text:
How one can learn to write successful cover letters and rebuttals to referees?
Having a good scientific idea and writing a good paper out of it are the most important steps in order to publish in high-ranking journals, but they are not the only steps needed. The other steps are writing a good cover letter (to convince the editor) and good answers to referee reports, if needed (and this is almost always the case, based on my personal and and colleague's experience). Cover letters and rebuttals are a sort of "grey literature", in the sense that are carefully written, but not published, but only read by a few people (editors and referees).
Therefore one can learn to write good papers by reading good papers, but one cannot learn writing good letters and rebuttals by reading them, since they are not published.
In the light of this, how one can learn  to write successfull cover letters and rebuttals?

" but one cannot learn writing good letters and rebuttals by reading them, since they are not published." Not entirely true: Try asking people from your group/institute for the letters they sent...

@FábioDias Well I don't think they will react well to such a question. Usually people don't want to show their failures and may be not willing to reveal their secret weapons :D

That is not my experience. Usually, when a student needs to write their first CL/response, the advisor sends one, as an  example. This happened to literally everyone I know, both in France and in Brazil. In fact, currently, we are encouraging everyone in the group to share the submitted articles, reviews, etc etc... Chances are your advisor will not react badly to such request, it is kind of his/her job...

You are luckier than me...also when I was a PhD student nobody let me have a look to their cover letter and responses.

Your supervisor/PI/mentor should be an important source of information here. Not only will they have a lot of experience at the author end, they will also have reviewed lots of papers, and quite possibly acted as an editor. So they know what they would look for in a cover letter/rebuttal.
As Fabio Dias recommends in the comments, "Try asking people from your group/institute for the letters they sent".
Treat your cover letter/rebuttal as you would the main paper: send it to your co-authors, and if possible a trusted non-co-author, for comments and advice.
Wherever possible, try to get experience as a reviewer and (if at an appropriate stage in your career) an editor. This will help you to see things from different perspectives, and will also give you the chance to read both good and bad examples from other researchers. Even if you don't have the chance to do either of these things, try to put yourself in the editor/reviewer's position, play the devil's advocate, and think about what might persuade you if roles were reversed.

Be professional and respectful.
Try to see the viewpoint of the reviewers.
If there is disagreement, provide a counter argument with backing evidence.
Always try to do 'something' to meet reviewers halfway.  What 'something' is could be the suggested changes or a tweak in the text.  IMO, this shows you respect the reviewers, even if you think their comments are nonsensical.

EDIT: As long the important points are highlighted clearly, you'll be fine.  The aim is to delineate reviewers' comments and yours.  I for instance organize my letter into Reviewer-1, Reviewer-2, etc as sections, and then within each section, break up all questions into paragraphs, and use coloring to delineate comments and responses. I sometimes italicize or bold text to further emphasize certain points/arguments.

Side comment: And never send the same, unrevised, paper to somewhere else (or the same place next year). There is a significant chance the paper will end up in the hands of the same reviewers...

These are useful tips indeed. But my question is more about "how to learn to write good cover letters/rebuttal". I am interested on what one can do to improve oneself. Usually we all learn by imitation (learning how to write papers by reading, learning a language by listening, etc.) but how one can learn to write cover letters/rebuttals if they are not public?

@sintetico See the additional text to my answer.


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Can a professor require that I collect personal data from family members for an assignment?
I have an assignment for a psychology class that is "requiring" me to contact dozens of family members to find out their traits and what health conditions they may have. Truth is, I don't have the best relationship with many of my family members.
My question:
Can my professor require, at the penalty of point loss, that I actually contact my family members? Or can I provide obviously fake data?

edit: I wanted to clarify. When I said "obviously fake data", I meant to convey that I would actually inform my instructor that the data was false before turning in the assignment.

Have you asked your professor?  I'd try explaining the situation before trying anything confrontational (such as insisting that this is not allowable or refusing to participate).  I expect that discussing it will lead to a quick and satisfactory resolution.  It would be really weird if your professor insisted that you had to contact these family members, regardless of your relationship with them.  If that somehow does turn out to be the case, then you could complain more forcefully about unfairness or take it up with the university administration, but I'd be shocked if it came to that.

@AnonymousMathematician good call... I'll send her an email.

Your e-mail may go over better if you make it clear that you are not trying to get out of doing work.  For example, you could ask whether there's an alternate assignment you could do instead.

Dan: This is a good case for an in-person appointment.  And I agree with @AnonymousM that you should definitely try first.  On the other hand, I am not necessarily as optimistic: the way you describe the requirement it sounds of dubious appropriateness across the board.  I am not on bad terms with any of my family members but for all but my very closest ones asking information about their health conditions seems invasive.  So to me even making the assignment does not show the best judgment on the behalf of your instructor.

@PeteL.Clark thank you for your feedback. I feel the same way regarding contacting the family members I do speak with. Although, I'm sure my instructor was just trying to be creative with this assignment.

I'd follow the advice of others before raising this issue, but it would be interesting to know whether this assignment has been approved by the institutional review board.

I plan on discussing this with her tomorrow after class. Currently I'm doing the assignment to the best of my ability with fake data.

Fake data may or may not be acceptable: if the assignment's primary purpose is to teach suitable analysis techniques suitably generated synthetic data would work, if it is to teach data gathering the obviously not.   If it is for other reasons again then, perhaps not.
A highish profile case from a few months back had a lot of students get in a lot of trouble for falsifying data: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/sydney-university-medical-students-invented-patients-for-assignments-20150604-ghgsy2.html
You may want to hold off on the assignment til after you meet with the instructor.

@onixabox I've completed the assignment, but I will hand it in only after I speak with the instructor and letter her know up-front that i am providing false data. I'm curious about the legality of requiring students to disclose personal health related informations, especially considering that some family members may decline to offer up such information. To me this is sensitive and private data. But like you said, I should probably make everything clear before handing my assignment in.

Given that this is a psychology class, the real assignment may have been to see how many of you would object to an invasive question...

Falsifying/creating data as part of your coursework, when not explicitly instructed or permitted to do so, may be construed as academic dishonesty.  The punishment for which can be as extreme as expulsion from the university.  Always consult with the instructor before doing that.

This whole thing sounds completely inappropriate. Your professor has no business knowing your family situation (that you're an orphan, that you don't get on well with them, whatever). If you're happy sharing that information with them, fair enough, but what is a student supposed to do if they're not happy sharing that? It seems that the professor has set up an assignment where they get to learn, for each student, either that student's family medical history or that the student doesn't have a family/doesn't get along well enough with them to ask the question. Both cases are highly intrusive.

@BobBrown Classroom projects do not require IRB approval, unless the professor is planning to use the data collected by students for his/her own research, or the students will use the data for a thesis or publication in a conference/journal.

Can my professor require, at the penalty of point loss, that I actually contact my family members?

No, because for all the professor knows, you might be an orphan without any living family members.
However, I suspect the request is meant in less literal a way than what you are taking it for. You should clarify this with your professor.
The issue is that the professor probably wants to create such an assignment that involves a number of subjects, without overburdening any third parties, while at the same time avoiding that everyone asks their classmates and all answers to the assignment are based upon essentially the same sample.
Some examples of similar suggestions to students that I find completely normal:

"Have your girlfriend/boyfriend proofread your thesis before submitting it."
"Ask your parents to use your prototype before running the study."

None of these means that you really need to ask these specific people, or that you shouldn't ask anyone else. They are just a way to express that you should find someone that probably only you are in touch with (so these other persons do not have to spend days for answering the requests of dozens of students), someone who might possibly have a different background (which, depending on the task, might be desirable), and at the same time someone who you can reasonably ask for such a favour without coming across as too demanding.
In these examples, the exemplary nature of the mentioned roles is usually understood; at least, I have yet to see a student who would truly respond to the first (w.l.o.g.) request: "Ok. But I can't have my thesis proofread because I don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend." Of course, it's just an example of a single person who might or might not exist or be available.
The request by your professor, in contrast, to ask "dozens of family members", seems a bit extreme in comparison, but as a bottom line, you should still try to find out whether it wasn't just an example.

Or can I provide obviously fake data?

This, in contrast, might be counterproductive. You already wrote you were going to inform your professor if you do so, but better do this earlier than later. In most situations that I can think of, using an arbitrary group of real people as a sample for something is a closer match to one's real family members than making up that data.
The issue I'm seeing become apparent when considering the possible pedagogical goals of the assignment:

The professor wants to point out a phenomenon that typically appears in data from real people. In this case, fake data will probably not exhibit the respective traits and thus will be worthless in this respect.
The professor wants you to get the experience of interviewing real people. Obviously, this experience is not gained from producing artificial data.

In contrast, the following education achievement that you might be reaching is probably not aimed for:

The professor wants you to practice ways to create a realistic set of artificial data. If that were the task, the assignment would have asked you to generate artificial data right away.

Therefore, my two suggestions are:

Asking another group of people rather than your family members should be accepted by the professor. You may want to ask the professor, even though personally, I might even do so without commenting on it.
Producing fake data, even when known to the professor, might be counterproductive to the goals of the assignment, and therefore should definitely first be discussed.

