text:
Getting a Major Math Result Published and Noticed by Professional Mathematicians
The Collatz Conjecture is an 80 year-old open Math problem. Recently, I made a remarkable discovery of the long sought visual pattern in the conjecture. This never-before-seen visual pattern led me to two significant results: (a) a natural proof that the Collatz conjecture has no non-trivial cycles, and (2) a direct link between the Collatz conjecture and prime numbers.
My question: If you have proven a major unresolved question in mathematics but you are out of touch with university professors, or someone who can endorse you on arXiv, how can you get your paper published and noticed by professional mathematicians?
My paper can be found here. I'm currently not interested in publishing in a journal, unless someone wants to pick up that challenge with me.

I have not followed your link. You may want to be careful to put an anonymous untimed link like that, you have at this stage no proof of priority, should the proof be real and someone try to scoop you.

One thing to consider is if you live close to a university, you could ask their dean/head of dept. whether, if you would offer to give a seminar to their math faculty, they would be happy to host/criticize your talk. Not sure if they would agree, but it might be worth a try. At least you would have an audience, and proof of priority and possibly and endorser.

Looking very briefly at your document, I have the impression that you give many examples. Not a bad thing, but: (1) this would be unpersuasive for Collatz, (2) makes  your document much longer, (3) May give the impression that you believe that lots of examples are a proof. If nothing else, a shorter document will be read much more. Perhaps put the examples in an appendix, so that your proof ideas can be easily identified/isolated by interested readers.

I would post it on ArXiV, and if you are correct, you'll know.

@Prof.SantaClaus They need an endorser.

It would help if the introduction instead of being quotes about how hard the problem instead explained the ideas of the paper like a normal math paper’s intro.

I'd say to contact the guy who took over running Erdos' prizes, but he died in 2020, according to Wikipedia.

Thanks for the comments. I get the idea that professional mathematicians don't have time for things like these. I like @CaptainEmacs' comments to walk over to a university math department.

@Math777 I second the idea of contacting professors directly. Maybe try looking for a young professor. They usually desperately need to publish, so they might jump on the opportunity. Alternatively, look for postdocs.

Update: The paper has been posted to arXiv. Thanks for all your help. It's great when you can find people willing to lend a helping hand.

Apply for postgraduate study at the closest university.
My advice would be to apply for postgraduate study at the nearest university to you; you'd most likely want to apply for either a PhD in Mathematics or a research-based Master's Degree, if your university offers the latter.
This way, helping you to get your discovery published would be a part of your supervisor's job, and they would thus be incentivised to do so, when compared with you being a random guy off the street. Academics are generally busy people, so time spent helping you when it's not their job to do so could be spent in a number of different ways.
Additionally, if you're a postgraduate student, it's likely that this paper, once published, would form a significant part of your thesis (often, a PhD thesis is composed of several papers stitched together), so you'd basically be walking in the door with a decent chunk of your degree already completed. Of course, different universities have different requirements for graduation, so this might not be 100% guaranteed.

Why would OP do a PhD if all they want to do is to provide a result? (assuming the writeup makes sense).

I don't think this is how things work most places. Especially in the U.S., (my experience), there is emphasis on broad mathematical education. Even if "mathematicians" would be conceivably inclined to award a PhD "by acclaim", most administrations in the U.S. have lots of hoops to be jumped through...

Well, if they're the sort of person who'd solve an open problem of mathematics for fun in their spare time, they might enjoy doing a PhD, and it would likely give them the opportunity to extend their result into new applications or areas. Alternatively, if they want a lower time investment, then they could pursue a research Master's Degree - depending on their university's requirements, it's possible that the result that they've already gotten might be enough to write into a Master's thesis.

If they went to grad school then they could work out for themselves why this isn’t a valid proof, rather than needing to ask for feedback.

@NoahSnyder Is it an invalid proof? I haven't read it, and I probably wouldn't be qualified to judge it if I did since I'm not a mathematician. I just assumed that it was a valid proof with insufficient formatting for publication based on other comments.

@paulgarrett I wasn't talking about awarding a degree by acclaim, but about turning the published version of this paper into Chapter 1 of a "stapler" thesis.

@nick012000, ah, well, in the U.S. at least, there are no "stapler theses" in math, currently. Coursework is a gateway thing, and so on. A different system than in engineering in the U.S., for example, yes.

It's very rare, but "layman" discoveries are possible in math; Collatz may be a good candidate for that. To direct such authors to jump through a lengthy qualification process to publish just a single discovery comes across as one of these often criticised gatekeeper practices to keep the "unwashed masses" out of one's sanctuary. Not saying this answer intended it this way, but it still kind of has this vibe.


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Can my former RA use my idea to publish a paper?
I partnered with my former professor to establish a social research-based organization. We had a plan to pursue a federal grant. In pursuit of the grant, we brought some volunteer RAs on board to help us with some of the work. The research focus was suggested by my co-PI and I looped in one of our RAs to do a literature review write up to hone in on the research question, which was my idea.
My RA offered to take on the full literature review, despite my offer to split the work with her. I had other projects to work on so I gave her permission to move forward with the literature review on her own. Long story short, my co-PI is taking a leave of absence and wanted to put the grant proposal on hold so he suggested that perhaps I could partner with our (now former) RA to take our literature review and see if we could submit it for publication. She and I agreed to move forward with it based on the large body of work she did, and I offered to have her as first author, and myself as second author, because of all the work she put in.
Over the last couple of days, I have been doing a lot of editing on the manuscript and putting it together so that it would make the best package for publication. Part of my due diligence was to submit it for a plagiarism scan and it came back with a 75% similarity report. It would seem that she didn’t understand what I was looking for when I requested a literature review and essentially copied and pasted information she thought was relevant into a document and submitted that as the review.
Based on this, I told her that we would not be able to move forward with the publication plan, as I had hoped. One, because I don’t have the time to rewrite what I thought was already written, and two, because at this point, I have lost some trust in working with her. She said she understood and today she emailed me and asked if it was OK for her to take the idea and pursue publication. I am inclined to say no because the project was spearheaded by my co-PI who is currently out on personal leave and I don’t want to bother him with this and also because the research idea was mine. Am I wrong?
To clarify, when I approached her about plagiarism, she shared that that’s what she understood a literature review to be. She was educated outside of the US in the medical field. Is it possible that’s how she was taught? I don’t know, but her intention now is to use the research she did for her version of a literature review and actually write a paper for publishing.

Would it be enough to put all of the copied text in quotation marks?

I don't think that there is an "idea" you can rightfully feel protective of in suggesting a literature review. It isn't that you had an epiphany or scientific idea that she's running with -- she did a routine part of scientific work that you suggested to her but that contained no intellectual contribution. As such, I don't think that you own any intellectual credit for the outcome. You do deserve intellectual credit for whatever writing you did, and she cannot use that. That might be worth pointing out to her.
But I feel like she's asking the wrong question. You don't want to go ahead with publication because you don't believe that whatever the text is right now follows academic ethics. It cannot be submitted until the problems with plagiarism are resolved. This is the point you need to impress on her: That she cannot just go ahead and pursue publication of the current state. If she fixes the issues, then the result might be publishable, and that you're happy to contribute to the project again once she has addressed the (legitimate) issues you found.

The issue here isn't who came up with the idea for a lit review. The issue is that this RA doesn't seem to understand that nearly the entire paper has been plagiarized (intentionally or not). The fact that she wants to continue to pursue publication after you explained the issues could indicate that maybe she didn't actually get what the issue was or it could indicate that she does understand but wants to learn. It sounds like this is not a university lab situation though i.e., you are not a graduate student, post-doc, or professor who is responsible for teaching her.
I've encountered plenty of students (and research assistants) who don't know how to conduct a publishable lit review. I understand your hesitation to work with her further and the temptation to "ban" her from further developing the paper. It can be a slog to teach someone else and is almost always more work than doing it yourself.
So what you do next depends on how invested you are in her and her growth and development. You can take time to explain the issue, why you are concerned, and how to rectify it. Then let her know you will support a publication if she approaches it properly. This will undoubtedly take effort as it sounds like her understanding of how to conduct original research is lacking. I suspect that she will need some babysitting. Without babysitting I think you will have nagging doubts about the quality of the work.
If you're not interested in this, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that you do not have time and will not support the paper moving forward. Make sure she understands that she cannot use your work. Then end the collaboration. What she does from there is up to her. I don't know how this would go over with your co-PI but you should consider that.

