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12,761 | <p>I'm looking for software for macs geared towards organizing and referencing the text in notes. I'm currently studying pathology and would like to be able to "tag" a topic/heading within my notes (not the entire note itself) with a keyword that is searchable. For example, if I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, I'd like to be able to highlight it, and tag it with multiple keywords or hashtags such as "hypersensitivity reaction type IV" or "#hypersensitivityrxntypeIV" and be able to search those keywords and have any of those topics I've tagged show up in the results. Anyone have any suggestions?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12768,
"author": "Kenji",
"author_id": 7428,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7428",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You may be interested in using <a href=\"http://www.maxqda.com/maxqda-for-mac\" rel=\"nofollow\">MaxQDA</a>, they are just now preparing to release a mac version. Although it is a software geared towards textual analysis and qualitative researchers, it can tag pieces of text pretty much like you say you want to do.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37730,
"author": "Daniel Turner",
"author_id": 28573,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28573",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>MaxQDA and others such as <a href=\"http://www.dedoose.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Dedoose</a> are useful and powerful qualitative software packages to tag and sort snippets of text in this way. </p>\n\n<p>However you might want to try the free trial of <a href=\"http://www.quirkos.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Quirkos</a>, which also has a Mac version, but is designed to be simple to use and quick to get started with.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 52476,
"author": "Gazperi",
"author_id": 39350,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/39350",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Dude, try Evernote. They have a free and payed version, thats work very well. The most incredible feature is that you can search words (or Tags) in a pdf file. Try This.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 65399,
"author": "mathiasmadsen",
"author_id": 50967,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/50967",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For regular note taking, I use <a href=\"https://evernote.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Evernote</a> and Google Drive. Both tools are very useful for writing when you are 'in the wild' (e.g. at meetings or observing cultural behaviour). If tagging the specific file is sufficient, Evernote is brilliant for just this purpose.</p>\n\n<p>However, for analysis purpose I have recently grown very fond of <a href=\"http://www.maxqda.com/products/maxqda\" rel=\"nofollow\">MaxQDA</a>. Among a bunch of great features, this tool allows for 'coding' (tagging) paragraphs within notes and transcribing recordings. You can try it for free for 30 days.</p>\n\n<p>I believe in using the right tool for specific purposes and will therefore recommend Evernote or Google Drive for note-taking and MaxQDA for the actual analysis.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12761",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8639/"
]
|
12,764 | <p>As far as I experienced, research is the most important factor for promotion, as it represents different features of an academician/scholar, which are needed by higher education institutions: teaching at graduate level, supervising academic projects of graduate students, attracting research fund, fame for the university, etc.</p>
<p>Publications is normally the main measure for research of a professor. Thus, one expects to see a proportional relationship between publications (both quality and quantity) and academic rank.</p>
<p>People can be promoted with less publications, probably because of other activities. But, I wonder why there are some academicians whose rank is far behind their publications. For example, I have seen people with 50 papers but are still assistant professor, or over 100 papers but still associate professor. I am referring to the US universities.</p>
<p>What keeps an assistant/associate professor with a strong publication record from appropriate promotion?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12765,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
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"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Remember, a promotion/tenure review package is just that: a package. While you are correct that a record of strong publications is the driving factor, there are still a number of items in the package that could lead to a tenure/promotion denial:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Weak letters of recommendation. You need to get your name out in more ways than just cranking out a lot of papers. This includes presenting talks at other institutions, sitting on program committees, and making sure that prominent people outside your institution write you good letters for your package.</p></li>\n<li><p>Lots of publications ≠ good publications. You need to be published in reputable, peer-reviewed publications. Some of those professors may list a ton of publications that aren't particularly notable.</p></li>\n<li><p>Poor record of graduate student supervision. A professor who never has any students, or who hasn't graduated a student in years isn't going to be competitive for promotion.</p></li>\n<li><p>Poor fundraising. If you're not applying for and getting grants (in many fields), you aren't going to be able to sustain a good research lab. It's tough to keep publishing relevant work without money coming in, although over time you can still build up a fair number of publications (many of which may be mediocre). </p></li>\n<li><p>Poor teaching record. At some institutions, good teaching is more than just something the admissions office declares in all of its trifolds. If you've had consistently poor teaching evaluations, or if students have complained multiple times to the Dean or department chair, this could hurt your chance at promotion.</p></li>\n<li><p>Personality. Your department has to make a recommendation to the tenure/promotion committee, and if you're genuinely not liked around your department, they aren't likely to make that recommendation, regardless of how strong your publications are (within reason).</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Bottom line: publications are a part of the larger promotion picture in academia.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12766,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are multiple reasons why someone might not get promoted or receive tenure, even with a strong publication record:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Poor fundraising efforts (even if you publish a lot of papers, if you don't bring in enough grants to satisfy the department, you're unlikely to get tenure)</li>\n<li>Poor relationship with departmental colleagues (if you've burnt a lot of bridges with your more senior colleagues, again, much less likely to get tenure)</li>\n<li>Administrative/budget actions: a hiring or promotion freeze can kill otherwise promising tenure cases, just because the university won't allow the cases to be heard</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The first two tend to be applicant-specific issues; unfortunately, the last is usually school- or university-wide. In such cases, there's not much you can do, but it is at least announced \"publicly\" within the university. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12771,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Note that \"over 50 but assistant\" and \"over 100 but associate\" are meaningless for another reason. It's all relative. In a field where any assistant professor can rack up 50 papers, having 50 is not a sign that you should be promoted, <em>leaving aside all the other reasons why paper counts are not useful</em>. </p>\n\n<p>But another point is that in some universities, promotion to full professor is triggered by an application from the candidate (rather than after a fixed period of time like for tenure). So if the professor can't be bothered to apply, they might not. This is not common, but it's not inconceivable, especially if</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>the pay differential at the institution isn't that significant</li>\n<li>full professors are required to do a lot more service work than associate professors. </li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29806,
"author": "Darwin Wallace",
"author_id": 22819,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22819",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The assumption implicit in many of discussions (such at these) about 'promotion' always seem to revolve around the premise that there is some sort of institutional impediment to promotion. </p>\n\n<p>But, there is another reason that never seems to be discussed: perhaps the associate professor isn't promoted because they have no interest in being promoted. Seriously, who cares? I'm an 'Ass Prof' at a school famous for ivy on the walls, and I am quite content to 'stay put'. I have tenure. I work on what I want. That's sort of the point, isn't it? If I get promoted as an outcome of doing what I want, then great. But... to 'want' promotion, such that you might actually engage in activities you're not particular interested in? Why? The only reasons for 'wanting' to become full professor that I've seen in 25+ years of working in academia are (i) money, and/or (ii) ego. I already get paid plenty, and who gives a rats orifice about your title? If someone's academic existence is culminated by having a somewhat more 'important' sounding title, then life must be rather sad for that person. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12764",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
]
|
12,767 | <p>I very recently came across a <a href="http://crypto.junod.info/2013/09/09/an-aspiring-scientists-frustration-with-modern-day-academia-a-resignation/">blog entry</a> which was about a PhD candidate quitting a few weeks/months shy of completing the degree due to frustration with the way academia works in general. </p>
<p>Now you may agree or disagree with the notions put forth, but both the anonymous letter and the long row of comments it has attracted certainly provides an interesting and lively discussion, relevant to many academics if not all.</p>
<p>One particular subject it got me thinking about is the choice of projects, safe-and-uninteresting vs daring-and-interesting. For those who do not feel like reading the discussion in the blog, essentially it's about how many researchers go for projects that have little to no impact practically, in fields where a lot of the "interesting" work is put forth. Such projects are essentially after small incremental additions to the literature, more often than not special case scenarios, or replication of previously demonstrated results with other methods than previously reported. </p>
<p>I am currently at a large conference, and I started reflecting on this subject. I noticed how the "better" speakers claim of excellence, or ground-breaking research, the-whole-picture type projects (e.g. "mapping out the entire human kinome", or "developing antibodies for each and every human protein"). Currently I am sitting with my iPad observing people passing by my poster from some distance. Just like I suspected most people just pass by and barely even stop to read more than a sentence. That's how poster-sessions work you might say, but I am confident that a major contributor to this is the fact that the project I am presenting is inherently not that interesting; it's about a rare disease, effecting mostly elder patients, and does not involve the newest and hottest instrument or technique. I can only imagine that editors and reviewers will be equally unimpressed with the manuscript when we submit this study.</p>
<p>That being the case I got into thinking whether or not it's actually worth getting into such a study. I feel like I have put a lot of time and energy into something that's not really my field of study and not liekly to have a rich "return-of-investment". Before I go to my supervisor and have a serious chat about this I would like to get some feedback on whether or not this is a common phenomennon, within the biomedical sciences/academia in general. As scientists-to-be is our primary responsibility to ourselves, to our bosses/departments, or to science itself?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12772,
"author": "aeismail",
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"text": "<p>You have different but overlapping responsibilities to all three; you can't say that one \"overrides\" the others. </p>\n\n<p>You have the responsibility to do \"good science.\" By \"good,\" I do not mean \"high-impact\" or \"prize-winning\" or anything like that; I mean \"ethical\": you carry out your experiments or calculations without trying to achieve a desired outcome to support a preconceived model or explanation. </p>\n\n<p>You owe your advisor and yourself the same level of professional conduct: do the science properly, and let the results be what they are. You also have the responsibility to respect and properly use the resources your advisor provides: money, facilities, and time. </p>\n\n<p>Finally, you have a responsibility to yourself: do work that you feel satisfies you, and that keeps you motivated. Don't do research in an area just because that's what's \"hot\" right now; fads come and go, but good research survives that. Second-rate research likely won't survive. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12775,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 2,
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"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>As scientists-to-be is our primary responsibility to ourselves, to our bosses/departments, or to science itself?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I'm not even sure what this phrase means. IMHO, the only principles are </p>\n\n<p>1) Do what you find interesting and try to get good of it. </p>\n\n<p>2) Never publish junk (BTW, no medical research that works is junk: even if the disease \nis rare and affects only few \"old people\" and you found a cure, you improved this world quite a bit; the junk is something that either doesn't work or is perfectly clear from what everybody knows already and I should say that many papers involving \"hot techniques\" fall into that category).</p>\n\n<p>3) Watch out a bit so that your can live and support yourself and your family on your salary (but don't try to fight for promotion, etc. beyond that level).</p>\n\n<p>4) Never tell other people that what they are doing is not worth doing unless you can easily do it yourself and never listen to anybody telling you something like that unless he can demonstrate that he can do it himself better and faster than you.</p>\n\n<p>5) Don't envy anybody. There is always a bigger fish in the pond (a lot of them, really).</p>\n\n<p>As to \"losing belief in academia as something useful to the world\", since the linked letter uses quite a strong language, I'll use equally strong one to answer. It is not greedy and irresponsible academicians that make the beautiful world worse but the rather disgusting world that makes academicians greedy and irresponsible. We work for God but have to deal with people and I can quite understand the attitude of Wernher von Braun, which, if I understand anything about him, was \"I'm here to get us all to the Moon and my time is short, so if you make it impossible without sending people to gas chambers, it is your moral problem and not mine\". Whether you want to share this attitude or to protest against it most fervently is your choice. The point is that this is not a choice a scientist invented and forced upon the world but the choice the world invented and forced upon a scientist. So, I don't buy the rhetoric about scientist's responsibility to the humankind unless I see some reciprocity. Making the most brilliant rocket engineer of all times a Nazi is quite an unforgivable crime and it is not the only one the academia can charge the humankind with. So, if somebody insists that we are not up to expectations, I'll retort that the world should be grateful that the scientists still work for it at all, not judge them from the viewpoint of idealistic moral standards or their utility for its purposes. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12818,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
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"pm_score": 3,
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"text": "<p>The first comment that comes to mind is \"If I knew what I was doing, it wouldn't be science\". Much of the science will out of necessity be at a basic (and therefore perhaps perceived as uninteresting) level. Ground breaking work originates primarily from two things: luck or huge funding (thinking of human genome as an example). As a PhD student you are not likely to tap into huge funding although your advisor may do so and your PhD might then get a ride on that gravy train. It is not the norm. Luck is not something one can hope for either. It is of course possible to argue that finding a good research question can be a third alternative but again getting the results to break through or the money to fund it usually ends up being the limiting factors.</p>\n\n<p>Along the lines of aeismail's answer, a PhD is about so much more than just a flashy product, it is about learning the basics of science, the attention to detail, the ethics of research and the research process. this does not preclude high profile results but more often than not it is about basic science and about providing or contributing to a firm basis upon which higher profile science is built. Put differently, with out that ground work the rest would not exist. So there is a drive in all of us do do as best as we can and that this some day will reach the headlines. but, I would argue that doing high-quality science is something almost different to high profile science. There is not necessarily an equal sign between the two. And with research you do not necessarily know when or where the breakthroughs will appear. </p>\n\n<p>As an example, I worked with a group of colleagues trying to prove an hypothesis through experimental work. We found something completely different and hitherto unknown and it was not by design. this gave us a publication in Nature (whether this is the pinnacle of good science I will not say) from a project that otherwise would have been looked upon as fairly middle of the road.u</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 126793,
"author": "user48953094",
"author_id": 41661,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/41661",
"pm_score": 0,
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"text": "<p>I think the points Peter is mentioning in his answer should be told to everybody before thinking about to start a PhD odyssey or at the beginning. Unfortunately, isn't. Especially, when the only bigger \"scientific\" project before entering a PhD was a bachelor thesis, many PhD students probably have rather big misconceptions about the essence and benefit of a PhD, personally and for the society.</p>\n\n<p>In germany, during the much longer master thesis you gain more experience, how exhausting it is to produce incremental progresses that can be published.</p>\n\n<p>So my first advise is, when you are <strong>unsure to enroll into a PhD program, rather think about earning a master degree</strong> and gaining more experience. After this you can still decide for a PhD, but with much more knowledge on your personal interest and ability.</p>\n\n<p>The second advise I would like to suggest is that one has to understand, for academia much more than for industry, to have a successful academic career culminating in a tenured professorship depends on many factors you cannot control. The factors you can control demand discipline, a lot of work, but also <strong>searching and taking risks</strong>, e.g. by reading literature from neighboring fields or visiting broader conferences. Especially the latter becomes more and more important (in my humble opinion and being myself in the postdoc phase) due to increasing number of researchers and competition. The \"safe-and-uninteresting\" PhD work you describe is unlikely to facilitate you an academic career, only with extreme luck. So, at the lastest at the end of your PhD or beginning of the postdoc phase you should start thinking about and looking for interesting risks in your field. There is also a reason, why you only have a high likelihood or in some countries are at all allowed of being granted funding, when you have a PhD. Before, you are not really considered a full and independent scientist by the community.</p>\n\n<p>To close this answer, my PhD work developed from initially incremental work over time towards quite interesting/exciting to me and maybe also very helpful to society at the end of it. The potential for this was enclosed in the object of my studies (I was aware of this) and the idea to realize it technically came up at a disuccion while presenting my poster with someone from a very different field. And I work in a field that doesn't need big teams to conduct experiments vs. clinical studies or particle physics demanding even bigger personal patience and sacrifices. I wrote an application and got funding granted. <strong>To write a successful application needs a lot of this sometimes very uninteresting and incremental work and experience one did and gained during his PhD</strong> (knowing your field, research methods, state of the art, communicate your results/ideas...) This is in my opinion the deeper and hidden essence and point of a PhD, also only a minority of PhD graduates will ever start writing their own research proposal for submission to a funding source. But it explains quite well to me, why so many Q&A's here stem from frustration/misconception of doing a PhD and it feels often like odyssey.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12767",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674/"
]
|
12,774 | <p>I have just read a recent paper in a well-respected journal. The work is technically sound and the results interesting. However, the authors comment their main results as unexpected and “extraordinary” (in the abstract and in the text), while it is an instance of a very generic and well-known phenomenon, which has been experimentally confirmed (and theoretically explained) in a large range of systems in the last decade. The author do not seem aware of the literature on this phenomenon.</p>
<p>Now, I am somewhat conflicted between two courses of action:</p>
<ol>
<li>Raising the matter with them privately, making them aware of the literature they have missed so that they do not repeat the mistake, and telling them (nicely) that their claims of extraordinary behavior are not valid.</li>
<li>Doing the same thing, but through a formal “Comment” published in the same journal. This does not only bring the matter to their attention, but also to other readers of the journal. <em>Right now, I favor this option, because I think it improves the scientific record.</em></li>
</ol>
<p>The journal in question does publish comments, its policy on the matter is the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>These are a medium for the discussion and exchange of scientific opinions […] For publication of a Comment or a Reply, they must be judged by the referees to present new insights and be of interest to our readership.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Moreover, a Comment in the journal will necessarily include a “Reply to the Comment” by the original authors, as per journal policy.</p>
<hr>
<p>So, <strong>how do I choose between contacting the authors in private, or submitting a formal “Comment” to the journal?</strong> What factors should guide my choice?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12777,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
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"text": "<p>There is nothing stopping you from contacting the authors directly. In fact that might be polite. It may, however, be unfruitful. Submitting a comment is not considered less polite than contacting the authors directly first. Remember, the authors have, in your view, published poorly referenced/researched work (reviewers and editors are partly also to be blamed). By writing a letter/comment, you perform a scientific debate where you wish to correct a problem with said paper and that is clearly within the realm of what we can and should do as scientists without feeling impolite.</p>\n\n<p>Before you do anything you should perhaps solicit colleagues to discuss the matter over. Since the results have been published, some form of publication discussing the problem must also appear in a publication. It is for this reason you should carefully discuss the matter, start writing a \"letter to the editor\" of the journal where it was published. The letter should contain the information that puts the \"novelty\" in perspective. Under such circumstances the authors will have the possibility of a rebuttal which typically is published at the same time as your letter, it is their opportunity to \"defend\" themselves. This is what typically is done.</p>\n\n<p>Now several things might happen, for example, the authors get angry, the editor refuses to publish your letter. This is why you are better off not being alone behind anything you write. If the letter is refused, then publish it elsewhere. But, remember, the point of writing a letter is to set the faulty perspective of the paper in a more correct one so that the paper is not taking credit where not credit should be had. Do not stray from this endeavour.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12778,
"author": "tbekolay",
"author_id": 8619,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8619",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I believe that these two choices are not mutually exclusive.</p>\n\n<p>Authors should be given the benefit of the doubt. Contact them privately first, to see if they are aware of your concern, and if so, whether they have a reasonable response. You should say, in that first contact, that you think it's enough of a concern that you're preparing a formal comment to submit to the journal. Perhaps it's a bit too nice, but I would rather be allowed the opportunity to publish my own comment or even a retraction, rather than being publicly \"called out\" without warning.</p>\n\n<p>However, I believe that if your faithful attempt to privately contact the authors fails—if they do not respond within a reasonable amount of time, or they blow you off without a satisfying explanation, or they say that they'll do something but don't—then you should move onto publishing a formal comment.</p>\n\n<p>I agree that something needs to be put into the public record, and the sooner the better, but it doesn't need to be so quick that you don't even attempt to contact the original authors. Everyone should get the benefit of the doubt.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12819,
"author": "Jean Paul",
"author_id": 8660,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8660",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would advice you to be careful. Not citing other sources is <strong>quite</strong> common in the academia as a mean of making your result look more innovative, more important, and more appealing. Then, if you tell these researchers \"Oooooh, I know your dirty tricks!\" (even if you do it in a polite way), they might feel offended and could probably take revenge when they come across one of your manuscripts as referees.</p>\n\n<p>I understand your frustration since I often come across papers like the one you mention, written by reknown researchers and published in important journals, while they are basically reinventing the wheel. I have also come across papers where the authors do not cite their previous <em>extremely related</em> papers. <em>C'est la vie</em>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13077,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'll add here, for the record, what I ended up doing. After reading the advice here, and discussing with a few close colleagues, I decided to write and submit a comment, without first discussing it with the authors.</p>\n\n<p>The reasons behind the choice are the following: I assume good faith on their part, and that they simply didn't know that the phenomenon they observe, and which might seem counter-intuitive, is actually a specific manifestation of a quite common behavior. They didn't know the literature well enough, or didn't realize it; at least two reviewers also didn't realize that. Thus, it is really good to “educate” the community on this, and publishing a comment in the same journal appeared to be the best aim to achieve it.</p>\n\n<p>The reason I didn't contact them privately first is two-fold:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>They will get the well-polished comment for them to reply, through the editor. A journal editor who is a friend of mine suggested that <strong>she (as editor) would prefer to see all communication go through her,</strong> rather than come at a later point and have to “referee” a dispute he hasn't seen half of.</li>\n<li>If I wrote to them first, and they then wanted to write a correction to the paper themselves, I couldn't be sure exactly what they would say, and <strong>my message <em>as relayed by them</em> could be less clear than what I intended to say</strong>.</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12774",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
12,776 | <p>This <a href="http://www.geekosystem.com/shady-scientific-research-is-rampant-infographic/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">big info-graphic</a> (at the end of the question) explains that biomedicine and psychology have greater rate of data fabrication/falsification/mishandling than other fields. A similar effect was reported a <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005738" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PLOS ONE paper</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Once these factors were controlled for, surveys conducted among clinical, medical and pharmacological researchers appeared to yield higher rates of misconduct than surveys in other fields or in mixed samples.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and</p>
<blockquote>
<p>it suggests that misconduct in clinical, pharmacological and medical research is more widespread than in other fields. This would support growing fears that the large financial interests that often drive medical research are severely biasing it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, the paper does not offer any further discussion of the field dependence of data manipulation. So, have there been explanations proposed about why these fields are "special"?</p>
<hr>
<p> <img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ulw7.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12780,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I haven't read the paper you mention, but I can definitely see why falsification could be more common in these fields.</p>\n\n<p>I think the factor that affects data falsification the most is not ethical differences between fields, but rather simply how difficult it is to identify the falsification.</p>\n\n<p>In fields where experiments are simple to replicate, false results will be discovered easily. In clinical/pharmacological research, for example when testing an effect of a medical treatment, studies on human subjects are extremely costly to perform, so they are difficult to replicate. Even if they are replicated, there is such intrinsic large variance in the results that it would be difficult to conclude that results from a previous study were purposefully falsified even if they are different.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12781,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your quotes from the Plos One meta analysis highlight problems in clinical, medical and pharmacological, but your question is about biomedicine and psychology. The meta analysis paper found no evidence for increased rates of reporting misconduct in either biomedicine or the social sciences suggesting that those fields are not \"special\". The authors then present a reasonable conjecture about why the reports of misconduct in medicine might be higher</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>However, as all survey-based data, this finding is open to the\n alternative interpretation that respondents in the medical profession\n are simply more aware of the problem and more willing to report it.\n This could indeed be the case, because medical research is a preferred\n target of research and training programs in scientific integrity, and\n because the severe social and legal consequences of misconduct in\n medical research might motivate respondents to report it.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I think base on the meta analysis I would argue that data falsification is NOT more usual in some fields than others, but simply that reports and sensitivity to it is more usual when a field specifically trains individuals to recognize it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 35338,
"author": "Daniel Wessel",
"author_id": 26614,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26614",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'd be careful with the assertion that some fields are more prone to scientific misconduct than others. To make that claim I would like to see a study comparing different fields, while keeping, e.g., the stage of the researchers (PhD student, PostDoc, Professor) comparable. And let's hope that this study about data falsification does not contain data falsification.</p>\n\n<p>Then there's the <strong>stage of the discussion about scientific misconduct</strong>. Psychology and other disciplines had a couple of highly visible cases of scientific misconduct (e.g., Stapel). They put the discipline, or at least the subdiscipline (social psychology) in question. So now there are people actively looking for ways to detect misconduct, e.g., by looking for statistical inconsistencies that happen when people fake data. So it might just be that a field is more sensitive to the issue and thus more prone to detect cases. The current \"house-cleaning\" might expose the misconduct that still lies hidden in other domains.</p>\n\n<p>But there also might be differences between fields because it might be easier to get away with these forms of misconduct in some compared to others. Looking at the fraud triangle (<a href=\"http://www.organizingcreativity.com/2014/08/using-the-fraud-triangle-to-explain-scientific-misconduct/\" rel=\"nofollow\">see posting here, my blog</a>), you need a motive/pressure, a rationalization and the opportunity to commit fraud.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Motive:</strong> I know no scientific field that isn't dominated by publish or perish, so there's a motive. In some fields you can make a lot of money or the alternatives to an academic career look especially bleak (after all, it's impossible for all PhDs/PostDocs to stay in Academia, even if all were excellent researchers). And while all research is risky (no-one can guarantee that your experiments work), some domains may have a higher failure rate. So motive might differ.</li>\n<li><strong>Rationalization:</strong> The rationalization might be higher in more fuzzy/soft domains, where it might be easier to convince yourself that the theory is sound, but the data is skewed (so many possibly confounding variables). There might also be \"personal experience\" as a bias, e.g., when it comes to evaluating therapies (\"But I know that it works, I have seen it.\").</li>\n<li><strong>Opportunity:</strong> Also the opportunity might be higher in some fields where you alone have access to the data and it's virtually impossible to reproduce exactly the same results (again, confounding variables). Not to mention that replications are rare, esp. with more \"interesting but not so relevant\" topics.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So while it's an interesting question, it's also a highly complex issue. And there might even be the desire to point to other disciplines to avoid addressing the issue oneself (\"misconduct never happens in science ... in our domain ... in our sub-domain ... at our institute ... in our workgroup ...\"). Instead, science needs better controls for scientific misconduct, no matter the discipline.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: P.S.: As for the flyer highlighting misconduct in (clinical) psychology -- well, consider the source. ;-)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12776",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7902/"
]
|
12,782 | <p>Some time ago, I went to a workshop/conference on the specific topic in my field. It was a small event, with not proceedings published. I would like to discuss it in an upcoming paper, in order to state that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>it was discussion with X and Y, spurred by the workshop on Z, which initiated this new direction of research.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>in the spirit of giving credit where credit is due. Now, I could leave it in the text, or cite it as “private communication from X at Z”, or cite it directly in my references:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Workshop on Z, Big City, Country (2012)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Journal style doesn't say anything of this, but generally calls for references with superscript numbers. So, what is the best option to cite a whole workshop/conference? (and not a specific presentation)</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12784,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Typically, only <em>published</em> sources should be referenced. Exceptions may be <em>personal communication</em> and reports. Quoting, for example, a discussion during a meeting is therefore quite difficult unless you can quote the persons (and that meeting) as personal communication. The problem is that the discussion or statement(s) are not officially recorded somewhere. There is of course nothing wrong with simply printing out the occurence of the discussion at the meeting in full text. I am not sure if I have seen it but something along the lines your first example with names (and titles) clearly indicated. Just remember to clear the statement with the persons you quote and do not forget to state the date of the conversation/conference.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12785,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The issue here is that conversations are not normally \"on the record.\" The point of a citation is verification: you are giving credit by citing the \"original source\" that you are using. Since you would not really be pointing them to material actually associated with the workshop, you should cite \"Private Communication\" with the involved individuals—although you could cite the event as the \"location and date\" fields for the communication.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12817,
"author": "Dani",
"author_id": 6085,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6085",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You could mention the people with whom you discussed in the acknowledgements \"thanks X and Y for helpful/... discussions\" and cite the conference in the text. </p>\n\n<p>To cite it in the correct style, I would recomment that you contact the editorial office and ask. I once asked about the style of referencing a thesis and recieved an answer very fast, so this is the safest way in my opinion.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 102771,
"author": "famargar",
"author_id": 63518,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/63518",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Discussions with peers are the most common way to produce new ideas, insights, and actual work that gets published. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Peers that have been crucial for the paper are co-authors</li>\n<li>Peers that contributed to some important ideas that spurred the paper, but not the actual paper, should go in acknowledgment section:\"The authors wish to thank John Doe for...\"</li>\n<li>Peer whose unpublished ideas are quoted in your work should be referred in a citation as \"Doe,J, private communications\".</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If you want to specify that the workshop X has been particularly helpful, then you can cite \"Doe,J, private communications at workshop X\".\nOf course some journals may ask you to revise this logic, but you can stil use it as a starting point for submission.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12782",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
12,788 | <p>I am taking an advance course in Computer Science so the class size is pretty limited (8 to be exact). The faculty is very senior and well respected in the field. For past few lectures, I have been asking questions that make the faculty a little uncomfortable which I can guess from the way the answers are given (I am also on a psychology class :-) )</p>
<p>For example, to understand a concept, I say "why X has been used ?". He tries his best to answer "because of A,B,C reasons". During this explanation, occasionally I can sense high level of uncomfort in him and the answers are ambiguous. So, now I have doubt that "if X, then why A ? " and so on. Should one continue with these kind of questions when you know that the faculty won't be able to answer the questions perfectly or isn't comfortable enough to satisfy your inquisitiveness. I do not doubt his competence at all and respect him very much. But how does a faculty feel in this kind of continuous poking (if it is so) or should one resort to personal interaction so that he may feel more comfortable ? </p>
<p>Does that hold negatively for the student that student is trying to humiliate the faculty ?</p>
<p>Note: Questions are not non-sense but are somewhat basic and supported by logic. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12790,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Generally, there is nothing wrong with asking questions. But, asking the same one may be perceived as badgering the professor.</p>\n\n<p>Perhaps a course of action would be to:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>As Faheem suggests, talk privately to the professor, not only about how they feel about the questioning, but the question itself.</p></li>\n<li><p>Offer to perform some research on finding an answer - this could be an opportunity for you to potentially perform new research that could answer the question.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12806,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You're studying psychology. That doesn't make you telepathic.</p>\n\n<p>There's a wide variety of possible reasons for what's going on:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>you are mistaken, your lecturer is not uncomfortable. Crazy, I know, but you just might be wrong.</li>\n<li>your lecturer has indigestion, or piles, or tight shoes</li>\n<li>your questions indicate you're missing basic knowledge</li>\n<li>the questions take the group away from the core material that the lecturer has to get through, and answering them will slow the teaching down</li>\n<li>your lecturer doesn't know the answer, and can't bring themselves to say as much, and doesn't have the nous to turn it around and ask you or the rest of the class to find the answer. That's quite a failing in an academic, to be unable to say \"I don't know\".</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Note that repeatedly asking \"why A?\" \"So why B?\" \"So why C? ...\" is something that toddlers do, it's often just time-wasting and attention-seeking and is likely to annoy a lot of people; even if those aren't your motives, be aware that it could come across as that. So instead of just asking questions, look for some answers yourself. You are doing a higher degree, after all, so you should be looking for answers yourself, as well as seeking help from staff and other students.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 87087,
"author": "agitron",
"author_id": 71266,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/71266",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes you should keep asking questions. The main goal is learning and it is good you are curious. There is no way to tell ahead of time what will or will not make a teacher uncomfortable. (Anyhow, is a teacher's discomfort your responsibility?) Should you be disruptive, interrupt and ask picky detailed questions repeatedly that require long answers and are possibly going off topic? No, because that isn't fair to the other students class time. Also providing students with answers can be like giving fish away instead of teaching them to fish. </p>\n\n<p>There are a lot of different ways to solve computer programming problems - it may your questions can be answered by a number of ways or don't have simple answers and require deep thought. It could also be the professor doesn't know or can't explain the answer well. Personally, I have no problem saying to a student, \"I don't know, why don't you look it up and share the answer with us.\" </p>\n\n<p>If you are studying psychology then you are perhaps familiar with cognitive load. It might be difficult for the teacher to stay on topic, stay focused on his/her learning objectives and answer questions mid-lecture. I would suggest asking your questions at the end of the lecture.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12788",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2823/"
]
|
12,789 | <p>I have been reading a paper and in the Background section the author said something like:</p>
<p>Recent studies suggest that... </p>
<p>and then gave a citation. </p>
<p>I went to that references section, took the name of the other paper and downloaded it.</p>
<p>what was a surprise for me is that this paper also in the literature review section refer to the same studies.</p>
<p>I thought that the first paper refer to this second paper. So, is this allowed on literature review without considering secondary citation? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12791,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think there's anything too unseemly going on here, <em>unless</em> the cited paper that also lists the other papers does not actually produce the results that follow \"Recent studies show.\" In that case, there's a problem.</p>\n\n<p>Otherwise, however, you do have to give some deference to the fact that there are only so many papers out there on a given topic. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12793,
"author": "tbekolay",
"author_id": 8619,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8619",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I wouldn't say that this is wrong per se, but I think it's bad form.</p>\n\n<p>What I try to do is to cite either the first paper to show a particular result, or at least a seminal paper in that area, then then point to the review explicitly. For example:</p>\n\n<pre><code>Then people were like, hey, maybe timing matters?\nSTDP was born (Bi & Poo, 1998; see Sjöström & Gerstner, 2010 for a review).\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>If the paper's already been published, well, not much you can do. If you're reviewing a paper, I might suggest they change it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12811,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with aeismail in that there is not anything out of the ordinary going. On. To have two chronologically separated papers citing the same material and the later also citing the older is perfectly fine, in fact I would say necessary. What is not ok, is if the author of the later paper read the older paper and simply took the references from that without actually reading the original papers. This is far from unheard of and the main problem is that the later author relies entirely on the formers judgement and interpretation. The risk is that errors in interpretations propagate without proper critical scrutiny of original studies. So one question you should ask is whether the later author have cited everything with or without such critical review. If the papers are separated by years and you know more papers have been published but are not referenced by the later author, then there is a chance (but not a certainty) the later author may have been just lazy. But if more papers are added then it is less clear. To make the case even worse, that two authors cite the same sources for the same conclusion(s) can also be seen as sound, that both have found and read the pertinent literature.</p>\n\n<p>So, what you should do is to make sure you have critically read all the papers so that you can judge if the formers interpretations are sound. If they are sound then none of them have contributed anything negative to science. If they are not sound then you have the opportunity to rectify a problem by doing better or in this case suggest improvements in the review. The problem is tricky and requires quite a lot of work from a reviewer to possibly rectify if a problem really exists. this is likely why some errors propagate through scientific literature for sometimes quite a while.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12789",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8544/"
]
|
12,792 | <p>People are interested in tenured positions to have a secured job, as they do not need to worry about their contracts. Tenured position gives a professor security that s/he cannot get fired easily (e.g., simply not renewing his/her contract). But, what is the actual obligation for the professors? In return, what is the motivation for a university to offer tenured position, which is accompanied by less flexibility from HR point of view.</p>
<p>Apparently, tenure is just for the sake of <code>academic freedom</code>, and has no real benefit for the institution, except a one-way service to professors (probably satisfying more applicants). Am I right? Then, a university must prefer not to offer tenured positions at all, as HR has more freedom with non-tenured positions.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12794,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If I understand the question you're asking, there is no obligation for a tenured professor to remain at the institution that gave him or her tenure. Professors changing institutions happens quite frequently. In many cases, such moves occur because of career advancement—for instance, one might be offered a position in the university administration (chair, dean, or provost, for example). </p>\n\n<p>However, in such cases, the professor typically has the obligation of \"winding down\" her group at the old institution \"gracefully.\" Usually, that means that the advisor is still responsible for supervising any students that chose not to move with the professor. In some cases, depending on location, there may be teaching duties leftover—for instance, a tenured professor left my university here in Germany not too long ago to take a position in another country. He still had to return once a week for an entire year to fulfill the teaching obligations he had under German law. (Professors' minimum teaching loads are regulated in Germany.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12795,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think you might be misunderstanding the purpose of tenure. While your view from the teacher's side might be correct (wanting to avoid worrying about contract renewal) the purpose for a school to offer tenure is <em>supposed</em> to be putting an educator in a position where he/she can teach whatever they feel is best without worrying about being fired if the school doesn't think it politically appropriate. For example, if someone was teaching about communism during the 1960's in the US, the school might want to fire that teacher. Tenure shows that the school believes in scholarship over politics.</p>\n\n<p>As a side note, recent studies show that this is not at all what happens. <a href=\"http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/09/09/study-finds-students-learn-more-non-tenure-track-instructors\">Students learn more from non-tenured teachers than tenured ones.</a></p>\n\n<p>As to your question, the responsibilities are the same as any other professional position - do your job. You certainly can leave if you find better opportunities - it's not a prison, it's a job.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12797,
"author": "Samuel Russell",
"author_id": 4429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4429",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Given the relative two fisted brutality of the unitary Australian system in industrial relations terms on the average (as opposed to \"appointed\") academic staff; and the early death of \"tenure\" in Australian contexts:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The only limitation on institutions offering positions is industrial</li>\n<li>We can see this in field specific peaks of casually taught classes reaching 80%</li>\n<li>And society wide casualisation of about 50%</li>\n<li>Academics have incredibly low rates of militancy in the face of massive erosion of work conditions</li>\n<li>\"Research,\" the unique product of on-going appointments in Australia, has consistently been treated by institutions as a \"Luxury\" product (AUR reports on cross subsidisation of research by teaching).</li>\n<li>Employer preference is the only basis on which any on-going positions exist, and this seems to be directly related to either Degree program related academic administration (\"Who's in charge of the BA's pedagogy?\") or to inter-Employer status game (\"We have 100 more HERDC points than you, and are therefore a better university\").</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12798,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think there are some odd accidental assumptions in the question. For the U.S. system, although there is substantial drift in the last 10 years, the idea was not only that people should <em>teach</em> what their best judgement indicated, without worry of censure or loss-of-job, but that also their <em>research/scholarship</em> should reflect best-understanding rather than politics... especially given the transience and partisanship of politics.</p>\n\n<p>There is also the idea that in otherwise-profitable enterprises people might not want to put any effort into teaching at all, thus not want to participate in a \"university\" (with students), without an otherwise-extraordinary promise of more-or-less-endless job security. Some smart, able people, not terribly interested in money, beyond a certain point, can be ensnared by the \"care-free\" aspect of a tenured faculty position.</p>\n\n<p>\"Even\" in the U.S., in recent years there has been a push to \"contract\" faculty positions, indeed. In happy times, these seem to be no worse than tenured positions. However, obviously, in the next economic downturn the administration will have the easy option of terminating as many contract employees as seems convenient. </p>\n\n<p>Yes, this is part of the increased corporatization of U.S. (and other) colleges and universities. Of course, we should understand that we are at the end of a sort of \"golden age\" between the pre-WWI times that only the upper-classes' children \"went to college\", apart from seminary students, and after the post-WWII time where the \"GI Bill\" financed returning veterans' college educations to avoid flooding the job market... which was already in disarray after all the women who'd been \"allowed\" to work in factory jobs and such in wartime were expected (or forced) to quit and \"go home\"... so there was an artificial surge both in the numbers of college enrollments and in the socio-economic goals.</p>\n\n<p>And more complications currently...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12801,
"author": "debray",
"author_id": 7974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7974",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Institutions offer tenure, not (just) because of high-minded abstractions like \"academic freedom\", but because it makes good business sense. The benefit of tenure to the institution follows from the benefit to the individual:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>From the faculty member's perspective, tenure makes it possible to pursue high-risk/high-impact research ideas without having to worry about having to keep short-term bean-counters happy. </p></li>\n<li><p>This makes institutions that offer tenure more attractive to strong researchers because those researchers want an environment that best supports their ability to pursue their research ideas. </p></li>\n<li><p>Such researchers, in turn, are very often also the ones who bring in the big grants. Their high visibility also enhances the reputation of the institution, which attracts more students and alumni donations, etc. etc.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>For these reasons, given two otherwise-identical institutions where one offered tenure and the other didn't, the one without tenure would find itself at a significant competitive disadvantage.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26718,
"author": "just-learning",
"author_id": 10483,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10483",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One more point is that tenure <em>per se</em> is a huge perk which lets the universities get away with the salaries considerably lower than in the industry and keep many smart people nevertheless, at least in the fields where leaving academe for industry <em>is</em> an option. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26739,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just to add an international perspective: In Denmark (and some other, especially Northern, European countries), tenure is not unique to academia. Here an employer is obligated to offer you a permanent contract after three years or discontinue your employment; academia operates on this general principle. \"Tenured\" faculty here have permanent contracts just like someone working in any other field, as opposed to the fixed-term contracts held by postdocs, assistant professors, and temporary employees elsewhere in the marketplace. So, at least in some countries, tenure is a general workplace guarantee, not something special to university faculty.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12792",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
]
|
12,796 | <p>Normally, the credit of a scientific paper is equally distributed among authors. In the real world, it is almost impossible to write a paper with equal contributions of all authors. Usually, one author is the main one who is the idea maker or discoverer by subtle analysis of data. </p>
<p>In most cases, contributions of some authors are trivial, e.g., consultation on a specialized area, analysis of a part of data, etc. With this system, there are many famous professors who are co-authors for tens of hundreds of papers.</p>
<p>Why when judging the research records of a researchers, only the quantity and quality of papers are considered, and no one cares about how much s/he has contributed to those papers?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12807,
"author": "Jeromy Anglim",
"author_id": 62,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I agree that using simple publication or citation counts is prone to a range of problems. One important class of such biases relates to differential levels of involvement of an author. </p>\n\n<p>In terms of some basic corrections for this, there are ways that individual papers are evaluated to assess relative contribution.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>In some fields being first author (and to a lesser extent, subsequent positions) suggests a greater level of involvement in a given paper.</li>\n<li>In a few cases, proportion of contribution is explicitly stated.</li>\n<li>In some contexts, some form of proportional analysis is performed such that if you are one author among two, then the paper is weighted more than one author among ten (I've seen this in some university workload models).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>However, generally, when evaluating the publication achievements of a researchers, a more holistic approach can be taken.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>An overall program of research will be evaluated in order to assess a sustained contribution.</li>\n<li>To some extent, over time researchers would be expected to play a range of roles from lead to secondary contributor. Therefore, often an overall sum of papers may balance out such varying levels of contributions. In particular, if you have a reasonable balance of first author papers and the number of authors per paper is similar to other researchers in your field, this may reinforce such a perspective. </li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12809,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have to disagree that all authors are credited equally. Since there are several ways in which authorships are counted, the position of your name will provide different signals. In my realm, first authors are simply assumed to have done the most, such papers count higher. Other authors are considered to have done less in falling order, unless stated otherwise. In some fields the last author is the \"important\" one. In some fields authorships come through contract, e.g. CERN consortia authorships (see link in the reply on <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/12032/4394\">coauthorships</a>, the answer there may also be of help). Hence authorships are treated differently.</p>\n\n<p>Ideally everyone should follow the <a href=\"http://www.research.mq.edu.au/about/research_@_macquarie/policies,_procedures_and_conduct/documents/Vancouver.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Vancouver Protocol</a>) in which it is clear that some contributions simply should not warrant authorship but rather a mention in the acknowledgement.</p>\n\n<p>So in the end when judging the authorships of papers, each field applies their own \"standard\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12810,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My opinion is that, contrary to what you say about \"one main contributor\", in most cases, it is absolutely impossible to judge \"the level of contribution\" from any objective standpoint. Let's consider a (not hypothetical, just missing real names!) example.</p>\n\n<p>A and B spent about a year thinking of a problem and devising a scheme for solution they could not make work.</p>\n\n<p>A discussed the question with C.</p>\n\n<p>C, who wasn't much interested in trying it yourself, passed it to his collaborator on a different project D.</p>\n\n<p>D found an approach that gives fairly good result but not quite what was wanted and told it to C.</p>\n\n<p>C passed it to A and B and during the two week visit of D arranged that A,C,D have a few discussions about it that resulted in some extra ideas but not a full solution yet.</p>\n\n<p>Meanwhile B tried to combine what he knew himself and what he was told by C and obtained an even slightly better result than D (though still short of the exact statement wanted) but under more restrictive assumptions. He sent it to D.</p>\n\n<p>D, upon reading B's draft, realized that the initial scheme of A and B could be made to work after all (what he was missing was in that note from B and what B was missing was a part of D's \"general knowledge\"), finished it off, and sent the solution to A,B,C, who have read and verified it.</p>\n\n<p>Now, I suggest you try to tell the \"level of contribution\" of each person keeping in mind that</p>\n\n<p>1) If not for C, D would most likely not hear of the problem at all and it is doubtful that he would come into direct contact with A,B.</p>\n\n<p>2) It is possible that A and B would make their approach work eventually without D.</p>\n\n<p>3) What was a \"general knowledge\" for D and allowed him to finish the problem off, would hardly come into the mind of A,B,C at all.</p>\n\n<p>4) Without B's draft, D would, most likely, stop at the \"partial result\" he obtained first.</p>\n\n<p>5) Both A and C participated in the discussion during D's visit and, while everybody remembers all the ideas that surfaced, nobody remembers (or cares much about) who said what. </p>\n\n<p>6) A,B,C,D all argue that the rest 3 could surely do the problem without him, just in longer time, so the current idea of \"author credit\" C and D have is to publish the whole thing under the name AB CoD. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12796",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
]
|
12,802 | <p>Sometimes online application systems ask for uploading recommendation letters as supplementary documents (scanned copies). In this case, it is possible to get general recommendation letters (addressed as <code>To Whom It May Concern</code>) and submit them for different applications.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is it bad to submit a recommendation letter, which has not been addressed for a specific application? Assume that the content will be the same.</p></li>
<li><p>If it is OK, is it bad to attach some recommendation letters for an application when it is not requested?</p></li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12803,
"author": "wsc",