It might be needed that the interviewed people be related to each other, if it is about finding/confirming genetical causes for something.

Thank you for the insightful response. Answers like these are what I was looking for. I'll accept an answer based on the community's response and based on what makes sense to me in the near future.

Not only to the goals of the assignment but to the goals of education - science is not something where we should ever be presenting data under false pretenses. If we lose confidence in the validity of our observations, we lose everything.

I think the community has spoken, I've selected this as the answer based on your clear reasoning and community support. Thank you for your answer and I will definitely take it under advisement moving forward.

This assignment shouldn't even exist. If people's health were to be surveyed, the data should be gathered by a health professional in an anonymous manner. End of story.
You would be well within your rights to object to the professor about the content of the assignment (can't you interview about something non-personal, instead?), or failing that, to the university's ethics board.
Is the primary objective of the assignment related to the interrogation of your family members, or the analysis of the results? In the former case, the professor should chose a different topic (i.e. politics, climate change), and in the latter it would seem reasonable to just provide the same (made-up) data to everyone. Making up your own data doesn't seem like it will solve anything - certainly not for the rest of the class, who likely also have some objections to this (have you spoken with others?)

I fail to see how someone's political opinions are necessarily less subject to privacy concerns than their health. If we want to go this way and assume the interrogation is not meant to be voluntary for anyone surveyed, anyway.

@O.R.Mapper agreed, everyone should still be asked if they want to talk about X. The point is that asking about politics is much less invasive (and generally not a taboo topic of conversation). I'd never instigate a conversation with Aunt Milda about her health, unless she broke her leg and I'm asking how it's feeling now that she's off crutches. However, even though our opinions differ we can happily argue about politics for 2 hours.

@O.R.Mapper many people publicly advertise their political opinions and who do they vote for (bumper stickers, banners, badges...); but very few would advertise "I had the flu last week".

If assignments like this didn't exist, then how would people become professionals? The answer by @O.R.Mapper explains what the professor probably means. Practical assignments like this are a great way to learn from real data, rather than a fabricated story by a professor.

@shadow my answer assumes that the assignment is literally what the question here is asking for (that is, that the OP is "required" to contact many family members and ask them how healthy they are). I agree with O.R.Mapper that it is a perfectly good assignment to ask you to find non-specific volunteers.

On one hand, falsifying data is unethical period. Do not do this.
However, your professor, ethically and legally, should not require this assignment. This is gathering non-anonymous data. Also, depending on situation, this assignment may be discriminatory to certain students or even jeopardize their safety. Orphans and people with abusive family members come to mind.
My suggestion is to go to the professor directly, and explain the situation. Ask if you can work with another family or something similar. Either way, do not give full identifying information about the people in question. Sometimes honesty actually works.
If the professor rejects this proposed solution, and does not allow another acceptable solution, go to the university's ethics board. Make sure you have all reports in physical format, with copies made, with the school not knowing about all of the copies.

I agree with this answer. Some people have huge, extended families who live nearby. Others may have no known relatives, or relatives who live in a foreign country or relatives whose cultures forbids giving such details.  The least the professor should have done is to invite anyone who would have practical difficulties to discuss alternatives.  This is totally discriminatory.

"Ask if you can work with another family" -- ask if you can work with the professor's family ;-) If the prof says "no, it would be inappropriate to collect this data from my family" you rest your case.

As interesting as it may sound, such an assignment ought not to be a "requirement" per se. It would be best to explain the situation to your instructor first. A true instructor trained in psychology should find an alternative to your condition.
An alternative that may seem acceptable would be to do the assignment with a friend's family instead (edit: without being intrusive about sensitive information regarding medical histories). This friend should be not from your colleagues of the same Psychology class to avoid duplicate results. It is customary in some cultures to accept a friend's family as one's own. This would not be against your assignment since its rationale remains the same -- understanding people. But if possible, discuss this alternative with your instructor before application.

The alternative makes me uncomfortable, too. Medical histories are private, and I wouldn't want to share the ones of "dozens of members of my family" with a friend. (And, I assume, with the friend's professor.) This assignment screams "inappropriate" in all directions to me, and I am surprised that a trained psychologist assigned it.

@FedericoPoloni: Edit confirmed on sensitive data.

Dan, If you are still reading...(:-)
It seems that many are overthinking your question and hopefully you have not been totally confused.  Talk with your instructor and let him know of your dilemma.  Assignments like the one you mentioned are routine in psychology classes.  They are designed to help you see how genetics and family history affect people.  Grandpa was an alcoholic, Dad and Uncle Jim are alcoholics, then you are at a higher risk than if there are no alcoholics in the family.  Same with mental illness and many other physical illnesses.
And by the way it's HIPAA not HIPPA and it is not geared towards individuals but professionals who have access to medical records.
Don't be afraid of the assignment and have fun with it!

What does genetic susceptibility to disease have to do with psychology?

From a counseling perspective, genetic susceptibility can be extremely important.  Genetics, physical traits, diseases, etc. all play a part in who a person is and all of those things interact with the persons environment.  How we behave and think is greatly influenced by genetic factors. Knowing that you are predisposed to alcoholism per se can be helpful in determining who you approach alcohol or other. Tons of great literature out there if you are interested in finding out more.

No. And if the people being queried are identifiable, you may even be looking at a HIPPA violation for passing medical information on to unauthorized people.
Agree with Keshlam that the real assignment might be to see who will refuse to perform the assignment; although I'd be having big issues with any lecturer who tries that one on, given the personal aspects of the data which might be revealed.

It's not a HIPPA violation for a student to ask someone directly about their health data -- or to receive it. This is a common misperception. It would be a HIPPA violation to ask their doctor (or hospital) for private medical data and receive it, without permission of the patient.

@RoboKaren The HIPPA violation Pete might have in mind could be the reporting to the professor.

That's not a HIPPA violation either. It's a common misperception, but you can't violate HIPPA if you're not a health care provider or keeper of confidential records. If you are told information by the patient outside of the context of HIPPA, then that information may be confidential and you may be in ethical breach of confidentiality and trust (and maybe your IRB rules) but you aren't in violation of HIPPA.

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Is there any way to detect high tech (e.g. cell-phone assisted) academic dishonesty?
Over the last few years, our university has seen a rise in high-tech academic dishonesty.  We have a no electronics policy, except calculators when needed (even those now are provided by the school, and personal calculators are not allowed).  However, students still sneak cell phones into the exam and use them in a very inconspicuous way.
We have had students take pictures (presumably with a cell phone) during an exam and have someone outside the room sending them back solutions. We have had them communicate with classmates somewhere else in the room (some have been caught this way giving the right answers to the wrong exam).  We have had numerous students using their phones to store notes, copies of old exam solutions, etc., and use them as an aid during the exam (this is the most common).
We have caught some students, but I know it is a small fraction. Students will tell us they see cell phone use routinely during exams, but don't want to squeal on classmates because of anticipated reprisal.  Our instructors are quite vigilant in watching the classroom, but it is very difficult to watch 30 to 70 students constantly.  (Larger classes have multiple proctors.)  Instructors have been informed of the classic cues as well.  Our penalties are stiff (first offense, F in the course, second offense, student gets the boot from the school). However, students are still getting away with high-tech cheating.
My question is, does anyone have any sure fire ways of identifying students attempting to use cell phones or other high-tech cheating devices during exams? I'm looking for methods, electronic sniffers, etc.

Those cheating methods were actually employed also around 20-25 years ago when I was a student, only with lesser-tech devices (radios and programmable calculators instead of smartphones, solutions left in the restrooms etc.)  In this answer, which is somehow related, I suggest another strategy.

You can't legally block radio signals via active jamming. Shielding the exam hall would probably be prohibitively expensive. You could try setting up "honeypot" cellular/wireless hubs, but smartphones need not connect to the first hub they find... This is a nontrivial problem

Jamming doesn't help it the phone is used to store a crib sheet.

My physics professor would have a hand held metal detector to find extra cellphones and the like but as other commenters pointed out this doesn't prevent putting answers in the bathroom, passing pieces of paper, making noises, etc.

I'm not sure if I'm surprised or not.

@MorganRodgers: well, it depends on the duration of the exam: for instance, we have many exams which have a duration between 2 to 4 hours, and you cannot really prohibit people from using the bathroom. Sometimes you can split the exam in different parts with a break, but sometimes no.

EMP the exam hall.  Warn the students in advance that this will happen.  If their phones are destroyed, they had notice.  Distribute Casio FX991s from a faraday cage picnic basket afterwards, to be returned like 3D glasses after a movie.

In my four years of undergrad, the best prof I ever had was one who flat out told us, "Ask me anything on the test.  Literally - if you don't know how to do something, ask me.  I'd rather you learned how to do something right than just skip the question or put down a wrong answer." It unnerved us at first, but eventually we realized that he really meant it.  The flip side was that we knew that we couldn't rely on him to pass the test - he didn't have time to help us all - but he became another resource.  I don't know if that will help with cheating, but I just want to have it noted.

