p>\n\n<p>When you reach that point, I'd recommend publicizing the case, for example on your web page. Of course whether to do this is a personal choice, but I think it is a valuable service to the community to let us know about a plagiarist to watch out for (and it may deter or uncover other instances of plagiarism). You could even publicize it now, although of course if you do so you should make sure to present a compelling case and avoid speculation.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 43875, "author": "moonman239", "author_id": 25392, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25392", "pm_score": -1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This is just a layman's perspective, but here's what you can do:</p>\n\n<p>1) Keep copies of all official correspondence.\n2) If you have not touched the file at all, take a screenshot of the file explorer displaying the file name and the \"last modified\" date.\n3) Get a signed statement attesting to your character and to the fact that you spent long hours putting your essay together.</p>\n\n<p>The key is to gather enough evidence to conclude that the editor probably plagiarized. If you were to sue the author, all you'd to do is prove that there is a > 50% chance that the guy plagiarized your work.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 171011, "author": "Allure", "author_id": 84834, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/84834", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This exact situation happened a few years ago, and <a href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211379718301979\" rel=\"noreferrer\">the result was</a>:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (<a href=\"https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal</a>).</p>\n<p>This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief of Results in Physics, the original authors and journal, IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion.</p>\n<p>The paper constitutes a case of plagiarism of the article “Fault Detection of Eccentricity Based on Multi-Physics in the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor” by Doo-Young Kim, Dae-Kee Kim, Hyeon-Jin Park, and Jung-Pyo Hong that was submitted to IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion. Ferhat Çıra served as a reviewer of the original paper and recommended it to be rejected, then used the same material in his offending paper in Results in Physics.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>You can guess what happened: after the paper was published, the original authors raised a complaint with the original journal and possibly the editor-in-chief of the new journal. The complaint was investigated, found to be valid, and the offending article was retracted. Note the paper was retracted at the request of all three parties, hence they were all involved.</p>\n<p>I can't tell from the outside if the authors complained to the new journal, or if they complained to the original journal who then contacted the new journal. Still, if I were an author, I'd notify the new journal as well and tell them that I have also contacted the original journal, just as a heads up.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 180374, "author": "Deipatrous", "author_id": 119911, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/119911", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This happens. Quite often, in fact. You can get somewhere by pursuing this formally with the editor, but first carefully consider the political lay of the land. I should not be saying this, but it is the truth: if the editor and the plagiariser are buddies, and if one or both of them are &quot;big shots&quot; in the field, you are not only likely to get nowhere in this particular matter, but to have <em>your</em> reputation sullied in the bargain. <em>Discuss this with your co-authors, especially the ones that have been around the block once or twice.</em></p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3124", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1608/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3134, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>There is no accepted numerical measure for an individual's academic productivity. The available measures can sometimes be useful, but they all have serious weaknesses and many detractors. In particular, there is no widely accepted or safe choice: if you make any public use of a productivity measure, many people will react angrily, no matter which measure you choose (and their anger may well be justified).</p>\n\n<p>Added in edit: In my experience, citation and publication counts are sometimes mentioned in letters of recommendation, but just as a crude numerical measure, rather than with any serious importance attached to them; most letters do not mention them. (I've never seen an h-index mentioned in a letter or job application, but perhaps it is more common in physics.) Hiring committee members occasionally impose minimal numerical standards, but just to rule out inappropriate cases (\"we won't consider anyone for a tenure-track job unless they have at least two publications\", say). In the departments I'm familiar with, nobody uses them to choose between serious candidates. Like Dan C says, they just aren't that useful: they add a small amount of information, with a lot of noise and even systematic bias.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3138, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I agree with Anonymous Mathematician that likely any numerical measure will be insufficient. The best measure is that of <strong>esteem by your community</strong>. This will often be reflected in: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>invitations to speak</li>\n<li>inclusion in special issues of journals </li>\n<li>election to society offices and/or </li>\n<li>professional awards. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>As much as administrations would find it convenient, <strong>scientific impact cannot be distilled to a few numbers</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Edit:</p>\n\n<p>I think part of the issue is that Noble is asking for some metric that can be <strong>used by non-experts</strong> to judge a researcher in a field other than theirs. And essentially, what we (Suresh, AnonMath, JeffE, myself, etc.) are saying is: \"No. <strong>You can't really get a good answer, without asking experts within the field</strong> of the person you want to evaluate.\" In some sense, this is a predictable power struggle. <strong>Outsiders want a way to do it on their own, and the insiders are saying \"No, you can't do it right without us.\"</strong></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3146, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I feel like pointing out that the very use of the word 'productivity' reflects a certain kind of bias towards \"quantity\". Ultimately, there are many different ways in which a researcher can make useful contributions to their field, and society at large. Maybe a key insight, a new way of thinking, a set of tools, or even a large group of students. Any particular measure of impact captures some subset of these, but there's typically no way to capture the entirety of a profile, and if you resort to numbers, the problem gets even worse. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3148, "author": "Benoît Kloeckner", "author_id": 946, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It is pretty clear to me that in fundamental mathematics, such a measure exists and is widely used: existence (and number) of papers in the five or ten most prestigious journals.</p>\n\n<p>In France, publishing in one of this paper is very important for getting a professor position. We tend to pretend we judge people on the content of the papers, but the first thing we look at is for <em>Annals of math</em>, <em>Inventiones</em> and the like in publication lists.</p>\n\n<p>The US system is less known to me, but it seems very important to publish in one of these journals to get tenure too, at least for some people: I have heard a well-established colleague saying that when he was refereeing for, e.g., Annals of Math (arguably the most prestigious of all), he asked himself whether the paper was worth giving the author a career for the rest of his or her life.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3131", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1580/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3135, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Generally thesis formatting questions are answered by someone at the the institutional level. At my institution, deviations from the proscribed format were not permitted. You should verify with your institution what the guidelines are. The academic merit of this approach may be a secondary concern. Usually the person who is in charge of this can be found working for your institution's library. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3139, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think the answer to your question is <strong>very dependent on your subject and the culture of that research area</strong>. In my area, math, I've never seen an annotated bibliography as part of the thesis. I've probably only looked at 15 or 20 theses, but I've never seen one. In other areas (humanities and social sciences?), I suspect such a bibliography is more par for the course.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3159, "author": "Jeromy Anglim", "author_id": 62, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I agree that reference formatting for a thesis tends to follow university and discipline specific guidelines. In my experience, theses also tend to have a little more flexibility than other documents, because the university often has to provide guidelines that are relevant to research students from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds.</p>\n\n<p>That said, if you are using APA style referencing, then you may wish to follow APA style guidelines more generally. I have not seen annotated bibliographies in APA style. Rather, if you cite a work, then it is added to the reference list. You can cite a wide range of works including popular-science and other works of less rigour. You generally don't cite works that you simply used as background reading, unless you can weave the reference into a specific citation.</p>\n\n<p>In APA style, all references are typically combined into a single section at the end of the work. An exception can occur in the case of book chapters, particularly where each chapter has been written by different authors, where separate reference lists often occur at the end of each chapter.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3133", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1508/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3151, "author": "mac389", "author_id": 28, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It depends on what <em>allowed</em> means. Many things are <strong>legal but not advisable</strong>. </p>\n\n<p>Traditionally the teacher-student relationship is Platonic. It also often continues beyond the class that brings the two together. If that relationship morphs into something else, it can appear improper even if nothing is <em>technically</em> awry. We all know how important appearance is in university relations.</p>\n\n<p>There is a further wrinkle. Do you mean an exclusively sexual relationship? That can create the <em>appearance</em> of a quid pro quo. </p>\n\n<p>To second @Charles, this is an interesting question precisely because it is a delicate topic. For example, it appears that the OP is male and discussing a female professor. How would our reactions change if the genders were reversed? Or, if both were the same gender?</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3156, "author": "Paul", "author_id": 931, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The key issue of whether it is ethical or not reduces the question: Is there a potential for a perceived imbalance of power that can be abused? </p>\n\n<p>If the professor and graduate student are in separate departments, I think it is not an issue because a professor of one department has no power to influence any matters pertaining to the graduate student's academic life. </p>\n\n<p>If they two are of the same field, things can get a bit delicate. Speculation of an improper relationship alone can be devastating to one's reputation even if unfounded. We all know that politics play a role in one's success in a department.</p>\n\n<p>If one is maintaining a mentor-apprentice relationship (teacher-student, or advisor-mentee) and romantic relationship with the same person, it is difficult to determine whether certain actions (benefiting or detrimental to the apprentice or mentor) are biased due to emotion. Furthermore, if the romantic relationship terminates, it is difficult to continue the mentor-apprenticeship relation. </p>\n\n<p>While technically not \"illegal\", you have to ask yourself the question \"is there a potential for a perceived imbalance in power in the relationship?\". If so, I strongly advise against it.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3158, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is it allowed to have a sexual relationship between a Professor and a graduate student?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This depends on the university's rules. Pretty much every plausible set of rules you can think of is used somewhere: everything is allowed (well, generally not explicitly, but by not having rules for this at all), nothing is allowed, it's allowed only if they are in different departments, it's allowed only if the professor is not teaching or supervising the student, etc. If this issue is relevant to your life, then you need to figure out which rules apply.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, I'd say it's always a bad idea if the student and professor are in the same department or even related fields, regardless of whether the university's rules allow it. You could have a secret relationship, but it's wise to avoid awkward or troublesome secrets in your professional life (and all the problems of a known relationship will be magnified if you are discovered in a secret relationship). On the other hand, if other people in your department are aware of your romantic involvement, then it is almost certain to lead to complications. For example, the student will eventually need letters of recommendation, some of which will be written by colleagues of the professor. If they write honest letters, can they feel confident that what they wrote won't make it back to the professor? Probably not, so they will feel constrained in what they write. People reading the letters will realize this, so nothing positive will be taken quite as seriously. And letters of recommendation are just one issue - the relationship will keep coming up in different areas.</p>\n\n<p>When you take into account all the important points made in other answers (power differentials, what happens if the relationship ends, improper appearances and effects on reputation, etc.), it's not hard to see why there are often rules against this.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3160, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>To give one data point on how this issue is actually framed and enforced by universities (or at least public universities in the US), let me quote from my university's <a href=\"http://www.cam.illinois.edu/ix/ix-a/ix-A-23.htm\">Campus Administrative Manual</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>An individual may not initiate or participate in institutional\n decisions involving a direct benefit or penalty to someone with whom\n that individual has had a sexual relationship.</strong></p>\n \n <p>Relationships such as those between supervisors and their subordinate\n employees are inherently asymmetric. Current or past sexual\n relationships can adversely affect decisions, distort judgments, and\n undermine morale. Any university employee who participates in academic\n supervisory or administrative decisions concerning another employee\n with whom he or she has or has had a sexual relationship has a\n conflict of interest in these situations.</p>\n \n <p>Accordingly, no individual shall initiate or participate in\n institutional decisions involving a direct benefit or penalty\n (employment, retention, promotion, tenure, salary, leave of absence,\n etc.) to a person with whom that individual has or has had a sexual\n relationship. He or she must take specific actions to remove himself\n or herself from all decisions and actions that may influence the\n career or status of the other employee.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>[...]</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In cases where a conflict [of interest] is identified, the UEO [Unit Executive Officer] must develop a\n Supervisory Relationship Management Plan that redirects\n decision-making and bypasses involved parties. Such procedures must be\n agreed to in writing and approved through all administrative levels.\n For changes in existing positions that might create a supervisory\n relationship in the same unit, review and approval is also required.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>[...]