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25,830 |
<p>The question is related to the trend of research and focus on different disciplines. </p>
<p>Is there some trend assesment which shows the number of articles or conferences on a specific disciplines? </p>
<p>If someone would like to see the trend of research on let's say Nano Technology or Semantic Technology is there some source of information which shows the number of conferences related to the discipline and the number of articles tagged for these disciplines?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25829,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think there's any inherent value in having your own \"signature\" presentation layout.</p>\n\n<p>Generally, you want to keep the focus on the content of your talk. If people are noticing your layout, they are paying less attention to your science. Would you rather stick in their minds as \"the speaker with the cool result\" or \"the speaker with all those weird colors on their slides\"?</p>\n\n<p>If you really dislike the usual templates, or you can make your own workflow more efficient by creating your own, then go ahead and do it. But I would suggest keeping your (visible) changes conservative; if your layout is radically different from what people are used to seeing, it may become distracting.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25835,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><code>If you are presenting in a classroom</code> it is an advantage to have same templates because students do not prefer to see a new template each session. <code>But in the conferences</code> the audience is not aware you are always using the same template. The only thing he sees is the <code>content</code> you are presenting. Moreover, some conferences have their own template and all the speakers have to use the conference template not their own.</p>\n\n<p>P.S. If you have the best designed slides and you have nothing to talk about, your audience will get bored soon.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25843,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First of all, I do not think that having a signature layout is any good for its own sake. In most fields, few people (apart from your workgroup) will attend more than one of your talks and even those who will, will likely not notice the consistency of your layout¹ – unless it’s particularly memorable, which is almost certainly not a good thing². And even if somebody notices, they will likely (and hopefully) value the quality of your design more, let alone the quality of your content.</p>\n\n<p>Considering the required work, there are two aspects: (1) Creating (or choosing) a layout and (2) Using the layout throughout your presentations.</p>\n\n<p>Aspect 1 takes a few hours, if you are sufficiently apt with your presentation program (and it does not suck) and know some basics of graphic design (which I suppose you do, if you are asking such a question).\nMostly it’s selecting a colour scheme, one or two fonts and a default arrangement of your slides as well as realising them in your presentation program and in the programs you use to generate your figures.\nRegarding the constraints of existing templates, remember that (unless your problems are very individual) if no templates are the way you want them, it is very likely that you should be careful what you are wishing for.\nAlso beware that the fact that you have to rely on (usually unknown) projectors imposes some constraints on your font and colour selections.</p>\n\n<p>Aspect 2 will usually save you some time, whether you are using a prebuilt design or your own: For example, you are very likely to reuse some material – in particular figures. And if you care about your slides being consistent (which I suppose you do), you avoid spending some time in adapting colour schemes, for example. In particular, there is usually no benefit in switching designs.</p>\n\n<p>From personal experience, I have spent some time in working out a design and have not regretted it yet.</p>\n\n<p><sup>¹ Just think about, how few people give horribly designed presentations and thus can be assumed not even to notice the flaws in their own presentations, let alone the qualities of yours.<br>\n² As you should not notice good design that much.</sup></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25848,
"author": "Will Robertson",
"author_id": 7754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7754",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes. If you're like me you'll never like everything about a standard layout, and you want your tools to disappear as quickly as possible when creating content.\nNoticing something in your slides that you want to change (bullet type, or title colour, or whatever) is the easiest way to get distracted from doing so.</p>\n\n<p>Having a standard layout for your own work means you have to spend the least amount of time worrying about the formatting.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25873,
"author": "Richie Cotton",
"author_id": 19549,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19549",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Standardising layouts have three advantages:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>You can reuse slides across presentation without changing the styling. </p></li>\n<li><p>When you create presentations, you don't need to think about styling; the templates are already set up for you.</p></li>\n<li><p>Creating templates and styling can be delegated to someone with design skills, and everyone else gets to use them.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The first two points are applicable whether you have your own signature style, or you follow a team or corporate style.</p>\n\n<p>The last point is different. In theory, having a corporate style is a really good idea because everyone gets the benefit of using templates created by the design genius in the marketing department. In practice, corporate templates are almost universally awful.</p>\n\n<p>So, if a corporate template exists, and you are lucky enough to like it, then use that. There's no point in reinventing the wheel.</p>\n\n<p>If there is no template, or it is dreadful, then create one for yourself and stick to that. </p>\n\n<p>Either way, you don't want to have to keep deciding on new fonts to use for every presentation that you make.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25876,
"author": "Floris",
"author_id": 15062,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15062",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see pros and cons; which ends up winning out depends on your skill mix.</p>\n\n<p>First - designing a good layout takes effort and expertise. Graphics designers study many years to get good at it. Just because tools are provided to make it easy doesn't mean everyone is suddenly a graphical designer. The right blend of colors, fonts, space etc is not an easy thing to achieve. 99% of \"I can do better\" layouts look horrid.</p>\n\n<p>Having said that, I have at times come across layouts that made me go \"wow\". This is where the layout really supported the flow of the presentation, and while I was not getting distracted by the details, I came away more impressed. This was mostly because the presentation itself was very good - the contents were impressive, the speaker was very clear, and the layout of the presentation supported the spoken words.</p>\n\n<p>In those cases, the personal layout was the icing on the cake - not a substitute for good work. There is a lot you can do to improve your presentation without spending any time on the layout. Fiddling with layouts (like fiddling with LaTex) can become an easy distraction from the real issues with your presentation. I urge you to consider whether your interest in the \"look\" is coming at the right time: in other words, is every other aspect of your presentation skills (content, pacing, connecting with the audience) so good that layout is the only thing left to play with?</p>\n\n<p>If the answer is \"yes\", then my answer to your question is \"yes\". Otherwise, I think it's a bit early to work on creating your brand through a custom layout. Many people in the scientific community - especially at the PhD level - could do with honing their presentation skills. They could learn not to confuse slides with notes. They could learn to connect with their audience. They could learn to speak at an appropriate pace, and project their voice. They could learn to focus on the essentials and not bombard the audience with details. They could learn to use slides as visual aids - not \"the main course\" of the presentation. </p>\n\n<p>While I don't know you or your skills, I would say that I have statistics (based on 25+ years of empirical evidence) on my side when I answer \"probably not\" to your original title question.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25913,
"author": "zzzzBov",
"author_id": 466,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/466",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What you're describing in your question is called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand\" rel=\"nofollow\">good branding</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Branding is a major part of marketing, as it allows companies to craft a particular image for consumers. It's important for brands to be distinguished from one another, and focus on a target audience, which is why you've probably heard of brands such as \"Arm & Hammer\" and \"Oxi Clean\", but probably don't know \"Church & Dwight\" which owns both of those brands.</p>\n\n<p>Establishing a brand takes a lot of time and effort, and is difficult to measure. How can you objectively tell whether a sponsor chose to give you money because they liked your science or because they trusted your brand? It's always a mix, but it's important to remember that good branding will help open doors that otherwise would have been closed to you.</p>\n\n<p>If you approach your presentations as part of your brand (which they are) then any marketer will tell you how important it is to have a clear consistent message. Simply using a consistent theme for presentation material, business cards, and any and all academic communication is one way to develop your brand. That way, when someone watches your presentation it might remind them of the friendly email that you sent.</p>\n\n<p>The contents of your presentations is certainly important, and I think the other answers speak to that a great deal, so I'm going to <strong>explicitly ignore</strong> the contents of your presentation beyond a reminder that if your presentation is good, it will help your brand, and if your presentation is bad, it will harm your brand.</p>\n\n<p>I highly recommend discussing your brand with a marketer or designer and investing in yourself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25962,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I always appreciate when someone cares about their presentation. There are some things that are just inexcusable (e.g., tables that are left aligned on one slide and centered on another), and make you look lazy, so to the extent a consistent template would mitigate those then it can't hurt. </p>\n\n<p>My presentations tend to look the same and stand out against my peers. I do all of my writing in Markdown, analyses in R, and create dynamic presentations with some available R packages. Therefore, all of my graphs tend to have a style (ggplot2), tables look the same in HTML, fonts (and related consistencies between headings and body text) work together nicely. It's not just about the style of the presentation, as I know a few people who give presentations and have a very distinctive voice in their text, and a welcomed minimalism in slide content. </p>\n\n<p>I never thought too much about it, but I do have a \"style\" or \"brand\" in my presentations that most people who have met me and seen me present a few times recognize as clearly a presentation I crafted. However, this \"brand\" is really just me using a specific set of tools that most people don't use. What's the standard for most fields? Unfortunately Powerpoint, and some use the Mac Office Suite, while a few others use Prezi (and most use that tool poorly). </p>\n\n<p>There's a range of tools out there that you can utilize that might help develop a consistent \"style\" for you, but also will help to vastly improve your workflow, and also make your scholarship better (i.e., tools with an emphasis on reproducibility).</p>\n\n<p>Whatever you do just do it well and make sure it works for you and our audiences. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25830",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1428/"
] |
25,832 |
<p>Some of my colleagues and I got offers from employees of some reputed journal (not from journal itself), to publish our research paper for free, if:</p>
<ul>
<li>We include their name as co-author</li>
<li>We use 60%+ citation of their journal (Doesn't it add up to IF??)</li>
</ul>
<p>In return:</p>
<ul>
<li>It will be published completely free</li>
<li>They will give us discount of some sort for next publication</li>
</ul>
<p>Is it may be some kind of scam? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25833,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Whether or not this is a scam, it is <strong>completely unethical</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Under no circumstances is someone entitled to a publication credit in exchange for \"free\" publication of a paper. Don't forget that many reputable journals do <strong>not</strong> charge publication fees. It may be entirely possible for you to get your paper published without such an arrangement, which will be better for you, largely because any journal whose employees operate in such a manner isn't worth publishing in.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25836,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<h2>This is a scam.</h2>\n\n<p>You are not the ones being scammed, however. The editors are proposing to scam your readers, with your assistance, making you scammers as well. Walk away before you damage your reputation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25941,
"author": "user263485",
"author_id": 13131,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13131",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Although this question has fully answered, just hear my point of view.</p>\n\n<p>Have you ever asked yourself: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>What obligations those people have to fulfill their promises? After all they have not committed to the basic ethic matters.</li>\n<li>How are you going to claim the discount for your next publication?</li>\n<li>What kind of publication this journal hase made, that you want to cite 60%+ of them in your work?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If <em>you</em> claim anything after this, they easily ignore the whole deal. The only thing that they have in their mind is to rise up their reputation, by any means. Charging people for publishing and then offering them discounts with this method, is just a <strong>scam</strong>. It's more like paper-cooking.</p>\n\n<p>Don't let yourself to be used.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25832",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19474/"
] |
25,837 |
<p>Recruiting "bad" PhD students who only become emotional, temporal, and financial drag is not good for anybody. I was listening to the <a href="http://freakonomics.com/2014/07/10/what-do-king-solomon-and-david-lee-roth-have-in-common-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">recent freakonomics podcast episode</a>, and thought it would be great to use tricks for testing the candidates before hiring them. Interviewing only can tell you so much, but unlike industry, PI's have more time to test the students before committing to seriously bring them into their research program.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/17621/386">related question</a>, some qualities of successful students were discussed. Specifically, I want to test for</p>
<ul>
<li>persistence/focus</li>
<li>creativity</li>
<li>logical/systematic thinking</li>
<li>communication</li>
<li>teamwork</li>
<li>"smartness"</li>
<li>some basic skills (programming, computer skills, writing, etc.)</li>
</ul>
<p>At the same time I do not want to punish for lack of knowledge or experience. Also, I'm okay with eccentric personalities to a certain degree.</p>
<p>I've seen PIs testing their candidates by giving them <strong>mini research problems</strong> before hiring them (or while they are rotating in the lab). Some students will quickly finish the task and further explore the science on their own write fantastic reports/papers, while some students never finish the simplest first step. This seems to work fine (but some students might think it is not fair). I would like to learn if there are some quick tests that would reveal the quality of the candidate.</p>
<p>What tricks/procedures do you use?</p>
<p>P.S. I am in a computation/theory heavy science in US.</p>
<p><strong>EDIT</strong>: I am especially looking forward to King Solomon's cutting the baby in half type of creative solutions. Perhaps PI can ask the student to do an impossible task and see how long it takes before the student says he/she thinks it is impossible.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25855,
"author": "user1798812",
"author_id": 19476,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19476",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think it is fair to judge a person by tests. People have ups and downs. Look on their overall profile. Have they done something creative even once, in their career? Some students are exam-phobic and do not get A grades all the time, but if you look at their research and thesis in the past, those are very creative and novel. Those kind of people are the ones, that succeed, not always the ones who run after a 4.0 gpa(on a 4.0 scale).</p>\n\n<p>If the person doesn't has any novelty to show in their past projects, ask them the reason. What was the idea behind the work they have done, what did they learn from it, and what do they intend to learn from their PhD. Why are they pursuing a PhD? Why do they want to join your lab? Tell them what are you looking for, in the candidate and ask them to do a self-evaluation. Tell them to be frank, if they do not know something that you want them to know, and that you'll be willing to work with them if you really see them as the right candidate.</p>\n\n<p>Keep your expectations real. You might never find a student with 100% qualities matching your requirement, but if you find that right candidate who is willing to give his 100%, you can make their 70% match better than anything else you'd ever get.</p>\n\n<p>At the end of the day, a good student is the reflection of a good teacher.</p>\n\n<p>Oh and by the way I'm also a Bioinformatics major and it is not always possible to know everything on the computer skills side. They might be excellent in one programming language but know nothing in others or they might be average good in a number of languages being the master of none. At the end, the thing that matters is, if they can get the job done, using whatever technique, whatever approach!</p>\n\n<p>Correct me if I'm wrong. :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25882,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n<p>What tricks/procedures do you use?</p>\n<p>I am especially looking forward to King Solomon's cutting the baby in half type of creative solutions. Perhaps PI can ask the student to do an impossible task and see how long it takes before the student says he/she thinks it is impossible.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>You're contemplating starting out a long-term, intense professional relationship with this person. "Tricks" like this are dishonest. Dishonesty is not a good way to begin such a relationship.</p>\n<p>The situation is similar to an ordinary job interview. In a job interview, it's not just the employer who is judging the candidate. The candidate is also judging whether the employer is someone they'd want to work for. Manipulative interview techniques are a flashing red light telling the candidate that this is not an employer who respects his employees.</p>\n<p>Another thing that a job candidate is looking for is an employer who will support him in his long-term professional growth, rather than treating him as a labor commodity who needs to be productive from day one. This holds even more for a student getting started in a PhD program; the reason universities claim that grad students are not employees is that they're supposed to be focused on learning, not on acting as cheap labor.</p>\n<p>In the usual case where the student does a rotation in your group, that's the opportunity for each of you to see if you're a good fit for the other. It's meant to be an experience that helps the student to learn and grow, not one that produces a lot of research. Part of what the university is paying you to do is to provide these opportunities for these students to learn and grow. If, by the end of the rotation, the student has shown a lack of aptitude, then you've provided the service you're being paid to provide.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25895,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>What tricks/procedures do you use?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I work with each student as a potential colleague. I meet with them regularly, monitor their progress, offer what feedback and advice I can on what classes to take, papers to read, problems to work on, techniques to apply, people to work with, conferences to submit to, writing, presentations, and so on.</p>\n\n<p>If they show sufficient promise/progress after a semester or two, I offer to continue working with them in an official capacity as their advisor. If they don't show sufficient promise/progress, I offer to help them find another advisor who better matches their interests, background, and working style. If necessary, I help the student navigate a change in degree programs, departments, or universities.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, if I don't have enough time to effectively evaluate and/or advise a student, I just say no at the beginning.</p>\n\n<p>In other words, I don't have any tricks. I just do my job.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25966,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not to sound facetious, but have you ever considered your role as the mentor in understanding why these collaborations don't work out? Relationships are bidirectional. As such, I am struck that in your initial post the issue is the deficit of the student. </p>\n\n<p>I'm a grad student. I've worked with many professors on different projects. In every instance you get what you give. Most normal people will do their job (i.e., the grad student meeting expectations) if you do your job, at least in the context of a collaboration across time. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25837",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/386/"
] |
25,850 |
<p>As I understand it, in the engineering field, the person who has research money and/or a project that leads to the collection of data, is put on research papers that directly use that data. I guess the most common of this is for PHD students whose advisors funding or project is the reason they have data.</p>
<p>I am curious about when this ends in regards to collaboration. If one person gets a project and funding and collaborates with a different lab/department/professor/researcher and through this, gives a portion of the funding to that person or place, what is the convention for authorship? Does the PI of the project go on all papers that use the data, or only papers they directly do with their own staff/students?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25880,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The German research foundation (DFG) has some <a href=\"http://www.dfg.de/download/pdf/dfg_im_profil/reden_stellungnahmen/download/empfehlung_wiss_praxis_1310.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">guidelines</a> on authorship for research publications (including an English translation towards the end) which put specific criteria for being named as an author. Among others, it says that those \"who have made significant contributions to the conception of studies or experiments\" should be listed as authors. </p>\n\n<p>In my understanding, getting funding for a project requires describing the conception of the data collection in quite some detail, so anybody who contributed to that part of the proposal should be included as an author of the resulting publication. Importantly, the criterium is not having brought in the money, but having contributed (significantly) to the conception of the study.</p>\n\n<p>The only exception to that rule would be if the paper under discussion does not \"publish\" the data, but \"uses\" it in some other way and can include a citation to the original publication of the data.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25901,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>If one person gets a project and funding and collaborates with a different lab/department/professor/researcher and through this, gives a portion of the funding to that person or place, what is the convention for authorship?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you collaborate with someone, they usually get co-authorship on papers resulting from the collaboration. <strong>Not</strong> because money changed hands, but because they were involved in the work that the paper describes.</p>\n\n<p>If two PIs on a funded proposal work independently on research described in the proposal, such that they are <strong>not</strong> collaborators, then they won't be author on one another's papers. Again, the reason they won't merit co-authorship is because they did not collaborate on the work.</p>\n\n<p>For example, suppose I write a proposal together with a colleague to explore some problem domain both from a theoretical standpoint (his area of expertise) and through practical experimentation (mine). He develops the conception of the theoretical part, while I develop the experimental part. The proposal is funded. My colleague proceeds to develop a very nice theoretical framework, while I independently go ahead and do some experimental work. I didn't participate in his work and he didn't participate in mine. We are <strong>not</strong> going to be co-authors on one another's papers.</p>\n\n<p>It's irrelevant whether money changed hands. It's also not relevant whether we are in the same lab/department/university or different ones.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25850",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12718/"
] |
25,852 |
<p>I want to pursue a PhD in Financial Economics in USA/Canada. I am a software engineer and going to Canada to pursue an MBA in Finance in September from an average public university.</p>
<p>I have studied a lot of high level math courses in Engineering (Undergrad). I will study many Finance and Econ courses in the MBA program.</p>
<p>I am interested in a PhD from a US university (average public university, not targeting top level).</p>
<p>I am really crazy about this subject. I know that I wasted a lots of time on other things but I still have time and I am very interested in teaching.</p>
<p>What opportunities can I take advantage of during the MBA to maximize my chances of PhD admission?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25975,
"author": "szarka",
"author_id": 18234,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18234",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>PhD programs exist to produce researchers, so an admissions committee would like to see that you will be able to produce original research. (In economics, that means journal articles.) So, what would help immensely would be to gain actual research experience. The best way to do that would be to work as a research assistant for someone who is actively publishing research.</p>\n\n<p>It would be fantastic, of course, if you could co-author a paper and get it published in a top journal. But don't worry so much about that. What you're looking for is a chance to work with someone who can then write a letter of recommendation that says they are confident that you will go on to produce quality research of your own, and whose opinion will matter because they have a good track record of publishing their own work.</p>\n\n<p>Add some statistics coursework to your programming experience and you'll be well-positioned to work as an RA. (Even without a stats background, being able to wield Perl or R or some other tool to collect and clean data is valuable.) Or find someone working with agent-based modelling who needs a code jockey. Then, of course, work hard and ask lots of questions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 94740,
"author": "High GPA",
"author_id": 69151,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/69151",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am doing something similar right now. It really depends on the sub-field of your interests. As mentioned by Szarka most of the finance/economics research statistics is often used, but not at a very high level. You could have a shot in many of the RA positions because you are fluent in R or Stata, but those data analyst positions will not likely to yield a coauthorship in top departments. On the other hand, there are a lot of subfields in Econ/Fin researches, for examples:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Contract theories, insurances: you need rigorous measure theories, probability theories, and sometimes non-linear functional analysis (convex optimization) in graduate level</li>\n<li>Decision theories (behavioral fin-econ): you need measure theories, probability theories, functional analysis, optimization, and sometimes Lipschitz analysis in graduate level</li>\n<li>DSGE, GE theories in Fin Econ, incomplete equilibriums (closely connected to 2), evolutionary dynamic game theories: You need measure theories in graduate level, stochastic differential equations, abstract algebra (advanced linear algebras in graduate level), stochastic optimizations on different types of manifolds, and sometimes methods of perturbations, Lipschitz analysis, and differential topologies. </li>\n<li>Auction theories, multi-agent models: usually you need a very strong CS background, DNN, graph theories, discrete analysis, dynamic optimizations and controls, etc. Sometimes linked to dynamic game theories.</li>\n<li>Corp-Fin, principle agent theories: This is very closely connected to contract theories and sometimes, decision theories</li>\n<li>Derivative pricing theories and applications: measure theories, stochastic differential equations, and non-linear functional analysis are the minimum. Sometimes connected to contract theories and decision theories.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Each of the \"subfields\" that I classified has many subsubfields, and the subsubfields have their subsubsubfields. For example, despite of being mathematically intensive, some recent advances in decision sciences are closely linked to not only psychology, but also neuro sciences, physiology, and cell biology. MBA courses are usually focus on the practical uses. As a general advice, you could take more theoretical courses (like microeconomics theories in PhD level), and most importantly, find your field of interests and find the proper advisor.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25852",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19542/"
] |
25,856 |
<p>Can you give me advice, how can I publish easily and quickly in a number of papers?
I'm not really a scientist, I'm a web developer, but I really need to build a publication list. I need to publish at least 10 papers or maybe 20.</p>
<p>I want to build a publication list because if you publish (and you meet some other criteria - which I do meet) you can get an uncapped visa to the USA. I'm currently being interviewed by top firms in the Silicon Valley, but even they are not able to guarantee the visa. The researcher visa seems to be the most flexible one and the only thing I miss is the publication list. The number 10 is because I consulted with an immigration lawyer and they have a 98% success chance with researcher visas.</p>
<p>I wrote a thesis for my Masters last year in an interesting and not really researched topic related to Web Usability and Search Engines and I think I can put together some articles in this topic. I'm also working on a second Masters in another university to investigate the problem's business/user behaviour aspects. Both are in the top 200 according to the Times ranking and Sanghai ranking, too. I'm planning a PhD, too, hopefully on Stanford, where I work with a professor.</p>
<p>I don't need to publish in Nature or Science, I just have to build a publication list. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25862,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you want to publish your Master's results, have a chat to your supervisor about writing a paper. You should not try to publish them without involving your supervisor(s)!</p>\n\n<p>It's certainly feasible that a Master's thesis will produce publishable results, but more than one or two papers? No way, no how. It could easily take well over a decade of research to publish 10 or 20 first-authored papers in a respected conference or a reputable peer-reviewed journal.</p>\n\n<p>In the eyes of a scrupulous employer, writing a large volume of low-quality papers simply to bulk up your CV will reflect very poorly on you. Having one good paper published from the results of a Master's thesis is a good achievement. Having 10 or 20 poor quality papers will just raise suspicious eyebrows.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25868,
"author": "Richie Cotton",
"author_id": 19549,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19549",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Ten or twenty papers in reputable journals is hard, and will take years. So how do you get started?</p>\n\n<p>Something that may appeal to you as a software developer is creating or contributing to open source software and writing a paper about the software. An example from my field is the <a href=\"http://www.jstatsoft.org/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Journal of Statistical Software</a>. It's very reputable, and the many of the articles are essentially introductory guides to software that the author has created. I'm sure there must be a web development equivalent.</p>\n\n<p>You could also consider making friends with scientists and contributing to their research. For example, if you can help scrape some data from the internet, or help social scientists run a questionnaire (and then write what you did in the methods section of the resulting paper) then you can get your name on a paper without too much work. You won't be first author, but that may not matter. (As a statistician, I'm resigned to permanently being second or third author on papers.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25872,
"author": "Joe",
"author_id": 1622,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1622",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The rules for publishing articles vary by discipline. Many of the people on here are in scientific fields, and the rules for scientific publication is much more strict. What you find in many of the IT fields might be considered a 'white paper' than a 'scientific article'.</p>\n\n<p>As you're in web development, I'd recommend looking at <a href=\"http://www.designyourway.net/blog/resources/25-web-development-blogs-you-should-be-reading/\" rel=\"nofollow\">web development blogs</a> that accept external contributions and cover the specific sub-topic you want to write about. (eg, A List Apart got slammed after their first article on JavaScript, because they didn't have the expertise to peer review it properly, so they accepted some less than ideal code).</p>\n\n<p>If your work involves building websites for a specific community, you might look to see if there are journals or newsletters in that community that accept short papers describing new tools & software. (there's a growing push for <a href=\"http://software.ac.uk/so-exactly-what-software-did-you-use\" rel=\"nofollow\">software citation</a>) You might also consider if your topics cover other aspects outside of software development, such as psychology or design, and look for journals in that field.</p>\n\n<p>I'd also consider who it is that has decided that you 'need' to publish; if it's a professor or boss telling you this, then can likely tell you where you should be publishing. If you're just trying to bulk up for CV because of a percieved need, then try to find CVs of people with a similar background and see where they're publishing. I've heard of people getting consideration when hiring for running blogs in their field (scientific field, even ... the blog handles outreach to the general public), or even for writing good answers on stack exchange sites. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25856",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19546/"
] |
25,861 |
<p>I am planning to attend a prestigious conference in the near future, and I was wondering if a certain professor who I wish to meet and I would love to do my phd degree and research under his supervision will be attending this conference. So is it appropriate to ask him (by email) if he plans to attend or participate in this specific conference? Or are there other ways to know this information?</p>
<p>P.S. My research interests are an exact match to his research interests.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25863,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Of course it is OK if you ask him politely; but, if I were you, I would add a little about what I am going to talk to him when I see him at the conference. I do not think it is a good idea to say that you want to talk about your PhD supervision; write to him that you are a researcher, like his research background and want to discuss mutual research interests and ask your questions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25865,
"author": "Richie Cotton",
"author_id": 19549,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19549",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>My two favourite techniques for stalking potential business contacts (including professors):</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Email them asking questions about their work. Once you've built up a bit of rapport, then you can move on to asking about meeting in person.</p></li>\n<li><p>Check conference programmes to see if they are giving a talk/seminar/poster, and visit them in person then.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25899,
"author": "jaia",
"author_id": 12861,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12861",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Absolutely! Go for it. Just send an email briefly introducing yourself and your research interests. Say that you're interested in doing a Ph.D. with him. If possible, ask a question or two about his work to show that you've done your homework and aren't just emailing people blindly. (How feasible this is depends on your field; in mine, ecology, it was pretty easy.) Then, mention that you're going to be at the conference and would like to meet in person if he also plans to be there.</p>\n\n<p>I know this is nervewracking, but really, professors don't bite. The worst that can happen is he might say that he doesn't have funding or time for more grad students now. That's disappointing but not the end of the world (and there may be an opening next year). I used this approach, minus the conference part, when emailing prospective graduate advisors and it always went over well.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25861",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9488/"
] |
25,870 |
<p>I'm starting a master's degree in the autumn, and I recently received an email from the university inviting me to join the Facebook page for the course.</p>
<p>However, I don't currently have an active Facebook account -- I deleted my account several years ago due to concerns about privacy as well as its overall usefulness. (Mostly a case of "so why am I spending time on this site?")</p>
<p>Is there any explicit advantage I would get by joining the course's Facebook page, or equivalently, is there any disadvantage of not joining?</p>
<p>EDIT: I understand there is not likely to be an explicit requirement to join the group as official communication will be via email and university websites. I'm asking more from the point of view of networking, socializing, etc. Would the lack of Facebook be a handicap?</p>
<p>EDIT: Clarification: By "course" I mean the UK definition: The course is the entire year-long degree program. In this instance, the department has created a Facebook page for everybody who is doing the same degree program starting this year, and that's what they invited me to. However, my question applies to other possible applications of Facebook as well.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25871,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is there any explicit advantage I would get by joining the course's Facebook page</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you want to interact with your classmates on Facebook before starting the course, then joining the page would enable this.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>or equivalently, is there any disadvantage of not joining?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you don't feel a need to do the above, then no. There is no reason to expect this to be any kind of handicap. You will have plenty of chances to interact with your classmates face to face, when the course starts.</p>\n\n<p>Facebook is a useful marketing tool for universities, which is why they invited you to join the page. If you personally don't want to interact with others on Facebook (for very understandable reasons), then there is no need to join the page.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25884,
"author": "inf",
"author_id": 9301,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9301",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, there is an advantage besides the normal socializing one.</p>\n\n<p>There will probably be a group for your year or the years before.</p>\n\n<p>In this group people will share experiences with courses, questions&answers, solutions to homework and various other stuff.</p>\n\n<p>Also, it could be that there might even be some teachings assistants in these groups which can help during homework and/or before the exam preparations. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25885,
"author": "Mr.Mindor",
"author_id": 3934,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3934",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Without knowing how Facebook will be used by the instructor and fellow students in <em>this</em> course it is impossible to predict if you will be at a disadvantage for not signing up. </p>\n\n<p>My school had some basic communication tools built into its course management software that were clunky and difficult to use, not to mention completely unavailable on mobile devices. This lead to many students turning to other more accessible, more widely used means (like Facebook groups) to manage communications within their study groups. </p>\n\n<p>You should contact the instructor directly before the class starts and ask how or if they intend the class to use the group. If they plan to rely on the group, that will be your answer. If they do not, keep hold of the reply. It may be useful to produce it at a later date if you do miss some important Facebook related communication from her.</p>\n\n<p>Even if the group is not used in an official capacity, if a significant portion of your classmates use Facebook, you may miss out on a lot without the others even realizing they are excluding you. Or it may be that like yourself most of your classmates are disengaged from Facebook, and there will be no loss.</p>\n\n<p>In either case, unless as ff524 suggests, you want to engage in networking with your classmates before the course starts, you can put off making the decision on joining until you know more. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25888,
"author": "Jonathan E. Landrum",
"author_id": 7134,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7134",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I actually find this requirement a bit odd. Kids are leaving Facebook <em>en masse</em> for other, more private forms of communication (namely, tools their parents can't join and subsequently see what they've been posting). So assuming the whole class will actively use Facebook for extracurricular communication is almost old fashioned.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Edit:</strong> The moment your kids hear you say \"I've set up a Facebook group for this class...\" they will silently groan and think \"This is why I quit using Facebook.\" To them, we are the uncool crowd. Just use your school's Moodle/Blackboard/whatever forum for that. It's kludgy and they hate it, but they have to use it for all their other classes anyway. That solution is already in place for just this purpose.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25897,
"author": "Count Iblis",
"author_id": 17479,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17479",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't see a big advantage to joining facebook. Not joining facebook is probably better on the longer term. Employers are looking at facebook pages of the people applying for work. So, unless you use your facebook account in a way that makes you look like a nerd who no one wants to socialize with, there are no points to be earned here. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25915,
"author": "Biplab",
"author_id": 19574,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19574",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would rather say there is nothing in the world which do not have disadvantages or advantages.Its up to you how are using it. Take an example of a Computer , you can use it for programming,studies and hell lot of advantageous activities \\at the same time u can it to waste your time by playing games and watching movies etc(Look playing game or watching movies etc are not bad at all but if this kind activities will not appreciated if you are doing them by ignoring the priority work).If You see it in a positive way Facebook is one the best way to stay connected with society but if we don't know value of time or have self control then I thinks its our fault.\n\"Use the advantages and ignore the disadvantages.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25917,
"author": "Jerric Lyns John",
"author_id": 19576,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19576",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Facebook pages for Courses offered by Universities are a advantageous for the University since</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>This a indirect mass media publicity.</li>\n<li>This helps build a connected medium of students. </li>\n<li>Opinions can come in a velocity not achievable by normal methods. </li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>It is also advantageous for you</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You get to meet your crowd.</li>\n<li>There will be enough people to collaborate that you don't need another medium</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>About the privacy fear that we all have, it should be taken care if you only add people you know. Also there are options to share things only to people you specifically mention. Privacy is a great option which lesser amount of people use, but my personal advice is that since its a University just let it flow.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25931,
"author": "Matthew Leingang",
"author_id": 5701,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5701",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think there are some terms which should be defined in order to understand the question:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>By <em>course</em> do you mean a semester-long sequence of lectures and exams in one subject? This is the US usage, while in other places <em>module</em> is used. In those places <em>course</em> means what in the US is called a <em>degree program</em>: the set of courses/modules taken to complete the degree.</p></li>\n<li><p>Are you asked to \"like\" a Facebook <em>page</em> or \"join\" a Facebook <em>group</em>? Both have been used interchangeably in this discussion but they are not the same. A Facebook page is used by an organization for self-promotion and broadcasting information. It's mainly a one-way tool, though likers can comment and (sometimes, depending on settings) post. A Facebook group can be official or unofficial but is used for multi-way communication among its members.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If a course-as-in-degree-program is asking you to like their Facebook page, it's probably just to open up another line of communication to you. For instance, they might use it to broadcast that the university is closed for bad weather, and you can get that information before checking your email. You can do this without using Facebook for anything else; you don't have to interact with the other fans of the page. I believe fans aren't privy to who is and isn't a fellow fan. </p>\n\n<p>If a course-as-in-degree-program is asking you to join a Facebook group, it might be more for discussion as for a group, but would still be non-academic. Perhaps they want to collect opinions about services. Group members are able to see the list of group members, so you would be known. But you don't have to be (Facebook) friends with the fellow group members, so you can interact with the group and keep the other members at arm's length.</p>\n\n<p>If a course-as-in-module is asking you to like their Facebook page, it's going to be academic but still mainly broadcast. I've done this in my large lecture courses to announce when slides are posted or reminders about due dates. These are useful to get extra communication to the students, but they should not be used to publish anything that's not also on a university website. If you find that there is original course material published on Facebook, you might want to raise concern.</p>\n\n<p>If a course-as-in-module is asking you to join a Facebook group, it's likely that it's for academic discussion. This can be beneficial as others have pointed out. And the interface is familiar to most students so the content can be quite rich. But if the Facebook discussion is to be graded that's the most problematic combination. Joining Facebook requires individuals to sacrifice a considerable amount of privacy, and I think it's not fair for university officials to explicitly require that consent to participate in instruction. If you have a problem with joining Facebook and the instructor wants you do so for a grade, you should definitely be concerned. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25950,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/25931/739\">Matthew's answer</a> says, you need to better define the terms. That is an important research skill, anyway.</p>\n\n<p>Obviously, there cannot be any official FB pages for courses-as-modules/classes. Instructors who use FB as their main communication vehicle can be easily found in violation of the university's IT security practices via exposing the educational material that the university collects the money for on a platform that is not protected well enough. Even if an instructor only runs a FB page for their convenience, they still cut you out, and you have all the grounds to file a formal complaint with them to their department chairs saying that they discriminate in access to the course information against FB non-users (although the remainder of the class will probably oust you out, and you will be considered a weirdo for the rest of your time in the program).</p>\n\n<p>So having ruled a course-as-in-module/class page out, I can imagine a course-as-in-degree/program may have an FB page for intermittent announcements: news about a graduate being mentioned in NY Times, a faculty member receiving a good chunk of NSF money, a formal visit of the program by the Chancellor, may be more technical stuff like colloquia announcements. Probably nothing you cannot leave without. (Avoiding triple negations is another important practical skill that will definitely make your writing much clearer :) ). So they will give you a little nudge to join, but if FB does not fit your lifestyle, not having access to it will not be the end of the world.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25954,
"author": "Kristof Tak",
"author_id": 9401,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see there are plenty of answers already, let me provide my experience with a similar situation. </p>\n\n<p>I used to have a Facebook account which used to be useful at the time for interaction with friends & distant family. I moved abroad for studies and the Facebook became even more important in terms of interaction. </p>\n\n<p>However, the priority of the studies was much higher than the interaction; It took me about 3-4 months to notice that Facebook in fact was doing more damage than help. Everyone wants to check if you are doing fine in the new environment etc but to them it is just a msg, to you that is multiple of msgs to multiple people (quadratic or exponential work?!?)</p>\n\n<p>Basically, I deactivated the original account, created a new one with different name/surname which I use for the course. If they are not strictly checking for the credentials do the same. </p>\n\n<p>In the more general view; keep in mind that students create groups in Facebook where they share exam, housing, event etc info. That might be handy.</p>\n\n<p>Long story short, account with similarities in name and details, without display picture, and <code>NO ADDED FRIENDS</code> </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26012,
"author": "sadStudent",
"author_id": 19665,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19665",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Lots students use facebook to communicate with classmates, academic and social groups. Some instructors create facebook groups to have central place for students to communicate.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25870",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15541/"
] |
25,906 |
<p>In a recent conversation with a person born in the UK, he mentioned his son had attended a US college for a year before deciding to move back to the UK to finish school. He told me that apparently if a student completes one year of school at an accredited US university, they can do a combined bachelor's/master's degree in the UK in, as I recall, only an additional three years. Apparently that was what his son was doing.</p>
<p>I unfortunately neglected to ask him for more information regarding the process or where I could find more information online, and have no way of contacting him. A friend of mine and I have been looking into moving to the UK after college anyway, and I recently remembered this conversation and wanted to look into it. We're about to be entering our first year of college in the US, and are considering doing precisely what the man said, completing this coming year and then attempting to apply there for the remaining three years. Not only would it get us to the UK sooner, but it would also be good for costs considering how much cheaper college is in Europe.</p>
<p>Is anyone else familiar with such a system and at least where we could go to begin researching it? I've tried looking online but have, as of yet, found little real information. Or is it just that the information I got was faulty and there is no such system?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25919,
"author": "Richie Cotton",
"author_id": 19549,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19549",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the UK, a bachelor's degree lasts three years, and the there are some undergraduate masters degrees available that last four years.</p>\n\n<p>If you complete a year of study at a US university, some UK universities may accept this as enough experience to let you transfer into the second year of a UK degree. This depends upon how closely aligned the two courses are, and how well you performed in the first year. </p>\n\n<p>The other option to consider is that many US degrees include a year of study in another country.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25934,
"author": "nivag",
"author_id": 14115,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14115",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Apparently this is possible but it is at the universities discretion whether your credits are sufficient for entry into the 2nd year. <a href=\"http://www.kingston.ac.uk/international/guidance-and-advice/your-home-country/usa/transferring-credit-to-kingston/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Kingston Uni</a> has some vaguely useful information on their website. In particular applications should be done via <a href=\"http://www.ucas.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">UCAS</a>. </p>\n\n<p>I would research some places you would be interested in applying for and contact them directly to see what their policies are. I suspect higher ranked institutions are less likely to accept your credits as sufficient (although I may be wrong).</p>\n\n<p>As pointed out in the comments other things to consider if you are not a EU citizen is visas and tuition fee's. Tuition fees for non-EU students can be significantly higher than for home students (£9000 per year). A quick look at 3 unis gives international fees of:</p>\n\n<p>Kingston Uni: £10750-12350</p>\n\n<p>Brunel Uni: £13000-16000</p>\n\n<p>Imperial College: £22900-25500</p>\n\n<p>Notice the more prestigious institutions are more expensive. When you consider the reduced amount of financial aid (loans, etc.) for foreign students the UK may not be cheaper than US.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25906",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19567/"
] |
25,910 |
<p>In US, universities often have a fixed overhead rate around 50%, or at least that's what I heard. But I don't know what it exactly means. How does this affect how much grant money goes where?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25911,
"author": "Peteris",
"author_id": 10730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The 'overhead' generally refers to the funding that doesn't go directly to research expenses (salaries of researchers, cost of experiments/consumables, etc) but to the supporting expenses (salaries of administrative/support staff; cost of facilities and utilities, equipment depreciation) of services that are neccessary but not directly related to research.</p>\n\n<p>It often is set by university administration to some fixed rate (50% sounds high to me, but it depends on country and research domain) that is taken from all grants and used to fund those 'common' expenses.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25945,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the US, the overheads proposed to federal funding agencies (NSF, NIH, etc) are in my experience always calculated as an additional percentage on top of the total direct costs (salaries plus fringe benefits, travel, etc). So if your total budget for salaries, fringe benefits, and travel is $500k, and your overhead rate is 50%, then your total proposed budget is $750k. </p>\n\n<p>Now, at my US university, the overhead rate is 54.5%, the majority of the budget is salary, and the fringe rate is calculated at 25% of the salaries, so a good rule of thumb for us is that the total budget should be twice the salaries. Now, that also means that you can work backwards from a total allowed budget by dividing by two. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25910",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/386/"
] |
25,935 |
<p>I wrote my first academic paper recently (it is in math). I need to put a footnote crediting the NSF for funding. I have noticed that papers almost always say "Partially supported by [grant]". I got all of my funding from one grant. Should I still say partially supported? If so, what is the reason for this?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25943,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The NSF <a href=\"http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/nsf04_23/6.jsp#VIJ\">requires</a> the following text (or its equivalent) in publications from work funded by their grants:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. (grantee must enter NSF grant number).\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No need to quantify the level of support.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25944,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some grants come with more strict requirements than others. I am aware of at least one funding body, that requests to specifically explain which part of the work was supported by this grant (and you can not just say \"a part\"). Others are satisfied if you just mention them. Read the funding agreement and follow their guidelines.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25935",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18365/"
] |
25,936 |
<p>I am using mendeley to save papers etc. which have come up during my research. However, I am often having some ideas about problems which are interesting or some links which are worth reading later. I would like to add this to mendeley easily, sth like a workable document.</p>
<p>Is sth like that possible? What are you using for a problem like that?</p>
<p>I appreciate your answer!</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>I am looking for a way to add general notes, which are not paper related?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25943,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The NSF <a href=\"http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/nsf04_23/6.jsp#VIJ\">requires</a> the following text (or its equivalent) in publications from work funded by their grants:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. (grantee must enter NSF grant number).\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No need to quantify the level of support.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25944,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some grants come with more strict requirements than others. I am aware of at least one funding body, that requests to specifically explain which part of the work was supported by this grant (and you can not just say \"a part\"). Others are satisfied if you just mention them. Read the funding agreement and follow their guidelines.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25936",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17751/"
] |
25,939 |
<p>I wrote a paper that I want to put on my webpage, but that I don't want to publish anywhere. I think that I need a timestamp on it, in case someone decides to plagiarize it. Is GitHub adequate for this?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25956,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Poor man's copyright protection can be done by sending a copy of the work to yourself by registered mail. The timestamp is provided by the federal government and as long as the envelope remains sealed, it is proof of creation on or before that date. Of course, I would also get a notarized or authenticated document as well.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25957,
"author": "choener",
"author_id": 8826,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8826",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Let's be scientists (It was fun to try out):\nbelow is a small repository, where I first tried 'lol' to have a timestamp in the future ... doesn't work; but at least in 'history' I could backdate (bit unlikely that I authored s.th. in git 1980 ;-).</p>\n\n<p>But at least the day that I pushed is set by github.com. In total, though, I wouldn't trust this scheme. ``I forgot to push but look at the authored date, I totally solved it years ago''.</p>\n\n<p>Jul 15, 2014</p>\n\n<p>history\n2b5d4208aa Browse code \nchoener authored on Jan 1, 1980</p>\n\n<p>lol\nfc2a68a571 Browse code \nchoener authored just now</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://github.com/choener/lol/commits/master\">https://github.com/choener/lol/commits/master</a></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25939",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17694/"
] |
25,949 |
<p>Men make up the minority of students who receive undergraduate and graduate degrees. As a group men also tend to dropout of school at a greater rate than women. Men are even more in minority status as students in fields like psychology and education.</p>