I don't know how you are actually watching the students. It certainly helps if there is at least one person behind the students' back, so the students don't actually know what this person is looking at without turning their head and making them suspicious...

"Students will tell us they see cell phone use routinely during exams, but don't want to squeal on classmates because of anticipated reprisal." When I was a student, the fear of reprisal was the least concern of us all. The point was not to be a snitch even when you look at yourself in the mirror. But the overall atmosphere and seriosness of finding someone was much different that it probably is in the US (and our phones didn't have internwt back then).

Recording video cameras are getting cheaper and cheaper, and it won't be clear to students exactly what their field of view is. Have a camera in each corner of the room, and tell students that the video can be reviewed at any time.

The problem is a lot simpler than you think. Look at these 2 statements: "Students [...] don't want to squeal on classmates" and "Our penalties are stiff". Of course students won't tell on someone if that person then gets booted from the school for what seems to be (in their mind) a minor offense. Think of a more sensible punishment, one the students accept to be fair, and they will start to tell you.

Maybe out of topic, but our university professor of "Discrete Mathematics" actually allow us to have one A4 paper with our custom, homemade text - and the magnifying glass was allowed too :) The trick was, that the paper had barely enought space for the formulas, how to use them we had to learn/know. AFAIK no one cheated, becouse if they want, they can write short example on their "cheet sheet" - but have to exclude some other piece of information becouse of remaining space. Some guys was really creative with their A4... If i remember correctly, there was a small bonus for "no cheat sheet"...

@Peter I am pretty sure this is not accurate.

I agree with @traindriver. A simple immediate solution is to have more TAs watch the students more carefully. I cannot imagine that it is infeasible to watch 70 students (a laughably small crowd, all things considered) in a way that it is not practically possible that they use their cellphones during exams, at least not to the extend that it actually impacts exam results. However, it certainly needs more than one person per room - the minimum is usually 3 (1 for the front, 1 for the back, one that answers questions etc.).

In the military, the incentive is that if you cheat/fail, your mates are going to be punished. If you find someone cheating, make them all retake the assignment. This may work, depending on the size of groups, how much compassion you have, how costly a retake is etc.

@xLeitix Let's assume that TAs are capable of detecting cheating. How can you be sure that TAs are not compromised themselves?  At my previous university, where we had huge problems with cheating, TA positions were regular full-time jobs, not related to any doctoral studies, so we've had a mix of older people in their 50s who were TAs as well as fresh graduates. Older guys would regularly notice people cheating, while younger TAs would somehow inexplicably see absolutely no cheating happening.

@AndrejaKo Well, I typically assume I can trust our teaching staff to do their basic duties. I still maintain that if you can't prevent a group of 70 students to commit relatively easy-to-spot cheats (texting in-exam, reading from smartphones), you have a problem to which the answer is not "sophisticated technology". The answer may be "get sufficient TAs", or "get TAs that actually do their job", but I am sure it is not "electronic sniffers" or "metal detectors".

@xLeitix I agree completely.

I bet that when calculator was a new thing, it was forbidden to use (anyone remember that? I am 90s kid so I dont)... everyone has a smartphone these days;  www is largest source of information ever. There is no point in stopping one cheat in matter of "live research about the question", I do see problem when people communicate thru IM while being tested. Exams should be written in matter "you either understand it or fail" + anything is allowed (bring your quantum computer)

Some GRE testing centers make you go through a metal detector or use a metal-detecting wand on you before you are allowed to enter the testing area, but this seems to be slightly overkill for a university exam.

Where is this taking place? Which country?

"it is very difficult to watch 30 to 70 students constantly." I've done it; it's not very difficult, at least in the sort of classrooms I've taught in. You just have to actually watch them, and not read or use the web. If you can see all their hands and laps and writing surfaces, you can see if they are accessing a device.

As Peteris suggest, it may be a good idea to review how you test your students. I still remember my "Programming Languages I" exam: although we could use our text book (which inevitably many had filled with "annotations") many students didn't manage to complete the test. If you haven't studied, you won't have time to acquire the skills during the exam.

I had to pass detector and had my pockets searched in front of the cam for the GRE. It was horrible. But I guess it's the system itself to blame for. Stop standarized tests, make people think and you'll realize if they have the knowledge. You can't cheat a three page idea development and, as a professor you'll find interesting and unique ideas. Maybe not college but life itself doesn't have ABC choices, you have to make your own.

Ultimately, this is not a technological problem but a cultural and pedagogical problem.
The problem with technological solutions is that they set up an "arms race" with the students, in which you will certainly lose.  Electronics are constantly getting smaller and obtaining more means of communication, so a student who really wants to cheat will likely have a means that you won't be readily able to distinguish.  Consider, for example, the recent emergence of smart watches: are you going to ban watches from the classroom?  What about low-tech but still effective forms of cheating like scraps of paper?  If you get a frequency scanner, will you be able to catch somebody using non-standard communication bands?
The best defense against cheating students is other students who understand that it cheats them out of the value of their well-earned grades.  If you can inculcate a school culture where most students are not just not cheating but actively opposed to cheating, then it will be much harder for cheaters to prosper.
The second best defense against cheating is to design exams that are more about process than product.  Think "show your work" and "essay question."  Yes, it's possible that a cheating student will outsource their work and render themselves a puppet of an expert whispering guidance in their ear, but that's a lot harder to do than secretly googling for information about Kirchoff's laws.  I am, in fact, a big fan of open-book tests, which tend to push students to focus on synthesis instead of memorization. This, I believe, has much more value to students in the long run, and also has the nice side effect of rendering high-tech cheating much less valuable as well.

+1 for writing questions that require showing thought and process.

As an added bonus, all of the evidence shows that students who have to learn the process do better than those that have to learn only facts that can be tested on a multiple choice test.

I had one exam (electronics) where we were allowed to bring in whatever books we wanted. People brought in whole backpacks. What I loved about the questions is that they were built up to fore you to THINK and not degurgigate what you learned the night before. They were actually simple and the ones who took a minuute to lean back and think were done in 15 minutes. The rest was going though the libraries they brought.

I think you're right that this is the ideal approach, but it's unfortunately fighting against the tide, at least in the UK, where schools' "league table" status is based on how many pupils pass a basic level of exams.  In this environment, the teacher is encouraged to focus on making sure the student passes the exam, rather than making sure the student understands the subject.  It's a very depressing trend, which i believe will be ultimately very harmful to our country.  Under these conditions, the teachers might be tempted to ignore cheating.

+1 for open book open notes. I also allow open computer open internet. The students think this is a gift until they realize it allows me to ask harder (and more interesting) questions.

@MaxWilliams: I suppose the eventual consequence will be that teachers can't be trusted as exam proctors. After all, in principle the proctor represents the examiner, so if the school is what is being examined then it shouldn't be an employee of the school in that role. That said, I think most teachers in the UK are still some way off from ignoring cheating when they see it, since they still feel a responsibility both for education and to the students who don't cheat. Removing that sense of duty is a big job, but with focus and determination I'm sure the DfE can achieve it eventually.

It is a hopeless task trying to prevent cheating for standard exams.
The suggestion of jakebeal will not work. While I personally never cheated, I would never snitch on someone which cheats. You are working together as a group which builds social cohesion and teachers/professors are an outgroup. You simply do not do that. Apart from that it is not my business to prevent cheating.
The other thing is that the impression of "lazy" cheaters is often wrong. I often wondered why cheaters do often a staggering amount of work for cheating which they could have used for learning. They are getting all possible exams, write down the core questions, prepare their cheating sheets, build groups... There are people out there who are so good that you even do not see cheating in the exam from the next table behind although you know that they are cheating.
My electronics professor in the university solved the problem for himself: He allowed that students bring everything into the exam. Calculators, sheets, lexika, laptops. The students were divided in space, if necessary, he took two rooms.
So he designed the question in advance to be not solvable with pure knowledge approaches. He designed tasks, modified them so people who did read and learned the stuff understood what the design was doing (if they were not sure, they knew easily where exactly the necessary information can be found) and made the design so extensive that it takes time to read and solve the question sequentially. Only five questions for two hours.
The cheaters were stuck. Because the tasks were unique, they could not use old exams (If similar tasks were mentioned, you could bet that the professor modified them so that old approaches were useless or even traps). Information did not help, they had information, but not the knowledge to use it. Because the tasks were so extensive, the time penalty for smuggling out the questions, let them solve frantically by an expert outsider, smuggling them back and write them down was so prohibitive that it was not an option.
The spacing out was intended to make communication not impossible, but simply an ardous and easy to spot task. Even if someone who knew the stuff would help he simply was not able to tell the solution because it needed too much explanation.

Yes, I suspect this is the only viable approach. I have used approximations to it, with considerable success. Another aspect is having varying "data" for varying exams (pre-tested to be sure that "workload" is comparable), and numbering exams and passing them out by number so that it is clear later who sat next to whom, also. (Of course, if they "copied" naively, they'd have wrong data... which did happen...)

You misinterpret my remarks: I would not generally expect students to inform a professor.  Refusing to help and displaying social contempt, on the other hand, is well within likely behavior.

