text:
I recieved a postdoc offer but I still have another postdoc interview. Should I accept or cancel?
This month, I have number of postdocs interviews planned. I just passed the first one and I did really good, the PI just send me an informal email telling me that I did really good and I should expect a decision tomorrow (I just got interviewed the day before). So, I'm expecting good news.
Here's the issue, I still have an interview by the end of the month that I am looking for, and another one at a another university 4 weeks from now. For this last interview, I really like the research project they're working on and my strong skills are the essential skills they're looking for. So, I'm confident about this last interview.
I don't want to decide anything until I pass these 3 interviews, but the committee in the first interview is moving way too quickly for me. So, I don't know what to do.
On the scenario where I received an offer from the first interview tomorrow or early next week. Should I cancel the interviews that I am actually looking for? Is it acceptable to accept the offer and still have the other interviews? (You know where I'm going with this)

Does this answer your question? How do I deal with postdoc acceptances that come in before my preferred institution makes its decision known?

You don't have to accept an offer the minute it's given. Thank the PI for the offer and let them know you are waiting to hear the outcome of other interviews before making your final decision. Given them the approximate date that you will be able to let them know your choice. Everyone understands that having multiple applications in the pipeline is common. As long as you don't keep them waiting for months, you should be fine (you can ask if the PI has a date by which they want your decision, too).
Under no circumstances should you accept an offer but still go for an interview somewhere else. That is a waste of everyone's time, and unfair to those candidates interviewing for the second position who actually intend to take it if offered.

I understand, I completely agree with you. But I just want to know what should I do in this situation. For my particular case, the postdocs I am looking for are at least 2-3 weeks from now. Is it possible to ask them to wait that long?

You can always ask ;) Given that "they" often take months to even decide who is interviewed, I personally think "we" should be allowed to take 1-2 months to take a decision as well, and wait for all outcomes of our applications. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the case in the real world...


text:
Is there any way to extract keywords and keyterms of an academic field?
I'm trying to do a personal research project on a field, e.g. "quantum physics" and wanted to analyse which keywords are the most important or have the most papers in a field. Is there any way to achieve this?

If you have the text files, then excel has the find() function that will find words or phrases... But other programs will be better.

@SolarMike I'm talking about a field in general. Like what are the most important keywords (or the most frequent) in the last five years in quantom physics for example.

For which publication/service provider? These stats can change greatly depending on where you are looking and who your intended audience is. I think as stated this is too broad of a question and  you need to define the problem a bit better.

@scrappedcola I'm trying to expand a dataset of academic texts that I currently have, but the domain is niche and only using available keywords in documents does not help me find significant number of similar papers (I have tried the scopus API before). I was thinking of finding better keywords in order to have better query's in scopus database.

Go find a research librarian at your university library (preferably the physics library). Politely ask them. Done.

@JonCuster Thanks, but our librarians are not as updated as you'd think they are.

@FarhoodET - you might just have to dig a bit. Not the librarian at the front desk. Ask for a research librarian. They are expert at how to extract what you want from the databases. Take several relevant articles to show what you would like to find, and take several that look like they might be relevant but aren't.

You may want to check out the free software tool VOSviewer http://www.vosviewer.com/:

VOSviewer is a software tool for constructing and visualizing bibliometric networks. These networks may for instance include journals, researchers, or individual publications, and they can be constructed based on citation, bibliographic coupling, co-citation, or co-authorship relations. VOSviewer also offers text mining functionality that can be used to construct and visualize co-occurrence networks of important terms extracted from a body of scientific literature.

If you are looking for the last 5 years a good chance would be

a current textbook/PhD thesis (many are published on university servers and open access) on that field that has a glossary
browsing/downloading the most cited papers on journal websites (there are often tags, keywords for every paper added by the authors) and noting them down
doing text analytics/statistics on your own with such tools after converting PDF to text:

Matlab Text Analytics Toolbox
https://github.com/HamidMosalla/WordFrequencyCounter
http://www.writewords.org.uk/word_count.asp
http://neon.niederlandistik.fu-berlin.de/textstat/

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text:
How to cite a paragraph that is copy and pasted from another source?
I’m writing the master thesis, and I’d like to know if the following text would be appropriate or not. Consider the middle paragraph is copy-pasted from the source https://www.lipsum.com/

In this section, I will briefly overview the Lipsum dummy texts and full details can
  be found in the source [1].
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting
  industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever
  since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and
  scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only
  five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting,
  remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with
  the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and
  more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker
  including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Bibliography: [1] Source, formatted in APA, IEEE, …

See this answer

You open with:

In this section, I will briefly overview the Lipsum dummy texts and full details can be found in the source [1].