You can allow her to use you work. I am not sure whether you are giving that much up compared to just throwing it away. I would be more concerned, that she puts you as second author or in the acknowledgments, submits the paper and it is detected as plagiarisms with your name attached to it.

That is the concern and the reason I suggest not allowing use of the OP's contributions. If they did any substantial work on the paper they should be listed as an author and things get a little messy.

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Professor sent a letter of recommendation meant for one school to a different school
My professor mistakenly sent a letter of recommendation meant for one school to another school. What is going to happen to the letter and my chances of getting in?

Have the professor email the admissions office and ask what to do.  The correct letter could even be attached to the email.

Has the professor tailored their letter to the school, such as mentioning faculty members or research groups by name?

Elin, in a comment above, makes the right recommendation for what action to take at this point: the professor should email the admissions office and ask what to do, perhaps with the correct letter attached.  But even if you and your professor do nothing, this most likely won't matter.  Probably the only difference in the letters is one line at the top identifying the recipient; all of the important content, namely what the professor has to say about you, will be the same.
So what is going to happen, most likely, is that admissions committee at the school you're applying to will look at the letter, chuckle a bit at your professor's oversight (which they will in no way see as reflecting on you), and move on to reading the important part of the letter.  They're not going to throw away the letter because of it, and your chances of getting in shouldn't be affected at all.
Good luck with your applications!

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Author name-surname mistake in the Google Scholar citation
I have a problem with the appearance of my paper in Google Scholar.
My name is correctly represented in the journal artical as "Nilhan Kaya," so the citation should be "Kaya, N". However, Google Scholar has my name and surname switched and my surname's letters treated as initials: "Nilhan, K. A. Y. A.".
Is there a way I can fix this or somewhere I can send an email? I clicked on google scholar help center web site but it didn't open (404, you cannot reach this web site).

Unclear - is the mistake in the actual journal article or in Google's scraping of the data? As an unpaid service, Google Scholar has no particular incentive to get everything right.

At the actual journal article, citation is right but at google scholar citation is unfortunately wrong.

So the article used 'Kaya, N' which Google somehow converted to 'Nihilan, K.A.Y.A'? Interesting, that would suggest Google is somehow linking the article to some other listing...

Yes the article used "Kaya, N." and google scholar converted "Nilhan, K. A. Y. A". It is really interesting because neither the name and surname arrangement is true nor the surname typing is true. I contacted with this article's journal but they said, our citation is right, google scholar had a mistake so you should contact with google scholar.

@NilhanKaya I think all we can do is give the same advice as the journal: this is an issue with Google Scholar. The actual citation is the one that matches the paper, and anyone citing your paper should be reading your paper and using those details, not the ones on Google Scholar. You can complain to Google, maybe they'll fix it or maybe they won't care.

Just register your profile with google scholar and remove the wrong citation associated with your name. Notice, very often you have more than one sources (e.g. from preprints) of your paper, you will not suffer by removing the wrong one.


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Correcting Preregistered Methods After the Fact
I'm often asked to help conduct statistical analyses after a paper is rejected for statistical errors. In some cases, the study, including the methods and analyses, is preregistered in some way (e.g. the study that I'm currently dealing with was preregistered on clinicaltrials.gov). The problem that I face is that the preregistered statistical analyses are often incorrect and I would consider it a sort of malpractice on my part to perform the wrong analyses - even if that means deviating from the preregistered methods. Are there any guidelines regarding the academic/publishing ethics of deviating from a preregistered protocol?

How serious of an error are we talking about? Like you listed the totally wrong analysis, or you wrote 2SD when it should have been 1SD? (I'm just making something up)

For the most part I would say pretty serious. The most common problem I see is failing to account for repeated measures/non-independence. The study I'm currently working on made this mistake and treated a categorical variable as a normally distributed variable.

As a fellow statistician who assists non-statistician researchers, I sympathise with this predicament.  I actually gave a faculty talk at my university about a month ago, giving advice to researchers on writing methodological applications such as pre-registered descriptions of experiments.  One of the things I stressed in that talk was the importance of describing statistical methods without "locking yourself in" to models or tests that end up being inappropriate for the data.  Generally speaking, the statistical description in the pre-registered methodology should set out the general model form expected to be used, and give a description of the hypotheses that will be tested, but it should always give allowance for the researcher to make changes in the model when this is necessary to accommodate the data (e.g., when diagnostic plots show heteroskedasticity or non-independence of residuals).
Obviously all this is too late in the case you are dealing with, but it is a useful opportunity to raise those issues with the researchers who wrote the pre-registration document, and give some advice for future practice.  It is also worth bearing in mind that the primary purpose of pre-registration of experiments is to prevent researchers from making post hoc comparisons and then passing them off as the hypothesis of initial interest.  Pre-registration does not exist primarily to lock statisticians into model assumptions.  In any case, logically, there are three possible ways you could proceed in this case:

Good analysis trumps pre-registration: Do the correct statistical analysis, making whatever changes you need, even if this is contrary to the method/model set out in the pre-registration document.  Make sure the write-up of the analysis and subsequent academic paper clearly disclose (and explain) any deviation from the pre-registered method.  The reader will then be able to decide whether or not they still trust that the pre-registration has achieved the desired purpose.
Pre-registration trumps good analysis: Do the analysis in accordance with the pre-registration document.  Make sure the write-up of the analysis and subsequent academic paper clearly discloses the flaws in the analysis, but notes that they were fixed by the pre-registration decisions.  Don't try to sweep these problems under the rug.
Refuse to do the work: The last option is to refuse to do the statistical work on this project, on the basis that you cannot comply with the pre-registration method, while still doing good statistical analysis.  This option leaves the other researchers in a bit of a bind, but some might say that that is the proper penalty for having locked in bad methodological decisions in the pre-registration document.  (And even if you choose this option, some other statistician might take up the work, so they will still need to read this answer for advice!)

In my opinion, the first of these options is clearly superior to the second.  You get a good analysis that is done properly, and the reader is able to decide if the pre-registration has achieved its purpose (usually to prevent post hoc comparisons) despite the changes.  If you decide to go ahead with the analysis, I would suggest that you adopt this method, but make sure the other researchers agree that they will clearly disclose the changes you make to the method in the final paper (so that the reader knows that there was a deviation from the pre-registered method).


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Is it okay to ask a senior academic a question that my advisor is unable to answer?
For the past few weeks, I have been struggling to understand something and answer a very specific research question. I asked my advisor the same question and he couldn't give me a satisfactory answer.

Is it socially acceptable to bypass my advisor and ask a senior academic the same question?
Does it reflect negatively on my advisor if I bother other academics with my research?

I am an Asian international student studying in the United States and not sure what is the most prudent way to do this. In my country, bypassing ones advisor to ask a senior academic reflects poorly on the advisor and group in general and is implicitly frowned upon.

I would say you haven't "bypassed" your advisor at all here. It might be frowned upon to go directly to senior researchers when you have an immediate supervisor, but you've done your due diligence in starting through the appropriate channels.

"he couldn't give me a satisfactory answer" - it isn't at all clear to me what you mean by this, and the meaning is very important. There's a big difference between your advisor not having the knowledge, and you not understanding the explanation. I would also question whether this is something you should be asking people about versus reading about in the literature.

"Is it politically correct..." "Politically correct" is typically a strongly negative term nowadays, at least in American English. See Wikipedia ("The contemporary usage of the term emerged from conservative criticism of the New Left in the late 20th century.").

At the heart of this is a interpersonal social question. When a student comes to me with a question I don't know the answer to, I rarely just say sorry I don't know. As an advisor, our goal is to help students learn what they need. When I don't know something, I try and point my students in a direction (textbook, articles, person) where they might be able to find the answer. While I would not be upset if a student "bypassed" me to talk to someone after finding out I did not know the answer, I can imagine some advisors would be.
I suggest you identify the researcher(s) who might know the answer and tell your advisor that you were thinking of contacting this individual. Your advisor might have some valuable insight and tell you not to contact Dr Jones, but instead contact Dr Smith. Your advisor might also give you an introduction or want to be included in any email correspondence so they can learn the answer too. Your advisor might simply say sounds good and leave you to it.