@jakebeal On what moral grounds should people display social contempt ? You never stole cherries ? You never lied to your parents ? You never smoked cigarettes (or other things) secretly ? You never played with fire as adolescent in the figurative sense ? Anything you know weren't right at the time you were doing it ? Acting with social contempt would invariably be judged as a holier-than-thou attitude.

@ThorstenS. I, like most people, discriminate between different degrees of transgression.  Cheating on collegiate exams is, in my mind, far worse than the sort of juvenile boundary-pushing in your examples.  And that is exactly the sort of cultural view that I think an institution does well to cultivate in students.  See, for example, this community's response to a question about being caught cheating: it's not "oh, you were naughty," but "you were seriously dishonest."

@ThorstenS. Those are not very good examples, simply because when you're at college you're expected to act your age, like the adult you are. Someone cheating themselves to better grades could land a job otherwise only available to those who actually studied for the exam. To me that's reason enough to not only socially contempt the act but also blow the whistle.

My open-book tests in college and grad school were also some of the most challenging. I'm definitely in favor of this approach, but it asks more of the instructor.

@Serialize And when the cheaters get the job, their cheating prepared them to fulfill it ? What do you think will happen in real life, not in school or university ? Yes, their conscious decision will have consequences, they do not need someone who tries to punish them, they won't listen anyway. Your stance you are describing here is sending the message:"I will not tolerate behavior I deem inappropiate and react accordingly. My tolerance level for inappropiate behavior is quite small."  The result will be that your circle of acquaintances will be people with an impeccable record.

As a student your motivation for turning in cheaters should be to add value to your degree program.  If word gets out that <your_university> has allowed cheaters to graduate - and word can get out - then that news usually spreads pretty fast.  Things like job fairs usually have a 'core' group of employers that target <your_university> and if they hear that the quality of students is sub-par due to cheating, then your job fairs are going to have fewer employers.  This idea of social cohesion is complete bunk imo.  I have no loyalty to someone who wants to decrease the value of my degree.

@Ryan Let me explain my background: I am born in a country which were under control of not only one, but two notorious dictatorships. The population was encouraged to turn in not only wrongdoing but every naysayer or malcontent. The state also encouraged pupils which should turn in their parents if they uttered something which could be considered critical. People faced severe repercussions for violating ideals (sth like "reputation" or "value of a degree"). If you really think that this has no impact on social cohesion of people or "social cohesion" is bunk....

Apart from that: Because the strong majority of students does not cheat anyway, your argument does not hold. Cheating is much easier with diploma mills which give you your title without testing you. What really counts is how good your normal students are (some specific faculties in specific universities are known to produce "bad apples", while other ones have a famous reputation). Employers know that there are always some people which don't hold what their degree is promising. The method I lined out not only prevent cheating, but values real knowledge.

Open book exams and speed
Some types of exams are rather immune to such cheating, namely exams designed to be taken with "open book" (i.e., any and all reference material allowed) with a rather strict time limit.
If questions are designed to test skills obtained during the course instead of memorization, then preparation of any extra "cheating" materials helps the learning process (as it's well known that transcribing material helps you also remember it better).
Another approach is that question time limits can be designed so that you can finish them all in time only if you know the answers right away - where you possibly could look up some answer (or ask it to someone else), but if you have to look up multiple answers would mean that you simply run out of time before even reaching half of the questions. I have had a bunch of subjects with such open book exams, and they were surprisingly effective at revealing differences between mastered/not mastered areas of study.

While I agree that speed will indeed help to minimize cheating I'm personally not a big fan of speed exams. A lot of students suffer in a mild form of examination stress. Knowing that you can afford take a mental break for 30 seconds to regain your breath can go a long way.

Even without exam stress, some students simply read and write faster or slower than others and there is a very weak (basically no, probably even sometimes negative) correlation between that and actual knowledge of the subject in question. By college (at least for native speakers of the language being used,) reading speed is probably more correlated with eyesight than anything else.

I agree with reirab's comment - writing and reading speed affect these exams much more than subject knowledge. I never once completed a high-school English exam, despite never stopping writing to think (timed tests with word-count minimums).
Also, the sort of online test favoured by many job interviews, that acknowledges that since it's online you likely have Google at your disposal and so times you - assuming that the ones who have to rely on Google will run out of time - vastly underestimate the efficiency of people who are not good at the subject, but at crafting Google queries.

+1 For mentioning that transcription of material significantly aids in memorization and understanding. One of my professors had closed-book open-notes tests. You were allowed a single college ruled notebook with anything you wanted, but not your textbook. The professor then collected the notebooks with the tests to verify they were the same handwriting. I don't think anyone was penalized for different handwriting, but then again it was a 100+ student class, so I may not know.

You dont need speed just a exam that is long enough not to have time to pass. The inability to judge progress achieves the same effect as speed. Those that know the subject will just concentrate on what they know those that dont will just search themselves to death. This is what i do in open internet tests. As far as im concerned if you can google the answer in minutes then you know enough of the subject matter.

I answered a similar question a while ago. This answer might be interpreted as an extension of the previous one.
The exact same issue happens in my university too and my opinion on this subject is usually met by very negative comments.
I think the reason of high tech dishonesty is not the ethics of students. It is about the examination system itself. While technology is growing exponentially almost quadratically, the students still take exams with pen and paper. Even homeworks are designed for a student to "read the course book" whereas he/she can clearly use the Internet.
When a student uses an Internet article verbatim, it is called plagiarism. But when he/she paraphrases, it is called a good homework.
The students should be able to use any device they want. Cellular phones, laptops, whatever they want. The questions should be prepared accordingly. The students have to struggle to find the correct answer to a question.
If a question is like "how high is the Mt. Everest", students will cheat. Either one might have memorized the answer and does not hesitate to help a friend or just take a look at the answer by typing it in his/her cellphone.
However, if the question is like "please discuss the reasons not to climb Mt. Everest", then (i) there is not a unique right answer, (ii) even though laptops are free to use in the exam, the student should do a tiny research to state the reasons, and (iii) helping a friend becomes being a chump.
By the way, I have never cheated in exams and I am not defending cheating. But at the time a baby is able to unlock and choose a game to play in a smartphone, expecting teenagers or adults to keep themselves away from technology is not very reasonable.
Examination methods must keep pace with technology just as every other thing in life.
Bad news: Google Glass is being used by more and more people and we cannot do anything about it.

Although technology is growing, this growth is not exponential.

We can ban Google Glass from the exam room. That's a pretty trivial thing we can do about it. (And that article is old; Google has since stopped selling Glass so there won't be any more people using it unless they start selling again.)

I am aware of several commercial products that can detect phones in areas they are not supposed to be used (typically used by the financial markets to spot inside trading). Such as those from AirPatrol, BV Systems and Libelium. Some of these you buy multiple sensors to work out which "zone" the mobile device is being used in.
Then I suppose to detect electronics generally (that are not connected to a network) you could go down the whole route of metal detecting. Unless they are using tiny mobile phones that are alleged to defeat metal detectors but as the devices are so small reading a vast sum of information off them discretely would be somewhat difficult.
Depends really how far you want to go (full airport style pat-downs?) and how much money you have.

Some universities have taken to disabling the WiFi in classrooms to deal with the laptop use "problem". That doesn't get you around cellular data use on phones, and you can't legally jam cellular signals (in the US) as keshlam  noted in their comment.

As noticed during a day of open doors at University of Berne (Switzerland), one of their renovated lecture halls actually was equipped to suppress at choice of the lecturer WiFi or/and cell phones so that only the nationwide emergency calls (fire brigade, ambulance, and police) were possible.  It did not represent any problem for the presenter (professor in Swiss civil law), as there was a land line phone, too.  Compared to the observation of some university libraries where -- except in the first reading room next to the loan booth -- all other sections are blocking the cell phone completely.

The solution is a lot more complex than "Do x to stop cheating."
We are moving into a stage as a society where the ability to retain a large amount of facts is not as important as being able to process facts and draw conclusions from them.  With the wealth of human knowledge at our fingertips, what is more important?
The ability to recall a billion facts at-will, or the ability to process any given fact in a logical and intelligent manner coupled with the ability to discover any related facts?
If you get nothing from this response take in this one thing:

You will never win this fight.  Cheaters will always be one step ahead.

the ability to retain a large amount of facts is not as important — First, [citation needed].  Second, exams do far more than test retention of a large number of facts.

The best way to counter cell phone use is to not allow cellphones.
In the "most strict" exams I have ever taken (the Canadian/U.S. Government recognized tests for knowing the English language), each person had their own bin in which they emptied their pockets into. No sweat shirts or hats allowed. A gentle pat-down was done, mostly just making sure pants pockets were empty, and one of those metal-detection or electronic detection wands briefly waved over me. All the exam preparation takes place in a different room from the room the exam was taken in, so you can't just leave stuff there before-hand.
During the exam, we were only allowed to use the tools given to us. There was very strict monitoring. Some portions were on a computer, but the short time limit on those sections meant that even if you could get around to the internet or whatever without getting caught, by the time you managed to look anything up the question would be over.