This suggests you are providing a brief overview, yet you follow with (what I presume is) a verbatim quote:

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

I suggest revising your opening sentence (perhaps provide context and set the scene, then introduce the verbatim quote)
 and indenting the quoted text, you can use  \begin{quote}...\end{quote} if you're using LaTeX.

Comment from the OP:

So, as I see, using proper indentation and indexing to references is enough to quote a source?

Indentation is appropriate for long quotations, such as the example you provided. For shorter quotations, you can wrap a quote inside quotation marks (and follow with a citation), e.g., "Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry" [1]. In both cases, a reference to the original source must be provided.

I get it. So, as I see, using proper indentation and indexing to references is enough to quote a source?

Yes, that's right. I've edited my answer to add further details.

You should more properly put the paragraph starting "Lorem Ipsum..." in quotes. It seems a bit long for a quote, but not obscenely so. I think the first couple of sentences of it are probably enough for your purposes and avoid any issues of over quoting and hence infringing of copyright.

That makes sense. Anyway, this was just a dummy example. Actually I'll probably need to make many of these quotations, so would it be better to just put them between quotation marks, or summarize them with my own words, and keep quoting the source?

You can do either, but you need to cite in any case. Minimizing quotations to what is actually needed is a pretty good strategy. Generally you need to cite whether you quote or paraphrase to avoid plagiarism issues. One reason to paraphrase is to avoid over-quoting.

So if my paraphrasing won't make any better, is it better to just quote it as it is?

That's a judgement call, I think. Just make it clear that the underlying ideas come from the source, not yourself.

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text:
Extended position start date. How to extend it again while waiting for waiver?
I was on a Fulbright in the US during my Ph.D., and returned to my country upon completion of my studies. I was in the US on a J1 visa, which requires that you return to your home country for two years at the end of the visa.
I was offered an assistant professor position in the US and accepted it. Then I applied for a J1 2-year waiver. The start date of the position was August 2019, However, I am still waiting for the decision of the waiver. In the meantime, the department extended my start date to Jan 2020. Also the department chair said that they may not extend it again and the position may even be lost.
How do you think I can make my offer guaranteed or maybe increase my chances of extending the start date once again until I can obtain a waiver or fulfill my 2-year home residency by August 2020. This is the perfect job for me and the department is very supportive. Should I offer to teach in the spring for free to plead another extension? Thanks!

Surely teaching (for free or not) at the US institution during your home residency period would not count as being in your home country? Or am I misunderstanding your intention?

Teaching at the department remotely while I am in my home country so I can show my involvement, my competency and spend some time so they can negotiate with/demonstrate the upper-level units at the University.

@ZoeyBarman, I've suggested an edit to make the requirements of the J1 visa clearer, for those that aren't familiar with it.

@DCTLib ok, wasn't too clear prior to the edit, will delete my comment.


text:
Is it worth doing a self funded MPhil in Mechanical Engineering, from UK?
I have an MTech in Mechanical Engineering from one of the good schools in India. I have been working in industry for the last 6 years in Finite Element Analysis. I have an offer for MPhil from the University of Newcastle, UK. However, this is totally self-funded. I would like to do a PhD, however funding options seem to be really limited.
Is self-funding a worthwhile route to consider? How valuable is an MPhil in industry?

You have to decide for yourself, this has to be what you want. "Is it worth" is not a question we can answer...

From what I understand, UK MPhils are 1 year research based degrees, equivalent to or slightly above a masters. I am not that familiar with Indian degrees, but I am guessing an MTech is a masters level degree. You say that it is from a good Indian university, so I am pretty sure that if you have some research experience from your previous graduate studies, coupled with your work experience, that you can land a funded PhD position elsewhere. I think doing an MPhil (unfunded) at this time would be somewhat of a sideways step and a costly one at that.
I am aware funded PhD degrees for international students are pretty scarce in the UK. Most students I know who completed their PhD studies there did so with their own external funding (governmental, third party, etc.). I would suggest targeting other places (continental Europe, North America etc.)
Also from what I recall, an MPhil is seen as a stepping stone between an MSc and a PhD, so I am not sure how much meaning it has on its own. In general I think an MPhil is earned on the way to a PhD or awarded to students who for some reason are unable to complete the PhD.


text:
Should I mention I had no funding in my Ph.D experience?
A professor mentioned on his website that his looking for postdoctoral researchers. And he mentioned that interested people should sent a short research statement and added this link.

Discuss where you will get funds to sponsor the research project, who will be the collaborative partners and what facilities will be used by you.