I suggest you identify the researcher(s) who might know the answer and tell your advisor that you were thinking of contacting this individual. - This approach would save both the student and the advisor from a lot of potential social pitfalls. It also changes the dynamic from a student asking other professors for help to a conversation between labs. "Dr. StrongBad and I were having a conversation about reproductive behavior in The Cheat and he suggested I ask whether you had experience with the molting behavior."

I would add that even if I know the answer, I would still "try and point my students in a direction (textbook, articles, person) where they might be able to find the answer"

Good answer but I'd like to add one more thing.  If you don't check with your advisor first (as StrongBad suggested), you run the additional risk that the person you go to for the second opinion (Prof. Second) might feel uncomfortable as well.  Prof. Second might feel squeamish, imagining that your advisor might suspect him/her of trying to poach you.  So, all in all, better to be an open book to all concerned.

At the core, that is a question that you are facing. There are many ways to figure something out:

google
go to library
ask colleagues / lab mates
ask advisor
ask on StackExchange
ask someone you have never talked to before

You shouldn't hesitate to use any of these, as long as you show due diligence when asking people. That is, don't jump to emailing professors (or your advisor) until you spend some time figuring problem on your own.

as long as you show due diligence when asking people - this is really important, in my opinion. From the OP all we know is OP asked their advisor, did not get the answer they wanted, and now they want to ask other academics based on their seniority. That's not really exercising due diligence (of course there may be detail left out of the OP, I don't mean to be accusatory).

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STEM to non-STEM PhD program
I am an international student, applying to Ph.D. programs for Fall 23 in the US. My background is in STEM and I am changing my career path to Psychology or Public Health. Many of these programs are Non-STEM, which I don't understand how could Psych or Pub-Health Biostatistics be non-STEM.

What could be advantage/disadvantages of switching from STEM to non-STEM?
Is there any way to change the non-STEM program to a STEM program? i.e., taking STEM-related courses and getting the STEM degree instead?

after an international student finishes his/her program:

STEM international students get 2 years of OPT time, it's called "STEM OPT", while non-STEM international students get only 1 year of approval to be in the US.

My understanding is that STEM is a somewhat general term (i.e. not precisely defined), and thus the boundary between STEM and non-STEM is fuzzy, hence the issue with "Psych or Pub-Health Biostatistics" is likely a non-issue -- although you think it's STEM and someone else thinks it's non-STEM, this is not really a contradiction. As for your main concern, this likely depends on the country. In the U.S. the essential issue is whether your application to a non-STEM (or ANY) program shows that you have the potential, and you are adequately prepared, to succeed in the program you're applying to.

Wild guess: Would clinical be non-STEM and research STEM? I have no basis.

Will you have a masters when you start, or only a bachelors?

I moved the text you posted as an answer into your question; it seems like you really want to [edit] here rather than posting an answer, but I'm not quite capturing the meaning. It sounds like there is some particular "STEM program" you are talking about that has different rules than other programs, and this is the importance of STEM/non-STEM; it would be helpful if you clearly explained these differences, because this is not a standard thing that most users here will be familiar with automatically.

https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/students-and-exchange-visitors/optional-practical-training-extension-for-stem-students-stem-opt seems like what you're referencing - maybe other people are more familiar with this.


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Is it appropriate to ask an interviewing institution to reimburse nonrefundable hotel costs after flight cancellation?
I have an interview scheduled for tomorrow for a faculty position. However, today my flight got canceled. I tried to get another flight today, but unfortunately I could not.
I informed the university and requested to do my interview via Zoom, to which they agreed.
I booked the flight and hotel two weeks ago and the university had informed me they would reimburse me. Because the flight got canceled, I will get a refund from the airline. However, I will not get any refund from the hotel (the hotel price was almost $400). The university had given me 3-4 options to choose from for the hotel, each of which was a 4/5 star hotel, so it was expensive.
Now the question is: can I ask for a reimbursement for the hotel from the University? Will it be a good gesture?

Can not you claim compensation for the hotel from the airline? After all, it is due to their fault that you missed your hotel booking. Should depend on jurisdiction, of course, and may be better asked at Law.SE...

@Petr Don't know of any jurisdiction that an airline would have to pay compensation for this. In EU for example, compensation would be flat rate, which may not cover the cost of the hotel.

Wouldn't this sort of thing be covered by travel insurance? I think that is why travel insurance remains important. The problem is that sometimes the cost of the insurance itself may be prohibitive and not "worth it" (at least without the benefit of hindsight). I am not a travel expert, but this website: https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/flight-delays-cancellations states that, "In the United States, airlines are not required to compensate passengers when flights are delayed or cancelled."

I am a little hazy about one thing: did the University agree to reimburse you for the hotel stay? If so, I think there is no harm in asking the U to make good on that bit. But if that expense was supposed to be yours to bear in any case, then I don't think it is proper to ask the U to make you whole on that. In the latter scenario (you pay for the hotel), there is no obligation for you to choose an "expensive" hotel the U suggests, you can very well opt for a much cheaper one in the general vicinity.

I'd ask the university to reimburse you.  The worst that could happen is that they say "no".  If such a request harms your chances of getting the job then you probably didn't want to work there anyway (so, better than just "no").

@Deepak Yes, it would typically be covered by travel insurance, but typically travel insurance isn't reimbursable. For a business or institution like a university, it's better to just eat the cost of occasional cancellation expenses rather than pay someone else to take the risk; effectively they serve as their own insurance that way. OP already says "the university had informed me they would reimburse me", I don't think they need to clarify that.

@BryanKrause In general that's true, but this may be one of the exceptions: OP isn't an employee or student ("invitational travel"), so they may not be covered by the university's insurance, which may make them eligible to be reimbursed.

@user71659 In the scenario I describe, there is no "insurance", and it doesn't matter at all whether OP is an employee or student or not, it's the university funding the travel so it's the university with the risk, not the traveler.

@BryanKrause Universities maintain travel insurance. This is because worker's compensation laws make them liable for any injuries suffered by employees in the course of business. The institution would also be liable an employee got into an accident in a rental car. The prohibition on insurance reimbursement is because such purchases are duplicative, may not pass muster with university lawyers, and needs to be paid out of overhead. As I said, invitational travel is one of those cases where university insurance may not cover the traveler, and in that case, purchase of insurance is allowed.

@user71659 whether the university has a relationship with a third party like a insurer who may help them with certain costs in certain circumstances is completely irrelevant to the OP. Their relationship is directly with the university, who agreed to reimburse hotel costs. If it's an agreement the university can wriggle out of in this scenario, an insurer won't be interested in paying anyway.

@Will The agreement is not a blank check and is subject to certain conditions, for which the OP needs to review university policy in advance. For example, the university may agree to reimburse meals, but if OP purchases alcohol, or spends excessively, or decides to dine at an adult establishment (actual case), the university would be prohibited from reimbursement. Another one is rental cars outside the university contract, due to liability and insurance issues. Cancellation fees are difficult because certain funding sources, particularly with the government, do not allow reimbursement.

@user71659 yes, any payment not covered by the agreement is going to be of no interest to an insurance company who has a relationship with the university and not the party who wants the payment

@Will Go try it. Have a meal where alcohol was served. No matter how much kicking and screaming you do, it won't get reimbursed. In a public institution, it may be a matter of state law. Invitational travel is not blank check, and even if the host doesn't mention it, the traveler needs to research applicable policies, including insurance.

I think it is your responsibility to try to get any possible refund for the hotel (that is, contact the hotel and discuss your circumstances, even if their cancellation policy would seem to not allow a refund). Then, it's the responsibility of the institution to still reimburse you as if you had traveled. That assumes that the cause for the cancellation is entirely outside your control, which in this case it sounds like it is.
This is one good reason that institutions should pay these costs themselves up-front rather than reimbursing interviewees afterwards.
It is possible that some arcane rules (especially if you are dealing with a government-affiliated institution) will somehow prevent you from being reimbursed, but even in that case there is nothing wrong with making the request. If anyone holds it against you for asking, that may not be a place you want to work anyways.