</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The appropriate human resources office will conduct periodic\n compliance reviews. Failure to abide by this policy constitutes\n misconduct, subject to discipline under applicable University\n procedures.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>tl;dr:</strong> Sexual relationships between students and faculty are not per se forbidden, but the conflicts of interest they create — either real or perceived — must be carefully <em>and explicitly</em> managed by multiple layers of campus administration.</p>\n\n<p>It is worth emphasizing that these policies are invoked not only for sexual relationships that are generally considered inappropriate, such as undergraduates and their instructors, or graduate students and their advisors, but also with married (and formerly married) couples.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 11447, "author": "Namey", "author_id": 7930, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7930", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Official Answer: It depends on the tenets of your institution.</p>\n\n<p>Real Answer: No. Never with an active student at your institution.</p>\n\n<p>Relationships may sometimes be allowed between former students and faculty by the letter, but I cannot think of when it would be advisable for a faculty member to have a relationship with a student. Why not?</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>If there is ever a chance of you having power over their academic progress, it is at best a conflict of interest and at worst a setup for sexual harassment case. If you're looking for a great reason to have your tenure file silently quashed by a dean, this is a great way to do it.</p></li>\n<li><p>Even if you have no direct power over a student, there is the possibility that other students could complain if there is indirect influence (e.g., if you have connections to other faculty who do have power over that student or over rival students). Even an indirect connection to the student has the potential for allegations of bias or preference.</p></li>\n<li><p>You do not know the future and may run into a conflict later (e.g., student takes a course in your department, invited to work on a funded grant with member of their department). At that point, you're hosed. Even if ended the relationship as soon as the conflict became evident, the prior history of the relationship still exists. Alternatively, you could hurt your own (or the student's) academic trajectory by declining these opportunities. At the point where you are hurting a students' academic trajectory, it's unethical.</p></li>\n<li><p>It looks bad on the institution. How many administrators would want it known that any of their professors are dating any of their students? If you were a parent looking at a school for your kid, all else being equal, would you want the one where faculty are dating students? Imagine if the relationship goes sour and you end up in shouting matches with a student in your office/lab (or theirs!). In that light, dating a student is an anti-service to the institution.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If the student is really going to be the love of your life, you can wait until they're graduated to start a relationship. If not, then it's certainly not worth the risk (even if your name is Professor Carlos Danger).</p>\n\n<p>This sort of thing used to be allowed decades ago, where it wasn't uncommon for the (almost entirely male) faculty to end up marrying female grad students. As we've become more aware of the power structures and negative externalities involved, it's become much less permissible. Rightly so, in my opinion. No school is bigger than 100,000 students and most students you meet will be done in 3-4 years maximum. Given the risks (bias, bad press, potential lawsuits by the student or their peers), I don't think it's an undue restriction to not date a few thousand people rotating over a few years.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3142", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1614/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3147, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I don't know anything about applied math Ph.D programs. But extrapolating from TCS programs, getting more research experience (and some concrete results) would definitely help. While a second MS doesn't help directly, it helps indirectly because </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>you don't have a gap in your resume</li>\n<li>you automatically are placed in an environment where you can approach researchers to work on projects with them. </li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3150, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>The question is framed oddly. A master's degree <em>without</em> research experience will probably kill your chances for PhD admission, at least into the top programs.</p>\n\n<p>Here's a better framing: <strong>Is a second master's degree the best way to get more research experience?</strong> Unfortunately, the answer depends on your personal situation. If you're already doing active research with a strong possibility of formal publication, with well-known faculty collaborators who will write you strong letters of recommendation, then a second MS is probably not necessary. If that doesn't describe your current research environment, a second MS might be the best way to find such an environment.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3144", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1190/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3157, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I will answer a slightly more general question. <strong>How does one change fields between undergrad and grad school?</strong> The answer <em>very carefully</em> is correct, albeit unhelpful. The single most important criteria when applying for a strong PhD (at least in math, engineering, or the natural sciences, but probably true in other fields too) are <strong>letters of recommendation</strong> and <strong>demonstrated research ability</strong>. Bad grades can sink your application, but good grades (even from a top school) are not enough to get you in (nor good test scores, although they help). </p>\n\n<p>If you want to get a PhD, but don't have any experience in the area, you should <strong>first apply to a masters program</strong>, where <strong>you can gain experience and impress potential letter of recommendation writers</strong>. Often admission to a masters program is less competitive than to a PhD program (if even getting into the masters program is difficult, you could start as a non-degree student). But if you can publish a few papers during your masters and convince a few of your professors that you have both the <em>ability</em> and <em>desire</em> to succeed in grad school, then you're application to a PhD program will be much stronger. I also recommend that you <strong>talk with the schools where you plan to apply</strong> and ask what they suggest that you do to strengthen your application.</p>\n\n<p>You might also like to read this question and answer <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2950/is-it-possible-to-attend-graduate-school-in-pure-math-after-undergrad-in-cse/3000#3000\">Is it possible to attend graduate school in pure math after undergrad in CSE?</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 29476, "author": "jayann", "author_id": 18210, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18210", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think Dan C has covered the most important points. I will add just one more which is relevant here as the OP mentions to have been a practising chemist for 4 years. </p>\n\n<p>I think professional/industrial experience can also add to the weight of a PhD application. This is <em>even when</em> there may not be any visible or direct connexion between the field being sought for PhD and the field being professed (at or just before the time of the application). Such candidates are desirable because they are assumed to be target-oriented, disciplined, good at time management, and team players. </p>\n\n<p>Therefore, a letter of recommendation from say the director or chief technology officer of the company that highlights such characteristics can also increase one's chances. Actually, if such a letter additionally expresses high confidence on the <em>fast learning and grasping abilities</em> of the candidate (justified with tangible examples along with achievements), then I believe that that letter can be even stronger than letters from your MS co-supervisor or a professor whose lectures you excelled in, etc.