For my own school, there is an official "testing center" in which very similar procedures take place, though not quite as strict with the pat-down and metal detector - it is where all midterm and final exams are taken for every course. I suspect any student who puts enough thought into it and has the courage could cheat in this setting, but the consequence for being caught is very severe - an automatic failing of the entire class and possibly being expelled.

In the case where the exam is going to be taken in your every-day classroom, exam preparation for the previous strategy could be unfeasible, especially depending on the number of students. You'd need lockers, or bins, and some way to keep each person's stuff separate. And the time to sort all that stuff out. There's a couple other ways to enforce a "less strict" version of this policy:

If the exam is going to be taken first thing in the morning, collect everyone's cell phone at the door before they enter the room. They can have it back when they are finished with the exam. (In some cases, you could collect all the phones in one bin - when everyone gets their phone back any missing piece of property should readily be apparent, but you'd have to keep everyone in the room until everyone is done and has their phone back. Even then, some issues could arise - there needs to be trust by all parties if they are going to share one "bucket" to put all their phones into - There probably isn't going to be that trust in a room of 25-40+ students.)
Have each student place their cell phone on their desk/area in an easily visible spot. Keep extra attention on those who do not appear to have a cell phone, but be sure to still watch everyone.

Anyone can borrow a decoy phone to put on the desk.

@Davidmh sure they can. Same for turning them in at the door.  As I said, the amount of effort to completely prevent cheating is probably too much for the standard classroom. But since cheating is often opportunistic (not planned well), this would be as good as anything.

Came here to say this, have the same experience in UK immigration related tests.  The only thing missing from your answer is that all students now have to show that they have no earpieces in (anyone in a head-scarf will be asked to remove it for examination, in private before being allowed to take the exam)  There is a zero tolerance rule for any breach of the exam rules.

This is a relatively easy matter,
You tell them no cell phones, have them sign a peice of paper that states in large font, "NO CELLPHONES/MOBILE DEVICES, I understand that using a cellular/mobile device(including but not limited to: ipad, iphone, and/or other type of electronic device) I WILL FAIL THE TEST AUTOMATICALLY" sign and dated. The threat and follow through of punishment of actually receiving an F for the exam, will spread like wildfire throughout the school hallways.(The biggest problem with follow through of punishment, will most likely be school administration, whom need high graded students for political reasons...)
AND/OR
You have a group of volunteers(could be other students from a different class, concerned parents, ect ect imagination is the limit...), whom stand behind the students, and observe them.
Combining both techniques, ensures a low tech way of informing of consequences, and removing cheaters, combining them makes a strong stand.
Also, if permissable, a slightly dimmed room may give yourself/volunteers an advantage of spotting the classic bright lit screens of a mobile device...
I will note that I agree with Amagii, at least in part, that changing tests from that of pure memory to that of testing logical thought processing, can change the way our tests are made, reducing burden of "dumb logic" aka reward for just having a good memory, to instead rewarding those with the ability to understand the subject(after all even the greatest and most skilled academics keeps reference books, so why build tests on the false premises that we don't need them?), which in the long run will be far more rewarding. Not just for the current academic settings, but out in the real world.
Best of Luck.
Dr. DS

My phone adapts the screen brightness to the environment, so your dimmed lights will make reading the exam more difficult, but you won't see the glow of my screen.

Create a smartphone/tablet app through which the exam itself is administered. This could simply be a stripped-down browser, with no special features like JavaScript support, no navigation controls, and that won't persist if it loses focus, e.g., the student switches to another app to cheat. (You can advise students to enable airplane mode, then turn WiFi on and connect to your special test-taking network, which doesn't provide general internet access, to avoid the risk of an unexpected phone call resetting their test.) Design the app to query a hard-coded server on your network for the address of a landing page, from which the students can select their test, which is delivered in a plain HTML format with basic form controls. If the exam is longer than an hour or so, you could also provide outlets for charging.
If any students don't have (or don't wish to use) a smartphone/tablet, they can still take the regular paper test, but in a separate, small room, which will make it trivial to spot a smuggled device.

Panic when an update on any one of a number of mobile operating systems disables your testing software.

What's to stop someone from borrowing a friend's phone and using it to cheat while entering the solutions into the app on their own phone?  Of course you could monitor the exam room to try to detect anyone hiding a second phone, but if you could do that reliably, then you wouldn't need the special app in the first place (since you could already detect illicit cell phone use).

@Fomite a well-written app won't be broken by a system update (unless the system update itself is bad, in which case you're not the only affected app). For test administration, all it would really need to be is a feature-stripped browser: no address bar, no media support beyond static images, no JavaScript (just use HTML forms), etc.

@DanHenderson Except 'Every other app is broken too' doesn't matter when your Dean is wondering why you couldn't administer any exams this week.

@Fomite well, my answer already includes a provision for paper tests for students without smartphones. If the app doesn't work just go back to plan A.

@Anonymous the need to acquire a second phone to cheat raises the barrier significantly. 100% cheat prevention is a pipe dream, but increasing the difficulty should reduce cheating and increase the likelihood of detection.

And then everyone insists on writing the paper exams anyways because can you imagine typing on your phone for hours?

a well-written app won't be broken by a system update — Pull the other one. It's got bells on.

@JeffE I don't understand your comment.

@all downvoters: I edited the answer based on some of the comment feedback. Better? (If you downvoted without commenting, please leave one and give me the opportunity to improve this answer!)

@Dan Henderson JeffE's comment is a reference to someone "pulling your leg" when they try to deceive you or play a trick on you. It means you think the person is trying to trick you. It's roughly equivalent to saying "Yeah, sure, I believe you" in a real sarcastic tone. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/pull-the-other-leg-one-it-s-got-bells-on

Even the most well-written app can be broken by a system update if the system itself has bugs.  And all systems have bugs.

Well, I would argue that a bug-free system is always possible, but almost never practical. For example, a Hello, World program can easily be bug-free, but is of no use beyond education. Of course, the more complex the system, the more effort, attention to detail, knowledge, etc. required to attain that state, so anything useful will invariably cross a threshold of diminishing returns, beyond which the analytical capacity required to continue outweighs the severity of the remaining bugs.

I'd rather write my exam with my hands visibly cuffed to the table (no chance of cheating) than on a phone.

@Davidmh there is already a provision for this in my last paragraph. Also, I added tablets to the description - I didn't think I'd have to explicitly include them, figuring people would infer, but there it is.

@JacobRaihle see my most recent edit

@DanHenderson everybody would be taking the paper version, and you are back to square one.

"the need to acquire a second phone to cheat raises the barrier significantly" it doesn't. Where I studied, the cost of retaking a subject is the same of that of a cheap smartphone. The moment you cheat in two subjects, it is profitable to buy two phones.

@Davidmh it raises the barrier because everyone owns one but almost nobody owns two. It's not the monetary cost, but the physical act of obtaining the device, that creates a barrier; some cheaters don't plan to cheat ahead of time, just decide to during the exam, when they realize they aren't sufficiently prepared

And regarding "everyone would be taking the paper version" - I think it depends on the institution. Millennials embrace technology and most would be happy to see it more fully integrated in the classroom.

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Setting expectations regarding hourly pay and research work schedule when busy with coursework
I am a Masters' student and I have been working with a Professor and one of his students for about three months now, and just recently I asked him about a possibility of funding me. He said he would be able to do it, but expects me to submit a proposal for the semester with other expectations, that I would discuss when I meet with him. He also added that the expectations would be slightly different now that he's ready to fund me. That certainly makes sense.  But I can imagine on some days, particularly when I have my coursework exams I cannot contribute much to the Research work, and I'm not sure if I'd meet his expectations then. Should I explicitly talk to him about this or is it understood? Also, the pay will be on an hourly basis and is it a good idea to:

negotiate pay per hour / number of hours per week if it's less than my expectation, say 17-20 hours;  ( I used to work (unpaid) on an average for about 25 hours a week, but university restricts only up to 20 hours)
ask him what he'd essentially do during those weeks of exams etc?

I've made some edits aimed at clarifying and focusing your question; please feel free to revert if you don't like them.

I've removed the last paragraph because of this: Write one question per post

If this is the U.S., then you wouldn't talk about number of hours or pay scale in the proposal.  (I don't know about other countries.)  I imagine that what he has in mind is a brief description of a topic, or some topics, that you are interested in working on.
In my experience, professors are very understanding about the ebb and flow of the student's time commitments.  It could be helpful, however, to let the professor know in advance which weeks are the ones where you know you'll be tied up with exams, etc.


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Resusing my own poster abstract for another conference
I have to write an (poster-) abstract for a conference in April. Back in November I already wrote an abstract for a similar conference. Since I have not gained many new results on the same research topic, I made some minor changes to the 'old' abstract and was thinking about submitting this 'reused' abstract for the conference in April.
Is that professional? Or is this even plagiarism, since I copied work that is already published (I am first-author of the 'old' and 'reused' abstract)?
I am not lazy, but the abstract that I wrote last year seems to be very good and I don't see the point in rephrasing it.