"author_id": 6820,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6820",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'm actually surprised that whatever system you're using has you upload the letters yourself. Typically (maybe this is field specific?) an applicant should not even get to look at the letters, since any negative (or neutral) comments the writer includes might strain their relationship, and so excluding the applicant means the writer can, in theory, be more direct and honest.</p>\n\n<p>That said,</p>\n\n<p>1) This is bad. A generic letter is obviously better than no letter at all (if one or more is required), but not always by much. It indicates that you are interested in a position <em>somewhere</em> rather than interested in a position <em>there</em>. If your other qualifications are superb this might not matter, but you can give any application a really significant boost by showing the people who will be reading it that you are interested in them and will be a good fit. This doesn't mean totally different letters for each application, but you will have to help your letter writers to tailor small changes, for each letter, that \"personalize\" your applications.</p>\n\n<p>2) This is probably bad too; if they didn't request letters, then they don't want them. At best they'll ignore them, at worst they'll be annoyed that you don't follow directions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12805,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, as wsc says, you should not be uploading the letters yourself. Usually there's someone in your dept. who can accept letters and send them out if there's no way for the letters to be uploaded directly.</p>\n\n<p>Second, senior letter writers already spend a lot of their own valuable time writing letters for dozens of people. Asking them to write separate letters for dozens and dozens of applications for each person is completely unreasonable. In Math for research jobs in the US, letters for job applicants are not school specific. (Though they do usually say \"postdoc\" or \"tenure track position\" since obviously a strong postdoc candidate would often be a weak TT candidate.)</p>\n\n<p>(For teaching letters for liberal arts schools my impression is that the situation is somewhat different and some specialization may be expected. But I don't have first-hand knowledge. Of course, for those letters, it's less likely that one person is writing 50 letters a year.)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12802",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
]
|
12,812 | <p>This happened quite recently to a friend and colleague of mine.</p>
<p>Another colleague made an off-hand 'joke' about a friend (an academic) potentially behaving inappropriately with his students. This was said in front of my friend's students (over 20) and within hearing range of his students, as my friend heard them laughing soon after the 'joke' was said (his own students apparently had shocked looks on their faces).</p>
<p>The situation was that he was setting up an experiment demonstration that required the lights turned off and curtains drawn (physics - lasers). Understandably, my friend was very angry, hurt and terribly embarrassed and could not bare to even look at his colleague who 'triumphantly went back to his own class' soon after.</p>
<p>Just a point I want to make here, the reason I am saying 'joke' in inverted commas, is because this kind of infantile rubbish can and does cause unwarranted mud to stick - and is potentially a lot more damaging for male teachers/lecturers. Also, it is a lame, disgusting, low-brow attempt at humour. (I have been a butt of a joke like that myself a few years ago and it inadvertently caused quite a bit of trouble, despite being 100% innocent and proven so).</p>
<p>There is no question of his innocence of any wrong doing, and being the true professional, he redirected his students back to the demonstration and completed the lesson.</p>
<p>He is the kind of person that does not like to make waves and does not like to make a fuss.</p>
<p>In summary:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Lecturer X about to start his class requiring the lights to be off and curtains drawn for an experiment. Lecturer Y comes in unannounced and made the 'joke' about X potentially doing something inappropriate with the students in the darkness. This was in front of both X's and Y's students.</p></li>
<li><p>Lecturer Y went back to his class.</p></li>
<li><p>Lecturer X was justifiably insulted, but continued his lesson.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>What course of action should he (Lecturer X) do? Particularly to protect himself from any potential future trouble regarding allegations etc from this 'joke'? (Which as I said, can occur).</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12813,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This is a very unfortunate event for your affected colleague. Usually the proverb \"where there's smoke, there's fire\" has some truth, but when artificial smoke is generated without the fire, it is very detrimental. As you state the comment may stick and through the grapevine it may attain any proportion.</p>\n\n<p>What then to do? Well, first, I think the teacher should tell his (in this case) students that he feels the 'joke' was totally inappropriate and the he was hurt by it and also explain that this sort of action is not to be tolerated by anyone. This will set the record straight with his own class. It could spark a short discussion about political correctness and even if it takes time out of the subject teaching it will be worth it. It is a good lesson that should be taught. </p>\n\n<p>The next step is to actually step up to the person who made the 'joke' and explain that it was uncalled for and inappropriate, particularly in public and at his expense. I understand that this may be difficult to do but unfortunately the choice is to do it or let it be and face the fact that the issue is unresolved.</p>\n\n<p>A third step is to bring it up at a departmental level and try to turn it into a general discussion to eventually also involve students. The university/department probably has rules about (mis-)conduct and correctness. It can be fruitful to provide an opportunity to have a discussion on how people (faculty and students) should conduct professionally,it does not even have to bring up this 'joke' in any way.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, being affected by a situation like this is about the worst that can happen, particularly if the 'joke' propagates without any control. It may be that there are officers within the university that can provide advice on what can be done and help defuse the situation in case it will propagate into rumours, etc. The students will therefore also be involved and can be good support if brought in to discuss the matter from a correctness point of view.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12826,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Depending on the local laws and policies, that joke itself might constitute harassment of you and of your students, thus, the \"jokester\" might already be culpable. Certainly they are visibly culpable, but/and possibly so depending on the incisiveness and (in a good sense) subtlety of your local laws.</p>\n\n<p>The usual counter-argument that \"oh, it was just a joke, don't be so uptight\", is just a disregard and attempted dismissal of the issue... which might have been orthodox and acceptable \"back in the day\" when the opportunity for various bonus intimidations of subordinates was an understood \"perk\" of senior positions.</p>\n\n<p>To the students, one could comment that that exemplified the reasons such behavior is against policy: not that anyone was immediately injured, perhaps, but ... here's the point ... it was a <em>distraction</em> from the real goals of the situation, namely, learning/education/teaching. Even if everyone in the room knew that there was no chance of the \"joke\" being relevant, certainly most would know that there is a potentially very serious issue there, and, thus, raising a fake-serious issue burns far too many mental CPU-cycles. A big waste!!!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12812",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
12,814 | <p>I'm currently considering to use a in line (in text) listing style, such as:</p>
<p>'Some things are quite good. <strong>(i)</strong> Thing A can do this and that, which is awesome because of this and that. <strong>(ii)</strong> Thing B can do, ... . <strong>(iv)</strong> Some people also say that this and that, therefore thing Z is great.'</p>
<p>I've got more important points already highlighted through bullets, therefore I don't want to use bullets again for this minor information, plus I want to logically link the single points through sentences, but still provide an easy way to pick out the key words quickly.</p>
<p><strong>First question:</strong> I've seen this style in quite a few papers. Is it considered to be a "good" style, or are there any downsides to this approach? Should I not use this style? Does the reader get confused by this?</p>
<p><strong>Second question:</strong> Shall the brackets and latin number be bold, only the number, or nothing?</p>
<p><strong>Third question:</strong> Should I place the enumeration element right infront of the keyword, or at the beginning of the sentence containing the keyword?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12815,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ol>\n<li><p>Yes it is a good/acceptable style. At least in the fields where I have looked the format is standard. in fact bullets or numbered lists should be used more sparingly and I think the following is a good guideline: use bullets/itemization when there is a lot of text going into each. 'Lot' in this case is a complete sentence or more. Use the format you mention when you need a word or partial sentence for each item.</p></li>\n<li><p>there are several ways to do this you can use 'i)' or '(i)' or (1)' or '(a)' etc. The choice may differ depending on what else you have in your paper. If you have figures that contains several panes, for example, a, b, c, d, you may decide to use Roman or regular numerals for your lists. if you have several lists you should avoid repeating the same item descriptor and, for example, use Roman numerals for one and Arabic for another.</p></li>\n<li><p>This depends on the context. you should place them where it is appropriate to read them. this means before each part of the construction. In your example you have divided everything into separate sentences but I think you should make a construct with semicolons instead: \"There are three things of importance: (1) thing A; (2) thing B; and (3) Thing C.\"</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12816,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<ul>\n<li>If the numbers are never used, or if the technique is overused, then this can be considered bad style. I would not use it in the example above, for instance.</li>\n<li>You can use whatever style you want. There is no reason that they are bold. Sometimes the leading parenthesis is dropped, sometimes both. It's best to consult the style guidelines for the relevant publishers.</li>\n<li>Put the enumeration element in front of the sentence or phrase under consideration. Try it out, if you put it near the keyword, then you'll have spurious sentence elements in illogical positions.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12900,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You probably want to check your sytle guide about seriation rules. The APA style manual defines rules for</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>sentence seriation without a hierarchy and elements not having internal commas, </li>\n<li>sentence seriation with a hierarchy and elements not having internal commas,</li>\n<li>sentence seriation without a hierarchy and elements having internal commas, </li>\n<li>sentence seriation with a hierarchy and elements having internal commas, </li>\n<li>paragraph seriation without a hierarchy, and </li>\n<li>paragraph seriation with a hierarchy. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The previous sentence is a properly formatted example of sentence seriation without a hierarchy and the elements not having internal commas. If there were internal commas, then the comma at the end of each element would be replaced by a semicolon. Sentence seriation with a hierarchy follows the same rules except there is no line break between elements and the bullets are replaces with a letter within parentheses. Paragrpah seriation without a hierarchy follows the same rules as sentence seriation without a hierarchy except the element ending comma is replaced with a period and the list is \"introduced\" with a colon. Paragrpah seriation with a hierarchy follows the same rules as paragraph seriation without a hierarchy except the bullets are replaces with an Arabic numeral followed by a period.</p>\n\n<p>Since each element of your example is a sentence, you would need to apply paragraph seriation and hence your formatting is not compliant with APA (and I believe MLA and Chicago).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12814",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8549/"
]
|
12,829 | <p>I am a senior PhD student who greatly appreciates learning about allied fields. I had been a huge fan of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and I believe some of them steered the course of my life towards grad school. However, I am more and more getting impatient in lectures. I am a Mathematician but I like to study Economics and Computer Science for fun. My university pays for any courses I would ever want to take as a PhD student so I try to enroll but I am losing my patience. I feel the instructor is taking up too much time explaining things that I could grab off the textbook in much lesser time and in the process, form the connections better. Is this normal?</p>
<p>As someone who has had 20 years of schooling since kindergarten, is it normal to get impatient and want to do things by myself. I know I am implicitly making the assumption that one is motivated enough to stick by routines but that's fine.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12832,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You have to take into account that many of the courses you attend are not made for you. They are probably made for people that have a lot less experience. Even though you might not have a lot of knowledge yet regarding the topic you are attending a course in, you have much more general knowledge and acquired learning skills throughout your PhD. </p>\n\n<p>If you want to learn these new things through courses, I think you just have to suck it up as the focus of these courses is probably on less experienced people. Alternatively, you could pick up some text books and start learning like that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12833,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your level is far beyond the level of the other students in class, then this is hardly surprising. </p>\n\n<p>Or perhaps, the teaching methods of the professor need to be improved.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12834,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is it normal to get impatient and want to do things by myself?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodidacticism\"><em>Autodidacticism</em></a> is a cornerstone of being a successful academic, and hardly surprising for PhD students.</p>\n\n<p>There are number of goals of classroom teaching, e.g.,</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Directed learning from an expert in the field (professor, lecturer, etc.)</li>\n<li>The opportunity for students to ask questions about the material, and to have discussions about the material that goes <em>beyond</em> what is in a textbook or online.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>You would presumably benefit from point (2), but unfortunately, you have to be patient with point (1), especially if the other students are expecting a lot of guided learning.</p>\n\n<p>Instead of enrolling in courses, I suggest seeing what <em>seminars</em> are available in the fields you are interested in. You may have to prepare to get the most out of the seminars by reading up on current research, or learning a lot of the background material independently, but I think you'll get more out of the experience than sitting through formal classes.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12843,
"author": "DQdlM",
"author_id": 248,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/248",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my experience as a professor I have with some regularity encountered students that are impatient with my classroom lectures and exercises. </p>\n\n<p><strong>The Problem</strong></p>\n\n<p>In virtually all of these cases it was because the student was missing the point of what we were trying to do in the class. In most classes, content delivery is only one of the learning goals (and not even the most important one, since as you point out the information is available in texts and other sources). </p>\n\n<p>The other learning goals typically are associated with trying to help students think critically about the content consistent with the best practices of the field. Students with a experience in another field can find this frustrating because it requires that they relax their comfortable assumptions about how information is acquired and evaluated. (True learning is always disruptive because it requires that we reconcile our current understanding in the face of new information, not just stockpile facts).</p>\n\n<p><strong>Suggestions</strong></p>\n\n<p>First, I would look at the syllabus of the courses that you are taking. The learning objectives of the professor are probably listed. If they are not, just ask him or her about what they want you to get from the course. My guess is that it goes beyond simply understand the material in Chapters 1 - n. </p>\n\n<p>Second, relax. Don't be in such a rush to simply acquire content. It sounds like you are good at picking up new material but you may be too quick to assume you \"get it\". I am a biology professor and I regularly encounter this with the teaching of photosynthesis and other \"elementary\" processes. Students get the details quickly because they have heard it since elementary school but they rarely delve into the deeper implications. You may be missing some of the more subtle aspects of the subjects because you are in a rush to move on to new material.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12844,
"author": "J.R.",
"author_id": 780,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/780",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You sound like a fast learner who grasps concepts easily. It also seems like you have a fair amount of self-discipline and initiative. </p>\n\n<p>Assuming those are true, it makes sense that lectures wouldn't be an ideal way for you to learn something new, and that you might thrive in an online environment, where you have a bit more autonomy and can dictate your own pace through much of the learning.</p>\n\n<p>Lecture halls have a lecturer – who tends to teach at a certain pace – along with a group of students. Some students may find the instructor's pace a little too slow for their liking, and a few who might find that pace excruciating slow. </p>\n\n<p>A good lecturer should sense when the general mood of the classroom dictates a change in pace, slowing down when students are getting lost, or speeding up when students are getting bored. Unfortunately, there are plenty of lecturers who don't process the cues very well, or are simply not interested in doing so. Still, the students are individuals who make up an aggregate; it's not unusual for a classroom to have some who would prefer the professor speed up sitting alongside others who would rather the professor slow down.</p>\n\n<p>I always enjoyed lecturers who taught at a relatively fast pace. Those who didn't got me multitasking; I often doodled in my college notebooks. </p>\n\n<p>To answer your question, I think your restlessness is indeed \"normal,\" particularly for students with your abilities, and your learning style. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12845,
"author": "psr",
"author_id": 8674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8674",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are impatient in lectures because they are fundamentally not a good way to teach. If universities were about teaching then lectures would already be nearly obsolete - MOOCs are orders of magnitude more efficient. But, for students, universities are about <em>certification</em> and MOOCs aren't trusted enough in that capacity. </p>\n\n<p>This has nothing to do with your being a PhD student - the vast majority of lectures add nothing beyond what can be found in the textbook. Well, perhaps a little, as a PhD student I would assume you actually read the textbook, and therefore have no need for the lecture.</p>\n\n<p>This is not a popular point of view among those who must give lectures, but it is <em>far</em> more widespread among those who must attend them. And, really, who are you going to believe?</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12829",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8668/"
]
|
12,830 | <p>I recently got a request for an article I'm a coauthor on, which reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dear Dr. NAME REMOVED: </p>
<p>My name is Victoria Hornos and I am contacting you on behalf of the
Central Library of Medicine Foundation. Dr. SANTIAGO ATEHORTUA has
contacted us asking for a reprint that you wrote. He is a Terapia
Intensiva and Dr. is in need of your article as Dr. is making a
research on this subjet . </p>
<p>JOURNAL NAME 2013;XX(YY):ZZZZ-ZZ On the Reasons Why This Is Clearly A
Paper That Needs To Be Read, Cited, And Manifest Itself In Fame And
Fortune For the Authors.</p>
<p>If my request is possible, please send it to the following e-mail
address or by fax so I can send him or another doctor on the same
situation the article. </p>
<p>Thanks very much in advance for your response.</p>
<p>E-mail: [email protected] Fax: (+34 91) 133 30 81 Post Address:
B1638 CAA Central Library of Medicine Foundation. Zufriategui 627 8º
(D4D7) - Vicente Lopez Buenos Aires Argentina</p>
<p>Sincerely yours, Victoria Hornos</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm not really clear on the legality of this request. I know many people are fine with sending PDFs to particular people, but this sounds like sending it to a clearing house, and that makes me a little nervous. Beyond that, I'm not the corresponding author, 'fbcm.md' doesn't resolve to a webpage, and well...this feels like many, many scam journal requests, but this time as a paper request.</p>
<p>Has anyone encountered this? Thoughts?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12831,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>After googling for the Central Library of Medicine Foundation, I found the <a href=\"http://www.uni-muenster.de/ZBMed/aktuelles/2527\">following post</a> on the University of Muenster site (note I used Google Translate to translate the piece from German to English):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Recently, faculty members have received many article requests from a\n \"Central Library of Medicine Foundation\", which was apparently\n acting on behalf of South American doctors.</p>\n \n <p>While researchers are usually happy to accommodate private, direct inquiries\n from colleagues, there is naturally some skepticism, since we do not\n know if this service costs the requesting physician or how much\n the \"Central Library of Medicine Foundation\" receives.</p>\n \n <p>After some inquiries with South American and Spanish-speaking\n colleagues the following picture emerges: the website <a href=\"http://www.rima.org\">www.rima.org</a> (The\n \"Central Library of Medicine Foundation\" aka \"Fundación Biblioteca\n Central de Medicina\" aka \"Red Informática de Medicina Avanzada\" (RIMA))\n is a non-library organization based in Buenos Aires that offers physicians\n and researchers to get an article for a given fee (the exact amount is unknown). RIMA neither \n buys the article from the publisher nor copies it from a local library (which\n presumably cannot afford journals), but services the requests by directly\n forwarding them to the authors, in many cases, Münster faculty members.\n This probably the name \"Central Library of Medicine Foundation\" is\n used to simulate the unselfish non-profit library.</p>\n \n <p>Everyone must of course know how to handle it themselves. To send a\n reprint by email costs only a push of a button and it helps indeed\n ultimately a colleague who is certainly not as well supplied with\n magazines as oneself. On the other hand, you will be benefiting a commercial (?)\n intermediary organization, which may not help you,\n either. But maybe it is just a clever business idea of 10 unemployed\n Argentine doctors, to help them earn a living. . . .</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So it seems that this Central Library of Medicine Foundation is a business that charges a fee to its clients for obtaining a paper, via you. Although this is probably not really legal or moral, this fee is probably lower than what, say, Elsevier is asking for the same paper. I think this situation makes a good argument for open-access journals.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14211,
"author": "user9551",
"author_id": 9551,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9551",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Received a similar solicitation from the same person. She says she is in Argentina, the country code to her phone number is for Spain, and the webpage is a Moldova domain. </p>\n\n<p>This all seems a bit dodgy. </p>\n\n<p>I'd prefer to help colleagues out as much as possible...I certainly have no problem sending a PDF to an individual upon request. But this seems to be a (possibly for-profit) enterprise and I'm certain it would violate the copyright of the publisher. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34985,
"author": "José Hermosilla Garrigues",
"author_id": 21444,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21444",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The Central Library of Medicine Foundation is a legally supported organization</p>\n\n<p>The Central Library of Medicine Foundation (CLMF) is an institution of public good with transparent proceedings and a non-profit foundation. It was founded in the last century.\nThe CLMF has developed multiple systems to assist health professionals in clinical decision-making based on best available medical evidence. All its services are free of charge.\nOur institution is independent from Governmental and political interests as well as from commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry. It is supported by donations and sponsorships of private companies from Argentina as well as other countries.\nAll members of the Foundation's advisory board, of which I am the general director, are unpaid honorary positions.\nThe Foundation purchases from publishers a large quantity of subscriptions to the best journals in each specialty and a limited number of copies of articles from these journals are provided to medical investigators by request. In a few exceptional instances, when a physician asks for a reprint that we don't have in our library, the CLMF contacts the authors directly for a copy and then forwards it to the requesting doctor at no cost. This service does not have any profit-making or commercial purpose. Additionally, as a proof of our transparent procedures, our institutional data such as the name of the foundation and the postal and email address are always included in the request letters submitted to authors.</p>\n\n<p>Under no circumstances a reprint sent to us by an author is reproduced or distributed in any way on a larger scale and in no way do we profit from this occasional service. In the same way, it is also important to note that the above mentioned procedure of reprint request to authors is really unusual and of little significance compared to the rest of the CLMF services and activities aimed at promoting continuing professional development.</p>\n\n<p>The Central Library of Medicine Foundation is supported by the most recognized scientific societies of Argentina as well as the Pan American Health Organization, regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO).</p>\n\n<p>We´ve created the “RIMA Award for Excellence in the Medical Scientific Update\" to recognize the work of the doctors that keep updated and to improve the quality of their clinical practice.</p>\n\n<p>Among the numerous awards and honors received by the Foundation for its work to support the Continuing Professional Development, is the \"Sadosky Award for Argentine intelligence \" given by the president of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) of Argentina.\nRather than being a group of unemployed doctors who makes profit by commercializing copies of medical articles, we are an organization, which expends considerable efforts to meet the continuing professional development physicians’ requirements, despite our limited economic resources.\nWe believe that it would have been more appropriate to contact us to clarify any question before posting comments that could jeopardize our institutional reputation and public image without any real foundation.\nOur organizational culture is centered around strong values such as innovation, respect, honesty, excellence and independence. We are very proud of what we do to contribute to a better quality of patient care.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 77800,
"author": "David L",
"author_id": 62815,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62815",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I just received a similar request, but this time it was from a person named \"Silvia Alderico\" at the same institution as above. This whole enterprise does not seem legitimate. Normally, a researcher contacts you directly and asks for the paper, or their institution pays for the paper directly. If you have a desire to fill the request legally, most journals allow you to post a version of your paper: usually the final version you submitted to the journal that was accepted for publication (double-spaced word document or PDF, with figures and tables at the end). </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12830",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118/"
]
|
12,838 | <p>I am looking to join a masters program for next year. Unfortunately, I've found that comparing masters programs is difficult since the information is not displayed the same way in every university page. My question is: what is the best method to search masters, gather their information and analyze so as to make the best choice?</p>
<p>Other questions about searching masters is the following one, which is directly relates to the previous one: does exist any webpage, document or reference sorting masters and giving unified information about them?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12842,
"author": "Jonathan E. Landrum",
"author_id": 7134,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7134",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Actually, I've gathered quite a bit of information on the website <a href=\"http://phds.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">phds.org</a>. It is specifically suited for researching Ph.D.-granting institutions, but there is also an option for ranking Masters-granting institutions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13024,
"author": "Kta",
"author_id": 8778,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8778",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When searching for programs I found that I overlooked a lot of good programs when looking at \"database\" type sites. They are useful for getting basic data and narrowing the programs you look at, but also consider getting advice from people in (or near) your field and (if applicable) looking at publications in your interest area to see where the research is coming from. I also found organizing the information that was the most relevant to me in a spreadsheet useful, even if it is time intensive.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13973,
"author": "Village",
"author_id": 600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You can also find search tools specific to regions, such as <a href=\"http://www.mastersportal.eu/\" rel=\"nofollow\">MastersPortal.eu</a>. If you just need the same sort of general information that you will find on a program's Web site, all in one place, this will be useful.</p>\n\n<p>If you know of a specific major that you want to study, many professional associations or organizations will put a long list of programs on their Web sites, see for example <a href=\"http://linguistlist.org/teach/programs/\" rel=\"nofollow\">this list of linguistics programs</a> at the LINGUIST list or <a href=\"http://englishlanguageprofessionalsresourceguide.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">this database of schools</a> from the TESOL International Association. Sometimes these lists include detailed overviews of the programs, courses offered, and estimated costs, but usually not enough information to know about the quality of instruction.</p>\n\n<p>For thorough student reviews and comparisons of schools, see <a href=\"http://www.studentsreview.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">StudentsReview</a>. This Web site has various tools for searching for and comparing the various details of schools, based on your personal requirements, such as the <a href=\"http://www.studentsreview.com/compare.php3\" rel=\"nofollow\">University Comparison</a> and the <a href=\"http://www.studentsreview.com/ultrasearch.php3\" rel=\"nofollow\">UltraSearch</a>.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12838",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7160/"
]
|
12,852 | <p>The main criteria for academic promotion to associate/full professor includes, research projects, publications, grants, administrative services, and such things. These are achievements that one can obtain regardless of timeframe. Logically, one with required achievements must be able to be promoted. However, most of universities need a certain period of time before promotion application (usually 5 years).</p>
<p>Why one must wait for promotion, when he is already qualified?</p>
<p>One who is associate professor for two years but qualified for full professorship must wait another 3 years to send application for promotion. Strangely, if that person apply for a full professor position in other university, he will be appointed as a full professor (if qualified) without waiting for another 3 years.</p>
<p>NOTE: the only criterion which seems to need time is teaching, but I think a strong/outstanding teaching records for different courses over 2 years is comparable with teaching the exact same courses over 5 years.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12853,
"author": "Community",
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"text": "<p>From my experience and what I have observed, the time frame is time for the academic to \"<em>earn</em> their stripes\", so to speak.</p>\n\n<p>Some more factors that I have noticed that are considered, that <em>do</em> take some time to notice, namely:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The person's character - how well do they work with colleagues and/or students.</p></li>\n<li><p>How the person performs under pressure and during 'down' times.</p></li>\n<li><p>How much initiative the academic shows can only be observed over a period of time.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><em>note: the above is not usually formally documented, but are important in any profession for someone going for promotion.</em></p>\n\n<p>Also, as the university will be making a considerable investment in the academic, it would seem that they would like to see that the academic is willing to make a considerable investment (time, expertise etc) in return.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12855,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Exceptions are generally possibly, and there are many examples of people who have been promoted faster than the usual timeframes at their universities. Often the easiest way to achieve this is via a counteroffer to an offer from another university, but that's not always necessary.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, standardizing the process with an expected timeframe makes some sense. Implicit in your question is the assumption that the required achievements for promotion can be judged objectively, but that's not always the case. For example, it's not easy to quantify the difference in scholarly perspective and experience between an associate professor and a full professor, and there's no way to measure this objectively without distorting it. One approximation is to say \"for most people, the difference amounts to seven years of experience.\" This is far from perfect, but it's not clearly worse than the alternatives. Ultimately, any workable policy is going to be a patchwork of several approximations, and a sensible department will allow exceptions in cases where the approximations are clearly inappropriate.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12856,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First of all, in all places I worked so far you could apply for \"early promotion\" if you felt like you were strong enough to qualify for higher rank before the official consideration time and some people were even encouraged to do so.</p>\n\n<p>Second, it takes two things to be a good scientist: brilliance and persistence. If someone is in my field, I can usually estimate the former pretty accurately after looking at just one paper of his. However, to estimate the latter, I would need at least a 5 year record, which is pretty close to the standard \"probation period\" before promotion. </p>\n\n<p>Third, the university administration, like any other management, wants to keep us on our toes for a while before loosening the reins. Whether that is beneficial or detrimental varies from case to case but one can hardly deny that it is more or less universally accepted management policy used almost everywhere from WalMart to NASA, so you'll need to put together quite a convincing argument to explain \"why not in academia\".</p>\n\n<p>Fourth, even if one is a good scientist (according to the above definition), one still has to prove that he is a \"good department citizen\". In 5 years, you will actually face all \"reasonable\" situations and take most \"normal\" roles in the department except some extreme cases when one cannot predict anything about anybody anyway and establish stable (whether good, or bad) relationships with most other department members, so you'll become a \"known evil\" rather than \"a cat in the sack\" at the very least.</p>\n\n<p>The only remaining question is \"Why a cleverer person who is just hired has much lower salary than a less clever person who's been there 20 years?\". In the European system, it is, indeed, almost always so but I should say that the US contract negotiating system is quite flexible here and I've been in the situation when the chairman recommended to several full professors on the hiring committee not to tell the (unusually high) salary that would be offered to a coming assistant professor not only to other department members but even to their colleagues on the committee itself with lower salaries to avoid unnecessary frictions, so the life is not so bad here as well.</p>\n\n<p>These are the arguments \"in favor\" of the waiting period. I realize that there are ones against it too and can bring up a few myself but since the question was \"Why is it there?\" rather then \"List all pros and contras\", I'll hold the other half of my 2 cents in the pocket for now :).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12852",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
]
|
12,862 | <p>I came to a web page where it says beneath:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Updated 3 September 2011 (first published August 2002)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When I cite this should the year be 2002 or 2011?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12863,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the sensible future where updating and correcting on-line documents is not surprising, much as editions and re-printings of books has been understood for a long time, surely one should give <em>all</em> this information, much as what you quote. I think that the fact that many \"standard\" citation formats do not incorporate this is insufficient reason to ignore the reality.</p>\n\n<p>Conceivably one could hope that the original version as well as all revisions are archived, but this currently seems not quite the case, although Google and other engines do a certain sort of archiving. If the archiving were \"perfect\", perhaps all versions of a document would have their own \"doi\" or other universal identifier, but at the moment this is simply not the case.</p>\n\n<p>In particular, for an essential reference, one should probably create a local mirror, with due acknowledgements and disclaimers. I seriously think this is the new/future reality of \"reference\".</p>\n\n<p>Edit: in response to the question \"so which year, 2002 or 2011?\", my point is <em>both</em>, with explanation. If there is a format constraint, try \"2002/2011\" or \"2002/11\". If the format constraints insist on four decimal digits, then you are in a minor circle of heck, and have other difficulties as well, ... :) ... On one hand, I'd suggest <em>not</em> allowing oneself to be constrained by such dysfunctional stylistic requirements, but I understand that one may have already chosen some software system that is shortsighted.</p>\n\n<p>In the worst-case scenario, give the year of the version you used/saw. Pity if that cannot reflect the real story, simply for random formatting reasons. Reminiscent of the \"y2k crisis\", entirely that the Cobol programmers c. 1970 did not imagine that they'd be writing code that would still be in use by 2000.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12895,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Many citation styles will tell you what to do. For APA 5 the format was:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of\n document. Retrieved month day, year, from <code>http://Web address</code></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In APA 6 the format changed slightly to be</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of\n document. Retrieved from <code>http://Web address</code></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>with a clause that you should include the retrieval date if the source material may change over time. The page you are describe clearly falls into the may change over time category so you would essentially use the APA 5 style.</p>\n\n<p>For your particular example the date of publication is 3 September 2011 and the date of retrieval is whatever date you visited the website. The August 2002 date is irrelevant. Think of it like citing a book with a 1st edition published in 2002 and a 2nd edition published in 2011. If you use the 2nd edition, you cite the 2nd edition.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28367,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I searched for your question and found these content which may help you. I found that, in citation of web pages or online resources, it is <em>better</em> (not a must) to cite with the updated date and the date when the reader has accessed the online content.</p>\n\n<p>In this web pages about <a href=\"http://ia.juniata.edu/citation/apa/apa05.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer\">APA</a>, <a href=\"http://ia.juniata.edu/citation/chicago_notes/chicago-online.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Chigago</a> and <a href=\"http://ia.juniata.edu/citation/cse/cse05.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer\">CSE</a> styles, under the <em>update date</em> it is written:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This date is when the page was last changed. The last update date of a\n web page is usually given at the bottom or top of a page. A posting\n date may also be given on the page one level higher (such as a page\n that is an index of articles).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Also, as a recommendation I read the following content on <a href=\"https://library.lafayette.edu/help/citing/webpages\" rel=\"noreferrer\">this webpage</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Date of publication or date of last revision</strong></p>\n \n <ul>\n <li>The date a Web document was created or last updated is frequently listed at the bottom.</li>\n <li>If a document includes both a date of creation and a date it was last updated, <em>use only the latter</em>.</li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It seems that as there is no general rule about the date included in online resources, the writer preferred the revised date.</p>\n\n<p>However, I also checked the following book </p>\n\n<p><strong>The Chicago Manual of Style</strong>, <strong>sixteenth edition</strong>; essential guide for writers, editors and publishers; ebook, The University of Chicago press,\n2010.</p>\n\n<p>and in this section on the 1700th page of the PDF file, </p>\n\n<pre><code>14: DOCUMENTATIONI: NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Chapter Contents >> \n Source Citations: An Overview >> Considerations for Electronic Sources\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>the following guide is presented; as we see in the index of the document, this guide applies to <code>websites and web pages</code>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>14.8 \"LAST MODIFIED\" AND OTHER REVISION DATES</strong> </p>\n \n <p>Some electronic documents will include <em>a date on each page or screen indicating the last time the document was modified or revised</em>. There are no accepted standards for this practice, and for formally published material the date of publication is generally more important. A revision date should be included, however, if it is presented as the de facto date of publication or is otherwise the only available date. Such dates may be particularly useful for citing wikis and other continuously updated works.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>On the contrary it seems that in the APA style, the preferred date is the update date rather than the publication date in the previous quoted text. In the <a href=\"http://blog.apastyle.org/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">apastyle website</a> under a blog content about <a href=\"http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/01/the-generic-reference-when.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">The Generic Reference: When?</a> we read:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Online Documents</strong></p>\n \n <p>Online material can be tricky to date properly. If the date is not\n apparent at the beginning of the document you’re citing, look at the\n end (e.g., <a href=\"http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/policy/provider-guidelines.aspx\" rel=\"noreferrer\">APA Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services to Ethnic, Linguistic, and Culturally Diverse Populations</a> was finalized\n in 1990, so that’s the date to use).</p>\n \n <p>But look out for a footer that says, “This page was last modified on\n [date].” This is not the date to use! It could be the date that the\n document was published, but it’s more likely to be the date it was put\n online or the date when the webmaster added code for a dancing Freud\n to the page.</p>\n \n <p>Some sites place a copyright date for the website at the bottom of\n every page. Check a few pages on the site; if the identical statement\n appears on every page, it’s a site-wide footer, so that’s not the date\n you’re looking for either. (See \"Zip, Zero, Zilch,\" below, for the\n best solution.)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As a conclusion; I found that if you want to cite an online content, pay attention into two dates; the date when you visited the online content and the date the content is created. If you have the date when the content is edited and updated, use this newer date. However, I recommend you to read the instructions of the style which you are using, they may have specific recommendations and guides on this issue. Also, be aware, it happens sometimes that the online content is written on an older date when the website update date is globally mentioned in the footer of the website's pages, you should use the date the page you are referring to is created or edited, not the date all the website is updated.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12862",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8544/"
]
|
12,865 | <p>I am just beginning a research project with a fellow student. She is always 10-20 minutes late to scheduled meetings and has a very hard time making any sort of deadline. She freely admits that she is a procrastinator, and acknowledges that chronically being late is a problem which she has never effectively dealt with.</p>
<p>We are going to be working together for several months, perhaps longer, and I know that her chronic lateness will eventually become irritating. (I am always at least 10 minutes early, and consistently complete tasks before the deadline.) I enjoy working with her in a more casual setting, but I am concerned that her procrastination may become an issue in an academic collaboration. How should I approach her about this? Are there any ways to work around it? The collaboration was her initiative, so I am hesitant to confront if there are more diplomatic options.</p>
<p><strong>How should I deal with her procrastination and lateness?</strong></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12868,
"author": "Community",
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"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
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"text": "<p>There are a couple of options that you could consider:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>You may have to put your foot down (in a nice way), and gently remind her that it was her idea to collaborate and that such collaboration is difficult unless you both adhere to the deadlines set. If it still persists, <strong>tell her</strong> that the procrastination, particularly with the tasks are making the collaboration untenable.</p></li>\n<li><p>If this is not a critical aspect of your work, take a more relaxed attitude yourself to it - in terms of punctuality and task-completion. The rationale for this is that if she does not place the collaboration as a high priority, then why should you? This second one you would need to be careful about, the approach would be to put your other work before it.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12894,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As you are both students and she approached you, then the answer is simple: Walk away nicely. Explain to her that your working styles do not mesh and therefore the collaboration is becoming too burdensome. Then you need to work with her to setup an exit strategy where you clearly agree on what it is you will do. You also will probably want to (re-)discuss authorship of any possible publications.</p>\n\n<p>As a fellow student it is not your place to try and change her behaviour or working style. As you were not asked to collaborate with her by your supervisor, you are only letting her down and realistically it is her who let you down.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12899,
"author": "Wydawnictwo Kle",
"author_id": 8628,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8628",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First an optimistic scenario, maybe it turns out to be a non-issue in the end. You can find something else to do while waiting for her to turn up. Who knows, maybe not everybody has to be organized. It is up to you to decide. But it seems that pessimistic scenario is much more likely to happen. There is nothing more disturbing in your work than a collaborator you cannot rely upon. In short. The quicker you seriously talk about your worries the better. And certainly being late yourself when the other person is late is not a solution.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12865",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921/"
]
|
12,866 | <p>Being a western (white) teacher at an Asian university I constantly have to worry about being the subject of gossip and rumors between students (and others). So, I do need to be more careful about my actions with students and how my intentions are viewed by others.</p>
<p>What if I see a student has a strange blink pattern? Should I consider that (potential need for glasses) integral to the learning process and pull that student aside to tell them or is it generally considered that teachers in my situation should only consider issues directly related to the subject matter?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12867,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
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"text": "<p>Strange blink patterns are not necessarily a sign of a need for glasses, one of my students has similar symptoms as part of Tourette's Syndrome - there are a myriad of other reasons what this could be a symptom of. Having said that, asking the students how they are individually as they enter class may give some insight.</p>\n\n<p>Beyond that, I would ask your supervisor or someone in administration first if something has already been documented about the potential condition the student may have. If not, then it is your superior, the nurse or someone in administration that should be informed of your concerns, this will do 2 things:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>save any potential embarrassment for you and the student.</p></li>\n<li><p>provide evidence of you chasing-up the concern through official channels</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12869,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First of all, I am answering this question from my own point of view. My opinion may not represent the majority of Asians (although I am an Asian myself).</p>\n\n<p>I think one of the reasons your school invited you to teach there is for internationalization and diversification besides your excellent academic credentials. They would like to have not only your expert knowledge but also the views you can bring to them.</p>\n\n<p>@UV-D gave an excellent answer. The strange blinking pattern could be a medical issue, so you need to take it to somebody else’s attention. I think he is right. However, as you noticed, you need to take care of the issue carefully.</p>\n\n<p>Fairness and consistency would be the keys. Suppose you are a male professor and the student happens to be a female, there is a possibility this could become a gossip, something like “Our teacher likes that girl”. The gossip would spread until the next time you do the same or similar thing to a male student. Everybody would then say “Ah, he is just a very nice teacher, take care of everybody”.</p>\n\n<p>I think people (not only Asians) would like to be treated fairly. Consistent actions between multiple events will make people think you are being fair. So, my point is, you’ll be fine as long as you keep your actions fair and consistent and do whatever you think is right.</p>\n\n<p>An important note. Be extremely careful when dealing with the students outside the classroom. I noticed in your question, <em>pull that student aside</em>. This could potentially become a harassment case. Talk to an authority may be a better way to handle it. A western white lecturer in an Asian university is always the focus of the students and the faculty. </p>\n"
}
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| 2013/09/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12866",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692/"
]
|
12,872 | <p>Take grad schools for instance. Their acceptance rate is 8%, or seems to be so. Basically, suppose you have 100 randomly selected across the USA grad school applicants. 50 don't know what to do with their lives, so really the acceptance rate goes up to 16%. Then the other 25 will be out for unusual circumstances, so roughly, there is a 33% chance, or 1 in 3 chance of getting in. (yes, even my numbers are a bit skewed, but reasonably better)</p>
<p>So is grad school really that hard to get into (If you are on top of your game)?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12876,
"author": "StrongBad",
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"text": "<p>You are missing a fundamental aspect of probability theory. The acceptance rate tells me what the chances are that if I randomly select an application, from all the applications to my program, that it will belong to a student that gets accepted. What you are interested in is more like the probability that an applicant applying to a randomly selected school gets accepted. The two probabilities are NOT the same. Going back to your question</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>So is grad school really that hard to get into (If you are on top of\n your game)?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you are talking about getting into a top graduate program with funding, then the answer is still \"yes\". Top grad schools only accept students at the top of their games and they always have more applications than spots.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12877,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Acceptance rates are nearly meaningless as isolated numbers, for exactly the reason you describe. They are averaged over the entire applicant pool, and therefore they imply very little about any particular applicant's chances.</p>\n\n<p>If you are trying to estimate your own chances of admission, then you need more information. If you attend a school that regularly sends students to a given university, then you can form a decent estimate based on feedback from faculty and comparisons with your peers. Otherwise it's harder to predict. At top grad schools, it really depends a lot on what your recommenders say, how seriously the admissions committee takes their letters, etc. You may have a faculty mentor who can help you arrive at a good estimate, but you'll get at most a crude approximation from grades, GRE scores, counting REU publications, etc.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>So is grad school really that hard to get into (If you are on top of your game)?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>For people who are genuinely on top of their game and have made sensible decisions about where to apply (based on their accomplishments), getting into grad school is not that hard. They might not be admitted to their dream schools, but they'll be admitted somewhere reasonable. On the other hand, thinking you're on top of your game doesn't imply that you are.</p>\n\n<p>This makes it difficult to give universally applicable advice. Some applicants should stop stressing out and have faith that it will work out OK in the end, while others need to start worrying and rethinking their plans. We end up back in the same situation as with admission rate statistics: it all depends on your personal circumstances.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/09/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12872",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
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12,874 | <p>For any kind of academic application (from graduate admission to professor position), recommendation letters have a major impact on the outcome. The basic idea is understandable: <em>discovering what others think about the applicant</em>. It can help the review committee to decide about the applicant.</p>
<p>However, recommendations letters cannot be statistically reliable. For instance, when all recommendation letters of an application are highly positive, this cannot guarantee that all colleagues think highly of the applicant. Instead, it can be the result of only a few friendships. </p>
<p>In a typical example, if someone has three socially close friends (including current colleagues, coworkers, past professors), then, his applications are always supported by strong recommendation letters. For example, one could have conflict with his entire university, but having close social connection with three persons who can recommend him.</p>
<p>So, why are recommendation letters relied upon so highly, given these limitations?</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> I do not mean friendly recommendation letters. I mean influence of friendship on a professional recommendation letter. As an another example, Applicant A who has good relationship with 20 professors of his department is an ideal academic with professional relationships at workplace. BUT applicant B who has serious conflicts with most of his colleagues (professors of his department), but having only three friends among his department professors will get better recommendation letters. Those three professors will write recommendation letters based on the applicant strengths by ignoring his weakness in the light of their friendship.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12875,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>In a typical example, if someone has three socially close friends (including current colleagues, coworkers, past professors), then, his applications are always supported by strong recommendation letters.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No, that's not what \"strong recommendation letter\" means.</p>\n\n<p>First, strong recommendation letters do not simply state the author's high personal regard for the student, but provide <strong>specific, personal, and credible detail</strong> supporting the applicant's potential for excellence. I don't just want to know that someone thinks you'll succeed—I assume they wouldn't write you a letter if they thought otherwise. I want to know <strong>why</strong>. I want <strong>compelling evidence</strong>, not mere opinion.</p>\n\n<p>Second, <strong>recommendation letters have more weight if they come from credible sources.</strong> At a minimum, the author should work at a credible academic institution. The best letter writers are themselves experienced, visible, active researchers, with documented experience mentoring and/or selecting candidates for admission/hiring/promotion at departments similar to the candidate's target. For faculty promotion in my department, letters are essentially <em>required</em> to be from full professors, preferably in named/endowed positions, in top-10 computer science departments, and there is a strong preference for ACM/IEEE Fellows, NAE or NAS members, and major award winners (Turing, Gödel, Dijkstra, Gordon Bell, etc.).</p>\n\n<p>The intersection of these two aspects of strong letters is <strong>direct comparisons with the applicant's peers.</strong> An ideal PhD recommendation letter for my department includes sentences like \"Among the 13 undergraduates I have mentored who went on to top-10 PhD programs in computer science, I would rank [applicant] roughly 3rd, well below [famous person who proved P=NP], but on par with [successful person] at MIT, [successful person] at Stanford, and [successful person] at CMU.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12880,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The fact that applicants choose their letter writers definitely means the letters are a biased sample of opinions. In certain cases departments take big steps to address this issue. For example, promotion and tenure committees ask for some letters from people not suggested by the candidate, precisely to avoid this source of bias. Nobody worries quite as much about graduate admissions, but there are still several safeguards:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>If someone writes recommendations that seem unreliable, biased, or misleading, they will lose credibility and their letters will carry less weight for everyone. This is a strong incentive to keep bias in check, since professional reputation is a critical aspect of academia, and nobody wants to be thought of as a fool or scoundrel. Of course there are still some bad recommendations, but admissions committees really keep track of credibility: when we evaluate an application, one thing we discuss is what we thought of students recommended by these letters writers in the past and what we think of their judgment.</p></li>\n<li><p>Having multiple letter writers also helps. Finding one recommender who is strikingly biased is easier than finding three.</p></li>\n<li><p>Admissions committees sometimes solicit opinions from other faculty members at the applicant's university. If the applicant's letters seem questionable or difficult to interpret, or we're concerned about credibility, then it's easy to call or e-mail to get a second opinion.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Overall, I believe the system does a good job of minimizing conscious bias or manipulation. It's not perfect, but I think you are underestimating the strength of the incentives. If an applicant can find three people with a lot of credibility who are willing to hurt their reputations by writing unreliable letters to help the applicant get admitted, then they can take advantage of the system, but this is not so easy.</p>\n\n<p>If anything, I'm more worried about the safeguards being too strong. One severe drawback of the letter of recommendation system is how it handles unknown letter writers. If the committee knows nothing about a recommender, has never seen a letter from them before, and doesn't expect to in the future, then the recommender has very little credibility. If an application includes only letters from unknown recommenders, then the chances of admission may be low even if the letters all say wonderful things. This isn't fair, since some applicants just don't have access to any other recommenders, but it's unavoidable under the current system. (It's not just a matter of bias or honesty, but also of whether the recommenders are even capable of judging who would be a good candidate for admission.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12909,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Recommendation letters for associate and full professor positions (both in hiring and promotion) do not come exclusively from writers that the candidate selects. Instead, the department will solicit letters from independent sources in the candidate's field. Furthermore, the references named by the candidate cannot have close personal or professional ties to the candidate.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12922,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While it may be redundant to write an answer after 3 people already have, I think the other answers have not actually tried to answer the question, but to disprove the OPs hypotheses. I agree that the OP overstates the degree of bias and favoritism in the system of using recommendation letters, but those are serious issues. As the other answers point out, a letter written largely on the basis of warm personal feelings will not be very convincing, but I think the personal attitude of the letter writer will influence the reader (does anyone doubt that it's easy to write a letter that spikes almost any candidate's chances that it is still professional and accurate?). If you read a book like <a href=\"http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/dec/22/how-dispel-your-illusions/?pagination=false\" rel=\"noreferrer\">\"Thinking Fast and Slow\"</a>, and then look at how people actually make decisions about academic hiring, you will slightly horrified at how much we ignore the plain facts of social psychology.</p>\n\n<p>People rely on recommendation letters because they are monkeys (OK, actually apes, but for rhetorical purposes give me this one) whose brains evolved in one sort of social situation that encouraged certain kinds of mental heuristics. One essentially universal fact about humans is that we prefer to make individualized judgements based on intuition rather than rely on any kind of impersonal rule. We are overly confident that we know when to make an exception, and we feel better seeing a mistake made based on human misjudgment, rather than some sort of numerical calculation. This is evidenced in lots of places: for example, people actually try to actively invest in the stock market when any look at the facts shows it is essentially impossible to beat passive investing in the long run. </p>\n\n<p>That said, I think for academic positions, it's also probably true that there is important information in recommendation letters which is hard to get anywhere else. In a lot of cases, I'm not sure what we would look at instead. I doubt they are going anywhere, and people will strongly resist switching to any \"harder\" metrics, as doing so just \"feels wrong.\"</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/09/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12874",