Unfortunately, I did research under no funding because it's hard to find research grants in my country. And it's not mandatory to have a grant or a scholarship to be a Ph.D student. But that's another topic. Now, I am trying to write a research statement and I don't know if I should completely ignore talking about funding. The only thing I have is experience in preparing, with my supervisor, project proposal documents for funding (Around 2 months of work). I don't know if I should write that, because it also could be a double-edged sword since my experience is "failure in finding funding". Any suggestions?

I can't see into the mind of the PI, but think that you would harm your chances by suggesting that you might not need funding when they may be, explicitly, looking for funding sources. (Caveat below)
Since they ask for your proposed funding sponsors, you probably need to provide that to be in contention. If you can do that then an "Oh by the way, I've done research without funding" may not hurt you, but otherwise it could (possibly).
But you would probably be wise to look elsewhere for a PI that can themselves provide funding for their postdocs. If they can't do that, I wonder how much commitment they will have to you.
Of course, since the link is a very general one, they may not require all elements, especially self funding. You could also inquire directly about that.

I am not planning to mention that I don't need funding. I did research with no funding because I had no choice and I love research. But like you said, it could be wise to look elsewhere because I have reason to believe he's only working there now as part-time. So I think commitment might be an issue.


text:
Award, Scholarship, and Grant on educational financial sponsorship
My Master's fee is sponsored (funding) by the Company where I am working currently. But, the university does not have any sponsorship scheme for my faculty. So, My company provides my fees as a financial sponsorship and I pay it as a regular fee to the university.
Now, I would like to add this sponsorship to the Research gate.
In the research gate there is a field for such cases.

Grants, awards, and scholarships

Which field satisfies my sponsorship scheme among Grants, Awards, Scholarship?

Info : Discussions like in here have no accepted answer on the given question.

You don't have a scholarship (they're awarded by universities), you have a grant or an award, I'm unsure of the precise distinction, I suspect grant is more appropriate, since award suggests competition

I agree with @user2768. can I accept this answer?


text:
What is the ethical way of writing co-author names?
I want to know how much a contribution a person should have to be the co-author, ethically in computer science and engineering field.

If a person help you to collect some amount of data (not all), either giving you permission or  participated himself to help you in data collection
Proofread the paper once or twice
Supervised you or co-supervised you but did not work in paper writing nor reviewing because of time constraints
The head of departments or labs
The one who supports you financially.

So I want to know, whom you will consider the co-author and whom not in the above list. What should the order of authorship in above scenario?

Order of authors (and also who should be one) also depends on the field (which you should mention).

"Proofreading" is ambiguous. It might depend on whether it is just for the use of language or on the content itself. And note that the standard for this varies by field. Math is quite different from high energy physics, for example.

@Buffy its first time I cam to know it varies with the field, my question is particularly related to engineering and computer science.  Proofreading means the use of language like grammatical mistakes

Note this answer: https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/150704/75368

i think my queries are somehow different. i mean should I add other authors name in reference to points I made

Please ask only one question. This is at least five questions, most of which are duplicates.  https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/535/what-does-author-order-indicate https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/73480/is-someone-who-solely-contributes-negative-feedback-to-a-paper-considered-an-aut https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/19362/is-it-ethical-for-advisors-to-automatically-coauthor-papers https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/127439/author-order-seniority-vs-contribution?r=SearchResults&s=3|60.1604 etc.

You might have to check with your journal guidelines. Here are some examples:
Elsevier

Four criteria must all be met to be credited
as an author:

Substantial contribution to the study
conception and design, data acquisition,
analysis, and interpretation.
Drafting or revising the article for
intellectual content.
Approval of the final version.
Agreement to be accountable for all
aspects of the work related to the
accuracy or integrity of any part of
the work.

[...]
Three types of authorship are considered
unacceptable:

‘Ghost’ authors, who contribute
substantially but are not acknowledged
(often paid by commercial sponsors);
‘Guest’ authors, who make no
discernible contributions, but are
listed to help increase the chances of
publication;
‘Gift’ authors, whose contribution is
based solely on a tenuous affiliation with
a study.

Springer
Has nearly the same principles.
Your university
Likely your university has a document where they spell out the guidelines. The ethics department, if it exists, shall answer all of your questions.
Your specific questions (my opinion)

If a person help you to collect some amount of data (not all), either giving you permission or participated himself to help you in data collection - Yes (although I'm not sure what you mean by the "giving you permission" part)
Proofread the paper once or twice - I'd say no. Correcting typos is not a major scientific contribution.
Supervised you or co-supervised you but did not work in paper writing nor reviewing because of time constraints - If supervised means giving guidance and participating in discussions, yes. If supervised means just overlooking the progress of the paper without substantial input, then no.
The head of departments or labs - Just being the head of lab does not suffice. The authors contribute to the project directly.
The one[s] who support you financially. - These are typically credited in the acknowledgment section, not by giving them authorship.