<p>So, what books, biographies, survival guides, or other resources exist for men who say want to become educators?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25983,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would suggest reading survival guides (or anything that will prepare you and give you an advantage) since academia is a difficult road. I would not worry so much about finding gender specific or field specific reading, especially if you are a male. The reason I say this is, while I am sure there are some factors that make males less likely than females to succeed in academia and some of these factors may be unique to \"female dominated\" fields, by limiting yourself to those factors, you are missing the critical fact that the vast majority of people fail to succeed in academia, regardless of gender or field.</p>\n\n<p>For the purposes of this answer, I am going to define succeeding in academia as becoming a full professor. This is not demean those who choose to aspire to different goals (e.g., making a valuable contribution, having a well balanced life, or being happy), but it is merely a byproduct of the available data. For the same reason of the availability of data, I am also going to limit the analysis to STEM fields, for which Psychology is a member, but Education is not. </p>\n\n<p>The reason I suggest reading survival guides is that over 99% of people fail (i.e., do not become a full professor) in academia regardless of gender or field. The Royal Society did a <a href=\"https://royalsociety.org/~/media/Royal_Society_Content/policy/publications/2010/4294970126.pdf\">study</a> which found that less than 0.5% of the people who enter academia do not succeed:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/06n84.jpg\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>This is a huge problem, and if you are not prepared, and even if you are, you are likely to fail.</p>\n\n<p>There is also a lot of research on gender differences. <a href=\"https://www.hesa.ac.uk/\">HESA</a> has a study, which I can only find <a href=\"http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/WinSET/documents/sean-winset-slides-3-july-2013-for-website.ppt\">summary data</a> of, which shows a \"leaky pipeline\" for women in STEM fields. For example, in the male dominated field of Physics:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/1KWvY.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>at the GCSE level there are essentially equal numbers of men and women, but less than 6% of women are Professors. The same leaky pipeline exists in the so called female dominated field of Psychology:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/tSpkL.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>At the undergraduate stage, the numbers are essentially the opposite of Physics with more women than men, but by the time you get to level of full Professor, the female domination is lost. The existence of this leaky pipeline means a lot of effort has gone into determining why women do not \"succeed\" in academia. The fact that both male and female dominate fields show the same trends means that most of the research into gender issues, in particular why women are less likely to succeed, are field (at least within STEM) independent.</p>\n\n<p>In summary, men are doing better than women in \"female dominated\" fields, but no one is doing particularly well. Therefore, limiting yourself to small effects, while ignoring huge effects, is generally not efficient and you should read in a field and gender invariant manner.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26309,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Given that non-academic careers are off-topic here, and StrongBad has already offered an answer for academic careers, I will answer the question of <em>resources for men who want to pursue graduate degrees in female-majority fields</em>.</p>\n\n<p>I would offer the same advice to <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1363/what-books-biographies-or-survival-guides-are-helpful-for-women-in-engineering/21219#comment44349_21219\">anyone of any gender</a> who wants to know what it is like to be a member of a gender minority in graduate school: Learn what it's <em>really</em> like by reading about the personal experiences (both positive and negative) of others who have been in that position.</p>\n\n<p>As such, here are a few resources that I believe may be helpful:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dkPcCLTuKJU\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">On being a man in an MSW (social work) program</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.minoritynurse.com/article/men-nursing-school\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">On being a man in nursing school</a> (includes experiences from men in undergraduate through doctoral programs)</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2011/01/cover-men.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">On being a man in a doctoral program in psychology</a></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25949",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7158/"
] |
25,955 |
<p>University X offers course Y with Z credits. The course is mandatory, and very important. It lasts for more than one semester with heavy workload. The University awards Z credits for the course Y, but it only includes Z/2 credits in the GPA calculation. </p>
<p>This is where the story gets a bit personal. I assume the University includes only Z/2 credits in GPA calculation because the majority of the students do very bad in this course. But, that is not the case for me. If I have the Z amount of credits calculated for my GPA, it is increased for 0,3, which I believe can make the difference at some point.</p>
<p>I asked the officials at the examination regulation department about this situation, they said: "that was the case from the day when the program you study was established". Not convinced at all.</p>
<p>What should I do? Should I complain somewhere, should I ask for a specific GPA calculation for myself. In the end of the day it should be in the interest of the University to have students with good GPAs, hence I believe they do all this calculation "trick". And I believe I would not be asking for something "illegal".</p>
<p>What is the clever thing to do when one finds such regulations in own University which can be used on one's own good?!?</p>
<hr>
<p>In case of need GPA calculation is done as follows:</p>
<p>(sum over all (number of credits for the given course <code>x</code> grade)) / number of credits used in calculation</p>
<p>example:</p>
<p>((course with 4 credits <code>x</code> grade) + (course with 6 credits <code>x</code> grade) + (course with 12 credits <code>x</code> grade)) / 22 (4 + 6 + 12 this case)</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> From the comments it seems as my intention is to get in a battle of changing regulations at my University. That is not the case at all. I am just trying to find a nice way of using this situation on my benefit, by having some convincing discussions with the officials.</p>
<p><strong>Additional Note:</strong> After digging through some documentation, I found an <em>examinations regulations document</em> which states clearly how the GPA is calculated, but does not give a reason for this type of calculation. I am also surprised to learn that minor subjects are not included in the GPA calculation. I also learned that the Final Thesis awards M credits, but in GPA calculations is weights ~2M credits. What bugs me at the moment is, why the University officials hide this information in all the other publicly available presentations. And their answers are not convincing to me.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25965,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>What is the clever thing to do when one finds such regulations in own University which can be used on one's own good?!?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I'm so glad you asked. The <em>clever</em> thing would be to realize that the best way to raise your GPA is to do excellent work in all your courses. Aside from being the optimal strategy GPA-wise, this has the fringe benefit that it is the only strategy with inherent rewards beyond the GPA game.</p>\n\n<p>Look, I don't know where you're enrolled, but your university has taken a step down a dark road by playing with weighting GPA's differently than the number of credits or course hours (which is the weighting which corresponds to the actual instructional time and, ideally, to the workload of the course). You're contemplating a further step down this dark road by trying to play games with their game. It is up to them how they compute the GPA. I disapprove of their strange weighting system, but do you know what's even worse than a globally enforced strange weighting system? A student who asks for \"a specific GPA calculation for myself\".</p>\n\n<p>Just rise above. See if you can recapture the quaint idea that your goal is to learn the course material rather than attain a certain number at the end. Or, if you feel that the world has moved on and that number that you get at the end is too important to your future to so naively dismiss, then respond by GETTING <em>BETTER</em> <strong>GRADES</strong>. Merciful Minerva, we live in strange days.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25967,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'd hold off on your conspiracy theories as to why the GPA is computed the way it is. You are entitled to a grade computed in an accurate and transparent manner, but if you go into this process assuming the university is out to get you, you're going to have a bad time.</p>\n\n<p>(Note that from your terminology, I think that your university system may be different from the US ones I know, so take with a grain of salt.)</p>\n\n<p>Credit for classes isn't assigned at someone's personal whim. If the university does have a policy of computing the GPA based on Z/2 credits for this class, that's a decision that must have been made by some committee and approved by some administrators, and there will be a record of it. Most likely, it would be published in the university's course catalog or official regulations, so my first suggestion would be to read through those carefully. If it's mentioned there, then you are expected to have understood and agreed to it, and that's the end of it. (If the policy was put in place after you entered the university, you may have the right to have the previous policy applied, but it doesn't sound like that is the case here.)</p>\n\n<p>If you don't find it, it's reasonable to ask someone if they can show you where the policy is documented. (If you have an advisor or someone else assigned to advise you about which courses to take and your progress in the program, they may be helpful too.)</p>\n\n<p>If you still don't get a good answer (probably unlikely), you could talk to more people (e.g. a department chair). Note that if you were told about it in advance, even informally, you'll probably be considered to have understood and agreed, and the best you can hope for is to get it more clearly documented for future students.</p>\n\n<p>Throughout the process, I recommend keeping the tone of \"I'm confused by the system and am trying to understand it better\" rather than \"you've cheated me out of my rightful grade\". And always keep track of what you actually hope to gain and whether your efforts are worth it - if you lock yourself in an epic battle with the university just over \"the principle of the thing\", it's not going to have good results for your academic career, your relationship with your professors and peers, or your own sanity.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25982,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the answer to this depends if you are an undergraduate or graduate student. If you are a PhD student (and possible a Master's student) your reputation with your future colleagues is much more important than you final GPA and I would suggest you just go with the flow. As an undergraduate student (and possible a Master's student) your GPA is really important and assuming the recalculated GPA is noticeably better, it is worth the fight.</p>\n\n<p>For example, my UK department calculates an unofficial GPA that is then used to determine the degree classification (first, upper second, lower second, ...). The formula we use gives zero weight to first year marks, single weight to second year marks, and double weight to final year marks (it is a 3 year program). If the resulting degree classification were to improve by using a uniform weighting (either of all 3 years or just the final 2 years) and the student filed a formal complaint with the University, it would not surprise me if the University would not cave and change the degree classification. In fact, this year the University demanded that we change our policy and look at students who are one percentage point below the degree classification cutoff boundary and see if they would have done better with a uniform weighting.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25985,
"author": "Phil Perry",
"author_id": 13080,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13080",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your university uses a method to calculate GPA that is transparent, publicly documented, and reproducible; you will have to live with it (or transfer to another school). If GPA calculations are opaque and at the whim of some school official, that's cause for legal action (being patently unfair). Your first task is to find out which camp your GPA calculation falls into. It may seem to be a stupid formula, but if it's evenly and fairly applied (and anyone can accurately calculate their own GPA), what's your recourse? </p>\n\n<p>As for \"that is the case, but we don't know why\", that is an unacceptable answer from the <strong>school</strong>. <em>Someone</em> should be able to officially tell you the reasoning behind it. It's possible that it dates back to a cheating scandal 200 years ago, or that they don't want to change it so that they can compare GPAs from year to year, but somewhere there must be a clear reason behind it. Go through the proper channels before raising a public stink about it, and don't be confrontational about it. There may be a perfectly good reason (in their minds, anyway), for calculating your GPA that way, but it should be publicly known.</p>\n\n<p>The school <em>does</em> owe you an explanation for exactly how (and why) your GPA is calculated. They <em>don't</em> owe you a change in the calculations to match your expectations, or even to match \"industry standards\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25987,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the University understands the issue and does not want to change, one solution might involve listing both GPAs (e.g., on a CV). I think this might be OK as long as this is completely transparent and you (a) include your official GPA (b) make it clear that your recomputed GPA is not your official GPA and (c) that you explain how both are computed and why you have two. This might be hard to do concisely but you might say:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>3.9 [Official GPA] / 3.95 [Self-computed GPA: Sum(Grade * Credits)/Credits]</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That said, doing this seems likely to be a distraction and pointing out two different GPAs is likely raise some red flags. If you're doing good work, how we choose to count really shouldn't matter. And if how we count <em>does matter</em>, you can't be doing <em>that</em> well. The other answers make this point very well and I won't try to reiterate it here.</p>\n\n<p>You mention that this class is mandatory and most mandatory classes are taken early on. Is that the case here? Some graduate schools do not consider grades in the first year or two and most give much more weight to later years. StrongBad's comment makes it clear that some schools even try to incorporate this into the official GPA calculation itself!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25996,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You say:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>After digging through some documentation, I found an examinations regulations document which states clearly how the GPA is calculated</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Since the GPA calculation is defined in regulation, the only way to have your GPA calculated differently from regulation is to have the regulation changed, and then applied retroactively.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25955",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401/"
] |
25,960 |
<p>I have got an article the making, and presented it to my PhD advisor one month ago. The article emerged from my master thesis at a different university.</p>
<p>A week ago, he told me the draft is good, albeit difficult to understand, but he remarked that it contained too many new ideas to be published at once. The problem is that no journal will be able to find a reviewer. Furthermore, I am just some unknown PhD student to them, so there won't be a "rubber-stamp" for me.</p>
<p>The draft contributes to an active mathematical research area which leads previously unrelated topics together - in particular, very different mathematical communities. My draft contributes by another bridge between communities. I am convinced that people will find the result noteworthy and interesting, but I also agree that the combination demands (basic) knowledge from many different mathematical areas.</p>
<p>It is a disturbing but possibly realistic perspective that researchers keep the same old soup at low temperature on the cooker. But isn't that too pessimistic? There are so many mini results published, why should I cut down on at least trying?</p>
<p><strong>Are the concerns of my advisor well-founded in practices of the mathematical community?</strong></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25961,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>No, in my opinion as a (midcareer verging on senior) mathematician, there is no such thing as \"too many new ideas to be published at once\". This is a curious reaction.</p>\n\n<p>Whenever a student asks a \"My advisor said....[something strange]\" question here (or elsewhere), I have to wonder how deeply to engage in the possibility that the student somehow misunderstood the advisor. Unfortunately misunderstandings between students and advisors are amazingly common...even when both parties are \"good people\" in every sense of the word. More than a decade after graduating, I still remember spending several weeks of hard work on certain things my advisor asked me to do. When at last I would go back explaining how hopeless it seemed, it most often turned out that there was some miscommunication: I didn't work on the problem that he had intended, or I hadn't read the right paper. [I remember wading through Katz's <em>Rigid Local Systems</em> because of a suggestion made by my postdoctoral supervisor. Being a postdoc I was more savvy than a PhD student, so I probably spent at most a week before I went back to say \"Really? This is relevant to what I'm doing??\" only to learn that, no, that was not the book of Katz he was talking about. Still, I'd like to have that week back...]</p>\n\n<p>I would encourage you to consider the comment \"the draft is good, albeit difficult to understand\". I'm guessing that is meant to be independent information from the remark that your paper contains \"too many new ideas\". Some key questions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Was the draft <em>prohibitively</em> difficult for your advisor to understand? People [students, advisors, referees...] say that writing is hard to understand in two very different circumstances: they may literally be criticizing the writing style. But it is also quite likely that they are trying to say -- in a way which saves face for them and for you, but is in fact rather unhelpful because of that -- that they gave up before they could tell whether your arguments were correct, and they would only be willing to put more time into a better-written draft. You deserve to know whether your advisor vouches for your work.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Related:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Does your advisor have the expertise in the disparate areas you are pulling together? If not, he is really not the right person to be asking about this. People sometimes seem to think (or more likely, to hope) that if they have a paper on \"number theory\" then I will understand it, and that if the paper references some work or lecture notes of mine then I will <em>really</em> understand it. No way. I often receive papers to referee which are about several things at once, one of which is part of my expertise but one or more isn't. I like to learn new things, so I'll stretch to a certain point, but beyond that I just decline to referee the paper on the grounds that I'm not qualified. If I can, I direct the editor to someone who is qualified; if I can't, I apologize for not doing that, but in no case do I intimate that <em>no one is qualified</em> to referee the paper. How could I know that?!?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The idea that your paper is simply too ambitious is really a poor one. At most it means it is too ambitious for your <em>local</em> mathematical community, and if you hear that as a reaction to your work which is otherwise said to be \"good\", it's a sign that you need to find a larger pond. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I am convinced that people will find the result noteworthy and interesting, but I also agree that the combination demands (basic) knowledge from many different mathematical areas.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Then you should find people who feel that the result is noteworthy and interesting, ideally those who understand all of it, but even those who understand some of it and can be supportive could be helpful. If you think your paper is correct and reasonably (even if not perfectly) well-written, why not submit it to the arxiv? If your paper draws together several different things, then try showing it -- via emails, for instance -- to people wom you know to be experts in at least one of those things. They can tell you whether they are qualified to understand the entire paper, and if not they can (perhaps) tell you who is.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>It is a disturbing but possibly realistic perspective that researchers keep the same old soup at low temperature on the cooker. But isn't that too pessimistic? There are so many mini results published, why should I cut down on at least trying?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, that is too pessimistic. If you've done something valuable and technically difficult, it will be publishable. The level of technical difficulty may make the reviewing process more lengthy (it should; you are aware that <em>you don't want rubber stamp reviews of your math papers</em>, right?). On the other hand, in mathematics \"technical difficulty\" can be a selling point: if you have done something that is broadly valuable but that few people (or no one but you) would have had the acumen to pull off, then you have done something very impressive and valuable indeed.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25998,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a mathematician who works squarely in between fields, there are some challenges which can make getting such papers accepted more difficult. However, all that means is that you have to work a little harder at writing clearly and accessibly. Think hard about who is going to read the paper and give them what they need to understand the paper.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26003,
"author": "Andreas Blass",
"author_id": 14506,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As an editor, I once got a submission that combined two very distant areas of mathematics. That was no problem; I just sent it to two referees, one in each area, asked each one to referee the part in his area, and assured each one that I had another referee checking the rest of the paper. Of course, once both referees reported that their part of the paper is good, I still had to make sure that the parts fit together properly, but that was easy enough for me to do by myself.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25960",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6222/"
] |
25,977 |
<p>If, in a certain international journal where I have submitted, the journal webpage lists the editorial board, should I expect that the possible reviewers of my paper are selected from among the members of this board? </p>
<p>Or is it possible that the Editor in Chief may choose an "outsider" to review my submission? </p>
<p>I didn't indicate any preferred reviewers in submission. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25978,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Generally, when a paper is submitted to a journal it is first assigned an editor. The editor then identifies a qualified <em>outside</em> reviewer for that particular manuscript, and invites him/her to review the paper.</p>\n\n<p>So the answer is: No, you should not expect that the possible reviewers of a paper are selected from among the members of the editorial board.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25980,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The purpose of peer review is to obtain constructive evaluation of the submitted manuscript from peers who are experts in the field free from conflicts of interest relative to the manuscript and author(s). Hence it is essentially irrelevant if the reviewer is one of the editors. That said, it is very unlikely that an editor ends up reviewing a paper for two reasons. If the editor is an expert, it is far more likely he will be the editor for the manuscript. An editor, with, probably, much work to to do with other manuscripts, is also less inclined to take n review work unless the manuscript is of particular interest. So chances are quite small.</p>\n\n<p>In the journal I edit, I know editors have accepted reviewing the topic. In these cases, the topic has been such that it has been given to another editor who have identified the other editor as a potentially valuable reviewer. Commenting on your comment: I would expect editors to be more punctual with reviews than \"normal\" reviewers but there is no rule without the occasional exception.</p>\n\n<p>A final comment. I do of course not know how the journal you have submitted to works. But, a normal case is for a Chief Editor to pass on the task of assigning and evaluating reviews to an Editorial Board or Associate Editors (as is the name for them in \"my\" journal). I think the case of a Chief Editor doing all that work is very unlikely because of all the work involved so it seems far more likely that it is one of the editorial board who is handling the review process. The Chief Editor may be involved in screening submissions and putting a final stamp of approval to the final manuscript as well as handling all the work <em>visavi</em> the publisher.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25977",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19624/"
] |
25,979 |
<p>I recently finished my final year of a Bachelor of Science degree in Web Development at university in the UK. As 3/8ths of the final year credit, I was required to create a Final Year Project, including ~40k word report and a software artefact, guided by a university tutor. At my graduation ceremony my tutor approached me to say he (and another advisor) are looking at getting it published. </p>
<p>This obviously sounds like great news, but as someone with no experience of advanced academia stuff I have no idea what this actually entails. Will this look good on my CV? Is it a frequent occurrence? When they say publish, who exactly will want to read 40k words about my final year project?</p>
<p>While I am proud of what I produced, I'm not entirely sure it is something I will want to brag about in the future as my skills develop.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25984,
"author": "Jesse Rosalia",
"author_id": 19636,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19636",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Publishing your work means sharing your contribution or discovery with the larger community; if your advisor or tutor thinks that your work is publishable, they must have seen something in your work that they think is worth sharing. This could be a new algorithm you've discovered, a new technique you've described particularly well, or a collection of lessons learned that might be valuable to another person. It could also be customary for your program to publish final projects in a school journal or archive; in this case, it's less about the contribution and more the fact that you completed the program of study.</p>\n\n<p>Typically, the journal or conference (or other publication) you wish to submit to has guidelines that you must follow: page limits, formatting, required sections, etc. As a result, you may be required to reformat your paper in order for it to be accepted. The flip side is it certainly doesn't look bad on a CV or resume, and can make a positive difference depending on your career goals. It shows you can document your thoughts, processes, and results effectively, which is what employers and grad school admission officials want to see.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25986,
"author": "Nahkki",
"author_id": 18092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18092",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I will talk about publishing as an undergraduate in a general sense. This may change depending on your field of study, where and how the work is published(journal, conference, workshop, etc) and what your level of contribution to the end product will be.</p>\n\n<p>Let's start with the easy question. \"Is this good for my career?\" I don't know of many fields where having published work, perhaps especially as an undergraduate, is a detriment. As an undergraduate with two publications as first name (in my field the student/person who contributed the most / drove the ground level work is first name, the professor is last name and the names in the middle can range from \"was vital to the success of the paper\" to \"they pushed a button a couple of times\") and several acknowledgements having those papers gave me a definite leg up against my peers when it came time to search for jobs. Having publications under your name can be invaluable if you choose to apply to grad school but companies are often very interested to see what high-level, field-acknowledged work you have completed. It definitely makes you stand out in a crowd.</p>\n\n<p>It may seem like nothing but puppies and rainbows but there's a darker side as well. Academic publishing is a lot of work. Depending on your level of contribution this can mean weeks of brutal work rerunning experiments, tweaking inputs/outputs, editing and documenting. Most of the people I know, their first paper was a brutal experience because Academic writing is unlike any other writing you have done and there can be a steep learning curve in both the technique and the tools. So, unless you have a burning desire for a publication for publication's sake, the deciding factors for you should be:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>What is my expected contribution? </li>\n<li>How and where will I be credited?</li>\n<li>What are my obligations if the publication is accepted?</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Let's break these down.</p>\n\n<p><strong>What is my expected contribution?</strong></p>\n\n<p>In my field a couple of professors coming up to you after the fact and saying \"We are looking to get this published\" is a bit weird. I'm assuming that these professors were in some way involved in the work as mentors or that this an extension of their work. It is unlikely that this work is fit to be published in its current state. That's not meant as a slam towards your work, rather it's a response to the specifics of publication. Academic publication is often fairly stringent in style and method. It is likely that parts of your work will need to be tweaked or polished for publication(this really depends on your field to be honest) and, in some cases, completely redone. It is <strong>very</strong> important for you to demand, in a nice way of course, a roadmap for what needs to be done to get this work published and what you will be expected to do. At that time you should also try to find out how much of the final publication will be your work vs work from others/the group at large. If you have graduated and are starting a new job or heading off to grad school you may have other demands on your time. Writing an academic publication, especially your first academic publication, can be a serious time sink. This will play into the next part...</p>\n\n<p><strong>How and where will I be credited?</strong></p>\n\n<p>Is your work going to be placed, whole cloth, into a template and submitted? Then you should expect to be first author(or your field's equivalent) and be given an appropriately large share of the credit. Is your work going to be used as a subsubsection, comprising all of 2 lines in the final publication? Then the credit to you should be, appropriately, smaller. But that's simplifying things a bit - author order and credit/acknowledgements should be explicitly discussed early in the process. Get it out on the table and nail it down because differences in expectations can definitely damage professional relationships which, to be honest, is probably the most valuable thing you will get out of this. Things like original contribution level, publication writing/editing contribution level, and time/effort commitment to the project should be taken into consideration. Additionally consider your future plans - are you planning on publishing again? Are you looking at going to grad school? Depending on the answers to these questions you may find that the most valuable things you get out of publishing are the experience of publishing and the strong network connections you forge with your coauthors.</p>\n\n<p><strong>What are my obligations if the publication is accepted?</strong></p>\n\n<p>This is the final piece of the puzzle. If your publication is a conference or workshop piece then someone will have to present at the conference/workshop. It should, ideally, be one of the primary contributors. If that person is you, will you be able to attend? Who will pay for travel and fees? Even beyond traveling for conferences/workshops - Who will pay for submission fees? Recently one of my papers was 3 pages over the limit (the conference accepted longer papers at a fee for each additional page up to 5 additional pages). This cost almost $400 (on top of the original submission fees). If this occurs who will pay? If the publication is accepted what does that mean about your ownership of the results of your work? If additional work is done on the project how will it be funded? It is likely that your professor(s) or your institutions has grants for all of this. But you need to find out before you agree to anything. Finally, the question a lot more people should ask, what happens if the publication isn't accepted? Will you be involved in making changes and attempting a different venue? How will the group handle revisions (which, with finished work, can be brutal as you're coming back to the submitted work several months after it was submitted and making changes)?</p>\n\n<p>All of this might seem like a bunch more questions to ask than answers but, really, that's the point. There are plenty who will disagree with me but, in my experience, the research was the easy part. Publishing is the hard, nasty, and occasionally obnoxious part(though it is pretty awesome too). In order to make the publishing part easier you need to have a clear plan for how you will turn this work into a publication and what everyone's expectations are. </p>\n\n<p>I both love and hate my publications. As an undergraduate they gave me a definite edge over my peers in both grad school applications and the job market. I ended up with some very strong connections in my academic community that I can still leverage today. I am still involved as a researcher in my lab. On the flip side my first paper was a special kind of hell. It was two straight weeks of 20 hour days as we pushed to turn finished work into a publication before the deadline. I didn't sleep at all for the last 3 days of the push. My second paper was still brutal, but overall much better as I had passed the worst of the learning curve. I actually got some sleep leading up to that one. I'm incredibly proud of my work but, to be honest, doing those publications pushed me away from graduate school. They were a valuable experience in the world of academic publishing which, it turns out, is not something I enjoy enough to make it my career. </p>\n\n<p><strong>TL;DR:</strong> Make a list of questions, email/meet with your advisors/mentors, and flesh out the answers to those questions. If they're largely satisfactory - go for it! </p>\n\n<p><strong>EDIT</strong> Given your additional information. Unless they mean publish it on webspace they(or the university) controls OR as a book there is almost no way I can see a 40k word transcript being published as is. My rough estimates put that to be about 100 - 120 pages. I've not seen more than a handful of published papers (etc) over 20 pages long and most are under 10. This may mean they want to publish a portion of it or an heavily edited version of it. This adds a new question for you to ask, what do they mean by 'publishing'?</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25979",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19626/"
] |
25,993 |
<p>There is a paper I want to cite where, on the title page of the article, the authors names appear without any middle initials (i.e., one of the authors is Mark Smith). However, this one author frequently publishes using his middle initials (i.e., Mark E. Smith). What is the appropriate way to cite this-with the name as it appears in the article, or the name as the author typically uses it? For what it's worth, the source article appear in a mathematical journal, and I want to cite it in a paper that will eventually appear in a mathematical journal.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25994,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You need to cite articles the way the name is expressed in each article. The purpose of the reference if for others to be able to locate the source you have used and so making the reference accurate is essential. It may seem like nit-picking since most of the reference will be correct except for one initial but it is better to simply follow the the generic rule to follow the article in all details than to modify it. One instance where this may matter is when article references are listed in, for example, Web of Science. There an article may end up as two entries if there is a difference in the way it is referenced. I have seen and personally have articles that have multiple entries because of this and because people wrote the wrong year, volume etc. Still, the importance lies in being able to trace your sources and being correct makes that easier.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25997,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should use the exact information which is provided on the published paper, not the real or current information of the author; even if his name or affiliation<sup>1</sup> is change at the present time. </p>\n\n<p>Moreover, the correct way of citation of each paper is provided in the webpage of its publisher and you can check how they have mentioned the author's name in the citation example (you may also download the bibtex or other outputs to be used in citation manager softwares). At least, by checking the publisher website, you will be sure how they prefer their published paper to be cited (even if other possibilities/doubts for correct citation exists).</p>\n\n<p><sub><sup>1</sup>I know that affiliation is not mentioned in citation, but if somebody wants the affiliation of the author at the time of publishing the paper, the best source is the information written on the paper and is provided in its publisher's website.</sub></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25993",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9365/"
] |
26,001 |
<p>I've been talking to one of my professors at a Master's program about enrolling in an independent study course under his supervision. </p>
<p>(An independent study course is a course in which a student engages in guided study on some topic under the direction of a faculty member. Students formally enroll in such a course as part of a degree program, just as they would for a traditional course, and it appears in the students' transcripts, academic records, etc.)</p>
<p>However, it's not clear to me whether independent study courses work the same way as regular courses with respect to tuition and credit accounting:</p>
<p><strong>Tuition</strong>: Am I expected to still pay tuition for independent studies? </p>
<p><strong>Credits</strong>: With traditional courses, there's typically some quantitative relationship between the number of credits a course is "worth" and the contact hours it involves. For example, a 4-credit course involves a certain amount of class time.</p>
<p>With independent study courses, where there are no fixed contact hours, is it common for institutions to have some expectation of how much time a student is supposed to spend on the course, per credit hour? For instance, that a 1-credit course expects about N hours a week from the student.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26005,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since you ask about 1 or 2-credits, I'm assuming you're talking about doing an independent study <strong><em>course</em></strong> with the professor and not creating your own independent study <strong><em>track</em></strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Independent studies (also called independent readings, directed research, tutorials, etc.) are essentially micro-classes of one or two students. You come up with your own reading lists, discussion topics, or projects -- subject to the approval of the professor. Whether to list it as 1 or 2 credit hours (or in my university 3 or 4 credit hours) is up to you. In general, you should plan on spending as much (or more) time in your independent study as you would with any other class.</p>\n\n<p>From the registrar's perspective, it's just another class that you are taking. If you pay a flat fee for up to 5 classes a semester, then it can be one of those 5 classes. If you pay a fee for each credit-hour, then it would count as one of those paid credit hours.</p>\n\n<p>I do independent readings with the undergraduate seniors, master's students, and PhD students when they come to me with topics that are of interest to me, but aren't in the regular course catalog. Since <strong>faculty do not get paid to teach independent study courses</strong> (we don't get any more money for doing this, nor do we get course releases for it), we're essentially do them out of the good of our hearts or because the topic is particularly of interest to us and/or we'd like the interaction with advanced students. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29272,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Although there are several differences between a traditional course and an independent study course, for tuition and credit accounting, they are considered to be the same. If you receive credit for the course, you will also be expected to pay tuition for the course. </p>\n\n<p>In my experience as a student who did an independent study (as an undergrad, it may be different in higher level courses), I designed the course and decided on the number of credit hours based on the amount of time I expected to spend on it. For example, a 1-credit course is expected to meet for one hour per week, plus 2-4 hours of homework/study out of class, for a total of approximately 4 hours per week. A student is therefore expected to put in approximately 12 hours per week for a 3-credit course. Tuition is then based in the credit hours that the student and instructor together have assigned to the independent study course. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <blockquote>\n <p>With independent study courses, where there are no fixed contact hours, is it common for institutions to have some expectation of how much time a student is supposed to spend on the course, per credit hour? For instance, that a 1-credit course expects about N hours a week from the student.</p>\n </blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, as I indicated above, there are usually some expectations as to how much time you are expected to put in to earn a certain number of credit hours. However, as we all know, not all students <em>need</em> to put in the 2-4 hours of out-of-class study time to learn the same amount of material. In an independent study, this is also true. If a student in motivated to pursue an independent study, I will expect that you are also motivated to put in the number of hours needed to achieve your objectives for the course. I will also expect that you will put in <em>more</em> hours than you might in a traditional course because of your enthusiasm and desire to learn.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26001",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19657/"
] |
26,017 |
<p>For example, if a person holds not just "Dr." but "Priv.-Doz. Dr." or "Prof. Dr." should we include the full title after "<em>Dear ...</em>"? </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>P.S.<br>
July 20, 2014 UPDATE: as some repliers correctly guessed I faced the question when I was writing an email to a German person.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26019,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When in doubt, use the full title. Err on the side of formality, and let them correct you if they wish.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26036,
"author": "Andreas Blass",
"author_id": 14506,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would address a Privatdozent simply as \"Dear Dr. ...\"; when (s)he becomes a professor, I'll write \"Dear Prof. ...\" Even in German, I wouldn't write \"Lieber Priv.-Doz. Dr. ...\" </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26043,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is very, very country dependent, so if you are not familiar with the local language, you should err on the side of politeness.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, I am generally using full title in the address and other pompous places, but \"Dear Professor Smith, \" or other short form when addressing in the text. This is a place where you can safely err toward giving higher titles, no one ever refused to be called a professor. I would use \"Dear Dr. \" with people I am sure that they are post-docs or people with no academic affiliation (lawyers, industrial people), and use \"Professor\" to anyone with habilitation, formal teaching assignment etc. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26148,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is important indeed to address people correctly, more important that initials, one may pay much more attention to the correctness of the name and family name which that person has written in his web pages, letters and papers. Even, if you know some people who know him (e.g. colleague, students, etc.) simply ask them how it is better to call that person.</p>\n\n<p>In my opinion, the best way to address a person and write his name in letters is to <code>copy and paste the exact thing he has written in his web page</code>. </p>\n\n<p>If the person has included his initials in his web page such as \"Dr.\", \"Priv.-Doz. Dr.\" or \"Prof. Dr.\" then it seems that those initials are important for him and should be included; if there is no sign of those initials; then it is better just to use Dr. or Professor. </p>\n\n<p>If you use something and he feels it should be corrected, then he will use the correct form of his name in his reply email. After that, use his preferred way to write his name.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26149,
"author": "dirkk",
"author_id": 14375,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14375",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As your question is referring to a \"Priv.-Doz. Dr.\" I guess you want to address a German person. Hence, I would like to add to the already existing answers. In general, I agree that when in doubt, simply be more formal and use the full title.</p>\n\n<p>However, at least in Germany you usually just use the highest title. Strictly speaking, only \"Dr.\" is a proper academic title in Germany (i.e. Professor or Privatdozent are job titles). However, Professor is also seens as a title if addressing someone, due to the outstanding position coming with the title. </p>\n\n<p>So, if someone is a \"Prof. Dr. Dr. X\", you just refer to him or her as \"Prof. X\". Titles like \"Priv.-Doz.\" are usually not used, as these people normally also hold a doctoral degree, so you would address them as \"Dr. X\".\nBasically it boils down to:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If someone is a professor, you use \"Prof. X\"</li>\n<li>If someone is not a professor, but holds a doctoral degree, you use \"Dr. X\"</li>\n<li>If neither of the above applies, you use \"Mr/Mrs X\"</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26017",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6058/"
] |
26,024 |
<p>Once a paper of mine has definitively been accepted for publication, I typically list it on my CV and in citations as "forthcoming". Other people seem to use "in press" for the same category, and an author once asked me to change my reference to his paper to use "in press" rather than "forthcoming". Do you feel that there's a literal difference in what's conveyed by these two terms, or some difference of connotation? I suspect it simply has to do with conventions in different disciplines.</p>
<p>(Personally, I'm a little bit uncomfortable with "in press", since it suggests that the publisher is at least close to the process of printing the paper. Apart from the fact that that doesn't make sense for online-only journals, I feel funny referring to a paper that I know will appear in a journal issue dated a year and a half into the future as "in press". Actually being printed is a long way off.)</p>
<p>(On the other hand, I suppose that "forthcoming" might be confusing to someone who doesn't know its standard meaning in academia. In theory, someone might interpret it as implying no more than "This is something that I'm planning to write, when I get around to it, and this is the journal I expect to publish in." Obviously, that's not what most academics take "forthcoming" to mean, but any thoughtful person would understand that "in press" implies that you can count on the paper being published.)</p>
<p>EDIT: Obviously, given some of the answers to my question, the way that I thought that nearly all academics obviously interpret "forthcoming" was not correct (assuming that there's not too much weirdness in the sample I've drawn by asking the question here).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26026,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think many people would construe \"in press\" as meaning \"has been refereed, accepted, and will definitely appear sometime\", while \"forthcoming\" is often more vague, and may include cases where something has not yet been approved by a referee ... or even submitted... or even written.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26028,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The major separator for manuscripts is whether or not they have been accepted for publication. This means been through peer review and revisions and accepted by the journal editors. Once a manuscript passes this step it can be assigned as <em>in press</em>. Anything before that stage is <em>manuscript in preparation</em> or <em>in prep.</em> for short. In a CV you can of course list manuscripts that have been submitted but not passed acceptance and <em>submitted</em> but this is usually not a formulation accepted as a reference in a journal. In my own CV I list manuscript as either submitted or published (which then includes in press).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26035,
"author": "Marc Claesen",
"author_id": 7173,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7173",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I use <em>in press</em> for any accepted papers, regardless of the time-to-publication. I don't feel that indicating an article as in press implies that it will be published any time soon. </p>\n\n<p>I specifically do <em>not</em> use <em>forthcoming</em> because it is ambiguous to me. I've seen people use it for everything ranging from accepted papers to future work in a conceptual phase.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26064,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I don't agree with most of the answers so far in one point: The answer depends on your field / area of research, so there is no universal truth about them.</p>\n\n<p>For example in economics I have never seen <em>\"in press\"</em> and <em>\"forthcoming in [journal]\"</em> means that it is accepted. If the issue of the journal is already clear some people change it so that it looks like was already published (with a date in the future). (However, most people don't care after that point.)</p>\n\n<p>The only thing where I have seen <em>\"in press\"</em> is when talking about a book.</p>\n\n<p>So the main point (at least for me) is to clearly state by whom it is <em>\"in press\"</em> or where it is <em>\"forthcoming\"</em>, as this adds credibility to your claim that it will be published.</p>\n\n<p>However, from your question it is clear that both are common in your area of research and therefore I would just stick with the most commonly used. If you add the journal / conference where it is going to be published it should be clear that it was accepted.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 63767,
"author": "Joel",
"author_id": 30852,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30852",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>These answers make clear that \"forthcoming\" can be misinterpreted. So be explicit. Here are things that I think will be clear, and are standard for CV's I've seen:</p>\n\n<p>If it's <strong>published</strong>: give the publication details </p>\n\n<p>If it's <strong>accepted</strong> but not published then say: <strong>\"accepted to [journal]\"</strong></p>\n\n<p>If it's <strong>submitted</strong> then say: <strong>\"under review\"</strong> or <strong>\"submitted\"</strong> If you want to emphasize the journal, you can say \"under review at [journal]\", but it's a judgment call whether to do this.</p>\n\n<p>If it's <strong>not submitted</strong> yet: then say <strong>\"in preparation\"</strong> - but at least for me, if you do this you better do more to convince me that it's almost done - link to an article on arxiv, maybe. I'd advise not including these unless you have a good reason (say, it's a grant application and you want to prove you've been working with the other people on the grant --- then include a link to the draft.)</p>\n\n<p>In any of these last three, I could argue that the paper is \"forthcoming\". So if I'm reading a CV that says \"forthcoming\", I'll assume that it's forthcoming in much the way some of the papers I've been planning to get around to writing for 5 years are \"forthcoming\", because if it were accepted or submitted the person would have said so.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26024",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9370/"
] |
26,025 |
<p>Will generally accepted papers appear in conferences proceeding without presentation? In particular my paper is accepted for <a href="http://www.greenorbs.org/TrustCom2014"><strong>this</strong></a> conference. In the conference web site they pointed out: "Accepted and presented papers will be included in the IEEE CPS Proceedings." In its registration page they have told:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Please register your papers before 20 July 2014. It is strictly
enforced. If we do not receive your registration by that date, your
papers will be moved from the proceedings. Thank you very much.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Does this mean the registered papers definitively will be appeared in the proceeding? Unfortunately there is no contact info on the web site and they do not response emails. I could not attend the conference and I wonder should I pay regitration fee or not? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26027,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, at least for the better conferences in the computing and information science research area that I find myself working in, if your paper is <strong>accepted</strong> and at least one author has <strong>registered</strong> for the conference, then your paper will be included in the conference proceedings and available in the usual archives (ACMDL/IEEEXplore/DBLP etc.)</p>\n\n<p>I have done this multiple times when I lived in different countries and could not afford to travel to a conference in a far flung location. Sometime ago, I wrote <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11428/the-fate-of-an-accepted-paper-not-being-presented\">another (very related) answer</a> which might be of further help to you.</p>\n\n<p>However, this may vary for the particular conference that you have a paper in.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Added:</strong> (to incorporate Jeff's comment)</p>\n\n<p>In some conferences, an author may not even register. A colleague or otherwise could present your paper for you. Of course, this needs the permission of the organizers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26031,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The <a href=\"http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/organizers/handling_nonpresented_papers.html\">IEEE policy on non-presented papers</a> is as follows:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Authors are expected to attend the conference in person to present their papers and share their ideas.</p>\n \n <p>To encourage attendance, IEEE recommends that conferences exclude or limit the distribution of any paper that was not presented at the conference. This policy is not mandatory and only applies to conference proceedings where IEEE is the copyright holder.</p>\n \n <p>If authors are unable to attend the conference and present their papers, they should contact the program chair as soon as possible so that substitute arrangements can be made.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That is, it is at the conference organizer's discretion. Some IEEE conferences <em>do</em> pull a paper from the published proceedings if it isn't presented at the conference: for example, the <a href=\"http://www.signalprocessingsociety.org/about-sps/governance/policy-procedure/part-2/\">IEEE Signal Processing Society has the policy</a> that papers not presented will not be distributed on IEEEXplore.</p>\n\n<p>The only way to be sure your paper will appear in the conference proceedings is to confirm with the conference organizer. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26025",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1070/"
] |
26,030 |
<p>A few weeks after my work was published in a conference, I received an email from a research group from another university asking me to provide my source code. The email was very polite and explained the reasons for the request, i.e. the direction of their research. There was really no reason to deny them. However, yesterday (ca. 6 weeks after the first request), I received a similar request from another group asking for the same code to conduct research in the same field as the first group. (To clarify, I'm in CS, but both groups work in statistics) I see no reason to deny them either. </p>
<p>But should I explicitly state that the code was already asked for and provided to another research group? If so, should I also notify the first group?</p>
<p>I found myself in uncharted territory since I haven't expected anyone to be interested in that code, let alone to receive two requests. Also, this situation has potential to escalate into misunderstanding(s), if information is withheld or provided, but misinterpreted.</p>
<p>PS: I haven't talked yet to my adviser, as he is on vacation and I really don't intend to bother him with this matter. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26034,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>One possible course of action could be to make the code publicly available on your website, or some public repository system, e.g. github. That gives you no control over the distribution, but provides other important things like public appreciation and (in case of github) widely recognised timestamp.</p>\n\n<p>Since this is your code, you have the right to promote yourself by mentioning that it is widely used. However, it may be not a good idea to share the information about someone else's current research interests, without asking them first. Some areas can be very competitive, and it is better to be safe than sorry. You could ask your \"users\" if they agree to be mentioned as such.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26040,
"author": "Ric",
"author_id": 9700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9700",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Going off of what Dmitry Savostyanov said. You could publish it to github or on your website and then send an email BBCing all the parties who have expressed interest. This way you can inform everyone of the new code location and hint that multiple people have asked for it without explicitly telling anyone anything.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26041,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is no reason to inform anyone of anything. Any (non-collaborating) researcher contacting you should reasonably expect that other researchers could ask you the same question, including requests to share code. (This is not true of collaborating researchers, from whom you may want to request permission before sharing code.)</p>\n\n<p>Do note that in some research settings you may not want to share code. I would definitely consult with your advisor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26042,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If one choose to share code, generally one should do it with relative unselectively (ie. sharing on GitHub as others proposed, or just on your own site) or in form of collaboration.</p>\n\n<p>In the first case everyone who is looking for your code and agree with some basic rules, Terms of Use, etc essentially granted to use it, and it is not your business beyond that what they use it for. It is possible to tell groups that others using this, too, but telling about others project without their explicit consent is very unethical. In my field, I know only one professor who actively introduce groups to each other who are intent to do similar research to encourage them to collaborate, but this is a very shaky field and the default is the no see, no hear, no tell.\nIn the second case you are collaborating with one or the other group. If they are overlapping in research, you shouldn't collaborate with both, and I think hinting that you are already working on a similar topic with someone is the ethical way. Off course, you still can give the code both of them, but without collaborating and sharing data with one side.</p>\n\n<p>Disclaimer: I am not in computational science, but in computational chemistry, so there can be differences in local habits.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26030",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14133/"
] |
26,037 |
<h3><strong>TL;DR</strong>:</h3>
<p><em>How should I blindly grade exams when I can recognize over half of the papers by the handwriting?</em></p>
<p><strong>Situation:</strong> I'm a TA for an first year physics class of approximately 50-60 students. Due to a complaint along the lines of <em>"the grader hates me so I failed the class"</em> that the department got last year, there is a proposal in the department to ensure that tests be swapped to blind grading. However, as the class assigns a fairly large amount of homework, from experience I know that I can reliably recognize more than half of the class's handwriting. The proposed system goes along the lines of having students use an ID number that they get when they take the test that isn't shown to me until I'm putting grades into the computer. The problem is that I feel that this would do very little to actually reduce bias if TAs can just recognize handwriting without a name.</p>