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|
12,878 | <p>I am applying to an MS program in CS. I have not published any technical papers, mainly because I had little opportunity to do research and I did not want to write a paper just for the sake of it. Will I be rejected for this reason? Also, do I stand a less chance of admission than my friend who has written an average technical paper (dumb topic IMHO)?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12883,
"author": "JeffE",
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"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is no way to predict whether you will be accepted or rejected from any graduate program. Graduate admission is a random process. You have some influence on the expected outcome, but the variance is set differently by each department, and you only get one trial per department per year.</p>\n\n<p>That said, as far as I know, there are no CS MS programs that restrict admission to applicants with prior publications. There <strong>are</strong> PhD programs where most students in some research areas had published (or at least publishable) results as undergraduates—algorithms at Princeton, for example. But even in those programs, and in those research areas, publication is not an actual requirement for admission.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12892,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is a little bit of a simplification (and an avoidance of your actual question), but in general the only reason applicants get rejected from a graduate program is lack of space and funding. Being rejected generally doesn't say anything about you or your application. All you can take away from a rejection is that the department ran out of space and funding before they got to your excellent application.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/09/21 | [
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12,879 | <p>I am applying to an MS in CS program. I know most people apply for AI and Machine Learning. Does a university have a fixed number of slots for AI students? Or is this true for the Ph D program and not the MS program?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12881,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This depends largely on the admissions policy of the program to which you are applying. If the program directly admits candidates to the PhD program, and has them go through the master's program first, then there is quite likely a cap on the total number of students who can be admitted. On the other hand, if the master's program is functionally separated from the doctoral program—that is, if students can apply to the master's program without any connection or expectations for applying to the doctoral program until later—then it is much less likely that admissions will be limited. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12882,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Admissions are <strong>always</strong> limited, because students consume finite resources: classroom space, lab and computing equipment, advising and grading time, funding, and more generally faculty attention. Even in online professional masters programs, admissions are restricted to students with a certain expectation of success, because failing students make the program look bad. For research oriented MS and PhD programs, money and advising time are probably the most limited resources.</p>\n\n<p>Different departments approach the limits differently. Some define strict quotas in advance, depending on number of faculty and available funding levels. Others (like my department) have softer quotas, which are influenced by prior belief that specific students will accept admission offers. Others accept every student with a high enough GPA and GRE scores, and let the students fight each other for advisor attention. But there are always limits.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/09/21 | [
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12,885 | <p>I'm interested in knowing what percentage(a rough estimate) of <strong>admitted</strong> phd applicants in top-60 university have peer-reviewed papers. </p>
<p>I'm particular interested in theoretical computer science.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12893,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
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"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While there might be reasons for wanting this data, I am not sure what it will tell you. There may be some data out there (I don't know where) that may show a correlation between the number of publications and the chances of getting admitted to a PhD program. While publications may correlate with admissions, I doubt that it is causative. The Phd admissions process is all about trying to assess the ability of an applicant to conduct research. A publication goes a long way towards demonstrating that ability, but there are many other ways (e.g., strong reference letters).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12913,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't have statistics on that particular number, but my <strong>anecdotal evidence is that most PhD students in my field (chemical engineering) have zero publication when they start</strong>, while a small (but nonnegligible) fraction has one paper.</p>\n\n<p>However, <strong>you can gather such statistics yourself!</strong> Publications are, by definition, public... And you can sample admitted PhD students by looking at current PhD students. So, take a random sample of CV from PhD students in your field (from the web) and look for publications prior to PhD start in their publication list.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12914,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having publications when you apply for graduate school is typically unusual. The reason is that it takes time to get something published (review process). What I have experienced is that students may have a publication in preparation based on their bachelor or masters work. It is rare that these are more than manuscripts by the time they apply for a PhD program (they get published during the first year, perhaps). It is only those who may have worked between their earlier degree and the time of their PhD application that may have something. It is, however, easy to see if that is the case (a year of work rather than going straight from one to the other) so it is easy to understand why someone has come a little further than someone else. I therefore doubt it has a major impact.</p>\n\n<p>To widen the perspective: In the application process, the fact that someone's earlier degree might result in a paper can be covered in a personal reference/recommendation letter. Keep in mind that all studies done at a lower level may not be publishable (because of time constraints for the work). It is hence important to have someone evaluate your efforts since the quality of the research at lower levels may not necessarily be best judged by a publication alone and a good word is always taken seriously.</p>\n\n<p>So published papers are rare and when they occur there is usually a clear reason for why this has been possible to achieve when moving from one stage to the next in the education.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/09/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12885",
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|
12,886 | <p>A friend of mine is enrolled as a master's student in Computer Science and considering to convert to a PhD at the same university. My guide acknowledges that he has excellent interpretation, understanding and deduction skills. He is also very good in implementing ideas as code.</p>
<p>He has been able to score just around average grades in all the subjects primarily owing to class projects. The problem he attributes to is that he is not at all good at reproducing things during the examination. In fact, while studying, he tends to ignore all the information like names of techniques, methods etc and just focus on what and how things work. In fact, he doesn't like to write the exam at all and usually just focus on the most tempting or the most thought provoking questions in the paper. (and just writes something to other questions for the sake of writing).</p>
<p>Now, he is just falling short(by 0.2) of the CGPA criteria set at our university to convert to a PhD. So, not being able to properly write examinations and not being able to score good grades, makes him a weak potential candidate for a PhD or does it affects his chances of successfully completing a PhD ?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12887,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
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"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Let's map what you've written about your friend, onto the sort of things we might look for in a promising PhD candidate, to see why, although exams and PhD research are very different beasts, we <strong>might</strong> learn about one thing from another.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Meticulous? No.</li>\n<li>Demonstrates good grasp of the substance and relevance of theory? No.</li>\n<li>Can perform under pressure? No.</li>\n<li>Can follow protocols? No.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>As you can see, although you say the grade point average is only just below what is needed to convert to a PhD, there are a few warning signs that this student might not be appropriate PhD material; <strong>both the student and the decision-making body should pay heed</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>I appreciate that this may not be easy for you to hear, as they are your friend. But really, PhDs aren't for everybody: there are lots of domain experts who are not PhD candidates; and there wil be lots of successful Computer Science PhDs who will never be such good programmers as your friend. A PhD is a measure of academic research skills, not of industrial skills or life skills.</p>\n\n<p>Computer science and software engineering are two different disciplines, though they are related. Different institutions will teach them with varying degrees of overlap. But they are distinct. Maybe your friend is a talented software engineer who needs to specialise there, rather than in computer science.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12888,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with EnergyNumbers's top-level conclusion—bad performance on written examinations <strong>can</strong> have a detrimental effect on a graduate student's career—but I will disagree with most of his lower-level arguments.</p>\n\n<p>Examinations at the graduate level do show some correlation to the ability to do well in a doctoral research program, but it's only a weak correlation at best. Having a perfect GPA indicates that you are good at taking tests, and that you might have the <em>aptitude</em> to be a good PhD student. But that is by no means a perfect correlation: I've seen students who can ace exams who would make horrible graduate students, and I've known quite a number who are not so good at taking tests, but are outstanding researchers!</p>\n\n<p>The reason the poor performance is a problem is that it means additional \"intervention\" is required to save the student's candidacy. That is, someone within the faculty will probably have to speak out actively to defend the candidate's record. \"X is not a good test-taker, but she's been doing an outstanding job on her mini-project in my group, and I'd like to act as her PhD advisor. Keep her!\" Without that internal support, the record is all they have to go with; when that's weak, the odds of doing well are <em>not</em> good.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12901,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some people have a specific weakness with exams, for example because they don't work well under time pressure. It sounds like the issue here isn't exams themselves, though, but rather your friend's approach (not learning what things are called, being unwilling to work on any exam questions except the most thought-provoking ones, etc.). As an advisor, this would worry me and I would want some evidence that it won't be a problem in other areas.</p>\n\n<p>The problem is that a successful scientific research career requires more than just scientific ability. You have to be willing to do things that are necessary even if they aren't fun. (If you are sufficiently brilliant, you might be excused from doing things that are required of other people, but this is not something one can or should count on.) Some people have plenty of scientific ability but are not temperamentally suited for a research career and are not likely to be as successful as their ability suggests.</p>\n\n<p>For example, you have to read other people's papers and cite them appropriately. You have to work out details carefully, rather than just giving an impressionistic account of the main ideas. You have to write down and publish your work, not just keep it in your head. You have to publish the papers you can write, rather than holding out for years waiting for the perfect paper you might someday be capable of.</p>\n\n<p>Most people are fine with all these things, but some people just hit a psychological wall and can't bring themselves to do something. This is a major career impediment. It's not worth preparing someone for a career they are going to derail, so it's important to try to predict who can do what they need to and who can't.</p>\n\n<p>To return to performance on exams, getting high scores is partly a demonstration of knowledge, but also partly a form of jumping through hoops. Hoop jumping is of no value in its own right, but it's a demonstration that you are willing to do what you have to do. When a student refuses to jump through hoops, I sort of admire the stubbornness, but at the same time I wonder what else the student will be unwilling to do.</p>\n\n<p>Supportive letters are critical for grad school admission. You mention that your guide has a high opinion of your friend's work, which is a good sign. If your friend can find letter writers who make a compelling case for why he will be successful, then I expect many admissions committees will admit him despite the exam grades. Otherwise, getting admitted will prove difficult.</p>\n"
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12,904 | <p>I'm not native speaker so I always have some problems with academic writing and speaking. Any good book for English in the academic context generally or for Computer Science in particular (writing or speaking)?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12905,
"author": "Vedran Šego",
"author_id": 7161,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7161",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It would be useful if you wrote your research area. For a mathematician, Nicholas Higham's \"<a href=\"http://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/~higham/hwms/\">Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences</a>\" is a good choice.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12906,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>English is not my first language either, but have taught myself through \"academic-immersion\". Here are a couple of recommendations that may be of help:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://dblab.cs.toronto.edu/~miller/Research/writing.html\">\"Computer Science Writing\"</a> - this is a website with an outline of good practice and links to various other sources.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://books.google.com.au/books?id=J3hCp9G7mSIC&dq=english%20writing%20skills%20for%20computer%20science&hl=en&sa=X&ei=w54_UtT8GYb8iQLCpoGIAw&ved=0CEcQ6AEwAA\">\"Writing for Computer Science\"</a> (Zobel, 2004) - this book has a couple of high reviews.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12908,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For English for non-native speakers I strongly recommend:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Day, R.A. & Sakaduski, N.., 2011. Scientific English. A guide for scientists and other professionals. Third edition. Greenwood, Santa Barbara CA.</p>\n<p>Glasman-Deal, H., 2012. Science research writing for non-native speakers of English. Imperial College Press, London.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Both cover general writing in English. In addition, it is difficult to avoid</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Strunk, W. Jr & White E.B., The elements of style. Fourth Edition. Longman, New York.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The latter is a classic usually referred to as just Strunk & White.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12912,
"author": "Dani",
"author_id": 6085,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6085",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can recommend</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>English for Writing Research Papers</li>\n<li>English for Presentations at International Conferences</li>\n<li>English for Academic Correspondence and Socializing</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>all written by Adrian Wallwork and published by Springer.</p>\n\n<p>The author shows examples from his work as a reviewer and a language teacher/professor and corrects them, so he writes an original version and the revised version. In some cases he mentiones specific problems of people from several countries with the English language.\nThe author wrote also a grammar book, but I don't know it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13195,
"author": "rana",
"author_id": 8836,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8836",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You may consider the following books:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>On Writing Well : William Zinsser;</li>\n<li>The Elements of Style : Strunk and White;</li>\n<li>Sin and Syntax : Constance Hale;</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Source: SciWrite: Writing in the Sciences.</p>\n\n<p>You may also take the online course i.e. <em>Writing in the Sciences</em> at the following website:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://class.stanford.edu/courses/Medicine/SciWrite/Fall2013/about\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://class.stanford.edu/courses/Medicine/SciWrite/Fall2013/about</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41564,
"author": "Daniel Wessel",
"author_id": 26614,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26614",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Loved Alley's book because it focuses on scientific/technical writing as a craft and highlights quality criteria of scientific writing:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Alley, M. (1996). <em>The Craft of Scientific Writing</em> (3rd ed.). New York: Springer.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12904",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8544/"
]
|
12,907 | <p>Obviously I am asking this because I am worried!</p>
<p>I am a theoretical physics grad student at one of the top places in the US. The following is a brief history of my last 2 years and I would like to know of opinions and suggestions regarding the path ahead. </p>
<hr>
<p>I did the most advanced courses (relevant to my interests) during my first year and worked on some project ideas through very high-profile external collaborations (but the projects didn't work out and I had to can the drafts) During my second year I tried working with some other profs but the projects were never really interesting. </p>
<p>[..though I have a (single author) paper on arxiv from my 2nd year work and may be I will get one more...] </p>
<p>Towards the end of second year I started meeting with a very brilliant scientist who will be joining my institute as a faculty in January 2014. With him the projects are very exciting - but interactions are difficult since he is still mostly not in campus. </p>
<hr>
<p>Of course this unstable path happened since I had to join a grad school which didn't have people in my subject of interest. But over the last 2-3 months things have been looking up as this new person came in...</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12905,
"author": "Vedran Šego",
"author_id": 7161,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7161",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It would be useful if you wrote your research area. For a mathematician, Nicholas Higham's \"<a href=\"http://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/~higham/hwms/\">Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences</a>\" is a good choice.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12906,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>English is not my first language either, but have taught myself through \"academic-immersion\". Here are a couple of recommendations that may be of help:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://dblab.cs.toronto.edu/~miller/Research/writing.html\">\"Computer Science Writing\"</a> - this is a website with an outline of good practice and links to various other sources.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://books.google.com.au/books?id=J3hCp9G7mSIC&dq=english%20writing%20skills%20for%20computer%20science&hl=en&sa=X&ei=w54_UtT8GYb8iQLCpoGIAw&ved=0CEcQ6AEwAA\">\"Writing for Computer Science\"</a> (Zobel, 2004) - this book has a couple of high reviews.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12908,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For English for non-native speakers I strongly recommend:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Day, R.A. & Sakaduski, N.., 2011. Scientific English. A guide for scientists and other professionals. Third edition. Greenwood, Santa Barbara CA.</p>\n<p>Glasman-Deal, H., 2012. Science research writing for non-native speakers of English. Imperial College Press, London.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Both cover general writing in English. In addition, it is difficult to avoid</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Strunk, W. Jr & White E.B., The elements of style. Fourth Edition. Longman, New York.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The latter is a classic usually referred to as just Strunk & White.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12912,
"author": "Dani",
"author_id": 6085,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6085",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can recommend</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>English for Writing Research Papers</li>\n<li>English for Presentations at International Conferences</li>\n<li>English for Academic Correspondence and Socializing</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>all written by Adrian Wallwork and published by Springer.</p>\n\n<p>The author shows examples from his work as a reviewer and a language teacher/professor and corrects them, so he writes an original version and the revised version. In some cases he mentiones specific problems of people from several countries with the English language.\nThe author wrote also a grammar book, but I don't know it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13195,
"author": "rana",
"author_id": 8836,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8836",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You may consider the following books:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>On Writing Well : William Zinsser;</li>\n<li>The Elements of Style : Strunk and White;</li>\n<li>Sin and Syntax : Constance Hale;</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Source: SciWrite: Writing in the Sciences.</p>\n\n<p>You may also take the online course i.e. <em>Writing in the Sciences</em> at the following website:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://class.stanford.edu/courses/Medicine/SciWrite/Fall2013/about\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://class.stanford.edu/courses/Medicine/SciWrite/Fall2013/about</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41564,
"author": "Daniel Wessel",
"author_id": 26614,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26614",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Loved Alley's book because it focuses on scientific/technical writing as a craft and highlights quality criteria of scientific writing:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Alley, M. (1996). <em>The Craft of Scientific Writing</em> (3rd ed.). New York: Springer.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12907",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6683/"
]
|
12,910 | <p>I can see an enormous amount of videos on Youtube about helping to learn high-level knowledge that is usually taught at universities. Even though I'm only at the beginning of the time I'm going to take at the university before graduating, I have a desire to teach what I've learnt to others - for free, through the internet.</p>
<p>I believe that knowledge is global and free; however, I think sharing my knowledge wouldn't be fair for my teachers, or any other university teachers and professors.</p>
<p>Is sharing this knowledge fair - or ethical?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12911,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I do not see that sharing your knowledge would in any way be a problem <em>per se</em>. What could become a problem is if you also share copyright-protected materials. It is virtually impossible to list what might or might not be such materials but to take other persons presentations, images, data and then sharing it would be clearly illegal (and unethical) unless they are provided with a \"license\" stating they are free. If you take the knowledge you gather and then put it together somehow (including making your own presentations on your own material), it should not be such a problem. In any circumstance where you want to use other peoples materials, it is always best to ask for permission. Not only does it save you possible future problems, you may find friends in the process. Watch out for materials published by commercial interests and use open source material (but do give credit to those who made it - attribution is required by licenses like <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/\">CC-BY-SA</a> and it is also a nice gesture to acknowledge the work and time by the original authors). Much material is given out for public (but not commercial) use. </p>\n\n<p>A final advise, attach an open source license to your materials. I am not fully aware what licenses may apply but am sure many has good suggestions for you (check Academia.sx or ask another question on that).</p>\n\n<p>So to sum up. I think it is a nice idea and perfectly fine, but be aware that you must be 100% sure you do not publish materials so that you break copyrights or abuse licenses (protect the open source practises). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12917,
"author": "Konrad Rudolph",
"author_id": 348,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/348",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I believe that knowledge is global and free</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That is essentially academia in a nutshell. ;-)</p>\n\n<p>I believe – <em>strongly</em> – that anything that runs counter this freedom also fundamentally runs counter academia, and humanity’s best interest (or, economically, the country’s best interest).</p>\n\n<p>From a more legal perspective, (University) teachers are paid for <em>teaching</em>, not for the knowledge they posses. So you are fine, as long as you don’t disseminate copyrighted material.</p>\n\n<p>This used to be different, when much knowledge was coveted, closely guarded and only handed down from teachers to their apprentices, under an agreement of privacy (see for instance the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath\">Hippocratic Oath</a>, which regulates this, among other things).</p>\n\n<p>Nowadays, knowledge cannot generally be privatised. Instead, we have the concepts of copyright and patents, but neither prevents the dissemination of knowledge. Exceptions only exist in certain circumstances, e.g. for a method that is currently being developed, where you may be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement; for classified governmental documents, dissemination of which may make you liable to prosecution, and the publication of know-how that falls under weapons regulations.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12921,
"author": "woliveirajr",
"author_id": 815,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/815",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What you have learned in the Academia is your knowledge, and you can do whatever is pleases you.</p>\n\n<p>The material that you had access in the academia is copyright of the producer, except for those that were blessed with some form of <em>copyleft</em>. So, unless you have some authorization, you cannot use it, in some countries. (For example, in some countries you can reproduce part of some material, for learning purposes, given that all credits are given to the proper authors, and so on. Example: reproduce some piece of some article to analyze it and study it with some students).</p>\n\n<p>In some countries it's possible to have a patent on a <em>idea</em>, and so some ideas might be patented, and that patent might or might not be valid in your country.</p>\n\n<p>And, finally, it's possible that you signed some non-disclosure agreement, and then what you learned that's covered by that contract might not be transmissible to someone else.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12923,
"author": "Sosiosh",
"author_id": 8713,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8713",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are paying the university for instruction and access to materials and facilities not available to the general public, not knowledge. As long as you are not violating any confidentiality agreements, copyrights, etc., you are not doing anything wrong from a legal standpoint. From an ethical standpoint, I think you would better support an educational institution's mission to make the world better by sharing your knowledge than by keeping it to yourself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12925,
"author": "Anthony Hiscox",
"author_id": 8721,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8721",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I disagree with some of the answers, only when asserting that you are primarily paying for instruction and materials. Typically, you are paying for a document that states you understand a specific subject, often with the intent of proving to a future employer that you understand said subject. Your school is responsible for helping you to pass the required exams to demonstrate this understanding, which in part involves access to instructors and materials to help you learn. A school that consistently fails to produce document holding students will not be a strong school for long.</p>\n\n<p>Watching YouTube videos will not give you a document, so while you may have gained the instruction and materials for free, you still lack the main reason people attend higher education -- paperwork. Producing a list of your recently watched videos will also do little to entice future employers. </p>\n\n<p>Unless you're directly releasing information that was obtained as part of a research project through the facility itself or (as stated previously) copyright materials, without permission, it's doubtful you are conflicting with the interests of the school. In fact you may encourage people who get interested in a subject to sign up at your institution, and be good for business. (MIT did quite a bit online for free)</p>\n\n<p>When in doubt, get permission. This IS your future at stake.</p>\n\n<p><em>Not to discount self learning, you could learn the equivalent of a doctor as far as I'm concerned, if you were driven enough, and bright enough, by simply reading publicly available information. However I won't know if you were driven or bright enough, so I'll stick to people that proved it on an exam -- for now.</em></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12927,
"author": "TomXP411",
"author_id": 8728,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8728",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think I understand the point: you spent $50,000 (or whatever) on college, and you worry that if you teach others for free, you are depriving someone else of income.</p>\n\n<p>Simply put, it doesn't matter. People don't go to college to learn things. <em>They go to college to get a piece of paper that says they learned things</em> so that they can get a job in their chosen career. </p>\n\n<p>Anyone can learn libraries, the Internet, and their own research. When I went to college to get my Computer Science degree, a good 90% of what I was taught was stuff I already knew. So why did I go to college? To get the paper that says I know how to do what I already knew how to do.</p>\n\n<p>Yes, it's true that people actually do learn things in college. However, people pay for college because a degree makes them more employable. That's not something you can deliver through YouTube, and so your free education efforts will not replace the college system and will not put college professors out of work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12944,
"author": "Bill Nace",
"author_id": 5762,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5762",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm a university professor who puts lots and lots of time into developing course materials and trying to figure out better ways to explain ideas to my students. Other answers seem to cover the point that you should be careful about redistributing the materials from a course.</p>\n\n<p>I would like to recommend that you contact the professor who taught you the course and tell him/her of your plans. I would be very glad to hear that my course motivated one of my students to want to teach the material to others. <strong>In fact, if the student does a very good job, I might want to see about using the videos/explanations/examples in my own course or at least pointing future students towards the videos.</strong></p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12910",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8708/"
]
|
12,918 | <p><strong>It is a concern to me that I may look unattractive to potential employers because I went so far beyond the original budgeted time for my PhD (50% over time)</strong>. I am currently searching for a job in industry, where there may be no understanding of the difficulties of my research and I expect to recieve no sympathy from prospective employers.</p>
<p>I feel that on my CV I must somehow find a way to hide that it took me so much time to finish my PhD. However I will not blatantly lie on my CV. <strong>Does anyone have any advice? Or any suggestions as to how I could explain this extra time on a CV? I hope I am not the only one to have ever been in this mess?</strong> </p>
<p>The time I studied for my PhD went to 6.5 years, which is far beyond the typical 4 years for PhD studies in Europe (I study in London). In growing desperation (for applications to jobs based in Europe) I consider replacing the first two years of my PhD with a job, possibly titled "research assistant" or something similiar, and placing it under employment history. On the CV it would then appear my PhD took 4.5 years, a more typical length. Any thoughts on doing this? Is it correct that in the United States and Canada that 6.5 years is close to the typical length (or time required) for a PhD and therefore I would not be discriminated against?</p>
<p>Any advice and suggestions are appreciated. </p>
<p>PS it genuinely took 6.5 years to finish this PhD, it was impossible to finish in 4 years.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12919,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Whatever you do do not fabricate or conceal the truth. I am not sure someone would worry about finishing \"on time\" as much as looking at the quality of the work you have achieved. In my system there is also a 4-year research time limit (in terms of calendar time it can be extended by including teaching, maternity/paternity leave or whatever is applicable). Regardless of whether you apply for a job in academia or industry the criteria for the employment will be much more than finishing on time. So issues like quality, number of papers published, social skills, other relevant skills will be measured. If you have a reasonable explanation for the extended period of your PhD, just spell it out. Do not make a big story about it, just cleanly provide an explanation that makes the period understandable and reasonable.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12920,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm not sure I understand (and this might be a US centric thing). What does it even mean for a Ph.D to go \"over time\" ? It takes as long as it takes, and that's pretty much it. While taking inordinately long (8+ years) might raise some eyebrows, 7 is still within the \"normal\" range, albeit on the higher side. </p>\n\n<p>In fact, I've often suggested to students that the benefit of staying an extra year to strengthen their CV (if there's a path to doing so) far outweighs the potential cost of taking \"longer\" to finish, in terms of future job prospects. </p>\n\n<p>I suspect Europe (or parts of Europe) is different. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12918",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8710/"
]
|
12,934 | <p>Like the title says, are there any downsides to receiving BSc, MSc, and PhD all from the same university? </p>
<p>My university is not very well known outside my home country. I did not enter the PhD program yet. If I would stay here, I would already have many good contacts (~10 professors/academics). Also, because I perform quite well, I assume I could get to do exactly what I want. On the other hand... I think I could get into Europe's top-ten universities.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12935,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There is an obvious downside of staying at the same university—you will only work with one set of advisors and contacts throughout your career. That will mean that you may not benefit from the experience and diversity of viewpoints and philosophies that comes from working with different groups of people across the length of your career.</p>\n\n<p>However, if there is a <em>compelling</em> reason to remain at your school, that's a different situation. This could be financial, personal, or educational. For instance, a family member may have a job that makes it difficult to relocate, or a new project may be starting up that provides a unique educational opportunity.</p>\n\n<p>Beyond that, though, I would lean towards going somewhere else for your PhD program!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12937,
"author": "sajjadG",
"author_id": 8149,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8149",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A top university has many advantages. Better universities provide better Professors, better academic environment, better scientific connection, better equipments, better laboratories, they can get better grants, they can give better scholarship, etc. You can find better friends and get better reputation.</p>\n\n<p>@aeismail has very good points on the reason you may or may not stay in the same university for all your academic carrier.</p>\n\n<p>Some universities has large department and so many professors. there is a chance you don't even know them yet after 6 years being there. They work on different fields and you can work on different field if you want. but that's not true for all universities. </p>\n\n<p>Despite all of this, consider that you will carry your university names forever in your CV! This will affect your feature job opportunity a lot, in industry and mainly in academic world.</p>\n\n<p>But as one my professor says: \"<em>sky is the same color everywhere</em>\" ;)</p>\n\n<p>All said I suggest you going to a better university. At least try to.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12934",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8739/"
]
|
12,938 | <p>Is it possible to have more than one corresponding author for a conference or journal paper?</p>
<p>Useful question about corresponding authors:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12423/who-should-be-the-corresponding-author">who should be the corresponding author</a></li>
<li><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10062/does-corresponding-author-carry-an-implied-meaning">corresponding author implied meaning</a> </li>
</ul>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12940,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Being corresponding author does not primarily concern the journal publishing process. The role of the corresponding author is to handle communications with other researchers once the paper has been published, to respond to questions concerning the research as a whole, methods, results. It is typically the most involved person who takes on this task and in many cases it is implicitly understood it is the first author. So for you to take on the corresponding author task means much more than the communication during the publishing process. </p>\n\n<p>I can see reasons for there to be more than one corresponding author, although I have never encountered it. This would be if the paper contains material where two (or more) authors are experts on separate parts and it is necessary to contact each for specifics on their specialty. As I said, I have never seen it and am not sure it has ever been done. Perhaps we might find out through comments to the answer...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12945,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>It is possible</strong>, and at least in my field (chemical engineering) it is quite common. One example: <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v12/n10/full/nmat3763.html\">in this paper</a> there are two authors, and both are corresponding authors! There are even papers with more than two corresponding authors (<a href=\"http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja4051873\">3</a> and probably more)</p>\n\n<p>Probably the most typical case is when you have <strong>two (or more) teams collaborating</strong>. If you have an experimental and a theoretical team, you can imagine that questions/discussion concerning each aspect of their joint paper might be better directed at the respective team’s expert. Same thing if you have a paper including very different techniques/methods, or multidisciplinary paper with teams from different fields.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14571,
"author": "S Karthikeyan",
"author_id": 9854,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9854",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having two (or more) corresponding authors is also common, if the paper is submitted by a student (or post-doc) who is expected to leave the research group soon and may not be able to attend to correspondence, reviewer queries etc, particularly in case the review gets delayed. In these cases, it is customary for the adviser to add his/her name as the corresponding author</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 51190,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is possible, as far as <strong>the journal allows it.</strong> In the journal I copy edit, only one corresponding author is allowed. Full stop, no discussion. </p>\n\n<p>Different journals have different policies, some, for instance, do not have the notion of a corresponding author at all, and only mention that \"at least one e-mail address shall be provided\".</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12938",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8149/"
]
|
12,947 | <p>Patents are not normally considered as publications in scholarly journals, as they are not subject to peer-review. They are actually new ideas, but patenting does not guarantee the impact and importance (whether good or bad idea). However, academics tend to patent inventions and discoveries for the sake of possible commercial benefits.</p>
<p>I wonder if they have any considerable impact on academic career? e.g., promotion, getting academic jobs, and in a different context, impact on proposals for getting grants and research funds.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12950,
"author": "Amory",
"author_id": 7886,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7886",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The answer will clearly vary by institution, and in particular by field (Your average English prof wouldn't be expected to hold any patents but a materials scientist might) but yes, it certainly can. Patents and publications are measures of productivity and it would be silly not to note them. It should be pointed out, however, that <a href=\"http://archive.cspo.org/rvm/publications/pubs_docs/Dietz_Research_Policy.pdf\">patents correlate to jobs closer to industry</a>, so a particularly high rate might be indicative of someone <em>not</em> in academia.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13060,
"author": "debray",
"author_id": 7974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7974",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>FWIW my university's promotion and tenure guidelines were revised recently (April 2013) to explicitly include consideration of patents and commercialization activities:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"Promotion and tenure require excellent performance and the promise of continued excellence in 1) teaching, 2) service, and 3) research, creative work, and scholarship. The University values an inclusive view of scholarship in the recognition that knowledge is acquired and advanced through discovery, integration, application, and teaching. Given this perspective, promotion and tenure reviews, as detailed in the criteria of individual departments and colleges, will recognize original research contributions in peer-reviewed publications as well as integrative and applied forms of scholarship that involve <strong>cross-cutting collaborations with business and community partners, including translational research, commercialization activities, and patents</strong>.\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I think we may see more of this sort of thing as the funding landscape changes and the share of state funding for universities decreases further.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12947",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
]
|
12,948 | <p>Most of the research I have done so far is in Computational Chemistry, where the major emphasis is on publishing in journals. But I also research aspects of Computer Science,and I have read here that in Computer Science the standard for publishing is different. I have recently created a data structure, and will be presenting my findings at a regional Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) conference later this year. Is this considered a publication in Computer Science? While I do not mind presenting my findings--I've done similarly with posters in my Chemistry research--I would prefer to have my research published in a printed journal. Does the conference lead to a journal publication? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12949,
"author": "Yury",
"author_id": 332,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/332",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are two types of publications in Computer Science:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Publications in peer-reviewed conferences <strong>with published proceedings</strong></li>\n<li>Publications in journals</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If you present your results at a conference or workshop but don't publish them in the conference proceedings — it's not a publication.</p>\n\n<p>In general, publications in top tier conferences are much more important than journal publications for computer science researchers. Usually you can first publish your paper in conference proceedings and then submit it to a journal but not the other way around (though, of course, that depends on conference and journal policies).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12993,
"author": "al_b",
"author_id": 5963,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5963",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just to add to concise and to the point answer by Yury:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>there are also books, and if you publish a chapter in an edited book, it normally does not influence your publication record much (a paper in the proceedings or an article in a journal would value much more).</li>\n<li>however, if you publish a book all alone or with couple of co-authors (monograph, handbook or textbook) then it is valued even more than a journal article or a proceedings paper</li>\n<li>if you publish an edited book (a collection of chapters collected by a group of people - editors, and possibly peer reviewed) it is also valued, but normally less than a monograph</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12948",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7134/"
]
|
12,956 | <p>When teaching 250 students in the same subject, knowing each student can be quite difficult. In smaller classes, it may be possible to learn enough through classroom interaction that when assessing the assignments it may be easy to tell if it is their work or not. For example, if a student can never form a coherent argument when asked in class, but that same student submits extremely high quality work, the teacher might want to dig a little deeper to see if the student is just better at writing or if they are hiring a ghost writer to produce their reports for them. However, in large classes, there is too little interaction with each student to form a strong opinion of everyone. Those who can 'hide' in class are the least likely to be 'caught.'</p>
<p>I see one option as incorporating an oral exam into the overall mark and using that mark as a basis from which to judge the student's future work. It's not perfect but it's something. One problem is that with 250 students, oral exams end up consuming so much class time that little time remains for lectures.</p>
<p>Running through something like TurnInIt will only catch if they are taking from an existing work but it will clearly not catch ghost writing.</p>
<p>What are the most effective ways of verifying authenticity of student assignments?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12957,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm going to give you an answer you may not want to hear: <strong>it isn't worth it</strong> for a class that big.</p>\n\n<p>The pedagogue in me doesn't like my own answer, but as they say, you have to choose your battles, and I believe there are more important issues when teaching a class that large than to worry about catching the homework cheaters. Mitigation can include reducing the impact that homework has on the overall grade (but this leads to other issues, such as students wondering why homework is necessary if it isn't worth much in the final grade).\nAnother (probably less successful) method is to instill the fear of [insert deity of choice] into your students when it comes to cheating. If you do catch a cheater, make an example of that person that the other students won't forget -- I threaten to fail any cheater instantly if I can prove they cheated in any way, and I say it as matter-of-factly as I can on the first day of class: \"Look, if I catch you cheating, I'll fail you, end of story.\"</p>\n\n<p>If you have a balanced set of assignments that includes in-class exams, then poor performance on exams should produce final grades that indicate that the student hasn't learned the material.</p>\n\n<p>If you can work out the oral exam, that might help balance out any poor knowledge, but beware that some students are absolutely terrified of oral exams, and they might know the knowledge as well as anyone else on paper but not be able to perform out loud.</p>\n\n<p>I suggest not losing sleep over a few cheaters in a class that big, and to ensure that you're giving good assignments that are challenging and provide a good means for learning the material.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12960,
"author": "Ben Norris",
"author_id": 924,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with Chris Gregg's answer and want to add some additional thoughts and strategies to it. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Make cheating irrelevant</strong></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>1) Homework becomes a collaborative venture. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Students can work individually or in groups on all out-of-class assignments. Every student needs to turn in their own copy of the assignment. Every student has to list whom they worked with on the assignment. Homework is a tool for me to give the students to help the students learn the material. Why should I care if they do it in groups or individually? If you encourage students to go to each other for help, then only the most diehard cheaters (whom you cannot stop) will keep going to the faceless masses on the internet. All involved learn more through the interaction. Most \"real-world\" work is done collaboratively anyway. When I give these kinds of assignments I work very hard to come up with questions and prompts that are not internet searchable - because they must use specific resources, the questions are opinion-based, or the questions focus on specific narrow local events, etc.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Which of the two figures on the accompanying handout best explains the observation that carbon-carbon single bonds in strain cyclic molecules are weaker than those in unstrained cyclic molecules? Provide a brief rationale.</li>\n<li>Use the data in Table 8.1 on page 115 to determine which of the the following is growing faster: China's population, China's per capita GDP, or China's per capita energy consumption. Do a similar analysis for the US 100 years ago (use the data on the handout). Comment on any similarities. </li>\n<li>What are the three key points of the speech given last week by the Dean of the College? With the information I've given you about the budget of the College, which of the Dean's action priorities for this year are financially feasible? Which action priority are you most interested in seeing completed?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The third one on my list would be very challenging for someone to get outside the institution help on. </p>\n\n<p>If the out-of-class projects are significant, then you can encourage the students to keep each other honest. On big collaborative projects, I have the students rate (not grade) each other on the following questions. Trends appear when someone has not pulled his/her own weight:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>This person contributions to the project were (less than, the same as, greater than) mine.</li>\n<li>This person deserves a grade on the project that is (less than, the same as, greater than) mine.</li>\n<li>This person's greatest contribution to the project was <strong><em>_</em>__<em>_</em>__<em>_</em></strong>.</li>\n<li>The hardest thing about working with this person was <strong><em>_</em>__<em>_</em>__<em>_</em></strong>.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>2) As Chris Gregg said - make exams worth much more than homework.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>For example:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Homework 20%</li>\n<li>Midterm Exam 1 20%</li>\n<li>Midterm Exam 2 20%</li>\n<li>Midterm Exam 3 20%</li>\n<li>Final Exam 20%</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In this scenario, exams count for 80% of the grade (and so cheating on homework will not have a huge impact), but homework still counts for something. If you phrase your grading descriptions as \"homework counts as much as an exam\", then you get students to take it seriously. One instructor I know even goes the extra step to rename his homework assignments as \"Take-home Exam Part 1, 2, 3, etc.\" (and then treat them like the collaborative homework I described above. If a student has been cheating on the assignments, then he/she will not do well on the tests, and course grades will follow. </p>\n\n<p>Both of these strategies focus on the purpose of the homework (to guide student learning and studying) which is different from the the purpose of tests (to assess student knowledge, skills, etc.). If homework is a guiding assignment and exams are an assessment assignment, then worry about cheating on exams (easier to spot and control) and ignore cheating on homework. Some students will not be guided the way you want them to be. Just as you cannot make an individual student learn, you also cannot make an individual student learn in the fashion you choose. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12964,
"author": "MikeS",
"author_id": 7169,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7169",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've never seen it done before, but in theory, it could work...</p>\n\n<p>The day you collect the assignment in class, hand out a surprise quiz that is identical to the assignment the students completed at home (or maybe just a couple questions from the assignment to make it faster/easier to compare). Have the students complete the quiz during the class period.</p>\n\n<p>If a student completed the assignment legitimately, they will likely have very similar answers on the quiz. If the student did not complete the original assignment legitimately, they will likely struggle with the quiz and their answers will not even remotely match the answers they \"provided\" on the assignment.</p>\n\n<p>The key is to look for quizzes whose answers are significantly worse than those provided on the assignment.</p>\n\n<p>Two problems with this method</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>It is kind of insulting to students that didn't cheat. FIX: Don't tell the students until afterwards, but don't count the quiz for normal credit. Instead, just give students who didn't cheat a few extra credit points.</li>\n<li>It does nothing to catch cheaters that don't show up to class. FIX: Make a big deal out of requiring students to hand the assignment in in-person on the day of the quiz to make sure whoever hands in an assignment takes the quiz.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I admit, this is a pretty wacky idea, but it seems feasible, although a bit elaborate.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12956",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692/"
]
|
12,959 | <p>When applying for a faculty position (from assistant to full professor), the search committee asks for 3 - 5 recommendation letters by people who know the applicant professionally (and probably in person).</p>
<p>The first factor for choosing a reference is his/her relationship with the applicant, but another important factor is the (academic) position of the writer. Possible references can be:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Past PhD student/post-doctoral fellow who is now an assistant professor</strong>: probably he is the best person to describe the
applicant's attitude towards students and education (something that
is critical for the search committee).</li>
<li><strong>A faculty colleague</strong>: closely witnessed the applicant works, but not directly involved.</li>
<li><strong>Department chair</strong>: supervised the applicant, but probably his view is just the standpoint of a boss.</li>
<li><strong>Dean</strong>: had less connection with the applicant, but can provide a top view about the applicant.</li>
<li><strong>Provost/Vice Presidents</strong>: very little direct connection, but can show the applicant's relationship with senior people.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><em>The point is that how to balance the level of relationship and the reference's position?</em></strong> Normally, recommendation letters by people with higher positions are more reliable, and can be trusted search committee, as a colleague may bias the letter for a colleague, but a provost will not do this for an employee.</p>
<p>Is the position of a reference more important than his/her direct connection with the applicant (considering the fact that a senior person has no reason to write a recommendation letter for someone he does not know personally)?</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> Some commented that references should be not-related peers, not people who know the applicant. It seems I'm a little bit confused.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do you list references who do not know you at the end of CV/resume? References named in the applicant CV can be contacted for a job application.</p></li>
<li><p>Some job ads ask the applicant to arrange submission of three letters of recommendation to the search committee (for example, see a job ad at <a href="https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/recruitment/faculty-openings" rel="nofollow noreferrer">UC Berkeley</a>). Do you ask people who do not know you to submit a recommendation letter about you?</p></li>
<li><p>Nowadays, most job applications are via online systems. When the online system requests a recommendation letter just send an email to the named reference to submit his/her recommendation for Mr./Mrs. X (but will not attach his/her resume or works). How one who does not know the applicant can then submit a recommendation letter.</p></li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12962,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with the commenters above: none of these would be a good reference. If I was on a committee that received a reference letter by a dean, president or former student, I think it would probably be immediately dropped from the pile as someone who plainly has no idea what they are doing (I say think, because in hundreds of applications, I don't think I've ever seen anyone do this). I can imagine having a letter from the department chair, but that would still be pretty weird, unless it was specifically to address the candidates teaching. A letter from a colleague of comparable or greater seniority is reasonable in some circumstances, but unless you're a postdoc and they're your supervisor still probably not the best choice. </p>\n\n<p>In general, you seem to have a lot of weird ideas about how search committees work. I think you should try to find a senior colleague in your field who can advise you about applications; asking deans for letters is not going to help you get jobs or make you a popular person with deans.</p>\n\n<p><strong>EDIT</strong>: To address the new questions you've added: first, I think it is even more clear from this that you need have a personal discussion with an older colleague/person in your field who knows your situation well and can give you advice, as you are clearly incredibly confused about how academic job applications work.</p>\n\n<p>Recommendation letters should come (typically) from people in your field senior enough to have tenure; your former supervisors, either in a graduate or postdoctoral capacity, are good people ask, as are any more senior collaborators or more senior scholars who have shown an interest in your work. Typically, you do want to ask people you personally know, but there are exceptions; that could be because you worked in the same department, but that's not a factor I would weight highly. </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>It's fine to list references on your CV, but this is not a substitute for getting letters. The committee does not have time to contact that many people. They will just ignore your application if your letters aren't there.</p></li>\n<li><p>You want to get people who are familiar with your work. So, it's unlikely you'll know someone is familiar with your work if you never met or corresponded with them, but it is conceivable. I would only go ask people with whom you've had no contact if you have no good options amongst people you've personally discussed your work with. (Note, the important thing here is not your personal acquaintance with them, but how that allows you to judge how they feel about your work).</p></li>\n<li><p>Basic politeness dictates that you contact your letter writers long before you are ready to submit your application to ask if they are willing to write a letter and to share your materials like your CV with them. It is not a good strategy to sent a request from an online system to them cold, whether you know them or not.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12963,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your letters should come from experts in your field who are familiar with your work. They should be written by professors who are substantially more senior than you are, and who will be known to the people reading your applications.</p>\n\n<p>A typical situation for someone applying for a first job out of graduate school would be one letter from your advisor, one letter from someone else in your dept. who is also an expert in your field, and one letter from an expert at a different school who saw you speak in a seminar or at a conference and who has read your papers. It is not necessary, at the new-graduate level, to have had more substantial interactions with outside letter writers than their having seen you talk and read your papers. If you can get two good outside letter writers, then do that instead, but in my experience it's common to have only one outside letter writer at this stage. At least two of these people should be at the associate or full professor level, and all should have excellent tenure-track jobs. For someone a few years out of Ph.D. one would expect, in addition to the Ph.D. advisor and postdoc advisor, letters from well-known experts in the field who have interacted more substantially with the applicant.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12977,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For assistant level positions your PhD supervisor and any postdoc supervisors should be included as reference writers. Even if they are not willing to write you a stellar letter, I believe it is better than the questions that are raised by not having them. If you cannot include them (e.g., they are deceased), I would address this in the cover letter and ask one of the other letter writers to explain why in his/her letter. For more senior positions (e.g., associate and full professor) you may replace some of your former supervisors with people more familiar with your recent accomplishments.</p>\n\n<p>Additional letters can be sought from thesis committee members (especially for first jobs), more senior research collaborators, a teaching mentor (either someone you TA'd for for someone who has observed your teaching), or colleagues at your current and past jobs. A letter from a past department chair can be useful in saying that the department was really sad to lose you and that you are a great colleague. A letter from your current department chair is a little trickier in that the letter may be read as a means of pawning a bad apple off one someone else. Then again it can explain why you are trying to leave your current position.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12959",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