Perhaps it's different for fields where conferences have a different meaning to in mine, but my understanding is that the point of an abstract is to say briefly what will be in whatever it is the abstract of. If the content is the same then why should the abstract need to be different? It isn't (self-)plagiarism to talk about your work more than once, only to claim it as a new result more than once.

Assuming you're talking about a one or two paragraph abstract, the question here is not really about the abstract per se but the contents of the poster.  In my opinion, you don't need to worry about self-plagiarism per se from a brief poster abstract because it's not a real publication in the first place (if it were a 1+ page extended abstract, that would be a different matter).
Instead, the important question is whether your research community will find it acceptable to have you presenting essentially the same material in two different conferences.  In many communities, this is OK, taking the view that it is essentially raising visibility of a result with different groups of people; in others communities, however, it may not be viewed as acceptable.  Consult with your supervisor to see what the standard is for your community.

You might want to check the policies of your conference. Some conferences ask that all submitted abstracts/posters be original or unpublished. Since you have already presented the abstract at a previous conference, this would prevent you from submitting the same abstract again without considerable changes being made (i.e., a new analysis, etc.). Then again, some conferences would be ok with you submitting the same abstract. I think the best course of action is to be honest with the organizers and ask whether such a submission is acceptable.


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A poor and mistaken paper scooped a well-written paper: can the latter paper still be published in a journal of similar tier?
As a student, I've read a lot of stories and Stack Exchange threads on scooping, and felt uneasy about it. People seem to believe that the first runner gets most of the credit while the group being scooped gets less credits. Research also shows that the paper being scooped receives less citations. In some scenarios, the scooping group rushed to finish their work first, thus leaving many mistakes in their paper.
My question is, in general, if the first paper (published on a top journal) contains many mistakes, can the second paper be published in a journal of similar tier? Will people question the originality of the second paper?
Note that the mistakes are not grammar mistakes or typos that everyone can see. Those are mathematical and technical mistakes that can only be found through lengthy works of professional researchers who are experts in this field.
Any stories or thoughts or experience will help! Any related scientometrics data helps too because data could be unbiased sources.

Related stories:

In the controversy over the discovery of Haumea, the second team (Caltech) finally received more credit than the first team (a Spanish Team).  The Caltech team announced their result a few hours after the Spanish team.

In the field of mathematical economics, the result of Strong Axiom of Revealed Preference was published one year earlier than the result of  General Axiom of Revealed Preference. The latter is only slightly more general than the former, but the latter finally claim more citations than the former.

Note that "a lot of stories and StackExchange threads on scooping" are just a tiny drop in the ocean of papers that are not scooped. For most people, scooping is a virtually nonexistent problem.

Anecdote: I'm a mathematician, and I've been "scooped" twice, in each case for some of my best results. What happened? My papers still got published in excellent journals, and they weren't totally redundant with the earlier papers. Even more importantly, the first group of "scoopers" became good friends and collaborators and I have joint papers and ongoing projects with them. Not everyone is as lucky as me -- but you probably won't be scooped, and even if you do it might turn out well. Best wishes to you.

@academic Many thanks for your encouragement! May I ask if the earlier papers were published on better journals than yours?

My pleasure. They were.

This reminds me of the following story: https://www.quantamagazine.org/james-maynard-solves-the-hardest-easy-math-problems-20200701/

@VitaminE Yes James' result on prime gap is much stronger than Zhang's. Zhang's result is free of major mistakes, I think, while James' result initially contain some mistakes. Both theorists get their deserved credits, I think. What's your thoughts on this story?

@HighGPA I think what you're asking happens more often in natural sciences.   I think the respective community acknowledges that and has a culture of acknowledging good work that appears independently.   In engineering, it is quite rare, and usually happens when someone steals your idea/invention!

It is a dilemma indeed: salami slicing feels wrong and while you prepare that big definitive body of work on the subject, someone already publishes lesser results.
What helped me to navigate it the most was the insight from reading Hamming's "You and your research". Very basically, journal articles are typically not intended to be the Holy Bible on the subject - you can write a book about it later. In some cases, a "honorary" publication bringing your work together in a cohesive and holistic manner is in order. But the goal of publishing often is to get your findings to the world as quickly as possible to enable others to work on it and advance the science further. By publishing small results, you save others time and effort doing the same work - that makes them more "competitive", but at the core, we are not here to compete with each other, we are here to advance human knowledge.
That is not to say this noble goal is not overshadowed by strategizing and politics in research: it is fairly adversarial, and not everyone keeps that big goal in mind or thinks of it the same way.
At the end of the day, even if two papers are very similar, they both could be useful - if anything, as a validation/confirmation; often, both of them will get recognition if it is reasonable to think of them as independently produced.
Perhaps the most importantly, the career goals are not universal. Some find recognition important, some do not. There is a certain degree of it required to be able to do research in the first place, but even if someone scoops you, that does not necessarily mean you will get no funding whatsoever because you are clearly inferior. Thankfully, not many researchers are chiefly obsessed with their h-index or some other metric, most of us care about other, hard-to-quantify things.

Very helpful answer. I used to think that I have to publish something very important and technically "correct" in every aspect. But now I think you are right that a journal article should not be a holy bible -- it could be just a small results to save others' time

For the most part, for a paper to be published in a reputable journal it needs to actually add something to the literature. If two scholars work in parallel on a problem then one is likely to get "scooped". But the journal is also responsible for quality of papers and so publishing things with fairly blatant errors should be rare for reputable journals that use a valid review process. The journal has little incentive to publish junk as its reputation is also on the line.
However, in a case in which a paper is published that contains serious errors it is a valid advance to write and publish a paper that points out those errors and corrects them. So, in the scenario you seem to be worried about, there is a path for the second paper. And if you mean "incorrect/invalid results" by "mistaken" then, yes, a paper with the correct result has a path.
However, in some cases, some non-obvious errors can also be easily corrected and many readers will make the corrections and assume that the overall result is valid. In such a case (and I've worked on such) a future paper might need to make additional advances beyond the original, while pointing out the earlier errors. Otherwise it might be seen as having too little "novelty".
Note that an author doesn't publish a paper alone. A journal publishes the paper with assistance of, hopefully, skilled reviewers. In the modern era, lots of "results" are made available on preprint servers prior to proper vetting. This is valued in math where results can lead to further results and so there is a push to make things known early. But people do well to maintain a skeptical attitude about such results until they get properly reviewed unless the reader wants to do the vetting themselves.
The result is that some (almost certainly) correct results are visible while some issues with proof need to be fixed. It is a two-edged sword, actually.
But, anyone working in a "hot" area of any field, needs to expect that others are working on the same or similar problems and so the likelihood of getting scooped in increased.

Many thanks for your help Dr. Buffy. This is very detailed. I am very interested in the second case, where the error is non-obvious but serious. So in this case, the authors of the first paper will still claim novelty and originality for their idea, and the group being "scooped" can only claim the contribution for a "correction" and further developments?

Hard to say. Details matter.

Regarding the third-last paragraph: a few years ago I used to blindly believe the theoretical results deduced in top journals, but now I would say about one in twenty papers contain minor or major mistakes. Some authors are very serious about their paper so their paper and preprints are usually free of major mistakes. But for other authors, even their published work is not that trustable. Just my findings from my limited experience.

@HighGPA That's true in general in my field (engineering).  Moreover, many authors tend to follow other authors, including errors, and hence, the literature is littered with errors.   Yes, there are certain author names that indicate quality, and a much better indicator than a journal brand/name or ranking.

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Should I contact the original authors before submission if my paper is heavily built on a series of previous papers (and does not invalid it)?
Here is what I learned from this site:

If a researcher learned that somebody found a serious mistake in one of their papers, published a counterexample and a corrected version of the result, and did not even bother to tell them about it, then they would be not amused.

In case I am submitting a paper heavily build on a series of previous papers authored by the same team, should I contact the original team or not?
If I publish without notifying, will the original author think that I am stealing apples from their trees?

This situation is related to: Publishing a non-invalidating comment to a recent paper- should I contact the original authors if I know them?.
The difference is, 1) I am publishing a research paper not a comment/opinion, and 2) the original authors are not my colleagues and we don't know each other.

How heavily is your paper built upon the previous paper ? Is it 30%, 50% or 70% ?

@Job_September_2020 That will be very subjective. I'd say the result is novel but the assumptions and structures are 70% borrowed.

Do you work in a field where preprint repositories (e.g., arXiv) are usually used? I do, and my approach would probably be 1. post on arXiv, 2. contact the other team, 3. wait a reasonable amount of time, 4. submit. But this may not be applicable to you.

@N.I. We do use preprints. For some long articles we go through some lengthy discussion with every possible one. For short papers or less novel papers (like this) things become much more flexible. Btw, approximately what amount of time do you believe is "reasonable"?

I'd put the statement "you have learned" from this site into a bit of perspective. Publishing a counterexample to correct the scientific record without contacting the original author is entirely within the norms of science. Contacting the original author is also entirely within the norms. Either way can be a sensible/useful way to proceed whether the original authors are amused or not.

@user2705196 Ideally, as a human-being with emotion, I don't want anyone feel bad because of me. This is just my personal motivation; possibly not very professional.