<p>Short of putting people on rotation for grading this stuff, which has its own problems, are there any better ways to implement a blind grading system to remove any handwriting bias?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26039,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If I understand this correctly, blind grading is a formality introduced by the University to make students' claims on the biased teachers unjustified. I would say - keep it that way and do not bother any more. You are not going to hate them and give them lower grades, are you? So, it does not really matter that you in fact can recognise the handwriting. If a student is really really bothered to keep their identity secret... well, they could try to write with the unusual hand.</p>\n\n<p>Answering your question formally - to implement a real blind grading system you can swap the scripts between departments, or TAs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26044,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The blind grading should never allow the name of the student to be linked with the student number. Your grade sheets should be coded only by student number until the end of the semester. All written assignments, wether marked or unmarked, should be identified by number. In this way, you will have much less of a chance to learn the handwriting. You will get the odd look when a student shows you a paper to ask a question.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26062,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Others have mentioned the issue of removing hand-writing from the equation by having homework or assignments printed as opposed hand-written. so I will simply add what we commonly do in my department.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Add a moderator to a random sample of scripts/exams.</strong></p>\n\n<p>With a moderator, even if the grader knows the student, the grader must consider that their own marking will be checked. If Gary Grader consistently mis-grades papers (due to bias or simply weak grading skills) then Mary Moderator should catch this, at least on <em>some</em>. Those flags may indicate a need for someone to step in and talk with the grader about grading bias or other grading issues.</p>\n\n<p>Now, you could make the moderating blind as well so that Mary Moderator would not know which grader she was moderating. One reason to do this is that Mary might be concerned that George will be angry at her (or take revenge, etc.) so Mary might simple say that \"Yes, all of Gary's papers are graded correctly.\" </p>\n\n<p>We don't do blind moderation but I have heard others comment that \"we don't change grades because we don't want to cause problems for our colleagues\" which disturbs me greatly (because the graders know this and it, in effect, nullifies the whole moderation process).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26151,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm not entirely sure what you mean by rotating (and the associated problems), but we use the following scheme:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Graders have \"their\" questions. </li>\n<li>exams \"rotate\" between the graders until in the end each question is corrected for each exam.\n<ul>\n<li>Sometimes this is done in large batches - each grader goes to the secretary when they have time, get all or maybe half of the exams, vanishes to their office, and returns exams and marks list when done. </li>\n<li>More often, all graders meet, and small batches of exams are exchanged. Here, everyone gets one question, and as soon as you are finished (or cannot easily find a new batch) you either get a new question assigned or towards the end help sort who still needs to get which question and carry those exams where they need to go. This way, the exams are quite well shuffled, so one would expect that even if a drift in the marking over the course of going over all exams occurs, this is different for each question and cancels out in the end.</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>There are two main ideas with this scheme:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Even if there are example solutions and a rough list of points the professor wants to be considered, usually a bunch of minor decisions has to be made. It is easier to have consistent marks for all students if the marking for a given question is done by one grader. </li>\n<li>It is faster if every grader has to go into the details only for a few questions. Getting \"into\" a question can take considerable time, and after solving the question myself and comparing that to the example solution I tentatively write up criteria for the marking. I then grab some 10 - 20 exams and go through the question marking them but without actually giving grades and check whether my tentative point list is feasible and what other typical problems I need to add to the list. Only then the actual grading starts. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I cannot recall whether we have the students pseudonymized (by student ID) or whether we have names - typically the pressure is to get the grading done, and that means I (and about all of my colleagues but the one who transfers grades to the final result list) never look at the name. I directly go to the sheet where \"my\" question is (or sometimes, particularly towards the end, people who are already finished will do that for others). </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>With such a scheme, the impact a single grader biased against a particular student can have is quite limited.<br>\nBTW: some of us usually \"know\" the students from labwork practicum (others help only with the exams and have never seen any of the students) - but that are brief encounters of large numbers of students. A student has to be either exceptionally good or exceptionally bad or behaving exceptionally in some way to be remembered by name. At least for me, while I <em>may</em> remember someone when seeing them, the connection to name or handwriting is much weaker. Of course, that is different if you encounter them again and again over the duration of the course. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>I'd like to add some general thoughts:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>While I do see distinct advantages with the system described above which can easily be carried out in a blinded fashion, the student claim </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p> My grader hates me so i failed the class </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>is <strong>not</strong> among the good reasons. Students can look at their marked exams. They can then complain if they suspect the grading was not fair (or an error occured). \nThey can even ask for someone else grading their exam. If it turned out that there was a problem with the grading, this is dealt with a) for the student (or all students in the each-grader-has-their-questions scheme) and b) will have consequences for the grader. </p></li>\n<li><p>In my experience, students thinking that TAs not only remember them but have strong enough feelings that they end up giving biased marks to a measurable extent (in a field where a large part of the grading scheme is usually formulated in \"hard\" ways like calculation correct yes/no; sign error, axis label missing, units missing: each -1/2 point and so on) greatly overestimates the importance the given student has to the typical grader (PhD students or postdocs who are assigned to help grading on top of all other work they have)</p></li>\n<li><p>Do not forget that there is a distinct bias <em>against</em> letting students fail: failing students come again for examination and create lots of additional, but unsatisfactory (IMHO it is far more pleasant to correct a good exam than to sort out the mess of a bad exam) work. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>IMHO there are some trade-offs involved. Obviousy, possible bias against students is bad and needs to be avoided. On the other hand, you have to be careful not to make otherwise bad decisions and end up unbiased, but overall worse:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>One obvious way of not having a student bias (that also removes the information-leaking of the question) is to have graders that were not otherwise involved with those students.<br>\nOTOH, people who have been TA with these students may have a far better grasp what can be expected from the students than people who have not been involved with that course (we have a fair amount of PhD students and post-docs helping with the grading that have a related but not the same background, e.g. physicists and optical engineers helping grading physical chemistry exams). </p></li>\n<li><p>Another obvious possible bias is that seeing what the other grader gave for their questions will influence the grader*. This could be removed by having separate sheets for each question - at the cost that it is error prone and/or a whole lot of additional work to make really sure nothing gets lost, nor mixed up. </p></li>\n<li><p>Already having only student ID or other pseudonyms in practice means that some easy way of error checking is removed: it is much easier to mix up the grades between students when transfering to the grade list when the list consists of longish ID numbers instead of names.<br>\nObviously there should not be any errors, but such errors do occur. And at some point the question should be asked whether the removed alleged bias is worth that less time can be spent on actually teaching the students because it is spent on double checking anonymized lists and correcting errors that occured.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>* (But for our exams it is rather typical that students perform very differently in different subfields: one is at home with thermodynamics but doesn't get kinetics and vice versa)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 68558,
"author": "thebishopofcalc",
"author_id": 54015,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/54015",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To help \"save me from myself,\" from the first moment I was allowed to implement partial credit (after escaping my <em>alma mater</em>'s absolute insistence on all-or-nothing grading), I began crafting incredibly, at times <em>ludicrously</em> detailed rubrics (down to the half-point, even for the many questions on a 100-point exam) detailing every conceivable level (and timeline) of errors that a student could make (or at least, that I could <em>anticipate</em> them making), and I make myself stick to it. Even if the student has annoyed me with his in-class noisy chattiness--even if he has already been caught in an academic misconduct net earlier in our acquaintance--it forces me to treat him the same as every other student. If it's a 3-point mistake for someone else, it's a 3-point mistake for him, too.</p>\n\n<p>(Sidebar, Your Honor: Sorry, fellas, for the gender bias there, but after a single XX to start the Sad Roll of Dishonor, it's been an unbroken streak of about 76 in a row for the XY's.) </p>\n\n<p>I also grade each exam one page at a time, to help break up the exams and make the handwriting-recognition neurons fire less often. That also has the fringe benefit of keeping me from turning any concerns that might be forming about trends in the grades so far (since I don't know the overall results yet) into an inappropriate shifting of the standards bar halfway through.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26037",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19675/"
] |
26,038 |
<p>Is there a simple line of questioning which gives an up front indicator as to a persons ability to do research?</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fizz_buzz">FizzBuzz</a> is an interview question which is used to determine whether an applicant knows how to program. It is a simple problem, with a simple solution which can seperate those who can, from those who can't.</p>
<p>Are there common equivalent questions for gauging someones ability to do research?</p>
<p>(Granted, there are a wider variety of perspectives of what research is, especially across disciplines so it is unlikely there is as clean-cut an answer to this question.)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26045,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As I've said in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/17700/11365\">another answer</a>, the best predictor of success in research is... success in research.</p>\n\n<p>The interview question for gauging someone's ability to do research is therefore: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"Tell me about your research.\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26046,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, there is no useful research analog of FizzBuzz.</p>\n\n<p>FizzBuzz is a rather limited test of programming ability. An incompetent candidate may fail at it, but passing this test in no way qualifies someone to work as a programmer. Some programming jobs attract lots of incompetent applicants, and it's worth filtering them out, but FizzBuzz is just a small step in that direction. The only reason we've heard of it is because it makes a great story when someone applies for a job but can't pass the simplest test.</p>\n\n<p>For faculty hiring, there's no need for such a crude filter. The number of highly qualified candidates is much greater than the number of openings, and filtering out the incompetent is not a big deal. (If you spend a lot of time worrying about whether your candidates are incompetent, then something has gone catastrophically wrong with the search process.) Instead, the hard part is deciding who the very best candidates are, and FizzBuzz-style questions won't help with that.</p>\n\n<p>For graduate student admissions, competence testing is more relevant. However, there's a fundamental difference from hiring a programmer. In that case, you are looking for someone who already has programming experience, and FizzBuzz helps filter out people who are bluffing about how experienced they are. Someone who fails could still learn to be a fine programmer, but you don't care since you're looking for someone who already knows how. On the other hand, most applicants to graduate school have only limited experience with research, and that's OK. You're looking for potential, rather than experience, and that's trickier to evaluate. I'm skeptical that any simple, clear-cut test can reliably predict research potential.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27546,
"author": "Brendan Cody-Kenny",
"author_id": 6915,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6915",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As an interview question, I like this one:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"What's the most interesting discovery you have made in your research?\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Answers to this question can show what the researcher thinks is particularly interesting about their work, exposing some of their character. </p>\n\n<p>It can also be useful to hear what they consider to be a \"discovery\". </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26038",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6915/"
] |
26,048 |
<p>I was watching <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLlA1w4OZWQ" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> video on YouTube (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcIUhHWsqlE&feature=youtu.be" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> is the second part of it) and it motivated me to ask this question.</p>
<p><strong>From the videos:</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>....that's the good aspect of peer review. It should work to sift out problems with the interpretation, problems with the results. It should work to improve a paper. The problem is ..... there is a huge volume of stuff and we are increasingly getting swamped. .... here is one of the worst examples of where peer review has entirely failed. ....</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The examples he talks about is discussed in this <a href="http://blog.chembark.com/2013/08/14/some-very-suspicious-tem-images-in-nano-letters/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">blog post</a>.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/9nvzr.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></p>
<p>When you zoom in, you can clearly see that it is photo-shopped.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>...this is one of the top ranking journals in the fields...</p>
<p><em>Now here is the really troublesome aspect... if they had done it better
(you can see a much better photo-shopped image in the blog), how would we know. Not only is money spent in that lab, other groups would chase this up and that's the worrying aspect and it builds and builds. Science is like that.</em></p>
<p><em>In the past if the referees didn't pick it up, that was the end of the story. We now have something called the post publication peer review. There are sites ( <a href="https://pubpeer.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PubPeer</a>) and there are blogs (<a href="http://blog.chembark.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ChemBark</a>, <a href="http://www.chemistry-blog.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chemistry Blog</a>) where people upload paper and say well this looks like a great paper or in many cases they go "there is something I don't quite get here" and that leads to lots of comments from people in the field and I think this is where we are evolving to... away from the traditional peer review system. The publication is seen to be the start of the scientific process and not the end, where you generate debate.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>My questions:</strong></p>
<p>Are there other such examples in physics? Can you point me towards a blog/site or something of the sort that goes through these things?</p>
<p>Are there any blogs, articles or essays that discuss problems surrounding the peer-review process (in relation to physics). How it can improved, where alternative methods like post-publication review are discussed ? I know <a href="http://blog.chembark.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ChemBark</a> for chemistry, I am looking for it's "equivalent" in physics.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 30942,
"author": "just-learning",
"author_id": 10483,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10483",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would like to slightly disagree with the Hauser's answer regarding the possible <em>methods</em> of scientific misconduct in physics. </p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, in more theoretical parts of physics some people can manage to pretend that some complete and utter nonsense represents a new result well enough to fool the referees and editors and thus beat the peer review system.</p>\n\n<p>A prominent example of this (to our luck, very rare, at least AFAIK) phenomenon is <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogdanov_affair\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>the Bogdanov affair</strong></a>, see also e.g. <a href=\"http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/bogdanoff/\" rel=\"nofollow\">the web page by John Baez on this</a> and the <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v420/n6911/full/420005a.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Nature article</a> on the ensuing scandal; a sample of the works involved is available through <a href=\"http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=inauthor%3AG-Bogdanoff&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_ylo=1997&as_yhi=2003\" rel=\"nofollow\">this Google Scholar query</a>. The Bogdanov (a.k.a. Bogdanoff) brothers got their Ph.D.s using the papers in question, one in physics and one in mathematics, and in early 2000s have published a number of strange -- to put it <em>very</em> mildly -- papers in a number of reputed physics journals, including Classical and Quantum Gravity and Annals of Physics (and e.g. the Annals of Physics paper is <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003491601962128\" rel=\"nofollow\">still there</a> -- it is not withdrawn until today). The papers were not just wrong -- they turned out to be downright gibberish.</p>\n\n<p>In the light of the Bogdanov affair it is not a big surprise that sometimes peer review also fails to detect even a really large-scale plagiarism, as in the infamous case of more than 60 works by a group of Turkish physicists who plagiarized earlier work, see e.g. <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7158/full/449008b.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">the Nature article</a> and <a href=\"http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=638\" rel=\"nofollow\">this post</a> at Peter Woit's blog for details.</p>\n\n<p>Unlike the Jan Hendrik Schön case, AFAIK the papers by Bogdanov brothers did not involve experimental data or predict outcomes of reasonably doable experiments, so their case is pretty much a <em>pure</em> <strong>peer review failure</strong> at the level of the referees and editors (and of course a failure of their thesis advisors too). </p>\n\n<p>IMHO, the Bogdanov affair shows that the argument regarding <em>going to production</em> and <em>post-publication review</em> from the Hauser's answer does not seem to work well in the more theoretical parts of physics, especially when the authors make no readily verifiable experimental predictions. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 31028,
"author": "Hauser",
"author_id": 213,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/213",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The methods of scientific misconduct in physics are not different from what you see on chembark (photoshopping, data creation and so on). This years nobel prize in chemisty went to a physicist as it happened often. The methodogical overlap is huge, mostly the topical focus is different, collaboration is frequent as interdiffusion of scholars between both branches. Also physics is such a broad field that the role of peer-review in different subfields has different importance.</p>\n\n<p>Jan Hendrik Schön was an exceptional case, from which one can deduce the differences in revealing scientific misconduct and the role of peer review in physics vs. other scientific branches.\n<strong>There are not much cases like Jan Hendrik Schön in physics, as we have a very strong post-publication review system in physics/chemistry many scientific branches lack: the industry and the mathematical and experimental interdependence and overlap of most theories in neighboring subfields</strong>. It's stronger than the peer-rewiew system at the journal level and one of the reasons why physics is called a \"hard science\". This is really the crucial difference to other scientific branches and the reason why you will not find much important scientific misconduct by physicists in top journals. Hiring of top researchers by industry and patents are a strong incentive to avoid scientific misconduct. <strong>And top research in physics is correct, reproducable and valuable research, in branches like psychology or philosophy you really have problems to identify and judge good research by clear criterions.</strong> This is due to the nature of the topics. Jan Hendrik Schöns research career was finished, he will never do fundamental research again or wright a paper. He probably knew that is was just a matter of time considering the importance of his results that someone in academia or industry would reveal his misconduct, probably career obsessed and blind.</p>\n\n<p>The case of Schön started in the physics community an open-ended discussion wether peer-review at the level of the journal is the place to detect such cases, there were not much widespread cases like this before (I can't remember). From the discussions I had it seems most physicists agreed that not peer review at the journal level was the problem in this case, but lack of review of his collaborators before submission. Unfortunately in the aftermath he was the only one sentenced and losing his PhD 2013. Take a look how much <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sch%C3%B6n_scandal#Withdrawn_journal_papers\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">co-authors</a> he had on most papers. Schön's other collaborators were cleared of all wrongdoing by an committee appointed by Bell Labs. They are nowadays professors at ETH Zürich and Stanford. They could not identify the fraudulent data or would have to invest to much effort?</p>\n\n<p><strong>To this it boils down, how much effort do you have to invest in peer review and what is the status quo of trust and mistrust in your subfield?</strong> Is mistrust prevailing? <a href=\"https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/12520/can-up-to-70-of-scientific-studies-not-be-reproduced\">For some branches</a> the status quo is problematic. In physics we can tolerate such a case of imperfect peer review at the journal level from time to time due to much stronger other inherent mechanisms other scientific branches lack. The subfield of priming in psychology for instance had to <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/news/psychologists-strike-a-blow-for-reproducibility-1.14232\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">undergo rather exceptional processes to regain credibility</a> and will have to do so on. </p>\n\n<p>Of course, also other branches develop technological relevant ideas, prototypes, patents and are funded by industry, <strong>but the crucial point is that often published results in physics journals turn into an product within a decade. This time scale is important, as it has strong implications on the quality of work of experimental physicists as the case of Jan Hendrik Schön has shown.</strong> In other scientific branches, e.g. psychology, you nearly never have to fear this kind of very strong post-publication review (where experimentalists in industry and academia will try to analyze and rebuild your experiment bit by bit, much stronger than any review by an editor or collaborators) or discovery-idea-patent-product will last several decades (e.g. drug development in medicine), so nearly as long as the career of most scholars and some decide to take this risk. <strong>In physics/chemistry, for widely studied and interesting research topics, your chance is zero, misconduct in the long term (which means 10, max. 20 years) is scientific kamikaze.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Please don't interpret my words as an underestimation of peer-review done at the journal level (in non-industry relevant fields it is the most important level), I'm a strong advocate of open access and open data and in my opinion the best hindrance of scientific misconduct would be if search engines like google scholar would directly link comments on arxiv to specific papers in the search results. If a bunch of co-authors decide to falsify data professionally (not like a school kid in the picture above), then only other research groups trying to reproduce this results can reveal the misconduct, post-publication review. In physics this will happen for sure. On retractionwatch you can read stories about journals that are not inclined to publish comments of other authors proving the bad quality of their peer-review. In physics comments have always been a vital part for public discussion of competing theoretical models and experimental data. But nowadays the publishers rely more on a more profit oriented model than decades ago. So central uncensored websites like pubpeer are really necessary from my point of view seeing a rise of plagiarism and misconduct, although their importance may vary strongly from branch to branch. Physics, in my opinion, is not in trouble, actually the time scale described above has become even shorter since the rise of the internet due to better and faster access to software, data and knowledge. Unfortunately in humanities the phenomenon of \"copy, shake, paste\" vice versa <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1206/how-many-people-read-an-individual-journal-article/1224#1224\">seems to have risen.</a></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26048",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19684/"
] |
26,049 |
<p>I would be happy to have a short comment by somebody on following simple situation: I submitted my paper in beginning of January. In the end or January the status changed from the administration (Editor) to "under review". After that, this has not changed, it is still "under review". Is this normal. My field is history. </p>
<p>The journal doesn't indicate the review-times in the pages, but from the same publishing house's pages I have seen other journals of the same field and noted that the time may vary from 3-4 months up to one year.</p>
<p>I have decided that I will patiently wait, but I am starting to feel insecure about if they have forgotten to push the status-button. So, it would be nice just to know, does this sounds normal? Another article a couple of years ago in another journal didn't take that long.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26050,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The time frame you mention is within what can be encountered. The time frames also differ wide between disciplines but also from journal to journal so one way to check how reasonable it is will be to check the journal for how long it has taken other papers to go through to acceptance. Many journals state this for each article and hopefully your journal does so as well. If no such information is stated you can try and ask a senior colleague who may have a perspective on the journals and their turn-over times.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 69268,
"author": "Guest",
"author_id": 54681,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/54681",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Depending upon your field, it may be acceptable to write a short note to the journal requesting an update on the status of the article. So long as you are respectful in asking, there will not be any harm in doing so.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 69306,
"author": "Kakoli Majumder",
"author_id": 9920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9920",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since the time-frames for review in other journals under the same publisher vary anywhere between 3-4 months to a year, I think you can consider the time-frame normal in your case. However, I think it should be fine to write a polite email to the journal editor asking him/her to update you about the current status of your paper.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26049",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19624/"
] |
26,055 |
<p>I am fairly certain academic papers do not use apostrophe " ' " for contraction, like "won't", but what is the academic way (in engineering) to do this. For example, " A humans walk cycle " , it is the walk cycle belonging to the human, so " A humans' walk cycle " seems appropriate. However, I rarely see apostrophes used in academia, so should it be " The walk cycle of a human " instead?</p>
<p>I realize this is a bit of an english stack exchange, however, my question is the academic convention, not what is right or wrong in grammar. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26059,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is no academia-specific convention to avoid the use of apostrophes to form possessive nouns. Follow the usual rules of correct grammar and good style.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26066,
"author": "gman",
"author_id": 12454,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12454",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I agree with ff524 answer of there are <em>'no academia-specific convention to avoid the use of apostrophes to form possessive nouns.'</em></p>\n\n<p>However some universities now have developed guides in relation to grammar that can be referred to. It may also be worth while checking if your college has an academic writing centre(AWC) that runs workshops on writing skills. I know in my own university there is an AWC but also when at undergraduate a number of lecturers referred us to a general guide, <em>The Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar</em>.</p>\n\n<p>For example on the <a href=\"http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/grammar\" rel=\"nofollow\">University of Canberra</a> website they deal with a number of grammar points including the use of the apostrophe (see point 6). Here is a second <a href=\"http://drhazelhall.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2013_hall_rules-conventions_ac_writing.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">example</a> of a guide</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26075,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not aware of any style guide or convention that advises against using constructions that need apostrophes as a general rule, or says anything other than \"Use correct English grammar and spelling to the best of your ability.\"</p>\n\n<p>Style guides may advise against using contractions such as \"won't\" or \"isn't\" but that is because they are seen as being less formal, not because they need an apostrophe.</p>\n\n<p>\"A humans walk cycle\" is nothing more than an error that wasn't picked up by the author or proofreader.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26055",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12718/"
] |
26,065 |
<p>Having a realistic option of publishing a minor study in a 4th quartile journal, is this better than nothing? The articles of many, but not all, authors are kind of pretentious and unremarkable (not being cited nowhere), but not plagiarized, or computer generated.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26067,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the UK the value of a publication is often based on the <a href=\"http://www.ref.ac.uk/\">REF</a> and the <a href=\"http://www.delni.gov.uk/index/further-and-higher-education/higher-education/role-structure-he-division/he-research-policy/recurrent-research-funding/quality-related-research-funding.htm\">QR</a> model. For the REF, only your top 4 publications in the 5 or so year return window matter. If you have less than 4 publications, low quality publications are definitely better than nothing. For the QR model, only research which is considered</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Quality that is recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>is worth any weight to the university. No one really is willing to define what \"internationally recognized\" means. This means that for hiring and promotion purposes, assuming you have 4 high quality publications, multiple low quality publications are not worth anything.</p>\n\n<p>While the REF and QR model influences hiring and promotion decisions, as well as funding body decisions, I believe there is still a place for low quality publications. They can be helpful in allowing you, and other, to refer to them in later higher quality publications. It is also a way of archiving and sharing your research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26073,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You're going to have to give us a little more information to get a useful answer I think. What stage of your career are you in, where are you located, what are your career ambitions? Do you have a lot of prior publications in better places, etc.?</p>\n\n<p>Here's a general hint: try to think of what you want to communicate with your CV.</p>\n\n<p>I'm going to answer as if you are a grad student in the US who wants to get a tenure track job who has no prior publications. Here what you're trying to communicate with your publications is <em>scholarly quality</em>. You're trying to show that you deserve a seat at the grown up table. A low prestige publication doesn't do that.</p>\n\n<p>I'd say don't publish rather than publish somewhere bad. The reason for this is psychological: search committees viewing your cv are going to fixate on the data points they have and extrapolate from there. If the only data point they see is a low-profile publication, they are going to judge that this is likely the best work you are capable of doing and extrapolate that you will be unlikely to earn tenure, and therefore don't deserve further consideration. (For lots of junior researchers their first couple papers are assumed to be the strongest work they are going to do pre-tenure b/c these are papers arising from the dissertation, that have presumably been written under the guidance of a distinguished mentor. That assumption is actually true in a lot of cases.)</p>\n\n<p>If this is your situation, then don't waste your work publishing somewhere mediocre. Take the paper, make it as good as you possibly can and then start sending it to conferences. With some conference feedback, the paper might get good enough to make it into a more prestigious journal that actually helps you build your reputation as a scholar.</p>\n\n<p>Now, if you already have a couple of strong publications, things are slightly different. People are going to fixate on the good publications and interpret the rest of the CV in light of them. That frees you up a bit. If this paper is good enough to get published somewhere, and you're not really interested in it as a research project, and you don't need the reputational capital, then maybe you can just let this go at a lower-tier journal. What you'd be trying to communicate in this case is that you're active. </p>\n\n<p>If you are in a country with governmental rules about what publications \"count\" towards tenure or promotion, like the UK's REF system, then what you need to communicate is that you're capable of jumping through that system's hoops effectively.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26074,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Academics obsess about publishing in recognized journals and while this is \"proper\" form, the arena is far from its ideal landscape, which few, if any, academics have actually analyzed or questioned. </p>\n\n<p>Consider, for example, Hesse's idea in Magister Ludi: a uniform platform for all human knowledge, interlinked together, stewarded in perpetuity by those with highest credibility for their respective domains -- not by publishers with profit motivations or university presses with their own interests in mind.</p>\n\n<p>If your work has merit, publish it to the web, on a blog, for example, where it can get many eyes, receive comment, and your work can progress. Ultimately, it is the ability to <em>defend</em> the work's value, not receive a blessing from some higher authority, which is important.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26065",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8970/"
] |
26,068 |
<p>In the US, many PhD programs require applications to submit the results of one of the GRE subject tests. For example, almost every (serious) PhD program in mathematics that I've seen requires it. However, when looking at the admissions webpage of some programs, there sometimes seems to be some kind of grey area when it comes to the subject test.</p>
<p>For example, on <a href="http://www.math.harvard.edu/graduate/">Harvard's webpage for the mathematics PhD program</a>, it is written that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Department requires all applicants to submit GRE Mathematics Subject Test scores. Applicants should check on the ETS website for test dates in their area to insure the scores will be submitted before the application deadline.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So far so good, and if they left it at that, the message would seem to be: "you <em>have</em> to submit the GRE subject test, otherwise your application will be incomplete and rejected outright". However, it goes on to say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>While the admissions committee reviews all applications submitted by the deadline, missing math subject test scores are one less data point available to evaluate the application. Depending on the applicant pool and the strength of the application materials, the missing subject test scores may put the application at a disadvantage.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>How should one interpret this? Does it mean:</p>
<ol>
<li>"We thank you for the $105 donation, but your application lacks critical information and will almost certainly be rejected"; or</li>
<li>"Your application will be considered, provided it somehow demonstrates that you have a sufficiently strong mathematics background to succeed in our program"?</li>
</ol>
<p>One one hand, it seems possible that they would want to "consider" applications without the GRE subject test, in that they receive the admission fee and that they can discard the application with very little time and effort (after all, they said the GRE was necessary). On the other hand, it seems silly that Harvard should reject an applicant who, by all accounts, seems to be this generation's Terence Tao, for the simple reason that he did not take the GRE subject test.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26069,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is not a grey area. This is simply a contradiction. The first paragraph you've shared says it is <em>required</em> and the second sure seems to imply that they are only <em>strongly recommended</em>.</p>\n\n<p>Since it's easier to use the single word \"required\" accidentally and sloppily than it is to write that second paragraph by accident, my guess would be that they mean that the subject GREs are only strongly recommended, not required.</p>\n\n<p>Let's be very clear though: The opinion of people here doesn't matter. The specific departmental admissions officers and committee are the only opinions that matter since they will make the decision. If you see contradictory information on their website, point it out to them and ask for a clarification. They will clarify the issue for you and probably even fix the page.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, even if something is \"only\" very strongly recommended, it's still <em>strongly recommended!</em> Top programs are extremely competitive and it's up to you to do everything you can to strengthen your application. You might be the next generation's superstar but unless you've already done incredible, it can be extremely hard to tell this. Fantastic scores on the subject GRE can help make your case. Not doing it at all might suggest some insecurity on your part that you might not do well. Take the test unless you have an extremely good reason not to.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26072,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This is certainly poorly and confusingly worded, but I think I can explain the reasoning based on similar issues I've seen with other departments. Here's my interpretation:</p>\n\n<p>The department expects every applicant to take the GRE subject test. However, they know that every year a small fraction of the applicants screw up and don't manage to register in time to take it in the fall. It's impossible to take the test at the last minute, so at that point there's no way to fix the situation. The department doesn't want to automatically reject these applicants, for exactly the reason you mention (what if someone's the next Terry Tao?), and they are worried that if they list the GRE as an absolute requirement, then the university administration might force them to do that. On the other hand, they also don't intend to offer applicants the discretion to decide for themselves whether taking the subject test would strengthen their applications. They want everyone to take it, with the possibility of forgiveness for outstanding candidates who screw up. These goals get combined into the confusing statement that it's mandatory but your application can still be considered without it.</p>\n\n<p>I don't know how the Harvard math department evaluates applicants with no GRE scores, but I can tell you how my department does. We're a little happier if we see an apologetic note about how the applicant intended to take the test but failed to do so in time, but of course we know such a note proves nothing. Our default assumption is that the applicant was worried about doing poorly, so we start asking questions like \"How badly would we guess they might have done?\" and \"Would we have accepted them anyway, even with low GRE scores?\" If the application is otherwise fantastic, then the chances of acceptance remain good. However, these are the cases in which we would have cheerfully made excuses for low scores (maybe the applicant just isn't good at standardized tests or had a bad day), so nothing is gained by skipping the exam. An otherwise marginal applicant with no GRE subject test score will be rejected, and a strong but not fantastic applicant will be at a disadvantage.</p>\n\n<p>So my best guess as to what the policy means in practice is something like \"if you don't take the exam, we'll be annoyed at your irresponsibility and we'll evaluate your application with a presumption that you wouldn't have done well on the exam, but we'll still consider admitting you.\" This means you have a strong incentive to take the exam if you can.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>On one hand, it seems possible that they would want to \"consider\" applications without the GRE subject test, in that they receive the admission fee and that they can discard the application with very little time and effort </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In a typical U.S. department, application requirements and graduate admissions decisions are handled pretty much entirely separately from application fees. For example, many people on the committee won't even know offhand what the current application fee is or where the money goes within the university. In particular, whoever wrote the policy about GRE scores probably wasn't thinking about application fees at all.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28314,
"author": "mathematician",
"author_id": 21686,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21686",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer by anonymous mathematician seems essentially correct to me.</p>\n\n<p>One thing to remember is that (in all math depts. I'm aware of, including Harvard's, and mine) grad admissions are reviewed by a faculty committee, who have nothing to do with imposing/collecting application fees and so on --- so there is certainly no correlation between department rules/guidelines and things like fees.</p>\n\n<p>The committee members will do their best to assess candidates based on all the information they have available, using their best judgement as to how well the candidates will perform in their program. At Harvard in particular, they have their pick of the very strongest candidates from all over the world. GRE's are just one small component of their evaluation process, but are useful --- if someone doesn't do very well on the GRE, this is a flag. Essentially all the students admitted by top programs such as Harvard will have gotten close to a perfect score on the GRE subject test, though, and so the GRE serves more as a negative indicator against admission (if a candidate didn't do we'll) than as a positive indicator that someone should be admitted.</p>\n\n<p>But of course occasionally someone who is unquestionably very strong will have done poorly on the GRE, or not done it at all, and the department will want to have the option of being able to waive it as any kind of formal criterion. Hence the slightly ambiguous wording on their website. </p>\n\n<p>(One thing to remember is the once the dept. committee makes its selection, there is a bureaucratic process within the university where the list of admitted candidates has to be given to/accepted by other university entities, such as the university's graduate school. The department probably has to give some explanation/justification for its selection, and some discussion of the criteria it used. The GRE is presumably one of these, but they don't want to put themselves in a straitjacket of not being able to ignore it in special cases, and hence --- as Anonymous Mathematician notes --- they have a slightly ambiguous, flexible, policy.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28388,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is one more option that (I think) has not been mentioned. I know of schools where exam scores are absolutely required, but students are sometimes accepted even though scores were not <em>yet</em> submitted. At these schools, the student can be given a \"conditional\" acceptance, and has one semester to submit the required scores. If the student still doesn't have scores on file at the end of that first semester, the graduate school will not allow them to continue attending. </p>\n\n<p>The same sort of conditional acceptance is used for students who need to submit final transcripts after they graduate from their undergraduate program. In most graduate programs, all students are required to submit final transcripts, but students can be accepted conditionally before the transcripts are received. </p>\n\n<p>This kind of situation is suggested by language such as </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>While the admissions committee reviews all applications submitted by the deadline, missing math subject test scores are one less data point available to evaluate the application. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Note \"submitted by the deadline\". The school might decide that they will accept some students who don't submit GRE scores by the deadline, while still <em>requiring</em> that the students must <em>eventually</em> submit GRE scores. This allows the department to use the scores for statistical purposes even if the scores were not always used for admissions purposes.</p>\n\n<p>This sort of conditional admission is related to a scheduling issue with the fall subject GRE. This year (2014), the last exam date is October 25, and scores are estimated to be mailed \"approximately\" on December 5. This is just <em>barely</em> enough time for students who apply to schools with a January 1 deadline and send the scores from the October exam immediately. If a student delays sending scores to a school, the scores might not arrive in time for a Jan 1 deadline. This is likely part of the meaning of the language</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Applicants should check on the ETS website for test dates in their area to insure the scores will be submitted before the application deadline.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Students who send their scores a little late would probably be worse off if their application was summarily denied than if it is reviewed with missing GRE scores. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 96728,
"author": "didi",
"author_id": 80607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/80607",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>We as applicants must take a decision whether to include GRE subject or not wisely. First, we must do our best to fulfill all required documents (including the recommended ones). But if we failed to do so for whatever genuine reasons and we do not want to waste another year of waiting (if you have no problem waiting for another year, then you can get all advantages by providing all required documents), then we must write to the Graduate admission and explain the situation. Perhaps, they can give a conditional offer. If they have no solution to this problem, then don't waste your money for application fee. Alternatively you can search for universities which do not require the gre subject test (there are few good universities). Or you choose an alternative schools, for instance instead of applying admission to Maths Ph.D course, you can apply to Computer Science Ph.D course (pnly general GRE required). They are very much similar and they usually have inter-disciplinary program.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26068",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
26,076 |
<p>I know that for a certain project a colleague with whom I have worked on the project erroneously got a grade that is higher than he should have gotten (the administration made a mistake is my guess). He told me about this himself, but also told me that he is not planning on changing it. The course is a 12 ects course, so has quite an impact on someone's gpa.</p>
<p>Now I have two thoughts:</p>
<ol>
<li>It is not fair to 'betray' a colleague who trusted me with this story</li>
<li>I also worked on this project and I got the correct grade, it feels unfair. And I also simply feel that it is simply not just in a way.</li>
</ol>
<p>What do you think? And should I take action or not?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26077,
"author": "fkraiem",
"author_id": 12864,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12864",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Does your university have a procedure for appealing a grade? If so, look at what it says. I would be surprised if it allowed for appealing <em>someone else's</em> grade.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26078,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see three levels of possible 'formalisation' of your question: <ol><li> purely personal ethics <li>academic ethics <li> code of conduct of your University</ol> The first is really for you to decide; you may go for advice to someone you know well and trust their opinion. The last one is straightforward: simply read the code and see whether or not it has something related to your question. Regarding the second one: from my point of view, the situation is similar to spotting an error in a published work — academic ethics assumes that you should take reasonable actions to share your concerns with the world (starting with the author and the editor). This is not an easy or popular route, however, and in some countries it contradicts \"normal\" morale of people outside academia, as you acknowledge in your question.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26082,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><em>\"It is not fair to 'betray' a colleague who trusted me with this story\"</em></p>\n\n<p>It's also not fair that he got given a higher grade by mistake in the first place. The sooner it is fixed, the less chance there is of ugly flow-on problems popping up. </p>\n\n<p>What if the grade affects the class of honours granted to his degree, and the degree is later revoked and downgraded upon discovery of the error? That could look a little dubious on a university transcript.</p>\n\n<p>The \"right\" thing to do is for your colleague to report the error himself. But as he has made it clear that he will not, your situation is a little more ambiguous. But sometimes you have to do the right thing on behalf of others. A discreet email to the professor or lecturer who ran the course would likely lead to the grade being corrected. If you did this, you could disclose your intentions to your colleague beforehand, to give him the chance to correct the error himself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26084,
"author": "kleineg",
"author_id": 10637,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10637",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Answering from an ethical perspective. The grade was entered in error, if the other student was unaware of a mistake they would have been morally fine, it is not their job to double check the grader's work. </p>\n\n<p>But since they are aware of the mistake it is their obligation to inform the grader. By intentionally keeping that information from the grader they are deliberately breaking ethical rules. In addition, by telling you about it they are compounding the original wrong by making you a party to their original transgression. </p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately your classmate has made you responsible for their behavior because now you have to choose between doing the right thing (reporting them since they will not step forward) or being silent. </p>\n\n<p>I can't tell you the consequences of that choice, but possible consequences of turning them in are social rejection and possible consequences of staying silent include academic sanctions against you if it comes out that you knew and did nothing. Just remember, they chose to put you in this mess, and for that you <em>owe</em> them nothing. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26088,
"author": "DragonSlayer",
"author_id": 19730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19730",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you really want to became successful in your field you should erase the word 'fair' from your vocabulary.</p>\n\n<p>Nothing seems fair from all perspectives and the sooner you realize this the better.</p>\n\n<p>From the way you describe it, there are 2 possible scenarios:</p>\n\n<p>a) the professor made a mistake<br/>\nb) the professor personally knows your friend and helped him</p>\n\n<p>By lowering your friends grade you won't improve your grade. If for example you go and get his grade lowered this guy will hate you and you will honest seem like a pretty jealous person.</p>\n\n<p><strong>To sum up</strong>: Let your friend do what he wants to do, it's not your grade and you should <strong>not</strong> try to convenience him <em>you are not worthy of that grade.</em> Even professor mistakes are part of life, be realistic and don't seek fairness.</p>\n\n<p>You should try to improve yourself and not lower you friends grades.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26091,
"author": "Franck Dernoncourt",
"author_id": 452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would consider your situation from two perspectives:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>From an ethical/moral standpoint: grades are by nature unfair, and mistakes in grading are common. Welcome to real life and live with it. Do you think Student X who got an A just because he was going to every TA office hour deserves it better? Do you think Student Y who got an A just because he used homework solutions from last year to optimize his homework grades deserves it better? <a href=\"https://www.quora.com/The-College-and-University-Experience/What-percentage-of-college-students-cheat/answer/Franck-Dernoncourt?share=1\" rel=\"nofollow\">What percentage of college students do you think cheat?</a>.</li>\n<li>From a personal gain maximization standpoint, you need to consider two points: 1) Will denouncing your colleague improve your GPA, change your rank or bring your some award? 2) Will denouncing your colleague negatively impact your network and/or perturb your learning experience?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In school, there are several goals:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>focus on GPA/ranking/award/etc.</li>\n<li>focus on learning.</li>\n<li>focus on networking.</li>\n<li>focus on partying.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Take action according to what your focus(es) is/are.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26096,
"author": "jesusrey",
"author_id": 19734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19734",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your friend trusted you with the truth.\nI think it is only fair that you trust your friend and tell him beforehand what you plan to do.\nIt is better that he comes out with it than you, and you don't lose a friend.\nIf he doesn't want to be honest and \"fair\" at least ask him not to involve you if he gets in trouble for it.</p>\n\n<p>This means that he will not trust you anymore but most likely he will still be friends with you.\nFriendship has more value to me than some moral that no one really cares about (except you because you know the truth).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26098,
"author": "A.G.",
"author_id": 10318,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10318",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most of the time life is <em>not</em> fair, and it look like your friend just got a break. Good for him. Now, I suggest you ask yourself the question: is this likely to have a real negative impact on you? If so, then you may want to talk to your friend about the situation, hoping he will ask for the correction himself (if he refuses, you have a more solid ground for reporting it yourself). But if your friend's lucky mark is unlikely to affect you in a negative way, I'd say good for him, maybe next time it will be your turn. Be happy for your friend, live and let live. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26119,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You say he got a grade that is too high because you saw a \"mass\" email with the grade and then the student showed, presumably, the grade on the piece of work or on his transcript. You came to the conclusion that the email with the lower mark was correct and that the transcript is incorrect. There doesn't seem to be an obvious reason, apart from personal bias, that the transcript should be assumed to be wrong instead of the email. Given you do not really know what grade he should have gotten, there is no reason to say anything, especially if you do not want to. If you want to alert the Professor that you think someone else's mark is wrong you can do that, but remember you really do not have any proof.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26134,
"author": "TonyH",
"author_id": 19763,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19763",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Besides the social and ethical issues raised by others, I might take a different, more diplomatic approach.</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I'd tell the instructors about this mistake, and how I felt about it, but not give them specifics about who received the incorrect grade. There may also be a neutral party to help navigate this, such as an <em>ombudsman</em>, if that feels more comfortable</p>\n\n<p>They may not care enough to find and fix the mistake, or if they do, you won't have directly betrayed your friend, and perhaps other mistakes will be corrected, to your credit. If you can earn the instructors appreciation, you may argue for some bonus points, or form a valuable relationship for the future.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26164,
"author": "jaia",
"author_id": 12861,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12861",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Sometimes a professor will bump up a student's grade because of things like creativity, improvement, or demonstrated hard work. So neither you nor your classmate actually know that a mistake was made.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, there's a trust issue. Your classmate trusted you with their doubts about their grade. Now, sometimes violating such trust is the right thing to do (as in the case of outright cheating), but you need to have a very good reason.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, there's the question of impact. If grading in this class was not competitive, your classmate's grade has very little effect on anybody else. The only effect it could have is in competition for internships or jobs, but in many fields, GPA is not particularly important for such things. (I don't know about engineering.) Even if the class was graded competitively (some percent A's, some percent B's, and so on), it's rather unlikely that the professor will recompute everybody's grades after changing one.</p>\n\n<p><em>Edit:</em> Also, what will the instructor think of you? I guarantee they will not think, \"Wow, this person is really honest and conscientious\". More likely, they'll think you're grade-obsessed and willing to hurt somebody else to get ahead, even if that's not your motivation. At best, they'll shake their head and go, \"Kids and grades these days...\". If you have this instructor again, or if they tell their colleagues, this could come back to bite you.</p>\n\n<p>Putting these considerations together, it seems to me that you should not report the suspected error. (If your classmate is feeling courageous, they may want to ask.) Focus on your own grades (and, more importantly, learning), not other people's.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26173,
"author": "user19784",
"author_id": 19784,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19784",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't know that this is a popular opinion but if I was in this position I would feel cheated. Would I try to change that? NO!</p>\n\n<p>How is your life going to change if you report this? Will you see any benefit? I don't think that you will. Will your colleague see any benefit? I don't think so.</p>\n\n<p>To recap: if you do something your life won't improve, the life of your colleague will most likely be worse than it was prior to your action. Essentially any action can only cause harm. Nobody will benefit from you speaking up.</p>\n\n<p>TL;DR nothing good can come from you speaking up, at best nothing will happen, most likely something negative will happen to your colleague.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26076",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19725/"
] |
26,079 |
<p>I am an adjunct instructor at a technical college in the US. I was tasked with creating a new class which I would teach in the spring. I have finished all of my course materials (.pdfs, lab sheets, power points, etc etc). When I was first hired and told to create the new course, I was informed by some of my colleagues (former adjuncts at the same institution) that I would be paid for my course content. However, in speaking with my directory I was informed that I would not be paid for my course content as it is part of running the class.</p>
<p>Now whether or not that is right or wrong, I'm not too horribly concerned. However alot of my own personal time goes into creating these materials and I would like to protect my time investment.</p>
<p><strong>Would it be wise or prudent to try and protect my course materials through some sort of copyrighting process of some sort, or something to that effect?</strong></p>
<p>If so, <strong>what is a sufficient way of documenting my materials and ensuring that any party who obtains them sees them as "copyrighted" or possessing whatever protection that is applied to them?</strong></p>
<p>My interest is in ensuring that my course materials are not gobbled up by someone else in the program, then taught by someone else without having been properly reimbursed for my development work in my personal time. Everyone else I have spoken to has said it sounds "not very kosher" that I am not being reimbursed for developing the course work.</p>
<p>I would simply like to protect my personal investment into these materials.</p>
<p>Thoughts? Insights? Experiences? Thank you!</p>
<p>I went through my contract, and there are two subdivisions that outline IP and copyright goodies, etc etc. The first paragraphs in essence state "The faculty member is entitled to the results of their research, IP, etc, EXCEPT when we pay for the research to be done, OR give you a break in your work load but still pay you to do the research, OR" - now this is the line I'm not sure about, "C. Under an assigned duty and/or work-for-hire arrangement with an external sponsor.