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|
12,965 | <p>I sometimes find papers that aim to solve the same problem that I am working on, but these papers are of <em>terrible</em> quality. Some of these papers: </p>
<ol>
<li>introduce wrong solutions, </li>
<li>re-introduce a solution that is already published, or </li>
<li>are just very hard to understand because of the low quality of writing. </li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Should I cite these papers in my "related work" section when writing a paper?</strong></p>
<p>Would it be offensive to tackle these papers and prove that they are wrong (especially as the most of these papers are published in not very good conferences)? </p>
<p>Or is it perhaps a waste of time to pay any attention to these papers? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12966,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Not cite them in your related works section as you clearly do not build on top of that work because of the bad quality.</li>\n<li>If these papers do not have a lot of citations or attention, I would not waste my energy on writing responses to these as they will remain obscure. I would recommend putting your energy into writing papers yourself and reading quality material.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12968,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general I cite a paper in two cases:</p>\n\n<p>1) I use something introduced there (from the problem statement to some theorem) in my work.</p>\n\n<p>2) I think it would be a good idea if the reader takes a look at that paper when reading mine for some reason (historical, mathematical, whatever).</p>\n\n<p>I don't think I am either able or obliged to put even <em>everything good</em> related to my current work into the literature list: I don't know the whole history myself and nobody will be able to navigate through the whole history anyway. Beyond certain length, the \n\"additional literature\" part of the list becomes equivalent to the empty one: if I am suggested to read 3 papers, I'll look at all 3; if 10, I'll look at 1-2, and if 50, I'll look at none, and I suspect that most other people have similar attitudes.</p>\n\n<p>The only case in which I would put any reference to a terrible (in your sense) paper into my work is if I choose to write the sentence \"There is a lot of junk written on this subject as well, see, e.g., [][][]\" in the main body, but I usually prefer to make enemies in more sophisticated ways :-).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12969,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Speaking from the perspective of a no-longer-quite-so-young mathematician, this is a serious question. I think one <em>should</em> acknowledge \"prior art\", even if one disagrees with many aspects of it. That is, to pretend that something doesn't exist when one is aware of it is dishonest. (I do not think that one's bibliography must only include things one has <em>used</em>... that can be subverted to argue, as I have heard a distinguished mathematician say, that one need not cite anyone else's work _if_one_is_careful_not_to_look_at_it_.)</p>\n\n<p>Yes, there is the awkward issue of giving an opinion on \"prior art\" that one finds deficient. As @Shion comments to the question, one probably should hesitate before being too sure. The universal non-commital (therefore slightly dismissive, which is the right amount) comment is something like (at the end of introduction) \"Compare [A], [B], [C].\" Not saying that they're crap, or failures, or anything else. Just admitting one is aware of them, and pointedly not <em>endorsing</em> them... if that's one's intent.</p>\n\n<p>That is, <em>I</em> think that published papers should not just be update-reports, but have sufficient scholarly context-setting to orient a genuinely interested reader not already completely expert, for example. I realize that the literal function of many \"published papers\" is merely \"making a living\", but it is not profoundly difficult to do somewhat better.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/09/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12965",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4472/"
]
|
12,973 | <p>I am applying for doctoral programs in biostatistics and have read multiple places to attempt to set up contact with a potential advisor before applying. </p>
<p>What if the department website specifically says to <em>not</em> contact potential advisors? There is a research lab I am very interested in joining (my top pick), but I still should <em>not</em> contact this professor, right?</p>
<p>Here's the exact wording of the website: </p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>"Should I contact faculty about RA opportunities?<br>
No. All applications are reviewed by our admission committee and students do not need to (nor can they) try to find their own mentors prior to admissions. Having an interested faculty member in no way influences the admission process, which is based on an evaluation of your application only."</em></p>
</blockquote>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12974,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If thats what the department says, then don't do it.</p>\n\n<p>I was very interested in a couple of research groups in my university but I never contacted them before admission. After I was admitted, I had an opportunity to speak to all these faculty and then made the best choice for myself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12975,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Admissions are tough, and if you break the rules you make the committee's life easier (one less applicant to judge). So: don't break the rules, especially when you not in a position of power.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12976,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are multiple practical reasons for not asking you not to contact advisors prior to admission:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Advisors may not know how many RA positions they will have available until later in the year, and departments do not want that to discourage people from applying.</p></li>\n<li><p>They may have an established procedure for allocating students to research groups; \"jumping the gun\" would therefore be discouraged.</p></li>\n<li><p>They don't want undue influence from various faculty members lobbying the admissions committee in support of \"their\" candidates.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Note that this is also because at many schools—particularly in Europe—individual faculty members are responsible for advertising their open positions. This is not the normal procedure in the US, thereby leading many schools to explicitly state that students should not directly petition individual faculty members.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13005,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This position may be a little stern, but once you are on the other side of the admissions table, you get bombarded with "Dear Professor, I am highly interested in working with you, do you have any positions available?" emails every week. A lot of these emails suffer from poor grammar, and most in fact miss the point of what I do, researchwise. As <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/12975/739\">F'x said</a>, if you decide to take the liberty of sending such an email, it (a) may be lost among dozens such emails, (b) may get you blacklisted by the department. (This is a very good school, and they will have no shortage of highly qualified applicants, and you hardly will be in a position of power in negotiating with them.)</p>\n<p>Ideally, you would've established a contact with a faculty much earlier with something like "I believe there is a typo in the Appendix of your recent Biometrika paper" or "What R package did you use? I can't get lmer to work on a similar problem" or "I thought that M=5 imputations is always enough" or some other question relevant to both your studies/interest and their expertise. I've established a couple of the most long-lasting and satisfying professional relations by asking these curiosity-driven questions, even though I never worked with these specific researchers, in the end. Don't try to make this up, though, and make sure to produce something that will really pique enough of the professor's interest to reply.</p>\n<p>As a faculty, I have been receiving meaningful emails, too, saying "You've published on this and that; I am working on the intersection of this-that right now as an analyst in Iranian government, but I realized that I don't know enough, and want to learn more..." -- to which I would have to say that the contacts between Iran and US are kept low profile. The fraction of such emails is low double digits, most are obvious academic spam.</p>\n<p>Finally, the department may have similar language in the faculty bylaws discouraging faculty member from discussing financial matters and/or open positions with potential applicants. Basically, this would be done to avoid a mutually unpleasant situation in which a professor may promise an applicant the RA support, but either the applicant would not make it based, say, on their GRE scores, or the professor would not get that grant that they were expecting. The department cannot commit acceptance based on such side negotiations, so they want to minimize the risk of that happening. Likewise, a professor may not be able to promise to take you as an advisee if they expect to have five more students, currently in their second year, joining their lab to support the work on a new multi-million R01 grant. You will be taking the fundamental required courses for a year or two, and talking right now about what is going to happen three years down the road is basically waving a big question mark in the air.</p>\n<p>So my bottom line is, if you want to talk about research, there is little to stop you; if you are told not to discuss the admissions process and the existing positions with anybody outside the admissions committee, don't.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 171307,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As other have said you should follow their instructions. I just wanted to point out that you will have opportunities <em>after</em> admission but <em>before</em> deciding where to go to get answers to your questions. In my experience in math, this post-admission pre-decision time is the appropriate window to talk to potential advisors.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12973",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8763/"
]
|
12,978 | <p>I will graduate in 1 semester and I have realized towards the end of my B.S. in mathematical sciences that I would like to develop software. I know there's no degree requirement to do this.</p>
<p>I have taken 20 math classes, bu have only taken 4 official computer science classes (2 in Java, 1 in C++, 1 in discrete math) and will have the opportunity to take up to 2 more before I graduate such as "data structures and algorithms" (a java class). I have also taken graph theory through the math department.</p>
<p>I have brainstormed. I could apply to masters degree programs in computer science (or PhD programs, then leave with a masters) or I could try to self teach myself the programming languages and gaps in my knowledge. Or I could take the additional couple of years to finish a double undergraduate major in computer science at my school. I could also try for an internship for Summer 2014, regardless. </p>
<p>So I could:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Self study and try for an entry level position. No explicit or implicit cost if I succeed. But if I fail to get a job, there's the time wasted that I could have been in school. </p></li>
<li><p>Finish a double major in CS (would take an additional 2 years). This would have an opportunity cost as well as an explicit cost.</p></li>
<li><p>Apply to graduate school in CS. This would have an opportunity cost and most likely an explicit cost.</p></li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13038,
"author": "Ambicion",
"author_id": 6222,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6222",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What do understand by 'software developer'?</p>\n\n<p>If you want to write the source code for casual games on smart phones, you don't need any knowledge from university at all. I am pretty sure that many software developers do not care at all about your university degree if you can provide practical prove of ability.</p>\n\n<p>The more complex and \"professional\" the project gets, the more a university degree (in sciences or engineering) is expected or even required. But then your desired level operation is more \"bird view\" than anything you could learn in university classes. Whether you are an excellent computer scientist, mathematician or physicist does not matter, as long as you are excellent. In particular, mathematical skills are all but mandatory and essential for large-scale and high-performance computation.</p>\n\n<p><em>So, what kind of mathematician are you?</em> It makes a difference whether you are an algebraic topologist, or into combinatorial or numerical algorithms. Furthermore, there are universities where CS programs are extremely mathematical, or, conversely, math programs contain a lot of theoretical computer science.</p>\n\n<p>At least if you are a computational mathematician, it does not matter at all whether your master is CS, math or physics. These theory stuff on software engineering (development models) is more humanities rather than science. Spend some bucks for SE books if you feel like missing these topics.</p>\n\n<p>PS:\n\"2 in Java, 1 in C++\" - nobody gives a ... cares what languages you encountered in these classes. University won't help you to become a Java or C++ pro, you will have to do that by yourself, as will you have to do with a lot of other languages in professional software development. What have these classes really been about?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 15569,
"author": "kleineg",
"author_id": 10637,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10637",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My answer is coming from the experience of graduating with a B.S. in Mathematics (with a Physics minor) and then work as a programmer.</p>\n\n<p>I had comparable programming experience before graduating and had actually planned on taking a second major in CS before dropping in in favor of Physics. I quickly realized that I would only find work in a programming position. It was quite a shock to work on a enterprise class application with hundreds of classes and a complicated architecture. I was incredibly lucky to find a position that was willing to train me up to speed. </p>\n\n<p>I have found that sometimes I will use my math background to come up with an algorithm easily that other programmers will be stunned by. Other times I will feel critically behind the curve, especially when asked to design/architecture a new project.</p>\n\n<p>I have filled in some of these gaps by supplementing my education through MOOCs, reading tons of books and forums (although I have only now started contributing), and picking my coworkers brains. I have had a goal of improving my skills with software patterns, and adding a new language/technology every year. However, keeping up with my mathematical skills (especially linear algebra and statistics) has opened many doors. </p>\n\n<p>Also, improving \"soft skills\" like communication, networking, and organization is very important. In a lot of positions the goal in training is for you to generate business for the company. </p>\n\n<p>Getting the lingo right away is critical. Once you know what <strong>can</strong> be done it is simply a matter of finding out how.</p>\n\n<p>After three years as a junior programmer I am starting to look at Masters programs and I feel much more prepared and my job will be partially reimbursing me for classes. In addition I have a much better sense of what programs will benefit my career and how. For the type of work I am interested in I am looking into CS programs but also Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Statistics.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, I was incredibly fortunate to find a position that nurtured my abilities. To be clear, my supervisors were expecting a year before I contributed in a meaningful way, a lot of places will not take that bet on anyone. In order to get where I am I worked <strong>hard</strong>, usually 50 hrs at work and an additional 10 hrs of outside research.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12978",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8606/"
]
|
12,983 | <p>Well, I am interested to know how much data, code, results, etc needs to be shared in a successful collaboration. For example: when engineers collaborate with AI researchers to optimize an engineering problem using specific algorithms, should engineers have access to the whole optimization dataset? Even optimization code should be shared among different parts of a research team?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12992,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>All of it. If I don't trust you with my data, why would I collaborate with you?</p>\n\n<p>Note: I'm in favor of sharing all the code and data with the whole world, not just my collaborators. Once you make intellectual property public, it cannot be stolen.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13008,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The more you limit the information exchange between the two teams, the more you also limit the best possible outcome of the project: without the information about the other group's work, you won't be able to achieve more than rather blindly applying some optimization algorithm to some kind of problem.</p>\n<p>But successful collaborations are not something that pops up at full strength: the different groups have to learn the others' language, get to know each other etc., and the trust that enables sharing the data is something that will grow over time (carefull: destroying the built up trust takes no time at all).</p>\n<p>As for the intellectual property: that should be clear already before you start the collaboration.</p>\n<p>All in all, I think the normal human behaviour is that the collaboration partners adjust the level of cooperation to each other. I'm usually very open to sharing data and code. But if I find that other people want me to send them my data without even allowing me to read their code, neither will I give them my data. Neither will I help people understanding my code* who would not give me their code or data (but sometimes I tell them that I run a freelancing side-job, so they can <em>buy</em> consulting time - and then we can specify non-disclosure conditions and it's completely their problem if my advise is not optimal <em>because</em> I didn't have the details. However, this doesn't work for scientific publications, as I have to take care that <em>my</em> name is not pubicly on a bad paper).</p>\n<p>* I have published code that is e.g. GPLed, so there is no question about not sharing the code.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>when engineers collaborate with AI researchers to optimize an engineering problem using specific algorithms,</p>\n<p>should engineers have access to the whole optimization dataset?</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Yes: they will be the ones who can check the optimization process with "common engineering sense", which the AI team usually won't have.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Even optimization code should be shared among different parts of a research team?</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Yes: and the AI should explain the heuristics of the optimization to the engineers. Not only the AI researchers, but also the engineers need to judge whether these heuristics are appropriate for the application. I guess the AI people are better at checking the "formal" part (e.g. numeric properties), whereas the engineers can say whether a certain strategy makes sense from an engineering point of view.</p>\n<p>IMHO the AI team should also have early access/particupate in the setting up of the DoE of the engineering team, as optimization approach must be appropriate for the DoE (and vice versa).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13009,
"author": "Chris H",
"author_id": 8494,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8494",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If by withholding data one part of the collaboration has made the other part draw false conclusions, then you have broken the trust in the process, and if you're going to publish based on this collaboration, spoilt that as well.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, you don't want to bog them down in stuff which is irrelevant - so some material should be made available (perhaps on request) rather than pushed to them. You wouldn't want to see all their preliminary work, and your code may be meaningless to them.</p>\n\n<p>I assume you have properly defined your optimisation and other datasets, so there's no need to hold anything back for testing.</p>\n\n<p>Some industrial collaborations are affected by issues of commercially sensitive material being kept back, usually this can be sorted out, and if the collaboration is purely academic, this issue doesn't arise.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12983",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5644/"
]
|
12,988 | <p>Assume a search committee is reading my CV and in the publication section they notice some of my papers are only submitted or claimed to appear in a journal (or accepted for publication in a journal). Sometimes the journal which has accepted the paper for publication lists the title of accepted articles before actually publishing them, but in the rest of cases there is no evidence to prove that the referee process of the paper is over and the journal has accepted the paper for publication. Also assume preprints of my papers are available in ArXiv. So, my questions are:</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li><p>How a search committee interprets and evaluates those papers which are just submitted or are claimed to appear?</p>
</li>
<li><p>Does a search committee consider these types of publications less valuable than the published ones (assuming the same quality)?</p>
</li>
<li><p>Does a search committee refer to my preprints in ArXiv to evaluate my submitted or accepted papers?</p>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12990,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First you need to distinguish between publications that have passed the review process (accepted, in press) with those who have not (in prep, in review etc.). The first group are just as published as those that are printed and should/could be listed among the published. The others have not received the accept decision and despite their quality are not yet officially approved by peers and journals. Hence they are equated with manuscripts. </p>\n\n<p>You can divide your manuscripts and papers in as many categories you like in the CV but the bottom line is that those that are not through the peers review will not be counted as highly since no-one yet knows of their deemed quality. But, that said, manuscripts (of all forms) indicates activity so they are not a complete loss in the CV. Unfortunately people have very wide views on what can be included. One person stated that a manuscript existed if it had a title, an abstract, some text and some references. With experiences like that it is perhaps not difficult to imagine that a list of manuscripts in different stages may not count for much other than an indication of activity (no matter the reality).</p>\n\n<p>As for manuscripts in public archives, there will be a middle ground. They obviously exist but have not been peer reviewed. An evaluator should be able to check its quality fairly easily, even if they are not necessarily an expert on the topic. It is also doubtful reviewers search for papers on their own, commonly what they receive to review is what they look at. So the value of such papers is less clear but I would definitely set up a separate category for these sorts of papers in the CV between published peer reviewed and unpublished manuscripts.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13002,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It's a tiered system:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><strong>Peer-reviewed published articles</strong>. Published means published in any form, so it includes papers in all states published online on the journal's website, including “in print”, “ASAP papers”, “just accepted papers”, etc.</p>\n\n<p>That's top notch: it demonstrates your ability to perform research, write it up and publish it. Those are key requirements for the job.</p>\n\n<p>1b. <strong>Peer-reviewed accepted papers</strong>. All search committees I know will assume good faith, and accepted papers not yet published (thus without proof) are considered as good as published papers. If you want to (and the application format allows for it), you can actually join a copy of the manuscript (not as proof, but for committee members who may want to read your paper to judge its quality).</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Submitted papers, non peer-reviewed papers</strong>. This has some value, as an indication of your recent activity. It is especially useful to the committee if you have few papers (junior researcher) or have not published much recently (so that it is clear you are still active). Again, you may want to join manuscript(s) to your application, or give a link to arXiv if you deposited it there.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>In preparation</strong>, <strong>in writing</strong>, … There is no clear standard on threshold for what is a paper “in preparation”, so these are usually worthless on a CV. The only exception is if you have very very few (or no) published papers: applying for a PhD position, or early application for post-doc position, with 1 or 2 published papers. Otherwise, my advice is simply not to mention manuscripts you have not finished writing.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12988",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
12,989 | <p>I have been recently accepted into graduate school for my PhD in Mathematics. I feel very prepared and excited. However, my route is somewhat untraditional as I am "going back." That is, I am walking away from a well paying job. (I should mention that I am unmarried with no children.) I still have a lot of debt from undergrad. And, I am about to accumulate more (although an assistantship will help defray some costs). Obtaining my PhD and teaching at a college is my dream. As such, I am taking the plunge-no matter the cost. Working with the assumption that I will be about $100,000 in debt when I graduate, is it feasible to "live" even if I secure a tenure-track position? For instance, can one "request" to teach intersession and summer sessions for extra income (as a professor)?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12991,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In most math PhD programs in the US, your tuition costs are covered by either the department or your advisor, and you receive a <em>stipend</em> on top of that to cover your living expenses. While it may not be enough to cover the lifestyle you are accustomed to as a working professional, it is certainly enough that you should not need to accumulate substantial debt as a doctoral student! Moreover, you should be able to put any subsidized loans you have in deferral during this time, so that they do not accumulate interest during this period.</p>\n\n<p>With respect to income as an assistant professor, what exactly is permitted depends on the regulations of the particular institution at which you are working. At most schools, however, you are entitled to have \"consulting contracts\" which would supplement your salary as a faculty member; however, such contracts and the workloads associated with them normally have to be declared to the university. In addition, at many schools, you are paid only a nine-month salary; you can \"earn\" the remaining three months through external grants and other means (perhaps teaching summer courses, and so on).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12999,
"author": "Faheem Mitha",
"author_id": 285,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just my 2 cents here, but in my opinion, going into a math PhD which is not financially covered 100% more or less; meaning tuition and basic living expenses are paid for, sounds like a bad move to me. Even full teaching assistantships are paid very badly.</p>\n\n<p>One can spend a lot of time in a PhD program. You said that after you graduate, you want to be a math teacher. Well, math teachers don't get paid that much.</p>\n\n<p>If you aren't fully covered under your current arrangements, I suggest you try and find an institution that will fully cover you.</p>\n\n<p>Having said that, you don't give a lot of details about what your financial arrangements during grad school will be, or details about your current debt. If you gave more details, people might be able to offer more concrete responses.</p>\n\n<p>I think that asking about such things in a personal finance forum such as <a href=\"https://money.stackexchange.com/\">Personal Finance & Money</a> would also be a reasonable thing to do, as this is partly a finance question.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13006,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having a lot of undergraduate student loan debt and expressing the amount in dollars makes it sound like you are in the U.S. On the other hand, I haven't heard of a U.S. math grad school admitting anyone in September, so I'm puzzled by where you are. I'll answer assuming it's the U.S., but this answer may not apply in other locations.</p>\n\n<p>As aeismail pointed out, U.S. Ph.D. programs in mathematics fund their students at a level that should let you make it through grad school without new loans. If such a program admits you but won't provide funding, then that shows a serious lack of confidence in you. It amounts to saying that you're welcome to try if you can afford to pay for everything, but they don't think it's a good use of their money.</p>\n\n<p>It seems from your question and comments that you've been admitted now but will not learn about funding until spring. I would strongly recommend applying more broadly this fall, so you can see what your other options are. If the current school does not come through with funding in the spring, then you should view it as just barely being admitted (and you should factor that into your estimate of the likelihood of getting a good job - they might be totally wrong in their judgment of you, but this would indicate that they don't expect you to be one of their more successful students).</p>\n\n<p>I'd recommend taking your favorite among funded offers of admission and treating unfunded offers as tantamount to rejection, but of course it depends on how risk averse you are.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Working with the assumption that I will be about $100,000 in debt when I graduate, is it feasible to \"live\" even if I secure a tenure-track position?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Try a <a href=\"http://www.direct.ed.gov/calc.html\">student loan calculator</a>. The details will depend on your interest rate, repayment schedule, etc., but for an order of magnitude estimate, you'd need to pay roughly $1,000/month to be debt-free in ten years. Whether this is feasible depends on how frugal you are and <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/facsal\">how much you might make</a>. I've linked to American Mathematical Society salary surveys. You should be careful not to get too optimistic: fancy jobs can pay starting salaries in the $80,000 to $90,000 range, but few people get such jobs and in any case typically after a postdoc. A typical starting salary for a tenure-track job at a teaching-oriented college is $55,000, and getting a tenure-track job at all is certainly not guaranteed.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>For instance, can one \"request\" to teach intersession and summer sessions for extra income (as a professor)?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Sometimes. If you find a job at a research university with a low teaching load, then deliberately increasing the teaching load would be a bad way to get tenure. If you end up working somewhere with a high teaching load, then you might not want to increase it, but I'd expect that you could take on summer teaching if you need the money. It may not pay very well, though.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13016,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since nobody else has offered a direct answer to the title question...</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should I take on debt in order to get a Ph.D. in mathematics?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<h2>Absolutely not.</h2>\n\n<p>If a PhD program isn't willing to waive your tuition and offer you a stipend (in the form of an assistantship or fellowship), they don't really want you. Go somewhere else. If they decide not to give you more funding after a semester or two, you're done. Go somewhere else.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14912,
"author": "Hedge Fund",
"author_id": 10098,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10098",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your dream is to do a PhD in math then go for it by all means, but take into account that you are not putting yourself in the best situation. Could you delay your entry into the PhD program to pay half of the debt with your current good-paying job? You could delay and apply to other programs as well to see if you get more funding. I mean by all means pursue your dreams, but please take into account the financials of it. Also, it might not be your dream after all, once you have spent a few years in the program. The reality might be different than the dream, and for that reason I would suggest working a couple more years, paying off the loan and then entering with a better situation the PhD program.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, you should be able to pay the loan after the PhD straight after graduating, just as if it was part of your mortgage, but you'll have to make some sacrifices, and I assume there is the possibility of you getting married, having more responsibilities but also possibly another source of income. Please take this into account when making your final decision.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12989",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
12,996 | <p>A bit of background, I am doing research in atmospheric physics and detection systems</p>
<p>Recently, I received a paper submission back with revisions suggested by a couple of reviewers. For the most part, the revisions were definitely constructive, justified and most importantly, helpful. </p>
<p>That is, except on one particular crucial aspect of the paper where both reviewers made suggestions, that they labelled as critical for the paper's success. However, the suggestions were directly opposite. i.e. Both suggestions are mutually exclusive, but equally feasible. </p>
<p>What is an effective means to address this conflict?</p>
<p><em>I have spoken to my academic supervisor and he is not sure how to proceed either and we have double checked and both suggested paths are feasible.</em></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12997,
"author": "StrongBad",
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"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Often, but not always, reviewers try and be helpful. For example, a reviews that simply says that \"crucial aspect of the paper is broken/wrong/needs to be reworked\", tends not to be as helpful as \"crucial aspect of the paper is broken and would be improved by doing X\". Of course when you get a second review saying to do Y and X and Y are incompatible, then you have an issue. I would think about X and Y (and possibly Z) and decide which you want to do. Then respond to the reviewers and acknowledge that you improved crucial aspect with method X (or Y or Z) for the reasons you decided to use it. Hopefully, the reviewer will be happy that you improved crucial aspect and not upset that you didn't use method Y. If after the second round of reviews you still have conflicts, explain the problem to the editor and ask for advice.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12998,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In my capacity as editor for a journal, I see this quite frequently. I think it is a pity that you are left on your own to try to resolve the problem. An editor should provide some indication of possible solutions in tricky situations like this. So my first advice is to contact the editor and briefly explain the dilemma and ask for some advise on how to proceed. If you can, you should also provide your opinion on what you think is reasonable. After all, you have made your study and knows its strengths and weaknesses better than most.</p>\n\n<p>In some cases, I have experienced how authors have used conflicting reviews to swing their paper in one or the other direction. This is certainly also possible since the reviews, and this is important, constitute peer's views and opinions, not an absolute and definitive truth to be followed.</p>\n\n<p>Lacking the necessary insight into the details of your work and the issue at hand, I would also add the following. If you think you can bring up the conflicting views in the discussion, you may perhaps add both to your paper and simply arrive at a conclusion that the jury might still be out concerning the burning issue. I realize this may not be applicable in your case, but could be one way to acknowledge the existence of several, seemingly valid views.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13000,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Reviewers' suggestions are just that: suggestions.</strong> So, read both of them, make your own idea on how useful each of the suggestions would be, then depending on available resources, <strong>you may choose to follow one, the other, both, or none</strong>.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>If you can do both, then of course do it, compare the results, and that will vastly improve your paper!</p></li>\n<li><p>If you cannot do both, then decide in advance on which seems more likely to you, and follow this course (X). Then, add mention of the other method (Y) in the revised paper, saying something along the lines of <em>“it would also be interesting to see how doing Y improves the results of Z, though we do not expect it to be as efficient as X because of …”</em>. And explain in your letter to the editor that you have followed the avenue which seemed best to you, out of the two suggested by the referees. If your case is convincing (yet concise), you should not have a problem with the editor: you're the expert, after all!</p></li>\n<li><p>If you think both have value, but (i) you don't have the resources to do it, and (ii) though the suggestions are valid, your current results already bring something new and significant to the field, you may decide not to follow the suggestions. Include them, with some background for each, in the revised manuscript and explain that it may be useful for future work to consider those. In the response to the editor, make your case that though it is interesting, it would be out of the scope of the current study, and your work meets publication standards as it is.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13065,
"author": "The AI Architect",
"author_id": 8797,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8797",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What I would probably do is:</p>\n\n<p>In the appropriate section, acknowledge that two routes had been suggested, and then explain why you chose to take the route you did.</p>\n\n<p>edit: sorry, didn't fully read through the answer above mine before posting (which says much the same thing).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12996",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
13,007 | <p>It is understandable if considering the educational record (where s/he has studied and how is his/her transcript) of an applicant applied for junior academic positions such as postdoctoral fellow or assistant professor. BUT, for senior academics, the factors for judging a potential full professor is his/her research, teaching, publications, and other academic achievements.</p>
<p>I read <em>in a few job ads for full professors in Europe (mainly Scandinavia), one of the application materials is unofficial transcripts.</em> It seems that the initial review is substantially based on the applicant education achievements two decades ago.</p>
<p>I wonder how much the education of an applicant affects his/her chance to be appointed as a full professor? Does a bad education (having low GPA at PhD level) always affects someone's academic career, even at highest levels?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13015,
"author": "Ben Norris",
"author_id": 924,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Combining the various comments that this question has elicited:</p>\n\n<p>In some countries and at some institutions, the transcript is the official record certifying completion of the degree. When an institution asks for an unofficial transcript, they are really asking for verification that you earned the degree you said you did. Unfortunately, <a href=\"http://www.techradar.com/us/news/internet/scott-thompson-quits-as-yahoo-ceo-following-fake-degree-controversy-1080165\" rel=\"nofollow\">certain events</a> make some institutions feel justified in asking for proof. You cannot very well mail your diploma! Unofficial copies of your transcript are easy to come by in the digital age. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13050,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From a European perspective: the only time I was ever asked for transcripts was for PhD admission. After that, nobody every asked me for transcripts.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Administrative people asked me for a proof of my degree (a copy of the degree itself, without grades, is what I gave). They only wanted to check I was eligible for the position's formal requirements (having a PhD to become post-doc or assistant professor).</li>\n<li>Scientists asked me for my publications, my thesis, the list of topics I had taught, etc. They did not care the least about my grades in undergrad or graduate education.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So, I think the ads you saw asking for transcripts, especially for senior positions, are by far a minority. <strong>Once you have a PhD, most people won't care about your earlier educational record</strong>, since it is not a good predictor of how awesome you will be as a researcher.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13007",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
]
|
13,012 | <p>During seminars and talks, some presenters hear a question and compliment it by saying "Good question." Could this possibly offend the asker? Could this be viewed as a tactic to pretend being unfazed by a difficult question? </p>
<p>Or is it really a good psychological ploy to mollify the interrogator so that he/she is more accepting to the answer? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13013,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>An amusing issue! This sort of response can be done in a good way, or in a not-so-good way. It is rhetorically constructive to not be combative, and also to deflect potential combativeness, but/and not good to be sycophantic (which will offend some people). It is also not so bad to give oneself time to think while being polite and positive to one's audience. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13014,
"author": "Alecos Papadopoulos",
"author_id": 8575,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8575",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As an economist I can rant for hours about people's ulterior motives... as a speaker I can tell you that this reaction springs in me spontaneously, when the question has good <em>timing</em> with what I am presenting, meaning that it is a good opening for the next issue (or next aspect of the current issue) I was about to start speaking on. It makes a presentation rolling <em>with</em> the audience, and you cannot ask much more than that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13017,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are several reason why a presenter (of any kind) will comment \"Good question.\"</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>The question is good and the speaker wants to provide positive reinforcement for other participants to ask questions (feeding each person's need for praise)</li>\n<li>To give themselves time to think of an answer</li>\n<li>They don't know why, they just do it.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In the case of (3), it is usually taught for the reason (1). That is, speakers are taught to play to the ego or rather give positive reinforcement to the audience which will in turn lead the audience to think more highly of the speaker (\"Wow! That speaker really sees how amazingly clever I am.\"). There is a very real psychological issue going on here and one which is properly used all the time (in and out of the classroom). It is not to patronize, it is to give credit where credit is due. Those who do not know why they do it, can end up patronizing but that is just from a lack of understanding and experience.</p>\n\n<p>The reason is psychological but only partially to make the person asking more receptive to the answer. It is also to encourage others to ask more questions.</p>\n\n<p>Point (2) does happen and it perfectly acceptable. It is not the comment that is the concern. The concern is whether the speaker <em>should</em> know the answer and does not. When I am asked questions for which I need to think for a moment, I will openly say so: \"Hmmm, I've never heard that question before, let me think for a moment.\" If the needed thinking time is too long I will refer the asker to follow up 'offline' so it does not interrupt the overall flow.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, if a presenter is dancing around an issue to avoid showing ignorance shows a lack of confidence which is usually also shown other ways leading to a weaker overall presentation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13026,
"author": "Ana",
"author_id": 322,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/322",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I actually tend to do this more with a younger, less experienced audience. I remember being terrified to ask questions during talks, and how much it helped to have a speaker with this attitude. So, in part, when I say it, it means: 'It's good that you asked a question'. Of course I only do it if the question is reasonable. I was recently at a summer school for PhD students and postdocs where the speaker started his response with: 'That's a very basic question, of course'. I think it was a language issue and that he actually meant it's fundamental, but nobody wanted to ask any questions afterwards.</p>\n\n<p>In contrast, in an audience of peers, I usually take 'good question' to mean that it's something that the speaker has found intriguing at some point, because that's usually when I would say it. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13027,
"author": "jwg",
"author_id": 5824,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5824",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would usually respond 'Good question' to</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>A question asking something that I have thought about before, but which is not obvious. This could be something I forgot to include in my talk, something I am about to get to, or something which I decided to skip over.</li>\n<li>A question asking something that I haven't thought about before, but immediately see that maybe I should have.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13036,
"author": "J.R.",
"author_id": 780,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/780",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I doubt it's a tactic or a ploy, except maybe to reassure the ones who asked the question that they have not asked a stupid question. How many questions never get asked because members of the audience are afraid they will look like fools if they raise their hands and ask a \"silly\" question?</p>\n\n<p>Your question almost makes it sound like the speaker is trying to cover up a weakness. Ironically, I think it conveys a strength, because, by saying \"good question,\" the lecturer may be inviting <em>more</em> questions.</p>\n\n<p>Others have listed several spontenous reasons why a question might be considered good – its timeliness, its relevance, its insight. I'll add one more: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>When the question reminds me to cover something I had been intending to cover, but almost forgot.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I'd call that a \"good question\" – perhaps aloud, even.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13041,
"author": "Jeremy Miles",
"author_id": 6495,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6495",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem with saying good question is that when you have said it once, you have to say it every time - otherwise it implies that you're saying that the next question is not a good question. So I don't say it unless the person looked nervous or appeared to need encouragement.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13092,
"author": "Steven Mackenzie",
"author_id": 8807,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8807",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>After the first question, a speaker once explained that there are three types of question: great questions, good questions, and interesting questions.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Great questions are answered on the very next slide! </li>\n<li>Good questions are answered in an upcoming slide </li>\n<li>Interesting questions need some research before they can be answered</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Made sense to me, and no-one need be offended by the category assigned to their question :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 47857,
"author": "Franck Dernoncourt",
"author_id": 452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think it also depends on the culture of the speaker. I spent some time in the US and France, and I keep hearing \"[great|good|excellent|etc.] questions\" in the former while it was quite rare in the latter. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13012",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8775/"
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|
13,022 | <p>In scientific conferences, there are usually many headhunters who come to offer newly graduated scholars jobs in the industry sector. As a matter of fact, the recruitment in industry mostly works with the headhunting system.</p>
<p>However, academic recruitment is mainly application-based, and they are stuck with <em>Equal Employment Opportunity</em>, in which even when planning to appoint a Vice President to a vacant President position, they need to follow public call for application.</p>
<p><strong>Why doesn't a department chair offer faculty position to exceptional scholars to attract extraordinary people?</strong></p>
<p>In an application-based system, only those who are looking for new jobs will apply, but in a headhunting system, headhunters tempts satisfied employees with attractive offers.</p>
<p>In general, when someone is averagely satisfied by his/her job will not check current job ads.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13023,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Why doesn't a department chair offer faculty positions to exceptional scholars to attract extraordinary people?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Ah, but they do. For high profile academics, there are many behind-the-scenes discussions between department chairs, deans, and other faculty members. If a department really wants a particular academic for a particular chair, they'll have discussions about it with the candidate. I imagine that certain faculty get calls rather frequently asking if they want to move universities. Some professors can pretty much move at will; see, for instance, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornel_West\">Cornell West's move between Harvard and Princeton</a> -- West got in a tiff with Harvard President Lawrence Summers, and then he up and moved to Princeton, where they were happy to have him.</p>\n\n<p>The networking system within academia is broad enough and the number of open positions small enough that hiring headhunters is not really necessary, although for really high profile positions -- presidents of universities and the like -- a headhunting firm may be hired to make sure certain protocols are met.</p>\n\n<p>For run-of-the-mill assistant professor and associate professor positions, and for other candidate-search positions such as department chairs, the application process works well. But don't think that there still isn't any wrangling between various faculty members and possible candidates -- if you're an excellent researcher that has been making a name for yourself as a graduate student or as a junior faculty member, you may be asked directly to apply for positions that are open.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13028,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n<p>However, academic recruitment is mainly application-based, and they are stuck to Equal Employment Opportunity, in which even when planning to appoint a Vice President to a vacant President position, they need to follow public call for application.</p>\n<p><strong>Why a department chair does not offer faculty position to exceptional scholars to attract extraordinary people?</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>At least for public universities in the US, you've answered your own question. Public universities cannot directly offer jobs to anyone; they must follow Equal Employment Opportunity laws, which require open applications. Even with an open search, department chairs often don't have unilateral power to offer a job to anyone. At my university, all faculty appointments must be approved by the dean of the department's college, who among other things, is supposed to verify that all EEO procedures have been followed.</p>\n<p>But as Chris writes, less direct headhunting does still happen. For senior positions, especially endowed chairs and department heads, most applications submitted in response to the public ad are hopeless; the only strong applications come from candidates that faculty identify, contact directly, and convince to apply. (That's the explicit reason my department has a faculty <em>recruiting</em> committee, and not just a faculty <em>search</em> committee.) But even for assistant professor positions, faculty do contact promising PhD students—by email, by phone, or in person at conferences—and strongly encourage them to apply.</p>\n<p>For even higher-level positions like deans and university presidents, universities often work with professional search firms to identify and contact promising candidates, but my impression (having worked with such a firm in one search) is that those firms are mostly good at identifying people who aren't interested. Strong candidates for those positions—the ones that are actually invited for public interviews—are almost always people that the university faculty and administration has been courting for months.</p>\n<p>Departments do sometimes identify people they'd like to hire even before they've advertised a position. In that case, the university may <em>create</em> a position specifically for that person, with a very narrowly tailored job description. But then sometimes the department gets an even stronger application in response to their narrowly tailored ad, so they don't end up hiring their original target after all.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13032,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In order to answer this question it is important to understand what a head hunting firm does. For a substantial fee (potentially in excess of 25% of the annual salary) head hunters use their networks to identify (and convince) people to apply for a job. They talk to the contacts they have, plus individuals identified by the hiring department, and try and get names of not only potential applicants, but also people who might know potential applicants. They may also use web resources, but in general I believe they like to use named introductions instead of cold calls.</p>\n\n<p>In industry where HR firms often do not have networks in the area of expertise of the job, outside consultation is necessary. Industry jobs tend to also be less worried about costs. Additionally, it is harder for potential applicants to find out about job openings at smaller companies and figure out if they are interested in working for the company.</p>\n\n<p>For academic position networks in the required area of expertise already exist. Search committees and most faculty in the department will email their colleagues when a search opens and try and attract candidates to apply. Additionally, even small colleges would qualify as a large company and are much better advertised and described. This means departments don't really need head hunters to reach potential applicants.</p>\n\n<p>The second issue with head hunters is that the candidates they identify didn't respond to the open call and are therefore either less interested or feel the are less qualified. In general academic searches do not have a problem with attracting qualified candidates to apply.</p>\n\n<p>Which brings us to the final issue. It is often difficult to make an attractive enough offer to candidates to get them to accept. Adding 25% of the annual salary onto the search costs means less money for recruiting and start up package. This makes it less likely to get the candidate of choice.</p>\n\n<p>Head hunters do have a role in academic job searches. Sometimes a department is trying to expand in an area they do not have expertise/networks or are looking to make an unusual interdisciplinary appointment.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/27 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13022",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
]
|
13,031 | <p>When addressing the past positions in a resume, although titles somewhat describes the role, they cannot clarify the importance of positions.</p>
<p>For example, listing a past position of <code>department chair</code> indicates administrative duties at department level, but it depends on the department. Definitely, chairing a small department with a few faculty members and annual enrollment of 30 undergraduate students is different from a well-funded department with tens of senior faculty members and several PhD programs. However, if a reader does not know that specific department, the term <code>department chair</code> is the same.</p>
<p>This is even more serious when it comes to differences in terminology. In a university, a faculty can be equal to a department, and somewhere else a faculty can be in the size of a university hosting several large departments. Even terms of mid-level administrative positions in academia do not always have the same meaning: e.g., dean, director, chair, head.</p>
<p><strong>How do you fairly clarify the importance of the job you had?</strong></p>
<p>It is possible to add a description, but as it is not very common, it may cause an impression of overestimation.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13033,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can put a short (maybe four or five word) explanation in the CV item itself (or more if you think it's really important). You can also give more details in your cover letter about exactly what responsibilities you had. Another option is to ask one of your letter writers to explain; this is a common approach for things like personal reasons for wanting to leave a job, etc.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13035,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If a title or position is unclear, or an institution is possibly not well known, just explain it in a few words:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ul>\n <li>Director of Supersonic Operations department (15 researchers) at Small U.</li>\n <li>Time-management officer, Funny Inc. (in charge of scheduling company-wide meetings)</li>\n <li>Information officer, U. of North Virginia (CTO-like position, managing computing resources for 10,000+ students and staff)</li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Be as concise as possible, but give the reader some idea of the scope of your activities. And if the position is clear or well-known, just don't add any details.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/27 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13031",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
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|
13,034 | <p>I'm currently having a hard time understanding if authors are using the word <code>methodology</code> correctly, or if their papers should be classified as BS. Hence, I set out to get a better feeling for the correct use of the word, but now I'm even more confused than before:</p>
<p>First I had a look at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodology" rel="nofollow">wikipedia</a> which states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Methodology is the systematic, theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of study, or the theoretical analysis of the body of methods and principles associated with a branch of knowledge.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This sentence is followed by a second sentence with reference to a paper from S.I. Irny, which as far as I could see, states something very contracting:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Methodology is generally a guideline for solving a problem, with
specific components such as phases, tasks, methods, techniques and
tools [two sources are given]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even though I think the wikipedia description is identical with my understanding of the term, the reference is confusion. I then asked <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/methodology" rel="nofollow">Merriam & Webster</a> for help. Here it says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>1: a body of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline : a particular procedure or set of procedures
2: the analysis of the principles or procedures of inquiry in a particular field</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Oxford says a discipline is branch of knowledge, which I would interpret as things like math, sociology, computer science and psychology, but not things like UML modeling, crossword solving, methods for solving a problem, or even sticking together methods to solve a problem. This does not match the <code>discipline : a particular procedure or a set of procedures</code> part of the definition. </p>
<p>And then again they give a weird example:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>«for solving crossword puzzles my usual methodology is to begin by
filling in all of the answers I'm reasonably sure of»</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Maybe the <code>«</code> and <code>»</code> brackets indicate that they chose a poor example, or they consider crosswords a discipline (case 1). It obviously doesn't qualify for case 2, as the example does not analyse methods used in the crossword domain.</p>
<p>Sadly, Oxford defines the term as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity: a
methodology for investigating the concept of focal points</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Which again is used as a method/solution for a problem and not the theorecial study of methods in that field. Only the "Methodology as a buzzword" section on wikipedia seems to back up my understanding of the term:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Many recent uses of the word methodology mistakenly treat it a synonym
for method or body of methods. Doing this shifts it away from its true
epistemological meaning and reduces it to being the procedure itself,
the set of tools or the instruments that should have been its outcome.