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3153", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1412/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3164, "author": "Legendre", "author_id": 1190, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1190", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Like EngergyNumbers said, you should tailor your classification to the culture of your targeted audience. This <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_ranks\">list of academic ranks</a> for various countries might be helpful for that.</p>\n\n<p>Also, \"Scientist\" and \"Researcher\" doesn't really mean anything. A postdoc, assistant professor, principal investigator, or someone doing research in the commercial sector can be a scientist or a researcher.</p>\n\n<p>I think you know this but just in case: \"postdoc\" is an (often) temporary job that people take up after obtaining a PhD, and not a qualification. Some people do not do postdocs, and go directly into teaching, industry or become assistant professors after getting their PhD.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, \"Post Grad\" can refer to both masters degree or PhD students. It is common to say \"applying to graduate/grad school\" to when referring to applying to a PhD course.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3165, "author": "walkmanyi", "author_id": 1265, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I see problems with your ranking. </p>\n\n<p>Firstly, there is not much difference between <code>* (Completed)</code> and the subsequent <code>** (Ongoing)</code> level - somebody who completed a post-doc probably is currently either a professor or in the industry, where having a completed post-doc experience does not matter much in terms of being an academic rank. Besides that, there are countries where being a \"post-doc\" does not mean anything special, the official position would be either the same as being a PhD. student, or a staff researcher.</p>\n\n<p>Secondly, if you want to be too fine grained, there are several levels of professor positions missing (assistant, associate, full plus all the combinations with tenure position, or being a teaching/research specific position, etc.)</p>\n\n<p>Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, as others here wrote, the ladder is culture specific so you need to think about your target audience. In the case the audience of your website is somewhat local, go with the local tradition. </p>\n\n<p>If your audience is global, my advice would be to give up the particular fine classification. Rather, you could go with a combination of 3 axes of coarse-grained classification roughly corresponding to the track the person currently follows (industry/academia) plus the highest achieved academic degree plus indication of duration of the current status. You would end up with classes such as </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>academic &amp; BSc + 2 years - your ongoing undergrad student</li>\n<li>industry &amp; MSc + 5 years - you are probably facing an experienced professional \nin an industry</li>\n<li>academic &amp; PhD + 3 years - either a post-doc, or an assistant professor, or lecturer, well anyway an early career researcher</li>\n<li>academic &amp; PhD + 20 years - somebody roughly equivalent to a more senior-level professor </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Well, this way I guess you can capture more nuanced classification, than with a single ladder. You can of course add your own axes, e.g., tenure vs. pre-tenure, etc.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3197, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I take a somewhat skeptical view of the world. I see three stages:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Trainee: It doesn't matter if they are a student or a post doc or working in industry, if their goal is to acquire a set of skills and move up, then they are trainees. Generally, trainees think being an independent investigator is fun.</p></li>\n<li><p>Research monkey: Someone who is neither attempting to acquire new skills nor is conducting independent research. Generally, research monkeys realize that independent investigator spend all their time trying to get funding to allow research monkeys to do the fun stuff.</p></li>\n<li><p>Independent investigator: Someone who conducts their own research. Generally, when not looking for funding they are trying to figure out how they could become a research monkey.</p></li>\n</ol>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3163", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/965/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3167, "author": "David L", "author_id": 1624, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1624", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The short answer is \"probably.\" The long answer is \"it depends.\"</p>\n\n<p>Admission to a graduate program is almost solely dependent on how well you impress that department's graduate admissions committee (assuming you meet any minimum admissions standards: grades, GRE, etc). If they attach value to your work in industry, it'll help you out immensely. If they don't, it probably won't hurt you.</p>\n\n<p>This <a href=\"http://www.kaptest.com/GRE/Get-into-Grad-School/Build-a-Great-Application/inside-the-admission-committee.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Kaplan page</a> outlines the general process. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3175, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If your work at the prestigious company involved a demonstration of your intellectual and/or research prowess, then yes, it'll probably help. If your work was mostly grunt work, then it's unlikely to make a large impact.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3177, "author": "Sylvain Peyronnet", "author_id": 43, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Except if you are in a recognized inner lab of a big company, it will probably not help, and not hurt. Working may help if you do something that proves that you have skills useful to research work, that's all.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3166", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1625/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3174, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I can't comment on the later issues—they are too general for the scope of a single question. </p>\n\n<p>To address the first issue, yes, it is possible to publish without a professor. People at corporations and small companies publish all the time without academic collaborators (and without PhD level staffers). The challenge is having a topic that is worth publishing, and finding an appropriate venue to publish it in. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3180, "author": "Pinkinee", "author_id": 1631, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1631", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is it possible to publish a paper without a Professor? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, sure, why not? The point is whether the paper (your work) is worthy enough to be published or not. It's not the point if the paper has a professor or not; it's about being professional and not about a professor.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How to choose a research topic?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>First, it depends on your interest. Then it depends on if it's useful, uses new method, new knowledge, etc.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should I read all the papers on this field?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Not all but only related to your topics. Because you have to \"re-search\" if others have done it already. You need their results and methods to compare with your work for reference.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How to decide which problem to work on or which is not obsolete? I don't want to work on something which no one is interested in.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I give up for this Q. Actually,it's not hard to answer but not easy too. Because there's no right or wrong answer, only depends on your like. People select scientific papers by their own standard and so do I. No one knows exactly which standard criteria should be decided, but at least you may know the trend of interests, so please \"re-search\"! </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should I read and study all the prerequisite material, or fill in the gaps during research efforts?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Oops! I have to do it a lot.