" I was very informally asked "Hey, would you be willing to put together and teach a class on subject X?" Me - "Sure.". (That's fairly literally, the extent of the request and my response). <strong>Would that fall under either of the definitions of C?</strong></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26089,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Simply write \"Copyright: Your Name. Do not copy.\" Putting your name on it leaves them a way <em>in</em> in case they want to contact you for possible re-use or collaboration. The \"do not copy\" (or similar desired \"term of use\") puts your explicit intentions on the document, in this case reserving all rights to yourself. I personally put the latter part in a different font so that it stands out as a \"meta-item\" of the document.</p>\n\n<p>Otherwise, if you think the \"cat's out of the bag\" on your material already, the best way to protect it is to publish it to the web, where the Internet can form a historical record for your creation and the community can now help you with fair credit assignment.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26090,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>To be clear, I am developing the materials while not teaching any courses or being paid by the school in any manner. It is currently the summer semester and I am not being paid to teach, develop course work or anything. I will have to try and find my contract.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The shows a misunderstanding about the nature of a teaching job. When you're paid to teach a course, you're not being paid to do work only while the course runs. You're also being paid to prepare the course, and you're going to need to do that before the first meeting.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I have finished all of my course materials (.pdfs, lab sheets, power points, etc etc). When I was first hired and told to create the new course, I was informed by some of my colleagues (former adjuncts at the same institution) that I would be paid for my course content. However, in speaking with my directory I was informed that I would not be paid for my course content as it is part of running the class.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Your colleagues were probably confused. Nobody pays instructors extra money to produce powerpoints and handouts. It goes with the job.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't want others in your department to use your lab handouts without paying, don't give them your lab handouts. If you don't want others in your department to use your powerpoints without paying, don't give them your powerpoints. </p>\n\n<p>As Bill Barth and JeffE have pointed out, copyright protection is automatic in most jurisdictions. It can be wise to put a copyright notice on your work, since a possible defense against a copyright-violation lawsuit is that the defendant didn't know it was copyrighted. A formal copyright registration is necessary in the US if you want to be able to recover more than actual damages, i.e., if you want punitive damages.</p>\n\n<p>In general, the question shows an unrealistic set of assumptions about what teachers do; what they're paid to do; and what the normal contractual arrangements are. Furthermore, many people who write have an unrealistic belief in the quality and market value of their writing. There is no particular reason to expect that anyone else in the department will like these materials so much that they would want to use them. Most people prefer to do things their own way.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26170,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Regarding your question</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What is a sufficient way of documenting my materials and ensuring that any party who obtains them sees them as \"copyrighted\" or possessing whatever protection that is applied to them?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In the United States (I have zero knowledge of copyright law in other places) the following applies <strong>if</strong> you actually hold the rights to your materials:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You can only get copyright protection for materials that you have fixed in a \"tangible medium.\" For example, you can copyright your presentation slides or a video recording of your lecture; you cannot copyright your unwritten, unrecorded lectures.</li>\n<li>You can only copyright something you \"created\"; if you compile existing public domain material in a way that requires no creativity, it is not eligible for copyright protection.</li>\n<li>You can explicitly notify others that you <em>reserve all rights</em> (the <a href=\"http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright#Exclusive_rights\" rel=\"nofollow\">rights of the copyright holder</a>) to the materials with a written statement to that effect. For example, you can put \"Copyright 2014 0xhughes, all rights reserved\" on the footer of each page. (Note that you don't <em>have</em> to do this to get copyright interest in the materials, but it's a standard way of warning off potential infringers.)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.help.d2l.arizona.edu/content/copyright-advice-lecture-notes\" rel=\"nofollow\">Here</a> is a reference for this answer.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding the first part of your question</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Would it be wise or prudent to try and protect my course materials through some sort of copyrighting process of some sort, or something to that effect?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>this has already been addressed by another answer.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding your specific contract, you will have to seek further clarification from the university as to who holds the rights to the materials.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32492,
"author": "AK47",
"author_id": 24947,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24947",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are being paid to teach a course, which means you're getting paid to create things like power point presentations, OR simply write on the black board... Since you're choosing to create a more concrete item, this is your choice, and that is still the property of your faculty. Whatever you create is being governed & paid by the faculty.</p>\n\n<p>What investment are you talking about?? Please don't be delusional. You're not writing a research paper which is being published under your name. You're relaying information to your students. This information is out there because you were paid to create it. There is no investment here.</p>\n\n<p>You're trying to get paid say $50,000 to create things for your course, teach it, and then get paid again for the same material!</p>\n\n<p>That makes absolutely no sense! Find another field of work if you want to get royalties.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32504,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am late arriving, but let me see whether I can understand... a) you are pretty sure you aren't going to get rich off your work, but b) it would chap your buns if the college took your material, handed it over to a TA and had the TA teach subsequent sessions of the course. Is that right?</p>\n\n<p>If that's right then the question (in the United States) boils down to whether what you've produced is a \"work made for hire.\" If it is, it belongs to the institution; if not, it belongs to you.</p>\n\n<p>Getting a standard contract modified, particularly if this is a state institution, may be nearly impossible. I think I'd write a letter to whoever signs the contract saying something like, \"My understanding of our contract of _____ is that all rights to the course material which I may develop to deliver this course vest in me, and that the University of _____ claims no right to any intellectual property developed in the preparation or conduct of this course. Please confirm that my understanding is correct.\" Then get a letter signed by whoever signed the contract that essentially repeats your question as a statement. It will probably be easier to get this going with a personal meeting than with an exchange of mail.</p>\n\n<p>Then put copyright notices on everything. You might also want to record your lectures: <a href=\"http://bbrown.spsu.edu/papers/podcasting/podcasting_protects_ip.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://bbrown.spsu.edu/papers/podcasting/podcasting_protects_ip.html</a></p>\n\n<p>(I am not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice. If you think the materials <em>are</em> worth tens of thousands of dollars, you need an IP lawyer.)</p>\n\n<p><em>Edited to add:</em> Take note of MarkJ's answer here and consider putting all your stuff on a personal web page with copyright notices attached. I've used the <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Creative Commons</a> licenses for my own stuff. Publishing it that way won't keep others from using it, but will preserve your claim to authorship.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 150179,
"author": "Marco Campos",
"author_id": 125046,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/125046",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think we are missing the main point here: are talking about intellectual property.</p>\n\n<p>I do not agree with the idea that pedagogical design is different from research based on the fact that the former was created to serve an audience (e.g.; students). Under the same premise, the copyrights of a composer's opera commissioned by an Opera House would belong to the opera house. Under the same premise, the copyrights of all commercially published handbooks should belong to the universities if the author happens to work, even part-time, to a university. </p>\n\n<p>There is no question that customizing materials for a class, preparing a lesson, or doing specific handouts, powerpoints comes with the job of being an instructor. However, if a teacher prepares a whole course in his/her free time (e.g. summers) that is not bound to the school where s/he works, and furthermore, with the intent to publish it. Then, I think these materials belong to the teacher. </p>\n\n<p>I find problematic all this idea that it is OK to defend intellectual property only when it is research. I think it is a reflection on the view of teaching as a second class citizen in some academic circles. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26079",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19727/"
] |
26,081 |
<p><strong>Revised.</strong> I was thinking about the way I write research papers, it involves a lot of revising to even get a "first draft," and subsequently I do a lot of revising also. Presumably this is fairly common nowadays, as computers have made revising papers easy.</p>
<p>However, in days of yore, before TeX/word processing, these revisions were not so easy, so I wonder:</p>
<p><strong>Has TeX/word processing qualitatively changed the way we write papers? Specifically: (i) did people do significantly less revising (or make fewer passes) before computers? (ii) did people have different approaches to writing first drafts?</strong></p>
<p>My understanding is that, in the past, faculty typically had assistants/secretaries to type up hand-written notes, and sometimes special symbols/figures would be drawn in by hand (by faculty? or assistant?). Then I presume the faculty would go through and edit by hand, and necessary parts would be retyped. Possibly there would be another pass of this, but I can't imagine that many more revised typings were made. Did this mean less revising was done?</p>
<p>If so, did this force people to plan out their first drafts at the handwritten stages differently than now? At least for me, I usually have a basic outline in mind and then just start writing and go back to revise earlier parts while writing later parts (apart from the intro, which is sometimes written last). However, I guess this style is not so practical when writing by hand?</p>
<p>(Originally, my question was if word processing has changed the quality of papers, but that was deemed too opinion-based. Hopefully, this is something people can answer semi-objectively from their first or second hand experience.)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26085,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Remark:</strong> <em>The following answer was for the original version of the question (deemed too subjective) regarding the impact of word processing on quality of papers.</em></p>\n\n<p>This question is really impossible to answer since it is impossible to compare new and old articles due to a lack of a fixed standard over time. Now in this case I think of now and then being a span of, say fifty years. The shorter the time span the more difficult any differences will be to identify. </p>\n\n<p>First, the way articles are formulated has changed and the standards are in constant but slow change. Articles started out as letters (late 18th/early 19th century; usually directed to a person in a learned society) being publicly read to the society. These were very personal. Later, the more formalized writing started taking shape (late 19th/early 20th century). Second, the pressure to publish differs, which means articles are pushed through as quick as possible. We have gone from a situation where a paper every now and then has been replaced by <em>n publications</em>/yr rates to be acceptable (varies between disciplines). This can reduce the amount of time to be spent on each paper, on the other hand one can argue that one becomes more experienced. Third, the research community is growing larger and larger and although this is not directly affecting quality it means competition for resources and a necessity to write more and quicker. This will also feed back into the second point. As I see it it is not clear that we are going in any particular direction and part of the reason is that our reference as to what is good is also shifting.</p>\n\n<p>So even if one considers the introduction of computers, it is difficult to assess changes because the reference with which to compare does not exist. In the same way it will be difficult to compare scientific research of the 18th or 19th century with research done today and state that modern research is somehow better by comparison. For a very good discussion on this topic I suggest reading Thomas Kuhn's <em>The Structure of Scientifc Revolutions</em>, The University of Chicago Press.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 47574,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Making an answer out of some amplified comments, which I deleted...:</p>\n\n<p>Prior to slightly-modern typewriters such as IBM's \"Selectric\" and some proto-computerized typewriters, mostly too expensive for individuals to buy, staff typists did not \"add value\" much (except for faculty who could not type), because they could not literally type special characters, which then had to be drawn in by hand by the author, by reference to the original hand-written thing. The typist would leave approximately the right amount of space to draw the characters. As you can imagine, making a boo-boo drawing characters onto an already-typed page was both all-too-easy and very annoying. In principle, one could make photocopies, but (let's say early 1970s) photocopies were much more expensive than now, and were typically much, much worse quality than a directly-typed page. (One could also type onto \"mimeo masters\", and draw characters on them, but this was incredibly messy, smelly, crazy. Mimeos were the closest thing to \"private publication\", but one could only make 30 or so copies before the \"master\" wore out...) The \"white-out\" of the time was not very good, either: it would often fall off the page.</p>\n\n<p>For submission for publication, the hand-drawn Greek letters were typically to be underlined or circled in red, Fraktur with green, stuff like that. </p>\n\n<p>Yes, the revise-and-retype cycle was burdensome. In effect, errors could easily be introduced by typists, and new/different errors the next time, after the author proof-read. </p>\n\n<p>Since there was usually only a handful of typists per department, even the people with some seniority would have to wait a week or two or three for re-typing, adding another delay. But most people were reconciled to these delays, especially since learning to (genuinely!) \"type\" was not so typical in those days! That is, in high school in the U.S., people studying \"business/secretarial\" stuff, <em>not</em> planning to go to college, would learn touch-typing and shorthand. People \"going to college\" often did not learn to type at all, and possibly did not possess typewriters at all. For such people, there was no real choice but to give hand-written manuscripts to typists, even if the whole process was slow and crazy-making.</p>\n\n<p>With the advent of the Selectric and such, and especially proto-word-processors that could treat non-Roman characters and do corrections and <em>remember</em> things, typists did add value, even for those who could type, because they'd have those machines, which were too expensive for typical individuals to afford. Serge Lang was an exception: prior to 1977 he had his own Selectric, and was an excellent typist (unsurprisingly). The hitch in using those things was \"changing the balls\", because not all characters could be available at one time. So this slowed things down quite a lot. The usual trick was to leave spaces for exotic characters, and go back and fill in by ball-swapping... which lent itself to the same annoying boo-boos as with hand-drawing characters into blank spots on a page. And not <em>all</em> characters were available... And any diagrams would still have to be drawn by hand.</p>\n\n<p>With the advent of widely-available desktop computing either provided by math depts, or, eventually, cheap enough for individuals, again staff typists no longer added much value except for those who couldn't really typ, and the possibility of revising-without-completely-retyping changed everything. I note that pre-word-processing, seniority determined access to and priority with the limited staff typists, and wait-times for typing or retyping could be weeks. And as recently as 2005 I observed a senior colleague giving dictation to one of the few staff who could take shorthand, to type up a letter, and the person giving the dictation would make the now-almost-forgotten editorial marks on the typed copy, send it back for retyping. There was/is \"status\" in giving dictation or having typing done by others? </p>\n\n<p>Formatting was not really possible either, except at publishers' houses. Sure, one could hand-draw, but they'd re-typeset everything, so any visual effects an author came up with were a waste of time. Perhaps the ugliness of mathematics manuscripts in those days (as in early SLN's) reinforced the quasi-Platonic mythology about the mathematics itself, since it sure didn't look so beautiful when clumsily drawn in by hand on the page! </p>\n\n<p>The several years of the availability of desktop computers but without anything resembling TeX (mid 1980s) allowed much time to be wasted typing things up in file formats that were obsolete by the next year, etc. That was irritating. The desktop computers of the time had tiny memory, were literally slow, were unstable, and the daisy-wheel printers took a couple minutes to print a single page. And jammed. And...</p>\n\n<p>Some faculty seemed not to mind demanding endless revisions from typing staff, but to me this was awkward, and just doing it myself was easier, since I <em>had</em> learned how to type. A significant number of the grad students at Princeton did type their own theses in the 1970s, but many did not. But the quality expected was really very low, so that <em>lack</em> of what nowadays would be minimum-allowed-quality was ignored.</p>\n\n<p>All that effort expended to create even a crude document <em>did</em> distract from the content, yes. Cutting-and-pasting and moving things around and search-and-replace were really infeasible, not at all worth the trouble unless there'd be a major disaster otherwise. Just getting a reasonably correct thing onto the page was already a considerable accomplishment. Whatever had been more-or-less correctly typed so far was \"frozen\".</p>\n\n<p>Thinking about it, it seems to me that there was much less self-critiquing done in those times, because it was so difficult to create an easily-readable document, typed or handwritten. That is, it was simply harder to subject one's own writing to careful scrutiny, because the typical copy would be (perhaps semi-legibly) handwritten, many cross-outs, pieces of paper taped on, white-out, ... In particular, the \"notes\" were much less an incarnation of mathematical ideas, I think, since they were inevitably a crappy version thereof. In contrast, nowadays it is possible to have \"notes\" that other human beings could read, etc. :)</p>\n\n<p>Even before today's set-up, some people (including me) did try to skip the hand-writing step to the extent possible, exactly because hastily handwritten text was almost automatically not-really-readable by anyone else, and because typing prose could be much faster than hand-writing it, even with old typewriters.</p>\n\n<p>A large difference seems to me to be in computations. \"Long ago\", of course all computations were first handwritten, and errors and revisions were a horrible mess. In contrast, nowadays one can typeset the first attempt to make it <em>legible</em> if not correct, and <em>iteratively</em> correct it, rather than repeatedly starting over, etc. This possibility, of iterative computation via typesetting, was absent in the dim past.</p>\n\n<p>Also, getting other peoples' opinions was of course crazily slower: time-lag for typing-up, and then actual physical mail, further impeded by \"campus mail\" at both ends... in contrast to emailing a PDF. In fact, international mail (\"air mail\") often failed entirely... :)</p>\n\n<p>So... \"yes\". :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 89738,
"author": "GEdgar",
"author_id": 4484,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4484",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I saw somewhere some information on a mathematical paper by C. L. Dodgson (i.e. Lewis Carroll). He would hand write it, send it to a printer to have it typeset, then make hand-written corrections, send it back to the printer, and so on, several iterations.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26081",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607/"
] |
26,083 |
<p>I am currently preparing for my graduate school application. There is one professor whose research interest in general matches mine. He has listed several potential research projects for prospective postgraduate students and I am particularly very interested in one of them, say Project A. Since Project A's scale is very broad, I planned to read some of his related publications to get familiar with the topic before I contact him via email.</p>
<p>The problem is I can't find any article written by him about Project A on his website or through Google. He did list some selected publications but they all seem to relate to other projects, which are different from Project A. In my view, those projects are more theoretical and related with asymptotic analysis while Project A is related with probability and stochastic modeling. I have not opened all articles to confirm my statement.</p>
<p>Do I overlook anything? Is it possible that a professor lists a project that he has published any related works in the past 3 years? Do it mean the professor don't want to intake students with Project A recently?</p>
<p>I don't want to send a email to the professor and ask for references because I think it's not polite. Currently I am searching the title of Project A and reading related publications by other professors. I have also browsed one of his papers , which is related to another project. What shall I do next? Is it proper to send an email to his current student and ask for reference?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26086,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is <em>completely</em> reasonable and polite to send an email to the professor, saying that you are planning to apply to his department, you were interested by the discussion of Project A on his web page, and asking if he can tell you more about it and/or suggest further reading.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26087,
"author": "Nahkki",
"author_id": 18092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18092",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>With the current amount of information in your question it's going to be hard to state anything with certainty. But I think your issue may come in a difference between your understanding of the statement 'potential research projects for prospective postgraduate students' and the professor's intention behind that statement.</p>\n\n<p>This is given with the caveat that I can only speak for my experiences and the experiences of those I know in similar fields. Nothing said here should be construed as fact or as the only option.</p>\n\n<p>Many professors have a lot of research interests. Typically when you read something like 'potential research projects for prospective postgraduate students' that means that this is a research field the professor is interested in pursuing. Obvious right? What's not obvious is that this does not mean that the professor/lab/researcher has begun research in this area. </p>\n\n<p>To take a directly related personal anecdote (with some details changed to protect the wicked)...</p>\n\n<p>One of the professors in a lab I know has done a lot of research in the field of markov random fields and motion planning. This includes medical research using markov random fields, computer vision work using random forests, motion planning comparisons... etc. Hopefully you get the point; this professor has tons of work in the field of Artificial Intelligence with a pretty heavy bent towards robotics. </p>\n\n<p>This professor also has a grant to explore human robotic interaction specifically with regards to direct or hybrid human control over robots. This is not directly related to any of the professor's previous work(though other work may have brushed up against this area). Additionally none of the professor's current students are interested in this area of research(already being involved in their own projects in other research areas.) The professor is now looking for students to do research in this area. </p>\n\n<p>In this way you can have a professor/PI/researcher/lab that is looking for a researcher for a project that that particular individual or group has not yet published in. </p>\n\n<p>So to be a bit more specific about your question. Is this particular research area a deal breaker for you? What I mean is - all other things being awesome, if you cannot do this research in this lab would you turn down a spot in the program? The reason this is important is that it could change how you interact with this professor. </p>\n\n<p>I think the thing you should be most aware of coming into this situation is that sometimes research doesn't work out. This is especially true when a lab is entering completely new territory(an area of research it has never been involved with before). If this particular area of research is a dealbreaker for you(it is the only research in that particular lab that you are willing to work on) then you should be cautious jumping in. If somethings comes up and that research is, for whatever reason, not continued you need to ensure that you have other options or you will find it very difficult to finish your postgraduate degree. </p>\n\n<p>Finally, it is not rude or inappropriate to contact a professor asking for more information about one of their projects or interests. What is rude is not doing your homework before hand. It's the difference between \"I think cats are neat, tell me all about cats\" and \"I've done reading into cat psychology and I think your project on why cats put their butts in your face is very interesting. I've read but I was hoping to get more information from you about it.\" Professors(most professionals and experts) are busy people and no one wants to feel like you haven't done your homework. If you approach such communication with professionalism and courtesy then asking questions is almost never a problem.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26083",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18259/"
] |
26,099 |
<p>I did my PhD 4 years ago. I was not comfortable with my guide but I concentrated on my work, and I successfully completed the PhD. But I published a little work with his name as correspondence author. But now I am in good position in another country, so I need to publish my PhD work without his name as co-author. If I publish a paper of my PhD work without my supervisor's name, what will be happen? Are there any legal problems that will be raised? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26100,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you have discussed the paper with your supervisor in the past years; then your publication should meet his rights on the paper as he has previously contributed to your paper. Furthermore, if your research paper is done under financial support of your PhD university; then you have to acknowledge their rights too.</p>\n\n<p>I think that the contribution of a co-author to a paper is important in acknowledging their right in project or paper, their supervision to your PhD thesis does not bring any right to your further (after graduation) academic publications.</p>\n\n<p>As an instance, a paper is written based on a supervisor's contribution to it and it is part of a chapter of your PhD thesis; so it is obvious that you have to contact him about your paper. But if after graduation in the recent years you have found a good idea and worked on it without help of nobody else so there is no need to talk about your paper with others.</p>\n\n<p>As a general rule, if you have never discussed your research project or paper with your supervisor, he has never contributed to your paper, you never used his resources, your PhD university does not hold any right to your paper idea and you meet the rights of financial supporter of your paper; then you may publish your paper solely. Otherwise, you have to meet their rights in your publication. Also, please note that one may build his academic relationship based on this rule to the other colleagues or students too. If and only if they have contributed to your paper, they can be a co-author of that paper.</p>\n\n<p>I understand that you are a better researcher after a few years but I think that talking to a senior researcher and professor and asking him to read your paper will allow you to find your mistakes and publish better papers. Also, working with other researchers will add to your reputations and build connections with them. They may also contribute their papers with you and may ask you to read their papers in future.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>This question has good answers to this question:\n<a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24297/advisors-universitys-rights-in-the-phd-msc-alumnis-research-projects-and-publ\">Advisor's/University's rights in the PhD/MSc alumni's research projects and publications</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26101,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h3>You have left at least two important things unanswered:</h3>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Has your supervisor contributed to your work? (How contribution is measured depends on the field you are working in, it could be through \"real\" intellectual contribution, feedback, funding, ...)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>But now I am in good position in another country so I need to publish\n my PhD work without his name as co author.</p>\n</blockquote></li>\n<li><p>Why do you need to publish without his name as a co-author?</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If I publish a paper of my PhD work without my supervisor name, what\n will be happen? Is there any legal problems will raised?</p>\n</blockquote></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If he has contributed to your work, there may be several legal problems such as fraud or copyright infringement.</p>\n\n<p>If you are sure that he has not contributed in any way to your thesis (which is unlikely) then you are fine to publish on your own. Otherwise you should talk to him and ask him if he thinks he has made a significant contribution and wants to be your co-author.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 48748,
"author": "user37161",
"author_id": 37161,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/37161",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your new paper is based on your previous work, so if he has helped you in this new paper then give him credit. But it seems that this new paper is strictly your work, and no credit would be due. BUT you will be referring to a previous work which he supervised. Your PhD is your original research under his supervision. Unless he physically wrote words in your paper, either your new work or your PhD, I wouldnt think its necessary to credit them.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26099",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19740/"
] |
26,102 |
<p>I'm just starting out in research and about to finish my BSc. If I stay in research I'm wondering about the economics of it: where does the money come from? I am passionate about a specific field and I want to be able to do research in that area - but I imagine to support that research I'd have to find a lab that has been specifically funded and has projects related to that field, right? And how does the funding for these labs work? Is it mostly project based with 1-2 year length after which the lab has the pressure to submit another proposal to find another project, or does it have less pressure because the lab is also funded by the university?</p>
<p>In essence I'm just wondering about the money flow that is keeping a research lab alive: if I want to do research in X, I'd have to find a lab that has the money to support X right?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26110,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Most labs get funding from granting agencies, governments, industry agreements, or private foundations. Some universities also provide funding in other forms.</p>\n\n<p>Now, what they can do with the money depends on the conditions of the grant. Some, are attached to a specific project. They may also include a breakdown of the expenses: this much to hire two PhD students, this block to hire a posdoc, publications, experiments, computers... Some other grants are more open, and may give the PI more freedom to allocate the resources, or to work on sub-projects.</p>\n\n<p>Some areas of research have economical interest, and may lead to patents and industrial agreements, that could help the lab to be less dependent on grants.</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, some students may get their own funding, that may be attached or not to a specific project.</p>\n\n<p>Universities do support labs, mostly by paying salaries of the staff and infrastructures.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding the times, most labs apply to any grant in reach: you can never know if the grant you are hoping for will be renewed; and there is never too much money.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26129,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The ideal book for you would be <em><a href=\"http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674049710\" rel=\"noreferrer\">How Economics Shapes Science</a></em>. It answers your questions and many more. It provides a broad and deep analysis of a wide variety of empirical data about research funding. It will help you make smart career choices. Sadly, I don't think most graduate students in sciences and bio-medical fields understand the economics of research and academic careers before they enter their field.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26102",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12847/"
] |
26,103 |
<p>I have written an informal article 9 pages long, that covers some general, lightly technical material. I wrote it because this material is not covered elsewhere, and I am knowledgeable in the field. The material is light in the sense that it is not highly innovative, or even highly useful, but it is "good to know". The subject matter is information security, with respect to radio systems.</p>
<p>I have posted the article on my personal webpage. Should I bother to submit it somewhere for 'proper' publication? It is not technical or innovative enough for IEEE or ACM journals (or even letters). Or should I just keep it on my page for people with search engine inquiries related to the subject matter to possibly stumble across?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26174,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I wouldn't bother with further publication. You've pretty much nailed the issue: search engines work quite well to \"winnow the chaff\" (to quote Rivest) when the right questioner comes along, and good security through the Petabytes of obscurity when they don't.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26192,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Submit it to a conference that publishes a proceeding. Check the ACM SIGs. There are at least a couple that might work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26194,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If you don't know where to publish something, but nonetheless it is of an appropriate standard and you consider it worth sharing, why not posting it to <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">arXiv</a>? You won't get prestige just for submitting, but:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>people can find it,</li>\n<li>you can easily point to it,</li>\n<li>it is timestamped.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 124323,
"author": "babou",
"author_id": 13487,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13487",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You may try <a href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.researchgate.net/</a></p>\n\n<p>But I am not sure what their policies are.</p>\n\n<p>Since I wrote this information, two people downvoted the answer, not\nsaying why.</p>\n\n<p>But this answer is factually correct. You can make scientific papers\navailable through Researchgate, and probably some that are not too\nscientific. I have done so, though I would not choose Researchgate as\nmy primary publication medium (all of my papers there were first published on\nsome other venue).</p>\n\n<p>Some people do get my papers through Researchgate, so it does fulfill\nthe dissemination purpose to some extent. I am also told by\nresearchgate about citations of my papers, so that I can see what\npeople make of them, and I can get some of the citing papers through\nResearchgate. I do not really use Researchgate professionally: I am\nretired. But then, the question was also for informal availability on\nthe web.</p>\n\n<p>I know that some people do not like Researchgate for various reasons,\nand possibly for opposite reasons. Mainly, they seem to lack\nresources and many of their weaknesses do not get corrected. But they\ndo not ask for money as does <a href=\"https://academia.edu\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Academia.edu</a>. So I use them for what they\nhave to give, and try to be tolerant with their failings.</p>\n\n<p>One of the major problems is, as remarked in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/47481\">other places</a>, that they\ndo not manage well authors that have the same name. I am particularly\naware of that because my name is somewhat common. But then\nResearchgate is not a reference medium.</p>\n\n<p>So my advice is to be very precise on the paper itself about your name,\naffiliation, and any other public information that will identify you\nas a single person (using your social security number might work, but\nis not advised). If the paper appeared somewhere else, try to also\ngive that information. And remember to be careful with copyright, and\nto preferably know what you are doing in this respect (even when you\nchoose to disagree with some publisher).</p>\n\n<p>Last remark for downvoters. My information is factually correct. So\nyou are really criticizing the operation of Researchgate, even though\nall the user want is to make his papers accessible. It would be better and more useful\nto explicitly state, however tersely in a comment, what your\nobjections are.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 124330,
"author": "guest",
"author_id": 103915,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/103915",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some options: trade journal (not an academic journal), LinkedIn article, blog post. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 125025,
"author": "Tommi",
"author_id": 13017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13017",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>An answer in a comment by alarge, who is from life sciences background:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Might you consider some protocol or method journals (e.g. SpringerProtocols, Methods, EPJ Plus)? Quite often the content of these types of publications are useful to some people, especially those new to the field, but do not really present any new results (and the methods have been described somewhere else, but usually just not in full detail). Alternatively, some pedagogical journals (in the style of Am. J. Phys.). I do not know about the submission process of the journals I mentioned. Finally, the omnijournal PLoS One in principle should accept everything that is technically correct.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Adipro in the comments suggested <a href=\"https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos</a></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26103",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17694/"
] |
26,104 |
<p>I am a undergraduate student who also work as the systems administrator in the school. I also do research work under a professor. Recently, I had to work on this professor's lab to upgrade the older machines to newer machines. I literally got no help from any of the fellow lab mates. Though, I did it as part of my systems administrator work, the professor had instructed his Ph.D students to help me. However, I do not complain of this.</p>
<p>I have a very nagging girl who always wants to get her things done and couldn't even figure out some basic stuff from the Internet. She simply blames the installation and this pretty much annoys me. She is not thankful for what I am doing, and so I do not even feel like helping this girl. I want to report it to my professor in such a way that I do not offend him in any way. I never bothered him much so far. But I want to escalate this issue. How should I go about it?</p>
<p><strong>P.S</strong>: I am not sure if this question belongs here or on <em><a href="https://workplace.stackexchange.com/tour">The Workplace</a></em>.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26112,
"author": "mmh",
"author_id": 10421,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10421",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would take smaller steps first. </p>\n\n<p>1) If you are doing something that is not part of your job, stop (selectively) doing it. Politely reply that X is not on your responsibility.</p>\n\n<p>Following these two advice alone could change her behaviour. If the problem persists</p>\n\n<p>2) Talk with her first. Say that you are using much of your time to help her, and tell her that you expect a more professional relationship.</p>\n\n<p>If there is still problems, then talk to the professor.</p>\n\n<p>I would also require the lab members to help you if instructed to do so. If you don't, they will see you as someone they can use.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26113,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are a couple of trajectories, depending on how you want to define yourself. </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You can get the student to understand that her problems are due to her ignorance of computers. But try to direct her to resources where she can remedy that rather than blame her.</li>\n<li>Talk to your supervisor and ask how they suggest you proceed with it. This tactic puts the responsibility for failure (or success, <-note) on their shoulders and keeps you from receiving damage.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Hope that helps.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26127,
"author": "bain",
"author_id": 15711,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15711",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer really comes down to whether or not your position as \"Systems Administrator\" is paid or not. If it is a paid position, then welcome to the professional world, where users will often complain about the resources and facilities that are provided for them. Dealing with their complaints in a professional manner is part of the job that you are being paid for, and it is not appropriate to complain to your manager about that aspect of the job, unless a user is being abusive. You should make it clear to the user concerned that you have installed the software that you were told to install, as you were told to do, and that if the software is inappropriate or does not suit her requirements then she needs to talk to her supervisor, as he/she is the one responsible for ensuring she has the equipment she needs for her research. Do not get angry, be polite and professional; <em>\"I would like to help you, but as system administrator I just install the software I am told to install. I have no powers to choose or change what you have been given, so if you need something different you will have to talk to the boss.\"</em></p>\n\n<p>If a particular user takes up far more time than than the rest, then you need to ask your manager how to proceed - your employment contract will state how many hours you are to work, and if your manager wants you to cater to the whims of one particular user during those hours, then that is their decision. You should also realise that, since you are the paid \"System Administrator\", it is not the job of the PhD students to help you carry out this task. They aren't system administrators, they aren't being paid to do the job - you are. </p>\n\n<p>If, on the other hand, your position as \"System administrator\" is voluntary and unpaid, and the PhD students are part of a \"sysadmin\" team, then you need to ask them to take a more active role than they are, and to consider whether hours spent on tasks are being allocated in the most efficient fashion.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26135,
"author": "HAL 10000",
"author_id": 19765,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19765",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Be careful about escalation. Remember that Fort Sumter started the civil war even though there was no loss of life on either side during the battle. The graduate students outrank you. They also outnumber you and will fiercely counterattack. Leave them alone as you have to date. If you need help then make friends with one of them. </p>\n\n<p>Apparently you do not work for the girl. That puts you on more equal footing with her, which means that you can speak frankly with her. Tell her how much time you have to work with her, what you can do for her, and what you cannot do for her. Set up a time to meet with her and tell her that you cannot accept walk-up requests. You and she will have to develop some personal relationship of mutual respect.</p>\n\n<p>The professor may not want to hear about your problems. If he has a problem then he will tell you. Your primary responsibility is to him. You fix his problems; he does not fix your problems.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26104",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19742/"
] |
26,106 |
<p>Is being a maths "tutor" volunteer at sites like <a href="http://www.mathnerds.com/" rel="nofollow">MATHNERDS</a> useful in terms of "good impression" for future academic prospectives?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26124,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you apply for grants where \"Broader Impact\" (or something like it) is a criteria, then a demonstrable history of volunteer and outreach activities related to your academic field of study can be helpful. Same goes for awards that consider \"service\" as a criteria.</p>\n\n<p>(The reviewers of my NSF graduate research fellowship application commented favorably on my volunteer experience, which I mentioned towards \"Broader Impact\".)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26154,
"author": "user30295",
"author_id": 15478,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15478",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This will likely depend on your discipline and the type of volunteer work that you engage in. It can't hurt, as at the very least it shows your're interested enough in the field that your're engaging in it informally. As for how much it will benefit your prospects, that will depend on the type and extent of volunteer work and how it fits with your prospective discipline. Establishing a consistent history of volunteering with a particular site will demonstrate more commitment than volunteering at many different sites for briefer periods of time. Assisting with moderating or engaging with the management of the site's services (if an option) also demonstrates a higher level of engagement and responsibility, beyond a casual hobby or side interest. </p>\n\n<p>As for whether potential academic programs or jobs will look favorably on your volunteer work will depend in part on their interests and areas of emphasis. A program which emphasizes the application of mathematics in industry may not give volunteer tutoring much weight in the applications process when compared to a student who has had \"volunteer\" internships in industry. In contrast, a graduate program or professor that emphasizes the use of web technology to enhance math education would probably view your experience more favorably because it aligns with their mission. </p>\n\n<p>In my own experience in behavioral sciences I completed several lab-based internships in biology and psychology, which emphasized scientific method and theory, including proper record keeping, sterile technique, and data collection. This was viewed favorably by the more research-oriented graduate programs I applied to; other applicants had mostly volunteer experience with clinical mental health populations, which those programs did not give as much weight. However, at one of the program's where I was wait-listed, a faculty member informed me that they were concerned I had no experience (even volunteer experience) working with individuals with serious mental illness, and it counted as a strike against me. My research experience wasn't seen as negative, but it didn't carry as much weight in the eyes of that particular program. </p>\n\n<p>In sum, demonstrating a consistent track record with a volunteer organization will demonstrate commitment, interest in the field, and maturity. However, the amount of benefit you will get in terms of future academic prospects will likely depend on how well that particular volunteer experience matches with a given program's academic interests. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26106",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18167/"
] |
26,107 |
<p>I am doing masters in physics. I recently did internship in high energy physics for 2 months. But my institute allows me to do 6 months project only in condensed matter physics. I want to pursue PhD in high energy physics only. So, is it possible to pursue PhD in different area than master's thesis?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26109,
"author": "Peteris",
"author_id": 10730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>Yes, definitely</h2>\n\n<p>Of course you can! The specific subfield is mostly limited by (a) your interests; (b) availability of a suitable supervisor who knows that field, and possibly (c) availability of funding/equipment/etc for that research direction. It may be that a particular university/department doesn't accept your chosen direction (e.g. they don't have the researchers or funding for in-depth high energy physics research) and you need to look for other universities to do the PhD, but your master thesis topic is not restricting in any way.</p>\n\n<p>It can be slightly useful to do a PhD that aligns with your master thesis, as it gives you some head start and possibly some publishable research already, but it's not a race and you definitely can do it in a different direction, many people do.</p>\n\n<h2>Researchers work in multiple areas</h2>\n\n<p>To expand on this - there are few general restrictions. It may be that a particular organization (or funding source) or person at some particular time nudges you do do something specific; but in general, there are no universal restrictions and people can:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Pursue PhD in a different subfield than Master's thesis (your example)</li>\n<li>Get PhD in a different subfield and topic than what you submitted at the start of your PhD</li>\n<li>Pursue PhD in a different field than Masters (e.g. physics PhD after mathematics masters, computer science PhD after economics masters, etc)</li>\n<li>Do research in a completely different area than your PhD (e.g. linguistics PhD publishing CompSci papers)</li>\n<li>Do publishable research without being connected to a PhD process in any way.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 62256,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was offered by a couple of institutions to enter a Ph.D. program in Labor Studies or Sociology, even though my existing degrees are in Computer Science. Now, true, I have a PhD, but - this is all possible if you make a reasonable case why you should be admitted.</p>\n\n<p>(That's not to say that university bureaucracies will easily accept such a situation; but you have your PhD advisor to help with that.)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26107",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19743/"
] |
26,120 |
<p>I am an amateur (not affiliated with an academy) mathematician.</p>
<p>I have written a research monograph (see <a href="http://www.mathematics21.org/algebraic-general-topology.html" rel="nofollow">my site</a>).</p>
<p>The current status of the book is that it is well written and is reasonably checked for errors. However there are serious errors in the last chapter. I may remove the last chapter and try to publish the rest of the book without it.</p>
<p>I sent my book (not yet including the last chapter) to several publishers. They all say either that my book is too original and rough for book form and should be published as articles first, or that my research is unmotivated. (I disagree and consider my work fully motivated.)</p>
<p>And now my book is in consideration of a publisher. After I sent my book to the aforementioned (last) publisher, I realized that before writing second volume of my book I need first create second edition of the first volume (which is in consideration now). I had two ideas how to rewrite it when it was already in publisher's review.</p>
<p>I doubt what to do with the last chapter (which as I've said above is currently erroneous). The simplest thing is just to remove it now, because it anyway should be rewritten in the second edition (and the rewrite is rather massive).</p>
<p>Should I for now remove the last chapter and leave this work to the stage when I will write the second edition of the first volume?</p>
<p>Or maybe should I stop any publishing attempts until I finish writing the second edition? (I'm afraid that if I happen to die, my work may be lost unpublished.)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26123,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I disagree and consider my work fully motivated.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is a key point. The issue isn't whether there exists compelling motivation, and you may be right that there is. Rather, the issue is whether you have successfully communicated this motivation to readers who have spent far less time thinking about the topic than you have and who lack the perspective that comes from developing a subject from scratch. You'll have to work extra hard to articulate the motivation and communicate it successfully. If the readers still don't understand why are you doing something, then that itself amounts to a communication failure (regardless of whether you feel they ought to have understood). You don't need to communicate successfully with everyone, but you need to do so with a large enough audience.</p>\n\n<p>I'd strongly recommend trying harder to address this before publishing the book. You can consider the editors who have looked over your submissions as a random sample of readers. Many of them fail to understand the motivation behind your work, which suggests that many readers would find it unmotivated even if someone agreed to publish it. Ultimately, the goal should be not just to get the book published, but to get it read and understood. The feedback from publishers is helping you identify what you need to work on to attract readers.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Or maybe should I stop any publishing attempts until I finish writing the second edition?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Are you proposing to publish the first edition while you are already working on a second edition, or to submit the first edition as a draft while telling the publisher that you are working on serious revisions? The latter could make sense, while publishers are unlikely to agree to the former. (Publishing a book takes time, effort and money, and nobody wants to commit these resources to a mathematics book that will quickly be out of date.)</p>\n\n<p>But the fact that you already have large-scale changes in mind suggests that the book might not be ready to submit for publication. You don't need to have completed all possible revisions before approaching publishers, but your chances of acceptance go down if you aren't presenting approximately your best work.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should I for now remove the last chapter and leave this work to the stage when I will write the second edition of the first volume?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>What's the alternative to removing it? If you have in mind fixing the mistakes now, then I can't advise you on which approach is better (since I haven't read the book). If you mean keeping the incorrect chapter in the manuscript and not dealing with the mistakes until later, then that sounds like a bad idea.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I'm afraid that if I happen to die, my work may be lost unpublished.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I can understand that this is a depressing possibility, but I wouldn't worry about it now (assuming you are no likelier to die soon than other people your age). If it makes you feel safer, you could always ask a friend or family member to try to get your work archived somewhere if you died unexpectedly. I can't say they would necessarily succeed, but it couldn't hurt to try.</p>\n\n<p>By the way, the publishers who suggest publishing research papers first have an important point. The mathematics publishing system is set up to work that way, and it is not particularly well adapted to publishing large chunks of unfamiliar research in book form. It's certainly possible to publish research monographs, but you may be making things unnecessarily hard for yourself. Unless you have a very strong reason to prefer a book, I'd recommend trying articles instead.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26146,
"author": "Paul Berry",
"author_id": 19773,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19773",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would say you must keep trying and get it published, even if you end up paying for that because this is your hard work and should not be wasted or lost.</p>\n\n<p>the best way is to go and talk to publishers and ask them what can be added or subtracted to meet their requirements and standards.</p>\n\n<p>You can also convert the book into an e-book and upload it on paid libraries</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26150,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, you should absolutely stop trying to get the book published until it is ready. Talk to the publisher who is considering your book, explain the situation to them and ask for their advice about what to do. In my opinion, a second edition is unlikely ever to be published because, as I understand it, mathematics research monographs don't sell well enough to justify a second edition.</p>\n\n<p>Even if a second edition were to be published, what is the purpose of the first edition if it is rapidly superseded by the second? From the way you write your question, it seems that that the purpose, for you, is publication. Publication is not a goal: it is a means to an end. The goal is to make other mathematicians aware of your work and that is most likely to happen if you present the work in the best way you can.</p>\n\n<p>Listen to what publishers say. You know more about your field than they do; but they know more about their field than you do and their field is books. It <em>is</em> unusual for advances in mathematics to be published as a book, rather than in papers. That doesn't mean it's impossible to publish as a book but it does mean that you should have a good reason for rejecting the conventional method of publication.</p>\n\n<p>If the book you're talking about is the preprint \"Algebraic General Topology\" on your website, then I'm sorry but it <em>is</em> rough and unmotivated. You have a five-page introduction, of which less than two pages (the sections \"Our topic and rationale\" and \"Earlier works\") could be considered as motivation. That is followed by what is, literally, a 250-page list of definitions, lemmas, theorems and proofs. To write that much mathematics is without doubt impressive but, to get there, you must have read at least one or two maths books: this is not what a maths book looks like. If the technical content is good (I know nothing about topology) then you have a sound basis for a book but not yet a book.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, make sure your family knows about your work so that, in the unfortunate event of something happening to you, they can try to get it published so it isn't lost forever. (And take your vitamins and look both ways before crossing the street! :-) )</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26120",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1637/"
] |
26,125 |
<p>*Edit in response to comments: I'm not asking "What is the number of publications n of quality q1 such that anybody who has n many publications is guaranteed to get a job at a school like Y?" There is no such value of n. What I'm asking is, "Is there a number of publications n, of some quality q such that without n many publications of quality q, one will likely not get a job at a school like Y?" I realize the title is misleading.</p>
<p>This is in response to a conversation that developed in <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23667/unfinished-math-phd/26115?noredirect=1#comment54384_26115">this</a> thread.</p>
<p>I would like to hear from academia.SE members who have been search committee members on a junior search. How many publications, and of what quality would be required to get a job at different kinds of universities?</p>
<p>Let's say for the purpose of this exercise that we are in the U.S. and that there are five kind of universities.</p>
<ol>
<li>2 year community colleges with incredibly heavy teaching expectations (4/4+)</li>
<li>4 year public or private colleges with heavy teaching expectations (3/4)</li>
<li>Elite small liberal arts colleges with moderate to light teaching expectations (2/2 - 3/3).</li>
<li>Non-elite state universities with graduate programs and light teaching loads (2/2).</li>
<li>Elite universities with little to no teaching (1/- or 1/1).</li>
</ol>
<p>It would also be helpful if respondents would identify which discipline they are in.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26126,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here's an answer for philosophy, based on anecdotal experience seeing my friends CVs and how they fared on the job market.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>No expectations of research. Tenure, if it exists, is going to be on the basis of teaching and service.</li>\n<li>Here you need to have published something, but it isn't terribly important that it be in a very high-profile journal. To get tenure you'll probably have to get two to four things published, but quality won't matter very much.</li>\n<li>Here you'll need to have at least one very good publication under your belt in order to get considered and realistically probably more like 3-4 publications in top 20 journals for your field. these are desirable jobs and quality will definitely count.</li>\n<li>To get a job that involves grad teaching you are going to have to have a number of very high profile publications that speak to your ability to become a recognized leader in your field. I'd think you'd need 3-5 publications, some of which are in top 10ish places.</li>\n<li>To get the brass ring, you don't seem to need more than one or two papers, but they need to be in the very best places there are, plus you need to have a couple other papers in the works that your SC can imagine will land there too.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26137,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm the faculty search chair for a top-5 American computer science department.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How many publications, and of what quality would be required to get a job...?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>This is simply the wrong question.</strong> To be considered for a position, you must have an independent research record among the very best in the world in your age cohort and subfield. The <em>number</em> of publications really doesn't matter, for the same reason grades don't matter for admission to a top PhD program; there are enough applicants with enough publications that we can afford to focus on more important features.</p>\n\n<p>What matters more is the quality, visibility, impact, and reputation of your research. You must have a coherent and compelling research vision and agenda. You must have letters from the very best people in your field—people that the search committee already know by reputation, preferably <em>not</em> at your home institution. Those letters must say things like \"major impact on the field\" and \"strongest student on the market this year\", with specific, technical, and credible details to back up their opinions.</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, the search committee must agree with the assessment in the reference letters. Without a champion on the search committee, you will not get an interview; there are simply too many strong applicants. Yes, we <em>do</em> read your statements, your papers, and other papers that cite your papers ourselves. We also call up colleagues in your field who didn't write you letters and ask them who the best people are in your field; they'd better mention you.</p>\n\n<p>That gets you to the short list of people we are willing to interview. Unless it's a dry year, there are more people on this list than interview slots, so the recruiting committee has long discussions comparing the merits of various candidates and arguing about departmental needs/strategy. Sometimes enough clear winners emerge; more often, we just have to vote.</p>\n\n<p>Once you are invited to an interview, your performance at the interview often becomes more important than your past record. Your talk must be compelling and polished. You must impress the faculty and students you meet with your breadth of expertise, your research agenda/vision, your likely success as an advisor, as a collaborator, as an instructor, and as an intellectual leader.</p>\n\n<p>In short, it must be clear that you will get tenure.</p>\n\n<p>Inevitably, more people will \"pass\" the interview than we have positions to offer. So there is another long and wide-ranging discussion among the faculty, comparing the merits of the various top candidates and arguing about departmental needs. Sometimes clear winners emerge; other times the faculty deadlock and the department head has to make the call.</p>\n\n<p>I have seen candidates with 2 or 3 groundbreaking papers get hired (and later get tenure). I have also seen fresh PhDs with 20+ papers in top venues that were not even considered for an interview, because their work was judged incremental or narrow. The number of papers is simply not the right metric to care about.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26138,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer we give at our R1 is \"N+1\" both in regards to hiring and promotion/tenure. That is, there's no safe bright line. Even if you had N publications, you would have needed \"N+1\" to get hired, promoted, or tenured. It makes for a lot of anxiety in the junior faculty.</p>\n\n<p>Note: Been a search committee member on both searches within my department in the social sciences as well as interdisciplinary programs in the humanities.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26125",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
26,130 |
<p>My institution provides a dedicated storage space to host our academic websites, which is reachable via the institution domain (something like <code>http://people.institution.org/John.Doe/</code>).</p>
<p>I try to have a tidy website of a few pages listing my publications, research area, contact, etc. It is currently reachable through my institution domain. I try to also put some efforts in SEO when people look up for my name or particular research area on search engines.</p>
<p>I'm in my last year of Ph.D. and I will undoubtedly move to other institutions in the next few years, so I am wondering if it wouldn't be preferable to host my academic webpage on a dedicated domain <code>http://www.johndoe.com</code>, which would prevent the need to do the SEO all over again each time I will switch to a new institution.</p>
<p>The only advantage to use my institution domain is the affiliation, but this information is present on my website anyway.</p>
<p>I'm a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering in France, if it matters.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26140,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Reasons to use your own host/tld:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You don't expect to be at your current (or future) institution for very long.</li>\n<li>Your institution uses a painful CMS system, requires you to use ugly templates, or has content or size restrictions.</li>\n<li>You don't want to ask your department head or IT manager/webmistress for permission every time you want to update your page.</li>\n<li>Your personal brand is more important than the university brand (see #1).</li>\n<li>You are part of a multi-university project.</li>\n<li>You created your own domain website when you were a graduate student and never found a good reason to switch to your employers' sites, even a dozen plus years after graduation (my case).</li>\n<li>etc.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Reasons to only use your university website:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>It's the default position. </li>\n<li>It doesn't cost you any additional hosting or domain registration fees. </li>\n<li>In many cases, the department or IT admin will help you set it up using one of their templates, meaning you do not have to learn web design</li>\n<li>In some cases, the database that populates your research publications will be pulled from your Faculty Annual Report (or vice\nversa). This means that keeping the university CMS happy results in\nless paperwork overall in terms of reporting your research\nactivities to the university.</li>\n<li>The google-juice (SEO) of the university will likely be higher than your own.</li>\n<li>Some may argue it looks more professional to have an .edu/~name site rather than a private.com website. </li>\n<li>Loyalty</li>\n<li>etc.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>And of course, one can always do both. The cons of doing both are:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Requires updating both.</li>\n<li>Visitors may be confused about which site to go to (or you have the same info mirrored, which leads to #1)</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26141,