A methodology is the design process for carrying out research or the
development of a procedure and is not in itself an instrument for
doing those things. Using it as a synonym for method or set of
methods, leads to misinterpretation and undermines the proper analysis
that should go into designing research.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Question 1:</strong> Is my understanding that a methodology is, as the name suggests it, a logic behind methods, and consequently must not deal with the topic per se, but address some meta level of the used methods, wrong?</p>
<p><strong>Question 2:</strong> For my particular academic problem in CS: Is the combination of general priciples and rules as part of a standard for creating a particular type of operating system a methodology (e.g. as used in AUTOSAR)? Such principles and rules govern and describe communication mechanisms, memory access methods, scheduling and the like. I would call this a body of methods, hence this must be a buzzword?</p>
<p><strong>Additional fact</strong>: My Sixth edition Oxford from 1976 says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Science of method; body of methods used in a particular branch of
activity;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So in the current version they dumped the actual meaning and only used that weird body of method definition.</p>
<p>I'm happy about any source bringing some clarity into this mess. Don't worry if you can't answer the CS specific question, a general purpose answer may well be just as good.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13039,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Words don't have a fixed meaning, and dictionaries only follow usage here. That is what is happening here.</p>\n\n<p>The <strong>“classical” meaning of <em>methodology</em></strong> is (my own words): <strong>a branch of epistemology that studies scientific methods, i.e. the systematic, theoretical analysis of the methods applied in science.</strong> (<em><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology\">Epistemology</a></em>, in turn, is a branch of philosophy dealing with knowledge).</p>\n\n<p>This classical meaning is what the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodology\">eponym Wikipedia article</a> discusses (WP being an encyclopedia, not a dictionary, it doesn't have to list all meanings of a given word). It's also what one of the Merriam-Webster definitions says:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>the analysis of the principles or procedures of inquiry in a particular field</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Now, language evolves, and in addition to this “classical” meaning of <em>methodology</em> (which is, in that sense, a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_noun\">mass noun</a>), a second meaning is developing. This new meaning is <strong>“a collection of methods used in conjunction”</strong>, as you noted.</p>\n\n<p>Now, as with every language evolution, <a href=\"http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2007/04/07/method-versus-methodology/\">some people complain about it</a> (and the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodology\">Wikipedia article on Methodology</a> is clearly written from this point of view; see <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodology#Methodology_as_a_buzzword\">“Methodology as a buzzword”</a> section). The <a href=\"http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/methodology\">Wiktionary article</a> goes on to say:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Etymologically, <em>methodology</em> refers to the study of methods. Thus the use of <em>methodology</em> as a synonym for <em>methods</em> (or other simple terms such as <em>means</em>, <em>technique</em>, or <em>procedure</em>) is <strong>proscribed as both inaccurate and pretentious</strong>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Well, sod them to Hades! It is clear that <strong>this newer meaning is abundantly used in the academic literature these days</strong>, and can thus be considered acceptable.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><em>(If you've never seen it, this <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY\">wonderful tirade by Stephen Fry</a> should cure you of <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_prescription\">prescriptivism</a>. It is delightful to hear… “They're no more guardians of language than the Kennel Club is the guardian of dogkind.”)</em></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13040,
"author": "Alecos Papadopoulos",
"author_id": 8575,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8575",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since there exists also the word \"method\", then one could argue that we should use \"methodology\" in its full epistemological meaning (definition 2 in Merriam & Webster), which is the discourse <em>about</em> science and its methods. In practice, a lot of people use the two words almost interchangeably.</p>\n\n<p>There is a reason for that: \"method\" has a rather narrow <em>applied</em> and descriptive flavor, while \"methodology\" invokes the knowledge of the fundamental principles of logic, science or whatever else is pertinent to the case, from which specific methods descend. So when we write \"the methodology that was followed in this paper is...\", we do mean to refer to the fact that we are aware of the philosophical, epistemological foundations (and weaknesses) of our methods. Even if we are not aware of that, in a sense, it makes us <em>accountable</em>: we cannot afterwards claim that \"we just employed a widely used method\" -by using the word \"methodology\" we accept responsibility of having a clear opinion of what we are doing and why we are doing it this way (even if we really don't).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13047,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One meaning of \"methodology\" is a synonym for method. That is how it is used, both in technical literature and in common use.</p>\n\n<p>Another of its meanings is the study of methods.</p>\n\n<p>And yet another is the body of methods in a particular field.</p>\n\n<p>You will find writers who are celebrated for being experts in that craft who use the word with any and all of those meanings; so this is not a question of technical usage versus casual usage.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Etymology is not destiny.</strong> As F'x writes, language is defined by usage, and evolves constantly.</p>\n\n<p>Nevertheless, as writers we not only have the expectations of our readers in mind, but also (and primarily) the expectations of our commissioning editor - the gatekeeper to publication. If they are a descriptivist, you may have to work with that in order to get published. If they have a style guide to work to, then you must work to it too. Your goal is to get your paper published: fighting to change the publisher's style guide is a different and separate battle, so don't mix them up.</p>\n\n<p>So, to find out whether you should be using \"methodology\", \"method\" or \"paradigm\", read some comparable papers in your target journal, and see what's most commonly used, in contexts that are most analagous to yours. If that doesn't clear it up, ask your contact editor at the journal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 47447,
"author": "Patrick Kelly",
"author_id": 32046,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32046",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Maybe it's my strictness for definitions. Maybe it's that I have some friends who speak Greek. But I've always understood \"log\" as part, and the \"-y\" as just a declension. So methodology would be in regards to the parts of methods. Given that when discussing methodologys, writers go into great detail, this definition seems to fit.</p>\n\n<p>Part of why I treat \"log\" as a synonym for part has to do with how it's used, independently, in English. Consider logs from a tree, the tree has been sliced, with each slice being a part or log. A timelog or datalog is essentially just a bunch of separate entries in a single document.</p>\n\n<p>You can find a lot of similar use here: <a href=\"http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Log\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Log</a></p>\n\n<p>Some thoughts: I think a lot of the more recent use of \"methodology\" stems from it being a \"bigger word\" and therefore sounding more sophisticated or intellectual.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/27 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13034",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8549/"
]
|
13,042 | <p>When writing a paper where you are citing from another paper which uses a different citation style, how should one cite portions of text that contain in-text citations? For example</p>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>“Malnutrition has often been referred to as “the skeleton in the hospital closet”, as it is often overlooked, under-diagnosed, and untreated [69,70].Despite this, the negative consequences of malnutrition have been widely reported..." (Barker, Grout & Crowe, 2011).</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>An alternative format would be </p>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>"Malnutrition has often been referred to as "the skeleton in the hospital closet" , as it is often overlooked, under-diagnosed, and untreated (McKee, 2011; Busby, 2008; in Barker, Grout, & Crowe, 2011). Despite this...."( Barker, Grout, & Crowe, 2011).</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>This seems an awkward and redundant solution. Would this be considered correct for APA style? What about other citation styles; MLA,etc.?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13043,
"author": "Vedran Šego",
"author_id": 7161,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7161",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Why not rephrase it, and quote each source properly? Like this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>McKee (2011), Busby (2008) and in Barker, Grout, & Crowe (2011) wrote that “Malnutrition has often been referred to as 'the skeleton in the hospital closet', as it is often overlooked, under-diagnosed, and untreated\". To this, in Barker, Grout & Crowe added that \"Despite this, the negative consequences of malnutrition have been widely reported...\".</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In a way, you are quoting McKee at al., so it is only proper to cite them properly, and thus have them in your references.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13045,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Echoing the other good comments and answer, I'd encourage you to think in terms of \"forthrightness\", rather than compliance to semi-random formal criteria. Think of the <em>function</em> of your citations, and thinking of the idealized version of scholarship and such. The goal is not conformity to style guides, but useful contributions to human knowledge, blah-blah-blah, ;) But, yes, that should be the way to think about such questions. </p>\n\n<p>To my taste, citations in-line should be sufficient so that the reader does not have to \"flip to the end\" to see what \"[46]\" is. The space spent on fuller references is a good investment!!! </p>\n\n<p>That is, yet again, if one thinks that the <em>function</em> of one's writing is to <em>help</em> the reader, all in-line references would be optimally helpful, as opposed to \"proper-and-possibly-unhelpful\".</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/27 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13042",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921/"
]
|
13,061 | <p>Many questions on this website ask how university rankings affect the future career in research and graduate admissions. But it is not clear for me what is actually meant by ranking. There are various rankings of universities and many of them are contradictory. </p>
<p>Thus, in the context of graduate admissions what ranking does the admission committee have in their mind? How does the committee decide which is a high-ranked school and which is a low-ranked school?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13086,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the context of graduate admissions, the “ranking” of universities by members of the committee is a purely subjective one, and depends heavily from place to place, from department to department, and from committee member to committee member. That's why you're not getting a simple silver-bullet answer to your question.</p>\n\n<p>Now, most admission committee members will rather rely on their own past experience with students coming from various schools, and would probably go further and would not “rank” the same the different undergrad programs from a given university. They would typically consider things like:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>how ready were past students from program X for our graduate courses? e.g., did they know and master well enough all the prerequisites for our courses</li>\n<li>how well did these students do during courses? e.g. what sort of grades do they get (knowing that a top student from school X usually doesn't make it to the first half of your program, for example, is interesting to know for future candidates from this school)</li>\n<li>how well did they perform in terms of research? e.g. school Y has students with excellent grades and educational record, but are they prepared for a wide-ranging professional experience that is a PhD?</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 80358,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>(I speak for a mathematics grad program and admissions...) In any case, it's not literal \"ranking\" that is generated by some for-profit group, but, rather, not-so-young-anymore faculty peoples' knowledge of the relative rigor and standards of a program, and the appreciation (or lack thereof) of that faculty's conception and awareness of what graduate programs demand of students. Of course, yes, some faculty have arrived at modest places by choice or by chance after times spent at \"high-status/tier\" places, so have an idea about the larger world, so their appraisals of the potential success of their students carries more weight. Yes, obviously, some faculty at lower-tier places have less idea of the rigors of \"fancier\" places, so give dubious opinions about future success of their students. It is more plausible to imagine that faculty at higher-tier places are aware of how their own graduate program works, at least, and can imagine the success-or-not of their undergrad proteges in comparable programs.</p>\n\n<p>In summary, it's not really about \"status/ranking\" per se, but about \"demands of the program\", and expectations for PhD projects and coursework background.</p>\n\n<p>In particular, it is <em>not</em> the case that while looking at grad applications, I automatically think applicants from higher-tier schools are better... What does tend to be the case is that there's less <em>volatility</em> in the letters-of-recommendation from such places, since the faculty have more substantial track records (regardless of whether they're big-shots), and can speak more convincingly about probable success of their students in our program.</p>\n\n<p>For applicants from small colleges, etc, it is indeed a bit harder to gauge potential, because they may not yet have been challenged, by coursework or projects. (Many or most \"REU\"s are of interest, but don't at all reliably \"stress\" participants, and this is by design, presumably...) Not a moral failing, for sure, but not so useful in gauging potential for future success in a less jolly, more stressful, environment. But, duh, admissions committees realize that not all mathematically talented people happen to go to colleges/universities where the faculty are able, or inclined, or allowed (!) to stress them. And maybe the available courses are limited, for various reasons.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/28 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13061",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/86/"
]
|
13,067 | <p>Let's consider a paper that uses many different techniques to solve a <strong>practical</strong> problem. <em>The techniques that the paper uses have all already been published by others</em>. This paper only <strong>modifies or customizes these techniques a bit to fit the particular question</strong> that the paper is solving.</p>
<p>The techniques used are from different disciplines. So the paper is more or less similar to <strong>an integration of these techniques</strong>. These different techniques were proposed or published for a general purpose with no specified applications before. Now this paper integrates them together and solves a rather specific and practical problem.</p>
<p>I understand that this kind of very-specific-problem-solver application paper will get cited less often than those algorithm papers that may be applicable to many applications. However, let us leave the impact factor issue aside first.</p>
<p>Is this integration and application valued by the peers? Is this paper valuable enough to get published? (not considering its impact first)</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13068,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In my opinion, yes.</p>\n\n<p>You paper will prove that those techniques are useful and usable by using them to solve a practical problem. I consider it a contribution to human kind, thus valuable to get published.</p>\n\n<p>Whether or not it will be accepted by journal/conference is another issue. You should try. Please send it to be peer-reviewed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13071,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Regarding the way you described your work, it certainly worth writing it up and submitting it as an article to a journal. However, there are several factors that can add more value to your work as follows:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>If the problem you have solved is an important problem and has been addressed by well known experts in the literature and if you write a very nice introduction to your paper and explaining the importance of the problem.</p></li>\n<li><p>If the way you use these techniques explores more applications and benefits of them. In this way, it is like you have invented a brand new technique. </p></li>\n<li><p>If the way you use these techniques from different disciplines shows interconnections of these disciplines and suggest more interrelationship for further investigations. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I am sure that if you explain carefully all the above points in your paper and highlight the advantages of your approach to the problem, it won't be difficult to publish your result. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13073,
"author": "Alecos Papadopoulos",
"author_id": 8575,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8575",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I wouldn't have any doubts about this. It is the essence of <em>applied science</em>, where theoretical techniques get to be tested through their application on practical problems. And as you write, it is usually found that some modification and customization is required, or even, that some techniques actually don't work with some sub-class of problems, or that some techniques are better suited to some sub-class compared to others. Further, a paper that <em>compares</em> the application of different techniques on the same problem, is even more valuable.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13074,
"author": "umayfindurself",
"author_id": 8798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8798",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Definitely!</p>\n\n<p>Such publication will not only be helpful to the community whose focus is on the particular problem under investigation in your paper, but, will also be instrumental in spreading the knowledge of the techniques you employed from other fields.</p>\n\n<p>In order to improve the technical quality of your manuscript, I would even suggest that you elaborate on the techniques used. Often analysis techniques originate from complex mathematical treatises. Applied research employing such techniques help in making the techniques popular and useful for practical applications.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/29 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13067",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8079/"
]
|
13,069 | <p>I have had a few professors who announced to the class the mean and median scores for each exam, but I haven't seen anyone go further than this (e.g., announce this information for homework too, give a histogram of all the scores, etc.). Also, this information has always been kept semi-private, in the sense that it is announced verbally in class, without an explicit instruction <strong>not</strong> to share it, but still making it unlikely that the information would spread beyond the class.</p>
<p>I'm wondering what to take into consideration when deciding what sort of information to provide, and how. Would it be acceptable to put the mean and median scores for each exam on my (publicly available) website, for example? Or is that violating the privacy of my students in some way? Might they be ashamed, as a group, if they've all done extraordinarily badly? But as their teacher, I would have to also be ashamed if that were the case - so perhaps deciding to publicize how my students are doing ought to be considered as a sign of confidence that my teaching will make them do well. </p>
<p>I'm sure there are other issues I'm not thinking of regarding this. Your experiences (either as a student or as a teacher) with classes that gave this sort of information, and any other thoughts, would be welcome.</p>
<p><strong>Edit:</strong> I'd be teaching an undergraduate math class. But regardless of my personal situation, I'd like to hear whether you think the field of study, or the level of the course, affect the answer to the question.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13070,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Revealing information about grades is normally directed by some combination of university policy and government regulations (if one is teaching at a public institution of higher learning). </p>\n\n<p>Where I teach, for instance, <em>all</em> grades for written exams are officially published, but semi-anonymized by replacing the students' names with their student ID numbers. In addition, the aggregate statistics are also published, along with the rubric for converting \"raw\" scores into final grades. </p>\n\n<p>My general belief, however, is that grades are an \"internal\" matter, that should not generally be publicized beyond the extent required by regulations. There is no need for everyone in the world to see the grade distribution. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13072,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Look at regulations that apply to you, whether local or national. There has been a recent shift to more privacy on this issue, so in most institutions today grades of a specific students are not public (no one knows except the student himself, and probably the NSA). In my institution (in France), full listings of grades are regularly posted, but they are anonymous (associated with student numerical ID, not with name). Back when I was a student, though, full listings of names and grades were not uncommon!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13076,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This answer is based on my experience teaching undergraduate math in the US.</p>\n\n<p>Students are used to having at least the mean or median, so as to give them some context for their score. If you don't announce it, you can expect to be asked about it.</p>\n\n<p>I've never bothered to post exam statistics on a web site. I wouldn't see it as a privacy issue, though it does feel a tiny bit like over-sharing. Mostly it's that students want this info at the moment they receive their graded exams; they won't want to read it later, or remember it from earlier. So even if you post it, you'll probably have to announce it also.</p>\n\n<p>Legally, I understand that FERPA generally forbids releasing <em>identifiable</em> student information. There should be no legal objection to statistics, or even an anonymized list of scores. (Note, though, that university ID numbers may not be considered sufficiently anonymous.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13083,
"author": "kapex",
"author_id": 5677,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5677",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can share some experience as simultaneously student, TA and developer of software evaluating user data gathered by learning management systems (including test results).</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Do not share any personal information without consent ever. This goes as far as that you should not show any statistics based on gender, age or any other identifier as this often leads to single students being identifiable (everyone seems to be craving for gender statistics nowadays but this is almost impossible doing anonymously in technical fields where there are few woman). </p></li>\n<li><p>You can of course ask all students if it is ok to create some more extensive statistics. Beware that any consent may be caused by peer pressure though. Go for an opt-in rather than opt-out approach if you want to be fair (or the other way around if you want their consent). I think this really depends on trust and the relationship between you and your students.</p></li>\n<li><p>Many people feel uncomfortable if too much of their personal data is stored online. They will feel spied upon. For most students the advantages (seeing own success, areas for improvements) are outweighed by the disadvantages (people can see where they failed, make prediction about their chance to graduate, ...). They won't trust any system their data is stored on (and rightfully so, many universities store large amount of personal data for years, freely accessible by any system administrators). </p></li>\n<li><p>Ask yourself, are you ok with other teachers seeing your students average results? How about your supervisors? It could affect your career if they knew you let too many students fail or give good grades too easily (management most likely knows this already anyways though).</p></li>\n<li><p>If there were public average results of tests of each teacher available, as a student, of course I would use this as a measurable factor in my decision for choosing a teacher for my upcoming course. Sure, the word probably gets around anyway if you grade students better/worse compared to other teachers but extensive statistics on this subject are gold for the lazy student.</p></li>\n<li><p>If you want to share individual test result online, don't rely on student IDs for anonymous results. Fellow students know each others IDs. Sometimes IDs contain information that can be used to identify students as well. The only reliable approach I've seen, is to let each student write a secret keyword on their test, which you later list online next to their grade. The whole page shouldn't be public for everyone. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Still, don't let this discourage you to share information with your students. If you gather any statistic that could help a particular student to improve, it would be best to discuss this in case they come see you during office hours. Even if it's just to praise a student or offer help when his grades are declining.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 166378,
"author": "ava",
"author_id": 138513,
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"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Teaching College Students requires being mindful of their mental health and avoiding embarrassing the student.</p>\n<p>It can be very degrading to anyone to get a low score and have it announced to the class if they received a low score. So we should probably rule out announcing the lowest score. If a student received a high score, they most likely would want everyone to know, so you could probably announce the highest three scores.</p>\n<p>Using the high-score method, as I discussed above, in addition to sharing the whole class average, is a good way to let the class know how they did overall in comparison to their individual grades without embarrassing themselves if they got a low grade, and recognizing the three students who received the highest grades, in order to hopefully praise them into wanting to get better scores in the future as well.</p>\n<p>Another method, which is becoming more and more common as of late, is just anonymizing names using one platform (I forget the name of the site) to share everyone's grades in comparison. That way, everyone knows who they are, but they are anonymous to all others. This avoids all the common dangers of announcing grades to the whole class while gently letting students know what they did wrong (or right!)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 166386,
"author": "David E Speyer",
"author_id": 1244,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1244",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As everyone else says, certainly do not use any personally identifying data. I am not clear as to whether using student ID numbers is legal, but it is a bad idea; these are effectively not private. If you really want each student to have a secret PIN, assign them one specifically for the class. That said, I think giving a list of scores with any sort of identifier is asking for trouble.</p>\n<p>What I do is give a coarse bucketing of the grade distribution, either stated as "x between 90-100, y students between 80-90, etcetera", or else as "10-th percentile of class got grade x, 20-th percentile got grade y, etcetera." I make sure that the top bin is wide enough to include at least 10% of the class and the bottom is wide enough to include at least 20%. I don't think there is any real need for the tails to know their rankings more accurately; they probably aren't meaningful anyway.</p>\n<p>Oh, I just recalled a stunt I did once. I collected data on which students showed up to class for two weeks before the exam and then, the day after the exam, showed a scatter plot of exam grade versus class attendance. Correlation isn't causation, but the correlation was certainly clear!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/29 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13069",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/222/"
]
|
13,079 | <p>When I receive galley proofs of a paper, I look at possible errors introduced by the copy-editing team. But while I proofread the article, there are sometimes small mistakes I'd like to fix, which were not introduced by them (i.e. they were already present in the accepted version of the manuscript).</p>
<p>Usually, the proofs are accompanied by instructions saying that <strong>extensive changes should not be introduced at that time, and any such changes would have to be approved by the editor</strong> (hence, I suppose, delaying publication). However, the limit is not very clear to me. <strong>What is considered extensive changes?</strong> In particular, what do you think of the following items (from my experience):</p>
<ul>
<li>Slight changes in wording, to improve clarity</li>
<li>Updating a citation, because an “in press” or “ASAP” article now has page numbers</li>
<li>Adding an important (but not crucial) citation one had missed, in the introduction</li>
<li>Adding a citation to a paper that has been published since the manuscript was submitted; possibly adding a short sentence to the text</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>What I have done so far is change everything that I think should be changed to improve the paper (including all the above items), and let the typesetter decide whether he wanted to send it back to the editor. I never received any complaint or comment on my changes, which could indicate that it was the correct course of action.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13080,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>A galley proof should primarily be proofed for typos or mistakes made in the type-setting process. It is not the time to change phrasing, exchange figures, add or remove blocks of text or anything else substantial. </p>\n\n<p>Adding references might seem like a useful addition but the problem is that it would then be possible to add references without the knowledge of the editors and of course the reviewers and hence possibly make changes that could have affected reviews etc. The case of adding anew paper is a similar problem since it may change the paper in ways that the editor and reviewers have not seen and therefore ok'd. If such changes are wanted (they are probably seldom needed), it would be best to at least check with the editor if that would be appropriate. In short, no changes should be made that alters the content of the paper. All such details should have been checked and if necessary corrected before submitting the final revised manuscript for copy-editing and proof production. Any corrections called for by the copy-editor and editors after submitting the final version is of course to be made.</p>\n\n<p>Updating of references are usually also acceptable, to, for example, add the publication year (from e.g. \"in press\") or adding doi, page numbers etc. if these were not known at the time the final version was submitted. </p>\n\n<p>The proofing stage is not a stage where many changes should be made. The manuscript that is submitted for proofing should be considered the last chance to make any substantial changes. What many do not realize is that all changes done after a type-set proof has been produced may cost the journal money, apart from the extra time and trouble it causes. So, as an editor, I often have the feeling authors just send in their final manuscript without checking figures and text properly and then waiting for the proof to make final changes but is, in fact, an abuse of the system.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding your last paragraph, the type-setter is usually not a scientist and has no idea of what changes might mean so to think that the type-setter would act as some form of intermediate editor is not right. In cases where type-setting is done in-house it might be a professional doing the type-setting but I would still say this is not the way to handle the type-setting/proofing stage.</p>\n\n<p>So, anyone, make sure the final submitted manuscript is checked, complete and correct.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13081,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>All the cases you mention (minor wording changes, updating/adding references) seem entirely fine to me. It's best to do this only when it's important, but in my experience it's standard and acceptable. Peter Jansson's answer suggests what's acceptable might vary between fields or journals, however. (His point about making changes after reviewing is valid, but I'm not so worried if the changes are relatively minor.) All I can talk about is my experience in mathematics as an author and editor.</p>\n\n<p>The book <a href=\"http://books.google.com/books?id=5YKiwrpJntoC\">Mathematics Into Type</a> (first published by the American Mathematical Society in 1971, and last updated in 1999) says the following on pages 53-54:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If an author makes changes in first proof amounting to more than 10% of the original cost of composition, these changes are usually considered excessive. Many publishers ask authors to bear the costs in excess of 10%. These excessive correction charges may be the result of large sections of text being deleted or of changes in wording or notation.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This agrees with my memory of the traditional standard for excessive changes. It's not clear what, if anything, this 10% figure means nowadays, or how widely it's used (although web searches lead to <a href=\"http://www.journalofsurgicalresearch.com/authorinfo\">some</a> <a href=\"http://www.elsevier.com/journals/journal-of-environmental-economics-and-management/0095-0696/guide-for-authors\">mentions</a> of it in guides for authors). I wouldn't take it too seriously, but it does give an indication of what was considered acceptable in the past. Note that it didn't mean you could rewrite 5% of the article, since those changes would require resetting a lot of the surrounding text as well, but it meant you had some flexibility for making a few small changes.</p>\n\n<p>Going back further, <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1943-49-03/S0002-9904-1943-07884-6/S0002-9904-1943-07884-6.pdf\">in 1943</a> the AMS said this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>It is important that galley proofs be carefully read and corrected by the author, since it is only the author who can detect errors which are due to an imperfect manuscript.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So at least back then the official AMS position was that authors should correct their own mistakes when reading proofs, and not just new mistakes introduced by the typesetter. (I don't know of more recent references that discuss this explicitly.)</p>\n\n<p>Of course I agree with Peter Jansson that articles should be carefully checked at the time the final version is submitted, with changes to the proofs being considered a last resort rather than an opportunity to delay the checking.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/29 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13079",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
13,089 | <p>In the terminology for a peer-reviewed publication to be submitted to a reputable scientific journal, what are the differences and characteristic properties of the following?</p>
<ul>
<li><em>draft</em></li>
<li><em>manuscript</em></li>
<li><em>preprint</em></li>
<li><em>paper</em></li>
<li><em>article</em></li>
</ul>
<p>My own take on it would be that my text is a draft until I submit it to a journal, at which point it becomes a manuscript. When the manuscript is accepted it becomes a preprint, and when it gets published it becomes a paper, which is synonymous to article.</p>
<p>Would that be an accurate summary? Would anyone have corrections or additions?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13090,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
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"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<ul>\n<li><p><strong>paper = article</strong>: In the academic meaning of the words, papers and articles refer to the same thing: a published piece of writing. The term is used for <em>journal papers</em> or <em>journal articles</em>, which means they have been published by a journal, but also for less traditional publications, including self-publication (<em>“Dr. Who just published a great paper on the intricacies of time travel on his webpage”</em>) and e-print repositories such as arXiv (<em>“check out the latest paper by Galileo on arXiv, that guy has mad ideas!”</em>).</p>\n\n<p>Some journals have different categories of “articles”, and differentiate between letters, communications, reports, reviews, and full papers (sometimes abbreviated as just “papers”). In usage I have seen, <em>paper</em> (or <em>article</em>) used as a generic term covers all of those: you would say, for example, that <em>“letters and full papers are two types of articles”</em>.</p></li>\n<li><p>A <strong>preprint</strong> (more commonly used without the hyphen) refers to the <strong>distribution, in advance of formal publication, of something that will be published in print</strong>. The preprint may differ from the final publication.</p>\n\n<p><em>Preprint</em> status does not always indicate that the work has been formally accepted for publication. It just means the authors intend to publish it in a more formal venue (journal, book, etc.) but wanted to distribute by other means beforehand (preprints used to be distributed to colleagues as photocopies, but are now mostly circulated by email or repositories).</p></li>\n<li><p>A <strong>manuscript</strong> is, in the <em>New Oxford American Dictionary</em>'s words, “an author's text that has <strong>not yet been published</strong>”. Any piece of writing that you have not published in any way (but intend to) is a manuscript.</p></li>\n<li><p>A <strong>draft</strong> is the same as a manuscript, except that it insists on the <strong>unfinished state</strong> of the manuscript.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Summarizing, I could say:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Here's the <strong><em>draft</em></strong> I've been working on, please amend it with your corrections. Once we have done this final round of revision, I will upload the <strong><em>manuscript</em></strong> to the editor's website, and we can start circulating it as a <strong><em>preprint</em></strong> to colleagues whom you think may be interested. Once it is accepted and published, we'll just send them the published version of the <strong><em>paper</em></strong> for their records.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13091,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that a piece of writing during the pre-submission stage is a draft and during the post-acceptance, but pre-publication, stage is a preprint. I think that this agrees with your terminology.</p>\n\n<p>Many journals publish original research findings under a number of categories including articles, letters, and reports and in some fields books are the predominant mode of publishing research. Therefore, I would say that a preprint does not necessarily become a paper/article when published and instead becomes whatever it is. </p>\n\n<p>Defining a manuscript is the hardest for me. I have often seen acknowledgements which thank someone for reading a previous version of the manuscript. This happens frequently enough in my field that I believe that a piece of writing becomes a manuscript prior to submission to a publisher. I am not sure when a piece of writing becomes a manuscript. I think a piece of writing becomes a manuscript when the first complete draft is completed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30179,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>An \"article\" typically specifically means a paper in a journal, while \"paper\" is a more general term that also includes conferences, technical memos, etc.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30180,
"author": "Franck Dernoncourt",
"author_id": 452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In French, paper is definitely informal, while article is the term to be used in a written document. </p>\n\n<p>However, in English I feel that we tend to use</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>\"journal article\" more often that \"journal paper\", </li>\n<li>\"conference article\" less than \"conference paper\", </li>\n<li>\"workshop article\" far less often than \"workshop paper\".</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So paper might tend to designate a piece of work of lesser importance than article, or as jakebeal said have a more general use. It still sounds slightly more informal to me, probably because I am a French native speaker, but I'm pretty sure many French colleagues of mine have the same feeling even if they work in some English-speaking country.</p>\n\n<p>My field computer science > machine learning, in case the terminology changes from field to field, and my location is the US.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Some statistics (obviously biased by the corpus):</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Journal+paper%2C+journal+article&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2CJournal%20paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bjournal%20paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BJournal%20paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BJournal%20Paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BJOURNAL%20PAPER%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cjournal%20article%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bjournal%20article%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BJournal%20article%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BJournal%20Article%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BJOURNAL%20ARTICLE%3B%2Cc0\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Journal paper vs. journal article</a>:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/kuWzV.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Conference+paper%2CConference+article&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2014&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2CConference%20paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bconference%20paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BConference%20Paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BConference%20paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BCONFERENCE%20PAPER%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2CConference%20article%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3BConference%20Article%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BCONFERENCE%20Article%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BConference%20article%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BCONFERENCE%20ARTICLE%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bconference%20article%3B%2Cc0\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Conference paper vs. conference article</a>:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/MiVQ5.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=workshop+paper%2Cworkshop+article&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2014&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cworkshop%20paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3BWorkshop%20Paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bworkshop%20paper%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BWorkshop%20paper%3B%2Cc0\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Workshop paper vs. workshop article</a>:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/nRKdW.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 103704,
"author": "Oscar Carvallo Valencia",
"author_id": 87438,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/87438",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would consider a preprint is the read-proof document that some Journals allow the author to distribute under some rules. So it is in post-acceptance but pre-publication stage. I don´t think the draft-manuscript-paper distinctions are relevant.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/30 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13089",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033/"
]
|
13,093 | <p>I am a recent bachelor of technology graduate from India and want to become a research assistant just after b.tech at any abroad university (USA,CANADA,UK, etc). If it is possible then what kind of qualifications, GPA, academics are required? Also for becoming an RA at these universities is the GRE exam necessary?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13096,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Yes.</strong></p>\n\n<p>First be admitted to graduate school.</p>\n\n<p>Then convince a professor to hire you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13112,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my field is it quite common to hire recent graduates for a year or two as a research assistant. Typical duties of an RA include scheduling participants, collecting data, and doing preliminary data analysis. Depending on previous expertise and experience gained on the job RAs can also design and implement/program experiments. There is also a fair amount of house keeping work (e.g., sending equipment off to be calibrated and making sure the supply cupboard is stocked).</p>\n\n<p>Most people hiring for these types of positions look at GPA and classes taken as well as practical skills. I have never heard of anyone requiring or looking at the GRE. As far as qualifications are concerned you will need to have whatever paperwork is required to allow you to work in that country. I don't know anyone who would go out of the way to get a work permit type visa for an RA.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14718,
"author": "Ashish M",
"author_id": 9970,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9970",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Yes it is possible to become a research assistant just after completing B-Tech.</strong>\nQualifications needed for it could be categorized as:-</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Good Academics</li>\n<li>Research Papers published in International Conference that are indexed IEEE (required)</li>\n<li>GPA of 3.6/4</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><strong>Also for becoming an RA at these universities is the GRE exam necessary?</strong>\n The answer to this is <strong>Yes</strong> for some universities and <strong>NO</strong> for other universities. This is mainly because <strong>Not all the universities require GRE EXAM.</strong> It all depends upon university requirements. You need to check out their website for the details. <strong>Even they have Cut-off score for GRE and TOEFL Exam.</strong></p>\n\n<p><strong>Advantages of becoming RA</strong></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Tuition Fee waiver</p></li>\n<li><p>Increases chances for off-campus placement.</p></li>\n<li><p>Exposure to Subject in depth.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14719,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Unfortunately there's some ambiguity in language here that I think is causing a wide variety of different answers.</p>\n\n<p>\"Research Assistant\" means many different things to many different people. Most commonly in the U.S., this invokes the idea of a funding mechanism for a graduate student that doesn't involve teaching. If this is what you mean, then the answers about getting into graduate school apply. And then yes, in that case, it is possible to get admitted to graduate school straight out of undergrad, and work for a professor doing research - the requirements of that will vary depending on the type of school, department, etc. you're looking at.</p>\n\n<p>If you just mean \"Someone who works on research projects\", then I'm going to suggest another title - in the \"wet lab\" sciences I'd say \"Lab Tech\", and unfortunately most of the computational researchers I know come from a biological heritage, so use \"Lab Tech\" even when referring to programmers and the like. </p>\n\n<p>If this is what you mean, then you're talking about being a research employee of the university, paid for likely by grant money and working for a particular professor. It's certainly possible to do this - a former group I worked for regularly hired people out of undergrad to work on programming projects that made like easier for other people in the department, and we've got a researcher now who came straight out of undergrad. As for what's required? Likely not a GRE, but your academics should be fairly strong, and you should have some evidence of the quality of your work. That can be publications and independent research, or it could be a portfolio of things you've done for other people - after all, the job is \"Can you do things well for other people\".</p>\n\n<p>It's likely a particular professor you'll have to contact, and be warned - if you're looking to come in from another country, you have to be worth more than the visa and immigration hassle, and it's going to be an uphill climb when there's likely undergraduates at their own university who probably wouldn't mind a job after graduation either.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/09/30 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13093",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6589/"
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|
13,098 | <p>The deadline for uploading conference papers (extended abstracts) for presentations at the AICHE conference (<a href="http://www.aiche.org/conferences/aiche-annual-meeting/2013" rel="noreferrer">http://www.aiche.org/conferences/aiche-annual-meeting/2013</a>) is tonight. I have already been accepted to present on the basis of my abstracts submitted a while ago. (I wasn't invited to this conference; it requires registration and submission of material).</p>
<p>I emailed the event organizer and received the reply: "We strongly encourage a paper (synonymous with extended abstract) submission. However, it is not a requirement to present."</p>
<p>I <em>can</em> submit something today, but I would prefer not to. For one thing, some of the material needs a little more polish. And for another, I'd rather not reveal research results before the presentation date in November. I meant to ask my advisor his opinion earlier when I met with him today, but it slipped my mind. I've just started year two of grad school and this will be my first conference presentation.</p>
<p>Is there a good reason to go ahead and submit anyway? Having no conference experience, I am not even sure what/who these papers/extended abstracts are for. Am I skipping something that I really should be doing?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p><strong>EDIT</strong>: Checking the online presentations, it appears that <em>most</em> people have not uploaded an extended abstract. Not sure if that makes a difference...</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13104,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The main thing you get by submitting something is a publication on your CV. The value of a conference publication varies heavily by field; except in computer science, they are usually of much less value than a journal publication. But since you are a student, presumably even this is a substantial addition to your CV.</p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, conference papers are usually published in a book that is later impossible to get a copy of. Usually a conference publication is a limited, preliminary version of work that will later be published in a journal. It can also be a good place to publish work that is interesting but that you can't/won't pursue far enough to make it worth a journal publication.</p>\n\n<p>Speaking as a professor, <strong>you should not submit anything to a conference without first having your advisor review it</strong>. So I think at this point you're better off not submitting anything, but I recommend planning in advance to submit something to the next conference.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13105,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>As a chemical engineer,</strong> I would recommend <em>against</em> submitting an extended abstract. The primary reason for this is that, unlike proceedings of the <a href=\"http://www.mrs.org\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Materials Research Society</a>, the extended abstracts of the AIChE annual meeting are <strong>not</strong> peer-reviewed. Therefore, any such publication will automatically be of lower weight than something that has been published in a venue that provides peer review.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, because the work has effectively been \"published,\" you will find it harder to secure publication for fuller versions of this work later on, as many journals could view the extended abstract as a \"prior publication\" and reject a paper on those grounds. </p>\n\n<p>Moreover, as David Ketcheson suggests in his answer, the dissemination of your research will be greatly hampered by the relatively low circulation of the extended abstracts. </p>\n\n<p>So, for this conference in particular, and more generally for <em>any</em> conference whose proceedings are not peer-reviewed, I would avoid submitting extended abstracts and conference proceedings.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13109,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let me chime in advising against submitting an extended abstract submission. </p>\n\n<p>In my field (analytical chemistry/biospectroscopy) we joke that such proceedings (including the mandatory ones e.g. with SPIE conferences) are quite good if you need a publication, but at the same time want to make sure that noone will ever read it. </p>\n\n<p>Most of our conferences do not have their \"own\" proceedings any more, but instead papers can be submitted to a themed issue of a proper journal, undergoing the usual peer-reviewing process for a paper. </p>\n\n<p>Maybe you can ask the organizer whether any such issue is planned, and for what journal? </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13098",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
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|
13,099 | <p>I often brainstorm research ideas on my whiteboard. I then run out of space and want to store and print the contents of the whiteboard. In general I <a href="http://jeromyanglim.tumblr.com/post/48596358182/whiteboard-workflow" rel="nofollow noreferrer">have a system of taking a photo of the whiteboard</a> with my phone, which is synchronised to dropbox, which then creates a copy on my computer. Now I can print the image, on my computer, but it is not optimised for printing.