While being a government institution may make them unable to accommodate your request for reimbursement, it will also make the employees indifferent to you making the request.
This is different from, say, a small company where everyone might be worried that your reimbursement is coming out of their bonus.

When the institution effectively forced you to choose a high-price hotel, they were clearly willing to foot the bill and had already budgeted for it. It would be extremely unreasonable for them to force you to pay for something you never expected and might not be able to afford, or would have chosen a less expensive option if it came out of your own pocket.
So you should definitely request reimbursement, and I think they're likely to provide it. In the very least, you should insist on the difference between the high price you're actually being charged and a cheap hotel you might have chosen if you knew you'd have to cover the bill yourself.
Furthermore, what's the worst that could happen? If they say no, you're no worse off than you currently are. If you think this might color their hiring decision, I think that's unlikely. That decision comes from academics, not the bean counters.


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Can I use figures from my article on my website after it is accepted but before being published, if I publish open access and retain the copyright?
I have a paper that was just accepted (but not yet published) in an open access journal. I am also upgrading my website right now, and I would like to know if I am allowed to post pictures which are in the paper (which I made) on my own personal website. I know that by publishing in a journal, I am giving up some rights over the material to the journal itself, and that certain actions are grounds for the journal to remit the article such as trying to submit the paper to another journal.
Can I use the pictures on my website, now before the paper has been published?
Do I have to wait until after the paper is published to use them?
Are the rules different for journals that are not open access?
I found the license information:

Ownership of the copyright in the Contribution remains with the Author(s).
  However, the Author(s)’ re-use rights in the Contribution are subject to the rights and restrictions set forth below in this Section, and in clause 3 and 4(a). After the Author(s) have submitted the Contribution to NPG hereunder, the Author(s)’ rights to re-use the Contribution shall be the same as those set forth in the Creative Commons licence selected above, with the following additional re-use rights:
(a) to reproduce the Contribution in whole or in part in any printed volume (book or thesis) of which they are the Author(s); and
(b) to reuse figures or tables created by the Author(s) and contained in the Contribution in oral presentations and other works created by them.
Notwithstanding, if the entire Contribution is rejected by NPG and not published, all rights under this licence shall revert to the Author(s).

What does the agreement you signed with the publisher say?

Expanding on ff524's comment: you mention open access journal, in which case you will usually have to choose a license for your paper (probably later, at the proof stage), such as Creative Commons CC0. Your choice there affects your rights to reuse figures.

@BenCrowell: Regarding a): I do not see, why the kind of CC license would matter – you give the reasons yourself in b). — What might be relevant is what “clause 3 and 4(a)” contain. — Regarding b): I agree that this copyright agreement seems to be redundant, if not non-sensical. The “additional re-use rights” should already be contained in the above.

(b) reuse figures [...] created by the Author(s) and contained in the Contribution in [...] other works created by them.

does IMHO cover your pictures.
However, depending on you legislation you may need to get approval (legally speaking: a license) by your coauthors.

IIRC in the US each coauthor can excercise the copyright independent of the other coauthors (please correct me if I'm wrong)
but e.g. in Germany all coauthors hold the copyright together, and must act together.

I guess that already single figures are works of their own and thus may only have a subset of the paper's coauthors as authors (but IANAL). But IMHO figures in scientific papers still frequently have multiple coauthors: in analogy to what constitutes authorship for a paper, I'd say that everyone who had an important contribution to the figure is coauthor of the figure.
Examples:

A suggests that a hexbinplot is more appropriate than the current pseudo-3d scatter plot. B accordingly changes the figure => I'd say both A and B are coauthors of the final figure.
A result plot showing a model and the experimental data: experimental design & measurements by A, theoretical bounds for models by B, and modeling of the experimental data & plotting of all into one figure by C => IMHO makes 3 coauthors.

Note: things may be even more complicated as e.g. in Germany the right for secondary publication according to §38 UrhG refers to the authors, while the commercial rights are typically with the employer.
Practically speaking I guess it is easiest to ask all coauthors of the paper (and if relevant your employer) for permission to re-use the paper or parts of it on the web site. I'd anyways consider piecemeal asking of some coauthors every time you want to put another figure on your blog as impolite.

The asker wrote that he created the picture. Can you elaborate why the approval from the co-authors would be needed?

@Wrzlprmft: please have a look at the update. Does that answer your question?

Yes and no. I think you are confusing the academic and copyright concepts of authorship. Unless I am very much mistaken, producing the data for some figure grants you academic authorship but not copyright authorship.

@Wrzlprmft: I'd be interested in discussing our respective views on the topic. However I suggest to do thatn in the chat (I opened a chat room) - see you there.

Thank you for the information. Some of the figures in the article were assembled by committee. If I understand your answer correctly, any coauthor who contributed to the figure could use the figure in their own works, because of statement (b) in the license. If it was not open access, the rules may be different.

statement (b) in the journal's license tells you that the journal won't make trouble. Practically speaking, for the rest just ask everyone involved (including employer or university in case they hold the commercial rights that were not signed over to the journal): In academic settings, usually everyone is happy to have the paper advertised on another web page. Finding out what exactly you are allowed to do without asking whom can be rather complicated and depends on details of your legislation, though (Wrzlprmft and I chatted but didn't even come to a conclusion for our home legislation).

Since you refer to the Nature Publishing Group, now merged with Springer to form Springer Nature, the information on open access found here
http://www.nature.com/openresearch/about-open-access/policies-journals/
says that falling under the CC BY license, anyone (including the authors) can modify, use, redistribute your work, as long as the initial publication is mentioned.
Looking further here
http://www.nature.com/openresearch/about-open-access/what-is-open-access/
this was about the gold open access.
The green open access is more restricted (for example the final typeset version cannot be provided on your own homepage) and re-use might be limited. Maybe yours is the green option, as you have extra clauses.
In that case and from what you shared, it seems that as author you can re-use the paper in other printed publications as long as you author them and figures and tables, like the pictures you want to share, can be distributed in any other work of your, including oral presentations.
But you ask something slightly different. Can you use them even before they are published online or in print?
I see this as less a re-use question and more of "would it be considered a double publication". If your article has gone to production, I don't think it can be rejected, and since you signed the open access, it's already valid. The best thing to do is ask the journal directly, still. I think I would wait to publish them after I can provide the citation on my homepage (as even incomplete citation or as DOI).
The rules are definitely different if the journal is not open access or you selected the non open access option. In that case, you have to see what is the exact agreement with the publisher, as you may have signed an exclusive publishing agreement, that doesn't allow any re-creation of your work through free access routes (but there might be exceptions in your favour).

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
I asked one author for a resource related to their paper - is it okay to also ask a coauthor?
I recently communicated with an author asking for some resources related to their research paper. He responded to the mail and the response contains:

Appreciation for the interest.
Resource may be available with another author.
Resource may be available to all in the near future, and so monitor the corresponding sites frequently.

I am confused whether to ask another author for the resource based on point 2, or to wait based on point 3.
Is it okay to communicate with the second author (despite the information provided in point 3) due to my urgency?

I would email the other author ("Author B"), mention you were in contact with "Author A" and they suggested either the resource might be available with them (Author B) or available publicly soon. Make clear (but briefly) exactly what it is you would want/need.
In most cases its impolite to forward private email chains to others, but if all you have on this email chain is 2 messages: your initial ask and the response you described here, I think it would be fine to forward this email to Author B showing your previous correspondence with Author A. But still be clear about what you want so that Author B doesn't need to dig through it to find out, that can be really annoying.
I wouldn't mention any urgency; to paraphrase a common saying, your urgency or need is not their emergency. It's fine to ask, just not to demand, and I wouldn't beg or say you need it by XYZ date. Do not say "Author A said you would..." - they didn't, they said it might be available.
Probably Author B will respond with something similar to point (3), but maybe you'll get lucky. As long as you aren't sending many emails pestering them, one email to Author B after your one email to Author A is just fine.