No, you don't need to contact them, but be sure your paper cites the ones of theirs that your work builds on, and be sure your introduction discusses what's novel to your paper. If you give appropriate credit, then they cannot think you are "stealing apples" from them.
That said, it's probably wise to email them with your draft as you make it public. It's a safe assumption that they will be interested in work that builds on their own. They might even be asked to referee your paper. And, they might have ideas that could make your paper better, or ideas for a subsequent paper to build on what you've done.
In cases where I've built on others' work in this way, I usually email them a draft of my finished paper a few days before I put it on arXiv. Sometimes they tell me things I didn't know (e.g., work of others that I should mention in my literature review) and I am able to touch up my paper a bit before arXiv. After a week or two on arXiv, I submit the paper for publication if no one else has reached out with comments. When others have built on my work, they've often used the same approach. I appreciate this slightly more than stumbling across their paper on arXiv. We are all humans and it's good not to forget the human side of academia. Take the opportunity to develop a relationship with these researchers, and maybe someday you will collaborate with them on something.


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In group meeting, one colleague presents my ideas as if they are his original ideas
This is a follow-up of Someone claim to "indepdently discovery the same thing (two years after me)"
Long story short, I'm now working with Jason, in a large team.
I chat with Jason once a week and the team meet once every two weeks. So inevitably I shared many of my ideas and writings with Jason, prior to sharing with the large group. I shared three ideas (A,B,C) in total, all of them are important in solve our research question.
Then, on the meeting, Jason presents the three ideas as they are his. He uses pronouns like "I find", "my idea", and print out handouts without my trace on it. Two of the ideas (A,B) were exactly same as mine with same formulations, while the third idea he altered a little.
When I ask him (verbally, non-formal) about it, he says:

He did not read my writing in details (which seems not true as we chatted on it over the phone for many times)

He think our works were just similar

He says we are a team anyways so I need to chill. Things are just preliminary.

He later tells the group that I had a similar idea A. He neither says he is inspired by me nor he says our ideas are the same.
It is unlikely that he come-up-with the ideas by himself. Because when I started to talk about ABC, he told me that the ideas ABC were not needed. I later convinced him that ABC must be used to properly solve our problem.
I haven't make any formal statement to the group. What should I do here?

Other answers have given you the instructions for "playing nice". You can certainly follow them if you want.
But if you are sure that Jason will take advantage of you in the long run and want to make sure you do not lose credit for work that is deserved, here is a plan:
Stage 1: Probation
Goal: protect yourself while giving Jason a chance to prove he's actually not evil (maybe just careless)

Avoid one-on-one meetings with Jason as much as possible.

But when they do happen, take evidence:

Write down your ideas in emails (or attachments) and send them to Jason from your official email before the meeting.
Create calendar appointments for all meetings and invite Jason through his official email.
Take notes during the meeting. Write dates on those notes and scan them into the computer.

Do not complain to anyone in the group at this stage. Accumulate evidence to back up what you will need to say later.
Stage 1.5: Infraction
If Jason once again "comes up" with an idea that is actually yours, again take evidence. Record when this happened and keep copies of any handouts.
Stage 2: Escalation
Once Jason has "come up" with your ideas enough times, you should approach your supervisor. Organise all your evidence -- you may find this useful:

I had idea X on date A (attach original email / notes)
Jason and I met on date B and discussed in more detail (attach calendar event record)
At meeting C, Jason suggested X without crediting me (attach handout / notes)

Raise all incidents with your supervisor and ask them to tell Jason to stop.
Do not complain to anyone else in the group at this stage. This way, you keep your hands clean and give nobody any grounds to accuse you of trying to hurt Jason.
Stage 3: Resolution
After this, the situation should resolve in one of the following ways:

Jason apologises and starts crediting you properly for your ideas. Everybody wins!
Jason decides to leave. His loss, the group will keep going on.
Your supervisor decides that Jason's actions are okay and won't take serious action. Then you have to decide whether to stay or to leave, the latter probably being the most sensible option. (At this stage, you have every right to tell anyone you want in the group about what has happened, since your supervisor has failed to handle it themselves.)

PS: keeping evidence is the most important and new part of this answer. Once you have evidence, you can use your judgement to use it in various ways.
For example, if your group has a culture of disliking confrontation, you may just decide that the next time Jason brings up an idea of yours without crediting you, you can just put your hand up and say "Yeah, Idea Z is a great idea! I actually suggested that to Jason two or three days ago while we were discussing problem P." The evidence helps you add specific details which make your story believable - without (openly) criticising Jason.

Fantastic advice! I've been partly following your advice in your Stage 1, point 2, sub-points 1,2,3, including documenting meetings and write attachments. What Jason told me that (in Jason's point 1 in the Question) he did not read my attachments in details, so he is unaware that our works look alike.

This is excellent advice! And not only for academics but in general! You, sir, have demonstrated experience in dealing with this, unfortunately.

@RemziCavdar I have never actually dealt with a probably-harmful colleague like Jason. But I have worked with forgetful, busy, or distracted researchers and I have been one myself. Writing and email are the two greatest human discoveries and the documentation they enable are a great advantage for modern science (or any modern organisation).

@HighGPA the important thing is to keep track of what Jason did. It does not matter what Jason thinks he did, and you can use the evidence that you gather in different ways based on situation. For example, the next time Jason brings up "idea Z" in the meeting, you can put your hand up and say "it's a great idea, and just so everyone knows, I actually suggested Z a few days ago when Jason and I were chatting about problem P." Having the evidence will give you confidence!

@ShernRenTee Unfortunately, I have dealt with a couple of them and have always been completely drained. Now, I always take precautions when this happens.

I think the concept of arguing over ideas at this stage is silly, but people get tied up in "who came up with it first". It always leads to these sorts of situations. In a perfect world, Jason would be and making it clear this is a joint effort. Instead, there's resentment brewing since it sounds like he is more than happy to speak first and take the credit, at least implicitly. To be clear, I don't think you're wrong for feeling slighted, only that this should never be an issue in the first place.
Normally, my advice for disagreements like this is communication. Just talk to Jason openly - tell him you feel like you're not being recognized for your contribution. It sounds like you already did this though. I don't like that he seems to have dismissed you outright but I have to wonder how real vs perceived this slight is.
How you follow up depends on what you want. If credit in the moment is most important (or you are concerned about being muscled out of a publication because it looks like you're not contributing) then talk to someone else. I don't know who that might be, maybe the senior author, but express how you feel clearly in a non-accusatory way. Even if nothing changes, a 3rd party is aware.
If you're more interested keeping relations smooth, do nothing. As long as you're being credited on papers, claiming ideas in the weekly team meeting is meaningless. If what Jason is doing is as egregious as you make it out to be, others will notice. It may be that others assume you two came up with these ideas together anyway.
The nuclear option is publicly calling him out. Shaming, accusations, or generally making a scene during a lab meeting is not going to get you a good resolution, though. Advocate for yourself but be careful to not burn bridges.
The last option, which I hesitate to even mention, is to play to the game.

Many thanks for helping out! "Play to the game" means to honest and fair and calmly state the fact during our big group meeting?

"I think the concept of arguing over ideas at this stage is silly" - I actually agree with it. What I feel a bit uncomfortable is that Jason also uses this argument (see his point 3) to shut me down.

So lots of this depends on context, too. Let me give an example. My coworker developed an econometric method for his dissertation. We've since started working together, and I translated his R code into Python and made his estimator into a complete standalone Python package, much better and improved from the first one.
When I give talks that use it, I will cite his dissertation, or our other coauthored paper that employs this method. I suspect I'll use language like "my" or "our" when it's really his idea to begin with. But is this wrong? No. We're coworkers, we developed the Python package together. Yeah the idea for the estimator isn't strictly my own, but since we've since refined it, I think it's perfectly alright to use that kind of language because we've collaborated on it since his dissertation.
So, as another answer says, unless your name won't appear on the publications, or other things that you'd really benefit from, it likely isn't worth worrying about unless it'll affect you in other ways.

Maybe your co-author does not see the whole thing like you and they would really prefer a "I improved the idea orginally developed by xyz".
I think you are 100% wrong in saying "I"/"my" when you refer to the method, since the idea developed from his disseration, no matter how long ago and in which language it was originally written.
At best you can say "my porting" and "my extension", but for the method and the idea  you should refer to your coworker.

Sorry, but I'm not going to keep saying "The method developed by Mani" every single time I refer to it while talking. I say "my" in the sense that I'm the one who's actively using it, not to denote ownership over the idea or method. If I actually didn't cite his dissertation, then this would be bad, but in context nobody who listens to me or reads my work thinks that the original idea is mine.

Please make a concrete example of a complete sentence where you say "my method". I am sure you can replace my method*  simply with * the method*.
For example "I used the method [...]" instead of "with my method I did" ...