It is possible to open it up in photoshop and manually make it black and white, and try to optimise the contrast and so on. </p>
<p>However, I'd ideally like it to be a one click process for printing a whiteboard image. The whole point is that the process shouldn't disrupt the brainstorming process.</p>
<p><strong>How can I efficiently print digital photos of a whiteboard that are optimised for printing?</strong></p>
<p>Naturally, the procedure might vary under different computing or phone operating systems. An ideal solution would be (a) extremely efficient, (b) minimise printing toner usage, (c) maximise readability. Useful automated steps would include: (a) optional conversion to black and white; (b) arrangement of image into a size and layout designed for printed paper, (c) optimising contrast so that the whiteboard is white and only markings print. Some form of auto-cropping might also be useful.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> A few options I've discovered since posting:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://rii.ricoh.com/apps" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ricoh has a couple of Apps for iphone and Android</a> that will email you a modified whiteboard photo. I wasn't entirely happy with the quality of the results, but with good initial lighting and black and white image, it seem to work okay. They also have <a href="http://whiteboard.rii.ricoh.com/whiteboard_cleanup/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a web app that is quite easy to use</a> for uploading single files and then printing cleaned versions. </li>
<li>This <a href="http://matthew.mceachen.us/blog/how-to-clean-up-photos-of-whiteboards-with-gimp-403.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">gimp tutorial</a> and <a href="http://registry.gimp.org/node/19822" rel="nofollow noreferrer">gimp script</a> for processing whiteboard images. The manual process if fairly straightforward, but not a single click.</li>
<li><a href="https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/18717/">Various suggestions on Photo StackExchange for getting more professional results</a> particularly one involving shooting both the original image and and an empty white board and digitally subtracting images. It all sounds a bit complex for simple brainstorming needs.</li>
<li>These suggestions on <a href="https://superuser.com/questions/107313/software-to-clean-up-photos-of-whiteboards-and-documents">SuperUser</a>. In particular, there's an email service where you email the original whiteboard photo file and get a cleaned version back <a href="http://snapclean.me/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://snapclean.me/</a> . It took a few minutes when I tried it.</li>
</ul>
<p><em>Given that using whiteboards is fundamental to teaching and research, I hope people don't mind that I have used this site for asking the question.</em></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13101,
"author": "Rex Kerr",
"author_id": 669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Optimizing a photo of a whiteboard is similar to optimizing a scan of a page. On Linux, I use <a href=\"http://scantailor.sourceforge.net/\" rel=\"nofollow\">scantailor</a> -- it usually does a great job for what I want. It's not automatic, but it's way faster than trying to tweak curves in Photoshop.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13102,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>How much money are you willing to spend? If the answer is around <strike>$400</strike> $900<sup>*</sup>, you can get a whiteboard capture system like this:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AQ4Zk6Pqr0\" rel=\"nofollow\">MimioCapture System</a></p>\n\n<p>You would have to change your workflow to make sure your computer was up and capturing, but you use regular whiteboard markers (albeit inside the electronic case).</p>\n\n<p><strike><sub>*educational pricing, I think, although you may have to buy additional software; I couldn't tell from the product's website</sub></strike></p>\n\n<p><sub>*It looks like the pricing is much more steep for a standalone system. I am not 100% positive, but it looks like the $400 system does need other expensive components. Darn. This one seems to be completely standalond:<a href=\"http://gigaom.com/2011/09/30/capture-what-you-draw-in-real-time-with-ebeam-edge-whiteboard/\" rel=\"nofollow\">eBeam Edge</a></sub></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13103,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For this I use <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/sa/app/turboscan-quickly-scan-multipage/id342548956?mt=8\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">TurboScan</a> on my iPhone. It's designed for scanning and there are many similar apps.</p>\n\n<p>It takes 3 photos and combines them to get one with good contrast and resolution. It optimizes for readability. It automatically detects the edge of the whiteboard and crops there; you can easily adjust the crop to be smaller if desired. You can easily adjust contrast.</p>\n\n<p>Here is a photo of what's on my whiteboard right now. This was taken in extremely poor lighting conditions (dim, with lots of glare). Also, TurboScan outputs a PDF, so you can zoom nicely without it becoming pixelated, but SE would only allow me to upload a JPEG, so what's below is lower quality. Right-click and open in a new window to see it better.\n<img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/vtYWi.jpg\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13107,
"author": "Wydawnictwo Kle",
"author_id": 8628,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8628",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It would not be too difficult to set up for an \"almost\" one-click operation. With a little bit of Unix shell scripting you could set up a process on the print server which could do the job. E.g. you could email a photo from your phone to a special email address on the print server (to make things simple on the phone side). On the server the process could look like this:</p>\n\n<p>saving attached photo upon receiving email -> processing it with e.g. ImageMagick to optimize for printing -> send to printer</p>\n\n<p>P.S.</p>\n\n<p>It seems the scantailor can also be used for batch processing, haven't tried it myself, though.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13099",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62/"
]
|
13,100 | <p>When applying for jobs after my PhD, should my CV include an incomplete degree I read towards years ago? It's a field completely unrelated to what I'm doing now. However, before my final year when I started getting sups and failures by the dozen (my reason for quitting) things actually went swimmingly. I worked with a renowned professor as an undergrad research assistant for a spell and even published a paper (on my own) during that phase of my academic journey. I didn't get a certificate out of it, but I nevertheless feel I honed some valuabe skills then (and of course I have a transcript listing the passes and failures).</p>
<p>I have since moved onto a completely unrelated humanities field. Should I mention the incomplete degree on my CV? If I ignore it, prospective employers might wonder what I did for three years of my life, surely? Should I list my science publication on my CV when it is irrelevant to what I'm doing now? Does quitting and switching tracks make me look flighty?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13106,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Changing fields in and of itself does not make you look flighty—many faculty members have changed research fields and even academic departments during the course of their careers, and it doesn't make them look flighty!</p>\n\n<p>What would be a problem is not having a valid reason for making the career switch. Struggling with a major in a science field is not a big deal; however, the fact that you managed to publish a scientific paper in that area actually represents a significant degree of accomplishment (<em>particularly</em> if you were an undergraduate at the time). </p>\n\n<p>Moreover, ignoring the degree on your CV could come back to haunt you if it is discovered later on, as \"fudging\" the CV is often grounds for termination for a position, even years afterwards. So I would not try to \"hide\" this. Instead, I would make sure that I have a logical and convincing explanation for that period of your life: why did you choose to start in that field at that time, what led you to leave it, and what lessons did you take from the experience. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13110,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>Don't omit it</strong>. Changing your mind at some point during your education or your career is nothing to be ashamed of. Just make sure to put it in a way that does not imply that you actually got the degree.</p>\n\n<p>Not listing it would be an error in three ways at least:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>experience even in unrelated fields is always valuable;</li>\n<li>if you omit that stint, there will be a hole on your CV, and you will have to explain it (so you'd better mention it upfront);</li>\n<li>you got a publication from it, so it was actually a successful experience, even if you didn't complete your degree</li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>In fact, my advice would be to always list what you've done on your CV, even if it is not an academic activity. <strong>Even if you spent two years traveling and selling onion rings on Australian beach grill house, put it in your CV.</strong> The pros outweigh the cons (and if that experience leads a potential recruiter to turn you away, ask yourself: would you have wanted to work with someöne who has such as narrow view of life?)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13100",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8507/"
]
|
13,113 | <p>I published a conference abstract with a undergraduate student of mine as a co-author. The work was presented as a poster and the conference doesn't publish proceedings/papers. I am now planning on publishing an extended version and want to drop her as a co-author. Can I do this?</p>
<p>Prior to the student starting the project we discussed authorship and agreed that it was unlikely that she would contribute enough to warrant authorship on anything that came out of the study since the experiment was conceived and implemented by me and I designed the statistical analysis. At the time of the conference, the student had collected approximately 1/4 of the data on the poster and did a fair amount of the statistical analysis, but her contribution was essentially just turning the crank. Given the effort she put in, I did not think it was out of place to have her as a co-author on the poster, but nor did I think it was required. I wrote the abstract and poster and asked her if she wanted to be an author and if so for any input on the abstract and poster.</p>
<p>Since then, I have collected a second independent data set and come up with a completely new analysis. I now feel her contribution (1/8 of the total data set and helping with a partial preliminary analysis) does not warrant authorship and I think it would be better to acknowledge her work in the acknowledgements then to add her as an author. I would discuss this with her, but she is out of the field and I cannot contact her easily. Can I drop her for the list of authors?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13114,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Most authorship questions are a gray area: she did contribute to the paper, but was it a <em>significant intellectual contribution</em> (which is one usual criterion), with emphasis of both <em>significant</em> and <em>intellectual</em> (or <em>scientific</em>)? That's for you and her to decide, taking into account the customs of your field.</p>\n\n<p>From her point of view, I can see two reasons why she might be consider a rightful co-author of the paper:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If the data collection was itself part of the scientific research, i.e. if it could not have been done by an unskilled worker following instructions. If so, then her data collection was significant (and it doesn't really ).</li>\n<li>If the conclusions drawn from the preliminary analysis were useful in tuning your final analysis, i.e. if her work helped design a better analysis method.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Though by your description it seems like she may not pass the threshold, it is true that having her as a co-author on an earlier publication (conference abstract) gives her a stronger case than otherwise. If her contribution was deemed important enough for authorship at first, and you now publish work that includes this contribution, why shouldn't she be an author? I don't think that authorship “dilutes” because other larger contributions were added…</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>In conclusion: you maybe have good reasons not to make her a co-author, but if she feels like fighting it, she does have valid enough arguments that it could get messy. I'd advise discussing it openly with her, but being ready to have her as co-author if she feels strongly about it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13135,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The <a href=\"http://www.math.ufl.edu/misc/hlrules.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Hardy-Littlewood rules of collaboration</a>, while formulated for a mathematical collaboration between peers, are a useful guide to a harmonious collaboration here. Specifically, the fourth axiom: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>...it was quite indifferent if one of them had not contributed the\n least bit to the contents of a paper under their common name . . .</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13144,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I generally agree with the answer by F'x, but there is an additional point: You wrote in your question that</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>she is out of the field and I cannot contact her easily</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I think that you <strong>shouldn't put her on the list of authors without her approval</strong>, for which you obviously need to contact her. Many journals that I know have the explicit policy that all authors need to approve the final manuscript.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't have any affordable means to reach her, one way out could be to cite the conference abstract / poster where she is a coauthor, even if it is not a formal research publication. Thus, you make clear that her contribution was only to the results presented earlier. In addition, you could explain the particular contribution in the acknowledgments.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 107064,
"author": "Oleg Lobachev",
"author_id": 46265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/46265",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The rule-to-go is the question <strong>\"has she contributed to the new paper?\"</strong> Next issue is to <strong>ask the actual contributee</strong>, if she wants to be on the authors' list – this was all mentioned in the answers above.</p>\n\n<p>Bu-uuuut. I see a bad flag raised here. It is a <strong>follow-up work</strong> on something you worked together with her. How much of <em>that</em> work transitioned into the current one? Has she contributed to those parts?</p>\n\n<p>I would say, if you answer the above questions positively, she <em>should</em> be mentioned in the authors' list. But, please, do as the first paragraph states.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13113",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
]
|
13,117 | <p>How <em>illegal</em> is it to cite books that were illegally downloaded?</p>
<p>If they aren't available in the university library, if you can't really afford the books (maybe you will make one reference in one article and the book costs $250+), if there isn't anything else you can use (published articles, reports, etc)... it's one more citation for the author. So in fact you might be helping the authors academic career (here I am considering only academic authors). </p>
<p>I do try my best to find other articles that I might be able to use in my work, but sometimes there is nothing else written, or not enough time to do the extra search.</p>
<p>What do you do?</p>
<p>ps1: I do buy books that are important to my research.</p>
<p>ps2: I do download books that can be important to my research.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13118,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can cite a reference even if you have not read it, although that of course is a poor practice.</p>\n\n<p>For books in English, you can often get a reasonably good idea about what a book covers by looking at Google books or previews on Amazon. That may not get you as far as you would have liked, but it is better than nothing.</p>\n\n<p>I thought research was an altruistic attempt to expand the humankind's knowledge; have I been wrong all these years???</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13131,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The illegal act of course is the download, never the citation. @Federico Poloni answered that correctly. </p>\n\n<p>However:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If they aren't available in the university library, if you can't really afford the books</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>besides the possibilities @StasK mentioned:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>In many countries there exist inter-library catalogues (e.g. <a href=\"http://gso.gbv.de/DB=2.1/\">GVK</a>) that tell you which libraries have the book you're looking for. Once you know that (or your local librarian found out for you), you can ask your local librarian to either get the whole book via <strong>inter-library loan</strong>, or</li>\n<li>to order a <strong>partial copy</strong> (e.g. the chapter or the exact pages you need).</li>\n<li>There are also <strong>commercial document delivery services</strong> (see for an example: <a href=\"http://www.subito-doc.de/index.php?\">Subito</a>). Which offer tracking down documents and again either loan of the book or partial copies.<br>\nEven the linked commercial service charges only 9 € per book inside Germany for non-commercial customers and 25 € worldwide for commercial customers but excluding UK and USA (I don't know why). </li>\n<li>If you're talking about a <em>thesis</em>: university libraries usually have a copy at least of all PhD theses done at that university, for Bachelor or Master theses you'd often have to ask the institute (or supervisor) where the work was done.</li>\n<li>In Germany, the <a href=\"http://www.dnb.de/EN/Wir/wir_node.html\">national library</a> has a copy of each book published in Germany or in German (or about Germany) from 1913 on. There are also field-specific large libraries, as for example the <a href=\"http://www.tib-hannover.de/en/the-tib/\">TIB Hannover</a> for technical literature.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So, <em>are you sure \"can't really afford\" is a valid argument?</em></p>\n\n<p>(Whether you nevertheless download pirate copies, or ask your neighbour to let you have a look into her book, or buy it despite the fact that the neigbour at the other desk owns it as well, stays entirely your own choice.)</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>If I have to get a book by inter-library loan, I try to make a copy of the vital chapter. This is legal here in Germany (single copies for personal use, reseach or teaching of not too large part of a book). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 72238,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Citing a book that you downloaded in violation of copyright law is not illegal. Citation does not qualify as copyright violation because it is not one of the exclusive rights of the copyright holder (e.g., it does not involve modification, distribution, public performance, the creation of derivative work, etc). I am not aware of any context in which simply citing a work would violate a law.</p>\n\n<p>Although there are strong academic norms about citation, these are generally not codified as laws. For example, citing a book you have not read is considered bad form but you would not be breaking any laws if you did it. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13117",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/636/"
]
|
13,119 | <p>The simple version:</p>
<p>I've been out of college for 7 years and want to pursue graduate studies in a field unrelated to my undergraduate degree but am not sure how.</p>
<p>The detailed version:</p>
<p>My college career began as a Physics major. I made what I now consider the mistake of changing to a technically driven humanities major (Electronic Media, Arts and Communications) although I completed a great deal of my pure sciences coursework.</p>
<p>Years later I have a very solid job in a field that I hate and want desperately to get back to school to work towards higher degrees in mathematics. I've spent the last five years as a systems engineer with a focus on network distributed video and have a very solid resume in my field, but my academic credentials are poor. A 2.8 GPA (albeit from a strong school) and an unrelated B.S.</p>
<p>I've made it a point to keep up studies in math, participing in a great many MOOCs to try to backfill my mathematical education and keep my skills sharp.</p>
<p>What I <em>don't</em> know is how to re-approach academics. Would I need to earn some additional undergraduate credits before applying for a graduate program? I expect GREs will be required, but that's not a major issue as I've been scoring quite well on practice exams.</p>
<p>I <em>know</em> that I lack educational recommendations and undergraduate research, and I have absolutely no idea how to supplement this lack...</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13123,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As mentioned in the comments, visit the Universities, meet with the professors of the fields that interest you the most (of course, make an appointment to see them). I would suggest emailing professors (not to the point of pestering) - asking them about research papers they've had published - show an interest in and knowledge about their work.</p>\n\n<p>Going further, you have Physics and you have been taking a lot of courses to keep your skill set up to date, so these would work in your favour. On top of that, your work experience provides a solid work-ethic and some more applied skills and knowledge (which, depending on what you are going for, may of a huge benefit to you).</p>\n\n<p>Talk to the admissions people of the faculties in the universities that you are interested in. </p>\n\n<p>Most of all, in all interactions, be truthful about everything including your grades, academic history, work experience and motivations. But speak of the skills that you have gained from each thing you have done.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29488,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To get admitted to a graduate program in math, although work experience may suggest greater maturity, etc., the issues will be letters of recommendation and documentable standard-material background (whether in conventional courses or somehow-verifiable self-study...), and possibly a GRE subject test score if only to show that one is aware that the thing exists and is widely believed to be relevant (even while many, including myself, do not consider it a good predictor of anything much beyond multiple-choice-test-taking abilities).</p>\n\n<p>Unless you've self-studied into a quite unusual state of expertise, you'll most likely not have much success in getting an idea of what contemporary research in mathematics is about, and it might be awkward to attempt a conversation with faculty about their current work. Perhaps such a thing would be feasible in other fields (I have no idea...) it is not typical in mathematics. That is, people going to grad school usually have only a general idea of the direction of their interests, even with a solid coursework background. In particular, funding for graduate work is rarely dependent upon connecting with any particular faculty more than tentatively. (Again, this is evidently unlike other fields.)</p>\n\n<p>Helpful letters of recommendations would be from professional mathematicians actively involved in research, acquainted with graduate programs in mathematics, who can speak from direct personal experience both about what such programs will demand of you, and about your qualifications to meet those challenges in terms of prior preparation and in terms of interest.</p>\n\n<p>Probably the way to put yourself in a position to have such letter writers is to take upper-division or beginning-graduate courses at a solid university, as a \"non-degree student\", do well, and thereby be able to ask the instructor for such letters. It's not the <em>credits</em> themselves, but the information and the certification by faculty (beyond \"getting a good grade\"). That is, you'll want people to attest to your <em>future</em> potential, beyond accomplishments to date, in the sense that (hopefully) \"you've only just begun\", rather than having peaked-out.</p>\n\n<p>If you <em>are</em> an outstanding multiple-choice test-taker, getting a stellar score on the math subject test GRE will catch the eye of many! :)</p>\n\n<p>Other routes for certifying that your self-study has made progress are difficult. E.g., certificates from on-line courses are not worth much, and, most often, those courses are too elementary to be relevant to graduate study in mathematics.</p>\n\n<p>If you are not geographically flexible, going to the nearby universities mathematics departments and asking \"what it would take\" for admission, _with_funding_ (don't go without funding), and try to do it. The whole process might take long enough that it'd be wise to keep the job you have, even if you don't like it, to support yourself (and others?) through the preliminary stages of gaining entry into a graduate mathematics program.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13119",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8818/"
]
|
13,120 | <p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s_number" rel="noreferrer">Erdős number</a> is the academic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration_graph#Collaboration_distance" rel="noreferrer">collaboration distance</a> someone has to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s" rel="noreferrer">Paul Erdős</a>. <a href="http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/collaborationDistance.html" rel="noreferrer">MathSciNet has a tool</a> to calculate the collaboration distance between two mathematicians (where one may or may not be Erdős). Alas, I am not a mathematician, and if I have an Erdős number at all, it's probably quite large. But the concept of collaboration distance is, of course, not limited to mathematics.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/92Srl.png" alt="Erdős number">
<br /><sup>Source: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erdosnumber.png" rel="noreferrer">Wikimedia Commons, user h2g2bob, cc-by-sa</a></sup></p>
<p>Are there any online tools to calculate the collaboration distance between two arbitrary scientists, whether in mathematics or not? In principle this should be possible using any large database of scientific publications. It would be fun to know if I have an Erdős number, or what my distance (and the route!) is to famous scientists in my field.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13121,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While it's always pretty difficult to offer a definitive <strong>“no”</strong> as answer to such a question, I'll go on an limb and say it here:</p>\n\n<p><strong>No</strong>, the mathematical community is the only large scale community to feature comprehensive collaboration database, and ways to query the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration_graph\" rel=\"noreferrer\">collaboration graph</a>. <strong>None of the widely used general publication or citation databases offer such a feature</strong> (I checked Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar). Field-specific databases in other fields (such as PubMed, SciFinder, etc.) do not offer them either.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13124,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://www.vosviewer.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">VOSviewer</a> is a free (however not online) tool developed at Leiden University that can be used to create maps based on network data. Although it does not have any function for the Erdös number, it provides capabilities to view collaboration networks. The example below (taken from the <a href=\"http://www.vosviewer.com/maps/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">VOS-viewer web page</a>) shows an overview of the scientific world through relations among 5000 major scientific journals. Visit the web-page for more details on the software and additional examples.</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/qXnKI.jpg\" alt=\"Image from VOSviewer example at VOSviewer web page\"></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13125,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://academic.research.microsoft.com\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Microsoft Academic Search</a> provides a way to compare the connections between two authors. From the profile page of an author, you can click on the \"co-author graph\", and then on the tab co-author path, which allows you to search for all connections between the author and another one. </p>\n\n<p>For instance, <a href=\"http://academic.research.microsoft.com/VisualExplorer#1112639&2037349\" rel=\"noreferrer\">this is the co-author path between Paul Erdös and Jeffrey Ullman</a>. I don't know how extensive is the graph for other fields than Computer Science though. </p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/bZHoJ.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 60574,
"author": "Austin Henley",
"author_id": 746,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/746",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have been using <a href=\"https://www.csauthors.net/distance\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://www.csauthors.net/distance</a> for a few years now. It seems to work decent considering I am not a mathematician either. However, it does not work on your name :(</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/YafsJ.png\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/YafsJ.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a></p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13120",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033/"
]
|
13,122 | <p>I'm having some trouble trying to find a place to publish. Therefore this question is about how to find these places.</p>
<p>For this I provide the following example, my particular case.</p>
<p>I'm searching for:</p>
<ul>
<li>A journal, not a conference, workshop, etc.</li>
<li>Where publishing is free (no cost for processing the paper)</li>
<li>That is open access (no cost for readers)</li>
<li>Where the reviews are transparent/public. I.e. anyone can follow the review process</li>
<li>Where my drafts are also public (for people to follow the review process) The point is that I would like not to need arxiv.org or similar services to dissuade reviewers from shifty actions</li>
<li>In the field of computer science theory (like lambda calculus and such)</li>
<li>LaTeX should be accepted, this is very important</li>
<li>I don't need trees dying, online publishing is fine</li>
<li>I don't care about impact factors, as long as the journal is trustworthy</li>
</ul>
<p>This is my particular case, but I'd like to make clear that I'm not asking for this specific fish for me, but for a good method about how to fish that can be useful for everybody in academia, specially those that are new and do not have this kind of knowledge.</p>
<p>PD: maybe a workaround would be using two services where one should be. Now I am thinking about uploading the paper to arxiv.org (or similar) and asking for reviews and comments on cstheory (or similar). I think that would meet all requirements and <em>implicit</em> requirements (implicit for journals) as allowing citations on my paper, proving authorship, etc. I'm not sure about being overlooking something or which considerations should be done to find the right place(s) to publish in this new context.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13128,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The set of journals you are describing is almost <em>guaranteed</em> to be equivalent to the null set. You are specifying way too many criteria on the journal. You are basically asking for a complete wish list that no single journal can reasonably satisfy and still survive. For instance: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>How does it pay its ISP hosting bill? </li>\n<li>Who handles the processing and editing of articles? </li>\n<li>Who does the typesetting and copyediting? </li>\n<li>Who maintains the web site?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>All of these things require labor, and is not something that anyone is likely willing to donate <em>pro bono</em>. That means income has to come from somewhere.</p>\n\n<p>Some of these criteria are not problems (for example, a CS journal is unlikely to refuse a LaTeX submission). However, in total, I think you really need to decide which criteria are required, and which ones would be nice to have. Then prioritize accordingly. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13240,
"author": "Jan Erik Frantsvåg",
"author_id": 8898,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8898",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Use this link <a href=\"http://doaj.org/doaj?func=csv\">http://doaj.org/doaj?func=csv</a> to download the complete list of journals from DOAJ, with metadata as scientific field, license (if CC) and whether you have to pay to publish. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26735,
"author": "just-learning",
"author_id": 10483,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10483",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here is a <a href=\"http://doaj.org/search?source=%7B%22query%22:%7B%22filtered%22:%7B%22query%22:%7B%22match_all%22:%7B%7D%7D,%22filter%22:%7B%22bool%22:%7B%22must%22:[%7B%22term%22:%7B%22bibjson.author_pays.exact%22:%22N%22%7D%7D]%7D%7D%7D%7D%7D\" rel=\"nofollow\">link</a> for DOAJ search listing open access journals specifically involving the no-author-charges condition, and <a href=\"http://doaj.org/search?source=%7B%22query%22:%7B%22filtered%22:%7B%22query%22:%7B%22match_all%22:%7B%7D%7D,%22filter%22:%7B%22bool%22:%7B%22must%22:[%7B%22term%22:%7B%22_type%22:%22journal%22%7D%7D,%7B%22term%22:%7B%22index.classification.exact%22:%22Science%22%7D%7D,%7B%22term%22:%7B%22index.classification.exact%22:%22Electronic%20computers.%20Computer%20science%22%7D%7D,%7B%22term%22:%7B%22bibjson.author_pays.exact%22:%22N%22%7D%7D]%7D%7D%7D%7D%7D\" rel=\"nofollow\">another one</a> restricted to the computer science (again with zero publication charges, of course). </p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, I do not quite see how to restrict the results of the above searches to meet your other criteria(accepting (La)TeX submissions etc.) without checking the specific journals by hand.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13122",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571/"
]
|
13,129 | <p>When reviewing a paper for peer review, I consistently find that I spend <strong>way</strong> more time on a paper than if I were just reading it for understanding.</p>
<p>How can one increase the speed at which they review papers, without compromising on the quality of the review?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13130,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think speed primarily comes with experience. Reviewing will nevertheless take lots of time for good reasons. Unlike when you read a manuscript (MS) for referencing in a MS of your own, you need to read everything. You also need to think about what has been referenced in detail and evaluate if omissions have been made in the referencing. You need to look at figures and tables for errors or problems, or just to suggest improvements. If you can, you also can or should comment on the language and structure of the paper. To cap off, you probably need to read the paper more than once, perhaps not in the same detail but one read is not enough. In all, this takes time. With each review this may become easier and you will be able to expedite the review.</p>\n\n<p>I personally probably spend around a working day on a normal MS. Early in my career it may have taken twice the time. Some MS may take even longer. I don't think there exist any dependable short-cuts apart from being well read-up on the subject in general, and being experienced in reading and commenting on MS and reports. I am, however, convinced that the larger reductions in time occur early on since the benefits of experience comes quickly. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13138,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You will get better at this as you gain experience… but it will/should never be a blazingly fast process. The two reasons you will become faster at it are:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You gain more experience in the process itself, as Peter says.</li>\n<li>As time goes by, you will probably give up faster on very bad papers. I remember one of my first reviews, where I wrote 2 pages of minute review of a paper, concluding that it should be rejected without a doubt for lack of originality (giving a reference to earlier work which the authors had re-discovered). Now, I would not bother with the in-depth review when it has become clear that the manuscript should be rejected.</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13129",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3860/"
]
|
13,133 | <p>So, to start with my question... PhDs/research are undoubtedly hard/stressful, but how much is too much? Should I leave my PhD in my 6th year or just take a bit of a leave to try and regroup? (I'm 31 if that makes any difference.)</p>
<p>As with most, my path through grad school has not been straightforward and I apologize in advance for the lengthy background/question. </p>
<p>I received my MS and was planning to continue for a PhD at University A (contingent upon me getting funding + suitable project). Got both of those figured out, but my advisor was told my project would not help her tenure case and had an awkward advisor switch. Got fed up with politics at A then transferred to University B (in year 4) where I have a fantastic and super supportive advisor. </p>
<p>I just started my 6th year, but have not yet taken my qualifying exam. Many reasons for this, but mostly the program at Univ A was more interdisciplinary (better matched to my research) while the program at Univ B is much more traditional/focused on fundamentals. I need to relearn a lot of material which is not really relevant to my research and have been at a complete loss of motivation for months now. Being daunted by oral exams certainly plays a role, but also feel that a PhD is no longer required as my career goals have also shifted. </p>
<p>All of this, switching schools, etc. etc. has taken its toll on my emotionally/mentally to the point where my research progress is practically non-existent. This has all triggered pretty severe anxiety/depression (yes, I am getting help elsewhere too), but even so, I am seriously questioning whether it is really worth putting myself through this any more.</p>
<p>I love my research topic (on good days), but at what point is the stress of a PhD not worth it anymore? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13134,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have just completed my PhD, so the angst you speak of is still fresh in my memory. I will say that it is good that you are thinking about your options instead of making a rash decision. We can not answer whether or not you should leave your PhD, that decision is yours and yours alone to make.</p>\n\n<p>Having said that, a few things to consider (some of which you have alluded to already):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Your enjoyment of the research topic - is it stronger than the frustration hat you feel? You mention that the move between schools and the internal politics has had a negative effect on your research productivity, reflect on what is causing that.</p></li>\n<li><p>Your career goals have shifted, so is the PhD relevant to what you are planning to do? More so, is the PhD in any way holding you back from achieving the career goals?</p></li>\n<li><p>An important question with regards to your PhD, is what is it leading to? What is the 'end game' of it all, so to speak?</p></li>\n<li><p>Will taking a year off having a negative effect on your funding etc? Conversely, will the year off allow you to, as you say, regroup - and also perhaps explore that career path.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I am 36, and just finished my PhD - so your age is not that important, you're still young. Never feel that you are 'obliged' to complete the PhD in a certain time frame, if at all - you have to look out for what is best for you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13149,
"author": "dan",
"author_id": 8827,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8827",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was in a similar situation where I had to transfer from Univ A to Univ B which is in a different country! Making that decision took a toll on me for months since my adviser was pressurizing me too. Finally I decided to move with him, but after a year and half at my univ I realized he was a total jerk and ignorant who did nothing for me but help destroy my career for 5 years. I understand you like your adviser and subject which is a plus.</p>\n\n<p>My suggestion to you is that to take matters in to your hands! Work on subjects you like, avoid the negative comments and people (very important), forget about the number of years you spend, send papers out and you will be fine. I have done much much better in the last 6 months of PhD than the rest. From the point where I thought had no research at all, now I feel somewhat confident that I will pass the defense next month! Try to read inspirational books to get yourself going. This website helped me a lot <a href=\"http://www.marcandangel.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.marcandangel.com/</a> or find some other self-help books and get your inspiration back because it is very vital.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/02 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13133",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8821/"
]
|
13,137 | <p><em>Though related to <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/890/2700">this question</a> on undegrad student affiliation, I am in a somewhat different situation…</em></p>
<p>I am an undergrad student at the Miskatonic University. For completion of their BSc, students at MU are required to perform a 6-week research project in a research lab, which I did with a professor at another institution: Unseen University. I loved it, extending my stay there for 3 more weeks into my summer break. Now, <strong>we will submit a paper with the results of that internship project, but I don't know what affiliation(s)</strong> to put.</p>
<p>The specifics are:</p>
<ul>
<li>I am not paid by MU, and did not set foot there during my research project (not using the library, nothing)</li>
<li>I was not paid by the research institution (UU), either</li>
<li>Though I am keeping an eye on the research project, I did not do any significant work since my internship ended (vacations, then too busy with courses)</li>
</ul>
<p>I think I should put UU as my affiliation, because I used their resources. But maybe UU being the affiliation of the main authors (grad student and professor on the project) is enough? And should I put MU as affiliation?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13139,
"author": "Sibbs Gambling",
"author_id": 8079,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8079",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~yinw/publication/mobisys13-final.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">A paper that I have recently read</a> may be a good reference (or example). As can be seen, one of the co-authors, Xuemei Liu is under <code>Baidu, Inc. Shanghai</code>. The research work was done when she (gender inferred from the name) was done during her internship at <code>HP Lab</code>.</p>\n\n<p>She wrote the affiliation as <code>Baidu</code>, and used a star mark as the footnote indicating the work was carried out during her <code>HP Lab</code> internship period.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><strong>Update: Another more relevant example:</strong></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.cs.ust.hk/~qyang/Docs/2005/Sigir05Xue.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">This paper here</a> is exactly the case. The first author is a student under <code>Shanghai Jiaotong University</code> (student and thus, unpaid). The work of the paper was performed when he was an internship under <code>Microsoft Research Asia</code>. They adopted the same way: affiliation is still the university and a star footnote indicates the internship connection.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13589,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>IMHO being paid or not doesn't matter at all (e.g. a PhD student payed by a scholarship doesn't list the scholarship as affilitation but the university, funding goes into the acknowledgements). </p>\n\n<p><em>I'd list both adresses</em></p>\n\n<p>What matters is that there is an official relationship. Official relationships the student has with both universities:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>MU for the studies (not going there outside lecture time doesn't matter - you are allowed to study at home after all, and noone forces you to use their library). MU is also where you are now while writing up the paper.</li>\n<li>UU for the internship. Presumably there is some kind of supervision agreement or something. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Possibly an explanation that you were at MU as an internship (summer) student would be good (e.g. acknowledgements: thanking your supervisors - particularly if your MU supervisor is not coauthor of the paper?).</p>\n\n<p>Unlike the situation in the linked question, here it is clear that MU officially wanted you to do the internship (and for the internships I know you usually also have supervisor at MU), and UU officially had you over there to do the internship. </p>\n\n<p>But looking up how we deal with this, I find that all three possibilities are used in practice:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>giving only MU, as this is the \"main\" affiliation of the student (I think nowadays I'd give both affiliations - but my UU supervisor entered the affilations, so if he's OK with me being MU only, that's fine with me)</li>\n<li>giving only UU (I'm at the UU side, but I know the project is also a consulting project for studies at MU. But AFAIK no supervisor from MU was actively involved in the student's work.)</li>\n<li>giving both affiliations. Having multiple affiliations is increasing in my field as we have more and more interdisciplinary centers, and people give institute adresses rather than the university or the department. Working at a non-university research institute, students here usually have an affiliation with both our insitute and the university. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Update: policies</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>At my institute, the policy is \"discuss with the director\". </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Hovewer, some universities have policies on the net, e.g.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><a href=\"http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/3503\" rel=\"nofollow\">University of Adelaide: Authorship Policy </a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This Policy applies to all staff, <strong>students</strong> and titleholders<br>\n [...]<br>\n 1.5 All individuals and organisations that contributed to the research outcome (e.g. research assistants, technical writers, funding bodies, <strong>the University</strong>), must be properly acknowledged within the publication.<br>\n [...]<br>\n 2.5 As an acknowledgement of the institutional contribution to the delivery of research outcomes, <strong>authors must cite their institutional affiliation or affiliations</strong> in any publication.</p>\n</blockquote></li>\n<li><p><a href=\"http://wustl.edu/policies/authorship.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Washington university in St. Louis: Policy for Authorship on Scientific and Scholarly Publications</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Applicability: Faculty, Staff, Postdoctoral Scholars and Associates, Fellows, <strong>Trainees</strong>, and <strong>Students</strong> affiliated with Washington University </p>\n</blockquote></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/02 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13137",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
13,140 | <p>I have seen few people who learn better(or mostly) by reading textbooks themselves in private as that gives them more time to think back and forth about the material. While there are other students who are quick at grasping things transmitted orally like in a lecture and despise reading it through books. Few of the former even have this habit of not being able to learn at all sitting in a class as lesser time is devoted to discussion on a particular topic and the lecturer tries best to move to the next topic as quickly as possible(not always though). So should those who like to learn on their own through books be guilty for not attending classes(mandatory like in bachelors or masters programs) since they are anyway not going to assimilate much and it will be waste of time?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13139,
"author": "Sibbs Gambling",
"author_id": 8079,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8079",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~yinw/publication/mobisys13-final.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">A paper that I have recently read</a> may be a good reference (or example). As can be seen, one of the co-authors, Xuemei Liu is under <code>Baidu, Inc. Shanghai</code>. The research work was done when she (gender inferred from the name) was done during her internship at <code>HP Lab</code>.</p>\n\n<p>She wrote the affiliation as <code>Baidu</code>, and used a star mark as the footnote indicating the work was carried out during her <code>HP Lab</code> internship period.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><strong>Update: Another more relevant example:</strong></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.cs.ust.hk/~qyang/Docs/2005/Sigir05Xue.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">This paper here</a> is exactly the case. The first author is a student under <code>Shanghai Jiaotong University</code> (student and thus, unpaid). The work of the paper was performed when he was an internship under <code>Microsoft Research Asia</code>. They adopted the same way: affiliation is still the university and a star footnote indicates the internship connection.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13589,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>IMHO being paid or not doesn't matter at all (e.g. a PhD student payed by a scholarship doesn't list the scholarship as affilitation but the university, funding goes into the acknowledgements). </p>\n\n<p><em>I'd list both adresses</em></p>\n\n<p>What matters is that there is an official relationship. Official relationships the student has with both universities:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>MU for the studies (not going there outside lecture time doesn't matter - you are allowed to study at home after all, and noone forces you to use their library). MU is also where you are now while writing up the paper.</li>\n<li>UU for the internship. Presumably there is some kind of supervision agreement or something. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Possibly an explanation that you were at MU as an internship (summer) student would be good (e.g. acknowledgements: thanking your supervisors - particularly if your MU supervisor is not coauthor of the paper?).</p>\n\n<p>Unlike the situation in the linked question, here it is clear that MU officially wanted you to do the internship (and for the internships I know you usually also have supervisor at MU), and UU officially had you over there to do the internship. </p>\n\n<p>But looking up how we deal with this, I find that all three possibilities are used in practice:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>giving only MU, as this is the \"main\" affiliation of the student (I think nowadays I'd give both affiliations - but my UU supervisor entered the affilations, so if he's OK with me being MU only, that's fine with me)</li>\n<li>giving only UU (I'm at the UU side, but I know the project is also a consulting project for studies at MU. But AFAIK no supervisor from MU was actively involved in the student's work.)</li>\n<li>giving both affiliations. Having multiple affiliations is increasing in my field as we have more and more interdisciplinary centers, and people give institute adresses rather than the university or the department. Working at a non-university research institute, students here usually have an affiliation with both our insitute and the university. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Update: policies</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>At my institute, the policy is \"discuss with the director\". </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Hovewer, some universities have policies on the net, e.g.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><a href=\"http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/3503\" rel=\"nofollow\">University of Adelaide: Authorship Policy </a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This Policy applies to all staff, <strong>students</strong> and titleholders<br>\n [...]<br>\n 1.5 All individuals and organisations that contributed to the research outcome (e.g. research assistants, technical writers, funding bodies, <strong>the University</strong>), must be properly acknowledged within the publication.<br>\n [...]<br>\n 2.5 As an acknowledgement of the institutional contribution to the delivery of research outcomes, <strong>authors must cite their institutional affiliation or affiliations</strong> in any publication.</p>\n</blockquote></li>\n<li><p><a href=\"http://wustl.edu/policies/authorship.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Washington university in St. Louis: Policy for Authorship on Scientific and Scholarly Publications</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Applicability: Faculty, Staff, Postdoctoral Scholars and Associates, Fellows, <strong>Trainees</strong>, and <strong>Students</strong> affiliated with Washington University </p>\n</blockquote></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/02 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13140",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6418/"
]
|
13,143 | <p>I hope this question does not offend our American fellows. </p>
<p>I've read in news that the US government is partially closed and many agencies and services run by US federal government is no longer available, for example national parks, many websites, etc. I was wondering if this temporary government shutdown has any negative effects on academic life in US?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13145,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It definitely has. And by that, it has an impact even on academic life outside of the US. One of the most important data and literature resource in medical and life science is the US <a href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\">National Center for Biotechnology Information</a>, running for example the literature database PubMed. Now it has a statement on its website saying</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Due to the lapse in government funding, the information on this web site may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the web site may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Concerning the National Institute of Health, the website <a href=\"http://www.usa.gov/shutdown.shtml\">http://www.usa.gov/shutdown.shtml</a> states that</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Research into life-threatening diseases and other areas will stop, and new patients won’t be accepted into clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I'm not sure how to interpret this, but it could mean that the research personnel is on unpaid leave.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13153,
"author": "BSteinhurst",
"author_id": 7561,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7561",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the US most academic institutions are not run directly by the Federal Government and so are not shut down. That is even public universities are run by the states, not the Federal Government, and so are not shut down. So the teaching side of academic life in the US is not really impacted unless the shutdown lasts long enough to interrupt student loan and grant payments.</p>\n\n<p>Research is another issue and it depends on how exactly you are funded. If all of your federal grant money has been transferred to your university then it is there and you can use it. But you won't know when the next installment will come. If you work directly for a federal research unit then you have been shut down and sent home. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13155,
"author": "Sibbs Gambling",
"author_id": 8079,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8079",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just as an example:</p>\n\n<p>Today I tried to download <a href=\"http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/publications/1370/download/\">this paper from NASA</a>, but failed. It was only then when I realized <a href=\"http://www.nasa.gov\">the US Government has been shut down</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13219,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This affects people outside the US too: some databases maintained by US institutions, like NIST, have been effectively shut down. In the case relevant to my work, I don't have access to the <a href=\"http://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/\" rel=\"nofollow\">NIST Chemistry Webbook</a> and related databases, which is a royal pain in the buttocks.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13228,
"author": "mvolz",
"author_id": 8891,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8891",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The <a href=\"http://wonder.cdc.gov/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wonder database</a> containing the surveillance data that the CDC collects has been shut down.</p>\n\n<p>Epidemiologists worldwide use these data. </p>\n\n<p>If anyone is searching for the data that was in the morbidity tables from the National Disease Surveillance Survey (NDSS), that data up to May 2013 is <a href=\"https://github.com/abought/cdc_mmwr_liberation/blob/master/tabdatafiles/cdc-mmwr-tables_1996_jan-2013_may_25.tar.gz\" rel=\"nofollow\">available on github</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13231,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/news/us-antarctic-research-season-is-in-jeopardy-1.13889\" rel=\"nofollow\">appears</a> that the shutdown may result in the cancellation of a whole year of research in Antarctica.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/08/230445614/shutdown-forces-antarctic-research-into-caretaker-status\" rel=\"nofollow\">Update</a>: The NSF just shut down all Antarctic research, though they have left open the possibility of restarting some of it if the shutdown ends very soon.</p>\n\n<p>Update 2: Antarctic season is \"open\" but <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/news/politics-the-long-shadow-of-the-shutdown-1.13978\" rel=\"nofollow\">some projects will still be cancelled</a> this year due to the delay.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/02 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13143",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
13,146 | <p>I have two publications submitted but rejected in top conferences. Is it advisable to mention and list them in my CV/resume to show that the work was submitted for publication?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13147,
"author": "Aaron",
"author_id": 1228,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You can certainly list them as manuscripts. I'm not sure what you are asking exactly: it would be a poor idea to list them as \"Rejected from Prestigious conference A\", or even \"Submitted to Prestigious conference A\" if Prestigious conference A has already made its decisions, and it is clear from the non-appearance of your paper that it was rejected. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13148,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Until you have them accepted, you can list them as \"Technical Reports\" on your C.V. Once they are accepted, you can switch out the reference to the conference or journal where they will be published.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13150,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should not say that they have been rejected from Conference X.</p>\n\n<p>The common practice in my field (mathematics) is to post a preprint (on arXiv or your website) at the same time as you submit a paper. In that case, it would be appropriate to list it on your CV as \"Preprint\" (and include a link). Of course, people may be able to read between the lines and guess that you are trying to get it published, but haven't succeeded yet.</p>\n\n<p>Hopefully you will soon be revising your papers and submitting them somewhere else, at which point you can list them as \"Submitted to Conference Y\".</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/02 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13146",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6816/"
]
|
13,157 | <p>I use active voice for cover letter and while doing that I end up with too many "I" and most of the sentences in my letter also begin with "I". This makes my letter quite boring. I would appreciate if you share your suggestion/tips to avoid this while writing a cover letter. </p>
<p>Since cover letter is the first thing that the potential employer notices, I want to write a concise and attractive cover letter. It will be also helpful if you share a link of a well-written cover letter.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13159,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Because it's a cover letter, I think it's quite natural that you say a lot about <em>you</em> in it. That's actually not to be avoided, because you want to give the addressee a good idea of your background, your motivations, your interests, etc. In short, you want to show them who you are, so they <em>want</em> to work with you. This is a totally different exercise than usual academic writing.</p>\n\n<p>Now, regarding the redundancy of <em>I</em>, it is a matter of writing style. It probably wouldn't bother me much, but if you want to diminish it for some reasons, here are worthy alternatives:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Instead of <em>starting</em> your sentence with <em>I</em>, just push it somewhere down in some sentences. That way, you avoid the pattern of <em>I</em> as the first word of every sentence.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Looking at your group's wide range of research, I must confess a certain attraction for your recent groundbreaking work on the correlation between <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0030-1299.2008.16551.x\">beer-drinking and publication rate</a>.</p>\n</blockquote></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://nowhere.com\"> </a></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Use constructions that, while retaining the first person, shift from the subject pronoun to other cases:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>It has been my intention for a few years now to shift my research interests from pure psychology to experimental psychohistory, and I have thus taken in 2009 a post-doc position at the University of Trentor (group of prof. Seldon)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>instead of <em>“I decided a few years ago to move to the field of psychohistory…”</em>. Similarly, you could say</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://nowhere.com\"> </a></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The standard techniques of academic writing… introduce the pronoun once, then shift the discuss to avoid being the actor, e.g. using passive voice.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>During my thesis, I introduced a new data reduction technique called XXZ. This algorithm, when applied to large datasets, was used to univocally establish whether data was being manipulated. In particular, results obtained on the 2000 election showed systematic bias against a specific candidate, highlighting its power as a diagnostic tool for real-life applications.</p>\n</blockquote></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://nowhere.com\"> </a></p>\n\n<p>Be aware that there are downsides, though: most of these alternatives are longer than a direct sentence starting with <em>I</em>, which means overusing them could make you sound windy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13162,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One possibility is to use \"my\" now and then: instead of \"I am experienced in ...\", write \"My fields of experience include ...\". Another possibility is to use references to previous sentences: instead of writing \"I developed the method of ... . I applied it to the problem of ... .\" write \"I developed ... . Its application to ... resulted in ... .\". Also, instead of writing \"I'm interested in the position because ...\", write \"This position will allow me to ... and benefit my ...\". The idea is always the same: look at all other words in the sentence and think of whether one of them can be made the subject without changing the meaning or diluting the \"importance\" of the sentence. If it can, do it. If not, resort to passive voice and other techniques suggested in this thread. If it is still not satisfactory for some reason, just use \"I\" and go to the next sentence. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/03 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13157",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8836/"
]
|
13,160 | <p>Nowadays, many journals publish articles online ahead of print, in a state that is given various names by the various publishers: in press, ASAP, just accepted, ahead of print, etc. The final printed paper will be identical with the online one, except maybe for page numbers and color figures… They can be cited through their DOI.</p>
<p>But if somebody, author or reader, were to find a fatal flaw with one such article, what should happen? Would the article be withdrawn (or retracted) before printing, or would it be printed nonetheless, then retracted later? And in any case, would the resulting paper be considered part of the scientific record, or not?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13161,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that unless you're talking about a quarterly or annual journal, the investigative process for a retraction would probably stretch past the point where the journal would have to be sent to press. The only exception I can see is a clear-cut plagiarism case. </p>\n\n<p>Therefore, I'd expect most plagiarism cases to proceed as if it were a standard case. </p>\n\n<p>For online-only journals, you might be able to stall publication while you figured such issues out. The article, once accepted, should go through the same treatment as a published article, so a formal retraction should be done. Otherwise, it could look like nothing was ever submitted in the first place, which is wrong. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13163,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In your question you say \"fatal flaw\" and the answer will strongly depend on the meaning or intent with using these words. A fatal flaw might mean a figure is wrong; you may have submitted an earlier version of a figure you later revised. A fatal flaw may also mean you discover something that negates your results; you used the wrong equation or based your conclusions on the wrong data, both in ways that would pose serious risk. A third way to interpret the term is by personally simply disagreeing with what has been published, but my guess is that this is not what you are primarily thinking about and it is of course not grounds for any actions.</p>\n\n<p>In the second case, retraction could be the only way forward. You should of course make the journal aware of this as soon as possible and ask for their suggested solution. If you have your paper published online but not yet printed, the journal (publisher) might retract it and it will never be printed. If it is printed they might retract it and probably print a note in a following issue to that fact. See examples for why in <a href=\"http://www.nejm.org/medical-articles/retraction\" rel=\"nofollow\">The New England Journal of Medicine</a></p>\n\n<p>In the first case, the journal will likely publish an erratum, publish the correct figure to follow up on the example. Anything that is of a technical nature and can be rectified by providing the correct version will be done so through errata,. In print this will be included also in a subsequent issue.</p>\n\n<p>Elsevier, for example, summarizes <a href=\"http://www.elsevier.com/about/publishing-guidelines/policies/article-withdrawal\" rel=\"nofollow\">their rules</a> and provides the following grounds for retraction:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ul>\n <li><em>Article withdrawal</em>: Only used for Articles in Press which represent early versions of articles and sometimes contain errors, or may have been accidentally submitted twice. Occasionally, but less frequently, the articles may represent infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or the like.</li>\n <li><em>Article retraction</em>: Infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or the like. Occasionally a retraction will be used to correct errors in submission or publication.</li>\n <li><em>Article Removal</em>: Legal limitations upon the publisher, copyright holder or author(s).</li>\n <li><em>Article Replacement</em>: Identification of false or inaccurate data that, if acted upon, would pose a serious health risk.</li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In essence, if something is officially published with a doi, there is no way to get corrections made in the pdf or in print. The online version must correspond to the printed and so the solution becomes providing a correction later on.</p>\n\n<p>Anything that has published will be possible to see. A paper that has been retracted will just be associated with a clear sign that a retraction has been made. The paper might live on through older copies on peoples computers or in their desk drawers.</p>\n\n<p>There is an <a href=\"http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0044118\" rel=\"nofollow\">article in PLOS one</a> that provides a perspective on retractions in general and which may be of interest.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/03 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13160",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
13,164 | <p>I am currently a PhD student in a program that I do not find challenging. A part of that may be due to the fact that my advisor has an EXTREMELY hands off approach. He will not return my emails for weeks on end and rarely gives me things to do, despite the fact that I am being paid as an RA.I worked with him for two years as an RA during my masters and I am currently in my first year of a PhD agree.</p>
<p>I also don't know if the program I am in is good for my career. I am generally unhappy with the required coursework I am taking and just weary of my future career options. Given the previous internships I have done at renowned institutions, I think I can do better.