"author": "rch",
"author_id": 15789,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15789",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Why don't you just do both? By both, I mean use both URLs. I \"do both\", so when I graduate, I'll still have my site for others to see. You can do this in many ways, but I had my university student page auto-redirect to my personal home page. The code for that is like a one-liner.</p>\n\n<p>This grants me the opportunity to refer people to different sites depending on the situation. I think myname.com is undoubtedly easier to remember than the nuances in my university student site URL: people.school.org/first.last ... On the other hand, if the situation is more institution-based, perhaps it's better to stick with my college's name. You've got options this way.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26167,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I find it really strange that no one has mentioned the possible reputational benefits of using the university's website. I don't think there's any way to write this without sounding like a snob, but I'll say it anyways; people are snobbier than they like to admit, and academia is probably worse than many other fields. If you're at an at all prestigious institution (even actually, if you're at a not so prestigious one), you want to emphasize that affiliation. Of course, your work has to stand on its own two feet ultimately, but people will be more open to it if they see you're connected to a serious institution, rather than some dude in his basement (remember, there's always something they could be doing rather than reading your paper). Most academics keep a mental rolodex of where people are located for different purposes, like knowing where to send students or where they might like to visit. Why make it harder for them to figure this out?</p>\n\n<p>A couple of other commenters have mentioned that you should be building your own brand, not the universities, but I don't see how you separate those. Usually, the university has a much stronger brand than you do, so you want to steal a bit of it for yourself. If you're in a situation where this isn't the case, it's still a virtuous cycle where improving the department's reputation should ultimately pay you back, and shouldn't stop you from moving.</p>\n\n<p>That said, I've certainly experienced the trouble of moving my website (many times), so I see the appeal of having a stable website that doesn't have to be moved, but why not both? </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26187,
"author": "Raphael",
"author_id": 1419,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1419",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are trying to find a design solution for a technical problem that does not exist.</p>\n\n<p>You mention SEO as your primary concern (for whatever reason¹). So when you move your professional website to another institution, (have your admin) put a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_301\" rel=\"nofollow\">301 (Moved Permanently)</a> in your old website's <code>.htaccess</code> and search engines will automatically update their databases accordingly.</p>\n\n<p>This assumes that you can keep your old (sub)domain/page at least for a few months; as far as I can tell, this is common. Many groups/departments maintain lists to alumni at their current position, anyway; it is as much advertisement for them as it is for you (if you're good).</p>\n\n<p>Note that you can still use one domain as an alias for the other. Which direction you choose is probably irrelevant in most cases. I'd argue that it <em>is</em> important to have <em>something</em> at an institution URL so that you have a representative address that looks official and leaves no doubt that you are, indeed, <em>the</em> John Doe from the University of Illustriousness and not some dude who happend to be the first to register john-doe.com.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<ol>\n<li>As a researcher, I figure that your publications are your business cards. These are indexed in other places and your moving does not change how they can be found (and thank the powers that be for that!). Search engines pick up on your new website in a matter of days (for some you can even trigger indexing yourself) which should be enough, assuming that there is little more value but contact data besides the publications there. But ymmv.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26204,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think you should do both, but in a different way that has been <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/26187/5962\">suggested by Raphael</a> and <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/26141/5962\">by rch</a>. Both of these other suggestions involve doing some sort of invisible \"redirect\" from one page (almost always the temporary institutional page) to the permanent page on your domain. <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/26140/5962\">RoboKaren suggested having two pages</a> which is the closest to my answer. I suggest you should create a page on your institution but have it be a small \"soft\" redirect that asks people to click through.</p>\n\n<p>Keep an institutional page but keep it very simple. Have the page give the following information (at most):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>A short narrative biography of you and your research or teaching interests.</li>\n<li>A nice recent picture of you. [Nice, but optional.]</li>\n<li>A link to your CV on your website. [Optional]</li>\n<li>A list of 2-3 recent selected papers. [Optional]</li>\n<li><strong>A very prominent link to your actual homepage on your domain</strong>. I do this with text like, \"For more detail on my research and teaching, visit full academic homepage.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Ben Webster is correct in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26130/should-i-host-my-academic-website-under-my-institution-domain-or-under-a-domain\">citing the importance of association with your institution for status reasons</a> In order to get the benefit, put the name and the logo and/or seal for your institution prominently on your personal page in a way that makes it clear that you are associated with the institution but also clear that it is your personal page.</p>\n\n<p>This is what I have been doing for years. One benefit is that many institutions make updating institutional pages tricky (e.g., you need to go through a webmaster). This is a nice compromise in this situation because you only need to update the biography, picture, etc. infrequently.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26130",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6817/"
] |
26,132 |
<p><strong>Context:</strong> I'm writing a dissertation in Computational Social Science using the <a href="http://www.mackichan.com/products/shells/kluwer.pdf" rel="noreferrer">Kluwer</a> bibliographic style. My question isn't specific to this style and applies generally to dissertations in computer science, sociology, economics, and management.</p>
<p><strong>Q: Should I include URL (DOI or other) in bibliographic entries for all journal or conference articles, in addition to normal full citation information?</strong></p>
<p>There is no such requirement or guidelines from my University or Department. I've done numerous web searches, but I've never found any general guidelines on this.</p>
<p><strong>Pro:</strong> All of my committee members and most of my readers now read articles on-line rather than through printed journals or proceedings. All the URLs will have hyperlinks, so when they are reading the PDF of my dissertation, they can click on the hyperlink that will open a browser window to the article. In addition, my dissertation will have internal hyperlinks from citations to bibliography entries and from key terms to glossary entries. Finally, I use the Zotero reference manager, and I can usually acquire the URL as part of the "one click" import process.</p>
<p><strong>Con:</strong> Adding URLs for every journal/conference article adds visual clutter to the bibliography. When the URLs are not DOI, they may not be valid for a long time. It will add some work to test and correct URLs that don't meet the basic criteria of usability, consistency, and stability.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26133,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Adding DOIs and URLs to your bib references is really a good idea!</p>\n\n<p>If you are really concerned on the visual clutter, you can \"hide\" hrefs under the author/title/journal line. In this case, the references are not visible in print version (which is probably not terribly bad, since only a few people will bother to type DOIs from paper back to a browser search line). In the pdf version, however, one can click on the bib reference line to access the online document (which is really something people appreciate). If you hide hrefs under the titles, make sure your PDF readers do understand this (give them a clue with a footnote or so).</p>\n\n<p>It is really a good idea to use DOIs as much as possible and avoid using potentially unstable URLs. However, if the document is not easy to find (e.g. not among first 3 references in the Google scholar), I would probably go with the URL to help navigate the reader.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26152,
"author": "zibadawa timmy",
"author_id": 19768,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19768",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your college should have people responsible for determining if a dissertation has been formatted correctly. Even if you are completely unconcerned about running afoul of this by adding links, check with them first and save a potential headache. They can be very demanding and unyielding. </p>\n\n<p>And depending on what you're typesetting the bibliography with, changing formats can be as simple as changing a single word/setting. This would allow you to create one version with convenient links, and another without, and so on, as desired, with essentially no extra work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26155,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Adding links is extremely useful for people who actually want to lookup the references. </p>\n\n<p>DOI serve both as a link and as an identifier, so adding it is a good idea in general. (A similar thing holds for arXivID.)</p>\n\n<p>Both for DOI and arXivID it should be visible as <code>doi:1234/56781</code> and <code>arXiv:1401.9999</code>, with an underlying link so it is clickable.</p>\n\n<p>With other links, I consider them only if both DOI and arXivID are absent.\nIt may be less stable, but still it is better than nothing.</p>\n\n<p>If you are really concerned with the visual appeal, you can make the title (or journal reference) clickable without spelling out the complete link. But personally I think that for references usability is more important than visuals (at least, it is what I do for my PhD thesis).</p>\n\n<p>To get you some taste, it looks more or less as (the citation style is temporary, just look at the style of links): </p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/GN57y.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>Another approach (from a paper) would be to hide link addresses as in:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/T64iU.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>See also:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/3802/how-to-get-doi-links-in-bibliography\">How to get DOI links in bibliography - TeX.SE</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/151628/bibtex-fields-for-doi-mr-zbl-and-arxiv\">BibTeX fields for DOI, MR, Zbl and arxiv? - TeX.SE</a></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26169,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>With my <em>copy editor</em> hat on, I'm certainly for including useful things in the biblio, especially DOI and online repo (arXiv and stuff) links are very useful, since more information in bibliography prevents typos and mistakes from being significant.</p>\n\n<p>With my <em>thesis oponent/reader</em> hat on, I have the very same opinion, since I'm very likely interested in checking some of the references, mostly because they're unknown to me and I'm curious what they are about.</p>\n\n<p>With my <em>article author</em> hat on, I'm for as well, since it's more likely that people actually read my paper when you cite it.</p>\n\n<p>Conclusion: The more information the better.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26132",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564/"
] |
26,145 |
<p>I'm an undergraduate at the <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/" rel="nofollow">Open University</a> (OU), which allows me to study part-time and from home (actually even from a different country). Getting my BSc will take me other several years, but I want to start gaining experience with doing research and start publishing papers. Specifically my field would be the Semantic Web and I already have lots of industry experience in this subject, just not much academic experience yet. So I found this institute at the OU called the <a href="http://kmi.open.ac.uk/" rel="nofollow">Knowledge Media Institute (KMi)</a> that actually does quite interesting Semantic Web work. I contacted some professors from various labs in the institute and none seem to offer remote internships.</p>
<p>Now to my question: how do other OU students start publishing given that there isn't really a campus and you're most likely in another country?</p>
<p>PS: I know research is usually accomplished face-to-face, but this relates specifically to OU which is a highly-accredited online university. There must still be a way to do research for an undegrad at OU.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26147,
"author": "just-learning",
"author_id": 10483,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10483",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>At the risk of sounding obvious let me share some advice that will not be specific to OU.</p>\n\n<p>First, wherever you are, you can do research on your own, although it's usually a tough call while being at the undergraduate level. </p>\n\n<p>A somewhat more realistic option could be locating and contacting the academics in your field at a university <em>reasonably close to your location</em> (so that you can at some point contact them in person) and get them interested in supervising your research <em>jointly</em> with the OU people or on their own.</p>\n\n<p>The problem with the second option is how to get the people at your local university interested in working with you but perhaps you could get some letters of recommendation from your teachers at OU to help your cause. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26375,
"author": "Dylan Richard Muir",
"author_id": 19984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19984",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is usually no absolute requirement to be associated with an academic institution in order to submit a paper to a journal.</p>\n\n<p>However, you have a serious credibility barrier to overcome if you choose that route, depending on how common independent research is in your field. My impression is that in some fields (network security, for example), publication by independent researchers is relatively common. In contrast, it would be much less common to publish an experimental neuroscience paper without an academic affiliation (I've never seen one).</p>\n\n<p>You may also have an issue regarding access to the literature without an affiliation.</p>\n\n<p>Maybe you should try writing a short project proposal, with some preliminary results or analysis (whatever's appropriate), and sending it to the researchers to ask if they would like to collaborate.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26473,
"author": "eddotman",
"author_id": 20085,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20085",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You may look into getting started with open-access journals. These are probably more likely to be amenable to independent research. Some examples are <a href=\"http://plos.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">PloS</a>, and <a href=\"http://thewinnower.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Winnower</a>. Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 67969,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You make it sound as though doing research requires publication in a journal. I will answer just regarding publication. If you have found some journals that you might wish to publish a paper in, consider contacting the OU professors you wrote to and asking them for specific advice not abot internships but about getting your paper published. They are at the same university as you, so you are writing to them as a colleague.</p>\n\n<p>Have you asked the question on one of the OU's internal online forums? I'm not a member of the OU so I don't have access, but I know that the university runs several much-used forums online.</p>\n\n<p>And have you asked your module tutors or whoever else has an official academic responsibility towards you at the OU?</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26145",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12847/"
] |
26,159 |
<p>I am in the field of computer science. It is often the case when I am reading a paper I start to wonder, <em>"Wow stunning results, however, I would like to prove that."</em> or <em>"How exactly did he get these amazing results? He/she just wrote a rough overview of the real methodology used in this paper."</em>. As you can see, a lot of times the small things have a huge impact on the overall performance of the underlying methodology. Often they are not part of the paper or not revealed at all.</p>
<p>My idea would be to contact the paper writer, to ask for his research programs to recreate them and understand them. Can/should I do that? </p>
<p>I personally think that there are probably not a lot of researchers, who would let somebody else <em>"look at their cards"</em>. What's your experience with that?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26162,
"author": "alarge",
"author_id": 15151,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15151",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Ask for the code. Please do, however, explain why you want it and what you intend to use it for. </p>\n\n<p>Personally, I would be quite happy if someone contacted me about my research, and would try to give all the necessary tools to recreate my data. Especially so if I am not currently working on a follow up piece.</p>\n\n<p>That said, I've asked for parameters, codes, procedures etc. several times from the authors when the description in a paper has been vague. I've had a lot of different responses: Some have plain ignored me, others have given me everything I asked for, and yet others have only obliged when I've suggested that I might be willing to put them as co-authors if I built upon their code in a way that leads to a publication. Finally, some have refused my request. This has happened for a number of reasons, for example those discussed in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17781/why-do-many-talented-scientists-write-horrible-software\">this question</a>.</p>\n\n<p>If you ask for code and say that you just want to verify some of the conclusions of the authors or use it as a reference for your own implementation, you can most typically expect a refusal or no reply. This, at least, is the experience I've had.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 49672,
"author": "Thomas Arildsen",
"author_id": 6924,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6924",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think it is perfectly fine, and I encourage asking for the code. I actually support the position that <em>any</em> published results based on software are worth next to nothing if the authors are not willing to publish the source code along with them. If they have not already done so when publishing their paper, I find it their moral obligation to do so as soon as possible or at least upon request.\nIf the reason for authors not publishing their source code is that they do not fully trust their own software, then the results should not have been published at all. Why should anyone trust your results if you are not willing to defend the way you produced them?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 49679,
"author": "Phil",
"author_id": 21815,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21815",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, it is fine to ask. From my experience, not many researchers share their code. Sometimes the reason is that the authors are afraid that you will write a better algorithm or that you will extend their work before them. Some other reasons may be that the software has no documentation and they don't have time to prepare some documention, is not written in english, or has dependency to commercial software or software that belong to other authors. However, there is a lot of reasons for sharing the code. It gives more visibility to your work, helps other researchers so that they don't need to reimplement your work, allows for a more fair comparison when comparing algorithms, etc. </p>\n\n<p>Personnally, I have asked the source code or datasets of other authors several times. If they don't want to share, they usually just don't reply to the e-mail, or they may say no. But there is no consequence to asking. So just ask. Besides, sometimes the authors will not provide the source code or datasets but often they can still give you the binary files. In that case, it can still be useful. </p>\n\n<p>Personally, I share the source code and datasets of all my research papers as first author as part of an open-source data mining library ( <a href=\"http://www.philippe-fournier-viger.com/spmf/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://www.philippe-fournier-viger.com/spmf/</a> )and I believe that all authors should also share source code and datasets. Here is a blog post where I explain in more details why it is important to do so: <a href=\"http://data-mining.philippe-fournier-viger.com/why-it-is-important-to-publish-source-code-and-datasets-for-researchers/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://data-mining.philippe-fournier-viger.com/why-it-is-important-to-publish-source-code-and-datasets-for-researchers/</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 61888,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's absolutely acceptable to contact an author and ask for their code - and in my experience, a good portion of researchers are more than happy to share their code. While yes, there are some who won't want to let someone get a glimpse into their work, this isn't a universal stance.</p>\n\n<p>A few things to note:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You are asking for a favor, please do recognize it as such. Preparing code is not a zero-effort activity. For example, if you're talking to researchers doing human subjects work, there's potentially data that needs to be stripped out. Even if there isn't, it's possible that code for ongoing, as-yet unpublished research needs to get stripped out, comments cleaned up, things like that.</li>\n<li>When asking for someone's code, do make it clear what you're planning on using it for. Beyond making it more likely for your request to be met favorably, it'll be useful for helping the person providing the code know what it is you need. For example, do you want to build on their stuff? Simply reproduce their results? Something else? There might be things you need to know that are purpose-specific.</li>\n<li>If you intend to spin things into a paper, you might want to get them involved in that as well.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26159",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17751/"
] |
26,163 |
<p><strong>Question:</strong> I am interested in two fields, mathematical biology and cryptography. Is it okay to discuss both of these interests in my statement of purpose? </p>
<p>I'm currently a junior majoring in mathematics. I have to write a statement of purpose so that I can be able to attend a mathematics conference. During the conference there will be a time where we can submit applications to graduate schools there. I'm not sure if it is for seniors only, but I am writing one just in case. I don't know which schools are going to be there. If I did I would just choose one depending on the degrees offered by each school, but I don't know who is going to be there.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26166,
"author": "rfulop",
"author_id": 18362,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18362",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Keep it short and succinct, I would say a paragraph is good, unless otherwise stated in the application. If this means that you only have enough space to talk about one of those areas, then pick one.</p>\n\n<p>If the conference is more geared towards pure mathematics, I would suggest expanding on your interest in cryptography. Otherwise, if it is an applied mathematics conference, then talk about your studies in biological math. Chances are schools which specialize in pure mathematics will attend a pure mathematics conference, and likewise for applied math. If you want to find out the universities who are attending, just ask an event coordinator. I'm sure there isn't any secrecy surrounding who is attending.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26168,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would try to emphasize (as far as possible) the commonality of math between the two disciplines. For instance, biology may use a lot of differential equations, or even graph theory, and perhaps cryptography can too.</p>\n\n<p>It would be awesome if you came up with an application combining the two disciplines, e.g. using fingerprinting for crytography. Your job in writing a statement of purpose is to convince people that you're a viable candidate for such role.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26163",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19780/"
] |
26,171 |
<p>If a PhD student is working on a research project which is neither related to his thesis topic, nor supported by the university in which he is studying or a faculty member; Does he have the right to use his academic affiliation and contact email?</p>
<p>There are two points here, </p>
<ul>
<li>If the student is using the university facilities, he may acknowledge that support in the Acknowledgement section of his paper not by using the university affiliation. </li>
<li>The university in which the student is studying in doesn't necessarily want to be associated with whatever research he does in his free hours.</li>
</ul>
<p>P.S.: Does this consideration apply to the researchers who work in a research institute or company?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26172,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First step: Ask your (1) advisor or (2) the department head or (3) both. Since you are not faculty, you may have to get permission to use the departmental affiliation for something that is outside your project. As long as this involves ethical and legitimate research I am sure it is not a problem. The department or university may have guidelines for publishing ethics which you may want to check as well. So, although there may not even be a problem, it is better to be safe than sorry.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26179,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It can just be published as \"unsponsored research\". If they value their relationships highly though, they should dialog with their professors.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26197,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<h2>Yes.</h2>\n\n<p>The affiliation serves two purposes: acknowledgement and identification.</p>\n\n<p>Even if it is not part of your thesis research, if you are receiving resources <em>of any kind</em> from your institution, you should list them as your affiliation. These resources include money (whether directly related to your research or not), computing equipment, internet access, printer access, electricity, phones, faculty and student colleagues (whether coauthors or not), library access (either physical or electronic), whiteboards, local coffee shops/bars, and the general intellectual atmosphere that encourages you to do research in the first place. You can afford to be generous.</p>\n\n<p>Also, the affiliation helps identify you as an author, especially if you have a common name, or you publish other papers with the same affiliation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 62439,
"author": "Jolo",
"author_id": 46131,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/46131",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Sorry to revive old post, but here's one more perspective - consider not some abstract \"right\" of the student, but rather the political and practical aspect for somebody building a career. For argument's sake, OP, let's assume your paper was on a totally unrelated subject, using no university resources, i.e., typed up at home on a personally owned laptop. Even so, think about how your advisor will react when he is surprised to learn that you have been spending time and energy working on this significant outside project and didn't even tell him. PhD students in sciences receive a full stipend, and that is supposed to sponsor <em>ALL</em> your academic energy (regardless of day/night). After all, some of us do our best work at night and at home. The time it would take to conduct independent research and publish is easily like a moonlighting job, and this is usually frowned upon or explicitly forbidden. It is a distraction from your dissertation, and will likely slow down the research of your advisor who is paying your stipend. Finally and most importantly, the advisor has powerful influence over your professional future. When that advisor is writing the all-important recommendation letter, you want him to say you are dedicated, focused, and hard working, not that you are an irresponsible dilettante / rogue player. I know this may sound harsh, but it is the reality of the world. (I'm a full professor in the sciences at a top 10 US university, and I have advised 12 PhD students over 20 years.) </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26171",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
26,178 |
<p>I am interested in finding the ISI-indexed papers for a given institition X. This would be any ISI-indexed paper where one or more authors are affiliated with X. Is this doable and are there any guidelines for how to do this? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29388,
"author": "fileunderwater",
"author_id": 7223,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7223",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The easiest way would be to do a Web of Science search using the '<em>Address</em>' field, with the university name or institution name as query. This will most likely return lots of results, and you will maybe need to go through them manually to do some quality checking. You can also refine search results by '<em>Countries/Territories</em>' to filter irrelevant results (e.g. similarly named institutions in different countries). You can also use the '<em>Address</em>' field to search for individual department names while also including city and country for some good results.</p>\n\n<p>You can ofcourse do similar searches in Scopus etc. as well, but if you are specifically after ISI-indexed papers you should use Web of Science (maybe even restricting yourself to only the <em>Web of Science Core Collection</em> database).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 88240,
"author": "Tripartio",
"author_id": 20418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20418",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Ask a librarian at Institution X. You would probably get your answer in a few minutes or maybe in at most 24 hours.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26178",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532/"
] |
26,180 |
<p>I am reading a colleague's CV which lists an "Excellent Foreign Scholar" scholarship from the National Science Foundation of China. I am not familiar with this program, nor is google particularly helpful for me as a complete non-speaker of Chinese. Is anyone familiar with this program, and what it would entail?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 28408,
"author": "Pixiestik1",
"author_id": 17281,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17281",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Go to google for china and you can ask that it translate the page. You will find several articles related to the \"Excellent Foreign Scholar\" scholarship from the National Science Foundation of China. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28410,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><em>Preamble: I am one of a few Chinese active participants on this site. There have been some questions about Chinese academics here. I always tried to not to answer them. For example, there was a question about the role of correspondence author in Chinese academia(the OP even offered a bounty for it). I did not answer them for two reasons: I am not an insider and I do not wish to give out information I am not absolutely certain about. However, I feel that I need to give some answer for this question because I just see some un-useful answer. Hopefully some Chinese scholars will answer them after they see this one.</em></p>\n\n<p>According to this <a href=\"http://www.access4.eu/_media/NSFC_4_new.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">document</a>, \"The Joint Research Fund for Overseas Chinese Scholars and Scholars in Hong Kong and Macao is established by Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) to encourage <strong>excellent</strong> overseas Chinese scholars (including those with <strong>foreign</strong> nationalities) under the age of 50 to conduct high-level joint research with researchers and organizations in mainland China.\"</p>\n\n<p>I suspect your colleague received this fund. Please note that the qualification is oversea Chinese scholar. \"Foreign\" here means he could be born in oversea but at least one of his parents is a Chinese.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26180",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19788/"
] |
26,199 |
<p>I am currently writing a paper in which I have many topics to describe. It would not be productive to read and cite papers or even books on the topics because I just have to describe them very briefly as an introduction to some follow up topics.</p>
<p>For "private" use I would just use the corresponding Wikipedia articles but that is considered bad practice in academic papers.</p>
<p>So do you have any tips how to get credible definitions of and/or short introductions into (in my case computer science) topics without searching through dozens of papers/books for some useful/credible parts?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26200,
"author": "mhwombat",
"author_id": 10529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10529",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I tend to use books for this sort of thing. For example, if I need a definition of \"data mining\", I do a Google Books search for that term. A book about \"data mining\" is going to define the term in the introduction or first chapter, so it will usually be in the pages that are part of the free preview.</p>\n\n<p>Another option is to look at the citations used in the Wikipedia article itself, and then look up those articles. Wikipedia tends to be pretty good at citing the key article(s) for a particular subject.</p>\n\n<p>Also, it's helpful to know a few online cite-worthy dictionaries that you can search for common definitions. For example, <a href=\"http://plato.stanford.edu/index.html\">The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</a> is useful for philosophical terms.</p>\n\n<p>There's also <a href=\"http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Main_Page\">Scholarpedia</a>, which is a peer-reviewed online encyclopedia. It's not as extensive as Wikipedia. However, in my field at least, the articles tend to be written by well-known names.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26203,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Consider:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>textbooks on a given subject,</li>\n<li>review (rather than research) articles on a given subject,</li>\n<li>key papers (e.g. the one where a given subject was introduced for the first time).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Good places to start:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://scholar.google.com/\">http://scholar.google.com/</a> and look for general and (typically) highly cited books or papers,</li>\n<li>the <em>references</em> sections on Wikipedia.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26206,
"author": "Patricia Shanahan",
"author_id": 10220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10220",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with the idea of referencing books. You may not want to buy a book for each topic.</p>\n\n<p>I suggest using libraries. Most people writing papers have access to a university or other reference library. Many will let you go in and read books there, even if you are not affiliated with the university. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26207,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You need not discard a Wikipedia definition if it is one that you like. Print sources can be equally sketchy as anyone can print books (cf. \"Fart Proudly\", by Ben Franklin). It sounds like you merely want correctness, not <em>sources</em> of definitions anyway.</p>\n\n<p>As long as the definition is fairly accurate, just cite it as you would a print source, but (like with all internet resources) give the date and time along with your citation, since the Internet can change out from under you.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, it's not really academics who have a problem with Wikipedia, it's the publishers and ever since the printing press, they've spent a good while curating influence on the minds of the Establishment. But obviously, with the Internet, it all needs re-addressed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26216,
"author": "maythe",
"author_id": 19836,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19836",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I read abstracts of journal articles I can find on JSTOR. \nAbstracts generally serve as concise summaries of entire papers. They're also written by the author(s) of the article, so you know the emphasis will be on the core of the topic, not on side-note information.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26199",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19813/"
] |
26,202 |
<p>I am working on my PhD thesis and have to write a monograph based on my publications. To prevent that I plagiarize myself, I came up with the idea to automatically check my thesis against my publications.</p>
<p>Is there already a tool for this work-flow?</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Input:</strong> PDf of thesis and a pile of PDFs;<br>
<strong>Output:</strong> annotated PDF of thesis.</p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26221,
"author": "Jerric Lyns John",
"author_id": 19576,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19576",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Use <a href=\"http://www.mendeley.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mendeley</a> while doing your edit and make use of its robust functionalities which will prevent most plagiarism as it helps in annotations.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 65580,
"author": "graumand",
"author_id": 51144,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/51144",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Summary: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Make sure you understand the standards of self-plagiarism relevant to your project.</li>\n<li>Your institution's LMS likely provides access to an automated plagiarism checker you could use.</li>\n<li>Automated plagiarism checkers are imperfect.</li>\n<li>Some people think that commercial plagiarism checkers are unethical.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If you haven't already done so, talk to your dissertation committee about their understanding of self-plagiarism. What exactly are they concerned you might do? What are their standards, and are these standards reflective of common standards in your discipline?</p>\n\n<p>Once you know how your committee understands self-plagiarism, talk to the people who administer the learning management system (LMS) at your campus. Many LMSs include access to commercial plagiarism checkers, and many of these services allow teachers or students to upload selected papers to the plagiarism checker's database. (The idea is that the plagiarism checkers allow teachers to check student work against unpublished papers that other students--like roommates or sorority sisters--have submitted in response to the same assignment in a different section of the course). If you put your publications into the plagiarism checker's database, you should be able to use the plagiarism checker to identify potential self-plagiarism.</p>\n\n<p>HOWEVER, automated plagiarism checkers are imperfect. Whichever one you use, it will probably flag some stuff that isn't really plagiarism, and it might miss some stuff that is. The automated checker should supplement your own judgment, not replace it.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, some people think that commercial plagiarism checkers are unethical because they collect papers and make money off of them without paying the authors. The courts have ruled that it's fair use, but you should at least know that the issue exists.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 86292,
"author": "Ahmad",
"author_id": 70569,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/70569",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't know it will work for you or Not but you can compare your current thesis with any other previous thesis one by one by using plagiarism comparison tools. There are lot of tools available on internet here is an example \n<a href=\"https://www.prepostseo.com/plagiarism-comparison-search\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Plagiarism comparison</a></p>\n\n<p>You have to compare your current thesis one by one with older one. This is very effective tool..</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26202",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19817/"
] |
26,214 |
<p>I'm fairly early on in my PhD research. A few months ago I submitted an abstract to a conference, which was accepted. The conference is coming up soon, and my research has taken a slight turn away from my accepted abstract (still same field, collaborators, etc...--just asking slightly different questions and taking a slightly different approach).</p>
<p>My question is, am I obligated to put the program-accepted abstract on my poster? If I am, should I try to tie my poster content as closely to that accepted abstract as possible? Or can I present poster content that would've been more appropriate for a different abstract? </p>
<p>Or can I use a different abstract on my poster, and thus tie the content more closely to what my current research path is?</p>
<p>What about keeping the original abstract in its entirely, but appending it?</p>
<p>EDIT: I'm in the field of astrobiology (probably most similar to the fields of geology or astronomy if I had to relate it to a more conventional field)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26218,
"author": "Nicholas",
"author_id": 1424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I work in astronomy.</p>\n\n<p>I have never heard of anyone in authority at a conference complain about a slight deviation from a submitted abstract. </p>\n\n<p>I suggest writing your poster on your new direction, with a corresponding abstract.</p>\n\n<p>I would also submit your amended abstract to the LOC of the conference as soon as possible. Mention that your work has taken a slight turn but the main topic and co-authors are unchanged. </p>\n\n<p>If there is time, the LOC can include your amended abstract on any web-page or hard-copy documentation. Apologise for the inconvenience that this may cause the LOC and ask nicely that they make these amendments, if possible.</p>\n\n<p>Even if these documents cannot be altered, I doubt that anyone is going to get upset that your new abstract is not exactly the same that you originally submitted. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34342,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In most fields, it is quite common for the subject matter of either a poster or a talk to stray quite significantly from the submitted and accepted abstract. This is understood as part of the \"cost\" of asking for abstracts to be submitted months before the conference is actually held. If people want to present cutting-edge research, then it will often require either a generic abstract or deviations from what was submitted.</p>\n\n<p>That said, you can't arbitrarily change your poster topic <em>too</em> much—it should still be in the general area of the poster or abstract you submitted (otherwise it may end up being out of place in the session where it's presented). But deviations that stay within the topic matter are fine.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26214",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19834/"
] |
26,220 |
<p>I have seen one extreme of the spectrum, where a person conducts great research without even attending college. For a student to become an independent researcher, how much is on the advisor's shoulder and how much on the student? I know the answers may be all over the map. Just curious what your takes are on this question. Anecdotes and personal examples are welcome.</p>
<p>I have noticed some professors are more successful in supervising students to become independent researchers (approximated by the number/ratio of alumni who land research jobs) than others, even though their research portfolios and student qualities are similar (e.g., in the same department). That's one reason I bring up this question.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26504,
"author": "user809695",
"author_id": 9196,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9196",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Pairing students and advisers with complementary <em>goals</em>, <em>needs</em>, and <em>expectations</em> is the key. If a student is already self-motivated, capable, independent, and has a fully-funded, well-conceived research project, then they can be paired with an adviser who gives little oversight. However, if a student is lacking in one or more of those areas, then they should be paired with an adviser who can support them and help them improve on their weaker skills. </p>\n\n<p>References</p>\n\n<p>Delany, D. \"A Review of the Literature on Effective PhD Supervision\" Centre for Academic Practice and Student Learning, Trinity College (2008).</p>\n\n<p>Zhao, F. \"Postgraduate Research Supervision: A Process of Knowledge Management.\" (2001)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27597,
"author": "M. B.",
"author_id": 20891,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20891",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are two major types of advisor approaches which I've encountered during my studies:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Hands-off, abstract guidance only. Hint at which areas are interesting or currently active, but do not throw yourself into your student's work. Usually such advisors will gladly proofread the student's work for errors, but they rarely know what to do if a student gets seriously stuck. Advisor sessions may be spent discussing current trends, future work of either the advisor or the student or, in some cases, simply \"life advice\".</p></li>\n<li><p>Co-worker approach. The advisor treats his student as an equal and tries to immerse himself into the student's work (or vice versa). By having a lot of exposure to the advisor's routine (how he goes around solving problems, how much time he spends doing research, how he prepares for lectures, etc.), the teacher aims to guide the student by example.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>These two approaches are often seen in combination (while the student may be treated as a coworker, he still is usually the one to do the typesetting, the programming, and other time-consuming tasks).</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I prefer the second approach, which is likely because I am not that settled in the \"theoretical research\" routine. Some of my friends, who have known since their Master's studies what they want to do, are very enthusiastic about having a well known professor with the hands-off approach.</p>\n\n<p>To answer the question about either approach fostering independence, I believe the hands-off approach leads to much larger independence as a researcher, but the coworker approach may lead to a much better work ethic (mirroring the professor), which is tremendously important in science.</p>\n\n<p>It seems to me that students have a harder time successfully completing research (asking the right question, having the right insights, etc.) than being independent. Therefore I believe that student/advisor relationship does not need to promote \"independence\" in any substantial way.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26220",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13081/"
] |
26,228 |
<p>We received a report on our paper (it's the 2nd version already). The referee writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The proofs are correct. However, I'm not completely satisfied with the style in which the paper is written and the authors have to work more on the <strong>essay</strong>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm not sure what we can do with that. We are not native speakers and we did our best to use as good English as we can. I'm not sure how we should respond to that, since currently it seems to be the only thing that prevents us from finishing the referee process. We implemented the minor corrections suggested by this referee and as well the remarks by the language editor.</p>
<p>Any ideas how to proceed in such a case, please?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26230,
"author": "user3209815",
"author_id": 14133,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14133",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The referee is obviously satisfied with the \"scientific\" part of the publication but points out the narrative itself. I don't think that your English language skills are the deciding in the factor in that matter. You could write the same paper in your native language, let it someone translate it as it is and still get the same comment. As the referee puts it, it's the style that has issues. You should try to formulate your paper in a way which not only lists the discovered facts one after the another, but attempts to guide the reader's thought process towards your idea and results. Make it more interesting and engaging. Your language should be eloquent, your narrative consistent, your thought flow constant; the paper itself serves as a way to reflect the scientist's mind and as such it does not consist only of definitions, lemmas, theorems, proofs, citations, figures, etc., because a significant part is the skill (or art) to mold them into an article that readers will enjoy reading.</p>\n\n<p>If the problem is really only the lack of English skills, try to write it up in your native language and consult some professional to translate it.</p>\n\n<p>If that is not the case, don't be discouraged, good writing is a skill and can be learned and trained. Unfortunately, I've encountered many students (and some experienced scientists) who struggle with this. I personally blame it on the lack of reading of non-scientific material, like novels, articles, philosophical works, etc. Of course, this doesn't mean that you should style your paper like an adventure novel, but, as I mentioned before, writing is a skill, and it is best honed by being in contact with other well written materials. This way, you'll broaden your vocabulary, improve the ability to express your thoughts through text and, if you focus on English materials, become more proficient in English.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26231,
"author": "hadaytullah",
"author_id": 19855,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19855",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The comment from the reviewer may mean;</p>\n\n<p>1- Rearrange the ideas in your paper. For example, the order in which the things are explained may not make sense to the reviewer. Note that this is completely subjective thing, one order of ideas may make sense to one person but not so much to some other person. So, Just try some re-arrangement of idea and hope for the best.</p>\n\n<p>2- The story may be weak. I would suggest to start the story with some ground work by highlighting the existing similar work by other researchers in your field. Then gradually move towards what you are offering in your paper. The rest of the paper will then explain the details of your ideas.</p>\n\n<p>These are just my suggestion. You know the best what is good for you. Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26237,
"author": "Maarten Buis",
"author_id": 14471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14471",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The comment could mean two things:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>There is a problem with the way your article is organized</li>\n<li>There is a problem with your English</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I would start by looking at other recent articles in that journal, and see if the organization of your article is different from those. If that is the case, I would rewrite (probably with a lot of \"copy and paste\") the article such that the form mimics the typical form in that journal.</p>\n\n<p>If you have a collegue who is a native speaker, you can ask her or him to look at your article. It is probably too much to ask for her or him to completely edit the article, but (s)he can give you an idea whether your English needs to be improved. If that is the case, then I would probably end up hiring someone. There are usually some people who do this freelance. It pays to ask around if someone has done so recently and whether or not (s)he can recommend someone. Also look around in your institution: sometimes you are lucky and there is someone in your institution whose job it is to correct English (that is the case in my current institution).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26284,
"author": "user19903",
"author_id": 19903,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19903",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If I may add one more thought to the discussion here. I think \"the authors have to work more on the essay\" proves that this referee is not able to put his thoughts in a usable, clear, scientific way. Style problem!? If he or she does not want to invest the effort in explaining himself properly, I doubt that he is a good referee. It is his/her duty to do a proper job. Ask for specific examples of what he is - vaguely - complaining about. I am certainly questioning <strong>his/her</strong> style. I do referee papers from time to time.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26228",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471/"
] |
26,229 |
<p>What are the differences between papers that are chosen for presentation vs those which are accepted for poster presentation? Is one less reputable than the other one? How does a committee select received manuscripts for these two categories? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26446,
"author": "Michiel",
"author_id": 20048,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20048",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><em>Disclaimer:</em> This is mostly from personal experience on the sending side of the process, and a little bit of talking to professors that have actually been on selection committees.</p>\n\n<p>As far as I can tell, the two main points for selection of poster vs. presentation are completeness and impact. </p>\n\n<p>By <strong>completeness</strong> I mean whether the work is actually finished or close to finished. If the selection committee cannot tell whether work is finished, or knows it isn't, this is grounds to select the work for a poster instead of presentation. The main reason is that a presentation about work that isn't finished will most likely be somewhat boring, because it lacks strong conclusions, whereas at a poster a discussion about the work that isn't finished might actually be much nicer than work that is completely done.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Impact</strong> is a bit of a vague notion, but in this context it consists of relevance to the audience of the conference and the level of innovation in the work. If work seems to be only relevant for a few people attending the conference the work will most likely be selected for a poster, because the people that are interested can then look up the poster. In case of a presentation the room would be mostly empty, because most people are not interested which is undesired. If the work is highly innovative, instead of a small step forward in a big process, this will most likely interest a lot more people, thus making the work suitable for a presentation. </p>\n\n<p><strong>To summarize</strong></p>\n\n<p>Finished work with high relevance to the conference audience and preferably large steps forward in the field will be selected for presentation, the opposite case will be selected for a poster or even rejected. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Discussion</strong></p>\n\n<p>In general you could say that a presentation is more prestigious, because it is sort of a quality stamp. \nHowever, the boundary between presentation and poster can shift substantially based on the type of conference, the number of submissions to it and the level of submissions and (I know, not fair, but they're only human) the personal preferences of the selection committee. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26459,
"author": "Robert Buchholz",
"author_id": 19905,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19905",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It might be useful to look at it from the conference organizers' perspective:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Accepted full papers usually require the author to give an oral presentation at the conference. But the number of time slots for those presentations is usually limited by the size of the venue (number of conference rooms), and extending it either costs the organizers additional money or is not possible at all. So there is a strong motivation to limit the number of accepted full papers, and to choose only those that represent the largest impact/progress to the research field.</li>\n<li>Accepted posters on the other hand are usually presented at a short (~1-2h) poster session, where many posters are presented at the same time in a rather small area. Each conference room booked for the oral presentations can probably be used to present 50-100 posters in a single session, and scheduling a second poster session can cheaply double that. So there is no real motivation to limit the number of accepted posters, beyond making sure that they make sense and represent at least a minor step forward.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>These perspectives also match my experience on acceptance and gained reputation in the field of computer science: You can get pretty much anything accepted as a conference poster, while getting a paper accepted is much harder. For that reason, accepted posters are largely irrelevant scientifically, and - in my experience - are usually not even actually published in the conference proceedings (sometimes the proceedings at least contain the extended abstract that was submitted for poster acceptance, sometimes not even that).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26517,
"author": "Xxxo",
"author_id": 20121,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20121",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In conferences where there is a poster session (or poster sessions) usually there is the option for authors to submit a poster and not a full paper. If this is the case, then there is a page limit for poster and full papers, e.g. poster 4 to 6 pages, full paper 6 to 8 pages. </p>\n\n<p>If there is not such a discrimination but the committee has the option to choose papers for poster session then the selection is based a) either on reviewers comments or b) from the judgment of the organising committee. </p>\n\n<p>In a), there should be a field on the reviewer 's form asking something like: \"This submission is for presentation or for poster?\" along with the other reviewer form 's fields. </p>\n\n<p>In b), the committee takes into account the subject of conference, its scope, areas of interest and the contribution of the submission. There are two cases: a) The paper is accepted but not, qualitatively, pass the standards of the committee for presentation and is registered for poster, b) There are many good papers but not all of them fit in the time slots of sessions and thus some have to go for poster presentation and the choice is made according to the same criteria for case a). </p>\n\n<p>As for the \"reputable\" part of the question, if the paper is peer reviewed then is the same either it is presented as poster of presentation. In ones CV the section of conferences' publications (usually) is divided in peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed/abstract reviewed papers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26572,
"author": "malarres",
"author_id": 9924,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9924",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Regarding \"Is one less reputable than the other one? \" , in the University I studied they assign points to every contribution (and then sort us for PostDoc positions etc.) A paper chosen for presentation can give you up to 0.75 points whereas a paper chosen for poster can give you up to 0.4 points.</p>\n\n<p>Of course the trick here is the \"up to\" part, but normally you can count on receiving more reputation from a paper chosen for presentation.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26229",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1070/"
] |
26,234 |
<p>I have done my masters in Computer Science, but did not receive much support in the masters program to get the final project published. I am presently working as a software developer in the industry while also trying to perform independent research on a few topics which I have in mind when out of the office.</p>
<p>I have recently completed some research ad derived new method for data clustering based on a heuristic which is novel idea as far as I can tell. I have shown it to work better with respect to only one metric with a few other algorithms which is of the closest type.</p>
<p>I have been allowed to use my employer's organization address and email for correspondence, but my organization has told that there should be a disclaimer that my organization has nothing to do with this research. If I do not use this address, I need to give my current address. I am not sure if I can give my university address at this point, as the entire research was done after I graduated. At the university I had access to journal subscriptions for which appropriate acknowledgments are given.</p>
<p>Previously I have not published any peer-reviewed work anywhere and I am the only author of this manuscript. I am not sure how shall I proceed. Submitting to journal such as Elsevier will be single blind, and as I am trying to publish as a new independent author, will my submission be subject to biases based on my lack of previous publications? Or shall I go for a conference with double blind review process? Also the 7 ~ 10 page mark for conference is difficult to maintain without removing vital components.</p>
<p>Some information about the work. The work was not complex, but is unique and it is shown to work on several well known data-sets. The main topic is data clustering.</p>
<p><em>How should I proceed with publication?</em></p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Edit:</strong></p>
<p><em>Adding information in reply to @Nahkk's comment.</em></p>
<p>I have no previous academic experience. I have shown this to one professor from a different research interest domain because none of the professors from the paper's domain were interested in this topic, surprisingly. I have also asked for suggestion from a person working in this field. One of them suggests to try for a journal and another suggests a conference first, then work and improve the algorithm do exhaustive tests and then go for a journal later.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26255,
"author": "Not Quite An Outsider",
"author_id": 10390,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10390",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can try any of the options, and see what result occurs.</p>\n\n<p>As a thought experiment, try submitting your paper to a journal of French historical literature. It will be rejected because (I am guessing) the paper has nothing to do with French historical literature, but it may also be rejected because it doesn't have French in it, or pay enough respect to history, or be written in an appropriate style used to criticize literature in an academic fashion.</p>\n\n<p>More to your case, I would be surprised if, even after reading other papers and attempting to imitate their style, you were able to get your paper accepted at first try to a creditable journal without a large amount of outside coaching, because of issues even more subtle than I mention in the thought experiment above. The advice mentioned in the comments of working on the result to make it more robust and applicable and introducing it to many other people sounds like the right tack to me. In this fashion you will encounter the people who may be interested in your result, and have the experience to share with you on how to best present it, and help you raise its chances for being accepted by a journal.\nSince you don't have these experiences yet, you need to depend on the experiences of others or earn it on your own.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, you can try submitting it to a journal first anyway, and see what feedback you get. That is a less gentle but still valid way of gaining experience in these matters.</p>\n\n<p>(If you try the longer and more laborious route of introducing it to several people, I recommend leveraging the effort by researching these people and seeing if they can help you in other ways. With the right preparation, intent, and eye toward future goals, such as recommendation letters accompanying future grant proposals, the \"extra\" labor in taking this route may turn out to save a lot of work in the long run.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26261,
"author": "hadaytullah",
"author_id": 19855,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19855",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think there are many questions here;</p>\n\n<p><strong>Independent Publishing?</strong> It is possible to publish your work as an independent researcher. see this question \"<a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3010/does-one-need-to-be-affiliated-with-a-university-to-publish-papers\">Does one need to be affiliated with a university to publish papers?</a>\". For further confirmation, I would suggest to directly contact the responsible personnel of the conference or journal.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Forums(Journal vs Conference)?</strong> Journals are usually assumed to be of high standard. However, this might not be true always.Some conferences have equal or higher standard than journals; they only accept high quality works. However, you should be able to find many conferences with a track record of accepting publications with varying qualities.</p>\n\n<p><strong>How to find the quality of a forum?</strong> If you want to find out the quality of a forum, check their previous publications and try judging their quality. You can also look for people who have published there, if they are expert in your field then it could be a high quality journal or conference. </p>\n\n<p><strong>What forum suits my work?</strong> You know the quality of your work therefore aiming for forums inline with the quality of your work will save you a lot of time. \nOtherwise, you can discuss with an expert (a professor or researcher in academia) who knows the forums and their qualities. If they can read your work that would make it easy to find the matching forum.</p>\n\n<p>These are just my suggestions, rest you know what is best for you. Good luck!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26234",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/922/"
] |
26,235 |
<p>As a student I had free access to thousands of scholarly articles through my universities in databases/archives such as JSTOR, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, Econlit, PubMed, etc, etc.</p>
<p>With no subscription, glancing at the full text of any 1 article costs anywhere from $20 to $60. </p>
<p>For any one project or paper I'd use at least five to ten papers and I'd skim over the full text of many more. For a meta-analysis of the literature, I'd go over dozens and perhaps even over a hundred papers.</p>
<p>As a non-student the cost is extremely prohibitive to continue reading past the free abstracts. I don't want to pirate the papers or give up reading them, but I can't find any reasonable alternatives.</p>
<p>Does anyone know of any monthly subscription I could sign up for to give me student-like/institutional access to papers? </p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Note:</strong><br>
A <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/27558/15723">community wiki answer</a> has been added to this question to provide a list of solutions to the problem.</p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26238,
"author": "Boris Bukh",