+1 specifically for "its impolite to forward private email chains". I once received a forward from a colleague, with one of the mails down the chain literally began with "please keep it confidential between you and me".


text:
I got a low score on my English proficiency test, should I explain it?
Is it OK to write a cover letter with my PhD applications to explain why I got a low (6.5) score in IELTS listening?
Can I mention I had a lot of stress I couldn't prepare for IELTS, and I also was sick on that day and lost focus?
I do not have time to retake the IELTS before applications are due.

Is 6.5/9 really that bad? It would surprise me if it were. You may not need any explanation at all.

In the US - at least at the institutions I'm familiar with - English proficiency is assessed by the graduate school, not the department. If you do not pass the minimum standards set by the university, the department cannot admit you.
If you do pass, your application is forwarded to the department, who may or may not see your scores. However - especially for equity reasons - many people are happy to abide by the thresholds that have been set for them.
If your score is below the admittance threshold, there is nothing you can really do except take the test again.
If your score is low, but passing, I would first ask the graduate admissions office whether the committee will even see your scores. If not, you're good. If so, I might very carefully write something about your score explaining your source of stress (if extraordinary - grad school is stressful) and that you were sick, if there is a box for "explain external factors."
If there's  no spot for a cover letter in the application, then the one you send will most likely not be seen anyway.


text:
I don't think anyone finds what I'm working on interesting. What should I do?
I'm in math but not currently in academia (completed PhD). I had to leave and I'm trying to get back. Recently I've been working on some small problems that I made up myself from reading some papers. But it's not part of any sort of larger program or is related to stuff that people work on. So, I am worried that when people look at my research statement, etc., nobody will find it interesting and will pick someone else who works on trendier things, or that is part of a bigger research group.
One person told me that I should continue working on what I find interesting, because otherwise I would be "pandering." That's bad because that sort of defeats the purpose of doing mathematics, which should be done for intrinsic reasons. But wouldn't that lead to my applications being turned down? Should I think about who might find my work interesting?

About pandering: The truth is that we don't have a right to be employed to do what we enjoy as a hobby. Employers have expectations about what their employees do and can provide.

The description is a bit confusing. If what you're doing is based on some papers, it must be related to stuff that people work on.

I wasn't aware that doing things other people wanted doing so that you got paid was called pandering. I thought it was called employment. More seriously, not all mathematics is created equal. Some topics are of more interest to people than others, and inside a topic some questions are more important. If you want to be paid to produce mathematics it has to be of interest to someone. If you don't wish to be paid though, you can do whatever you want.

Two ideas:
First, it is fairly common for mathematicians to work on things of interest to only a few people. When I completed my dissertation (previous century) it was quite interesting but of interest, really, to only half a dozen people worldwide and I knew most of them. Don't let that be a concern. You can even get things published in good journals, as the main results of the dissertation were. Math is very balkanized and interesting things can pop up anywhere. For some, the personal rewards are enough.
Second, academia is a big place. it might be very hard to get hired at an R1 but there are lots of satisfying careers at other universities and colleges, including liberal arts colleges, all of which are likely to have a math department. While research is less important (than teaching) there, it still gives an opportunity to do it and if you keep up a circle of collaborators you can succeed. You can also move up the food chain if you are able to publish.
So, look at all the possibilities and cast a wide net.

"You can even get things published in good journals as the main results of the dissertation were." My brain may not be functioning properly, but this seems like an incomplete sentence to me. Or at any rate, ambiguous.

@FaheemMitha add a comma before "as" and it all of a sudden makes sense (although to be clear the comma is not needed grammatically)

@FaheemMitha, yes, fixed, I hope. Forgive me, I'm old with poor eyesight and fickle fingers. Usually though, my big grammatical sin is too many commas, not too few.

OK, I think I understand. That sentence is saying that the main results of Buffy's dissertation was published in a good journal, and the OPs results could be published in a good journal as well. I was a bit thrown by the trailing "were". It might help to replace "the" with "my" in that sentence.

There isn't a right or wrong decision what you should work on. It's entirely your decision, taking into account both your own passions and interests, and the likely rewards of succeeding at solving different types of problems. It's certainly the case that not all problems are created equal in how highly they are regarded by the mathematical community, and how much solving them will advance your career in a practical sense.
In any case, you might consider that if you decide to do a bit of "pandering" to advance your career, you will be in pretty good company. Gauss was twenty-four and already well-known for his amazing discoveries in number theory when he decided to work on an applied problem in astronomy: calculating the orbit of the dwarf planet Ceres, which had been discovered at the beginning of 1801 and observed for a brief period but then could not be located again by astronomers. The problem of finding Ceres became quite a trendy topic that attracted the attention of the scientific community of the day. Drawn by the opportunity and interest generated by this problem, Gauss attacked it and, through heavy calculations combined with ingenious methods he had developed, was able to calculate the orbit of Ceres and predict its future position from the recorded observations. This was a stunning success: astronomers pointed their telescopes towards the positions Gauss predicted and swiftly located Ceres.
In chapter 14 of his classic book "Men of Mathematics: The Lives and Achievements of the Great Mathematicians from Zeno to Poincaré", author Eric Temple Bell describes Gauss's motivations for working on the problem of the orbit of Ceres:

His friends and his father, too, were impatient with the young Gauss for not finding some lucrative position now that the Duke had educated him and, having no conception of the nature of the work which made the young man a silent recluse, thought him deranged. Now at the dawn of the new century the opportunity which Gauss had lacked was thrust at him.
[...]
Why not indulge his dear vice, calculate as he had never calculated before, produce the difficult orbit to the sincere delight and wonderment of the dictators of mathematical fashion and thus make it possible, a year hence, for patient astronomers to rediscover Ceres in the place where the Newtonian law of gravitation decreed that she must be found—if the law were indeed a law of nature? Why not do all this, turn his back on the insubstantial vision of Archimedes and forget his own unsurpassed discoveries which lay waiting for development in his diary? Why not, in short, be popular? The Duke's generosity, always ungrudged, had nevertheless wounded the young man's pride in his most secret place; honor, recognition, acceptance as a "great" mathematician in the fashion of the time with its probable sequel of financial independence—all these were now within his easy reach. Gauss, the mathematical god of all time, stretched forth his hand and plucked the Dead Sea fruits of a cheap fame in his own young generation.

Bell proceeds to describe the rewards that Gauss reaped from his feat:

Recognition came with spectacular promptness after the rediscovery of Ceres. Laplace hailed the young mathematician at once as an equal and presently as a superior. Some time later when the Baron Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the famous traveller and amateur of the sciences, asked Laplace who was the greatest mathematician in Germany, Laplace replied "Pfaff." "But what about Gauss?" the astonished Von Humboldt asked, as he was backing Gauss for the position of director at the Göttingen observatory. "Oh," said Laplace, "Gauss is the greatest mathematician in the world."

Of course, Gauss is only one of numerous mathematicians whose choices of what to work on were influenced by considerations of career success. Was Gauss's decision to work on an applied problem really "pandering"? Did it "defeat the purpose of doing mathematics"? I'll let you judge for yourself.

When you leave academia, you need to stay in touch with academia and perform up-to-date research. If you can publish from time to time, it should be enough to demonstrate a potential employer that your are capable to research on your own.
I assume you apply to open positions. There you won't do your own research, but follow the ideas of a PI, do work which was promised for grant money, or help with the problem of your new colleagues.
You should clarify what your strategy is to get back to academia. I suspect that your actual problem are your unsuccessful applications. Probably you have to post a new question addressing this issue.


text:
What to do if a reviewer's question is nonsense
I have received a reviewer comment that is not understandable. Specifically, the comment asks that I show that X is true, but I never mention X in the whole paper and X is not even related to my work. What should I do in this situation?
Should I:

just ignore that comment? or
ask for clarification when I submit my revised manuscript? or
ask for clarification before submitting my revised manuscript? or
try to respond to the comment even though it is not related?

The other comments by the reviewer are legitimate comments fully related to the submitted work, it is only this one comment that is a problem. I do not know the identity of the reviewer and can't ask them for clarification outside of the review process.