I have been toying with the possibility of switching schools for quite some time now. Here is my problem: How do I apply to a new school without burning bridges with my current advisor? The problem is my advisor is NICE and so amiable. The hands off approach just doesn't work with me. Sometimes I get the feeling that I am not important or the least of my advisor's priorities. </p>
<p>I know that any program I apply to would want a recommendation from my advisor. I just don't know how to proceed! I want to apply to top tier programs in my field -- but want to retain a good relationship with my current advisor just in case I don't get accepted. </p>
<p>1)What is the best way to proceed without burning bridges? </p>
<p>2) Is it possible to apply to a new program without my previous advisor's recommendation?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13165,
"author": "Amory",
"author_id": 7886,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7886",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is the answer to everything, but <strong>talk to your advisor</strong>. If he is, as you say, very nice but hands off, you should talk to him. Express your concerns, that you really feel you need a more hands-on approach and that right now you feel like you are floundering. If you're honest and direct without blaming him, asking for help, he may change his behavior or work with you to find a better fit. Either is good for you, but you need to talk to him. He knows he's being hands-off, he just may not know that it is not working for you. You need to communicate that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13177,
"author": "Kta",
"author_id": 8778,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8778",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Since you received your Master's degree from the same institution, it is understandable that you would want to pursue other options even if you were not having difficulties with your advisor. This might be a good way to approach your advisor without causing unnecessary tension. Ask for a meeting, express your concerns tactfully, and ask for opinions on what your options are (both including going elsewhere, but also discuss what measures you can take to get more out of your program). Hopefully is your advisor is as amiable as he/she seems, this won't be a problem.\nI do not know how not having your advisor's recommendation would be received for applications, but it could lead to questions.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/03 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13164",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
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|
13,167 | <p>I teach a mixed undergrad/grad course that has lecture (300 people) and seminar (15 people) components. Thankfully for me, only the grad students get seminars. I have 2 TAs that assist with the seminars allowing us to break into 3 five-student 1-instructor discussion groups. The problem is that thanks to the miracle of central time tabling this year I have been given a tiered lecture hall that seats 25 people for the seminars. How do you run discussion groups in a cramped lecture hall?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13165,
"author": "Amory",
"author_id": 7886,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7886",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is the answer to everything, but <strong>talk to your advisor</strong>. If he is, as you say, very nice but hands off, you should talk to him. Express your concerns, that you really feel you need a more hands-on approach and that right now you feel like you are floundering. If you're honest and direct without blaming him, asking for help, he may change his behavior or work with you to find a better fit. Either is good for you, but you need to talk to him. He knows he's being hands-off, he just may not know that it is not working for you. You need to communicate that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13177,
"author": "Kta",
"author_id": 8778,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8778",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Since you received your Master's degree from the same institution, it is understandable that you would want to pursue other options even if you were not having difficulties with your advisor. This might be a good way to approach your advisor without causing unnecessary tension. Ask for a meeting, express your concerns tactfully, and ask for opinions on what your options are (both including going elsewhere, but also discuss what measures you can take to get more out of your program). Hopefully is your advisor is as amiable as he/she seems, this won't be a problem.\nI do not know how not having your advisor's recommendation would be received for applications, but it could lead to questions.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/03 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13167",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
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|
13,170 | <p>I'm applying for a post-doc where they ask for two "academic reference letters". Does the adjective "academic" strictly mean they must be from people working in academia? In my field, a good deal of research is performed at meteorological agencies, and I've co-authered several papers with a researcher employed at such an agency. Would a letter from a researcher who publishes lots of papers (5 1st-author articles in 2 years), but is not associated with any university, be considered an "academic reference letter"? Said researcher has a PhD, but further academic titles.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13171,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Better safe than sorry: check with the institution you're applying to, they may have formal requirements about this.</p>\n\n<p>However, I don't think it's likely to be very narrow. The important points are that the recommendation letters come from <strong>people with a good track record</strong>, i.e. people who clearly perform high-quality research, and that <strong>they have worked closely with you</strong> in the past. Whether they're affiliated with a university, a meteorological agency, the NASA, a museum, or even (may God have mercy on your soul) The Industry… it doesn't matter much.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13190,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've never known of an academic program that didn't accept letters from employees at research laboratories. Depending on the field, demonstrating such contacts can be a significant plus. Of course, some academics are only impressed by other academics.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/03 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13170",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033/"
]
|
13,172 | <p>I am about to begin my hunt for post-doc positions. As such, I will be discussing my dissertation work in some detail with potential post-doc advisers.</p>
<p>I am currently in the data collection phase, and none of this research has been published. I am somewhat worried because, as a requirement for my PhD, I have to contribute novel research to the field. I hope to submit a part of my dissertation to a conference; however most relevant conferences are not until next summer, and submissions are typically due early next year. In other words, this research will not be published for a while.</p>
<p>Is it appropriate to ask for some discretion when discussing my dissertation with professors who do similar research?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13849,
"author": "Jim",
"author_id": 7902,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7902",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are right to be cautious. better safe than sorry. But as Nate said there is an ethical responsibility on the side of the recruiter to keep things you said during the interview confidential. And since you are considering working for him, you surely do not have reason to doubt his honesty, or else you would have ran away!</p>\n\n<p>So: you should speak about your unpublished work and results. Be careful to mention that it is unpublished, though, to be sure they get it and do not mention it inadvertently to someone else.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13877,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the following won't apply to you, but may be useful for people in other fields with the same question. </p>\n\n<p>If you work in a field where putting preprints online is an accepted practice, then write up your work and upload a preprint. In this way you clearly establish priority without needing to wait for the article to be refereed.</p>\n\n<p>For instance, in Physics, CS, and Math, most researchers put preprints on arXiv.org.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13882,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is it appropriate to ask for some discretion when discussing my dissertation with professors who do similar research?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Sure, why not. The correct answer is \"certainly\". If it doesn't come, run away.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, to me it sounds extremely early to look for a postdoc job when you do not yet have any publications about dissertation project (and while you are still collecting data). </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/03 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13172",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8465/"
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|
13,178 | <p>When you meet new people entering the world of academic research, it is often tempting to try and guess what “sort” of researcher they'll be, based on their personality, character, known qualities, and defects, etc. You'll sometimes hear people say things like <em>“he's not cut out to be a researcher”</em>.</p>
<p>But I wonder: <strong>are there any studies that have probed the link between personality/character and success in academic life (and academic research in particular)?</strong></p>
<p>The sort of studies I imagine would be possible are things like assessing researchers' personalities (e.g. by the well-known <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator">Myers-Briggs classification</a>) and comparing the distribution against that of the general public… But I could not find anything serious through Google, though I imagine researchers in behavioral sciences, psychology, or other related fields must have tried to address this question.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13344,
"author": "Alecos Papadopoulos",
"author_id": 8575,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8575",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>1)</strong> Psychologists on Psychologists:<br>\nHelmreich, Robert L.; Spence, Janet T.; Beane, William E.; Lucker, G. William; Matthews, Karen A. (1980), \"Making it in academic psychology: Demographic and personality correlates of attainment\". <em>Journal of Personality and Social Psychology</em>, Vol 39(5), Nov 1980, 896-908. </p>\n\n<p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong>: Examined personality, demographic characteristics, publication rate, and citations to published work in a sample of 141 male and 55 female academic psychologists. Reputational rankings of their graduate schools and current institutions were significantly related to citations, as were components of achievement motivation. Mastery and work needs were positively related to citations, whereas competitiveness was negatively associated with the criterion. Large sex differences were found in citations, with men receiving significantly more recognition and producing at a higher rate. A model of attainment in psychology is proposed, and possible explanations for the differential attainment of the sexes are explored. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) </p>\n\n<p><strong>2)</strong> A more general review paper that includes a discussion and literature on psychological factors:<br>\nFox, M. F. (1983). \"Publication productivity among scientists: A critical review\". <em>Social Studies of Science</em>, 13(2), 285-305.<br>\navailable at<br>\n<strong><a href=\"http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/68920/10.1177_030631283013002005.pdf\">http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/68920/10.1177_030631283013002005.pdf</a></strong></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13380,
"author": "user389823",
"author_id": 8978,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8978",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are some small studies that examine the role of personality in academic success. You should search academic databases, if you can.</p>\n\n<p>Here are a few:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2273.1970.tb00328.x/abstract\" rel=\"nofollow\">Personality, study methods and academic performance</a> </li>\n<li><a href=\"http://psycnet.apa.org/?&fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/a0014996\" rel=\"nofollow\">A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2002.tb00667.x/abstract\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Effects of Personality Type on Engineering Student Performance and Attitudes</a></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13381,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I recently stumbled across <a href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19070437\">this study</a>, which postulates that modern science selects for sociability and perseverance at the expense of creativity and intelligence. The successful academic will be agreeable and persevering, but will not necessarily be very intelligent or creative. (These traits are derived from <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eysenck_Personality_Questionnaire\">Eysenk's Personality Questionnaire</a>.)\nIn short, dull people are preferred! </p>\n\n<p>I'm not sure I agree with the authors' analysis, since I've met many interesting, creative, and highly intelligent academics, including many in positions which are indicative of <em>success</em>--however, as StasK pointed out in a comment, perhaps these individuals are just more memorable. My subjective experience in no way indicates that the majority are not of the dull and agreeable sort. :)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13178",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
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|
13,179 | <p>I am an undergraduate student in China. I am currently a junior, majoring at Mathematical Economics and Mathematical Finance. My goal is to apply to a graduate school in the U.S. to learn Finance or Financial Engineering.</p>
<p>What can I do now to better prepare myself for the forthcoming application? How can I leave a good impression on the Admissions Committee? Except for higher GPA, GRE, Toefl, what else also make sense? To win a competition? To publishing papers? Or abundant internship experiences?</p>
<p>I know that the website of each school lists some requirements about the applicants, but those words are too general. Obviously there will be so many applicants who meet those requirements. What else need I show make myself outstanding, making them believe I am a good candidate? I am really puzzled.</p>
<p><strong>Edit</strong></p>
<p>I just want to obtain a master degree.</p>
<p>I also want to know that among GPA, GRE, TOEFL, competitions, publishing papers(if possible), good credible recommendation letters, etc, which ones deserve prior attention. It is unlikely for me to be that "superman".</p>
<p><strong>End of edit</strong></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13205,
"author": "Niki",
"author_id": 8867,
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"pm_score": 1,
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"text": "<p>Since you already know the minimum requirements, I would recommend looking at the references being taught in the top Finance schools in the US. I have a friend who studied Finance in Europe and after coming to the US, he had to start studying another Master's in order to merge his knowledge to what is taught in the top Finance schools in the US. </p>\n\n<p>Then you can write in your CV about the courses you have taken mentioning the references. Online courses, (e.g. from Coursera) are also very helpful for this purpose. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13223,
"author": "Bellerophon",
"author_id": 8883,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8883",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One worthwhile strategy (I found when applying to graduate school) is to examine the public profiles of graduate students at the institutions you want to attend. Graduate students (especially senior ones) often post their CVs online, and it's a good way to get information about what their profile was like when they applied.</p>\n\n<p>Note, however, that it is extremely rare for people to list things like their GRE scores on a CV. However, many programs list useful aggregate data about their classes (perhaps what you mean by \"lists some requirements about the applicants\"), but at least in the case of Berkeley/Haas' <a href=\"http://mfe.berkeley.edu/community/students/classprofile.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">MFE Program</a>, the information is very specific averages for standardized tests and even work experience/industry prior to entry. Keep in mind that those are the averages for their class, not the minimums for acceptance, so they're a reasonable target to try and hit.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13649,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Assuming you are applying to graduate schools for the purpose of obtaining a doctorate, the best thing that you can do to improve your chances is to <strong>foster contacts with people who can write letters of recommendation testifying to your potential as a researcher.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Awards and prizes are certainly nice, as are graduate coursework, internships, and other experience. But, ultimately, none of those might provide any insight on your capability to do research. Doing research with members of your faculty (or at other institutions) and getting letters of recommendation from them allows a graduate committee to feel that they're taking less of a risk in admitting you. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13670,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Aeismail’s answer points out that you need to <em>foster contacts with people who can write letters of recommendation testifying to your potential as a researcher.</em></p>\n\n<p>This is a definitely a good answer. However, it is hard to get <strong>good credible</strong> recommendation letters in China. You need to have not only strong academic performance but also strong <strong>social background</strong> to get them. The same is true for internship opportunities. When there are more than a hundred applicants competing for 3 internships, the best 3 academic performers with the strongest social background will get them. (The population in China exceeds 1.3 billion).</p>\n\n<p>My answer to the question. <em>How can I leave a good impression on the Admissions Committee?</em> Besides high GPA, GRE and TOEFL scores, (and possibly winning a competition, publishing papers, abundant internship experiences) and good credible recommendation letters, the only thing I can think of is an excellent <strong>Statement of Purpose</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Use that statement to <strong>convince</strong> the admissions committee why you’ll be an excellent student in their school. Why are you interested in finance or financial engineering? What have you learned in undergraduate school? What particular research program in that school you are interested? What do you hope you can learn from that school after you get the master degree from them? What do you plan to do after master degree? Etc.etc. Hopefully, they will be convinced by this statement and then accept you.</p>\n\n<p>This is my 5 cents worth. I sincerely hope experts here who are currently in the admission committees can give us more and effective answers.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13179",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
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|
13,180 | <p>Recently I have come across a few articles on Google that are really distressing.</p>
<p>I typed in "professor real world" and it just mentions how professors have lost touch with the real world, how they need to step down from their ivory towers, etc.</p>
<p>Why is all that bad? It doesn't make me reconsider my dreams a little, but it does hurt. </p>
<p>Is it ultimately subjective from the pessimists' point of view? I have come to terms with the fact nothing ultimately matters, we are just grains of (smart) sand in the universe. Whether I did industry or not wouldn't matter, since I love academia.</p>
<p><strong>How can I help others see that academia is a 'real job' too?</strong></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13181,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Firstly, you <strong>do</strong> matter, we all matter in our own way and we have no idea just how far our influence will extend. Never let yourself otherwise.</p>\n\n<p>Secondly, as JeffE said in the comment, some people are just jerks - for whatever reason, the authors of those articles are venting, and as they can not possibly know every professor - they probably have had an awful experience and are venting, generalising across the board. (or they can just be jerks).</p>\n\n<p><em>They obviously do not know my professors - the most dedicated educators I have ever had the privilege of working with.</em></p>\n\n<p>Ignore those remarks, follow your ambitions, be the best you can be in your field.</p>\n\n<p>Fundamentally, you do not have to prove yourself to anyone, but yourself. So, be yourself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13182,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There is no point talking to people about the job they cannot do themselves or about the parts of reality they cannot even see, not to say enter. Most of them are, probably, just envious (that's why the words \"easy life\", \"good salary\", and \"tenure\" appear in such articles more often than not). The rest are frustrated that our work doesn't provide any immediate personal benefit for them. As to \"stepping down from ivory towers\", in Soviet Union the students and professors were sent for a month to collective farms to help with harvesting every year. It turned out that we could do the farm work. Sending help in the other direction wasn't considered practical. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13183,
"author": "debray",
"author_id": 7974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7974",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I typed in the same Google query, read the article I think the OP was referring to (<a href=\"http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/29/professors-need-to-come-down-from-their-ivory-towers/\">this one?</a>), and was filled with a similar hot burst of indignation. (How <em>dare</em> they!) But while the author of that article paints with a broad brush, I think it might not be inappropriate for us, as scholars, to examine ourselves with the same brutal honesty that we take to our intellectual disciplines.</p>\n\n<p>Some of the complaints I've heard about ivory-tower academics simply reflects a misunderstanding of what higher education is about -- for example, as a computer science professor I've heard students complain about not being taught how to use Excel spreadsheets and the like. But I've also seen colleagues who have grown complacent and uncaring, whose courses really do shortchange the students. So yes, the author of that article paints with a very broad brush, but I think that we'd do ourselves a disservice if we just blithely ignored him.</p>\n\n<p>I think it's important for us to be able to articulate <em>why</em> we do what we do. I routinely explain to my reviewers why my research matters -- I should similarly be able to explain to my students why they should study what I'm teaching;[*] and I should similarly be able to explain to my neighbors why their tax dollars should pay my salary. (I may not <em>have</em> to do these things, but I should be <em>able</em> to.) Whatever explanation I come up with -- and it'll be different for different people -- that's the \"good comeback\" the OP asked for; and if I can't come up with any explanation at all, then maybe some deeper introspection would be in order. :-) </p>\n\n<p>[*] In my grant proposals I say what difference I think the research will make if it's successful. In my classes I tell the students what I want them to remember of the class five years later. I've found this sort of exercise very helpful for distilling out what I think really matters.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13212,
"author": "corsiKa",
"author_id": 877,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/877",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can only speak to my personal experience, but it stems from the fact that professors are supposed to be training in a new generation of productive people in the work force. If they have not spent a significant amount of time being productive themselves, they are at a disadvantage when it comes to passing on useful education to future productive people. This is not to say that such education is impossible, or even uncommon, simply that the education is typically based on applied theory as opposed to experience.</p>\n\n<p>As an example, I once was in a lecture about <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_complexity_theory\">computational complexity</a>. My professor had said that if I could take an algorithm from <code>4n^2</code> to <code>4n</code> that my boss would be happy, but if I could take it from <code>4n^2</code> to <code>2n^2</code> that he would not be happy. I told her the entire business model of the firm I interned at relied on running our computations as fast as possible, and that if I could cut the time in half, my boss would be thrilled out of his pants. She immediately dismissed this as naive, as such a performance gain would be insignificant: only a reduction in the <em>order</em> of complexity would be noticed - simply reducing the coefficient would not. </p>\n\n<p>I called my boss after the lecture, and he said if I could cut our simulation time in half, he would fly me back to work and double my pay (since it would still be cheaper than the expansion of our beowulf cluster we were planning). We looked up the professors credentials, and despite having a PhD and over 20 years experience in academia, her only real world experience was a 6 month internship that, according to the description, consisted mostly of paperwork.</p>\n\n<p>Now, is this representative of most people in academia? I don't think it is. But it does happen, and it's more common than it would seem from the inside looking out. And because it does happen, it feeds the <em>stereotype</em> of academics who couldn't engineer their way out of a paper bag. There are stereotypes all over all industries. Software developers have a stereotype of being nerds who couldn't possibly get a date, and yet in North America 70% of developers are married, with only a 3% divorce rate (compared to 40% of the population). While I certainly know some nerds in my line of work, and yes they do feed the stereotype, they really aren't represented by the majority of the population.</p>\n\n<p>The conclusions I would make is that the concerns raised by those yelling about \"Ivory Towers\" I think are valid concerns. They do not apply to all academics, and of course, research should be judged on the actual research, not the researchers. But you should keep in mind that the there are certain individuals who speak with authority based on experience, while others speak with authority based on the assumption that they have the experience. When it comes to published, peer reviewed research, it's easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. In the classroom settings, where such authority is not to be questioned, it can be very dangerous for young, impressionable students.</p>\n\n<p>So how do you respond to an ivory tower accusation? Well, clearly if you have industry experience, put it forth. If you lack industry experience, make it clear that you have no intention of trying to pass off your education as being backed by industry experience. When it comes to your research, encourage skeptics to review your research on its own merits. If they're true scientists, they will. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13232,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Jossie, you are a scientist, right? Define the 'real job' for us first, please. \"The real job is a job in which...\" what happens? You get a real paycheck, that's for sure, and if that's the main indication of the 'real job', then you definitely got one. If, on the other hand, you define a 'real job' as the one from which you can be fired, then a tenured professor is not a real job.</p>\n\n<p>Aside from that, there are several layers of complications that your question uncovers. Apparently, you are a smart person with a dedication, given that you were able to finish your Ph.D. It is, however, also apparent to me that you cannot really explain what you do to a layperson. You are not alone in this: the portrayal of academia as the ivory tower stems from this same lack of communication between professors and the general public that just cannot understand the value added that academia provides.</p>\n\n<p>I have worked as an assistant professor on a tenure track for three years, was booted from it, and found home in industry. I can tell very specifically what the value of academic research is for me in my position: it can produce new efficient ways for me to make the product that my company delivers better... where better may include concepts like \"more accurate\" (I am a social statistician, so that's a relevant dimension of my work), \"faster\", \"more robust wrt various uncheckable assumptions\", etc. Unfortunately for me, academic research produces hell of a lot of noise that's irrelevant for me: from ~100 papers in the top general interest journals, I would find 1 to be of relevance to my work. The ratio is of course higher in specialized journals, where it can be 3:1 or so. (<em>Nature</em> or <em>Science</em> or <em>PNAS</em> are out of my league; they may publish statistics papers on a cute little topic from time to time, but generally the ratio will be what, 1:10000?) So I am the natural selection process: out of all the random mutations that academic researchers publish, I am selecting the relevant traits that need to be preserved because there is a survival value in them.</p>\n\n<p>Now, the question that I keep asking myself is, \"How much of that random noise does need to come out so that in the month of October 2013, I will read up something that will change the way I work?\", and apparently the answer is, well, several hundred papers (out of which I will get may be 10 or so to read). That's a costly enterprise: if an average professor is paid $120K, and they publish three papers a year, then that's $40K per paper (we can ignore teaching: first, nobody really cares about it, and second, you can buy a teacher for $5K/course, way below the cost of a research paper that I just derived). So the total for one usable academic result is [drum roll] $4M for the hundred papers that need to be published. That's A LOT of money... although I would humbly hope that for each disgrunteld StasK, there are hundred other statisticians who would find the other 99 random papers useful for them.</p>\n\n<p>If the ratios are better in other disciplines, that's great. For what I heard in <a href=\"http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/\" rel=\"nofollow\">education research</a>, the ratios are about the same: at some point, that depository had reviewed ~300 papers, and found only 6 of them to be usable.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/10/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13180",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
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|
13,184 | <p>I am a second year math major, and I intend to do my PhD from a top math school. Until now, I haven't taken any university level physics course. Somewhere in this site, I saw someone writing that courses related to theoretical physics (heavily loaded with mathematics) are also very important besides the regular math courses. So, my question is: How important are the physics courses? Or any other courses?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13201,
"author": "cuabanana",
"author_id": 7329,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7329",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Make sure to have a decent overall GPA. Personally, even though physics uses a lot of mathematics, I would recommend that you take a more basic conceptual physics course, to understand the physics itself and learn it for its own sake. That way you will be better to appreciate the physics. If you are really passionate about math, then take math-related electives. That would show your commitment to the major. Maybe even do math-related research if that is your bent. Treat the physics courses as important, but do not worry if you are not doing as well in them as in your math courses. Because you are a math major, they will pay more attention to your major courses, but don't let yourself be discouraged. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13202,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Math grad programs do not look at physics courses on the transcript, or think in those terms. </p>\n\n<p>The point is that higher-level (not formulaic) physics courses can be <em>beneficial</em> to math people by providing other inputs for intuition. A common obstacle is that the higher-level physics courses do speak in terms of the lower-level ones, which are often quite alien to/from any sensible mathematical world-view.</p>\n\n<p>But if one skips over those \"immediate\" things, one can find that there are \"physcial imperatives\" mandating mathematical \"facts\"... which might not be obvious on \"purely mathematical\" grounds.</p>\n\n<p>The grandest example is \"Green's functions\" ... about which volumes can be written... An immediate point is that the <em>idea</em> is wonderful, is necessary, even if one cannot justify it. Green got the idea pre-1850, and it was completely understood in \"rigorous\" terms by L. Schwartz in 1950. Not easy, ...</p>\n\n<p>That is, understanding other (very serious) inputs to mathematics is obviously helpful.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13204,
"author": "Niki",
"author_id": 8867,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8867",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A possible benefit of non-math course(s) in the resume of a PhD applicant in math, is the fact that it shows that he has a wide research perspective and is eager to study different areas. That is definitely a huge plus for a grad student as one of the major sources of creativity, is bringing in ideas from areas that are sometimes totally irrelevant to the area under study. There are a lot of instances of innovations in for example Agile software engineering that came from manufacturing. </p>\n\n<p>Though, as others mentioned, most universities should not care much. But if you target top universities, then you must know that they do receive a lot of good applicants. And this might be something that make your application stand out!</p>\n\n<p>just my 2 cents.. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23678,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to \"math\" courses, a good math major should take courses in \"related\" areas; i.e. subjects that either use a lot of math, or contribute a lot of applications to math. Two of those subjects are physics and computer science.</p>\n\n<p>Someone studying advanced calculus will do well to learn physics concepts such as gravity, charge and flux, as used in say, Newton's or Maxwell's equations. These offer the basis of gradients, divergences Gauss and Stoke's Theorems, and others. Likewise, a good computer science course might use mathematical topics such as recursion, graph theory, or various forms of logic. You might also consider Economics (specifically econometrics) courses that cover optimization and systems of equations as well as more advanced applications using partial differential equations.</p>\n\n<p>Just avoid the kinds of courses sometimes referred to as \"physics for poets\" (algebraic applications only), or \"programming for data processors\" (elementary programming devoid of advanced mathematical concepts).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13184",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7580/"
]
|
13,185 | <p><strong>Does anyone know if there will still be NSF postdocs offered (the current deadline is the 16th), given that the NSF website is currently down due to the government shutdown in the US?</strong> </p>
<p>Also, in case it is still open, if anyone has the PDFs that could previously be found at</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5301" rel="nofollow">http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5301</a></p>
<p>regarding the information, application process, and forms to be submitted, perhaps they could mirror a copy on a website, and post the link here? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13188,
"author": "MTS",
"author_id": 8859,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8859",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Documents are posted <a href=\"http://math.berkeley.edu/~mbtucker/\">here</a>. Extra text so I can actually post this.</p>\n\n<p>I should note that some of the documents are specific to the Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, but some of them are general-purpose (I came to this question from MathOverflow).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13199,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the answer that we don't know. It depends on when and how the shutdown is resolved. As long as the NSF gets back up to its previous funding levels, presumably it should be OK. I think it's quite likely that the deadline will be pushed back given how close it is, but it's hard to know until something happens in Washington.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13185",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8856/"
]
|
13,192 | <p>Does anyone know of a resource or study that compiles statistics about paper acceptance rates in various journals?</p>
<p>I am more interested in biomedical journals, but this would be a good place to list such resources in any scientific field.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13193,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>A few journals/publishers publish statistics about their acceptance rate, but this data is usually rather sparse, and not communicated on the journal webpage itself.</p>\n\n<p>However, publishers often allow researchers in the fields of scientometrics, ethics or psychology access to their (anonymized) database of paper review/acceptance/publication timelines. You can find papers such as <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/abs/1308.1552\">this one</a> (and references therein), which then analyze the raw data and publish some statistics about it. We learn, for example, that the acceptance ratio for <em>Physical Review Letters</em> in 2012 was at 32%.</p>\n\n<p>Other nuggets of information one can gleam include:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>in the <em>Europhysics Letters</em> study Michael Schreiber expressed concern about comparatively high acceptance rates for July-submitted papers</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>which is always good to know if you happen to work in that field :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13194,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are a few studies on rejection rates in specific areas such as <a href=\"http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/2009BAMS2908.1\" rel=\"nofollow\">Atmospheric Sciences</a> and <a href=\"http://www.ecobias.org/resources_files/Aarssenetal2008.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ecology</a>. In a seminar talk given by Elsevier at my University Library, the indication was that 40-90% rejection rates were not unusual. Typically, high profile journals (usually identified by a high Impact factors) will be at the upper end of the range. I edit a ISI listed journal and we consistently have about a 50% rejection rates. I believe the norm for many fields is in this neighbourhood.</p>\n\n<p>If you are looking for a journal with an exactly known constant rejection rate for a paper you should go for the <a href=\"http://www.universalrejection.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">JUR</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26191,
"author": "user3624251",
"author_id": 19803,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19803",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>On the <a href=\"http://journalfinder.elsevier.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Elsevier journal finder service website</a> you can find some data about the acceptance rate, but only for journals published by Elsevier (of course). You have to fill the name of your article and add the abstract, than you will find the acceptance rates between the results (together with Impact factor, acceptance time etc.). Unfortunately, you can´t just browse among journals, you will see only the proposed journals which (maybe) suits to you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 100257,
"author": "Scientist",
"author_id": 66782,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/66782",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a question I have also asked in ResearchGate almost one year ago, and got no replies. The best I could find out is the following Chinese journal database (in Chinese) which provides a series of metrics including some comments on the acceptance rate.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.medsci.cn/sci/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.medsci.cn/sci/</a></p>\n\n<p>It is, however, quite unclear where the estimates come from. But I think it is still better than naught.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13192",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862/"
]
|
13,197 | <p>I am working for a professor who started out recently. Most new professors get start-up funding from the department which helps them pay for their first students. Right now I am working in the lab with another PhD candidate; both of us have been funded by departmental funds until now.</p>
<p>The PhD is working on a project which has no funding. I am working on a corporate-funded project for my thesis. Now I am the PI for this project internally. So I did the whole project as my thesis and I was listed as the PI on consent form (approved by my university IRB) when I carried out the final testing of my product with the corporate sponsor.</p>
<p>Here is where things turn shady. When I carried out my testing, we paid the participants through my research funds (the account number for the project is listed on some departmental documents that I had to sign to get cheques for test participants). In my GRA contract, it was specified that my funding was coming from the departmental account and when the PhD candidate showed me their contract, it was getting funded from my project account (the stipend account number was my project account number and I have confirmed this with a student departmental assistant). Their stipend was coming from my project funds.</p>
<p>I spoke with few other people in the department, and came to know that when the department gives seed funding to new professors, there is a limit in stipend they can give. So to give the PhD student more funding, my advisor is using my research funds (for which I am PI) to pay this stipend and thus is getting double my stipend. I am still getting funded by the department, so I get a lot less.</p>
<p>Screwed-up thing is this project is highly successful as I did a lot of hard work and I am not getting any financial incentive. In fact, it's all going to the other researcher who is nowhere involved in this project. The sponsor is giving my advisor funding for a second phase next month and also offered me a full-time job at their corporation. I should probably mention that I don't have a good relationship with my advisor and we fought multiple times in past due to some other issues but the PhD candidate gets along very well. They are like family friends and have very good social interactions.</p>
<p>I am graduating this December, so it probably won't matter anyway, but is this ethical? Can I speak with my department chair about this? I had asked my advisor multiple times to increase my stipend but they said they cannot. The questions is not about money — it's more about betrayal by your own advisor who you trust to be fair.</p>
<p>I still have the copy of the departmental documents used to order cheques for testing showing my account project number and a copy of the PhD candidate's contract. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13200,
"author": "Joe Hass",
"author_id": 2738,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2738",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not knowing where you are in the world makes this a bit complicated so I will answer from the only perspective I have, which is working in the USA. What you are describing may...possibly...be illegal.</p>\n\n<p>First, save every scrap of paper that has any bearing on the matter. Save every email and text message.</p>\n\n<p>Second, do not go public...yet. Don't call a newspaper, write about it on Facebook, or text your best friend.</p>\n\n<p>Third, figure out what the proper channels would be in this case and go through them first. If you are at a public university there may be an internal auditor who looks at these things. You should be able to talk to that person confidentially, and they should be able to quietly determine if any university policies or public funds were misused. Be very honest about what you know to be a fact with evidence to back it up, as opposed to what you suspect but cannot prove. Don't make allegations that you can't support with documentation. If you have suspicions you can present them but make it clear that you are not sure whether the situation is improper or not. Separate your personal feelings about your advisor from the objective truth of their behavior.</p>\n\n<p>Fourth, if the funds in question come from an external public agency (such as NSF, NIH, or NASA in the USA) then those organizations will have offices that investigate possible cases of financial misconduct. In the USA they are called the \"Inspector General\".</p>\n\n<p>Fifth,...I don't know what comes fifth. If you get to this point and you still think that misconduct has occured, but none of the normal channels are working or you feel that you have no support, then you face a difficult personal decision. If you are absolutely certain that you have proof of financial misconduct (by the terms of the applicable laws or policies) then you can put your career at risk and go public for the sake of your personal ethics and morals. You will probably pay a high price for being honest. Good luck.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13206,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I will disagree with Joe Hass, in that it's quite possible that your advisor is very likely doing something unethical by paying you and your colleague different amounts for the same position in the absence of merit-based arguments to do so, it is quite possible that nothing <em>illegal</em> is happening that requires reporting.</p>\n\n<p>The important issue here is that you do not know the terms of the contract between the external sponsor and your advisor. In particular, you would need to know what restrictions have been placed on the funds provided: in some cases, it may simply be an unrestricted \"block grant\" that the advisor can spend in any manner of her choosing. If this is the case, then the only regulations that might have been broken are departmental regulations. </p>\n\n<p>Now, on the other hand, if there are restrictions on the use of the funds, it is much more likely that something inappropriate has occurred, but without knowing the agreement, you could be setting yourself up for needless trouble, so proceed with caution.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13222,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I cannot really tell what you question is about, but let me try and clarify a few things.</p>\n\n<p>First, being the PI on an institutional review board application does not make you the PI for the funded project. It is not clear what you mean by \"your\" project funds, but from your description it does not sound like it is your funding, but rather funding that your supervisor was awarded and is providing you access to for you to accomplish your thesis.</p>\n\n<p>Second, applications for funding generally have around 3 aims. The linkage between these aims can be pretty loose. It is not uncommon for students working on different aims of the same grant to think their projects are completely independent. Often a grant might not provide funding for all the staff required to complete the aims. In fact a selling point to potential funders is the ability to leverage their funding with \"outside\" funds like a departmental studentship.</p>\n\n<p>The real issue I think in your question is if it is ethical for your supervisor to use her funding to pay PhD students different amount. The answer to this is that it is most likely ethical. It is possible your supervisor has circumvented the policies of both the funder and the department, but this seems unlikely. It is quite likely that your department has a fixed, relatively low, stipend for internally funded PhD students, but allows for PhD students funded from outside grants to be paid more. In my mind there is nothing unethical about that.</p>\n\n<p>So then the question is why is your lab mate being funded by the grant while you are being funded by the school. No one but your supervisor can answer this. Maybe she flipped a coin. Maybe she thought your the project of your lab mate was closer aligned to the aims of the grant. Maybe, as you say, she likes your lab mate better and cannot be trusted. Before going down that road, you need to remember that it is quite possible that the decision of who to fund from where may have been made prior to either of you applying to grad school.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 67201,
"author": "Namey",
"author_id": 7930,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7930",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While there are a lot of confounding elements to this question (e.g., misunderstandings about who is the PI, different pay levels), the only ethical/legal issue here is if the corporate funds are restricted to paying someone who is actually working on the project. This has three complications:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Corporate Awards Are Not Uniform: There is really no way to know without looking at the contract if they care how the money is spent.</li>\n<li>Contracts Are for Audits/Disputes: From a legal standpoint for a civil contract, contracts are the recourse that you go to when things go bad and you need to sue (or threaten to sue). You often see all sorts of things in contracts that neither party honestly cares about, just to cover all their bases in case something goes bad.</li>\n<li>Corporations Care About Results: In practical terms, most businesses could care less how you spend the money they give you, so long as they get the products/results they're paying for. Even if your advisor took their money, put it in a ditch, and burned it, but the work got done? (shrug) Why would they make a scene about it? Contrast against the NSF, which would probably audit the heck out of you if they found out $20 in a $2m grant went to pay for a stapler that wasn't itemized in the proposal.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In short, it's immoral only when the sponsor would care about it. It is only illegal if it violates the contract (and even then, it's more of a \"breach of contract\" issue). Those two issues are not necessarily connected. In either of those cases, most corporations don't care so long as the work got done. These issues are <em>very</em> different than for governmental sponsors, which are very picky about personnel on projects, work-in-kind, or any other issues where they're paying people to do different work. Federal contracts also get into real legal issues (e.g., federal laws) as opposed to more general corporate contracts.</p>\n\n<p>Some notes on other issues:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>PI: Being the main person on an IRB has nothing to do with being PI. PI is a financial role and a legal role, primarily. I was involved with a larger project recently, which had 3 IRB's in place (one by myself, two by others). The PI on the project was not the lead of <em>any</em> of the 3 IRB's. It's not uncommon at all.</li>\n<li>Different Pay: The advisor might indeed just value the other person more than you. I've seen this a lot in multi-disciplinary projects (e.g., CS students paid 50% more than Psyc). Or, alternatively, they may be unable to provide supplemental funding to you when the department covers you (and likewise unable to shift that student to departmental funding).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Either way, I wouldn't worry all that much about different pay unless you think it will also be reflected in your advisor's letters of recommendation. After all, as a grad student, you're not making much money either way: the payoff is in the next stage. However, I'd still check on it. </p>\n\n<p>You might want to talk to them and say, \"I am feeling like that I'm doing my work well but somehow not meeting the bar at this lab. For example, I see that other students at the same level are being paid twice as much. What can I do to reach a higher level?\" That puts them in the position of laying out a pathway where you get honest feedback about your skills to work on and that might also lead to higher stipends down the road.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/10/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13197",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7937/"
]
|
13,208 | <p>I heard that many researchers spend a lot of their time (maybe even a half) writing the grants. I understand the researchers that need to purchase some equipment or fund their PhD students, although does not the department fund PhD students anyway?</p>
<p>But what about pure mathematicians and researchers who need a pencil and paper, a personal computer. Do these apply for grants, what for?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13209,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Generally speaking, the competitiveness for research money is a way to \"ensure\" that there is scrutiny of projects so that well founded studies get funded and less so may not. Like all systems there are flaws but the general principle is to extract the best proposals as seen by peers). </p>\n\n<p>The funding for researchers through their departments varies substantially between systems and even between universities within any system. Some departments may fund PhD students, some may rely on external funding. Researchers need to go to conferences and publish papers (which may involve costs) so even if you only need paper and a pencil for the research itself, there are other activities that must be covered and the examples I gave are probably not covered by department finances. For most experimental research, costs for equipment, labs or field visits can be substantial.</p>\n\n<p>In my system, partly due to credit crunch and a general interest in cutting costs everywhere, more and more must be covered, even office costs for performing the research and office costs for PhD students.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13210,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Speaking as a pure mathematician, there are still plenty of reasons to apply for grants:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>grants contain supplementary salary, the appeal of which should be obvious. It also includes travel funding, so one can travel to conferences one otherwise couldn't get funded. (Also, the funding for conferences comes from grants).</li>\n<li>generally the funding for graduate students is tied to teaching and comes from a fixed pot. So having grant funding allows one's students to concentrate on research more.</li>\n<li>there's an aspect of \"keeping score.\" It's generally hard for say a university administrator to judge the quality of a research program, so a grant is an outside stamp of quality. If one might be interested in getting a different job, it's especially important.</li>\n<li>pure mathematicians actually don't spend a huge amount of time applying for grants; they maybe average one every two years or so. NSF grants last 3 years, with a few extra applications for conference or big group grants thrown in.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13213,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I am a theoretical computer scientists in a top-10 US computer science department. To first order approximation, the <em>only</em> reason I apply for grants is to fund PhD students.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>My research does not require PhD students, but it's part of my job as a university professor to advise them, I enjoy working with them, and I am considerably more productive when I work with them.</p></li>\n<li><p>Students in my department that are not funded by research grants or fellowships are funded instead by teaching assistantships. Being a TA requires a significant time investment, decreasing the time that these students can devote to research. Being a TA can be incredibly valuable experience, especially for prospective academics, but the first-order criterion for judging the success of PhDs in computer science is the quality of their research output.</p></li>\n<li><p>My department competes with peer departments — and I compete with researchers in those departments — to attract strong PhD students. If we/I want to attract strong students, we have to make credible promises of future funding to do research, because that's what our peer departments do. Prospective PhD students understand the previous point.</p></li>\n<li><p>I work in a public university in a state with rather significant budget problems. TAs are paid from state money, which is limited. Thus, my department can only support a limited number of TAs. So if I want the department to admit more than a small number of students into my research area, I have to demonstrate that we can fund a majority of those students through grants.</p></li>\n<li><p>Students need funding to travel to conferences to present their research results, because they need to build a reputation in the research community. I could pay for my own travel out of pocket if I really had to, but most PhD students don't have that luxury.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>There are a few second-order concerns as well.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The day-to-day functioning of my department requires a steady stream of incoming research grants. Grant overhead pays for a lot of basic infrastructure in my department, including the salaries of all the staff our business office, half of the salaries of most other administrative staff, support for non-instructional non-research computing resources like our graduate admissions database. Grant overhead is also the source of startup packages for new faculty (for which we are again competing with our peers).</p></li>\n<li><p>The only equipment I need is \"pencil and paper\"—or more accurately, a laptop with a stable LaTeX distribution and a drawing program, and basic internet access. NSF no longer allows research funds to be used for general-purpose computing equipment, so I can't include that in my grant budgets anyway. But my university returns a small fraction of overhead directly to PIs, and I can use that to buy new laptops, to pay for additional travel (by me, my students, or visitors), or even to help fund RAships.</p></li>\n<li><p>Tenure and promotion decisions, and to a smaller extent raises, do depend in part on professors' proven ability to attract funding, especially in a department (and college) like mine where most faculty are extremely successful.</p></li>\n<li><p>Oh right, I almost forgot. I can pay myself an extra month or two of salary over the summer from my grants. The university pays me for only 9 months of each year (although that pay is spread over 12 months), so each month of summer salary is actually more than 10% of my annual pay.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13208",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8784/"
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|
13,214 | <p>In applying to the NSF postdoctoral fellowship for mathematics, the instructions include the following paragraph for the biographical sketch:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A list of: (i) up to five products most closely related to the proposed project; and (ii) up to five other significant
products, whether or not related to the proposed project. Acceptable products must be citable and accessible
including but not limited to publications, data sets, software, patents, and copyrights. Unacceptable products are
unpublished documents not yet submitted for publication, invited lectures, and additional lists of products. Only
the list of 10 will be used in the review of the proposal.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My question is what exactly does "unpublished" mean? Is a paper uploaded to the arXiv but not yet submitted for publication in a journal considered "unpublished"?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13217,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would interpret \"published\" to mean exactly what the text says — citable and accessible.</p>\n\n<p>ArXiv papers are both citable and accessible, and therefore <em>do</em> count as acceptable research products.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 176797,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>NSF has <a href=\"https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/papp/pappg20_1/faqs20_1.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">an official FAQ</a> for their proposal guide. One of the entries in the FAQ is applicable here.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>Instructions for the Biographical Sketch Products section indicate that “acceptable\nproducts must be citable and accessible.” Accessibility may be difficult to\naccomplish in the case of manuscripts submitted or accepted for publication and\nother documents and materials. Access may need to be provided through\norganizational or personal websites. Will that be sufficient to meet the proposal\nsubmission requirements?</em></p>\n<p>The requirement that all products be "citable and accessible" is not a submission\nrequirement, in the sense of blocking a proposal from consideration, but a definition of the\nstandard to which proposers should adhere. PAPPG Chapter II.C.2.f(i)(c) also notes that\nfull citation information should be included where applicable and practicable. References\nto organizational or other websites are allowable, provided that the site is available for a\nreasonable percentage of the time.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>From this statement, it is clear that NSF would consider a preprint server to be a reasonable place for a work product to be located. In fact, the key consideration seems to not be citation per se (<a href=\"https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/book/ed17/part3/ch14/toc.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">you can cite pretty much anything</a>), but simply having a clearly defined "thing" that is readily accessible for the review committee to inspect.</p>\n<p>Given this statement and the confidentiality of peer review processes, it is next important to observe that there is no way for a proposal reviewer to distinguish between:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>A preprint that has been submitted</li>\n<li>A preprint that has not been submitted</li>\n<li>A preprint that was submitted at the time when the proposal was written, then rejected before the proposal came up for review.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Between this and the shift to a general definition of "work product" it is clear that NSF is trying to give as much latitude as possible for the review committee to say "this person is doing interesting work, let's give them a fellowship." It would make no sense for a committee to be allowed to consider a non-peer-reviewed software repository on GitHub but not a non-peer-reviewed preprint on arXiv.</p>\n<p><strong>Bottom line: material on preprint servers is fine to include in an NSF biosketch.</strong></p>\n"
}
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| 2013/10/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13214",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
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|
13,230 | <p>As a thirsty graduate student, I've amassed a burgeoning collection of research articles in both paper and digital formats. Right now I manage pdfs and references with Zotero, but I'm still searching for an organization logic for paper documents that allows rapid access and prevents redundant printing and storage. <a href="http://www.bettergradstudent.com/blog/organize-papers/">Some</a> have suggested organizing by topic, while another approach is to sort by author name. Topical organization has not worked well for me in the past because my research is highly interdisciplinary, confounding my categorization efforts. For a coupled digital-physical organization system I'm considering the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Digital documents and references stored and tagged in Zotero</li>
<li>Indicator in Zotero whether or not I've printed in the file</li>
<li>Physical documents stored in manila file folders labelled alphabetically</li>
</ul>
<p>What is the most effective way that you've found to maintain both paper and digital document repositories? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13242,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I have them organized similarly to the blog post you linked. I'm not sure it is the optimal way, but it works quite well.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The central search key for me is (First)AuthorYEAR. By now I know my way around in my field so that the author names are meaningful. And easier to remember exactly than title abbreviations. </p></li>\n<li><p>I try to have almost all papers also digitally, and organize them with <a href=\"http://jabref.sourceforge.net/\">jabref</a>. I started using jabref before Mendeley, Zotero & Co came up and didn't change. </p></li>\n<li><p>jabref allows to assign the papers to topics/groups, which can be hierarchically organized, but a paper can also belong to several of them.<br>\nThis is important for me, because one paper may be about an application (e.g. tumor diagnostics -> group with tumour or cell type), use specific measurement technique (group that), and maybe use or invent an interesting data analysis technique (group there). </p></li>\n<li><p>Jabref stores its information in a .bib file (with a few non-standard fields and some more info in comments at the end). But essentially I can work with this file as with any other .bib file.<br>\n.bib and digital versions are in a git repo which basically solved the mess of having lots of copies that go out of sync while I'm still able to work completely offline. As .bib is a text format, version control works fine with that. Papers usually do not change, so it doesn't really matter for the version control that they are binary data.</p></li>\n<li><p>When looking for a paper, I usually search for it in jabref, and then look whether I do have a printed copy (I'm too lazy to keep track of printed status).</p></li>\n<li><p>physical copies I keep in two drawers with a suspension filing system. One has collections of important papers on topics I'm interested in. The other keeps other physical copies alphabetically by author name (one folder for each letter so far, some will be split soon). </p></li>\n<li><p>I tried before with normal lever arch files, but was too lazy to put papers away into their proper place. </p></li>\n<li><p>For a while I had the luxury of working with dual monitors. During that time I printed considerably less papers. Now I have to work with only a single (and not too big) monitor again, and again print most papers.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13259,
"author": "Trylks",
"author_id": 7571,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I always store the references in zotero before printing them. I don't print all of the references, therefore I always use zotero to find the references before searching for the printed paper.</p>\n\n<p>In this context what I did is:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>When I print the paper I write in one corner the date and time when it was added to zotero (always the same corner).</li>\n<li>When I search for a paper I check that identifier (date-time) and perform binary search on the big pile of printed papers.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I only print papers that are very complex on formulas, though. This could not scale well for hundreds of papers, but it's a handy identifier. One advantage is that papers are usually added to one side of the pile, so old papers can be stored somewhere and I don't use to need to insert a new paper between old papers, if you use folders (or similar) some of them could overflow by doing that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 75752,
"author": "ikashnitsky",
"author_id": 38524,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38524",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I always create a collection in Zotero for each of my projects and papers. That places a paper into a proper context. As was already mentioned above, the nice option of Zotero (and jabref) is that you may put a bibliographic record into infinite number of collections. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>I hope, you know of and use <a href=\"http://zotfile.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">zotfile</a> and <a href=\"https://github.com/retorquere/zotero-better-bibtex\" rel=\"nofollow\">better bibtex</a> extensions for Zotero. Zotfile makes sure the PDFs are stored and named properly; and better bibtex creates a <code>.bib</code> file for your library, just like jabref (that happens to be useful dealing with TeX). </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13230",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4226/"
]
|