</p>\n\n<p>PS: This may not the most correct answer because I'm not a professor but at least I hope it helps.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3181, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is it possible to publish a paper without a Professor?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Sure. Nobody gives a rat's patootie about the academic ranks of paper authors (at least in my field). I published sole-author papers as a graduate student. I have colleagues who published as undergraduates, and others who published with no university (or research lab, or corporate) affiliation at all.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How to choose a research topic?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Choose something you're good at, that you're passionate about, and that other people will care about. If you're not good at it, you'll never get anywhere. If you're not passionate about it, you won't put in enough effort to succeed. If nobody cares, then, well, nobody cares.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should I read all the papers on this field?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No. Reading <em>all</em> the papers in any field is simply not possible. But you should read a <em>lot</em>. A few hundred papers should get you started (ha ha only serious).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How to decide which problem to work on or which is not obsolete? I don't want to work on something which no one is interested in.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Read lots of papers; talk to lots of people; go to seminars/conferences and listen to talks. Or decide that the topics that you care about are so fascinating and your results are so compelling that you'll <em>make</em> other people interested (but be prepared for disappointment). Or—my personal favorite—just make up something cool out of thin air.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should I read and study all the prerequisite material, or fill in the gaps during research efforts?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes. Both. (Except not <em>all</em> the prerequisite material; that's impossible.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3186, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Based on your comment above, that you &quot;want to work on a problem and solve it&quot;, I strongly recommend that you change your goal from &quot;publishing in a journal&quot; to simply &quot;solving a problem&quot;. By limiting yourself to research that would be publishable in a journal, you place yourself under the following very harsh constraints:</p>\n<ol>\n<li><p>You must become familiar with the existing academic literature such that you can properly cite other academic sources when discussing prior findings.</p>\n<p>If you don't take the journal route, you can become familiar with existing techniques through books, tutorials, wikipedia, and blog posts, and work from there.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>When publishing to a journal, your work will have a higher likelihood of being published if it relates to the topic du jour. Certain concepts go in and out of style, and researching a less popular topic can have an impact on when you can publish. On a related note, there's a lot of time between submission and actual publication; a number of months to almost a year is common.</p>\n<p>Alternatlive, if you go your own route, then you won't have that delay.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>You must be willing to work in areas which are of interest to whatever journal in which you wish to publish. This requires knowledge of the different journals and what they typically publish, which may be difficult for you to find without academic contacts.</p>\n<p>If you don't take the journal route, you can simply publish your findings in a blog post or other open setting (there may be places specifically intended for this sort of thing, I'm not sure).</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>You will have to pay non-trivial fees for publication.</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3171", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1629/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3173, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>There are two questions to answer: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ul>\n <li>If you got another project from this advisor, would you stay?</li>\n <li>If you got the opportunity to switch advisors, would you leave?</li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you are willing to stick with this advisor, you should bring up your dissatisfaction—and perhaps suggest a plan of action to \"migrate\" to another topic. (Can you, for instance, use the methodology on a different problem where it might be more successful?)</p>\n\n<p>If that isn't an option—and to be honest, I suspect it isn't—you should work as aggressively as you can to find a new advisor and a new research topic, while if possible staying under the radar. You don't want to create a situation <em>before</em> you have somebody firmly in your corner who's willing to support you.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3185, "author": "Legendre", "author_id": 1190, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1190", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Many of my friends doing PhDs in the UK have this problem, even those in top tier universities. Those with the worse problems ended up dropping out and reapplying for the same PhD under another supervisor. I think the supervisor tend to be more integral to PhD students in the UK and there might not even be an option to \"switch\".</p>\n\n<p>Based on their experiences:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Like aeismail said, you should definitely stay under the radar. This was advised to all of my friends in similar situation. Most importantly, it is deemed unprofessional to openly blame your supervisor, even if it really is your supervisor's fault.</p></li>\n<li><p>Seek official help: the single biggest turning point for my friends was using the official channels and/or speaking to the director of graduate studies in your department. These people are very experienced at handling situations like your, and will certainly know to do it covertly.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Possible outcomes based on my friends' experiences:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Your director of graduate studies or student counselor might offer to help or get someone to help read your current work and evaluate your situation. This might identify the problems you need to fix to graduate, and they might be able to help communicate any issues to your supervisor.</p></li>\n<li><p>They might arrange for a co-supervisor. This resolved the situation for several of my friends. The co-supervisor essentially becomes your new supervisor.</p></li>\n<li><p>In the worse case, it doesn't work out. The student drops out of the program and reapply to another supervisor with the help of the department (making it easier). Unfortunately, it can be a gamble because they have the option of rejecting you. Depending on your school, they might have a different policy and allow for an actual switch instead of having to reapply.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Bottom line: seek official help ASAP. Stay professional and under the radar, do not sound vituperative. Don't be afraid of taking drastic actions like reapplying if need to.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3622, "author": "Per Alexandersson", "author_id": 2794, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2794", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you're lucky, our institution have some sort of principal or someone responsible for the graduate students, someone to talk to about exactly these things. A review on the progress should be done at least every year, to avoid being stuck on a problem for too long.</p>\n\n<p>If things do no run smoothly, it is a problem not only for you, but for the institution, so it should be in everybody’s interest to solve this, either with a new problem or new advisor. As people mention, it is not really uncommon, \nbut I'd say be careful blaming your advisor, sometimes there's just a mismatch.\nTalk to some other professor maybe, they've all been young once, and might have some good advice. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3172", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1628/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3192, "author": "Piotr Migdal", "author_id": 49, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>AFAIR <a href=\"http://lanyrd.