@JaredGreathouse the correct language is incredibly concise: your package implements Mani's method. I mean, you were perfectly capable of saying "his estimator" in that very first paragraph! Of course the occasional slipup can happen -- but you should strive towards precision in giving credit. People who are not precise in giving credit may not be precise in other things, and discerning researchers will notice and be wary accordingly.


text:
Is it inappropriate to email a senior academic with whom I have no pre-existing relationship, asking to check/inform my work?
Is it inappropriate to mail a senior academic (e.g. professor), whom I don’t know, asking –

to check  Lemma, Theorem ( less than 3 to 4, short/ little)
how a graph can be constructed (with given conditions), this might require his ‘intellectual time’ as the class of graph is unlikely to be familiar.
reference related 1,2 .

In general, if I need 1,2,3 as described above how I communicate with an academic over e-mail?

Do you have an existing relationship with this professor?

@DavidL , please consider both case. Because, every one is unknown before one starts to reply.

I see you already know about http://math.stackexchange.com - that's a better option for such questions than emailing strangers.

This could be theoretical work in another discipline.  I don't think the OP should be sent to another site.

Hmm.  If you want to build a relationship with a researcher or potential mentor from a distance, step one would be to send a short email to sound the person out.  Here is a possible outline:

(How I got your name -- if a professor recommending contacting the name, that is especially favorable -- but don't lie; if it's through looking for articles on Topic X, and finding some articles on the internet, that's okay)
What I have read of yours, and why it was very interesting for me
A succinct statement of what I am working on, my institution, my advisor, etc.
Mention that I have one or two questions related to my research that I have not been able to resolve locally (perhaps give reason), but I think this is an area you are strong in, and may I send you my question?

If he responds and says, Go for it, do not send him the whole manuscript unless he asks for it.  Succinctly summarize the information needed in order to present your question.

This. You need to be able to convince them that what you need help with is interesting enough to them to actually bother with.

I hope you had done so, and got some positive feedback(assuming u r a student)

@Jim, yes, I have used this method, when I have a question I want to research, I find someone who studies that area, and contact the person with some follow-up questions.  As evilcandybag said, if the person finds the conversation with me fascinating enough, he'll take the time to talk with me.  Once such a conversation with a stranger on the other side of the continent went so well she contacted me the next day to invite me to collaborate on a project.  So I would encourage you to give this approach a try.

@aparente001   excellent , I will , thanks for your valuable feedback.

Inappropriate or not, you aren't likely to get a response. Professors tend to receive a lot of email. If they don't have a compelling reason to respond, they might not.
You're asking them to put time and thought into a response to a stranger. The best course would be to talk in person to a professor whose class you've taken. Ask if they would mind looking over your work, and get feedback in person.

Thanks, but I meant professors in abroad , I can't take their class :) . The problem is, there are topics which only specialists can advice.

@Jim Try MathOverflow.

@Jim You teachers know other profs.

@Jim *advise (Because grammar is important.)

@Raphael they don't.


text:
What are the equivalencies between the higher education in France (Licence - Master - Doctorat) and the higher education in the United States?
In France the higher education is like this:

3 years of "Licence"
2 years of "Master"
3 years of "Doctorat"

But what about in the United States?
I heard that they have things called "undergraduate", "graduate" and "postgraduate". How many years do each of those take? And what are the equivalencies between these and the "Licence - Master - Doctorat"?
Note: If the answer to this question depends on the field of studies, then the field is physics.

You might find some of this relevant: http://academia.stackexchange.com/a/19224/10643

Since France is a member of the Council of Europe and follows the Bologna Process, this question could be very well be applicable to many other European countries as well.
The bottom line is that undergraduate studies in the US are basically thought out as a four-year program, not three years. France -as most Bologna participant states- has chosen the three-year option for the first stage of university studies, in this case the License. This is a bit different from Spain and the UK, where there is perhaps more tradition of working respectively with Latin American and US universities. Recognition of Licence and undergraduate studies in either direction is not immediate in other cases.
However, there are perhaps larger possibilities for American universities to exercise their own judgement and flexibility as to recognizing foreign titles, than in some European countries. So, in some cases it may be possible for an American university to say: "OK, I recognize your French degree as 3 years studies, now you need to pass this, this and that courses to enroll in graduate studies."
There is a good article on the subject here , that basically states that American universities are aware of the problem and are increasingly open to finding solutions for European students.
I would go straight to the Admissions people at your university of choice, find out how they see your precise situation and what advice they can give you.

I will mention that in France, upon completion of the first year of a Master degree program, you may get an "intermediate" degree (called the Maîtrise), which thus sanctions four years of higher education and is arguably the closest equivalent there is to an American-style four-year undergraduate degree. In fact there has been a recent nationwide agreement with Japan, under which Japan nationally recognises a French
Maîtrise as being equivalent to a Japanese four-year undergraduate degree, in particular for the purpose of enrolling in a Japanese Master program.
In the US there is no central authority about such matters so as Alan said it should be discussed with each prospective graduate school on a case-by-case basis. However, even if a school will not accept a Licence, they will almost certainly accept a Maîtrise. (And I would argue that even if they accept a Licence, it would be wise to get a Maîtrise anyway, since it gives you one extra year of preparation for free.)

The cost of tuition (much lower in public universities in France than in the US) is indeed a good argument.

That's possible, yes. (I got one myself.) But even then you should have an attestation de réussite for the first year of your Master (or something along those lines, I don't remember the exact wording), which should be the same thing for practical purposes.

The "maîtrise" has been kept around for law students (it is necessary to become eg. a notary). In scientific fields, I don't remember hearing about it since it disappeared in 2006. However, universities will give you some "attestation de réussite" or something like that, since they typically select their students strongly for the second year of master and students routinely change universities at this time.


text:
I want to gain expertise in a specialized topic but not necessarily go on to research career, is a PhD the way to do this?
If I simply want to gain expertise in a very specialised area of scientific research that is in its infancy, and not necessarily go on to do further research, is a PhD the way to go?
Is a PhD solely a door to a career of research?
There is currently little known about the phenomenon I'm interested in and even less research, so there is no explicit education in the area.

Whether a Ph.D. is good or bad for your career depends on a lot of things, like your country, your subject area, and your non-academical abilities and interests. In science and engineering a Ph.D. can open up the path to research and development, and any Ph.D. can be helpful to instill trust in clients, e.g. as a lawyer or broker. On the other hand doing a Ph.D. can be seen as procrastinating, i.e. people believe that you rather stay in academia then get a "real job". This is probably a problem in parts of humanities, or if your previous education or your Ph.D. took significantly more time then necessary. On the other other hand this won"t be a problem if your future employee is related to your studies, e.g. when working for a publishing company.
The fact that you are not sure whether you want to stay in academia is not important, since doing a Ph.D. serves to find out whether you actually like research or not. So succesfully doing a Ph.D. and then leaving, even if a Postdoc position is on offer is quite common and nothing to be frowned upon.

Good answer!  I would add that when you are facing a big decision, it is important to weigh the alternatives.  Especially in this case -- have you identified alternative routes to getting the expertise you seek?  Also, don't neglect to look at the financial aspects of the various options.

Unfortunately I've spent a great deal of time researching possible avenues of education in the area. As I said, it's a new phenomenon and there isn't even much research in the area, let alone some kind of course one could take. And it's certainly not the type of thing one can learn via practical experience. A PhD thus far appears the best option that I have. This is why I ask- I'm trying to determine exactly what a PhD 'does' (someone changed the title of my post) is it focused learning of a particular area, or is it purely an induction of sorts into research, learning by default...?

@Confusedderpina you can think of a PhD as a degree in doing research. You become very specialised in a particular topic, but you are not necessarily stuck with that for the rest of your life. Regarding the day to day stuff, it is mostly doing research, with some time set aside for courses and/or teaching.

Some questions that might help you weigh your alternatives:  If you do a PhD, who will be your advisor?  How can this advisor help you?  What coursework would help you build a foundation for your work in the specialised area?  What universities might be good choices for you to enroll in?  Would you want to work as a teaching assistant?  How would you finance your studies?  Would it be possible for you to make progress in this specialised area without enrolling in a PhD program?

I found this on another thread and thought it may be helpful to anyone experiencing a similar question about a PhD. It helped me a lot. ---
"The main point of a PhD is to learn how to be a scientist. Involved in this is to focus on the work that needs to be done but also to pick up the necessary skill to solve the problem."
"During my own PhD, I spent a fair amount learning tools that were only of marginal use in my own work. I am now very happy I did because as now a long-time faculty member, I have come to realize that the time I had as a PhD student to immerse in topics, is hard if not impossible to recreate after the PhD. I therefore advise PhD students to use their time wisely since the tools they learn during their PhD make up the core of their future toolbox. Contacts with other researchers and research directions is a similar issue in my mind."
answered Dec 21 '14 at 21:59
Peter Jansson

Why do you want to gain expertise in the topic? If it is due to sheer curiosity, then probably it is called "research" after all :-)
Whether you will still be curios and interested after a few years down the line, and whether you will want (or be able) to make a living out of it are different issues altogether.
Another issue is about the PhD admissions --- in my field, most professors I know are happy to admit you if you possess great curiosity, and excellent command for the subject even if you are uncertain what you plan to do in the future. However, I heard a minority to express the attitude that students who do not go into academia is a waste of their time.