13,237 | <p>What is the best protocol for handling a student whose name has changed from the time when a letter writer knew the student. For instance, suppose Pat Jones has become Pat Smith. Do we write </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Pat Smith (<em>né(e) Jones</em>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>or is this unnecessary? I would think that the name should match what's in the rest of the application, but I would imagine it would also be helpful to make sure that the name change is noted, just in case there's some inconsistencies in the overall record (for instance, I doubt that all universities would change transcripts of alumni).</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13239,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the student is clever enough, he has both names written on his CV. In some systems, it may even be built into the application software (in France, universities online applications typically ask for both <em>family name</em> and <em>birth name</em>).</p>\n\n<p>So, I wouldn't bother with it, unless the student asks you to do it. And yes, I would use the student's current name, even though he may have been named differently when you first met him.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13241,
"author": "BSteinhurst",
"author_id": 7561,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7561",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your suggestion of using the <code>né(e)</code> construction is the traditional solution in English, i.e. the solution suggested in etiquette manuals. I would do it once at the beginning of the letter to avoid confusion then revert to the current name. Just because the student should mention it elsewhere does not mean your letter should not contain all the information you can reasonably provide. </p>\n\n<p>As a side note I would doubt that any American University would retroactively change transcripts. However, being a person who has never changed his name I have no relevant experience to back that up. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13249,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Why not ask the student what they would prefer? I can imagine situations (for example, if the student changed what gender they identify with) where they might not want the name change mentioned too much, or they might appreciate you explaining the circumstances. You're writing the letter for student's benefit, after all.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13252,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the specific case of an undergraduate who has gotten married after graduation, I think it would be unethical to mention the name change unless the student specifically asks you to. It's emphasizing information (marital status) which the people receiving the letter should not be considering when making their decision, and in fact are legally barred from considering in the US. In places where it's not illegal (and where marital status is mentioned elsewhere on the application) letters should still be concentrating on data relevant to the job and not things like race, appearance, or marital status. Furthermore, given many people's prejudices (both conscious and unconscious) it is likely to actively harm female students. Even if the student you have in mind is male, mentioning marital name changes in general will be harmful to women.</p>\n\n<p>In the case of someone who has a publishing record under a different name, the issue is more complex, and I think it would be reasonable to ask the candidate if they'd like you say anything.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/07 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13237",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53/"
]
|
13,243 | <p>I am finding it difficult to select a topic for my masters thesis (my advisor is unwilling to offer suggestions on the matter). I intend to do thesis in the field of internal combustion engines. To get some good ideas about finding a good topic I want to study some recent PhD theses in internal combustion engines but I don't know where to find them. Also I would like to know about modern research trends in that field.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13245,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, doctoral theses do not receive much recognition outside of a university, let alone on an international scale. The reason for this is that nowadays the thesis is nowhere near as widely circulated as the papers that can be extracted from the thesis. </p>\n\n<p>Moreover, if you want to find out about good thesis topics, look up what's going on in the scientific literature of the area you're interested in—in this case, internal combustion engines. Find the most highly-respected journals, and see if they've published recent review articles in different areas related to your topic. That might give you a sense of where recent work has been, and provide you with a good body of reading material to work from.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13262,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Many disciplines have prizes and awards for the best thesis in a given year (or longer period). For instance, in our field there is a well-recognized one called <em>Householder award</em>. There are many more if you restrict to the national level, often funded by privates or industries.</p>\n\n<p>If you look for past winners, you can be fairly sure that they are outstanding theses. (After that, getting your hands on the actual document might be more difficult, though).</p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately I am not familiar enough with Engineering to suggest you a good one in your topic; you may try to add \"thesis award\" to your google searches, but sometimes they are tricky to find without knowing the exact names.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13274,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My answer complements the other answers.</p>\n\n<p>While writing my dissertation proposal, I felt the need to look at some other published dissertations in my area (~HCI/privacy). I realized that one of my committee members, who dissertated very recently (2007) has an incredibly relevant dissertation in my area and also won the best dissertation award from her alma mater. </p>\n\n<p>So, that is one strategy. In general, look at the best works in your field and find out if any happens to be the primary work of a PhD student. Chances are, that work will be incorporated into his/her dissertation and if you look at their CV's, often, you will find that they won a \"Best Dissertation\" award or something similar to that.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/07 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13243",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8899/"
]
|
13,250 | <p>I'm currently a computer science student at the 3rd/8 level, and there is a competition in scientific researches, including computer researches, at my university for financial aids and I'm thinking of getting involved.</p>
<p>I'm not a fan of theoretical stuff or things can't be applied, instead, I think of writing about Unix and Linux debuggers development and debugging techniques basically something practical that helps to provides the bases and guidelines for someone who want to build Unix debugger starting with the basics of debuggers and then build a proof of concepts small debugger.</p>
<p>I never done such thing before and have a few ideas about writing researches from high-school.</p>
<p>Can this be a research? what type (I need the term so I can look it up) of research is it and it's general structure?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13251,
"author": "Niki",
"author_id": 8867,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8867",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Take a look at <a href=\"http://xrds.acm.org/current-issue.cfm\">ACM Crossroads</a>.</p>\n\n<p>It is a student journal. You can start submitting an small article to be published as a column like <a href=\"http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/2520000/2517258/p65-zitnik.pdf?ip=129.97.125.155&id=2517258&acc=ACTIVE%20SERVICE&key=C2716FEBFA981EF1A02146E4E58B30BB50A6E02CF45A69A7&CFID=243949817&CFTOKEN=88605034&__acm__=1381175675_f3d78fd1e2206b79a792076847b9e822\">this</a>. I have not seen other research journals letting these sorts of tutorials get published. They are usually towards publishing papers that solve an issue, done an experiment, provides recommendations, etc. If you want to write a research paper in those sort of categories, then you will have a lot more choices.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13258,
"author": "Trylks",
"author_id": 7571,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think you are thinking more of a tutorial than a research object. You may be interested on <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research#Research_methods\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Research is about obtaining some new knowledge. This knowledge can be simply a compilation of some things that are already done and existing but were never put together to compare them (a survey) for instance. IMHO survey papers get a good number of citations because they are in fact quite useful.</p>\n\n<p>There are a number of things to do research in that field, for instance you could </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>put something new in that small debugger (beyond the state of the art) or </li>\n<li>try a set of different things in that small debugger to compare them and obtain that comparative knowledge (being new) or </li>\n<li>do a survey of the debuggers that exist, or evaluate them wrt something new (e.g. usability) </li>\n<li>find open questions in the field of debuggers, define a problem that was not being considered before</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Basically it boils down to</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>finding and defining a problem (which is open in the state of the art (SOA))</li>\n<li>finding or creating solutions (and adding them to the SOA)</li>\n<li>evaluating and comparing solutions (in the SOA to know better how is it)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I'd say all of them are quite pragmatical, focusing on solutions. The point is to </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>solve something new (it's quite pointless solving something that is already solved, right?).</li>\n<li>evaluate properly (so that we can understand why is it a solution and what properties does it have, when is it useful and when may not be so useful).</li>\n<li>finding problems (because the first step to solve a problem is identifying it)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Depending on the approach taken then the research and the paper will look in different ways but basically you need:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>an introduction</li>\n<li>an explanation of the background that may be required to understand everything else (this is optional)</li>\n<li>a description of the state of the art, what is out there that is relevant for the proposal</li>\n<li>the proposal (for definition, solution or evaluation of the problem at hand)</li>\n<li>the results obtained with that proposal</li>\n<li>the conclusions obtained from the results</li>\n<li>acknowledgements</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>PS: If that fails you can simply forget about the state of the art and do research on this as if it was new, without checking properly the literature on the topic before. If you apply the methods correctly and do a good work that could be ok in some contexts (I'm not sure about the context of this question, though). This would not be very practical, because most probably someone did that already decades ago.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/07 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13250",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8909/"
]
|
13,265 | <p>I have been reading some reflections on research and academia lately, and it has gotten me to think more critically towards what we do, and what the life we are pursuing has in store for us. </p>
<p>Some of you might remember <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12767/project-design-and-scope-interesting-vs-incremental-science">another recent question of mine</a>, where I was inquiring about the right way to set up projects based on an open-letter I read about how academia is not what it claims to be. Now I have stumbled upon <a href="http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=1439" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this blog entry</a> which focuses on the shortcomings of the single-blind peer review process overwhelmingly used in biomedical research publication. </p>
<p>Now it all brings me back to a disturbing idea that I had some time ago; that the quality of the research and the truth to all we do is essentially hanging on a rather fragile virtue, what one could call "academic honesty". We count on the reviewers and editors objectivity, we count on publishers <strong>and</strong> researchers naive and good intentions with their work, we count on people not putting their personal benefits before that of the society. </p>
<p>As anyone out on the streets will tell you, we do not live in an ideal world and [<em>call me a pessimist if you will</em>] thus I don't believe in the inherent good of the people (at least I do not rely or count on it). I don't see how academics should be exempt from a degeneration in the society that affects everyone else. </p>
<p>That brings me to my question; what measures exist to ensure this "academic honesty" we seem to rely so heavily on? How do we know/ensure:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>that the reviewers do not lose their objectivity, for instance when looking at a manuscript of a competitor</p></li>
<li><p>that there's no collusion between high-profile PIs and editors of "high-impact" journals?</p></li>
<li><p>that academics (at varying stages of their career) do not consider/prioritize "pushing up" the numbers (e.g. "h-index" or "impact factor" etc) when they set out with their research projects? </p></li>
<li><p>that grants/prizes/titles are actually given to the better projects/people from the perspective of the greater good, and not based on how well-connected the applicants are? (after all such committees <em>need</em> to have or be composed of other researchers, who else is going to be able to judge the impact and importance of cutting edge research than other researchers?) </p></li>
</ul>
<p>I realize that it's a broad question, but I have tried to give a thorough background story to give you an idea about how I got to this idea. Likewise I tried to narrow my concern to one over-arching question (rather than to seek discussion), with a couple of example follow-up questions to make my point clear. I can ask them separately if-need-be, but I think they sit better together, as is. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13266,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will start by stating, that we probably cannot ensure that any of these problems cannot occur. Doing so will probably mean enforcing structures that are far from democratic and open, it is the downside of the sort of openness we are used to and so we need to learn to live with the system. That, however, does not mean we are without means to work against bad, unethical, behaviour.</p>\n\n<p><em>Reviewers</em>: The vast majority of reviewers do a good job. Some may be socially challenged to provide criticism in polite ways but have the knowledge to provide critical views. Journal editors will play a vital role in not only selecting reviewers but also screen and evaluate the reviews and provide authors with a balanced view based on the two or more reviews that typically are gathered for each manuscript. The same also applies to foundations evaluating proposals. The review process has two levels where things must go wrong to severely affect a manuscript and the role of editors should not be underestimated. </p>\n\n<p><em>\"Collusion\"</em>: This problem may be more difficult to spot if the issue originates at \"top level\". I am not sure I see a patented solution in this case but am convinced that publishers will not support such behaviour and the scientific community will most likely pick up on the problem quickly. There is in other words a social control that will sooner or later make an impact on such problems. This does not prevent them from occurring and since the research community consists of humans we have all the human fallacies found elsewhere in society as well. Removing the illusion that we are of equal moral views and chivalry is a good start.</p>\n\n<p><em>\"inflation\"</em>: There are good services that calculate, for example, the <em>h</em>-index for you and in a way that others can double check them. I use <a href=\"http://www.researcherid.com/Home.action\" rel=\"nofollow\">Researcher ID</a> but such calculations can be done directly in Web of Science and elsewhere. The main point is that by using such a service, the calculation is open and reproducible and it is possible to trace what has been entered. Hence the indicator indices used should preferably be of this kind so that one can double check the value without any effort.</p>\n\n<p><em>grants</em>: This is similar to the *\"Collution\" point above. I cannot see any simple solution that would not involve significant costs for the funding agencies (and hence less money given to research. Social control is probably the strongest point here but it also involves openness so that the public has insights into who gets money and why (I am assuming we are talking governmental funding in one way or another; industry and private sources are different)</p>\n\n<p>So I understand and can share some of your pessimism but the alternatives to our current system are in my opinion worse and likely heavier from, for example, bureaucracy. Openness and good guidelines for and continued discussions on ethical behaviour among all are necessary. It is what occurs behind closed doors that starts rumours and may also initiate the problems you describe.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13285,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Let me throw in a few points in addition to @Peter Janssons great answer:</p>\n\n<p>There are \"tools\" that help with some of your concerns</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>that the reviewers do not lose their objectivity, for instance when looking at a manuscript of a competitor</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>For one thing, most journals I know not only ask for suggested reviewers, but you can also ask that particular persons are not asked to review your paper.</p></li>\n<li><p>The journals I know have at least 2, usually 3 reviews. So a firm \"reject\" means that several reviewers did agree that the paper is bad. While one may have a biased opinion, with 3 rejects it is maybe time to stop and think whether the paper really is good or not.</p></li>\n<li><p>Bias in peer-review is one thing, but variance is another. And, from my experience, variance is high. IIRC there are studies about marks on texts by different school teachers which were found to vary between good and barely passed for one and the same text. My guess is that peer review is similar. </p></li>\n<li><p>Personally, I'd prefer if peer-reviews were done openly (both sides named, some journals do, though none in my field) as opposed to one side more-or-less blind. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>that grants/prizes/titles are actually given to the better projects/people from the perspective of the greater good, and not based on how well-connected the applicants are? (after all such committees need to have or be composed of other researchers, who else is going to be able to judge the impact and importance of cutting edge research than other researchers?)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I think this is fundamentally impossible, because that would imply that it is possible to know which project will be a good project beforehand*. This may be possible for very applied projects, but those would typically be industry projects, not basic research.\nThe \"interesting\" projects always imply a risk that the thing doesn't work out, no solution is found. Otherwise no research would be needed on the topic. </p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, the huge importance of projects is clear only years (or even decades) after they are finished.</p>\n\n<p>* On the other hand, I think it is possible to find out in advance that a project is poorly designed, so it should not be funded. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>that there's no collusion between high-profile PIs and editors of \"high-impact\" journals?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Of course that can happen. Corruption exists, and I don't think science is fundamentally different from other fields of human professions.<br>\n(see below for my thoughts on how to deal with that)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>that academics (at varying stages of their career) do not consider/prioritize \"pushing up\" the numbers (e.g. \"h-index\" or \"impact factor\" etc) when they set out with their research projects?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>In a way we cannot, and IMHO it <em>has</em> to be expected that scientists are intellectually quite able to understand how to optimize a given measure. Thus, the assumption that e.g. bibliometric measures do not influence the measured system will not hold. </p></li>\n<li><p>Whether they actually do it, is another question. </p></li>\n<li><p>There is one very important point: the papers are not kept secretly, you can read them. As a scientist, you can, should and do judge the quality of the papers. IMHO peer review does not allow you to switch off your brain when reading paper - I think peer review is meant to be a sieve that gets the \"failed\" papers out of the system - while what I want to read are not \"barely passed\" but \"excellent\" papers. However, there is a tradeoff, and if you push up the rigour of peer review you'll inevitably throw out also good papers, or papers whose importance will become apparent only later on. That is, too strict peer-review may pose a restriction on the publishing system that disfavors really new ideas, and allows to pass only predictable results.<br>\nHowever, you won't be able to help realizing who publishes by salami-slicing and who publishes lots of studies with e.g. very low numbers of patients, poorly designed experiments, and OTOH, which groups take the effort to get meaningful numbers of patients, publish on relevant controls, do their homework validating their findings and so on. </p></li>\n<li><p>Also the authors are of a paper are named clearly. And taking together your judgemen of the quality of papers and maybe some citation network tool, you can get an idea who optimizes e.g. citations. </p></li>\n<li><p>Attending conferences and workshops and talking to people you'll get to know people personally so you can judge their character. In addition, you'll hear a fair amount not only of \"rumours\" and \"stories\" which also tell about people. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>All in all, I think this works as \"real life\" does: how do you know a company is honest you consider dealing with? You put some advance trust in them, and you use your judgment, including what you hear by your peers about them: e.g. were they recommended by someone you consider reliable. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13265",
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|
13,267 | <p>The 2013 Physics Nobel prize went to François Englebert and Peter Higgs, for their discovery of the Higgs boson. I was wondering why the CERN, as an institution, or the ATLAS collaboration, are not co-awarded the price with Englebert and Higgs. Apparently, “collaborations” cannot be awarded the Nobel prize. Is it a tradition, or something written in the rules of the Nobel foundation? Has there ever been an exception?</p>
| [
{
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"author": "2ndkauboy",
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"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In <a href=\"http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_organizations/nobelfoundation/statutes.html#par4\" rel=\"noreferrer\">paragraph 4 of the statutes</a>, it restricts the price to be only awarded to two works and to a maximum of 3 individuals.\nBut it also says, that it can be awarded to an institution or organization. Which has been done with the Nobel Peace Prizes to the EU.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A prize amount may be equally divided between two works, each of which is considered to merit a prize. If a work that is being rewarded has been produced by two or three persons, the prize shall be awarded to them jointly. In no case may a prize amount be divided between more than three persons.</p>\n<p>[…]</p>\n<p>Each prize-awarding body shall be competent to decide whether the prize it is entitled to award may be conferred upon an institution or association.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13341,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Apparently, there might have been an <a href=\"http://www.thelocal.se/50690/20131009/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">internal dispute behind Nobel physics delay</a>, on the possibility of including the CERN as a recipient. However, according to this article, some members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science hint that it was not possible with the current rules: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><blockquote>\n <p>“It was discussed a lot. But we must follow the (Nobel’s) will as I see it. There is nothing in it about institutions so in that way the decision was dead simple,” said Hans Ryde, professor of physics at Lund University. </p>\n</blockquote></li>\n<li><blockquote>\n <p>The chairman of the prize committee, Lars Brink, defended the decision, saying it was a “theoretical prize”. </p>\n</blockquote></li>\n<li><blockquote>\n <p>“Research is changing. If you go back a hundred years it was about a single person doing experiments and making discoveries. And today it’s 6,000 or so people – a sort of collegial research situation,” said Academy member Per Carlson, professor of elementary particle physics at the Royal Institute of Technology. </p>\n \n <p>“I don’t know if the Academy will open up the possibility to give the prize to organizations in the future – it’s a possibility,” he suggested. “In my view it should be possible.” </p>\n</blockquote></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So even though a Nobel Prize can be awarded to an organization, it seems that the Royal Swedish Academy of Science does not consider this possibility yet. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13267",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
13,272 | <p>So here is the situation:</p>
<p>I am a Math student in a very well ranked French university, and I am going to finish my degree (i.e. 2-year MSc, after a 3-year BSc) in August. Therefore, it is time to think of the future: graduate school. In particular, I have been thinking to apply in the US, where many very good groups in the field I'm interested in are located. I have the highest possible GPA, followed advanced courses, research and teaching experience, potentially very good recommendation letters from well-know professors, received awards, and I'll be writing my MSc thesis at a well-known university on the East Coast.</p>
<p>However, I haven't been able to register for the GRE subject test soon enough due to personal reasons, and when I look at the US math graduate school, <strong>they almost all require the GRE subject test</strong>. Most of them even say that the applications without the GRE and Subject GRE will not even be reviewed, or will be very disadvantaged. The next session is in April, and the results must be submitted in December.</p>
<p>What is the reality of the graduation admissions system in the US? Should I try to apply anyway without the GRE Subject (i.e. <strong>are applications without GRE automatically rejected</strong>)? Should I wait one year to apply, until I can pass the GRE? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13273,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm afraid there's not really a lot you can do. Your best bet is, as always, to contact the departments you are interested in attending, and explain your situation to them. You'll need to have a very convincing reason why you weren't able to take the GRE subject test, and would need a waiver. They may be willing to make an exception; they may not.</p>\n\n<p>Beyond that, I'm not sure what else you can do; the policies and deadlines are all well-known and published, and the departments are <em>not</em> required to give you special treatment. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13278,
"author": "Peter Shor ",
"author_id": 5912,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5912",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Apply anyway.</p>\n\n<p>If you come from a well-ranked university, and have top grades and excellent recommendations from professors there, it shouldn't matter that you are missing a subject GRE; this may disadvantage you slightly, but excellent grades, research and recommendations should easily make up for it. If you came from a less well-ranked university, the lack of a subject GRE would be a much more severe disadvantage. </p>\n\n<p>There may be some universities where bureaucratic requirements will keep you from being considered, but I suspect this is not true at most private universities. The admissions office should be able to give you this information; email them, explain your situation, and ask. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13272",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8916/"
]
|
13,275 | <p>Two friends successfully defended their dissertations yesterday, and many people have congratulated them, calling them Doctor so-and-so. I explained to my wife that they actually don't have that title until the graduation ceremony, that it's similar to a President-elect, who isn't called the President until they are sworn in. So, what title does a doctoral candidate take after they've defended but before they graduate?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13277,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There isn't a formal, universally accepted title here. The general standard has been to call them \"Doctor\" since everything else is in principle a formality.</p>\n\n<p>The only other note that I'd make is that it's not commencement that makes the student in question a doctor, but rather <em>conferral</em> of the degree by the university. Some universities may confer degrees multiple times per year, but only have one commencement ceremony.</p>\n\n<p>So, I would not include \"Ph.D.\" next to my name, but in the education of my CV, I'd write \"Ph.D. (to be conferred <em>Month Year</em>),\" as that is entirely accurate representation of the state of affairs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13280,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In most countries \"Dr\" is an honorific (in Germany I believe it is a legal title and part of your name) that is typically used when referring to individuals that hold certain types of degrees (most doctorates but not all, for example holders of the JD degree are not typically called doctor, and some non doctorate degrees, for example a BMedSci in the UK). As it is an honorific I think it is perfectly reasonable to bestow that honor to someone during a party to celebrate a doctoral defence. Similarly when seeing someone the first time after the defence using doctor is a nice why of honoring them. In some countries one can pass the defence and still need to make substantial revisions. I would use the honorific as long as the person passed.</p>\n\n<p>In non-formal situations I would avoid it, but then again I avoid using the honorific even for people with doctorates. In formal situations where honorifics are being used I would definitely avoid it. I think it would set a bad tone to go to a job talk an allow yourself to be introduced as doctor. In that situation I would deflect the honorific and say \"not yet\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13322,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Formally, they <strong>don't take a title</strong> before the university awards it, and the awarding is usually done by handing out a certificate stating the title (independent of whether that involves a ceremony or not).</p>\n\n<p>In informal situations, it's nice to address them with the title because they are usually happy and proud of their accomplishment, and what remains to be done before they actually get the title is more or less a mere formality. But you shouldn't put any doctoral title on name tags, staff directories, or anything formal like that before they actually get the document.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 44334,
"author": "Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩",
"author_id": 26708,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26708",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the (British) English Language the correct name for someone who has qualified to graduate but has not yet done so is a <a href=\"http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/graduand\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>graduand</strong></a>.</p>\n\n<p>One could formally say you are a doctoral graduand, but only other academics would understand.</p>\n\n<p>Also, at the ceremonies in British Universities, the point at which you hold the title is when the Chancellor (or similar awarding officer) intones the word \"I award upon those students who have qualified the degrees listed in the official record.. etc\". Until those words have been said, whatever handshaking and parading has happened, you do not have a degree!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 159607,
"author": "Kirk Junker",
"author_id": 132357,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/132357",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Germany, it is "Doctor Des." standing for Doktor Designiert (designated doctor)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13275",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7134/"
]
|
13,286 | <p>In the cover letter of an application to an academic job, should we write </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dear Search Committee Members, </p>
</blockquote>
<p>or </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dear Professor A, Chair of the Search Committee Members,</p>
</blockquote>
<p>or</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dear Professor A, Chair of the department</p>
</blockquote>
<p>or what else?</p>
<p>In case we don't know who the chair of the Search Committee is, should we write the department to ask?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13287,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The advertisement usually specifies to whom the application should be sent. In such cases, use the name that's listed in the advertisement. If no name is given, then I would vote for the first option, as it is the most inclusive. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13299,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I address all cover letters, letters of rec, etc. \"Dear Committee Members:\" Don't waste your time addressing it to an individual. The only thing you can achieve by doing that is embarrassing yourself and giving the search committee the chance to have a good laugh at your expense. If you do it correctly, it doesn't actually achieve anything; why give yourself one more thing to stress about?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 89927,
"author": "maycca",
"author_id": 53249,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53249",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Following the advises published on <strong>How to write a killer cover letter for a postdoctoral application</strong> <a href=\"http://www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday/asbmbtoday_article.aspx?id=48927\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday/asbmbtoday_article.aspx?id=48927</a></p>\n\n<p>you should adress your Cover letter to future Principal investigator (PI) of the project:</p>\n\n<p><em>Start off right. Address your potential future PI properly, as “Dr. (insert surname here).” If you begin your letter with “Dear Sir/Madam” or “To Whom It May Concern,” your application could be dismissed as generic and untailored for the position. A letter that appears to come off an assembly line is likely to ride directly into the trash bin. <strong>If you do not invest the time to learn about the PI and his or her research, then the PI is not likely to invest the time to read your application</strong>.</em></p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13286",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8480/"
]
|
13,291 | <p>I'm an international student. I have been in a PhD program in the US for 1 year and this is my second. My advisor informed me earlier this year that he is moving to another lower-ranked school. <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1169/how-to-cope-when-phd-advisor-quits-midway">How to cope when PhD advisor quits midway</a> deals with this issue. This is not what this question is about.</p>
<p>I have not been doing a lot of research and have been overwhelmed with coursework. By the time I finish my coursework, I'll be in my third year already. I also find that my advisor's work (after having spent some time with his group) does not interest me and is very different from what I thought I would be doing. I do research in a very specialized area. My advisor does work in a different area but is interested in how what I'm doing can be applied to what he's doing. However, we disagree on methodology.</p>
<p>I'm also not interested in research/teaching as a career and originally decided to do a PhD to gain more knowledge/training in this very specialized area that is not available in industry. My original plan was to finish my PhD and get a job. However, my advisor's move is making me reconsider this plan. Even though my advisor is moving, he will still advise me remotely until I satisfy my coursework requirements (and then I could move as a visiting student at this point). </p>
<p><strong>By the end of the second year, I can quit my PhD and get a MSc but I see the following issues</strong>: </p>
<ol>
<li>How should I handle this on my resume? Do I say that I'm doing a PhD or that I'm doing a MSc?
<ul>
<li>If I say I'm doing a PhD, how do I explain not getting it?</li>
<li>If I say I'm doing a MSc, does that violate an F1 student visa?</li>
</ul></li>
<li>How should I handle my relationship with my advisor? At what point should I announce my plan to quit?</li>
<li>Will quitting reduce my chances of getting a job? If I say I'm doing a MSc, then chances are my employer will not seek a recommendation from my advisor but if I say I'm doing a PhD and decided to quit, then chances are my employer will do that and will seek an explanation.</li>
<li>Is it a good idea to get an internship this summer before quitting for a full-time position?</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Oct 9</strong> If you have an answer to only one or a few of these issues and not the others, please consider posting it.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13303,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Honesty is the best policy. It means you should not lie. It does not mean you must say everything about yourself on your resume. For example, you do not need to say where you attended high school on the resume. If you do not have PhD, do not say you have it. If you have MSc, say you have it. You do not need to say you were doing PhD <strong>unless</strong> they ask you that question.</p>\n\n<p>If and when they ask you whether you were doing PhD, you should tell the truth with brief explanation why you did not get it. This will hurt your chance getting an academic job. Most industry people would not care that much. They are more concerned with your ability to make money. However, you probably will not get an industry job if PhD is part of job requirement.(Some companies do want PhD only)</p>\n\n<p>You need to ask the international student office at your school or immigration office to see the requirement for F-1 visa. They are the authority to answer that question. We are not.</p>\n\n<p>Internship is always helpful. You gain experience which you can put on the resume.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 59274,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your question seems to partly be about how to communicate what you are doing on your resume <em>while the degree is still in progress.</em></p>\n\n<p><strong>At the point you make a definite decision to only pursue an MSc, you should change your resume to reflect that.</strong></p>\n\n<p>It will be a negative for potential employers if you claim you are working on a PhD, but then later only end up obtaining an MSc.</p>\n\n<p>Even if the employer doesn't care about the PhD per se, this switch might reflect negatively on you: it shows you attempted something and failed to complete it, and also might seem like you were over-selling yourself to get your foot in the door.</p>\n\n<p>Your explanation for stopping the PhD is reasonable, and if the employer believed that you legitimately had a change of plans, it would probably not be that big of a negative.</p>\n\n<p>However, if the employer had any reason to believe you were being misleading (claiming you were working on a PhD when you already planned to get only an MSc), this could become a big red flag. Avoid this by not making claims about a PhD once you decide to get only the MSc.</p>\n\n<p>I'm not an expert on the visa issues. However, <strong>if you cannot formally change your enrollment status (for this or other reasons), you could change your resume to make a non-specific claim.</strong> For example, you could say \"enrolled in postgraduate study of XYZ\".</p>\n\n<p>Finally, <strong>you should let your advisor know as soon as you make the decision</strong>. Your advisor deserves to know about your change of plans and may be able to help you with your new focus. I could imagine cases where this might be sensitive, but I see no problem in this case--the advisor's move to a different institution would represent quite a disruption to your education no matter what your plans were, so he ought to be understanding about this.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 133056,
"author": "WoJ",
"author_id": 15446,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15446",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Will quitting reduce my chances of getting a job? If I say I'm doing a MSc, then chances are my employer will not seek a recommendation from my advisor but if I say I'm doing a PhD and decided to quit, then chances are my employer will do that and will seek an explanation.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This certainly depends on the field (if you go for a research-based industry position, notably) but otherwise whether you have a PhD or an MSc will not matter.</p>\n\n<p>The country is important as well. A PhD in Germany is a differentiator. A PhD in France is less important. A PhD in the US seems to be on the lower scale of importance (as I could see in the HR process when I was hiring for US-based positions in the US).</p>\n\n<p><strong>So while a PhD would usually not hurt, having a MSc only sets you at the level other candidates will be.</strong></p>\n\n<p>If this was for a developer or devops position, the practical knowledge you have would be way more important (and interesting). As a matter of anecdote, I recently hired someone who did not have a MSc yet (he was two exams short) competing against a MSc and a PhD. Just discussing with him showed that he has done so many things on his own that he would be a an immensely better candidate that the others (who had a standard set of skills they were not that keen to extend).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/09 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13291",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8922/"
]
|
13,293 | <p>I'm in my last year of an undergraduate degree in pure maths, doing my thesis on probabilistic combinatorics. In Australia (at least at my university), Hungarian-style combinatorics is classified as "pure".</p>
<p>I'm currently thinking about PhDs and where to apply. One thing that I've noticed is that combinatorics is often classified under "applied maths" (for example, this is the case at MIT).</p>
<p>One important reason I'd consider pursuing a PhD at an American university is for the coursework component -- I'd like to broadly improve my foundational understanding of mathematics, and I like the possibility of changing my area of focus after deeper exposure to different areas of mathematics. However, I have comparatively little interest in applied mathematics coursework (other than combinatorics, of course).</p>
<p>I have a submitted paper in combinatorics, my undergraduate thesis will be in combinatorics, and by far my strongest reference will be from a combinatorialist. Other than my supervisor, my strongest potential references would come from areas that everyone seems to agree are "pure". The higher-level classes in my transcript will also be almost entirely "pure".</p>
<ol>
<li><p>For American universities which have both a pure and an applied math program, which one does one typically choose to study combinatorics? Is it flexible? With a cursory search, I wasn't able to find a university quite so explicit about it as MIT.</p>
<p>For universities that classify combinatorics as "applied":</p>
</li>
<li><p>Given my situation, would my application be stronger to pure or applied maths?</p>
</li>
<li><p>Can one do a PhD in pure mathematics with the (tentative) intention for the research component to actually be "applied" (combinatorics)?</p>
</li>
<li><p>Can one do a PhD in applied mathematics but actually take mostly pure coursework?</p>
</li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13295,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If you come here for \"general advice\", I am afraid you'll be disappointed. </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>You should choose based on the people there. For each school you apply to, look through both the applied and pure departments and see where the mathematicians who work in combinatorics fit in. Most large research universities will list their faculty by research interest, or have dedicated research group webpages. For example, based on <a href=\"http://www.math.princeton.edu/graduate/faculty-research\">this page</a> you probably do not want to apply to Princeton's pure math program. </p>\n\n<p>Note that many schools do not, at least on the graduate admission level, differentiate so strictly about going into applied versus pure mathematics. </p>\n\n<p>(For choosing the school, since you already have research experience, you should look up articles which you find interesting and find out where those authors currently reside.)</p></li>\n<li><p>It really depends on the school. If a school has no combinatorialist in its pure maths department, and you apply there with an intention of studying combinatorics, your chance of admission is practically 0. Similarly in reverse if all the combinatorics is done in the pure maths department for the school you are applying to. </p>\n\n<p>There is no \"one size fits all\" solution. </p></li>\n<li><p>This again depends on the school. Some schools allow it, some schools don't. In many departments it is expected that you find an advisor from within the department and do your dissertation research on a subject that your advisor is interested in and/or an expert on. In other departments more leeway are given to students interested in more interdisciplinary subjects to be jointly advised by two advisors (possibly from different departments with different expertise). But remember, if you are going for a PhD you will need to find an advisor in any case. Shoehorning yourself into a situation where it maybe difficult to find a professor in your own department who is willing to advise you is, in my view, generally not recommended. </p></li>\n<li><p>This again depends on the individual policies for the schools. Some departments have very strict requirements on what the students must learn for their comprehensive exams; some, not so much. Most schools with graduate programs have very clearly written information on their websites about what is expected in their degree plans. For example, <a href=\"http://www.seas.harvard.edu/audiences/prospective-graduates/what\">here's Harvard's version for the Applied Maths degree</a>, though it seems they are <a href=\"http://www.seas.harvard.edu/student-affairs/academic-policies/phd-model-programs#applied-math\">a little bit short on the exact details</a>. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The only \"general advice\" I can give is this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Don't apply to graduate schools blindly, especially since you have a confirmed research interest. Do your homework and find the experts with whom you would like to study, and apply to study with them. Write to them in advance to confirm that they are interested in taking on students, and possibly solicit advice about other possible individuals if they are not. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>A good research school may not be strong in the field of research you want to do. Always, always check before applying. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13300,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think you are overgeneralizing from an example here; the placement of combinatorics in applied math at MIT is due to ancient historical department politics, and regarded as an amusing quirk by those of us educated at other schools. While I completely agree with Willie's answer that you should carefully research schools you want to attend, at most schools combinatorics is regarded as a perfectly fine branch of pure mathematics. If you want to do the pure math coursework, and you see yourself as wanting to do pure mathematics, then probably you should just apply for the pure math programs at places with some strong combinatorialists (Berkeley, Penn, Davis, San Diego, Michigan, Minnesota, etc.)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/09 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13293",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6282/"
]
|
13,304 | <p>I am a web developer reasonably proficient in PHP and front-end development. I had completed my Masters (by coursework) more than 6 years ago and have been working as a web developer. My Masters' grades weren't very good (pass in average with few distinctions and credits). When I did my Masters, rather than focusing in one area, I was pretty much experimenting with different subjects such as natural language processing, multimedia, visual info processing, distributed programming, etc 'cause I wasn't too sure what direction to take.</p>
<p>I contacted few research supervisors after completing my Masters but didn't hear anything positive from them. Then I pretty much gave up and started pursuing career and moved into web development.</p>
<p>I am not sure how to go into research now and whether it is even possible for me. How do I prepare myself?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13311,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here are a few suggestions (not necessarily in this order):</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Read up on the latest research in your area(s) of expertise and interest. </p></li>\n<li><p>Narrow the research interests down to a few and make contact with the academics involved - make contact with them, asking good questions about their research.</p></li>\n<li><p>Contact the admissions offices of your selected universities, explain the situation truthfully - put an emphasis on the experience you have gained through your employment, which is now an area of expertise, despite your masters going in many directions.</p></li>\n<li><p>In your readings, you should be able to find an area that is in need of more research, where something new can be contributed.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Remember, your situation is different than it was when you completed your Masters, you have several years of specialised work experience behind you now.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13315,
"author": "Pat",
"author_id": 7061,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7061",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One thing you don't mention, and I'm quite confused about, is what your PhD would actually be in. Web development and php, while important and valuable skills, do not prepare you for any sort of research I can think of.</p>\n\n<p>On top of this, 6+ years is a long time to have been out of a field. Natural language processing, visual info processing and distributed programming have moved on <strong>tremendously</strong> in that time. Unless you've been doing something day to day which keeps you up to date with the cutting edge, you're going to be very behind. </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand...</p>\n\n<p>Research isn't about getting grades - it's about being able to publish work that is useful to others. When you applied before, all people had to judge your potential to achieve this was your (average) grades. Now though, you've been out in the wild for a few years doing stuff. If you can present things you've done which will convince a potential supervisor that you can come up with novel solutions of a quality high enough to get into a journal, then you've got a shot at it. My (wild) guess would be you should aim for a lab that does applied stuff rather than theoretical stuff, where your prior day to day coding experience might shine through.</p>\n\n<p>~~~</p>\n\n<p>As an aside, have you considered applying to get chartered status in your field rather than a doctorate? It's challenging to get so generally highly thought of (this varies country to country and profession to profession though) and more closely based on industrial experience. If you have six years of that under your belt, along with a relevant masters degree, then you may be well on the way already. The yearly fees once you have it can be expensive, but worth checking out if you haven't already.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25634,
"author": "Ricky Sharma",
"author_id": 19404,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19404",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In your situation would do the following:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Learn assembly thoroughly.</li>\n<li>Learn theory of computation thoroughly.</li>\n<li>Learn algorithms thoroughly.</li>\n<li>Explore specializations (read papers).</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13304",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8934/"
]
|
13,305 | <p>Naturally I would say "of course", but my current situation makes me doubt.</p>
<p>In my paper I'm <em>briefly</em> covering various alternative cryptographic constructions. I am (of course) familiar with all of them, but I have not (nor have the time to) read the full papers I'm actually referencing. The reason for this is that they contain lengthy specifications complemented with cryptanalysis.</p>
<p>I'm in doubt whether it's acceptable to reference said papers without having actually read them. Is it acceptable to do so?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13307,
"author": "user8936",
"author_id": 8936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8936",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here is my take. This is not high school and nobody is going to check whether you've read the papers. The idea is to provide references for the readers for further research not to show that you've read all the literature. Naturally, of course, you don't want to cite a paper that has nothing to do with the subject at hand so you need to have a grasp on its content but nobody expects you to be an expert on every detail in the 100 publications that you reference. Sometimes I only read an abstract to decide if I want to reference the paper or not.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13308,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Let me answer your question by means of an example. In my on-going research I am using a notion called \"Schlichting completion\" which is originated from a paper written in German by a mathematician called Schlichting. I can't read German, but using a dictionary, I've found some clues about this notion in his paper. So I cited this paper, even though I have only read about one page of it. The reason is sometimes we have to cite a paper, because some fundamental notion has originated from that paper and we have to give credit to the person who invented that notion. Other reasons for citing papers are:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>They have a nice review of the subject and/or contain relatively a comprehensive list of references related to the work. </p></li>\n<li><p>They have done some parallel or complementary works.</p></li>\n<li><p>They have some results which are used in my papers.</p></li>\n<li><p>They contain reasons which motivate my work. For example, they ask or suggest a problem which is addressed in my work. </p></li>\n<li><p>They give more examples, applications and/or ideas related to my work.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>etc.</p>\n\n<p>So you do not have to read all contents of a paper before citing it. But make sure it is relevant, useful, some how necessary, interesting and/or important paper with respect to the work you are presenting in your paper. As a final remark, it is always nice to point out where in the paper you are citing is related to the discussion, for example specify the theorem number, the page number, etc. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13318,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When you reference a paper within whatever your context may be, you are possibly doing several things. First, you may make claims and use other authors names and reputation in support. Second, you may take \"facts\" from a paper and propagate these facts through yours. </p>\n\n<p>Nothing wrong with that? Not generally. But, what happens if a paper makes a claim that is not at all well supported by the study? You run the risk of propagating errors so that when somebody uses your paper as a reference the original paper is still further away and after a few such iterations the source may be completely forgotten. There are many instances where either errors have been propagated or where \"truths\" have slowly been misquoted so that they turn into errors. This is clearly not what we want in our papers.</p>\n\n<p>I would therefore say that one needs to (critically) read a paper enough to make oneself sure that the facts can be trusted and that no misinterpretation has occurred in the paper to be referenced or earlier. Hence relying on, for example, other authors references is a very weak link in the chain. One has to try to back-trace vital information as much as possible. Misunderstandings may not necessarily be born out of malice but just by oversight, but the end result is still the same. To therefore, for example, simply gloss over the abstract and use whatever seems to support some idea or vice versa is far from satisfactory.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13305",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5965/"
]
|
13,316 | <p>A friend has made some nice slides that I could reuse (similar topics). He sent me the slides and commented that if I use them and could cite him that would be nice, I asked him how should I cite the slides but he said that whatever suits better to me he said "Just add my surname in some place where it's not very intrusive".</p>
<p>I'm not sure if he doesn't care or he doesn't want to be too picky, but I'd like to cite him, to each one his own.</p>
<p>AFAIK, they are related to a paper (but not in the paper) and to his thesis, where they could be as a diagram but definitively not animated. The slides (as such) may be available at some URL, he said they will be but they are not available yet (so I don't have the URL yet). If citing by the URL I guess I could use this: "<a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8098/how-to-cite-a-website-url">How to cite a website URL?</a>"</p>
<p>Should I cite slides? If yes, how?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13317,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are two practical purposes to scholarly citations:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>acknowledging scientific contribution of others, the borrowing of ideas (mainly) and content (sometimes, in the form of quotes)</li>\n<li>helping people find relevant content if they want to read it</li>\n<li>bookkeeping, for scientometric/bibliometric purposes</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In your particular case, you cannot fulfill #2 and #3, because your friend's slides are not available for others to read, and even if they were, random documents on the internet are not really used for bibliometric purposes.</p>\n\n<p>So, you want a solution that will achieve #1, i.e. make sure his contributions are recognized by people who will read your slides. To do so, you don't need to give your citation any specific format. I suggest you simply write, at the bottom of slides you borrowed from him:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><em>Slide courtesy of John Doe</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>or </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><em>Slide modified from John Doe, with permission</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In addition, you can thank him in your acknowledgements at the end of your talk.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13333,
"author": "David Z",
"author_id": 236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In practice, what I've often seen is to just stick in a footnote saying \"slide from [name]\" or something similar. To do otherwise could be considered plagiarism. Admittedly, people are not picky about this with slides the way they are with papers; it seems to be tacitly accepted sometimes to borrow figures or entire slides without always acknowledging the source, but still, unless you want to be the kind of person who doesn't care about academic integrity, I think you should strive to credit the sources of your content.</p>\n\n<p>If you want something more formal, you could have your friend upload his slides to <a href=\"http://figshare.com/\">figshare</a>, which will archive them and allow him to claim a DOI. You can then use that DOI for a more standard citation.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13316",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571/"
]
|
13,319 | <p>I have been working on an application where we have tried two alternative methods. Both methods are used for the same purpose, but the first one had several problems. Despite getting results we had to look for another method that solved those problems to some extent.</p>
<p>Can I mention the rejected method along with the accepted method in a research paper?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13320,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I cannot see any reason not to mention what could be labelled \"negative results\". If you have tried a method and it failed there can be two reasons, either the choice of method was bad (which is likely a trivial unpublishable result) or the method is in some way not appropriate due to reasons not before understood. In the latter case, there are clear advantages to convey this result to others. This may spawn new research or simply help others avoid using the method. Hopefully you will be able to provide deeper insights into why things did not work out as you first thought. In essence, anything that progresses our understanding is worth bringing forth in a publication.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13321,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, especially if most people <strong>would expect the method to work</strong>, but you can clearly describe why it does not work. It has to be done carefully though, because the focus should be on actual results, not on failed methods (this is not a negative result, it's really a failed attempt to get any result).</p>\n\n<p>In my opinion, the <strong>best place to put this</strong> is the introduction. After you state your problem, say which method one would try in a first step, then argue why it doesn't work, and then present you approach to the problem. This approach works especially well if someone suggested the method as a feasible approach to your problem, and you cite that in your introduction.</p>\n\n<p>But <strong>keep it short</strong>: I would think that two to three sentences should be sufficient to describe it. If the failed method is so little known in your field that it requires careful explanation, it's probably not worth being mentioned at all.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13340,
"author": "AsymLabs",
"author_id": 8943,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8943",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Firstly I will qualify this by declaring that I am not strictly an academic.</p>\n\n<p>I have, however, overseen research for a number of years. This has been government-private partnership industrial research that has been done under full scale production processes of construction - perhaps the largest contiguous experimental research work ever undertaken in hot and tropical climates. This was a 20+ year project involving a number of programmes - some 120,000 data elements and a team of analysts to PhD level.</p>\n\n<p>Needless to say, it is important that this information be published, presented and disseminated - otherwise it is of no value. What is paramount in this process is the benefit that this information and message can give to the audience.</p>\n\n<p>Above all each and every statement must be supported by logic and the data. Try to let the data speak for itself. Try not to wander into speculative territory - some things cannot be explained. And the reader must have enough information to make their own informed decision. We take the view that the researcher has a lot of power - the power to persuade and change an audience and industry to new and better ways. This is research in action.</p>\n\n<p>This brings us to the question posed. For the audience to make an informed decision, it is essential to report on aspects that did not turn out as expected. Often we learn more from things that did not work than from those that did. For example, we established a procedure to carry out full scale temperature monitoring in one experiment, but found, to our surprise, that we still encountered significant ambient (environmental) effects, which prompted us to redesign the experiment until this phenomenon was effectively eliminated. This type of information, to your audience, is quite valuable. It also will build more confidence in your work.</p>\n\n<p>However, it should not be something that one dwells on. Address it, and move on to more important things. Our work tends to go to practitioners, whereas yours may go to other academics. In this situation speculation, although I personally stay away it, may be warranted because it may lead you to new research avenues. These are matters your supervisor or associates will better understand.</p>\n\n<p>Ultimately, research is about objectively seeking the truth - truth, like perfection, being something we may approach but never reach - with successes and failures along the way. Research is amongst the highest of human endeavours, in my view. Try to let your work and your writing convey these principles.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13319",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8324/"
]
|
13,324 | <p>I have created a new data structure, and I intend to submit a paper about it to an ACM conference later this year. However, in writing the paper, I realize there is no specific "question" the research answers. I was simply curious if such a structure could be created. Can I simply write the paper, describe the structure and how it works, and then give a pseudocode example and perhaps comparisons to other data structures? The structure has some rather interesting properties, and I can see specific applications for it in statistical analysis. But beyond that, as far as I can tell, it's just a neat structure with some weird properties.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13325,
"author": "BSteinhurst",
"author_id": 7561,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7561",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would suggest that you investigate those interesting properties further and then have a paper along the lines of \"this structure has this useful property, more-so (or less-so) than these other structures.\" That is justify why someone would actually use this structure. </p>\n\n<p>Think about it from the editors' point of view. Why should this paper be published? If you can't provide an answer with a straight face then maybe you should wait until there is a purpose for it. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13332,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you can see some useful applications then I think you have your question: What is the best data structure in <strong><em>_</em>____</strong> (situation).</p>\n\n<p>If it is not the best data structure in any situation then perhaps it is better to improve it so that it does something important better than anything else that is out there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13336,
"author": "visoft",
"author_id": 8955,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8955",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think \"theoretical\" papers are welcome! Just make sure to clearly present your contributions to the field, even if they are incremental. Ex: place a table with other related structures and show that your data structure improves on some operation, (retrieval, insertion, or whatever operations you have) operation on which other structures have a higher O(). </p>\n\n<p>State your advantages clear in the discussions section but mention them in abstract, introduction and conclusions.</p>\n\n<p>Please make sure that your mathematical argument on why you get the specific O() is sound! \nIt also could be helpful to collect some experimental data with your proposed structures and current \"state of the art\". The experiments doesn't need to work on some real problem. It is enough if you can generate some data having a distribution similar to what you might encounter in the real world.</p>\n\n<p>Submit it and remember, reviewers are always right :(\nDon't give up if you get rejected, try a conference, or another journal instead.</p>\n\n<p>Hope it helps!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/10/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13324",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7134/"
]
|
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