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lanyrd</a> offers such an application. It works mostly for programming conferences, not so much for academic ones.</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I use <a href=\"https://www.dropbox.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Dropbox</a> and upload conference book (pdf) there. For maps and additional info (on travel, accommodation, etc) I use <a href=\"http://evernote.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Evernote</a>.</p>\n\n<p>However, they are not very specific solutions and I'm missing an app that would make it easy to collect all conference stuff. Including \"which talk to choose out of competing ones\" and to tick talks and participants I would like to attend slash talk to.</p>\n\n<p>And also, sometimes it's hard to beat printed maps, and a combination of the conference book + a pen. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3193, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There's no generic application. However, some conferences offer features geared towards smartphones (customizable calendars being the most useful one). I also use Dropbox and a note-taking application to cobble together a conference environment.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3204, "author": "Jørgen", "author_id": 1638, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1638", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I recently attended the annual meetings of the European Economic Association. They had a quite nice mobile version of the conference web page combined with free wifi at the conference venue. I had good use of the webpage (almost a web application). The page is apparently still up, at:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.eea-esem.com/eea-esem/2012/m/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.eea-esem.com/eea-esem/2012/m/</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3209, "author": "David Z", "author_id": 236, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p><a href=\"http://conference4me.psnc.pl/\">Conference4me</a> will do this more or less automatically. It displays the conference schedule including talk titles, authors, and abstracts, as well as maps of the venue, the list of participants, and other information. All this can be browsed offline but the app will automatically update it every several hours if it has an active internet connection. You can add sessions to your agenda and the app also makes it reasonably easy to add them to your calendar system of choice (at least it works with Google Calendar on Android).</p>\n\n<p>However, the app's functionality depends on some cooperation from the conference organizers. For starters, it can only pull information from Indico, EDAS, and OpenConf, so the conference has to be organized using one of those systems, and all the relevant information has to be uploaded. Additionally, the conference organizers will have to ask the app's developers to manually set up the link between the conference website and Conference4me's data stream. It's apparently not a very involved process for the organizers, but you can't just download the app and immediately use it on any arbitrary conference with a website.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3257, "author": "derekhh", "author_id": 316, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/316", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>One recent conference I've heard that supports such an application is <a href=\"http://www.ubicomp.org/ubicomp2012/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ubicomp 2012</a>. They have <a href=\"http://www.ubicomp.org/ubicomp2012/mobile-apps.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">mobile applications</a> with the content of conference programs and they are available on Android and iOS. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3474, "author": "Valerie", "author_id": 2715, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2715", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>CrowdCompass develops native mobile apps specifically for conferences. A native app works perfectly for conferences because it doesn't depend on the Internet to work. Our content management system (the backend) is easy-to-use and lets you make updates any time. All of these updates happen in the background so it doesn't affect the user's experience. </p>\n\n<p>The app shows the contact info for all the attendees who download the app. This lets attendees start networking with each other before the event even starts, and it makes it easier to stay in touch when the event is over. </p>\n\n<p>Attendees can also use the app to navigate the conference area and find speakers, exhibitors, and sponsors more easily. They can use the map feature to find local attractions (which is especially nice if they're not from the area). </p>\n\n<p>The top 3 features for attendees and organizers are listed here: <a href=\"http://www.crowdcompass.com/blog/best-mobile-app-features-for-attendees/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.crowdcompass.com/blog/best-mobile-app-features-for-attendees/</a>. We've got a lot more resources if you want to do some mobile research. Just check out <a href=\"http://www.crowdcompass.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.crowdcompass.com</a>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 38974, "author": "Samik", "author_id": 29471, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29471", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Another app in this space is ConferenceToGo - this app is specifically geared towards multi-day medium to large academic conferences with multiple parallel tracks going on. Has all the features available in general conference apps, and a bunch of others that are specific to academic conferences, like complete offline use, exhibitor list, session discovery based on interest etc.</p>\n\n<p>Check out the app at <a href=\"http://conferencetogo.orworks.net/\" rel=\"nofollow\">the website</a> </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 44993, "author": "Dermot Lally", "author_id": 34180, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/34180", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The <a href=\"http://www.eventmanagerblog.com/event-app-bible-2015\" rel=\"nofollow\">Event App Bible</a> is a free and very useful PDF download from the Event Manager Blog. It outlines and compares the numerous event apps that are available - there are now lots of these! The guys there recently released the 3rd edition for 2015. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 97773, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Both the <em>Society for Epidemiological Research</em> and <em>IDWeek</em> have had phone apps that interact with calendar apps to help you build schedules, find local restaurants, etc.</p>\n\n<p>I'm not sure who developed them, but I will say that I found the IDWeek app, which was heavily dependent on being able to download information to update itself, to occasionally be stressful in the dubious connection space that is a convention center.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3176", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3183, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You can always ask, then it is the choice of the author to accept or not. As for the citation, if the paper is accepted but not published, you can have a note in the citation &quot;to appear&quot;. For instance, your text could like:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Following [Alice12], we describe ... as illustrated in Fig.1.</p>\n<p>[Alice12] Alice, paper, journal, accepted, to appear.</p>\n</blockquote>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3187, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It is perfectly okay to ask for the figure knowing well that the other person may not give.\nI assume you would get the permission to use the figure. As @eykanal, pointed out we need to put the phrase \"used with permission\" or write \"Source: Citation\" in the figure caption.</p>\n\n<p>Example below:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/13BLz.gif\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>Figure 1: An example flow chart [Source: <a href=\"http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-05-2003/images/jw-0502-java1013.gif]\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-05-2003/images/jw-0502-java1013.gif]</a></p>\n\n<p>You may also write\nFigure 1: An example flow chart [Source: Alice et al. to appear in Journal,Year]</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3188, "author": "Noble P. Abraham", "author_id": 1580, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1580", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Assuming that an identical image, either modified from the original or made based on the original, is being used, here is a better way of citing the source.