"author_id": 609,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/609",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ul>\n<li><p>Many papers are freely available on authors' websites, and preprint servers (use search engine to find those). </p></li>\n<li><p>Write to the authors, asking for copies. Majority of academics are happy when their work is read, and will send you a copy.</p></li>\n<li><p>Your public library might subscribe to more than you suspect. Check it out. When I was a student in a community college, my local public library subscribed to JSTOR for example.</p></li>\n<li><p>Become a student or an academic again :-)</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26248,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To add to Boris Bukh's suggestions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Many institutions grant library privileges to alumni, which might include remote access to the university's online subscriptions. You might get in touch with the librarian at your alma mater and ask if they offer such a thing. (In some cases you might be required to join the alumni association and pay dues, but this would probably be on the order of US$10-$100 per year.)</p></li>\n<li><p>Many universities open their libraries to the public. If you live near any university or college that has appropriate subscriptions, you may be able to just walk into their library, sit down at a computer, and download the articles you want. Then just put them on a USB drive, upload them to a cloud storage account, or email them to yourself. For older articles that aren't online, the library may have them in bound volumes; they may not let you check them out, but you can photocopy or scan any article you want.</p></li>\n<li><p>Institutional access to subscriptions is usually based on IP address - all computers on the campus's network have access. So if you still have a computer account at your alma mater, you may be able to log into it and fetch articles through there. You may even be able to set up a proxy/tunnel/VPN or something similar to let you browse from your own computer but have requests routed through your university account. For instance, if you have a Unix shell account, this is easily done with an ssh tunnel (but the details are beyond the scope of this site).</p></li>\n<li><p>If you have a friend who's still a student or faculty at your alma mater or elsewhere, you could ask them to download the occasional article for you. (This is probably not helpful for your 100-paper meta-analysis, unless they're a really good friend.)</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, as you've probably discovered, personal subscriptions are usually prohibitively expensive, and may have to be purchased individually for each journal, or at least each publisher.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26295,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ul>\n<li><p>Depending on where you are, you may have access through government-funded agencies (similar to public libraries).<br>\nE.g. in Germany, the <a href=\"http://www.dfg.de/\">DFG</a> purchases <a href=\"https://www.nationallizenzen.de/\">national licenses</a> for quite a number of journals, and you can register for that as individual (technically, it works via the university library of Frankfurt)</p></li>\n<li><p>Your library may be able to get the paper via inter-library loan for less than the direct purchase costs.</p></li>\n<li><p>Not only universities, but also research instutes have libraries. These are often connected to library networks and may have access to quite a number of journals. In my experience, even if you cannot become member of that library, it is often possible to go there and read journals they have (including making a copy) as well as download papers they have electronic access to.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26301,
"author": "dollabillz",
"author_id": 19911,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19911",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You could also check out <a href=\"http://www.academia.edu\" rel=\"nofollow\">Academia.edu</a> which encourages users to upload papers that are then made available for free to that community.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26312,
"author": "E.P.",
"author_id": 820,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/820",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are in the UK, then you may be able to get access <a href=\"http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/publishers-launch-free-journal-access-for-libraries/2010999.article\" rel=\"nofollow\">through your local public library</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26323,
"author": "Dennis Jaheruddin",
"author_id": 15990,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15990",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I believe the answer is fairly simple here. The subscription that you may be looking for may not be a specialized article service, but rather the university itself.</p>\n\n<p>Just find a university that has a good network, and register to do a course there. I believe some universities allow you to sign up for a single course, evening school or for a parttime scholarship, significantly reducing the costs.</p>\n\n<p>Of course you will need to check the legal requirements, but as long as you use your access for academic research I think you should be ok. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26379,
"author": "Bill Nace",
"author_id": 5762,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5762",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Depending on your field, the answer can also be to join a professional organization and subscribe to their digital library. As an example from my field, members of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) can purchase an annual subscription to the digital library, with access to every paper ever published in any of their publications, for $99. I imagine other fields may have similar deals.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27558,
"author": "Hack-R",
"author_id": 16159,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16159",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>A month after asking this question I randomly stumbled onto the type of solution which I was originally seeking -- open-market subscription based access to multiple journals and full-text article links from sources such as Google Scholar, PubMed, EconLit, etc.</p>\n\n<p>While searching for full text access to an article on Manufactured Environmental Toxins in umbilical cords I noticed that one of the full text options was through a service called <a href=\"http://www.deepdyve.com/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">DeepDyve</a>.</p>\n\n<p>It claims to be the \"Spotify of Academic articles\" (<a href=\"https://www.spotify.com/us/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Spotify</a> is a popular Internet radio app that lets you download and play music at will if you subscribe). Here is a <a href=\"https://library.osu.edu/blogs/techtips/2009/10/29/techtip-renting-scholarly-articles-through-deepdyve/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">somewhat dated review</a> from Ohio State's TechTip a la 2009. It's a $40/mo subscription plan for non-students like the institutional access you get within academia. I'm on a 2-week trial of it now.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, I'm still going to continue to make use of many of the other good suggestions and I'm on the lookout for other services like this to select from. </p>\n\n<p><strong>USE WITH ADDITIONAL SOLUTIONS</strong></p>\n\n<p>In addition to the service I found, I'm taking advantage of several other solutions offered. Even with the subscription-based service there are many papers and journals to which I do not have access and the follow suggestions remain vital:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Many papers are freely available on authors' websites, and pre-print servers (use search engine to find those).</li>\n<li>Write to the authors, asking for copies. Majority of academics are happy when their work is read, and will send you a copy.</li>\n<li>Your public library might subscribe to more than you suspect. Check it out.</li>\n<li>Many institutions grant library privileges to alumni, which might include remote access to the university's online subscriptions. You might get in touch with the librarian at your alma mater and ask if they offer such a thing. (In some cases you might be required to join the alumni association and pay dues, but this would probably be on the order of US$10-$100 per year.)</li>\n<li>Many universities open their libraries to the public. If you live near any university or college that has appropriate subscriptions, you may be able to just walk into their library, sit down at a computer, and download the articles you want. Then just put them on a USB drive, upload them to a cloud storage account, or email them to yourself. For older articles that aren't online, the library may have them in bound volumes; they may not let you check them out, but you can photocopy or scan any article you want.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><strong>LIMITATIONS OF THIS SOLUTION</strong></p>\n\n<p>The subscription-based service isn't a perfect solution. <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921/j-zimmerman\">@J.Zimmerman</a> points out that, unlike institutional access, you do not have the right to print or download papers. It's \"read-only\" access.</p>\n\n<p>The selection of journals is quite large, but still limited. My feeling is that it directly provides access to about the same selection you'd have with most universities, but unlike universities there's no inter-library loan or other work-around for when you do not have access. </p>\n\n<p><strong>AFTERWORD</strong></p>\n\n<p>As I use this solution more over the course of the next few days I'll update this solution with further limitations and I'll better integrate it with the other useful solutions which have been posted. I will also take a suggestion from the comments to make this a Community Wiki solution.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, I will also be on the look-out for any competing services like DeepDyve. Please update this solution if you know of any, so that we're not inadvertantly providing an advertisement for one arbitrary commercial service. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28813,
"author": "Franck Dernoncourt",
"author_id": 452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It turns out that a related survey was posted this week in <a href=\"http://blogs.plos.org/paleo/2014/09/18/paleontologists-access-non-open-access-literature/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">this PLOS blog post on how paleontologists access the (non-open access) literature</a>:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/igChf.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/fbsfW.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I put together an informal, non-scientific survey. The survey asked\n questions about how people access the literature, the kinds of\n journals they can access most easily, and basic demographics. I\n advertised the survey via Twitter and Facebook. I wouldn’t count it as\n a scientific sample by any means, but I do feel that I got reasonably\n good coverage of various types of paleontologists at various types of\n institutions (as well as non-paleontologists who follow the\n literature). 115 individuals responded, during the course of about a\n week.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26235",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16159/"
] |
26,241 |
<p>How do I know my results are significant enough to be published? </p>
<p>I am a physicist and I have found a very common mistake that appears in every paper in my area of interest. I thought it would be nice to let the people know it should be corrected. However, it is a very simple mistake, very basic math. I thought at first I could publish that as a short letter, but then I realized that I am unsure what actions the significance of the error(s) warrant.</p>
<p><em>How do I know whether an error is important enough to write a letter to the publication's journal?</em></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26242,
"author": "BPND",
"author_id": 17639,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17639",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should talk to colleagues from that area of interest to check whether it actually is a mistake or maybe a common generalization that, although not perfectly correct, is still 'good' in the systems that were discussed in the papers. Also writing a mail to the authors of said papers is a better idea before writing to the journals without any cross-check.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26245,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Many journals have special formats for such remarks, usually called <em>comments.</em> Though these are usually directed at single papers, there might be journals out there which do not impose such a requirement. Also, as such requirements are not carved in stone, you might just contact the journals which published most of the papers making the mistake whether they would consider such a comment for publication.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, you should ensure that the presumed mistake is really a mistake and not just notational sloppiness or a standard approximation (see <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/26242/7734\">BPND’s anwer</a>), which nobody wastes words about anymore.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, you might consider to not only mention the mistake but perform and report about some research and demonstrate or estimate the negative effect of that mistake and thus increase the impact of your publication. Also, to address one of your questions: The existence of such negative effects is a good criterion for the relevance of a mistake.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26247,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is where you define yourself. There isn't a right and wrong answer to be suggested. You're helping improve the wisdom contained within the Academic Establishment itself.</p>\n\n<p>Otherwise, I'd say you don't have to know. That's what the peer review process is for. But it might save you some time to use this radical tool of the Internet, whereby you can be in informal dialog with peers across the world.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26241",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19863/"
] |
26,251 |
<p>Can one list all the people who have written letters of recommendations for him in his reference part of his CV regardless to where those recommendations are written? Or he should specially prepare his CV for the company/university including only the reference people who have written letters of recommendation for him to that company not all of the people from whom he has recommendations?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26254,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Edited for clarity, since the question in the title is somewhat opposite to that in the body: do <em>not</em> list all your references on your CV. Only the ones who have written or will write to that particular potential employer. To list <em>everyone</em> might give several unfortunate impressions. First, that the potential employer can contact any one of those references directly. Second, if the prospective employer has received letters from some, but not all, they may think something's wrong... and one form of this is to consider your application \"incomplete\", but not inform you, and you miss the opportunity.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26286,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have never included references as part of my CV and rarely seen them in CVs that I've reviewed for admissions, hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions.</p>\n\n<p>CVs are a public record of your intellectual accomplishments. They are public, they are shared. They should not be tailored for jobs. See F.N.</p>\n\n<p>References should be in an addendum to the cover letter or a separate file. Including them is much more of a resume practice in my experience.</p>\n\n<p>F.N. some grant agencies, notably NSF, require abbreviated CVs with particular specifications. Also, some jobs such as at conservative religious institutions might warrant some straightening up of the CV, that is if you would want the position. Otherwise, in principle your CV is not a tailored document.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26308,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is certainly no reason that you should <em>every person who has ever written you a letter of recommendation on your CV!</em></p>\n\n<p>I have seen people who are on the job market list letter writers for <em>their in-process job search</em> on their CV. This seems harmless, but also unnecessary. The people who need to know who your letter writers will outline ways for you to communicate this to you (e.g., through a web form, through a list of letter writers, in the cover letter, or simply by seeing who sends in letters). It is normal to list your letter writers in your cover letter or, as requested in many job searches, in a document which contains the list of letter writers and their contact information. It simply does not need to be in the CV.</p>\n\n<p>Letters of recommendations, like other letters, are from the recommender to another person. They are <em>about you</em>, but they are not <em>for you</em>, and their mere existence is not something that belongs on your CV.</p>\n\n<p>You touch on the reason why in your question. The fact that somebody was willing to write a letter (which might have been glowing, luke-warm, or even critical!) does not mean that they would write a letter again today, or that they would write the letter same letter for a different position. If I have not talked to the student in 10 years, I would not write a letter for a start undergraduate who has since graduated with a PhD and is applying for tenure track jobs. The student may be great but my ability to sing their praises is not longer relevant.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26251",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
26,258 |
<p>A publication I submitted to said that I need to include a biography in the paper. I don't have many formal qualifications, aside from my degree. I have done my research on my own, and am unaffiliated. What can I put in the biography?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26260,
"author": "Chyper64",
"author_id": 19879,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19879",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you don't have strong qualifications or your own research history it is best to focus on your interests and goals. Think about these questions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>What have you done?</p></li>\n<li><p>What are you doing now?</p></li>\n<li><p>What do you want to do in the future?</p></li>\n<li><p>Why is this publication important to you?</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27213,
"author": "Oneira",
"author_id": 20371,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20371",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would check a few articles of the journal you publish in and look at what other author are putting in their biography. </p>\n\n<p>Mostly it will be about your degrees (BSc, MSc, PhD, when and where), the field of research you are interested in and what is your current occupation. In summary you can state anything that shows your experitise in the subject you are discussing in the paper.</p>\n\n<p>If no one but yourself paid you for the research, you can state it like:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>beside a job as <em>your paying job</em> he/she is working on <em>paper subject</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>or </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Since <em>date</em> has been working on <em>paper subject</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26258",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17694/"
] |
26,262 |
<p>I'm a PhD student working on a research project consisting of 2 teams. My team (team A) is on the practical side, we provide the problems related to our research and evaluate the theoretical solutions provided by the other team (team B).</p>
<p>Few months ago, I had an idea related to the work of team B and thought it would help to improve the quality of our research. I raised it during our project meeting but everyone was not interested and decided not to pursue it further. So, I decided to do it by myself. As the research was not in my supervisor's research interest as well, he did not pay much attention to it but still encouraged me to do it and publish a paper if possible. I occasionally gave him a brief progress update.</p>
<p>My effort paid off. I manage to publish a paper (in which I am the only author) and am planning to apply it into the project. At the recent meeting, members of team B were furious and accused me of bad teamwork as I did not inform them while working on something related to the project, especially when the idea belonged to their work, not mine.</p>
<p>I wonder if they are right and I should inform them my research, even though they were not interested at the beginning.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26263,
"author": "Nicholas",
"author_id": 1424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Congratulations on publishing a paper in the face of a lack of initial interest from Team B and your supervisor. That shows valuable tenacity.</p>\n\n<p>I think, however, that you should have informed Team B as your work progressed, and certainly before publication. It is quite likely that you would have convinced members of Team B of the value of your work over time, and perhaps been able to involve one or more of Team B in your research. </p>\n\n<p>From Team B's perspective, you have encroached on their territory, and published a paper which perhaps they feel they should have had a hand in (read: been co-authors of). Keeping all your team members informed of your work is good practice. Whether they should have been included as co-authors on your paper is a matter of your own publication policies. </p>\n\n<p>Did Team A know about your work?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26296,
"author": "Keith",
"author_id": 17846,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17846",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If they weren't interested when you brought it up initially, then they are in no place to cast judgment after you published it. This is, of course, based off of the fact that you brought it clearly to their attention from the beginning. You have no reasonable moral responsibility to keep updating them on it, especially as it starts to gain traction.</p>\n\n<p>They should only be mentioned if you gained specific knowledge that you otherwise would not have had without them from the beginning, but this is ignoring the fact that they initially rejected the idea.</p>\n\n<p>Congratulations on your publication.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26262",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12635/"
] |
26,273 |
<p>I am an Electronics & Communication Engineer and I want to pursue a masters degree. After completing the degree, I would like to work in industry with zero inclination towards a PhD.</p>
<p>I am considering two institutions and two possible specializations (e.g., VLSI vs. Signal Processing). I prefer one institution over the other because of its general reputation, faculty, placements, and lab facilities. I prefer one specialization over the other because of personal preference, prior knowledge in the specialization field, type of possible jobs, and placements in the specialization field. </p>
<p>Suppose I am offered acceptance into the more-preferred specialization at my less-preferred university, and the less-preferred specialization at my more-preferred university. </p>
<p>Which option will better position me for my eventual goal, of completing the masters degree and getting a job in industry? Which criteria is more important in choosing a masters program, the institution or the specialization?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26330,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If your interest is in \"industry,\" I'd choose a school based on the institution. Most employers look at that as the \"headline,\" and often \"gloss over\" the actual content of the degree.</p>\n\n<p>If your interest was in research, I'd go the other way and emphasize \"specialization.\" Because that is what research is basically about.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26331,
"author": "S.TAXIDIS",
"author_id": 19870,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19870",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>i would recommend specialization primarily because better knowledge of the subject and personal preference will most likely yield better results and though the institution name is a factor for job applications, being the best at what you do will always tramp the good reputation of an institution (this is my opinion IF the job supply in both areas of expertise is pretty much the same) </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26273",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12064/"
] |
26,276 |
<p>I graduated with a B.S. in statistics earlier this year and have been working as an actuary for the past two months. In all honesty, I'm not very happy with the job position in the little amount of time I've been working at it. I am very close to becoming a credentialed actuary (ASA for those of you who have heard of it) and anticipate making a decision on whether or not I should leave later this year. </p>
<p><em>My dream is to become an actuarial science professor.</em> <strong>I am really wondering whether I should pursue graduate school in statistics or just stick it out until I get a decade or so of experience (as every other actuarial professor I've seen has done)</strong>. </p>
<p>I do realize that the Actuarial Outpost exists, but typically, actuaries tend to discourage people who want to pursue Ph.D. degrees. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26330,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If your interest is in \"industry,\" I'd choose a school based on the institution. Most employers look at that as the \"headline,\" and often \"gloss over\" the actual content of the degree.</p>\n\n<p>If your interest was in research, I'd go the other way and emphasize \"specialization.\" Because that is what research is basically about.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26331,
"author": "S.TAXIDIS",
"author_id": 19870,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19870",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>i would recommend specialization primarily because better knowledge of the subject and personal preference will most likely yield better results and though the institution name is a factor for job applications, being the best at what you do will always tramp the good reputation of an institution (this is my opinion IF the job supply in both areas of expertise is pretty much the same) </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26276",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17476/"
] |
26,277 |
<p>Many people, including myself, are fascinated by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_%28conference%29">TED</a> speakers. They provide us a new perspective. For example, see the TED talk <em><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen">The best stats you've ever seen</a></em> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Rosling">Hans Rosling</a>.</p>
<p>However, when I talked about this to an anthropologist, he said that the statistics in this TED talk are unverifiable. He suggested that the speaker doesn't give us his sources, so therefore the talk is no longer a scientific talk. As a result, he suggested, real scientists are clever enough to stay away from these presentations.</p>
<p>Do TED talks have the necessary rigor and foundation to be citable in papers and other "scholarly" publications?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26278,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://www.ted.com/\">TED talks</a> are for popularizing ideas in science, technology and arts, as emphasized in their tagline:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Ideas worth spreading.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Very often they are a nice starting point to get interested into a certain idea and they serve as a general food for thought. </p>\n\n<p>However, don't treat them as revelations, since:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>they are not comprehensive (in 5-20 min you can't give a comprehensive introduction to anything (some things require hours to explain, others - years of studies); moreover, if a talk is for the popular audience (as in case for TED talks), many crucial details need to be simplified or dropped),</li>\n<li>it is not rare that the presented idea is not considered mainstream (they do value originality; sometimes minority ideas can turn out to be a gold seam, which needs audience, in other cases it may turn out to be incorrect or inconclusive).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So, if you want to use the content of TED talks for anything beyond discussions over a beer, do consult other sources (e.g. scientific papers by the authors and check if the they are recognized in their field).</p>\n\n<p>Also, very often checking out a relevant Wikipedia page gives insight into the status of a given view (is it present at all? is it disputed? is it this year's discovery or does it date back to ancient times?).</p>\n\n<p>Or, as you did, asking experts (sure, they can be wrong too, but at least can be more objective than in a 15 min pitch).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26279,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let us work out the following analogy: TED as a journal, Talk as a published article.</p>\n\n<p>When one meets a questionable article with unverified claims, they may of course doubt the conclusions. A usual thing to do then is to write back to the Journal and raise your concerns to them. The Editor may possibly come back to author inviting them to write an erratum explaining / correcting / substantiating the conclusions of the Paper. This process is known as \"scientific discussion\" and is a blood flood of academia.</p>\n\n<p>As long as the Journal maintains and empowers such procedure, I would see it as a completely trustworthy source, despite occasional mistakes and errors in published articles, which are probably inevitable in real life.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26281,
"author": "Penguin_Knight",
"author_id": 6450,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6450",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not exactly an answer to the question, but I'd just like to correct a factual error in the question.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The speaker doesn't give us his sources, therefore the talk is no\n longer be a scientific talk.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The time limit on TED talk probably prevents the speakers from disclosing all sources. I cannot speak for all of them, but at least for Hans Rosling (the one featured in your question), all the data source he uses are listed <a href=\"http://www.gapminder.org/data/\">here</a>.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>he said that these statistics are unverifiable</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This, I agree. Even sources are disclosed, we may not know if the sampling is well designed and executed, or if the measurement techniques are the most accurate. Some more exploration on our own in the data providers' site is perhaps necessary.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>And the real scientists are clever enough to stay away these bullshit\n presentations.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To be honest, I feel that your anthropologist seems no better. It takes only a few clicks to verify the data source, and yet instead of doing that, he/she decided to call the talk \"bullshit.\" I'd recommend you to be more careful about what he/she has to say on all other \"scientific matters.\" Better to verify them yourself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26291,
"author": "Robert Buchholz",
"author_id": 19905,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19905",
"pm_score": 8,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think you are asking two slightly different questions at the same time:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>“Are TED speakers and their ideas credible? (as in \"likely to be correct\")” I'd say yes, since TED's process for inviting speakers is at least as strict as that of many scientific publications. Most TED speakers are invited to speak at TED because they've become renowned scientists through their peer-reviewed publications.</p></li>\n<li><p>“Are TED talks scientific (as in \"usable to base your own science on\")?” Here the answer is definitely \"no\", for the reasons you mentioned: they lack the information needed to be independently verifiable.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Note that this does not mean that their content is wrong or unscientific; it just means that the talks are incomplete from a scientific point of view, and thus not by themselves verifiable. But most TED presenters will previously have published the findings they present at TED in a regular peer-review scientific publication in a scientific format. </p>\n\n<p>The bottom line is: you should treat TED talks like you should treat Wikipedia: use it to quickly understand new and interesting concepts. But before you actually apply one of these concepts, verify them using scientific literature.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26300,
"author": "Adam Davis",
"author_id": 11901,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11901",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>TED is Technology, Entertainment, and Design. While speakers may use science to illustrate their topic, and may be presenting some or all of a scientific presentation, this is not a venue intended to disseminate scientific information.</p>\n\n<p>Like Wikipedia, TED might be a place to provide pointers to the people, papers, and research that is ongoing in a specific area, but you should rarely find that the talk itself is a good source of scientific information. Generally such talks are snippets from experts, and what you really want is the expert or paper being discussed, not the discussion itself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26302,
"author": "dollabillz",
"author_id": 19911,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19911",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can only speak to my area of expertise (chemistry). That being said, some of the few TED talks on chemistry are \"far-out,\" to put it politely. </p>\n\n<p>For example, in this <a href=\"https://www.ted.com/talks/lee_cronin_making_matter_come_alive\">talk</a> (from 2011), the speaker proposes creating artificial (by that I mean inorganic-based, not the Craig Venter sort of thing) life (an idea that has been <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller%E2%80%93Urey_experiment\">pursued for decades</a>) in two years (skip to 14:00 for the Q/A). Needless to say, we still don't have artificial life (which is probably a good thing). </p>\n\n<p>Even optimistic experts agree we are many decades from approaching an understanding of how life emerges from a network of chemical reactions. </p>\n\n<p>In this context, I feel that TED talks offer anything from fantasy to reproducible scientific \"fact\" (or the closest thing to it), depending largely on the speaker (what their goals are) and what's \"marketable\" to the TED audience. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26450,
"author": "Steve Jessop",
"author_id": 11440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11440",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>So for a concrete case to consider, the first statistics Rosling presents are about relative child mortality rate in 5 selected pairs of countries. The second are the result of a small informal test of his own students' knowledge of the first.</p>\n\n<p>I don't think it takes an anthropologist to analyse whether Rosling's numbers are verifiable or not. He certainly does not provide evidence in the TED talk that they are correct, in that sense they clearly are not verifiable from the talk. If that's what your friend means then fair enough. A TED talk is <em>not</em> an academic publication.</p>\n\n<p>I'm not aware that the field of anthropology rejects <em>in principle</em> the notion of child mortality being a real thing. So Rosling's comparisons could be checked against other sources. It would not be appropriate to cite Rosling in a paper if you needed a source for the relative child mortality rates of those pairs of countries. You would go to WHO and/or national medical reporting, and pay close attention to their methodologies. In that sense they can be checked, and either verified or falsified. Will your friend give you long odds that Rosling has those pairs of countries in the right order according to WHO or his preferred source? Thought not ;-)</p>\n\n<p>Rosling also hasn't really demonstrated anything about the state of knowledge of Swedish students, although the insinuation is that he has. He (serious-jokingly) says that there's a role for him to teach them something. His small trial is sufficient to support his small claim. His methodology is simple and obvious enough that the test is repeatable with other groups. There's no problem of fundamental science here. I don't know (and I don't think it matters) whether he's ever published on that particular result, but it's probably never appropriate to cite <em>because it's such a limited and specific claim of no general interest</em>. And might be cherry-picked.</p>\n\n<p>Next he shows off his visualization software. The important thing to note here is that this is not an attempt to publish academic conclusions on fertility or life expectancy. He's using UN data (about which a great deal has been written elsewhere), to motivate the use of a particular tool, to combat what he believes are out-of-date general intuitions about that data. His hurried narration makes no scientific claims beyond the fact that a large group of what would be called \"developing\" countries used to have high fertility and low life expectancy, and now don't. And that AIDS reduced life expectancy in Africa. Neither of those is really controversial enough to really warrant further justification in this context: like the comparisons between pairs of countries it just provides something for you to go away and look up if you want serious corroboration.</p>\n\n<p>There is nothing really to verify or falsify beyond his claim that anyone holds this intuition about developing countries in the first place. That is substantial, it's presented as novel and, even worse than his informal student study, he doesn't quantify it, let alone support it. He's not properly publishing a scientific conclusion, but then I'm not persuaded that he's pretending to.</p>\n\n<p>And so on. In the next comparison US vs. Vietnam, I think he says \"by the end of the year\" when he means \"by the end of the decade\". Slip of the tongue, should <em>never</em> be allowed to stand in a carefully produced, copy-edited, reviewed scientific publication, but there it is. So in a sense, no, public speaking is not credible <em>at all</em> since such errors are far more common. In another sense, does this mean there's something wrong with public speaking?</p>\n\n<p>One cannot cite (or even trust) the content of a TED talk as if it were the content of a peer-reviewed journal. TED doesn't do that. Neither is there AFAIK any fact-checking other than what the speaker does or arranges. You can treat the content of TED talks the same way as you'd treat the content of any public address by that speaker. So if you were writing a paper that for some reason needed to know what Rosling specifically says in public, then using his TED talk as a source might be reasonable. Otherwise, not so much, but then why would you want to?</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>the talk is no longer a scientific talk, and the real scientists are clever enough to stay away from these presentations</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I think that's akin to saying that TV documentaries are not scientific talks and real scientists are clever enough to stay away from them. It's true that TV documentaries are not journal articles. It's true that there can be fakery and stupidity in their vicinity. However I don't think it's true that <em>no</em> real, clever scientist can get involved. They must distinguish the activities of \"publishing research\" and \"popular education\", and avoid claiming that one is the other, or applying the standards of one to the other.</p>\n\n<p>TED talks are as credible as the individual speaker. The fact that TED has \"chosen\" them should lend no authority at all but probably, unfortunately, does. As for the credibility of TED as a forum, I don't recall what wit here in the UK observed that the country has very many people who would turn down an honour in principle, but tragically are never offered one. I suspect the same may be true of TED -- there are various reasons you might not want to do it, among them that the content of the talks tends to be over-trusted by people who enjoy TED and its speakers. These reasons are not universally applicable, and in any case apply most strongly to those who won't be invited.</p>\n\n<p>Aside from giving talks, experts in the field might choose to watch or not watch the presentation on the same basis they choose any popular presentation of their field. On the one hand they might be interested to know what outsiders are hearing. They might enjoy the speaker. On the other hand, what are they going to learn? Everything shown will be either commonplace in their field or else the specific and perhaps controversial views of the speaker, that an expert could better assess by reading their publications than by seeing the simplified popular version.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26277",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14341/"
] |
26,288 |
<p>Some of the students are doing research in another language than English because they are living and studying in a non-English speaking country; they may be doing research in their mother-tongue language because they are studying in their own country or they are studying in another country in which the language is not English.</p>
<p>If these students have non-English language publications which are published or sent to a non-English conference/journal; Do these publications still have the same value in their CV when they are going to send it to an English speaking university/company? Or only publications in English are of value in those institutions.</p>
<p>PS: I think the situation is easier for the students having English publications in their CVs and want to send it to a non-English speaking university/company as they welcome and accept those publications.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26289,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In an academic mathematics context: it's not a question of English itself, neither of the paper itself nor of the journal, but of the reputation of the journal. At the very least, French, German, English, and Russian are languages in which there is a very well established mathematics literature. I think all the better mathematics journals accept submissions in English, French, and German, at least.</p>\n\n<p>It is true that perhaps one's paper will have the widest readership these days if it is in English, although 40 years ago anyone learning mathematics had to learn to read French and German, perhaps more than English, because the previous 150 years' mathematics was written primarily in those languages. </p>\n\n<p>It is nevertheless possible that a very provincial situation or person would have a prejudice about non-English (or non-whatever) research papers or journals, and there is little one can do to guard against this. </p>\n\n<p>It may also be the case that there simply are very few high-reputation journals published in \"minor\" languages, and this may be tangled up with the difficulty of readership. I do regret that I never learned Russian well enough to read mathematics in it. Similarly, there are many important mathematical papers published in Japanese in Japan, and I cannot read them. I would not be surprised to learn that the same is true in China, but I cannot personally certify this.</p>\n\n<p>But any reasonable scholar would certainly recognize the <em>possibility</em> that a good paper can be written in a language other than English. The question of its inaccessibility if written in a language not widely used in the subject at hand is different. Perhaps one could wonder about the <em>wisdom</em> of writing in a not-widely-read language, but, again, that's different from the science itself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26307,
"author": "Robert Buchholz",
"author_id": 19905,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19905",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Non-English publications will have significantly lower value in terms of reputation. This is because their target audience is usually very limited (often to a single country), while the target audience for English publications is usually the whole world. Thus, the reviewers of an non-English publication are likely to not be as good as for a typical English publication (since they were chosen from a far smaller pool of experts), and thus your publication may not have been evaluated as thoroughly. It also means that the number of rivals for acceptance was far lower than for international English papers, suggesting an overall lower quality of your publication.</p>\n\n<p>Note that these points hold even if the audience of your CV actually speaks the language the publications were written in. </p>\n\n<p>If - additionally - your CV audience does not even understand the language the publication was written in, then the value of these publications is even lower, as your audience cannot directly evaluate the quality of your contributions. In this case they may opt to use numerical metrics to evaluate either you (e.g. based on the <code>h-index</code>) or the journal/conference you published at (e.g. based on the <code>impact factor</code>), or they may decide to ignore non-English publications entirely. In my opinion, the latter is far more likely.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26340,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Of course they have value. If the journal or conference is not widely known in the country of the person reading the CV, then that person might find it hard to tell <em>how much</em> value to place on the publication. But you have two options: either you leave the publication off your CV and you're guaranteed to get no value from it, or you put it on your CV and get at least some value from it.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26288",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
26,293 |
<p>I am a student who graduated with a Master from a German university in April this year, <strong><em>majored in materials science</em></strong>, willing to further pursue a PHD degree in a European university (or possibly a university in the USA if I can not get anything in the EU). I have already applied to a certain amount of universities´ PHD studentship programs.</p>
<p>I admit that there hardly are positions exactly fitting the thesis work and research activity I had in my Master study program, because materials science is a very diverse and gargantuan subject. Each different university has its own research preference and inclination. Sometimes you may say you can find between 20%-40% overlap with your past experiences, including the similarity of research content, or the techniques being used. So I tried to apply to all of them, the replies were mostly like this: "You can not fit the best of criteria.." It has been several months, there is still no slight improvement of my application.</p>
<p>My GPA is 3.4/4 (no publications so far), but according to the PhD advertisements I have viewed, some universities have rules about the basic grade requirement you need to have for PhD enrollment, some do not have. The universities I had finished my Master and Bachelor study have certain reputation in their own region or country. My Master degree is Master of science(M.Sc.), Master thesis is about metal-oxide nanostructures synthesis and its application (basically using different approach trying and trying again, compare the final results), on the one hand I am afraid of the simple and even boring thesis work could give people wrong impression about my research experiences that is poor and rudimentary, Professor will have some doubts about whether I am truly quantifying to do some sophisticated PhD work, on the other hand, if I stick to doing metal-oxide fabrication research or related in my PhD study, you need to have solid background in chemistry, which also is what I am lack of. </p>
<p>Unfortunately I do not have too much contact with my professor (thesis advisor) except having some discusses related to my Master thesis, because our group is very big one and each PhD student is responsible for supervising master students for their thesis work, so Professor could have time and energy doing other things, I only asked my professor for recommendation letter once, maybe I also need his suggestion about my applications.</p>
<p>After I have accepted some rejected letters, I started to think which kind of project could fit my profile, not only I can be accepted by them but I can also enjoy my project and stretch my muscle, doing some useful in materials science field. </p>
<p>Sometimes I am confounded by various projects and their fancy names offered in the webpages, and do not know what to do next. but I still have a dream about one day I could leave my fingerprints on the TEM machine and my thoughts on the scientific papers.<strong><em>If you are a PHD student (have successful application experiences) majored in materials science or related area, I kindly ask for suggestion (any suggestion and any opinions will be useful to me).</em></strong></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26294,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As for the question in your title (which originally was: \"Is it really that difficult finding a funded PHD position?\") the answer is it depends on the field and the country. As an engineer, in countries with a well-developed industry, the job opportunities for graduates outside academia are good, thus diminishing the competition for PhD positions. This being said, a grad student is not just hired to lay bricks because there is a wall to be built. It represents a substantial investment for professors who will thus rather have no student than a not-so-good one.</p>\n\n<p>To the point, previous experience in the specific field of the PhD study is almost never a requirement, so I doubt it's the limiting factor in your case. Your grades might be though, or your written english proficiency, but these are guesses.</p>\n\n<p>I think your strategy might be inefficient. From your text it sounds like you sent a large number of applications and are waiting for someone to bite the bait. A personal interaction with people in the labs you are interested in would be a better approach, for example via an internship or a visit, if you can afford it.</p>\n\n<p>So I would narrow it down to a few places where you really would like to work, gather the reasons why you like them, and start establishing a contact via email, say what you like about their approach or research topic and how you think you could fit in. They will then be able to let you know what is needed to be accepted in the graduate program (note that you will still have to comply to the department, university or graduate school requirements in order to be accepted).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26320,
"author": "xebtl",
"author_id": 17811,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17811",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I am surprised there has been no mention of your Master's thesis advisor. Judging from my humble experience, your advisor's support can be <em>very</em> important for finding your next position.</p>\n\n<p>This support could come from their scientific network (e.g. by establishing contact to a group you want to apply to), writing letters of recommendation, or even just looking over your CV and cover letter. They will know better what a “good” application should look like in your field.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, all that is assuming that you have a good working relationship to your advisor. If not, maybe another professor / experienced researcher would be prepared to help you. You say you already graduated in April, so I do not know how much contact there has been since then …</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26350,
"author": "user1798812",
"author_id": 19476,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19476",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You yourself know what you are falling short of! You have specified yourself about your interests, your research work till today and expectations. You would score an accept letter if you apply to a PhD position that better suits your profile and your future expectations! It is like finding a job. You cannot be a doctor if you studied history!</p>\n\n<p>Yes, PhD admission is competitive. It depends on you whether to make it difficult or easy. The PhD programmes are looking for researchers who deserve to be in that place, not for random people asking for acceptance. Your graduate advisor might help with the selection and application. The PhD supervisors during your MS thesis, might also be good guides. Identify the weaknesses of your profile and improve them before you fall into the abyss of rejection into PhD!</p>\n\n<p>Wish you the best!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26474,
"author": "user20087",
"author_id": 20087,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20087",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Mostly depends on your GRE score (if below 1000, try again), and your letter of intent. Add those up with some good recommendation letters and it should not that hard to get a scholarship (unless you are aiming for top 10 schools).</p>\n\n<p>The topic of your MSc is not the limiting factor, looking at your courses list, they should get an idea of your background and educational knowledge. Maybe it is good to contact the professors that you are interested in first, and afterwards let them know that you will apply. Worked for me.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26293",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19904/"
] |
26,297 |
<p>I am finalising a paper that is around 85 pages long. It consists of six main sections with a bunch of subsections. Should every subsection start on a new page? What is the convention concerning this? And should a subject also start on a new page after an introductory paragraph of its parent section? For instance:</p>
<hr />
<blockquote>
<p>3. Balloons are funny</p>
<p>In this section I will first present reasons why balloons should not be used on occasions that are depressing. For
instance, bringing balloons to a funeral will not cheer people up.
Secondly I will discuss different colours that can lead to different
reactions. As an example one should not bring red balloons to a bull
pen. Lastly I will make clear why clowns should always have balloons
with them as to not come across evil.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><-- PAGE BREAK? --></p>
</blockquote>
<p>3.1 Balloons are not a go-to cheer up tool</p>
<p>When confronted with a sad or depression situation, a first reaction might be to try and
cheer everybody up. One should be careful with the methods he uses
though. Do not tell a joke about cancer patients if someone just
deceased after months of chemo. Do not bring balloons to a funeral.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<p>Hopefully this ad lib writing makes my question clear. (If it is any help, my institution uses APA as a style guide.)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26298,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Depending on the length and complexity of the work, you choose the top level sectioning.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>For <strong>short works</strong> -- scientific paper, lecture notes < 80 pages, etc., you in general use only <strong>sections</strong> and lower.</p></li>\n<li><p>For longer works -- thesis, long lecture notes, books, etc., you in general use <strong>chapters</strong>, <strong>sections</strong> and lower.</p></li>\n<li><p>If your <strong>long work has multiple sort-of separated parts,</strong> you can add <strong>parts</strong> -- notice, however, that usually, part numbering is independent. Therefore for instance Part I contains chapters 1, 2, 3 with some sections, and Part II contains chapers starting from 4, ...</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Now, the standard way to go is to start parts and chapters on a new page, and leave sections running through the pages.</p>\n\n<p>Needed to say, most standard publications (articles, conference abstracts, theses, books by standard publishers, ...) have to comply with some guidelines provided by the publisher, and these guidelines are usually very restrictive.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 167471,
"author": "Jeromy Anglim",
"author_id": 62,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, publishers (e.g., books, journal articles) and universities (e.g., theses) have style guides. They vary in the degree to which they provide comprehensive recommendations (e.g., about exactly when to insert a new page). In the absence of any style guide from the publisher, or where the style guide does not provide direction, many disciplines have style guides (e.g., APA style). And beyond that, you can probably infer rules from conventions or use common sense about clarity.</p>\n<p>Here are some general rules that I have seen regarding page breaks:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Chapters start on new pages. This is true whether it is a book or a thesis.</li>\n<li>Sections of a journal article or chapter rarely start on a new page either at submission stage or in the final formatted manuscript.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>In APA Style, when you are preparing a manuscript for journal submission. Abstract, Introduction, References, Appendices, Tables, and Figures all start on new pages. Other subsections (e.g., Method, Results, Discussion, etc.) do not start on new pages. Note these rules (particularly regarding tables and figures) are different when preparing an APA style thesis (e.g., tables and figures would typically be presented in text and not on new pages).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26297",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7121/"
] |
26,310 |
<p>While it is generally accepted to write papers using the collective we, what is a common practice for writing peer-reviews: I, this reviewer, or something else?</p>
<p>For example,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This reviewer has a minor concern with how pink elephants are defined in this paper. It would have been helpful if authors defined an elephant first, and then added the color pink.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I have a minor concern with how pink elephants are described in this paper. My recommendation is to define an elephant first, and then add the color pink.</p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26311,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you're writing a review that will be read only by the editor, you can use \"I\", but if you want to simplify the editor's life by giving them something to cut-and-paste, or forward, to the author:</p>\n\n<p>In English, in mathematics at least, the contemporary style for publicly-consumed reviews seems to be to refer to oneself, the reviewer, as \"this reviewer\". Thus, \"in the opinion of this reviewer...\", \"this reviewer cannot understand why the author is so dense...\" :)</p>\n\n<p>There are some observable exceptions, where a reviewer is enough of a big-shot to not merely \"suggest\" that the author has erred, but to be snarky about it, and in either first person, or an exaggerated third-person. My own opinion is that it is not nice to do this. That is, a forthright voice is best, and choice of voice not depending on status is tasteful.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26313,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I recommend the first person. Like most good linguistic constructions, the reader passes over it without explicitly noticing it, whereas your first construction with "this reviewer" holds up the entire mental process for a split second.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/26311\">The idea of</a> using the third person to "soften" the criticism: well, Paul Garrett knows how much I esteem him, and we usually see eye-to-eye on things. But this time I simply disagree. The reviewer is empowered -- nay, enjoined -- to supply an opinion on the work. If you want to shade your opinion, explain very carefully and explicitly why you are doing that. Switching to the third person should not convey that you are less sure of yourself, and it does not convey that to my ear.</p>\n<p>[Imagine my answer began with "This academic". Wouldn't that have been more distracting?]</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26328,
"author": "Federico",
"author_id": 9621,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9621",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have a third take on the issue: this is not about the reviewer nor the author, is about the work and as such, I think that it should be the subject of the sentence:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The paper could benefit from a redefinition of pink elephants, possibly defining elephants in general at first and then by adding the color pink</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In my opinion this has the benefit of making the review less personal and make it come through as more objective.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26310",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19732/"
] |
26,326 |
<p>I'm looking for an M.S. in Computer Science and I found it difficult to properly navigate all the available degrees. I'm interested in a particular focus (computer graphics, not modelling and that kind of stuff but how to do use algorithms in order to create graphics). I also have some constraints on language: I currently speak both Dutch and English, so no German or French master's for me.</p>
<p>There are other questions on this site about <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5300/methods-for-finding-graduate-programs-for-specific-areas-of-research">finding graduate programs</a> and <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/19732/where-to-find-curriculum-for-a-specific-program">their curriculums</a>, but I'm mainly looking for quick preselection (like a top 30 of options I have). I'm looking for a overview of courses as it enables quick elimination which if I have to wait for each uni to answer will take quite a long time</p>
<p>Is there any website or other online resource that will allow me to filter all M.S. programs by my requirements (language or country, research focus) and then find out information (such as the list of courses that comprise the degree) about the programs that meet my criteria, all in one place?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26335,
"author": "JuliandotNut",
"author_id": 11191,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11191",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The most useful I found (which also helped me finding one for me) is <a href=\"http://www.findamasters.com/search/courses.aspx?DID=5\" rel=\"nofollow\">Find a masters</a>.</p>\n\n<p>It does let you select a country of your choice, provides a summary of program where courses list, research focus and other things important are mentioned.</p>\n\n<p>It also lets you filter by program type (Dip, Cert or degree), by study plan (part time, full time etc) and more.</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, it also provides a link to university website so you can go there easily for complete details if you like the description.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26938,
"author": "vsingh",
"author_id": 10075,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10075",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Have a look at this site <a href=\"http://studyn.us\" rel=\"nofollow\">study in us</a></p>\n\n<p>They are still in early stages but have most of the information you need.\nYou can filter the colleges based on your requirements and find more details about each college.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26326",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19941/"
] |
26,337 |
<p>My PhD Supervisor asked me to submit one of my work at an upcoming International Conference. He is amongst the program committee members. I was having a look at its committee members, the Advisory committee etc. It boasts of researchers from reputed Universities- with some of them quite well established (I know some of them personally). Further, the conference is happening for the 6th time. </p>
<p>However I found it quite strange that they are organizing the conference without any branding of IEEE/ACM etc. behind them. The proceedings of the conference will be compiled on a CD-ROM. This obviously means that if my paper gets accepted there, it is not going to be archived with IEEE-xplore or ACM digital library. Google may index it because they <em>may</em> put the PDFs on the conference's website, but that PDF exists only as long as the website for the conference exists. </p>
<p>The question in my mind: Is such a publication <em>bad</em> for a PhD student? If I put this work on my CV, nobody can find it on the Internet (except on my personal website or archived on arXiv). Then where is the <strong>credibility</strong> that work was actually peer-reviewed and published at an International Conference? </p>
<p>And what about <strong>copyright</strong> issues? The website says nothing of it. These are a group of researchers from different parts of the world coming together to organize a conference. There is no organization like ACM or IEEE behind them. So I am assuming that the issue of copyright transfers may never arise. Does that mean I can submit this work to other venues as well (since exclusive copyright are never transferred)?</p>
<p>Truly speaking, the only reasons I am going for it is because (1) my Supervisor wants me to, and (2) selected high-quality papers will get the opportunity to submit extended versions to special issue of a SCI journal (which is great for me!). </p>
<p>p.s.: In case it matters: until the past year, it was being organized as a 'workshop'. This is the first time they are calling it a conference and have a Journal extension. </p>
<p>p.p.s: My field is Computer Science.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26338,
"author": "Orion",
"author_id": 19732,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19732",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that is very field-dependent. In my field there are two conferences that are not affiliated with IEEE. They are both small, highly-specialized, and very prestigious to get your papers in. One of them does publish the proceedings in a book with a highly-reputable publisher, the other one publishes the papers online only. Still, they are well-known and well-regarded in the field.</p>\n\n<p>The bottom line is that you need to know your field. It certainly might be a red-flag, but not necessarily. The conference is as strong as its PC and its acceptance criteria. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26343,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Not being affiliated with an organization such as the IEEE or ACM is not, on its own, a bad sign. For example, what is currently the <a href=\"http://computationalcomplexity.org/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">IEEE Conference on Computational Complexity</a> has decided to end its affiliation with the IEEE and go solo; the <a href=\"http://makingsocg.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/results-of-the-vote/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Symposium on Computational Geometry</a> likewise just left ACM. STACS is also unaffiliated.</p>\n\n<p>It's not great if the proceedings are <em>only</em> distributed on CD. On the other hand, if you're already going to be preparing a journal version (and you should!), that will completely supersede any conference version, anyway. I would never read a conference version (\"extended abstract\") of a paper if a full version was available: in my area (theoretical CS), the conference version generally has the proofs missing and the peer review isn't very rigorous.</p>\n\n<p>STACS publishes proceedings through Dagstuhl, which is basically a computer science conference centre in Germany and has close links to DBLP. In this case, copyright is retained by the authors. Note that, regardless of who owns the copyright, most CS conferences won't accept papers which have either appeared at another conference with published proceedings or have been submitted to such a conference. You don't get to double-dip your papers.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26337",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5851/"
] |
26,339 |
<p>I want my thesis to be the best it possibly can be. My supervisor is away for one month right before my thesis submission. Is it inappropriate or poor etiquette to ask another professor in the field who has shown interest in the topic to read the paper and offer any suggestions? This other professor teaches at a different institution, and will not be part of the panel or defence process.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26346,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you have an existing relationship with this professor, you could ask, but be prepared to hear \"sorry, I don't have time\".</p>\n\n<p>If this professor is a stranger to you, this is probably an unreasonable request.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26347,
"author": "mhwombat",
"author_id": 10529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10529",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would ask the other professor, but I would phrase it in a way that makes it clear that I'm not expecting them to proofread the entire thesis. Perhaps you could say something like \"You expressed an interest in my research, so I wanted to give you a draft of my thesis. Perhaps it might be of interest to you or one of your students. And of course, If you have any comments or suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them.\" They probably will read it and give you some comments, but they won't feel under pressure to do so.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26368,
"author": "adipro",
"author_id": 10936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the other professor has expressed his interest in reading your thesis and is willing to do it, I don't see why not. It is better to have someone read your work out of interest rather than obligation. But it is also a good idea to let your supervisor know about it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26371,
"author": "WoJ",
"author_id": 15446,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15446",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I depends what that \"lack of knowledge\" means:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>is it an attempt to hide the fact? Then it is fishy</li>\n<li>or just \"I will not bother my supervisor with this\". </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I have been on all the sides of this situation.</p>\n\n<p>As a student I did not tell my supervisor that I was showing my thesis to someone else because I knew he would not care to know and would have encouraged me to do so (to get comments, ideas, ...). He was an excellent supervisor: present and active when I needed him and siding away when I was moving full speed ahead, sometimes against his recommendations. When one of these \"without his recommendation\" (\"against\" is maybe too strong a word) turned out to be a good idea he wrote himself off the paper I was publishing (he was second author) because he said he was not convinced at the time and that I should get all the praise. I am glad I met him.</p>\n\n<p>I was also asked several times to have a look at a thesis. To be frank I never thought of asking the student whether his supervisor was OK or not with that because I did not think about the possibility of being against (and the associated reason).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26339",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19963/"
] |
26,354 |
<p><strong>Background:</strong> I started my Ph.D two and half years ago in engineering/computer science field. I was pushed by my supervisor into a direction which he thought would be good (He switched directions and he knows nothing about the field, just because there were better prospects for getting grants). I never felt connected to the field and he never received any grants to study it. </p>
<p>I switched a year ago to a subject that I feel passionate about and started reading lots of literature. I have done some work and submitted (rejected at first, resubmitted and waiting). </p>
<p>So now I have completed 2.5 years in the program and no publications at all. I even find it very hard to find new novel ideas in my field as it is been actively researched for 10 years and it seems to me as if almost everything is already done but that is a different issue.