Are you sure it’s nonsense? Perhaps you’re being asked about something slightly related that isn’t quite in your field, so you aren’t aware of it? This is unlikely, but possible, and worth due diligence on your part.

Andrew is right. "When you are arguing with a fool, chances are he's doing the same." Courtesy has won more duels than the sword.

I often feel that the peer-review process is not communicative enough. Wish there were channels on both ends to ask for clarification before submitting final recommendations and revisions. Maybe a slack channel or something. I definitely replied to comments from a very critical reviewer once by politely saying that certain suggestions were, unfortunately, not feasible within the scope of the study. The editor agreed and published.

No, do not ignore the comment.  Every single comment must be accounted for or answered in some way.

You should not ignore the comment --- just respond to it in a polite and sober manner and state the facts.  If the comment doesn't make sense to you then it is likely that it also won't make sense to the editor, so you should feel free to say that.

Disagree - no revision: Unfortunately we were unable to understand this comment.  The comment appears to want us to demonstrate that frogs experience chemically-induced hallucinations during mating, however our paper is about monkeys; it makes no mention of frogs or their mating habits, and we do not see an analogy that would benefit our paper.  We do not propose to make any revision to the paper in relation to this comment.

Do frogs actually experience chemically-induced hallucinations during mating though?

I'm not a native speaker, but, in this situation, "We propose not to..." would sound more correct to me than "We do not propose to...".

@Heinzi Slightly different meanings.  "We do not propose to" is a very formal way of saying "We do not intend to" - in other words, unless someone comes up with a really good reason then it isn't happening.  But "We propose not to" means you're not sure and you want someone else's opinion to confirm it.  As is so often the case, English is the worst language for clarity! :)

@Graham In that case I would suggest to check whether the editor is a native English speaker or better yet use a formulation that a non-native speaker understands the way it is meant to be understood.

@Graham: Thanks, I didn't know that.

@Graham Right, because every other language is famously clear in every utterance

@quarague miscommunications happen for a multitude of reasons. Rather than assume that the issue is a language barrier consider alternatives. It may be that the comment was actually meant for a different paper.  A polite direct explanation of why the comment doesn't appear to apply is the most reliable way to move everyone forward.

@quarague It seems rather compositional to me. "do not" negates "propose to". It clearly means "¬(propose to make)", while Heinzi's suggestion clearly means "propose to (¬ make)". If someone's English skills are insufficient to understand it, perhaps they shouldn't be reviewing papers in English?

Re, "we do not propose to", this is a fragment I use sometimes when responding to reviewers.  I use this in order to politely and subtly stress two things: (1) that the option to make revisions in my own prerogative as the author and therefore it is up to me (and any coauthors) to decide to revise the paper in the manner suggested by the reviewer or not; (2) if we "do not propose to" do this then we are presently making no change, but it doesn't rule out the possibility that we might be convinced to make a change in a later round of reviews (i.e., this is not always a "hill we will die on").

Re the logic of the statement (hat tip to Accumulation for analysing this), since the onus of revisions is on the author, and no-one else has the power to make revisions, in this context I view "¬(propose to make)" as contextually equivalent to "propose to (¬ make)" when used by the author in the response to referees.  I'll leave it to the reader to grapple with the operator properties of "propose to" and the surrounding premises needed to make this a logically valid equivalence.

@AzorAhai-him- Every language has oddities, sure. English is something special though, especially British English where we go though so many awkward forms of words which could just be replaced with the single word "no". :)

@Graham I'd love to see a citation.

@AzorAhai-him- How's about 80 ways to say no with varying degrees of politeness? :) https://gonaturalenglish.com/how-to-say-no-politely/

@AzorAhai-him- Even with social awkwardness aside though, English b a shotgun marriage of two main languages (old French and Saxon), old Danish in local dialect, all the Greek/Latin-derived words, foreign words picked up from around the world during the Empire, and some genuinely new dialect words. That means we have a huge number of words for the same thing, and English is unusual in the degree to which this happens. The extra edge is that there are often deeper implications (such as class) in which word you use. This isn't really citation-ready, because linguists do PhD's on this stuff. :)

@Graham A side-effect is plausible denial being an English specialty.

Apparently the reviewer sees a connection, so I'd rather say something like "As we see it, the reproduction strategies of frogs are outside the scope of the present article. We will be happy to discuss this matter once we understand its relevance."

Firstly, if the reviewer got the wrong idea about your paper you have to seriously consider whether you are to blame. Play devil's advocate. Did you write something in the paper that led the reviewer down the wrong path? Could you revise the manuscript to make it clearer? It is often possible for the reviewer to make a wrong suggestion which comes from a misunderstanding that you could prevent in the revised manuscript.
If that doesn't help, then you should consider using the magic words "X is beyond the scope of this work". This is a polite but firm way to refute a comment. Even better is to offer some small token, like mentioning X as a possible future work. See the example below.

We thank the reviewer for the suggestion that we consider X. While it
is an interesting suggestion, unfortunately, it is beyond the scope of
the present work because XYZ. We have added a sentence that mentions X
as a possible future work in the conclusion of the revised manuscript.

The problem with outright ignoring the comment (your option #1) or seeking a clarification (#2 and #3) is that you open a can of worms. Now there is the possibility of a big email exchange about the topic. Assuming you got "minor revisions", the revised manuscript usually only goes to the editor for the final decision. So your job is not to convince the reviewer. Your job is the convince the editor that you read the comments, you understood the comments, you took the comments seriously, and you made a reasonable response.

If the reviewer is asking you to show that X is true but X is not related to your paper, then it sounds like you received the wrong review - in the sense that the review is actually intended for another paper. This should not happen in a properly configured editorial management system. If it does happen my guess is that the reviewer uploaded the wrong review.
Hence #3 is probably the best option. Chances are the reviewer did write a review that's applicable to your paper, but you need to know what the review is to respond to it.
Edit: since the question was edited to say the other comments are relevant - in this case, the reviewer definitely submitted the right review, but they misunderstood your paper. In this case you should improve your paper to remove whatever was causing the misunderstanding (option 4). Depending on what X is, you could also say it is out of scope of the current paper, is not relevant, or even it is something you will be saving for the future. You definitely do not want to ignore the comment - this will aggravate both the editor and the reviewer since you don't seem to be taking the review seriously.

The reviewer may be asking you for a natural extension of your data that you haven't chosen to make.  If this is the case, you might say something like
"Reviewer X ask for Y.  Unfortunately, we feel that our data does not directly address Y, and we wish to not address this point at this time."
Alternatively, ""Reviewer X ask for Y.  Our data peripherally addresses Y, and we now include discussion on this point"

In this situation, it's helpful to remember a few things:

Peer review is often an iterative process. You submit a manuscript, reviewers make suggestions, you improve the paper based on their suggestions, they may have additional suggestions after seeing the revised version, and so forth.

Knowing this, your goal is not to make sure that you can provide a final, unchanging response to each question or request from the reviewers. Your goal is to identify what changes will actually improve the manuscript and to make those changes, and then respectfully address the other comments. And if a reviewer's request is unclear, it's fine to state that and ask for clarification.

The reviewer has asked for data on average rates over time. In context, we are unsure whether they are interested in average hatching rates or average daily velocity. If the reviewer can clarify what rates they are interested in, we are happy to provide the requested data.

Editors are often scientists as well, and they have discretion to decide whether you have adequately addressed the reviewers' concerns. They are also (generally) capable of judging whether a question is confusing or off topic.

I've had many times when a reviewer's question either didn't make any sense in context, or where the meaning and the requested change was ambiguous. In those cases, I've tried to make clear what about the question was confusing and to express a willingness to further edit the manuscript if the question can be clarified. In nearly every case, the editor has accepted the manuscript without going back to the reviewer for another round of comments.

This question concerns the migratory habits of starlings, while our focuses on the feeding habits of seagulls. We are unsure how the reviewer's proposed modifications fit with the aims of the manuscript. If the reviewer can clarify the changes they would like to see, we would be happy to update the manuscript accordingly.