</p>\n\n<p>This is from <a href=\"http://library.nmu.edu/guides/userguides/apacitingtables.htm\">APA</a>, </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Material adapted from a journal article. Note format is different from References.</strong></p>\n \n <p>Figure #. Description/Note. Adapted from “Title of Article,” by F. M.\n Author and C. D. Author, year, Title of Journal, volume, p. xx.\n Copyright year by the Name of Copyright Holder. Adapted [or Reprinted]\n with permission.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>See this from <a href=\"http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=6&amp;cad=rja&amp;ved=0CEwQFjAF&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fauthorservices.wiley.com%2FPermissions%2520Guidelines%2520for%2520Authors%2520PDF.pdf&amp;ei=9b1QUJnfIImHrAer1ICAAg&amp;usg=AFQjCNGpMrV1upRnZFBdtA7PzrKjeOxmGw&amp;sig2=W2wQcx-T972xw7kqUJlBFQ\">Wiley</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If you wish to republish an already modified figure or table,\n permission should be obtained from the source of the modified item,\n but the credit line should include reference to the original source(s)\n of the material as well as to the source of the modification. If you\n wish to republish a previously published figure or table originally\n compiled from data from other sources, permission for its re-use must\n be obtained from whoever owns the copyright in the compilation. The\n credit line should include reference to the source of the compilation,\n and to the sources of the original data by using the words ‘Based on’,\n ‘Compiled from’, or similar, or by using the credit line appearing on\n the original compilation. </p>\n \n <p>If you wish to make changes or further changes to content which is\n already in the process of being cleared, you may need to reapply for\n permission as it is possible that the copyright owner will not like\n the new proposed alterations and they are entitled to refuse\n permission.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>See also <a href=\"http://www.mtu.edu/gradschool/administration/academics/thesis-dissertation/copyright/faq/\">MTU</a> </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>I modified a figure from a journal article. Do I need to ask for permission?</strong></p>\n \n <p>It depends. Significant modifications result in a figure that is\n uniquely yours. The source of the inspiration or base of the figure\n must be acknowledged in your caption. To clarify the source and figure\n creator, we recommend a credit line in your caption similar to,\n \"Figure adapted by author from SOURCE.\" where SOURCE would be replaced\n with an appropriate citation. If the figure is just a tracing of the\n original figure, or does not contain a significant amount of\n creativity, you have not created it, and must ask for permission.</p>\n</blockquote>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3182", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3191, "author": "User 17670", "author_id": 1572, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1572", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>This is, of course, ultimately up to you, people can only advise you; I will provide a list of some things to think about; hopefully this will help :)</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You say that you want to \"do a good research project\". Isn't that what the master's project is for? I don't know anything about unofficial projects but it could work.</li>\n<li>Yes, taking a break <em>from academia</em> would be a slight disadvantage, but if you're doing an unofficial project, then this won't be a problem at all, will it?</li>\n<li>\"High impact research\", in my opinion, is a very ambitious/risky thing to set your mind on, in terms of a master's-level project. Don't forget that as a master's <em>student</em>, you are still expected to be learning; a PhD supervisor is unlikely to <em>expect</em> something like this, although they would like it!</li>\n<li>Can you do a project over summer? In the UK at least, there are loads of paid internships and summer projects available, both with universities and industry.</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3329, "author": "Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson", "author_id": 519, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/519", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My perspective is primarily European, since I did my Master's in Sweden and my PhD in Germany. That said, I <em>did</em> take a break before starting on my PhD. It wasn't entirely voluntarily -- I did not get any PhD studentships when I wanted them, and had to wait for the next round of applications.</p>\n\n<p>During my break, I moved from Sweden to Germany, and took a job doing industrial software design for a consultancy firm. It gave me good experiences, the knowledge that I could make a career in industry, and also a very strong drive to make it in academia. Furthermore, the PhD position I eventually was admitted to, I got in part because I had, at that point, both Open Source and industry experience with packaging, shipping and distributing software -- something my advisor wanted to learn more about.</p>\n\n<p>For me, this all worked out well. I left my industry job after 10 months to start a PhD, I graduated with a decent enough thesis, and now -- several years later -- I am about to start the first research project with my name on the grant application.</p>\n\n<p>One fundamentally important thing to note with my anecdote is that there is a huge difference in how PhDs are admitted in large parts of Europe vs. in the US. For my PhD, I applied for a job with a particular professor, which happened to include “<em>opportunity to study for a PhD</em>” as part of the job description. This is how it mostly is done in Germany, and also in Sweden. In this setting, it is important that you come to the PhD with a set of credentials that will be valuable to your advisor, specifically. I managed to do just this with my break -- but that was luck as much as anything else.</p>\n\n<p>In the US, there seems to be a LOT more politics involved in the process, and the applying to a school aspect of the US process biases the experience more towards grooming your CV for academia in general.</p>\n\n<p>Your mileage will vary.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3190", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1632/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3191, "author": "User 17670", "author_id": 1572, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1572", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>This is, of course, ultimately up to you, people can only advise you; I will provide a list of some things to think about; hopefully this will help :)</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You say that you want to \"do a good research project\". Isn't that what the master's project is for? I don't know anything about unofficial projects but it could work.</li>\n<li>Yes, taking a break <em>from academia</em> would be a slight disadvantage, but if you're doing an unofficial project, then this won't be a problem at all, will it?</li>\n<li>\"High impact research\", in my opinion, is a very ambitious/risky thing to set your mind on, in terms of a master's-level project. Don't forget that as a master's <em>student</em>, you are still expected to be learning; a PhD supervisor is unlikely to <em>expect</em> something like this, although they would like it!</li>\n<li>Can you do a project over summer? In the UK at least, there are loads of paid internships and summer projects available, both with universities and industry.</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3329, "author": "Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson", "author_id": 519, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/519", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My perspective is primarily European, since I did my Master's in Sweden and my PhD in Germany. That said, I <em>did</em> take a break before starting on my PhD. It wasn't entirely voluntarily -- I did not get any PhD studentships when I wanted them, and had to wait for the next round of applications.