I am afraid I won't get enough publications in time before the Ph.D time limit expires. </p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong>
Is it normal to be 2.5 years into Ph.D and have no publications?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26363,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>One word. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Yes !</strong></p>\n\n<p>It is absolutely normal. I am a doctoral student in, what is arguably a top 5 CS department/top 5 HCI program in the USA.</p>\n\n<p>Although, I had a handful of publications <strong><em>before</em></strong> I started my doctoral program, my first \"real\" paper (in a top flight venue) with my adviser was published more than 2.5 years after I joined the program. I had published a couple of workshop papers/posters in those years with <strong><em>other graduate students</em></strong> but the acceptance rates for them, even in highly ranked conferences, are pretty high so that doesn't really account for much. These had nothing to do with my dissertation but were just some side projects that we did.</p>\n\n<p>Most of my colleagues and friends/acquaintances in similar programs in similar universities were in similar situations in that time. It takes time to read literature, come up with a compelling and important research question, design a study/prototype/system/algorithm, write the paper and most importantly, get it published.</p>\n\n<p>Do not be disheartened. The quality of papers matter, not the quantity when it comes to being evaluated by search committees. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26364,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would say it can be normal to have no publications until you're done with your PhD, and then your dissertation counts as your publication. There's nothing wrong with having no publications beforehand. These are often obsessions for university Deans and perhaps Admin, but they are not directly connected with the pursuit of knowledge or a Doctor of Philosophy. </p>\n\n<p>In other words one can pursue knowledge without publishing anything. Further, a lessor degree does not say that you are ready to publish and contribute your own work to the corpus of the Establishment -- that SHOULD be saved until after you are rewarded the degree. The degree then acts as a badge you've earned as a member of the community.</p>\n\n<p>Save publications for your career. Better to focus on making your PhD count for something, so that when you do get the award, you have something real to contribute to centuries of knowledge accumulation in Academe.</p>\n\n<p>[Edit: for those arguing that it's accepted practice to dilute the publishing industry to meet your program's requirements, why don't you solicit your University to start the <em>Journal for \"Paper's Required towards my PhD\"</em>.]</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26374,
"author": "Dylan Richard Muir",
"author_id": 19984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19984",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, it's definitely normal.</p>\n\n<p>It can take time to find the topic that's close to your heart. Once you find a topic that motivates you, the publications will flow.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 55276,
"author": "Fábio Dias",
"author_id": 41208,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/41208",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I wouldn't say it is normal, I would say it is not <em>that</em> big of a problem, but certainly not desirable. </p>\n\n<p>It would be good for you to push harder and try to publish <em>good articles</em> now. And it seems you are already on this path.</p>\n\n<p>I finished my phd with only one conference paper, and that was far from ideal and it did get in the way, a little...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 55279,
"author": "Earthliŋ",
"author_id": 41580,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/41580",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My impression is that \"in the olden days\", it was normal that the PhD thesis was the first publishable research one produced. But as academia became more and more competitive, many advisers became aware of the fact that for their students to be considered \"doing well\", they should publish before the end of their PhD. Some people publish preliminary results of their PhD research, only to quote them later in their thesis.</p>\n\n<p>I would say that at a broad range of universities, advisers are looking to help graduate students publish as soon as possible. (But most advisers also know that giving a publication \"for free\" doesn't help develop the research attitude of the student.)</p>\n\n<p>Still, I've seen in various places the practice of letting a student carry out some easy calculation, which becomes part of a more advanced paper, which the student may not actually fully understand. But still the student is listed as co-author. This is supposed to prepare the student for \"research\" and it may be considered part of the \"learning experience\" to present this paper at seminars or conferences.</p>\n\n<p>In this way some Master's students have a (usually joint) publication with their adviser (and possibly other students). In particular, this means that, by year 2.5 of their PhD they have at least 1 or 2 papers.</p>\n\n<p>This practice seems to be common enough for interviewers to not even ask about joint publications of graduate students (maybe unless they are in top journals). (I've been interviewed for funding and my interviewer asked me \"So, I saw on your CV that you have a singly-authored paper...\" ignoring my B-grade journal joint publication.)</p>\n\n<p>In that way \"The System\" knows about smart advisers. Now, advisers are trying to help students prepare singly-authored papers (or \"first-authored\" papers, depending on the field). The motivational barrier is now much higher, of course, since the adviser won't be listed as co-author. One pay-off for the adviser would be to increase his citation count by having the paper cite the adviser's papers.</p>\n\n<p>(My personal impression is that \"paper count\" is a very poor measure of an application, but I also think it often still serves as a \"rough first approximation\" to the research ability of a student.)</p>\n\n<p>To sum up, I think by now <strong>it is rather uncommon for a graduate student to have <em>no</em> publication by 2.5 years PhD</strong>. Many Postdoc positions in my field (Mathematics) are not filled with <strong>Post</strong>docs, but rather <strong>PostPostPost</strong>docs. Having no publications, or even just one publication resulting from your PhD work, I'm guessing it might prove rather difficult to find a job in academia.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 55290,
"author": "Peter Bloem",
"author_id": 6936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6936",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was in the exact same situation (also CS) and I would say that <strong>it is both normal and cause for concern</strong>. So there's no reason to take it personally, or to start worrying about your abilities, this happens to many people, but it is a situation that needs to be resolved. From now on, your number one priority should be to get a paper, put everything else on hold. Don't worry about getting enough papers, worry about getting one.</p>\n\n<p>You have something under submission, so the odds are you'll get it accepted somewhere pretty soon. However, if you don't, I would recommend trying to find someone with experience who can coach you hands-on. Find someone who can read your draft in detail and tell you what needs to be done. 2.5 years with no publications is usually a sign that the supervisor is not paying very close attention, and it may be good to find someone who can pay close attention to you, at least for a bit. Getting a paper past reviewers is a strange, dark art, and it really helps to get some intense supervision for your first attempt.</p>\n\n<p><strong>edit after comment</strong>: Two further tips to help your situation:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Idea generation is a skill and you can work on getting better at it. \n[<a href=\"https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mr-personality/201305/training-creativity-0\">1</a> <a href=\"https://www.ted.com/talks/shimpei_takahashi_play_this_game_to_come_up_with_original_ideas?language=en#t-33569\">2</a> <a href=\"https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=creative+thinking+exercises\">3</a>]. If you're not generating ideas, tackle that problem head-on. Don't think of yourself as a non-creative person, and don't blame your subject: there are always exciting directions if you look hard enough.</li>\n<li>Try to write a <strong>collaborative paper</strong>, ask a postdoc or a fellow PhD in your group to do some brainstorming, and to find an idea that you can work on together. That way, the work becomes less lonely, and you have at least one other person who cares about it. It might be a little scary to initiate something like this, but if the alternative is working by yourself for the next 2.5 years, you may consider stepping out of your comfort zone a little bit.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26354",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15328/"
] |
26,355 |
<p>I want to do phd in organisational behaviour. However, I am confused about how to chose a topic. </p>
<p>Beyond <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/117/how-to-find-a-good-topic-for-a-phd-research-proposal?rq=1">general strategies for choosing a topic discussed here</a> are there any specific strategies for choosing a PhD topic in organisational behaviour?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26360,
"author": "Jeromy Anglim",
"author_id": 62,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>Find a supervisor</h2>\n\n<p>A supervisor will typically help you refine your PhD topic.\nSo the first step is to identify researchers in organisational behaviour in universities you are able to attend. It of course helps if you have an understanding of the area that you want to work in so that the supervisor can see the alignment with their research interests.</p>\n\n<p>In general, organisational behaviour researchers go by a range of names and appear in a range of different departments. \nLook beyond organisational behaviour to also examine areas like human resource management, management, and industrial/organisational psychology. You may find such people in management departments, business schools, I/O psychology programs, as well as a range other areas.</p>\n\n<h2>Get to know the literature</h2>\n\n<p>Read journal articles in the field to get a feel for what is current. Some of the highest impact journals related to organizational behaviour include:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Journal of Applied Psychology</li>\n<li>Personnel Psychology</li>\n<li>Academy of Management Journal</li>\n<li>Academy of Management Review</li>\n<li>Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes</li>\n<li>Administrative Science Quarterly</li>\n<li>Journal of Management</li>\n<li>Journal of Organizational Behavior</li>\n<li>Organizational Research Methods</li>\n<li>Journal of Vocational Behavior</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Attend major conferences to network and get to know what are the current issues.\nSome of the biggest conferences are SIOP and Academy of Management in the United States.\nHowever, there are many other conferences depending on your specific interests and where you are in the world. For example, Australia has an I/O psychology conference every two years.</p>\n\n<h2>Learn about practical problems</h2>\n\n<p>Organisational behaviour is an applied field. It aims to improve the performance and well-being of workers and organisations. So, it helps to learn about the practical problems that people in organisations are experiencing. </p>\n\n<p>You can gain this experience in a range of ways. But in general its helpful to actually work or consult related to your area of interest. Talk to practitioners such as consultants, managers, and so on.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26361,
"author": "user19932",
"author_id": 19932,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19932",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The ideas suggested in your link assumes that professors have the time, are willing and are interested to refine your topic. In my view, this assumption does not hold, 99% of the time. Even if they are willing, they will try to convince you to shew towards their area of research. Before coming to that point, you need to present your argument for your area of interest and try to convince the other person. I recommend that you explore journal articles until you find a research gap in the literature reviews, findings and limitations sections. In my case, none of the professors I approached were in my field of interest. And they did not have time to talk to me nor were willing take on additional students. </p>\n\n<p>Also, get to know more academics in the field by engaging with them through forums, emails, university open days, etc. They could also be useful contacts or references during the course of your study. With dedication, you are bound to achieve a breakthrough. Although a title is important, be prepared to revise it during the study period. Its findings, publication of a similar study, etc may influence the change of title. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26355",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19965/"
] |
26,370 |
<p>I am writing a physics paper, and I have decided not to write down explicit equations I have found since they are incredibly long. Instead I just report plots showing the behaviour resulting from these equations.</p>
<p>Is it deprecable to say something like the following?</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have found analytic results, but we do not report them here for sake of brevity.</p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26372,
"author": "Dylan Richard Muir",
"author_id": 19984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19984",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Can you add an appendix to the paper? If not, I think whether it is reasonable to add the statement you proposed depends on how central the analytical results are to the findings in your paper.</p>\n\n<p>If the result isn't important, I think what you propose is fine.</p>\n\n<p>If the analytical result is crucial, then you need to think very carefully about making the result available to a reader -- maybe an extended version of the manuscript on arxiv? Or on your website?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26373,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Idealistically, a paper should aspire to contain all the information required for reproducing its empirical results and verifying its deductive results with reasonable effort. Just writing the suggested sentence, however, does not allow for this, as someone would have to redo your work on finding those equations from scratch.</p>\n\n<p>This may drastically reduce the usefulness of your paper, as it unnecessarliy increases the amount of work other people have to put in using your results and decreases their perceived soundness (see <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat's_Last_Theorem\">Fermat’s Last Theorem</a> for an extreme example). This may also be harmful from an egoistical point of view as it does not improve your popularity amongst others in your field and you may receive less citations.</p>\n\n<p>Depending on how exactly your equations were derived and look like, the following ways to include or not include them may be appropriate:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><blockquote>\n <p>From [equations derived in the paper] we can obtain closed solutions for [variables] using [standard technique or computer algebra system], which we use in the following.</p>\n</blockquote></li>\n<li><blockquote>\n <p>From [equations derived in the paper], we obtain closed solutions for [variables] (see Appendix X).</p>\n</blockquote></li>\n<li><p>If the target journal does not allow for appendices and has a content limit (in which case it will usually be a letter journal), the following may be acceptable:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>From [equations derived in the paper] we derived analytical results for [variables]. For brevity’s sake, these results are not given here and will be published elsewhere.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Something similar may also be appropriate if you are publishing in a journal of another discipline, e.g., you are publishing in a medical journal as your equations are relevant for an imaging technique.</p>\n\n<p>Either way, it should go without saying that publishing the results elsewhere should be a realistic endeavour and actually be intended. Also, if you are not giving too much away, it would be better in terms of soundness and acceptance to actually publish your analytical work first.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>As always, you will likely get a better answer from someone familiar with your work and field, such as your supervisor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26407,
"author": "David Zwicker",
"author_id": 17974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17974",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was in a somewhat similar position some time ago and decided against publishing the analytical results, since they were too long. Essentially, I was solving a linear system of equations with Mathematica, which can produce horribly long equations, which are hard to analyze any further. Also, computers might actually be faster in solving the initial linear system numerically, then evaluating long arithmetic equations. For these reasons, I did not stress that I could have written down the solution in analytical terms in the paper. I just gave the linear system and said that we produced the plot from its solutions.</p>\n\n<p>In summary, I doubt that the result is crucial, when the analytical equations are several pages long. That being said, if you can make the equations available (preferably in some electronic version, since nobody is gonna type them into a computer), that is certainly a good solution.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26408,
"author": "Matt Reece",
"author_id": 6108,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6108",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You might want to consider attaching a Mathematica notebook to the arxiv submission, which is something I've been seeing relatively often lately.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26370",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19983/"
] |
26,388 |
<p>I emailed my professor about two weeks ago, but there was no response to my first email. I sent a follow up, and got a reply saying they'd be happy to write one for me on the following weekend. I waited, the weekend passed, and nothing happened. I followed up again, and again no response to my email. </p>
<p>Now I am thinking to call as a reminder. My professor has written many recommendations on my behalf, and my guess is that it didn't get done due to laziness or forgetfulness. Now we have a long holiday coming for the next ten days and I want a recommendation as soon as possible. Is it appropriate to call on the weekend given the fact that it was said that it could be written one a previous weekend?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26389,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No -- it's totally inappropriate.</p>\n\n<p><br></p>\n\n<p><br></p>\n\n<p><br></p>\n\n<p><br></p>\n\n<p>Seriously. Think about it. Unless you're at a school where profs phone grad students at their home on weekends to inquire about a late paper, it's totally inappropriate. </p>\n\n<p><br>\nNote: Many grant agencies / admissions committees know that we (the faculty) are thorough flakes and couldn't be trusted to tie our own shoelaces in the morning. They usually give a few days of extra time for faculty references to come in after the deadline. Others, however, are very strict on deadlines and thus faculty need to be properly shepherded into getting their materials in time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26390,
"author": "JuliandotNut",
"author_id": 11191,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11191",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well based on your past experiences you know your professor better. One of mine does miss many of my emails and another responds even at night or on holidays. So it's probably more of a habitual thing (considering most professors are busy but not all respond late) than ignoring you specifically for some reasons.</p>\n\n<p>A reason for delay might be that he forgot your credentials and needed some time to look at those again, to write a more accurate recommendation.</p>\n\n<p>A suggestion I would like to make though, use a mode of communication that this professor likes more (mine likes skype and responds quickly on those messages).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26391,
"author": "Orion",
"author_id": 19732,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19732",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are going to call on a weekend, call his office phone and leave a message there. Then he can check the voicemail if he chooses to. </p>\n\n<p>When following up on these things, it is always good idea to ask if you can provide any additional information.</p>\n\n<p>Btw, keep in mind, you can express your concern with the delay of your letter, remind them of the deadline, and offer to provide information. But you cannot require it done this weekend. This person is doing you a favor and nothing obliges them to write one for you this weekend, or ever again.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26394,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No. In the cultures and universities I'm familiar with, <strong>it is never appropriate to call your professor's personal or mobile phone</strong>. It would be very unusual even to call his/her office phone.</p>\n\n<p>And if you ask in person instead of by email (in the first place) you're more likely to get what you want. You're asking a busy person to devote a significant amount of time and attention to do you a favor, with no compensation. In most cultures, asking in person shows that it's important.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26433,
"author": "Lodewijk",
"author_id": 18361,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18361",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When in doubt: no. But it depends on the teacher. And often fortune favors the bold and the brave. If you can get away with it, and it helps you get the recommendation, why not?</p>\n\n<p>\"Professionalism\" is still secondary to results. Besides, if you have his cell number it is already a kind of permission. I mean it, you should only have gotten it to use it. Go for it, apologize for calling on the weekend to keep connected, proceed to give nothing but a gentle reminder (of your deadline/how nervous you are about getting all the documents together), that's it. Won't hurt either of you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26453,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As to professionalism, in the real world would you phone your boss on a weekend to remind him that he did not do something that he was supposed to do (such as email HR on your transfer)? No, you'd wait until Monday.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 56791,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 43121,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43121",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>On the converse. I once had a professor be relatively upset that I didn't call, after finding myself last second in a tough spot. There is an appropriate time and place to call, and some professors will be more okay with it than others, but I would only suggest you go through with it if they know you well.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26388",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18244/"
] |
26,392 |
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:COI#Writing_about_yourself_and_your_work" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia rules</a> about citing yourself state:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Using material you have written or published is allowed within reason, but only if it is relevant, conforms to the content policies, ... and is not excessive. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While the Wikipedia rules allows self citation, is it ethical to self cite?</p>
<p>Short example: there are two good papers on the same topic, <em>A</em> and <em>B</em>. Is it ethical for the authors of paper <em>A</em> to include a reference to A and not B in the "References" section at the end of the article even if it is not cited in the article. On Wikipedia, it is pretty common for things to be just listed at the end and not mentioned in the article itself.</p>
<p>My questions are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>At what point is it appropriate to edit references to my own papers/preprints into Wikipedia? (Maybe even add a paragraph claiming the same breakthrough I claim in my own paper.)</p></li>
<li><p>What should one do when noticing that otherwise unknown and very new preprints pop up as (uncited) references in Wikipedia articles?</p></li>
</ul>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26393,
"author": "Trylks",
"author_id": 7571,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ol>\n<li>it should be peer-reviewed, otherwise wikipedia would be working nearly as a primary source (anyone could write something on a blog and use it as a reference, laughable).</li>\n<li>once it's peer-reviewed, the references should be reasonable, they should support what is written in wikipedia and what is written should have a general interest in the article itself. Maybe many people would see my paper on topology if I put it in the Pope's article, but that's basically vandalism.</li>\n<li>every paper has a set of references and describes the state of the art in some area, some of those references may be self-references. That is mostly the type of content that should be provided in wikipedia.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>it has never occurred to me that there's a high potential of the same\n kind of abuse by academics.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><em>If well used</em>, this should be helpful for both academics and wikipedia.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26406,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>Never.</h2>\n\n<p>Let someone else do it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26409,
"author": "NoName",
"author_id": 20016,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20016",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should cite your own work if it truly adds to the quality of the Wikipedia article. It's true that it's in one's self-interest to get the publicity you described from having one's work cited on Wikipedia, but it can also be constructive. After all, who is going to know the subject better than the person who wrote a peer-reviewed journal article on it?</p>\n\n<p>If it really is shameless and unethical self-promotion, people will see it and know, and so will the Wikipedia admins, who will revert it with prejudice.</p>\n\n<p>Even though Wikipedia has rules against original research, once research is peer-reviewed and accepted by the scientific community, it doesn't really matter who adds it to Wikipedia. An example of a scholar writing about his own work can be found at <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wheel_theory\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wheel_theory</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26410,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think this question really has two parts, the <strong>ethical</strong> question and the <strong>practical</strong> question.</p>\n\n<p>First of, the <strong>ethical</strong> question. Let me say that I am surprised that you see the issue whether it is <em>ethical</em> to self-plug your work on Wikipedia as an entirely different issue than whether this is <em>allowed</em> by Wikipedia policy. Wikipedia is a private web site run on private donations, and is entitled to define how they want to do things around their piece of the web (much like we do here at Stack Exchange, to the chagrin of plenty a new user). I think it is impossible to argue that it is ethical (for academics or anybody else) to (mis-)use their service in a way that violates their own rules for your personal gain. Hence, to answer your updated question:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>It's a question about what is considered ethical in academia</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is not, precisely due to the reason that you say you are not interested in: <em>it is not allowed by Wikipedia</em>. It cannot be ethical to use their service, but don't consider their rules.</p>\n\n<p>Second, your question also has a bit of a <strong>practical</strong> part. You claim that it should be really easy to self-plug your work on Wikipedia, and that it will be hard to trace and prevent. (You also seem to imply that this impact on the ethical question, which I think it has not - whether something <em>can</em> be done is pretty much irrelevant to whether it is ethical to do it)</p>\n\n<p>I have a bit of a case study for this. A large European research project I was involved with some time ago once got asked by its reviewers to add their own papers and other outcomes to relevant articles \"to increase visibility\". After some internal discussion, the project obliged and started with some really defendable and arguably independently useful edits (taking very stubby articles and improving them with peer-reviewed content from our own papers, and adding references). <em>All of those changes were rolled back within minutes</em>, with the explanation that the edits looked too much like self-advertisement. We tried again, even more conservatively, and the same thing happened again. It turned out that the self-policing in Wikipedia works <em>much better</em> than anybody in the project anticipated. We gave up on the issue quickly.</p>\n\n<p>The morale here is just that Wikipedia is aware that people could try to do this (and I am sure many do), and are very vigilant. I am sure you are able to edit in your links given enough energy, but it may be much harder than you imply it is.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26414,
"author": "A.Schulz",
"author_id": 1467,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1467",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The three columns of wikipedia are <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:V\">Verifiability</a>, <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NOR\">No Original Research</a>, and <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NPOV\">Neutral Point of View</a>. In my opinion (and this is established in a large part of the wikipedia community, imho), you should avoid adding your own citations, since it is hard to have a neutral point of view wether your citation is really that important. </p>\n\n<p>What you can do instead (and what I have seen), is that you suggest adding your citation (or some paragraph about your work) at the <strong>talk page</strong> of the article. Have patience and see how other react to your suggestion.</p>\n\n<p>If on the other hand you see questionable sources, you might remove it. But again if you feel unsure if this is appropriate use the talk page of the article.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26525,
"author": "Neil Strickland",
"author_id": 12638,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12638",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you think that an article of yours would be a useful reference, you can mention it on the Talk page for the relevant article or an associated Wikiproject, and suggest to other editors that they consider adding it to the main article.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41834,
"author": "Daniel Mietchen",
"author_id": 11244,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11244",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A few thoughts:<br>\n* having expertise in the subject of a Wikipedia article is (or at least should) be welcome;<br>\n* that expertise may well be exercised through detailed reviews of the article on its talk page;<br>\n* references not cited in the article text have a lower probability to stay for long;<br>\n* references supporting statements made in the article are most needed;<br>\n* if one of your papers qualifies for supporting such a statement, suggest the edit on the talk page first, and if nobody objects within a week or so, feel free to do it;<br>\n* apart from supporting statements in the Wikipedia article, images or other media from your research article might be useful as an illustration in one or several Wikipedia articles (including in other languages); this only works with openly licensed stuff (see <a href=\"http://tools.wmflabs.org/glamtools/glamorous.php?doit=1&category=Open+access+%28publishing%29&use_globalusage=1&ns0=1&depth=5&projects[wikipedia]=1&projects[wikimedia]=1&projects[wikisource]=1&projects[wikibooks]=1&projects[wikiquote]=1&projects[wiktionary]=1&projects[wikinews]=1&projects[wikivoyage]=1&projects[wikispecies]=1&projects[mediawiki]=1&projects[wikidata]=1&projects[wikiversity]=1\" rel=\"nofollow\">overview of such uses</a>; link loads slowly);<br>\n* there are ways to write an entire paper such that it can be published as a Wikipedia article (<a href=\"http://wikiambassador.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2014/03/28/publishing-scholarly-wikipedia/\" rel=\"nofollow\">details</a>);<br>\n* there are ways to follow added or removed citations systematically (<a href=\"http://events.labs.crossref.org/events/types/WikipediaCitation\" rel=\"nofollow\">example: DOIs</a>)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26392",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19997/"
] |
26,398 |
<p>Background: My supervisor wants to quit my supervision due to reasons beyond his control. He suggested few colleagues to replace him. My only concern is that I be asked to switch my current research direction to meet that of my potential new supervisor. I have spent considerable amount of reading and review, designing simualtors and coming up with new ideas and I don't want to restart all over. I found a co-supervisor who is closely related to my field and agreed on supervision (He is not affiliated with my university anymore though), but still need a main supervisor. </p>
<p>Question: Am I obliged to restart over and lose all my reserach?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26403,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are not obligated to start over. Talk to your provost or ombudsman if there isn't an immediate/good replacement. Your school has some obligation to fulfill it`s end of the bargain. </p>\n\n<p>By telling your situation to them, they might be able to help the existing professor stay, or at least suggest the right direction for you to pursue.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27356,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The few times I've seen this happen, usually the new advisor in your home department is willing to let one continue on with the same research project. Beware that you'll have less support from your advisor than you might have had otherwise, but if you have strong people in the field outside your university, as it sounds like you do, then you should be ok. Another thing to beware is that your advisor's letter of recommendation is going to be crucial if you apply for postdocs or other academic positions down the line. Having your advisor not really know your field, or understand your work in depth is likely going to lead to a much shallower, less effective letter simply because your new advisor won't be able to speak with the same degree of knowledge about what exactly your contribution is. </p>\n\n<p>So, you're going to have to weight these two potential cons against the cost in time and effort of simply starting over from scratch with a new advisor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 94016,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's really simple:</p>\n\n<p><strong>If your supervisor can no longer supervise you, you can continue the same work with another (willing) supervisor.</strong></p>\n\n<p>I suppose there are some corner cases where this would not be possible (e.g. only old supervisor had the relevant equipment, or the research heavily depended on his/her involvement). But these things are not uncommon. And while the university/deparmtent may or may not <em>help</em> you find another advisor, they will certainly not be against it.</p>\n\n<p>Caveat: I have not actually verified this is the case in many universities, this is a local experience + common sense answer.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26398",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15328/"
] |
26,401 |
<p>Many times while reading papers (especially engineering), many concepts, algorithms or results are taken for granted because they are already established in research. Sadly, at this point, many are not even referenced directly or some authors refer to other publications which use them. Is there a good and a fast method to find the original paper?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26402,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The best way is to talk with your professors. They should be familiar with established research and the people who originated novel ideas.</p>\n\n<p>Failing that, using your skills at research at your library or asking a reference librarian to help you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42091,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here's the (horrible cheating) method that I use: if something is so well established that people don't bother referencing the original paper, then there's a good chance it's got an article on Wikipedia or Wolfram Mathworld or some other reference site. The references of such an article often include the original paper, but even if they don't they usually include something close enough in time that it <em>does</em> actually reference the original (or at least something closer to the point).</p>\n\n<p>In many cases, however, you may not actually <em>want</em> the original: as the original becomes better understood, its presentation is often made much clearer and more succinct, and later textbooks or reviews may actually be the right source to point people at. For example, consider the difference between Newton's calculus, and calculus as it is now taught to undergraduates.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26401",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15328/"
] |
26,404 |
<p>Does anyone know of a good way to obtain data on the number of publications per year on a given subject? Scholar has an option to sort search results by date, but there does not seem to be an automated way of generating a report. In the worst case I will write a script that extracts the data I need, but perhaps someone knows of another system that offers such a facility? Thank you.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27822,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't know of a solution for arbitrary field and subject; I suspect none exists at present. But in mathematics, you could at least easily check how many publications there are each year in a given AMS subject classification.</p>\n\n<p>For instance, <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/search/publications.html?pg4=AUCN&s4=&co4=AND&pg5=TI&s5=&co5=AND&pg6=PC&s6=05C30&co6=AND&pg7=ALLF&s7=&co7=AND&Submit=Search&dr=pubyear&yrop=eq&arg3=2005&yearRangeFirst=&yearRangeSecond=&pg8=ET&s8=All&review_format=html\" rel=\"nofollow\">this search result</a> shows that 23 papers were published on <em>Enumeration in graph theory</em> in 2005. <strong>Note</strong>: you may need a subscription to access that link.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27838,
"author": "Jeromy Anglim",
"author_id": 62,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<h3>ISI Journal Citation Reports</h3>\n<p>ISI Journal citation reports might give you some useful information (your university may have a subscription).\nIt allows you to browse citation reports by subject category (i.e., discipline). It includes things like impact factor, total counted citations, total articles in the focal year.</p>\n<p>You can then click "view journal summary list" which will give you an overview.</p>\n<p>For example, here is sample output for psychology in the 2013 JCR:</p>\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/ddKiD.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\" /></p>\n<p>Of course, this only includes articles in journals indexed by ISI.</p>\n<h3>Publish or Perish Software</h3>\n<p>More generally, you might want to check out <a href=\"http://www.harzing.com/pop.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Publish or Perish</a>. It is free software for Windows and OSX that provides a way of searching Google Scholar particularly suited to bibliometric analysis.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 170671,
"author": "QuantumJesus",
"author_id": 142418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/142418",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"https://app.dimensions.ai/discover\" rel=\"noreferrer\">dimensions.ai</a> automatically generates a plot of such information when you search for papers on it. I've found it very useful myself.</p>\n<p>(I know this is an old question, but I'm adding this answer just in case someone comes across it.)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26404",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20011/"
] |
26,415 |
<p>I am looking for Research Methodology textbooks in the field of Computer Science. Most books I came across are useful to social science, economics etc.</p>
<p>In our part of the world a person who wants to do research should study a course in research methodology. But most books in research methodology are from social science, economics perspective.</p>
<p>Would like to know some from technology/computer science/engineering perspective. Some must read books for general reading also would be good </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26636,
"author": "Norbsen",
"author_id": 20132,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20132",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Research methodologies are usually independent of your area. Often, the application of some methods and the examples used to describe them differ depending on the area. For example, empirical research is a methodology that can be applied whether you do research in CS, psychology, or physics. This methodology teaches you how to conduct experiments that are sound (by minimizing different threats to validity) and how to analyze the data in a statistical way (e.g., when to use which statistical test to accept a certain research hypothesis). \nIn medicine, you might conduct experiments to analyze the effects of some drugs whereas is CS, you would do some performance experiments to analyze the effects of some optimizations. The methods used in both areas are the same, the application might differ largely though. </p>\n\n<p>Hence, it would not harm to study a text book from psychology / statistics, because the tools you learn there are also valuable for CS (e.g., knowing the difference between qualitative and quantitative research or descriptive and analytic). Furthermore, there is no CS-methodology (at least I am not aware of). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26657,
"author": "Smarzaro",
"author_id": 20236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20236",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://www.elsevier.com.br/site/produtos/Detalhe-produto.aspx?tid=3815&seg=3&isbn=9788535235227&cat=8&origem=Busca&tit=METODOLOGIA%20DE%20PESQUISA%20PARA%20CI%C3%8ANCIA%20DA%20COMPUTA%C3%87%C3%83O\" rel=\"nofollow\">This book</a> is \"research methodology for computer science\". It's a quick and easy read that clarifies many issues specific to the computer science field. The problem is that it is available only in Brazilian Portuguese, as far as I know.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/26
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26415",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/123/"
] |
26,416 |
<p>It is quite common in almost all position opening announcements in academic institutes to demonstrate EXCELLENT teaching capabilities. For instance sentences like below:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Applicants are expected to demonstrate excellent undergraduate and graduate teaching capabilities </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But the question is HOW to demonstrate that excellence? Is just listing subjects taught during last couple of years sufficient? I guess we can use teaching statement or teaching philosophy to demonstrate that ability too. But, what type of sentences show that excellence in teaching statement?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26421,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is a great question that I have asked myself in the last several years and I'm also looking for an informed answer. In the mean while, I have come up with an idea to demonstrate my teaching abilities to potential employers: </p>\n\n<p>After graduation, I taught several graduate courses mainly on mathematical analysis, such as measure theory, harmonic analysis, C*-algebra. Based on these experiences, I have written a lecture note on C*-algebras which is available in arXiv. I thought if a serious employer really wants to evaluate my teaching abilities, nothing speaks better than my lecture notes.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26464,
"author": "Adrienne",
"author_id": 13729,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13729",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my department (biology, at a large public research university), applicants give a job talk in addition to a research talk. They also provide a statement of teaching philosophy.</p>\n\n<p>An applicant demonstrates excellence by:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Providing a teaching statement that discusses evidence-based teaching theory and gives an example or two of how the applicant has applied this (\"Even in large lectures, students should spend time discussing the concepts they have just learned. I incorporated the use of clickers to expose a common misconception before each new topic, and had students work in groups to find the best answer.\")</li>\n<li>Preparing and delivering a job talk that a) demonstrates competence with the material, b) shows you are able to ask and answer \"student\" questions from the audience, c) incorporates at least a smidge of student interaction, and d) actually fits in the time allotted</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I suppose if there is no job talk scheduled, an applicant might prepare as if there were one and be ready to discuss how they would teach topic X, with examples.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37316,
"author": "J3lly",
"author_id": 27732,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27732",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my university, we have a quality system and part of this is the collection of student feedback. The feedback is gathered systematically and in an unbiased manner. </p>\n\n<p>When applying to other positions we can refer to this feedback in <em>stating excellent undergraduate and graduate teaching capabilities</em>. The hiring body can contact our university/faculty/department to verify and receive a document regarding this.</p>\n\n<p>Further, this is also used as basis for gaining additional, teaching skill based, percentages in ones salary.</p>\n\n<p>When properly implemented, I think this is a great system.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: forgot to mention the most important thing: We were struggling with the same issue as in the question and we suggested and implemented the feedback gathering as a partial solution to this.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/26
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26416",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6393/"
] |
26,417 |
<p>I am currently writing the introduction to my PhD thesis and have one specific doubt about how to include or cite a review article that I have published with jointly with my supervisors.</p>
<p>In my opinion, a review article and the thesis introduction are quite similar - they review a specific field for fellow researchers. It's very difficult to make a summary of a review, given that it is already quite densely written. What would be the best manner to include my own text from the review in my thesis?</p>
<ul>
<li>Paste the review paper it as introduction chapter (with journal layout) ?</li>
<li>Mention that this introductory chapter has verbatim extracts from my review and cut and paste the most important parts ?</li>
<li>Summing up and rewording large parts of the review paper and avoid self-plagiarism?</li>
</ul>
<p>Generally, my university allows to include my papers that are already published in the thesis, but the guidelines do not elaborate much more as I guess everybody assumes that research papers are pasted as result chapters. I have talked with several people (including PI, secretaries). I'd just like to consult the opinion of people outside my everyday universe. I am curious on what you have to say, thanks.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26580,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I suggest that you implement Option 2, but with some modifications.</p>\n\n<p>Prior to the review sections of the Introduction chapter, you should include a sentence like this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The material in Sections X through Y of this Introduction draws heavily on the author's previously published literature review (citation).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Then, when you add the material from your literature review, <em>do not</em> simply copy-and-paste. Instead, you should modify or add text to relate this literature to your thesis, to your methods, to your decisions about scope and approach, and so on. Tell the reader in every sentence and every paragraph <em>why</em> this part of the literature is or is not important to your dissertation.</p>\n\n<p>With this approach you avoid any problems of self-plaguarism because you give full citation at the start, plus you aren't doing simple copy-and-paste.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26587,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Generally speaking, the academic community does not consider it to be self-plagiarism to use your own previously published writings as part of your thesis, provided appropriate references are given. You can summarize or reword if you wish, but it is not necessary for ethical purposes.</p>\n\n<p>Whether your institution, or the journal where you published your article, will allow this is a question that only they can answer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26590,
"author": "user3624251",
"author_id": 19803,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19803",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would add the whole review into your thesis. Directly into the introduction, but it depends on your country or field specifics, too. You shouldn´t of course only paste it, but make for example an empty page where you will write only the bibliographical informations and than paste your review like an \"offprint\". So anybody who will read your thesis will note that there is some \"special\" chapter, allready published.</p>\n\n<p>Another possibility is to mention it in the introduction, maybe paste the abstract into and add your review as a supplementary material at the end of your thesis. If somebody is interested in it, than he will find it at the end of your thesis and you don´t have to rewrite and rephrase it. You already done that work (I mean the introduction into your field) and the prove is that it was published!</p>\n\n<p>And do not forget to mention the \"amount\" of authorship, in percentage or with list of chapter of that review written by you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 155357,
"author": "Sara",
"author_id": 129443,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/129443",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As others said, schools usually do not mind students to include their own articles, including reviews in their thesis. After all, they do not want to discourage students from publishing. Many universities these days allow students to just put their exact published papers as different thesis chapters and add a bit to intro and conclusions chapters to show how the papers are connected. My school specifically was fine with doing that and it was what I did. The problem I faced was my review paper was copy-righted and the publisher did not give me the permission to make it public in my thesis (something to keep in mind and put as a condition when submitting papers (for students) that is keeping the right to put their work in their thesis). Long story short, my school had a solution that was, I copied and pasted my review paper as intro (of course citing it) when I was about to send my thesis to my examiners. After my thesis was accepted the school allowed me to remove the bulk of intro, include a few short paragraphs to summarize it and mention one must check the full text in the journal.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/26
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26417",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20024/"
] |
26,419 |
<p>I have recently read the following statistics in the book "The Survival of a Mathematician: From Tenure to Emeritus" by Steven G. Krantz, which seems a little odd:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is a hard fact that more than 90% of American Ph.D. mathematicians
never write a paper. Of those who do, most write just one paper based
on the Ph.D. thesis and that’s it. Nothing more.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I have seen several new PhD's (graduated in Canada, US, or Europe) with no publications, but my estimate for the rate of such fellows was way more optimistic than the above quote. So, I would like to know: </p>
<p><strong>How accurate is this statistic? Is it documented anywhere?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Are there similar statistics about Mathematics PhD's in other countries?</strong></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26424,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As much as I enjoy Krantz's work on the whole, this sentence strikes me as not really qualifying as \"hard fact.\" On the other hand, I think part what may be throwing you off is that he says \"Ph.D. mathematician\" not \"new Ph.D.\" So, he's including mathematicians who graduated long ago (one of the issues with \"hard fact\" status is that it's unclear how far back he's going. To the first Ph.D. awarded to an American?), at a time when mathematicians were under much less pressure to publish. </p>\n\n<p>For new Ph.D.'s this number is surely false. 10% of the Ph.D. graduates of American Ph.D. programs (from 2010) is about 160. That's half the number that are employed immediately after graduating at PhD granting institutions in the US. I find it hard to believe that half of those people will never write any published papers, and I know for a fact that lots of PhD's who are employed at bachelor's institutions or go on to other kinds of work have at least one publication. The numbers above come from the <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/2010Survey-NewDoctorates-Report\">2010 AMS Annual survey</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26471,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There have been several papers analyzing the data from the Mathematical Reviews database (MathSciNet). One of them is <a href=\"https://www.siam.org/pdf/news/485.pdf\">Patterns of Collaboration in Mathematical Research</a>, Jerrold W. Grossman, <em>SIAM News</em> 35, 2002. That paper gives a distribution of number of papers by author. It confirms that 42% of authors in the database have 1 paper. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26830,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I sent an email to Professor Krantz mentioning the present discussion and asking him whether his numbers are \"supported by published or rigorously gathered data, or your own observations, or are simply meant rhetorically\". Here is his response, posted here with his permission. </p>\n\n<p>Summary: he does not appear to have data at hand to support those numbers, but he believes they are accurate.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Dear Nate,</p>\n \n <p>Your question is a good one. </p>\n \n <p>Certainly my statement is well supported by my own personal\n observation---after forty years in the business. But I have seen\n sources even recently that say pretty much the same thing. I'm sorry\n that I can't say what those sources are.</p>\n \n <p>You can think about the matter this way. The vast majority of\n academic jobs in this country are at what we call comprehensive\n schools. And those are places where teaching is the thing.<br>\n Generally speaking, people don't do much research there. They have to\n publish a paper or two to get tenure, and those papers tend to be\n fairly close to the thesis. But then that's about it.</p>\n \n <p>A lot of other people get jobs at the National Security Agency, or Los\n Alamos, or another government think tank. Generally speaking,\n publishing is not the thing there either. Sometimes people publish in\n special classfied government journals.</p>\n \n <p>Other people get jobs at Microsoft or Hewlett-Packard or what have\n you. And publishing is not the thing there either.</p>\n \n <p>Those of us who are lucky enough to be in math departments at true\n research universities are definitely in the small minority.</p>\n \n <p>I believe that, at the time I wrote those words, I consulted some\n people at the American Mathematical Society and they had data to\n support what I was saying.</p>\n \n <p>Feel free to quote me to others if you wish.</p>\n \n <p>Best,</p>\n \n <p>Steve Krantz</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 57387,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To test Krantz's assertion for recent Ph.D.s from U.S. universities, one can use statistical sampling. The American Mathematical Society published a list of <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/2014Degrees.pdf\">2013-2014 doctoral degrees in mathematics from U.S. institutions</a>. Selecting random names from this list and checking the obvious places for papers should give a good estimate for what percentage have written at least one paper by a year and a half after graduating.</p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, I don't see a good way to sample uniformly from this list, without some counting or approximations. Instead, I flipped through it and grabbed ten names from near the centers of the pages, about three pages apart (in a 31-page document). This isn't a particularly careful sampling technique, and it presumably introduced some bias, but it should suffice to detect anything occurring 90% of the time.</p>\n\n<p>For each of the ten people I selected, I looked for mathematics papers on Google Scholar, the arXiv, a home page, or MathSciNet. I did not count the dissertation itself, and I was prepared to exclude anything that appeared to be undergraduate research but this turned out not to be an issue. The results were as follows:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Six people had publications in journals.</p></li>\n<li><p>Two more had papers they described as accepted by journals.</p></li>\n<li><p>One listed a conference publication. Web searches make it clear that this paper exists (and it has been cited by another paper with disjoint authors), but I could not find a copy online.</p></li>\n<li><p>For the remaining person, I found no evidence of any papers.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I was surprised at how high the percentage of people with publications was, and perhaps it indicates that my sample was not so representative. However, it appears that even people working in teaching-only jobs or outside academia are likely to write at least one paper.</p>\n\n<p>If anyone carries out a more careful study of this issue, I would love to see the results.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/26
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26419",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
26,423 |
<p>I graduated from a European University with a Bachelor of Science Degree (Engineering Degree) and I'm about to move in the United States.
My specialization/ major would be Telecommunications Engineering. </p>
<p>What is the US equivalent of this ? I've noticed US colleges usually have EE(Electrical Engineering programs), which is the closest I've found.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26425,
"author": "user8001",
"author_id": 8001,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8001",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Electrical engineering and (when it exists) electronics engineering usually cover telecommunications, as well as many other topics. Undergraduate degrees in NA are usually broader in scope than those in Europe.</p>\n\n<p>But it wouldn't try to change the terminology of your own major: keep it as telecommunications engineering if that's what it is, and everyone will understand.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26428,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The closest you're going to get is Computer Engineering. Most universities will have classes on networking, but you'll have to look for those with telecom. Otherwise, if you want to specialize in telecommunications, your best bet is probably a trade school.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26437,
"author": "Daniel",
"author_id": 20041,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20041",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Electrical and Electronic Engineering usually refers to building electrical devices like computers, or cellphone networks.</p>\n\n<p>Computer Science usually refers to using computers, especially programming.</p>\n\n<p>I hope this helps clarify some terminology.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/26
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26423",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
26,430 |
<p>I'm taking a two day workshop at a technical institute, the instructor has said that all accredited courses must have final exams. Fair enough. </p>
<p>Since this is such a short course the exam will be on the same day that we are also being presented new material. This seems very strange to me, to be given an exam after approximately 5 hours of both lectures and labs throughout the day. That being said, I have a lack of academic experience, so I would like to hear from you. </p>
<p>Is this a common practice to have lectures and labs on the same day as an exam (of the same class)?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26431,
"author": "Chris C",
"author_id": 7745,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7745",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The university I'm at recently had a class with lecture in the morning, lab that afternoon, exam an hour after that, then a quiz the following morning in lecture, and finally a recitation that afternoon. Summer semesters tend to be like this as they are shorter in length than a fall or spring semester. No one is happy with it, but it's what needs to happen to cover all the requisite material.</p>\n\n<p>What would typically happen during a regular semester is that labs can't be moved or adjusted, but usually the following lecture is either shorter of cancelled if it is the next day and the lecture the day of the exam is mostly review. But I must point out it is at the discretion of the professor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26454,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have not met this scheme for university (or univerity-alike) courses*, </p>\n\n<p>but I have met it for professional training courses and other crash courses that lead to an exam (e.g. intensive courses leading up to exams you're required to take by law in order to be allowed to do/handle certain things). </p>\n\n<p>However, for those courses </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The curriculum is defined, definitive, and well-known </li>\n<li>Exams required by law often have lists of accredited questions which are available. It is sometimes even recommended to study these catalogues as preparation for the exam.<br>\n<a href=\"http://blak-uis.server.de/servlet/is/2146/P-4a.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">(example)</a> </li>\n<li>And the course materials are usually distributed well before the course. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>* Years ago I attended a summer school where I cannot remember whether there was an exam at the end or not. However, the certificate doesn't have grades, so if there was an exam, that would have been more a check for ourselves how good the understanding of the covered subjects was.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/26
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26430",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
26,434 |
<p>Do many universities allow students to get a PhD in mathematics without publishing a paper?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26435,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is typical in the U.S. that mathematics Ph.D. students do not publish anything at all prior to earning a Ph.D., I think even at the elite places. Publication per se is not such a high priority, nor over-literal gauge of accomplishment, as it seems to be in some CompSci and Engineering disciplines (at least in the minds of some people).</p>\n\n<p>That is, to be clear, especially for people who've thought, or been indoctrinated to think, that the measure of the value of something is the prestige of the conference or journal or ... in which it was published, the idea in mathematics still does seem to be that the thesis advisor and thesis committee decide whether the candidate has done sufficient work to earn the degree.</p>\n\n<p>Seems a sane system to me, especially given the acceleration of freneticism elsewhere.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26445,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, it is very common for students to earn a PhD in mathematics without publishing any papers before graduating. Here are a few pieces of context:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>I have read a couple research articles that analyzed the Mathematical Review database, which is a very thorough listing of mathematics publications. One such article is \"<a href=\"https://www.siam.org/pdf/news/485.pdf\">Patterns of Collaboration in Mathematical Research</a>\". It states that 42.7% of authors in the database have only one article (likely taken from their thesis) and another 14.6% have only two. I recommend that paper highly for more information on mathematics publishing.</p></li>\n<li><p>Publication rates in mathematics vary significantly by subfield, because the threshold for the amount of progress needed for a new paper also varies by field. In some subfields, it is common for researchers to publish many (smaller) papers. In others, it can take years to write a single paper. Publication rates also vary by author: some prestigious faculty rarely publish, others are prodigious writers. </p></li>\n<li><p>My general sense is that publication rates are increasing: mathematicians in general publish more than they used to. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>I see much more emphasis on graduate student publication that I did in the past. While the majority of students publish nothing before their PhD, I think the number who do publish is going up. Similarly, there is more emphasis on undergraduate research, and this translates into more publications by undergraduates. In the 1970s, say, publications by undergraduates were much more rare. </p></li>\n<li><p>The increase in publication is especially true at mid-level schools, e.g. non-elite state schools and some larger non-elite private colleges, which want to raise their research profile and so expect more research than in the past. Historically, say 30 years ago, one might have been able to get tenure with only one or two papers, and teaching was the most important criterion. Now, research is the primary criterion and many of these \"aspiring\" schools. On the other hand I had a job interview once with a school that explicitly emphasized they did not expect research - this trend toward more publication is not universal. </p></li>\n</ul></li>\n<li><p>There is also a distinction between <em>top</em> students (e.g. those who are competitive for prestigious postdocs and for job offers from R-1 schools) versus <em>typical</em> students (who may be perfectly qualified for academic jobs, but are not competitive for R-1 positions). In my experience, top students often have research collaborations outside their thesis topic before graduation, and often have other publications before graduation. But these students make up a small percentage of PhD recipients overall. Even at prestigious schools, not all PhD students are on track to be competitive for R-1 positions. And publication rates again vary by research subfield. </p></li>\n<li><p>Mathematics in particular is sometimes used for a \"vocational\" PhD, because it has always been possible for some to find work in industry (e.g. software or R&D) and government (e.g. the U.S. National Security Agency) with a PhD in mathematics. My colleagues and I often talk about bright researchers who we \"lost\" to non-academic jobs. For students who do not plan to continue in academia, I think there is a smaller incentive to publish extra papers beyond the PhD before graduating. </p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26448,
"author": "Benoît Kloeckner",
"author_id": 946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the answer will depend on the country, so let me answer for France.</p>\n\n<p>From what I see, I would say that one is generally allowed to defend one's PhD without having published a paper, but only if the thesis contains the material for at least one international publication. This is judged by the two or three PhD referees and then confirmed by the PhD committee.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/27
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26434",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19563/"
] |
26,440 |
<p>My paper is accepted for poster presentation for a conference. Is it allowed sent it again to other conferences without withdrawing it from first conference? I am looking for oral presentation. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26442,
"author": "Marc Claesen",
"author_id": 7173,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7173",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most computer science conferences do not allow this, look for the conferences' dual submission policy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26444,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Marc Claesen's answer is correct <strong>for computer science</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>In most non-CS fields, there is much greater tolerance for \"cross-listing\" of talks, because the conferences are not the primary \"publication venue\" for papers. Therefore it is considered entirely appropriate to give a poster presentation at one conference, and an oral talk at another venue, particularly if the audiences are \"non-overlapping.\" It would be expected, though, that unless the conferences are very close to one another in time, that you would update the presentation somewhat between conferences. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/27
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26440",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1070/"
] |
26,455 |
<p>Call it stupidity or bad luck but I am guilty of submitting my research article to a journal which is listed in <a href="http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/"><strong>Beall's List of Predatory Publishers</strong></a>.</p>
<p>It is my first article and I don't have much experience publishing articles. I was searching for a top impact factor journal and found this one on Google and in excitement sent my article (word and pdf files) in this journal a few days ago, only to discover later that this might be a bogus journal.</p>
<p>Now I am worried about that what will happen to my article. What if they plagiarize my paper, or send it to another journal not giving me credit? </p>
<p>My question is that what should I do now? Should I send my article to a reputable journal now? What should be the process? What if it is flagged for fraud by that journal? What are my options?</p>
<p>Any help would be appreciated.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26456,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If the paper has not yet been accepted for publication, you are free to withdraw the paper from consideration. Depending on the policies of the journal to which you submit the article, you may need to disclose the prior submission, and explain why you withdrew the publication from consideration.</p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, there's little you can do to stop the publishers of the first journal from doing something unsavory with your article. You will need to exercise vigilance in monitoring the work in this area to ensure that the paper isn't mishandled or worse. Be sure to maintain records of all of the correspondence you have had with the journal—and make sure of all it is documentable—phone calls won't suffice here.</p>\n\n<p>However, if all the journal has is a PDF of your original article, it makes it a lot harder to do anything with it: it is tedious work to convert it into the template that most publishers use without significant effort. Thus, without the original graphics and text files, it will be difficult for them to \"transmit\" the paper elsewhere.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26457,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>aesmail's post is right on. In addition, I would recommend creating some <a href=\"https://www.google.com/alerts\">Google Alerts</a> for some unique sentences or phrases from your article as well. Use quotes around the whole text in each query. Make sure that the ones you pick are unique to your work by finding query strings that are exactly from your work and return no results on Google now. That way, if they do make use of your words, you have a chance of finding out when it happens. You might have to make several of these, but if you use some key passages, you've got a good chance of catching them if they do. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 78916,
"author": "BioGeo",
"author_id": 62976,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62976",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would like to add that a predatory journal is not always and necessarily a bad journal. All reputable publishers have low impact factor journals in their house, and some non reputable publishers may have good journals.</p>\n\n<p>I've even heard stories for publishers from that list to be eventually removed from the list.</p>\n\n<p>I don't see the fear on plagiarism very rational, as all papers are public in one way or another, so if someone wants to plagiarise, they don't need access to your paper. (So, you can withdraw it from the app and submit it asap somewhere else).</p>\n\n<p>My main concern would be to connect my (first) work with a bad journal and the chance they publish it regardless you pay/withdraw or not. But before you panick, make sure how well this journal stands. If you found it as among the top impact factor ones in your field, it cannot be <em>that</em> bad. Check SJR and Scopus. Also, consult your supervisor or a colleague who can propose you a journal.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/27
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26455",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20062/"
] |
26,458 |
<p>One of the reviewers of my conference paper (computer science), which got a <em>revise & resubmit,</em> criticized that my conclusions are not well founded in my experiment and that they don’t show my hypothesis. (In detail, there was no control variable, which he correctly remarked.) </p>
<p>The point is, I wanted to use this experiment to give an idea for the direction of the work following my results and to generalize my previous findings. </p>