Great answer (+1).  My only quibble is that you should never pre-emptively promise to update based on a suggestion you have yet to see or understand.  In view of that, I would recommend changing "...we would be happy to update the manuscript..." to "...we would be happy to consider updating the manuscript...".

I would say option 3, but keep in mind that asking for clarification can be difficult, as miscommunication is often due to assumptions on the part of one or more party that are not shared by the other, and requests for clarification often result in responses that continue to be based on that assumption, rather than explicitly presenting the assumption so it can be challenged. For instance, if the wrong paper got sent to the reviewer, the reviewer is likely to present an explanation that assumes that you are the author of the other paper, and will continue to not make sense without that assumption. In trying to resolve the miscommunication, you'll be faced with the task of trying to get the other party to make explicit the assumptions they have made that they may not be aware they have made, or are not aware aren't shared.

Tell your reviewer that you can't understand the essence of the question because it's not related to your paper. And if they insist on your giving the answer, try to find right words, if it's possible.

There usually isn't any informal conversation between authors and reviewers in the journal peer review process. Authors are ordinarily expected to return to the editor a complete set of responses along with modifications to the paper, and then the editor decides how to proceed.

You kindly explain to the reviewer what they misunderstood.
You raise a private complain to the program chair/editor if you think it negatively impacted the reviewer's final score.


text:
What to do when visa is in administrative processing and PhD program is starting?
I'm a 1st year admitted Ph.D. student at an Ivy League University and a former Fulbrighter. I'd like to ask for your advice on my situation. I have applied for the F1 visa at the American Consulate and had the interview on July 17th. My application is under the "administrative processing" since then despite submitting all of the required documents on the same day of the request, July 17th. Note that I'm fully funded by the graduate school. My program starts September 1st, and I'm worried that I won't make it on time. Should I ask the school to defer my admission (which is unlikely as I've been told by a faculty), or ask my university advisor to try to reach the concerned authorities? I have worked very hard to receive such an admission offer by an extremely selective university and program and I'd appreciate any help in how to overcome this unnecessary delay.

How did your new department answer when you asked them this question? (You did ask them, didn't you?)

The US state department says that wait times for administrative processing are usually less than 60 days, and they don't allow complaints or inquiries before those 60 days have passed.
July 17th sounds really late for PhD admission. You should have applied for a visa when you were admitted, probably back in April, or May at the latest, especially if you are in a country likely to have more scrutiny of visas.
You can talk to your department and inform them of the delay and ask how they would like to to proceed, but this seems like it falls under the category of "your fault" and there isn't anything your university can or should do to expedite the process. If your visa was denied for some incorrect reason (like they didn't believe you were admitted as a student), then the university would be of more help.

Hi, thanks for the input. I was taking a summer course in the States, thus couldn't go to my country and apply for a new visa. I've applied as soon as I was back! I've provided support letters from the university stating my enrollment and funding.

@Kushan I don't think Bryan meant that you were personally at fault (hence the scare quotes), but in the sense that it's not the university's fault or the government's fault, ergo, technically the blame goes to you, regardless whether it was in your power.  It's a unfortunate situation, and most departments will be understanding (but their hands may be tied by central university policies), so talking to them is your best bet, but I'd be packed and ready to leave at a moment's notice too.

Yes thank you @guifa, that was indeed my point. Given those circumstances I'd expect your department to give you some leeway, but communicate with them as soon as possible and explain the situation. I'm sure you aren't the first incoming student to have experienced some visa troubles, and hopefully the delay will be minimal.

I'll do so, thanks guys. I wasn't aware before of the possibility of such a delay coming from where I'm and having such an admission offer, but in the current political climate, anything is possible.


text:
Should I report an instance of nepotism - misconduct in favour of sexual partner?
It came to my awareness a case of nepotism in my academic network.
It concerns a professor and a former female student of him. The professor and the student had relationship while she was conducting her Master thesis under his supervision. For the year she was writing her thesis, the professor intervened through an academic network he is heavily involved, to give her a scholarship although she didn't have prior outstanding performance.
For her Master thesis he proposed her for some industry prize that she obviously won.
After finishing the thesis she changed city and moved to a nearby city for her PhD (also the Prof. was married with 3 children).
Within the first 2.5 years of her Phd she hasn't produced any scientific output. The student and the professor visit several conferences abroad together in order to have time for their affair.
Now it came into my awareness that he is planning to involve her in a prestigious exchange program so that she will be able to work in his city. The plan involves a newly founded start-up and some of his collaborators/friends abroad. She will "collaborate" with the collaborators abroad, but from distance since the start-up claims to be flexible with location.
So in essence, she will appear to be working with some other Prof. abroad to get accepted into the exchange program, but she will work remotely from the city of her boyfriend professor. Also the Professor recently broke up with his wife.
Since all this is very shady, I am thinking whether someone should inform the directors/board of the exchange program.
What do you think?

I don't think the details about how the professor advocated for the student are relevant.  It's normal for professors to seek funding for their (former) students.  Having an affair with a student is unethical, but many unethical things happen.  What does this have to do with you?  And are you asking for opinions?

The only point that matters is that this story is likely detrimental to others. This said I could have written the comment by Anonymous Physicist.

@AnonymousPhysicist This is why I am asking the question. Do you report the unethical things that come into your awareness? Or you just leave things perpetuating. Do you leave powerful people misbehave and do as they please, because they can just get away with it or not? The issue I mention is a major misconduct according to my perception. Promoting his girlfriend through a competitive program in order to be able to see her every day, instead of promoting the rest of 20+ students he has that are all considerably more excellent than said student.

@Alchimista It is detrimental if you consider that he promotes an undeserving student in a highly competitive program instead of promoting his other students.

@user111388 Well the fact that it is common doesn't provide any excuse to perpetuate this behaviour.  Racism against black people is also common....

@ii.iii: Yes, of course. I agree.

It sounds to me like you already made up your mind.

@AnonymousPhysicist Not really.....

Please do not "vandalize" your own post. You may edit to remove unnecessary details; this generally improves the post while also increasing anonymity. But deleting 90% of the post is not allowed.

Romantic relations between academics and students (specifically, in situations when academic is in the position of power related to a student) is forbidden for academic staff and may cost them job in many places. The underlying issue is academic fairness: academics are supposed to assess and promote the students based on their academic performance only. Being in personal relations with a student compromises this ability, and at a very least makes the process look unfair.
More broadly, academic teaching is a part of public service, and therefore Ethical standards for providers of public services should be adhered to. In the UK, the The Seven Principles of Public Life are

Selflessness
Integrity
Objectivity
Accountability
Openness
Honesty
Leadership

I leave it to you to consider how many of these principles are compromised by the ongoing romantic relation which you described.
The professors' behaviour makes me doubt that academic fairness and academic standards in your Department are strongly maintained. Hence, anyone aware about this situation could doubt that all students from this Department received their degrees and prizes for their academic merits. This can compromise the value of your hard-earned degree.
Hence, I believe you have a good grounds for complaint and should consider filing it. You may want to discuss it with student union / student service representative first to identify how you can do it in the most effective but also the safest way for yourself.

And of course you should be able to prove it.

@user111388 If you use the court of law analogy (which is not fully appropriate, btw), OP is a witness, not the prosecusion. OP should honestly report things they personally have witnessed. Collecting further evidence, investigating and proving the case is not their remit.

Well I am still unsure whether I should alert people or just keep minding my own business... But this kind of behaviour really infuriates me - both considering how this prof uses his power for his own pleasure, and how this girl accepts academic benefits from him. Complete lack of integrity from both sides!

I am not referring to any court of law. I agree that OP should not go around and collect evidence. But without having any evidence, nobody will do anything (which is good!) and the professor might sue OP and bring them before a real court of law - whether or not what OP says is true. Being right without proof is not useful, the truth does not always come into light.

@user111388 I disagree. The very concept of "proof" belongs to the court of law, and standards of "proof" are different for different cases. When people witness something which they think is wrong, they should be able to discuss it with proper people / teams in the organisation, without fear of repercussion. In a fair and just society no-one should fear speaking the truth.

@DmitrySavonstyanov: But do you then believe that we live in a fair and just society? Also, what should those teams do? OP comes and tells "hey, I witnessed the prof having an affair but I have no proof" how should they act?  And people get sued all the time for slandering. At least in my society.