</p>\n\n<p>During my break, I moved from Sweden to Germany, and took a job doing industrial software design for a consultancy firm. It gave me good experiences, the knowledge that I could make a career in industry, and also a very strong drive to make it in academia. Furthermore, the PhD position I eventually was admitted to, I got in part because I had, at that point, both Open Source and industry experience with packaging, shipping and distributing software -- something my advisor wanted to learn more about.</p>\n\n<p>For me, this all worked out well. I left my industry job after 10 months to start a PhD, I graduated with a decent enough thesis, and now -- several years later -- I am about to start the first research project with my name on the grant application.</p>\n\n<p>One fundamentally important thing to note with my anecdote is that there is a huge difference in how PhDs are admitted in large parts of Europe vs. in the US. For my PhD, I applied for a job with a particular professor, which happened to include “<em>opportunity to study for a PhD</em>” as part of the job description. This is how it mostly is done in Germany, and also in Sweden. In this setting, it is important that you come to the PhD with a set of credentials that will be valuable to your advisor, specifically. I managed to do just this with my break -- but that was luck as much as anything else.</p>\n\n<p>In the US, there seems to be a LOT more politics involved in the process, and the applying to a school aspect of the US process biases the experience more towards grooming your CV for academia in general.</p>\n\n<p>Your mileage will vary.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3195", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1568/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3200, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>It is perfectly okay to have a co-adviser from another department. <em>Econometrics</em> and <em>statistics</em> are very close areas and often students pursuing PhD in <strong>Economics</strong> and <strong>Industrial Engineering</strong> (such as Reliability Analysis) have co-advisers from <strong>Statistics</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Often acceptance of an applicant in the program differs from department to department. However, you may mention an intention for collaborating with <strong>statistics</strong> department in the research statement. Also, if you do things appropriately you may have scope to get into the statistics department as a PhD student and pursue your research in light of economics. In other words, you may have greater chance of getting into the university as a PhD student. You may have to inquire about the possibility with the <strong>Statistics</strong> department. I guess you have good background in both <strong>statistics</strong> and <strong>economics</strong> so this seems to work out for you. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3201, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Cooperation is normally considered a desirable trait in academia these days, and collaborations between colleagues is generally a good thing. So, there is some advantage to working with multiple people.</p>\n\n<p>The challenge, however, in such situations, as in many others in academia, comes down to the problem of <em>funding.</em> Unless you're able to provide your own, in the form of an external fellowship, it may be difficult to convince an advisor in your \"home\" department to \"share\" you with an advisor in another department, <strong>unless</strong> the other advisor is willing to pick up part of the funding. Normally, this requires that the two advisors have already thought about and worked toward a collaborative effort.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, it may be substantially easier (and in some departments, required) to obtain someone from outside the department to sit on your thesis committee. While these people are not formally your advisors, they are resources to draw on, and may satisfy your concerns about level of involvement, depending on how active you want the co-advisor to be.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3198", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/676/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3269, "author": "userJT", "author_id": 1537, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1537", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you need to publish the book and you have found one publisher that allows it.</p>\n\n<p>Why do you seek more?</p>\n\n<p>Elaborate what is wrong about Elsevier that makes you not to pursue it with them?</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 4880, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You'll need to check the particular policies of each publisher to see what is allowed and what is not allowed. However, it is important to remember that the journal's copyright protections are limited to how the material is <em>expressed</em> in the paper, and not the underlying ideas themselves. </p>\n\n<p>Typically, that means that you won't be able to \"recycle\" text and figures from the article into a book. However, an expansion and reworking of the ideas normally is <em>not</em> subject to copyright violation claims, particularly if you're the author of the paper which was expanded in the first place. (This normally gives you additional privileges, depending on the publishers in question.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 11480, "author": "Benoît Kloeckner", "author_id": 946, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946", "pm_score": 3, "selected": true, "text": "<p>The answer is stated in each copyright transfer agreement (CTA) signed for publishing each paper. If the form says it is okay, then it is. Usually you can get your hand on the typical CTA used by a publisher on its website.</p>\n\n<p>I would advise never to sign a CTA that does not allow reuse of the article content for a book, a dissertation and collected works.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3202", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1637/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 3617, "author": "LiteratureGeek", "author_id": 2791, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2791", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Have you considered directly contacting the admissions committee or a former teacher and asking for advice? They'll probably be wary of saying anything that sounds like \"if you do x,y, and z, you'll be accepted\", but even if they're unwilling to share specific advice they might be willing to tell you what other experience (beyond the exams) they consider during the admissions process. A bonus of contacting the admissions committee in a respectful and professional manner is that if you do indeed follow through on any recommendations they give you, you can mention this in you application as evidence of your commitment to improving. \nYou might also ask if you can retake the test--either officially (i.e. if they'll replace your old results with your new ones) or unofficially (i.e. your old results will still be the official ones, but at least you have some metric showing your improvement).\nAnother option is to talk with a professor in the department with whom you have rapport and ask them about how to frame your rejection in your application when you reapply. For example, is it considered good form in your field to discuss what led you to do poorly on the exams (whether this was some unrelated life experience, or a lack of preparation)? </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3619, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>At many schools, particularly those rated highly, the <strong>most important parts of your PhD application are your letters of recommendation</strong>. What many applicants don't grasp is that a PhD program is <em>so different from undergrad</em> that <em>past performance in the latter is only a poor indicator of future performance in the former</em>. For most students, the <em>hard part</em> of a PhD is doing original research. So, as an applicant, you must convince the committee that you will excel at doing research. </p>\n\n<p>One way to make your case is to have <strong>already successfully done research</strong> (or some \"research-like\" project). In the absence of this, you must somehow convince your letter writers that you will succeed in research (and then they convince the admissions committee). Meet with your letter writers and ask them what they suggest. You might even ask them if you could work on some research with them (<strong>prior to being admitted to the PhD program</strong>).</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3208", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1639/" ]