<p>My question is, how could I respond to this comment, as deleting my discussion would cut out a huge part of my work?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26460,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let me first recapture your situation as I understood it and based my answer on:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You have essentially three Papers, let’s call them <em>Paper A, B</em> and <em>C.</em> Paper A has already been published, Paper B is the one you are currently working on and Paper C is a planned future publication.</li>\n<li>You drew conclusions in Paper B, which are not based on the research of Paper B alone but also require results from Papers A and C.</li>\n<li>The reviewer correctly remarked that your conclusions were not supported by your research in Paper B.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>First of all, as your conclusions are not supported by published research yet, you cannot make these conclusions and there is no (ethical) way to leave them as conclusions. Rather from the situation at the end of Paper B, they are an outlook or speculations and thus should be marked as such.</p>\n\n<p>E.g., you could write something along the lines of the following in your conclusions:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Our results confirm the findings of [Paper A], which suggests [general hypothesis]. This could be confirmed by [ansatz for research of Paper C].</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To the reviewer’s comment you could reply along the lines of the following:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The reviewer is indeed correct that [general hypothesis] is not supported by our current findings. Rather, [general hypothesis] is something suggested by our results from our findings and [Paper A] and should be investigated in future research. We have insufficiently described this point and amended our manuscript such that this aspect is now made clear.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26461,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First of all, I <em>love</em> the title of your question. What an open, honest way of phrasing things, which makes for a question which just about every academic I know can identify with.</p>\n\n<p>Whenever you get a \"revise and resubmit\" referee report, the two key questions are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>How many of the revisions do you want to make? How many can you make in a reasonable amount of time?</p></li>\n<li><p>Almost certainly you will resubmit, yes, but: to the same journal or to a different journal?</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I take it that by \"completely correct\" you mean that you agree that all of the suggested revisions would improve the paper. That still does not imply that you want to make all of them: if the revisions ask for significant further work, then it may well be that, yes, you are in the midst of this work / planning to do it in the future but nevertheless you are seeking to publish what you have done so far. </p>\n\n<p>Of course if you agree with all of the suggested revisions and you feel that you can do them in a reasonable amount of time -- e.g., in time to meet the deadline for a conference -- then it seems pretty clear that's the way to go. </p>\n\n<p>I take it though that in your case it is not practical to complete all the suggested revisions in the given amount of time. Your remaining choices are then: (i) complete only some of the revisions, explain very carefully in your reply why you considered the other proposed revisions but did not make them, and hope for the best; (ii) indeed resubmit, but elsewhere; and (iii) withdraw the paper until you can complete the suggested work. Then resubmit (possibly to the same place, if applicable, but starting over again in the formal submission process).</p>\n\n<p>These are tough choices, and obviously they cannot be made globally. All I'll say is that the more (!!) \"completely correct\" you feel the reviewer's suggested changes are, the more likely it is that if you do not satisfactorily incorporate these changes then the paper will not be accepted. This still does not mean that revising and resubmitting is a poor choice: you have to do an expected value computation (e.g. if you can respond to 2/3 of the suggested revisions within a few days, maybe give resubmission to the same conference a whirl: why not?) to decide what is your best option. This decision also includes how important it is to you that the paper be published sooner rather than later and how important that it be published in this specific venue. Ideally speaking, you should take the necessary time to publish a \"complete\" version of your work rather than an unsatisfactorily partial preliminary version...but in reality, many academics do not have the luxury of fully indulging this ideal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26463,
"author": "Andreas Blass",
"author_id": 14506,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the solution for the problem in the title is to revise the paper so that the undesirable consequences are no longer consequences. As I understand it, the reviewer correctly pointed out that your conclusion is not adequately supported by your experiment; the undesirable consequence is that this conclusion should be removed; it's undesirable because that would mean removing a big part of the paper. Fortunately, the undesirable consequence would no longer be a consequence at all if the conclusion were relabeled to match what you wrote in the second paragraph of your question --- for example along the lines of Wrzlprmft's suggestion. More generally, instead of saying (incorrectly) that something is a conclusion from your experiment, say what it really is, as accurately as you can.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26465,
"author": "Pam",
"author_id": 19530,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19530",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>My question is, how could I respond to this comment, as deleting my discussion would cut out a huge part of my work?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Trust me. I have been there.</p>\n\n<p>Remove the questionable part, and even the whole paper if necessary. (Well, unless the reviewer is a well-known idiot :-) )</p>\n\n<p>In the future, you will regret anything you published that is not perfectly fine and relevant.</p>\n\n<p>PS.\nAlso, in the future, you may be involved in some competition or conflictual circumstance where a \"competitor\" or opponent may use a \"scientific weakness\" against you. And in this case you may \"pay\" a high price.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28663,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Firstly, I'm not totally clear about the exact situation. Here's how I understand it:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>some experiments have been done and analysed</li>\n<li>some conclustion <em>can</em> be drawn </li>\n<li>some control experiment that would allow far more general conclusions is planned but has not yet been done.<br>\nThis is what the reviewer is worried about.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<h2>Author point of view:</h2>\n\n<p>I'd say that the decision what to do depends on whether the conclusions that can be drawn are important enough to write a paper about them. Alternatively, the other way round: whether a paper written about both the already performed and the control experiments would be too long for a good paper. </p>\n\n<p>In these situations, I'd </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>agree with the reviewer (in the answer to the reviewers)</li>\n<li>but point out that after careful consideration you decided that the control experiments are out of the scope of the present (preliminary? feasibility? case?) study.</li>\n<li>In addition, I'd spell out the limitations of the present study very clearly </li>\n<li>while outlining the follow-up experiment as a solution. This needs some care in order to convince readers (and reviewer) that the follow-up experiment is really taking place: the literature is full of ongoing experiments that never went on. </li>\n<li>In the answer to the reviewers, state explicitly that you took care to clearly outline the limitatins of the present study due to the lack of control experiments. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Obviously, this approach can only work if the lack of control experiments has some sensible reason and doesn't appear to be lazyness. Spell out the reasons (careful with non-scientific reasons like feasibility [vs. laziness]). </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<h2>Reviewer point of view</h2>\n\n<p>When reviewing a paper, I find it quite OK if experiments have limitations* if the authors are clearly aware of these limitations. I tend to be worried if the conclusion that the world is rescued is based on 3 dead mice. </p>\n\n<p>* Experiments will always have limitations. It is IMHO perfectly right to look at science as an iterative process of refining knowledge. It doesn't make sense to get thousands of patients for a preliminary study. But the preliminary study should spell out the limitations. And in practice, the preliminary study is (and should be) needed in order to get the thousands of patients, and/or better meta information, or other other labs joining the efforts etc. for follow-up studies. But also this will work only if the preliminary study is honest about limitations. Otherwise the topic will be perceived as \"solved\". </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/27
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26458",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20063/"
] |
26,472 |
<p>My students often request letters of reference from me. Sometimes to attend graduate school in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and sometimes in countries not internationally known for their education system.</p>
<p>Quite often the student says the university wants them to enclose the letters of recommendation and clearly some universities do not want the student to be involved in that communication process.</p>
<p>My question is, <strong>how do I know when I am writing a letter to a specific university if they prefer the student to submit the letter or if they prefer me to communicate directly with the school?</strong> I could check with each school as I write the letter but that seems like a lot of work which need not be repeated for each letter-writer.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26761,
"author": "OBu",
"author_id": 10941,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10941",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well, many good answers are already included in the comment section, but Let my try to summarize and extend this a bit:</p>\n<p>First of all, there are good reasons for not involving the student (you can be more honest, the student can not pre-select). To my knowledge, ther eare at least three different submission types:</p>\n<ol>\n<li>Student sends in recommendation which is written openly</li>\n<li>Students has to submit letter of recommendation, but it must be enclosed in a sealed envelope</li>\n<li>letter of recommendation has to be sent directly.</li>\n</ol>\n<p>The chosen method might not only depend on the institution, but also on the funding scheme if the student gets financial support. The sheer number of possible combinations, combined with funding schemes which might vary from year to year makes the existence of a complete list extremely unlikely.</p>\n<p>I would suggest to follow the advice given by Stephan Kolassa to let the student figure out how the process works. It might be good to tell the student that if there are several options, you would prefer to send in the letter directly.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26776,
"author": "virmaior",
"author_id": 19769,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19769",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Adding a bit to this, for Japanese universities, almost all expect the letter to be open and included in the applications materials sent by the applicant (my experience here is for jobs -- not graduate school), then recommendation letters are submitted by the applicant in their package. </p>\n\n<p>I gather this is also common in China. As an American, I find it bizarre, but it is what it is.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 162577,
"author": "Anonymous Physicist",
"author_id": 13240,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13240",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What you are asking for is impossible because <a href=\"https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4471/academia-varies-more-than-you-think-it-does-the-movie\">Academia varies.</a> Letter-collecting practices can vary between departments, degree programs, and supervisors. They can also change over time.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26472",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692/"
] |
26,479 |
<p>For my thesis I have had to go through many different sources to find relevant literature. I want to share my reading list with others to make it easier for people who want to study the same topic to find relevant information. I have set up a little database with meta info (title / journal / author / date / abstract). My idea is to put this online so others can freely browse this. Is there any copyright issue (or otherwise important issue) to take into account? Can I put the abstracts online as well?</p>
<p>Each paper links to the journal's official website and I did not put any actual paper or PDF online.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26480,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There's generally no copyright issue. You're giving fair credit assignment. Abstracts should be considered \"marketing material\" -- freely publishable (with proper references), as you're helping the author(s) as much as yourself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26512,
"author": "David Z",
"author_id": 236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>With the hopefully obvious caveat that I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice: at least in the US, this is probably fine. Copyright law (<a href=\"http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/102\" rel=\"nofollow\">17 USC § 102</a>) applies to \"original works of authorship,\" not to ideas, and I think everyone would agree the metadata of an article's publication (including journal name, author, and date) fall in the latter category, not the former. Otherwise the whole system of academic citation would be untenable!</p>\n\n<p>The title and abstract, on the other hand, are content created by the articles' authors and are protected by copyright law, but I think it's quite likely that fair use (<a href=\"http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107\" rel=\"nofollow\">17 USC § 107</a>) protects you from being held liable for using them in the manner you describe. With reference to the four conditions to be considered when determining fair use:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You say it's a free, noncommercial endeavor, so that works in your favor</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It's an academic article; the whole purpose of its existence is to be widely disseminated</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The title and abstract are a small part of the work</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Using the title and abstract in a database like this will more likely increase the market for the original paper than decrease it (which is in fact the entire point of having an abstract)</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>In fact, you would hardly be the first person to do something like this. In high energy physics, <a href=\"http://inspirehep.net/\" rel=\"nofollow\">INSPIRE</a> already aggregates abstracts and metadata from nearly all published papers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26521,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Disclaimer: The following is not legal advice.</p>\n\n<p>As the copyright laws of many countries may apply, you would have to check your projects compatibility with each of them, which you might consider a disproportional amount of work. However, there is a minimum allowance any country’s copyright laws have to make to be any reasonable (e.g., without which most journalism would be illegal). Assuming these, one can make the following thoughts:</p>\n\n<p>There are only two things, to which copyright laws will apply: The title and the abstract. Everything else would at least fail to be over the threshold of originality (and probably many other criterions).</p>\n\n<p>Now, a reasonable copyright law has to have some mechanism that allows for short quotations: In the U.S. this would be covered by <em>fair use</em> and maybe something else; Germany has a <a href=\"http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/urhg/__51.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">special paragraph</a> for quotations, etc. However, at least in some countries, if not all, there are no clear legal limits regarding the circumstances and length of a quotation – e.g., the U.S. fair use is “only” likely to be in your favour <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/26512/7734\">as explained by David Z</a>. While the title can be safely assumed to be legal to quote, the abstract is in this grey area (under the above assumptions).</p>\n\n<p>Hence I would refrain from publishing the abstracts (even more so, as they are usually freely available on the Journal’s home page, which you can link).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26528,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most publishers has a set, automatic way to get permissions to republish figures, tables, parts of text etc and also a rather elaborate copyright section. To study these I think the second best thing after taking the opinion of a lawyer. Note, they can vary publisher by publisher. </p>\n\n<p>In my experience, journals are often broadcast abstracts eg in RSS feeds with a copyright tag, so I guess they consider it copyrighted but more or less sharable content.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26479",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20095/"
] |
26,483 |
<p>I am an undergraduate working with an advisor, but I do not know how to pronounce his/her last name. I have talked with several different people who work in the department, and have heard the name pronounced several different ways.</p>
<p>Is there a polite way of asking an advisor how to pronounce his/her last name?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26484,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>By the way, I have heard your last name pronounced a few different ways and I want to make sure I get it right. Can you teach me the correct way to pronounce it?</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26505,
"author": "Ellen Spertus",
"author_id": 269,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/269",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with the direct approach in the other answer, but if you'd like an indirect approach (that can be done before a first meeting), try calling the professor's office phone number when you know he or she is not there and listening to how the name is pronounced on voice mail.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26483",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19685/"
] |
26,487 |
<p>This is a simple question but I am not sure how to find out the answer. Where in the world are the salaries of (senior) academics published and freely available? I found this <a href="http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/publications/salarydisclosure/2012/univer12g.html">amazing web page </a> from Canada. Is it unique?</p>
<hr>
<p>So far we have learned: (See answers and comments for more details.)</p>
<ul>
<li>Many US states give full salary details for public university employees.</li>
<li>The province of Ontario in Canada gives full salary details.</li>
<li>Switzerland gives full salary details (although no URL given yet).</li>
<li>In Denmark you can infer the salary fairly accurately from seniority and job classification.</li>
<li>In Finland (and possibly Norway and Sweden), everyone's basic tax records are public information although you can't access it online.</li>
<li>In Germany salaries for individual professors are secret, but salaries for other researchers can be inferred from public salary tables.</li>
<li>In the UK salaries for individual professors are secret, but salaries for more junior academics can often be inferred from published salary tables.</li>
</ul>
<p>It would be great to get a fuller picture for Europe. What is the situation in France, for example? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26488,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most US states have Freedom of Information Laws that allow for people to request this kind of information of public schools. You will find numerous databases usually run by some sort of local news organization that publishes this data. E.g. <a href=\"http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/government-employee-salaries/\">The Texas Tribune Goverment Salary Database</a>. </p>\n\n<p>I don't know of a central resource for such things in the US. Public schools are typically run by US states, so the information is very distributed. Also, due to the nature of the laws, the information can be as much as a year old in many cases.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26492,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Denmark (and probably other countries with similar, highly centralized wage bargaining systems), salaries for faculty at public (i.e., in Denmark, all) universities are determined by a single contract negotiated between unions and the national government. All faculty in Denmark are paid according to the same scheme, which is based on a combination of seniority, job classification (assistant/associate/full), and some smaller fringe benefits. These contracts are public information. <a href=\"http://www.djoef.dk/~/media/documents/djoef/a/aktuel%20l%C3%B8noversigt.ashx\">Here's the one that applies to my current position</a>. I'm sure you could find similar documents for other countries.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26497,
"author": "Raphael",
"author_id": 1419,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1419",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Short answer: Germany. Somewhat.</p>\n\n<p>To explain in more detail, there are four common modes for researchers in Germany:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Unpaid. (Typically PhD students in social sciences. Poor sods.)</li>\n<li>Scholarships. (\"Stipendiat\"; PhD students and post-docs)</li>\n<li>Employee of the state. (\"Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter\"; PhD students, post docs and (rarely) non-professor senior researchers)</li>\n<li>Civil servant. (\"Beamter\"; professors and senior researchers)</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The first needs no explanation. The second kind is -- from the perspective of how our system used to work traditionally -- a bit of an abomination with little to no regulation. The amount of the scholarship tends to be similar to the salary employees in similar circumstances get but is, ultimately, for the awarding institution to make up.</p>\n\n<p>Now, for employees and \"Beamte\", there are well-defined salary tables which <a href=\"http://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/\">anybody can inspect</a>. Be aware that these are <em>gross</em> figures. Depending on your circumstances 30+% won't even see your bank account; you can use the provided calculators to get an idea of the parameters and results (if you know enough German).</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>PhD students usually get (some percentage of) a TVL E13 position, post-docs can get E14-15 depending on their responsibilities. </p></li>\n<li><p>Senior researchers with life-long positions usually start at A13 and can move up to A16 in leading positions. </p></li>\n<li><p>Professors used to get C1-4 but that was changed to W1-3; junior professors (with or without tenure) get W1, full professors W2 or W3 depending on the position.</p>\n\n<p>However, professors are eligible to negotiate for higher salaries </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>during the hiring process (\"Berufungszulagen\"), </li>\n<li>in case of above average performance (\"Leistungszulagen\") and</li>\n<li>when they get offers from other universities (\"Bleibeverhandlungen\").</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Therefore, the real salaries of professors differ wildly (i.e. by integer factors). These figures are not public, not even in one department.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26499,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A great resource containing lots of data for European countries is on the <a href=\"http://www.eui.eu/ProgrammesAndFellowships/AcademicCareersObservatory/CareerComparisons/SalaryComparisons.aspx#Information\" rel=\"nofollow\">European university institute</a>. More detailed information on the academic careers in various countries is on <a href=\"http://www.eui.eu/ProgrammesAndFellowships/AcademicCareersObservatory/AcademicCareersbyCountry/Index.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow\">another page</a> of the same site.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26524,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the UK the UCU has negotiated a single <a href=\"http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2210\">salary spine</a> that ranges from £13,953 to £58,172. Only Professors exceed the top end of the scale so it is possible to make an educated guess at the salary of Lecturers and Readers.</p>\n\n<p>Each university sets their own limits where Lecturers and Readers fall on the salary spine and the exact starting point on the spine is individually negotiated. For example, the <a href=\"http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=4291\">Manchester scale</a> has Lecturers between spine points 37 and 44, while the <a href=\"http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hr/guidesandsupport/rewardpayandallowances/salaryscales/documents/2013/2-57-point-scale-01-08-13.pdf\">Nottingham scale</a> has Lecturers between 36 and 43. Readers are between 45 and 51 at both Manchester and Nottingham. I am ignoring the spine points between the standard maximum and the super maximum since progression in that region is extremely difficult (and generally results in promotion). Typically, you move one spine point a year so if you know how many years someone has been a Reader/Lecturer, then you can make a very good educated guess at the salary. For all but Lecturers who have been appointed in the past 3 years, you should be able to estimate the salary within +/-10%.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32439,
"author": "Franck Dernoncourt",
"author_id": 452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>(The following answer focuses on France)</p>\n\n<h2>Researchers</h2>\n\n<p>In France, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_national_de_la_recherche_scientifique\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><em>CNRS researchers</em></a> (largest governmental research organisation in France) are paid <a href=\"https://www.dgdr.cnrs.fr/drhchercheurs/concoursch/chercheur/carriere-fr.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer\">according to the class they belong to</a> (monthly gross salary):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>chargé de recherche de 2 ème classe: between 2 200 € and 2 600 €</li>\n<li>chargé de recherche de 1 ère classe: between 2 300 € and 3 900 €</li>\n<li>directeurs de recherche: between 3 000 € and 6 000 €.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In addition to the base salary <a href=\"http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chercheur_des_%C3%A9tablissements_publics_scientifiques_et_technologiques_fran%C3%A7ais\" rel=\"noreferrer\">researchers get some bonus that can go up to 1275 EUR per year</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Each grade has several levels that determine the remuneration of researchers . The gross monthly salary research managers is between € 3,000 and € 6,100 (assessments in September 2007) . In addition to the base salary directeurs de recherche receive a yearly research bonus ranging from 650 to 1275 EUR (depending on the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grands_corps_de_l%27Etat\" rel=\"noreferrer\">corps</a> and grade) and , where applicable, family supplements.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<hr>\n\n<h2>Professors</h2>\n\n<p>The following two Wikipedia pages contain the salary grid for Maître de conférences and Professeur des universités:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma%C3%AEtre_de_conf%C3%A9rences_(France)\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Maître de conférences</a>:</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/ce8vL.png\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/ce8vL.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a>\n - <a href=\"https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professeur_des_universit%C3%A9s\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Professeur des universités</a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/S4yFC.png\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/S4yFC.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a></p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<h2>Research engineers</h2>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/cid23194/ingenieur-de-recherche.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Gross salary for research engineers working in public institutions</a>:</p>\n\n<p><em>Ingénieur de recherche de 2ème classe</em></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Début de carrière : 1907,68 euros</li>\n<li>Milieu de carrière : 2 546,66 euros</li>\n<li>Fin de carrière : 3 301,39 euros\n </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><em>Ingénieur de recherche de 1ère classe</em></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Début de carrière : 2 694,83 euros</li>\n<li>Milieu de carrière : 3 398,63 euros</li>\n<li>Fin de carrière : 3 801,46 euros\n </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><em>Ingénieur de recherche hors classe</em></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Début de carrière : 3 046,73 euros</li>\n<li>Milieu de carrière : 4 079,28 euros</li>\n<li>Fin de carrière : 4 458,97 euros</li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>For the sake of comparison, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_median_wage\" rel=\"noreferrer\">the monthly gross median wage in France is around 1717€</a>, and <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage\" rel=\"noreferrer\">the average monthly net income is 2128€</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32458,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The best resource for info on US salaries is the <a href=\"http://chronicle.com/article/2013-14-AAUP-Faculty-Salary/145679?cid=megamenu#id=table\" rel=\"nofollow\">annual report on faculty salaries</a> produced by the AAUP. In most states, faculty salaries at public universities will be public information, but since such a large number of US universities are private, this information may be misleading. Further, the AAUP report also helpfully distinguishes salary info in terms of seniority, the field of research, the geographical region of the country and the Carnegie classification of the university as well. A full professor in Law or Business at a doctoral program in the Northeast will make much, much more money than a lowly assistant prof who teaches English at a community college in the South, for instance.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32467,
"author": "Gimelist",
"author_id": 22213,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22213",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Also in Israel, from the website of one university (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev):</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://in.bgu.ac.il/hr/DocLib/Pages/salary_tables/salary-senior-Jan2013.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://in.bgu.ac.il/hr/DocLib/Pages/salary_tables/salary-senior-Jan2013.pdf</a></p>\n\n<p>It's in Hebrew, so you can't understand much of it I guess. To sum it up:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Top right: Professor</li>\n<li>Top left: Associate professor</li>\n<li>Middle right: Senior lecturer</li>\n<li>Middle left: Lecturer</li>\n<li>Bottom right: Senior teacher</li>\n<li>Bottom left: Teacher</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In each table the rightmost column is number of years in the job, and the leftmost column is the total monthly salary amount, in ILS. So if you want to find out how much someone is getting paid, find out his rank and compare with the list.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32468,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Switzerland, being a confederation (well, nowadays more like a federal parliamentary republic), there are two levels of universities: federal and state universities. To the best of my knowledge there is no nominative list of individual salaries, as the law in Switzerland typically protects personal data (or at least, tries to).</p>\n\n<p>For the federal level, i.e. the ETH in Zurich and the EPF in Lausanne, the range of first salary is given in <a href=\"http://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classified-compilation/20031273/201401010000/172.220.113.40.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">a document</a> (in German) available on the federal government's website. The salaries are in the order of (see top of page 8) 148k-270k CHF depending on the type of professorship and other factors that are negotiated individually.</p>\n\n<p>For the state level, there is presumably more disparities between institutions. For example, the university of Lausanne publishes the salaries of the assistant professors (125k) in <a href=\"http://www.unil.ch/interne/files/live/sites/interne/files/textes_leg/1_ress_hum/dir1_24_fixation_salaire_enseign4.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">a document</a> on its website but states that the salaries of full professor is determined individually. </p>\n\n<p>On the subject, <a href=\"http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/schweiz/zahltag-an-der-uni-1.16961100\" rel=\"nofollow\">this article in the NZZ</a> gives comparative salaries for professors between Switzerland and many other countries.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34897,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As in many other European countries, salaries in <strong>Italy</strong> are not negotiated individually but are a function of academic rank and seniority.</p>\n\n<p>There is a small variable component that depends on the region where the university is located. The raw tables for my university (Pisa, Tuscany) are <a href=\"http://www.unipi.it/index.php/download/category/84-docenti-tabelle-retributive?download=708%3A2010-vallide-anche-per-il-2011-e-il-2012\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://www.unipi.it/index.php/download/category/84-docenti-tabelle-retributive?download=707%3A2012-personale-assunto-secondo-il-nuono-regime-legge-2402010\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a> for some newer positions (all these links are in Italian only). \nThere is an additional bonus for children and family (raw tables for my institution <a href=\"http://www.unipi.it/index.php/download/category/77-carriere-docenti-assegno-familiare?download=653%3Atabelle-per-richiesta-dal-01072013-al-30062014\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>).</p>\n\n<p>In theory one can compute the salary of each professor from these raw data, if they know their seniority and family status. In practice, the computations are absurdly complicated unless one is a professional bureaucrat. I am a mathematician, and I'd have no idea how to compute my own salary using those tables. :)</p>\n\n<p>You can get a ballpark amount from the tables <a href=\"http://alpaglia.xoom.it/alberto_pagliarini/TAB2010Aumento3e09percento.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>here</strong></a>, published by an independent union expert. The net monthly salary is in column k, and the gross yearly salary is in the rightmost column.</p>\n\n<p>(Quick legend: <em>T.P.</em> = full time; <em>T.D.</em> = part time; <em>1^ fascia</em> = full professor; <em>2^ fascia</em> = associate prof; <em>ricercatore</em> = assistant prof; <em>confermato/ordinario</em> = tenured; <em>non confermato/straordinario</em> = tenure track).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34915,
"author": "o4tlulz",
"author_id": 6978,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6978",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most (if not all) Australian Universities publish their salaries in their HR pages. A simple search of the university name + salary would bring the correct page straight away. See for example:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://hr.unimelb.edu.au/benefits/pay/salary-scales\" rel=\"nofollow\">Melbourne University</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.hr.unsw.edu.au/services/salaries/salrates.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">UNSW Australia</a> </li>\n<li><a href=\"https://hr.curtin.edu.au/salary_scales.cfm\" rel=\"nofollow\">Curtin University</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Just as a few examples. </p>\n\n<p>Positions and salaries here are also tiered. Academic positions are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>A (1-8) as an Associate Lecturer with an A6 being the lowest tier that someone with a PhD will be employed,</li>\n<li>B as a Lecturer (or usually a researcher with a couple of years of experience)</li>\n<li>C as Senior Lecturer</li>\n<li>D as Associate Professor and</li>\n<li>E as Professor</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26487",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/37765/"
] |
26,489 |
<p>I am informed that submitted paper supposed to be sent to the typesetters today. I am advised to check the mails. Until now there is no acknowledgement except the first mail. I am curious about the typesetters job in this process. Do they make considerable updates? Do I have much work to do, after typesetter is done with the paper? Since, I am on holiday, I wonder if the workload will ruin my holiday?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26488,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most US states have Freedom of Information Laws that allow for people to request this kind of information of public schools. You will find numerous databases usually run by some sort of local news organization that publishes this data. E.g. <a href=\"http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/government-employee-salaries/\">The Texas Tribune Goverment Salary Database</a>. </p>\n\n<p>I don't know of a central resource for such things in the US. Public schools are typically run by US states, so the information is very distributed. Also, due to the nature of the laws, the information can be as much as a year old in many cases.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26492,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Denmark (and probably other countries with similar, highly centralized wage bargaining systems), salaries for faculty at public (i.e., in Denmark, all) universities are determined by a single contract negotiated between unions and the national government. All faculty in Denmark are paid according to the same scheme, which is based on a combination of seniority, job classification (assistant/associate/full), and some smaller fringe benefits. These contracts are public information. <a href=\"http://www.djoef.dk/~/media/documents/djoef/a/aktuel%20l%C3%B8noversigt.ashx\">Here's the one that applies to my current position</a>. I'm sure you could find similar documents for other countries.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26497,
"author": "Raphael",
"author_id": 1419,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1419",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Short answer: Germany. Somewhat.</p>\n\n<p>To explain in more detail, there are four common modes for researchers in Germany:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Unpaid. (Typically PhD students in social sciences. Poor sods.)</li>\n<li>Scholarships. (\"Stipendiat\"; PhD students and post-docs)</li>\n<li>Employee of the state. (\"Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter\"; PhD students, post docs and (rarely) non-professor senior researchers)</li>\n<li>Civil servant. (\"Beamter\"; professors and senior researchers)</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The first needs no explanation. The second kind is -- from the perspective of how our system used to work traditionally -- a bit of an abomination with little to no regulation. The amount of the scholarship tends to be similar to the salary employees in similar circumstances get but is, ultimately, for the awarding institution to make up.</p>\n\n<p>Now, for employees and \"Beamte\", there are well-defined salary tables which <a href=\"http://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/\">anybody can inspect</a>. Be aware that these are <em>gross</em> figures. Depending on your circumstances 30+% won't even see your bank account; you can use the provided calculators to get an idea of the parameters and results (if you know enough German).</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>PhD students usually get (some percentage of) a TVL E13 position, post-docs can get E14-15 depending on their responsibilities. </p></li>\n<li><p>Senior researchers with life-long positions usually start at A13 and can move up to A16 in leading positions. </p></li>\n<li><p>Professors used to get C1-4 but that was changed to W1-3; junior professors (with or without tenure) get W1, full professors W2 or W3 depending on the position.</p>\n\n<p>However, professors are eligible to negotiate for higher salaries </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>during the hiring process (\"Berufungszulagen\"), </li>\n<li>in case of above average performance (\"Leistungszulagen\") and</li>\n<li>when they get offers from other universities (\"Bleibeverhandlungen\").</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Therefore, the real salaries of professors differ wildly (i.e. by integer factors). These figures are not public, not even in one department.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26499,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A great resource containing lots of data for European countries is on the <a href=\"http://www.eui.eu/ProgrammesAndFellowships/AcademicCareersObservatory/CareerComparisons/SalaryComparisons.aspx#Information\" rel=\"nofollow\">European university institute</a>. More detailed information on the academic careers in various countries is on <a href=\"http://www.eui.eu/ProgrammesAndFellowships/AcademicCareersObservatory/AcademicCareersbyCountry/Index.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow\">another page</a> of the same site.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26524,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the UK the UCU has negotiated a single <a href=\"http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2210\">salary spine</a> that ranges from £13,953 to £58,172. Only Professors exceed the top end of the scale so it is possible to make an educated guess at the salary of Lecturers and Readers.</p>\n\n<p>Each university sets their own limits where Lecturers and Readers fall on the salary spine and the exact starting point on the spine is individually negotiated. For example, the <a href=\"http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=4291\">Manchester scale</a> has Lecturers between spine points 37 and 44, while the <a href=\"http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hr/guidesandsupport/rewardpayandallowances/salaryscales/documents/2013/2-57-point-scale-01-08-13.pdf\">Nottingham scale</a> has Lecturers between 36 and 43. Readers are between 45 and 51 at both Manchester and Nottingham. I am ignoring the spine points between the standard maximum and the super maximum since progression in that region is extremely difficult (and generally results in promotion). Typically, you move one spine point a year so if you know how many years someone has been a Reader/Lecturer, then you can make a very good educated guess at the salary. For all but Lecturers who have been appointed in the past 3 years, you should be able to estimate the salary within +/-10%.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32439,
"author": "Franck Dernoncourt",
"author_id": 452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>(The following answer focuses on France)</p>\n\n<h2>Researchers</h2>\n\n<p>In France, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_national_de_la_recherche_scientifique\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><em>CNRS researchers</em></a> (largest governmental research organisation in France) are paid <a href=\"https://www.dgdr.cnrs.fr/drhchercheurs/concoursch/chercheur/carriere-fr.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer\">according to the class they belong to</a> (monthly gross salary):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>chargé de recherche de 2 ème classe: between 2 200 € and 2 600 €</li>\n<li>chargé de recherche de 1 ère classe: between 2 300 € and 3 900 €</li>\n<li>directeurs de recherche: between 3 000 € and 6 000 €.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In addition to the base salary <a href=\"http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chercheur_des_%C3%A9tablissements_publics_scientifiques_et_technologiques_fran%C3%A7ais\" rel=\"noreferrer\">researchers get some bonus that can go up to 1275 EUR per year</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Each grade has several levels that determine the remuneration of researchers . The gross monthly salary research managers is between € 3,000 and € 6,100 (assessments in September 2007) . In addition to the base salary directeurs de recherche receive a yearly research bonus ranging from 650 to 1275 EUR (depending on the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grands_corps_de_l%27Etat\" rel=\"noreferrer\">corps</a> and grade) and , where applicable, family supplements.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<hr>\n\n<h2>Professors</h2>\n\n<p>The following two Wikipedia pages contain the salary grid for Maître de conférences and Professeur des universités:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma%C3%AEtre_de_conf%C3%A9rences_(France)\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Maître de conférences</a>:</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/ce8vL.png\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/ce8vL.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a>\n - <a href=\"https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professeur_des_universit%C3%A9s\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Professeur des universités</a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/S4yFC.png\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/S4yFC.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a></p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<h2>Research engineers</h2>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/cid23194/ingenieur-de-recherche.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Gross salary for research engineers working in public institutions</a>:</p>\n\n<p><em>Ingénieur de recherche de 2ème classe</em></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Début de carrière : 1907,68 euros</li>\n<li>Milieu de carrière : 2 546,66 euros</li>\n<li>Fin de carrière : 3 301,39 euros\n </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><em>Ingénieur de recherche de 1ère classe</em></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Début de carrière : 2 694,83 euros</li>\n<li>Milieu de carrière : 3 398,63 euros</li>\n<li>Fin de carrière : 3 801,46 euros\n </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><em>Ingénieur de recherche hors classe</em></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Début de carrière : 3 046,73 euros</li>\n<li>Milieu de carrière : 4 079,28 euros</li>\n<li>Fin de carrière : 4 458,97 euros</li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>For the sake of comparison, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_median_wage\" rel=\"noreferrer\">the monthly gross median wage in France is around 1717€</a>, and <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage\" rel=\"noreferrer\">the average monthly net income is 2128€</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32458,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The best resource for info on US salaries is the <a href=\"http://chronicle.com/article/2013-14-AAUP-Faculty-Salary/145679?cid=megamenu#id=table\" rel=\"nofollow\">annual report on faculty salaries</a> produced by the AAUP. In most states, faculty salaries at public universities will be public information, but since such a large number of US universities are private, this information may be misleading. Further, the AAUP report also helpfully distinguishes salary info in terms of seniority, the field of research, the geographical region of the country and the Carnegie classification of the university as well. A full professor in Law or Business at a doctoral program in the Northeast will make much, much more money than a lowly assistant prof who teaches English at a community college in the South, for instance.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32467,
"author": "Gimelist",
"author_id": 22213,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22213",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Also in Israel, from the website of one university (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev):</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://in.bgu.ac.il/hr/DocLib/Pages/salary_tables/salary-senior-Jan2013.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://in.bgu.ac.il/hr/DocLib/Pages/salary_tables/salary-senior-Jan2013.pdf</a></p>\n\n<p>It's in Hebrew, so you can't understand much of it I guess. To sum it up:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Top right: Professor</li>\n<li>Top left: Associate professor</li>\n<li>Middle right: Senior lecturer</li>\n<li>Middle left: Lecturer</li>\n<li>Bottom right: Senior teacher</li>\n<li>Bottom left: Teacher</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In each table the rightmost column is number of years in the job, and the leftmost column is the total monthly salary amount, in ILS. So if you want to find out how much someone is getting paid, find out his rank and compare with the list.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32468,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Switzerland, being a confederation (well, nowadays more like a federal parliamentary republic), there are two levels of universities: federal and state universities. To the best of my knowledge there is no nominative list of individual salaries, as the law in Switzerland typically protects personal data (or at least, tries to).</p>\n\n<p>For the federal level, i.e. the ETH in Zurich and the EPF in Lausanne, the range of first salary is given in <a href=\"http://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classified-compilation/20031273/201401010000/172.220.113.40.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">a document</a> (in German) available on the federal government's website. The salaries are in the order of (see top of page 8) 148k-270k CHF depending on the type of professorship and other factors that are negotiated individually.</p>\n\n<p>For the state level, there is presumably more disparities between institutions. For example, the university of Lausanne publishes the salaries of the assistant professors (125k) in <a href=\"http://www.unil.ch/interne/files/live/sites/interne/files/textes_leg/1_ress_hum/dir1_24_fixation_salaire_enseign4.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">a document</a> on its website but states that the salaries of full professor is determined individually. </p>\n\n<p>On the subject, <a href=\"http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/schweiz/zahltag-an-der-uni-1.16961100\" rel=\"nofollow\">this article in the NZZ</a> gives comparative salaries for professors between Switzerland and many other countries.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34897,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As in many other European countries, salaries in <strong>Italy</strong> are not negotiated individually but are a function of academic rank and seniority.</p>\n\n<p>There is a small variable component that depends on the region where the university is located. The raw tables for my university (Pisa, Tuscany) are <a href=\"http://www.unipi.it/index.php/download/category/84-docenti-tabelle-retributive?download=708%3A2010-vallide-anche-per-il-2011-e-il-2012\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://www.unipi.it/index.php/download/category/84-docenti-tabelle-retributive?download=707%3A2012-personale-assunto-secondo-il-nuono-regime-legge-2402010\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a> for some newer positions (all these links are in Italian only). \nThere is an additional bonus for children and family (raw tables for my institution <a href=\"http://www.unipi.it/index.php/download/category/77-carriere-docenti-assegno-familiare?download=653%3Atabelle-per-richiesta-dal-01072013-al-30062014\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>).</p>\n\n<p>In theory one can compute the salary of each professor from these raw data, if they know their seniority and family status. In practice, the computations are absurdly complicated unless one is a professional bureaucrat. I am a mathematician, and I'd have no idea how to compute my own salary using those tables. :)</p>\n\n<p>You can get a ballpark amount from the tables <a href=\"http://alpaglia.xoom.it/alberto_pagliarini/TAB2010Aumento3e09percento.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>here</strong></a>, published by an independent union expert. The net monthly salary is in column k, and the gross yearly salary is in the rightmost column.</p>\n\n<p>(Quick legend: <em>T.P.</em> = full time; <em>T.D.</em> = part time; <em>1^ fascia</em> = full professor; <em>2^ fascia</em> = associate prof; <em>ricercatore</em> = assistant prof; <em>confermato/ordinario</em> = tenured; <em>non confermato/straordinario</em> = tenure track).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34915,
"author": "o4tlulz",
"author_id": 6978,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6978",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most (if not all) Australian Universities publish their salaries in their HR pages. A simple search of the university name + salary would bring the correct page straight away. See for example:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://hr.unimelb.edu.au/benefits/pay/salary-scales\" rel=\"nofollow\">Melbourne University</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.hr.unsw.edu.au/services/salaries/salrates.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">UNSW Australia</a> </li>\n<li><a href=\"https://hr.curtin.edu.au/salary_scales.cfm\" rel=\"nofollow\">Curtin University</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Just as a few examples. </p>\n\n<p>Positions and salaries here are also tiered. Academic positions are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>A (1-8) as an Associate Lecturer with an A6 being the lowest tier that someone with a PhD will be employed,</li>\n<li>B as a Lecturer (or usually a researcher with a couple of years of experience)</li>\n<li>C as Senior Lecturer</li>\n<li>D as Associate Professor and</li>\n<li>E as Professor</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26489",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20101/"
] |
26,494 |
<p>I'm a non-native author and I have a revised paper that has been edited for good English before the first review. Now I made major changes, but still a large part of my essay remained as before. What is the best way to get my revised paper edited for English and flow without having to get charged for the whole (relatively long) paper again? Was someone in a similar situation?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26495,
"author": "Nahkki",
"author_id": 18092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18092",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am a native English speaker, this is based off my experiences proofreading papers for others in my lab who are not native speakers.</p>\n\n<p>Changing even a small section of a paper can have repercussions throughout the rest of the paper in unexpected ways. Also, as important as it is that the English in the changed sections is correct it is also important that those changed sections flow appropriately with the rest of the paper. </p>\n\n<p>To help with both of these issues it is best to have the entire paper proofread again. Even as a native-English speaker, I have others proofread my paper after revisions because of the above issues. It can be helpful to somehow mark the changed sections and request that the proofreader be aware that those areas were changed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26522,
"author": "Norbsen",
"author_id": 20132,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20132",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with Nahkki that changing parts of the paper influences the remaining paper as well. The reason is that when reading / reviewing a paper you can easily spot different writing styles (especially if you have parts coming from native and non-native speakers). Having different styles within a single paper distorts reading and makes a bad impression. In your case, I would suggest to let proof read the whole paper again.</p>\n\n<p>However, in general, I suggest to write papers with co-authors who are either native speakers or know how to write. Only this way, you can actually learn how to write, which is an important skill often underrated. I cannot see how you can learn writing scientific articles without having the opportunity to talk and discuss why some sentences or paragraphs are written in \"native\" way. So, my advise is to get people working with you and learn from them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26523,
"author": "Penguin_Knight",
"author_id": 6450,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6450",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>ESL here and this is how I usually deal with similar situations.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Go back to the same editor for a reduced rate</strong></p>\n\n<p>It will not hurt to ask. Highlight the parts that you changed, and send over with an inquiry if he/she is willing to look at it again, with heavier grammatical checks in the highlighted sections and then overall flow, at a reduced rate.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Form a weekly writing group</strong></p>\n\n<p>This is a pretty stressful method but it's one of the best decisions I have made. Form a writing group with 2-3 colleagues. We model after this <a href=\"http://chronicle.com/article/The-Rules-of-Writing-Group/126880/\">article</a>. All my partners are native speakers, and I often get English-related advices and even edits from them.</p>\n\n<p>You may feel inadequate (I did at the beginning), but don't. Being an ESL has its appeal. If I can understand their work, it's very likely that native audience will also understand their work. In a way, I am their coal mine canary.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26494",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20107/"
] |
26,496 |
<p>Currently, I am a M.S. student in Applied Mathematics division, and I will graduate in the coming Dec, 2014.
But I want to apply to a PhD. program to continue my study. But I have a complicated situation:</p>
<ol>
<li>I had a bachelor's degree in software engineering outside US with GPA 3.7. But I'm pursing a M.S. degree in Applied Mathematics in a US college with GPA 3.6, the reason I am doing this is because I want to improve my mathematical background, and prepare for research oriented program in the future. </li>
<li>My native language is non-English, and my English skills are not that strong. I didn't have a competitive GRE test. </li>
<li>But I had some research experiences, both in and outside US. And almost all the research is either direct with national research labs or collaborate with them. However, I have no academic publications yet.</li>
</ol>
<p>Is it possible for me to seek PhD in the future? I would like to go for it, but it seems more and more professors and universities focus on someone with higher scores and better publication record.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26498,
"author": "cmreiner",
"author_id": 20110,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20110",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I want to apply a PhD. degree to continue my study.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I am going to assume that you are seeking a PhD in applied mathematics.</p>\n\n<p>In regards to your first point, seeking a masters prior to a PhD is a good way to improve your skill set. Does the program you are currently enrolled in offer research opportunities as a graduate assistant? </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My native language is non-English, and my English skill is not that strong. I didn't have a competitive GRE test.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Each school treats the GRE differently. Some schools will use low GRE scores and low grades as a filtering mechanism to weed out unqualified individuals. So, a low score on one part part of the GRE is not necessarily going to prevent you from being accepted. </p>\n\n<p>If you know that writing is the weakest point of your application, there are a few steps you can take. Have friends/classmates/professors review your personal statement. Alternatively, you can acknowledge that your English skills are low but you are taking steps to remedy this. </p>\n\n<p>As for publishing, I have heard differing opinions on this issue. Some people will have published when they applied and others will not. Personally, I will be trying to have at least two papers in progress when I apply for my PhD. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is that possible for me to seek PhD degree in the future?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The short answer is yes. Based on your research experience and academic background, I can see no reason (at least at the present) why you wouldn't be admitted. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26502,
"author": "user809695",
"author_id": 9196,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9196",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is it possible for me to seek PhD in the future?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes. It is possible to seek a PhD at <em>any point</em> in one's life, although at some point you will shift over into the \"unconventional student\" category.</p>\n\n<p>Some universities/faculty <em>do</em> tend to overlook unconventional students. However, if you keep publishing articles, learning new skills (and demonstrating them), and staying up to date on the research in your field (and demonstrating that you have), then you'll be in a good position to get accepted by the more open-minded universities whenever you decide to apply. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26496",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16154/"
] |
26,506 |
<p>The phd area is Computer Science and the other area can be anything - if this info makes any difference...</p>
<p>I am asking from the practical point of view, specially something that can be evidenced by real examples. Some career that requires/rewards the degree despite of being completely outside its scope would be a good example.</p>
<p>I was worried about asking something a little open, but I see it is pretty common by here, <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1836/when-does-one-go-for-a-double-doctorate">e.g.</a> - the opposite of other more harsh communities.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26507,
"author": "Paul",
"author_id": 931,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Though the topic of your dissertation may be extremely narrow and focused, the process of acquiring a PhD teaches you the skills to attack virtually any problem very deeply, if given sufficient time. Ultimately, the PhD is just a piece of paper. The real value of it is the ability to produce something of value to others (i.e. research, a product, etc...).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26508,
"author": "virmaior",
"author_id": 19769,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19769",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One way to view it as the the PhD is a signal to employers and others of a certain capacity. This signal can in many countries open doors to other work not immediately related to one's field of inquiry. McKinsey for instance hires PhDs as consultants and hires them at a higher rank than others for that.</p>\n\n<p>A parallel can be said about bachelor's degrees -- at least in the US. A lot of work doesn't really take a bachelor's degree in terms of skills nor does it do anything related to that, but seeing that someone could complete a four year degree signals something about the person's task-completion abilities and willingness to slog through areas they don't like (among other things). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26510,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are careers where PhD as a degree/piece of paper can be helpful:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Higher education. To be a teacher at a university, by rule, you have to have this piece of paper. It doesn't need to be in the same field as your teaching, though.</li>\n<li>Any business dealing with academics as costumers. Be in policy, salesman for a company or a patent attorney, academics will always welcome you much more warmly if you have that three letter next to your name.</li>\n<li>Consulting. If you do consulting, especially as a sole entrepreneur, PhD can give a lot of credibility.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Where they will hate it:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If you want to work in IT, many programmer seriously despise PhD people. </li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26530,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Generally, the answer is \"No, the Ph.D. title hardly makes you worth more as you step far from your main area\".</p>\n\n<p>Typically, doctorate training prepares you to do research, and by the time you graduate, you will have accumulated research experience in your narrow area. So even in academic CS, you won't be particularly welcome if you did research in compiler theory, and the department is looking to hire somebody in Big Data. Moreover, your compiler theory research experience is hopeleslly useless if you decided to work in medieval German literature or neuropsychology or plant biology. They will hire the specialized Ph.D. in that area any day over you. They will hire a linguist who said they took a CodeAcademy class in Python over you even if the project calls for text mining for unique patterns of word use in XV vs. XVI century.</p>\n\n<p>If you slip out to the big real world outside of academia, you will find that you will have surprisingly little to offer on top of a good MA graduate while wanting a higher price tag. Microsoft or Adobe or any other MakeUpNameSoftMetrics do not develop compilers, and instead they would want you to deliver good quality production code (or, worse, to oversee a team of programmers who do that). So ask yourself again.</p>\n\n<p>Paul said <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/26507/739\">here</a> that Ph.D. develops \"the skills to attack virtually any problem very deeply, <em>if given sufficient time</em>\". I added emphasis, and I cannot stress this small print enough. My experience in industry is that the deliverable time is often yesterday, and few leaders have the patience for you to develop a perfect peer-reviewed published solution. It may not always have to be quick-and-dirty, but it is always have to be on time, so you need to have a better understanding of what the most important points and priorities in your project are which need to be addressed and accomplished first than academia can teach you.</p>\n\n<p>Virmaior said <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/26508/739\">here</a> that McKinsey happily hires Ph.D.s as consultants. That, of course, is true, but it does not mean that they hire any Ph.D. in any discipline out of charity. They are looking for specific communication and business skills -- essentially for people who made the wrong choice by going to a Ph.D., or had no other pathway to continue with their traning, or in other words who have the mega brains to do really smart work, but may not find themselves happy in academia. The work environment in a consulting firm is anywhere from three to five times as intense as your Ph.D. -- not necessarily in the hours, but more in terms of responsibility. You may be well paid, but you are absolutely required to deliver. McKinsey specifically has an \"up-or-out\" model: at a time for the regular review, you are either so good that they promote you, or the company will be better off with you working for their competitor. Compare that to \"Oh, you worked on this project for two years, and all your mice died because somebody turned the A/C off for the weekend? Ah well. Let's find you another project where I need a qualified technician but I don't want to pay the full time position benefits...\" (As a side comment, McKinsey's pricing structure ends up being absolutely, over-the-top ridiculously expensive, may be because they hire so many Ph.D.s that still need to be molded into industry setting.)</p>\n\n<p>To round the picture up, in government of any kind, you will find spending 25% of your time on filling compliance paperwork, be that a job in a public school, an IT support job in state capitol, you name it. This is as far as it can get from being able to come to work in shorts and sandals at noon to work through the night. As far as what Ph.D. is worth there: if you browse some jobs on usajobs.gov, you will find a scale of GS-## (government service at a given level), and the relevant level for a Ph.D. is around 12. I found these two pieces in my area:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In addition to the Basic Requirements:</p>\n \n <p>For the GS-12, applicants must have either (a) one year of specialized\n experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the GS-11 in\n the Federal Service or (b) a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in\n statistics, biostatistics, computer science, mathematics, or a closely\n related field.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>where in turn level GS-11 means</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In order to qualify for Mathematical Statistician, 1529-11/12/13, you\n must meet the following:</p>\n \n <p>Basic Qualifications</p>\n \n <p>Have at least a bachelor's degree that included 24 semester hours of\n mathematics and statistics, of which at least 12 semester hours were\n in mathematics and 6 semester hours were in statistics.</p>\n \n <p>or</p>\n \n <p>Have a combination of education and experience--at least 24 semester\n hours in mathematics and statistics, including at least 12 hours in\n mathematics and 6 hours in statistics, as show in A above, plus\n appropriate experience or additional education.</p>\n \n <p>Minimum Qualification Requirements for Mathematical Statistician,\n GS-1529-11/12/13.</p>\n \n <p>Have one year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-09 grade\n level in the Federal service that includes experience performing\n statistical analyses on biological or biomedical research problems and\n conducting reviews evaluating statistical methods, procedures, and\n concepts involved with biological or biomedical applications.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So for that line of work, Ph.D. = Bachelor + 1 year. Don't quote me on this, job requirements keep changing, and I won't even bother putting links as these jobs expire quite quickly by SE standards.</p>\n\n<p>As a silver lining, there are industry jobs where Ph.D. is required. However, these would be leadership positions in research-heavy types of work, and positions would be listed as \"15+ years post Ph.D.; experience overseeing 10+ direct reports\" or the like. By then, you will have retrained yourself into whatever the job really requires, so the Ph.D. is really just three letters after your name at that point. If leadership role is where your ambitions are, you should start taking classes in Business Administration immediately if your program covers arbitrary credits outside your major department.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26584,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In some countries, there are some legal implications. For example, in the university I did my Master's thesis, you can only be hired for a maximum of six months, except if you are a student (master or PhD) or you hold a PhD, in which case there are no limits.</p>\n\n<p>Also, it is easier to immigrate to the States if you have one, as it can be used as proof of \"extraordinary ability\" or be an \"outstanding researcher\" (granting you priority 1), or at least, \"exceptional ability\" and \"advanced degree\" (priority 2).</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/types/employment.html#first\" rel=\"nofollow\">Source</a></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/29
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26506",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15718/"
] |
26,526 |
<p>I am writing an article comparing three pieces of software. I have taken screen shots of all of them and would like to use them in a non-open access article. Given the intended journal, there is a reasonable chance of the images being on the cover. What are the copyright issues associated with screen shots?</p>
<p>Specifically, one of the pieces of software is free and open source (GPL v2), and two are free as in beer, but closed source with unknown licenses and no EULAs. To further complicate matters one of the closed sourced pieces of software looks and functions very much like a proprietary piece of hardware produced by a massive company. Three years ago I contacted the developer of the software and asked about using a screen shot and he said it was fine. The software is still widely available, but the direct download from the developers site now has text indicating that the massive company has "requested" that it be taken down. I own the physical hardware and am not aware of any crazy licensing restrictions. I could use a photo of the physical hardware if that is better.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26527,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<h2>You need legal advice. Talk to an attorney.</h2>\n\n<p>Perhaps your institution has one that you can take advantage of. Everything from here on out is rank speculation, and even your attorney's advice may not protect your from suit.</p>\n\n<p>If you can, get permission from each source you want to take a screen capture of. There may be copyright protectable elements in those screen shots. There may also be trademarked elements. </p>\n\n<p>If you cannot get permission for whatever reason, you may have to rely on fair use. Fair use is a defense to an infringement suit not a get out of jail free card. By using a copyright or trademark protected work without a license, you run the risk of lawsuit. Your institution may not be willing to rely on a fair use defense. Also, your publisher may not be willing to rely on a fair use defense (since they will be the lawsuit target). </p>\n\n<p>I personally think your use is without question a classic and canonical example of fair use, but that doesn't mean that you will prevail in publishing without permission. Many venues require that your sign a form saying that you have the copyright or permission to use all your images, so be careful.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26548,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><em>If there's no explicit prohibition against it in a EULA</em> and it is publicly-available software, just mention the source of the screenshot, either in small print on the cover or in a colophon. Remember the law belongs to you at least as much as them and academics have been too passive in helping courts settle these issues. And the proof of it is shown in other`s answers suggesting you should contact a lawyer. But in the United States, the Law is explicitly reserved for the People, not lawyers. These aren't difficult cases to think about. Academia has been dealing with the issue of fair-use for centuries. Just look at the issue as if it were your own special software, and you'll be able to figure out reasonable and \"fair use\".</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/29
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26526",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
] |
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