@user111388 That's OK, we probably live quite different lives and don't have to agree on everything. I explained my part, and it does not seem I can clarify it any further for you.

@user111388 Probably with no proof they cannot do anything, but this will at least alert them to keep a close eye on him and second guess his motives. I am sure these kind of people lack integrity in all of their actions

@user111388 Also because we live in an unfair society that doesn't mean that we have to perpetuate this kind of behaviour in eternity. If no one steps up things will continue to roll up in the same unfair way

@DmitrySavostyanov: At the very least, you should state the societies in which you have experience that one can state such things without having to be feared to be sued in your answer. In many countries, this advice (just tell them even without proof) could be dangerous.

@ii.iii: Maybe yes, maybe no -- but at the very least, if someone steps up, they should think about what could happen (namely a lawsuit or a repuation for one who makes up stories about their enemies).

@user111388 I am not anonymous here - I use my real name. Anyone interested about the scope of my experience can simply use a search engine. Anonymous users, on the contrary, may want to say a few words about themselves to clarify the limits of their experience to OP.

@DmitrySavostyanov: I don't know what I type into a search engine that I find out for which kind of comitees you have experience on. Even if I knew for which peoples honesty you can vouch, it is still useful for a reader to have in the answer a line of  "In France& Jamaica, one can tell search comitees those things without having to fear being sued or a bad reputation". As I am not writing an answer, I dont see a need to say something about me (note that the other answerer quoted a relevant paragraph!)  All I want to do is to make you aware that your great experience might not be universal.

@user111388 You will note that in my answer I also cite a relevant (UK) documentation related to ethics of public service. Note that a paragraph on (German) laws about gossip is actually irrelevant, as OP considers reporting a potential offence to a designated officer, not to general public.

@DmitrySavostyanov: So please, add to the question that this answer (one may report without proof and without danger) is only about the UK (if this is the case)! I noted that the link is about UK but I thought you wanted to make an argument about the whole worls! So please add this- it is absolutely crucial to have precise answers here since the OP does not indicate their country (as far as I see).

@user111388 Ethics committees work quite similarly in most research-intensive countries, so my answer is not exclusively about UK. Note that ethics (as opposite to law) is something people agree on broadly and softly. There are of course small differences in wording and procedures in each place, but it's down to a particular ethics panel to investigate and interpret each case on its own merits. OP should only report the matter truthfully if they decide to. They don't have to be an ethics expert to proceed. All this can be explained to you or OP by your local Ethics representative, actually.

While TheoreticalMinimum gives sufficient reasons not to act here, let me suggest a few more considerations before you do.
I think you are making assumptions here that aren't obviously correct and might be quite wrong.
You seem to assume that the professor is predatory. I don't know if that is true or not and there is no place in academia for predators, but it might be something more personal and private. Has he shown such behavior in the past? You may also be assuming that the student is, in her own way, using her body, rather than her mind, to advance her career. I doubt you have evidence of that.
You seem to assume that this relationship is responsible for the breakup of his marriage. I don't know if that is true or not, but other, longer duration, things might well be in play here. People break up for lots of reasons. This relationship might have been the result, not the cause, of the breakup.
You seem to assume that this is an infrequent thing generally. But the history, generally, of people breaking marriage vows implies otherwise. "To death do us part" seems to be recognized in the breach. And students and professors actually falling in love when working closely or academic colleagues falling in love is fairly common. Not ideal, perhaps.
You seem to assume that he has promoted her only for his personal sexual satisfaction, not for her work. I think that is overreach. His job, actually, is to promote her, as it is to promote every other student.
You seem to assume that others are disadvantaged by this relationship, offering no proof. That may or may not be the case, but if not, then his professional behavior has been correct, independent of personal behavior. Generally speaking, people's personal relationships are their own business unless others are disadvantaged. Complain, if you must, about unfair behavior if you see it, but leave the personal things to the people involved.
Finally, I suggest that you examine your own motives for wanting to complain about this. Are you disappointed in some way that you haven't advanced as quickly as you thought you should?
I won't advise you whether to complain or not, actually, as I don't have all the necessary information, but think it through deeply before you act.

I will address your comments point by point.
1]This professor is known to be a predator. Both before and during his relationship with this girl he has approached with sexual intent several females and this is something a lot of his colleagues are aware of. 2] Obviously the fallout of his marriage is not this relationship with the particular girl but his lifelong philandering 3]I do not imply that this is infrequent. They seem to have a relationship and not a simple affair, albeit he is still approaching sexually other females in conferences

4] Whether he promoted her because of her academic potential or not I do not know. I know the facts that say that after she left his lab for 2.5 year she didn't manage to create a single scientific output (not even a poster) in a very fast moving field. I normally have high expectations from students who are so stellar to deserve scholarships...

5] Helping her to participate in a program with limited positions I think puts in disadvantage all other people who are interested and deserving to take these positions.  I understand that it is possible for professors and students to fall in love but at that point you just stop interact professionally at least while you are still at unequal academic levels. I expect that this professor will be for sure invited even as examiner for her PhD defense.

Also he is know to try to "promote" in one way or another all the females he is involved with to keep them coming back and probably to stop them from reporting him. This is not an isolated incident.

Academics who have personal interest or relations with a student should immediately remove themselves from any position of power related to this student (e.g. academic supervision). They should also not involve themselves in any discussions regarding the promotion, assessment or reward of said student. Recommending the student for promotion is an breach of integrity.

@DmitrySavostyanov Exactly!!! This is exactly my problem. I understand that you might fall in love or whatever but you cannot continue to influence her career

@ii.iiii If you contact a person responsible for Ethics in your University, they will explain you in details the exact processes / requirements of your organisation. Then you will know for sure whether or not what you witnessed seems like an breach of ethic code your organisation adheres to.

Given what you say here in comments it is extremely unlikely that his behavior is unknown to the people responsible for a correction.


text:
How can i know the fees of the publication
I need to find the journals that don't take fees for publication in Elsevier. how can I know if the journal I find needs fees or not, please?

Don't most journals have this mentioned on their website, in their instructions for authors?

You can probably list your areas or disciplines, and some reader may give you a direct answer.   I.e., which Elsevier journals that publish X do not charge a fee?

journal like this https://www.journals.elsevier.com/procedia-computer-science how can i know ?

@Bryan Krause. i mentioned an example and searched a lot for finding "free" word but couldn't find it

@user550049 On the guide for authors page of that particular journal it says "The author does not have any publication charges for open access. The conference organizers will pay to make the article open access."

@VitaminE We do not allow a question like that, it would be considered a shopping question.

Check the journal's website, it will invariably say if the journal is fully open access or not. If the journal is not fully open access, then you will probably be able to publish for free. Even if the journal is fully open access, you still might be able to publish for free. The journal's article processing charge is again something you will be able to find from the journal's website.

Thanks a lot for your answer... excuse me journal like this https://www.journals.elsevier.com/procedia-computer-science not fully open access i think but how can i make sure please

@user5520049 go to that webpage and Ctrl + F "In this journal all articles are published Open Access.

"If the journal is not fully open access, then you will be able to publish for free" - Where are you getting this idea? This is not generally true.

@BryanKrause that is why I am asking and giving an example to understand .. how can I know if the journal accepts no fees

@user5520049 That journal mentions fees are paid by the conference organizer on their instructions for authors. Someone else already pointed this out in the comments for that specific journal. You should always find this information on the instructions for authors or similar page on the journal web site.

@BryanKrause if it's not fully open access, then it is subscription, and there is no article processing charge.

@Allure That is not true in general. It may be true for some journals.

@BryanKrause can you give an example?

@Allure https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/page-and-publication-charges They've become less common in my field as NIH has begun mandating some level of open access, but just a few years ago it was the norm in journals in my field.

https://journals.asm.org/publication-fees https://www.ametsoc.org/index.cfm/ams/publications/author-information/page-charges-waivers-and-fees/ https://casereports.bmj.com/pages/authors/#cost

I see what you mean. A hazard of rereading a question months after, I imagine. The answer has already been fixed, too. Thanks.