Acknowledgments, on the other hand, are less strict. So even minor contributions, conversations or comments on the draft might be sufficient for putting someone in the acknowledgments.

Note: In this answer I'm not saying anything about the order of the authors because it's field dependent and I have no experience about it (my field being one that adopts alphabetical order).


text:
Trouble with getting PhD recommendations - almost 60% turnover in faculty
I just want to find out if this is normal, and see if anyone has any advice.
I recently decided to apply for a PhD program, and have been trying to get letters of recommendation. I first went with the professors I thought could give me the best recommendations because they knew me best, but when a week went by with no answer to my emails I did some research and found both were on leave (one with no estimated date of return). I decided to go through all the courses I'd taken, and organize the contact information for each professor. I found that, out of 12 different professors, only five are still active at the university. And wouldn't you know it, but none of the professors who gave me A's are active! (I know that grades aren't the most important thing in a letter of recommendation, I just thought it was an extra weird bit that all my B and B+ professors were still teaching).
I worked full-time while getting my MA, and so I didn't go to office hours or schmooze with the professors before or after class (because I was coming straight from work with no time to spare, and after class I was either going right back to work or tired because it was late). I participated in classes, but I don't think any professor would say they know me well. Am I screwed as far as getting into a PhD program, even if I get recommendations about my excellent academic potential or whatever, if the letters aren't personal?

In short, if no faculty are directly acquainted with you, what could they say apart from echoing your grade? Your transcript already shows that...

If they are not dead, it does not matter they are inactive.  Ask them for letters anyway.  Busy people need to be asked more than once.

Often it greatly helps if you offer to provide them with a draft reference letter that they can adjust. It reduces the amount of work (changing a letter vs writing one from scratch), and therefore increases the chances that they would provide you with a recommendation letter.

@paulgarrett Well, I expect they could probably say "this student's coursework and particpation in discussion shows facility with analysis and abstract thinking," something like that.

Ah, if there was memorable participation in discussion, that might go beyond what the transcript shows, but "not knowing you well" is exactly the problem: to get into a competitive program you'll be competing with people who do have faculty who can say more.

The most common and most valuable letters come from the professor(s) that were your academic advisor(s), or that otherwise directed or participated in your thesis work.
Not to be acerbic, but you made the mistake of treating your master's program as a place where you went to sit and look at powerpoint slides, and made use of your professors as if they were just there to read from powerpoint slides.  A typical response to a recommendation query from such a professor is likely to be "I don't think I'm a good person to write you a recommendation, because I will not be able to speak to your strengths and abilities."
They say this to you because there is a well-established unwritten and unspoken protocol in PhD admissions, that of the "damning with faint praise" letter.  The committee reads that letter as "this professor either had nothing to say about the candidate, or chose not to say bad things about the candidate.  In either case, the professor had nothing GOOD to say about the candidate."
Beyond that...It is quite acceptable to ask an inactive professor (retired, on leave, etc.) to pen a recommendation.  It's entirely their prerogative whether to accommodate you though. Only your direct thesis advisor feels a burden of responsibility to write anything at all.

I take issue with the inference that I treating my professors as if they "were just there to read from powerpoint slides." I mentioned that I participated in classes, and I turned in work that showed consideration of the topics and class discussions. What I didn't do, which is something I've seen mentioned over and over again, is chat up the professors during office hours or before and after class. I don't think you have to do that to not be "treating [the] master's program as a place where you [go] to look at powerpoint slides."

@Lalaroo, I am just taking what you put in your post at face value.  If your Profs don't know you further than  a name in their grade book, then that's your situation, and no matter what the reasons it came out that way, that's where you are.   Professors don't want to be "chatted up," what they want is to encounter engaged students who engage and access them.  That typically involves putting in a bit more than just classtime.  Be that as it may, it's tangential to your current conundrum.

@Lalaroo One of my better recommendation letters was written by a professor that I only had classes with and only went to his office hours a couple of times. There's a difference between the expected participation in class and participating in a meaningful and memorable way, and the latter is the only way to get a decent recommendation letter from just class.

chat up the professors during office hours or before and after class — I think you misspelled "work with".

@JeffE...lol :) :)

The high turnover is unusual, and is bad luck for you.
One could say that you didn't go out of your way to make personal connections.  On the other hand one could say that you worked efficiently.  It's a matter of point of view.
Just follow basic best practice with your applications -- apply to a safety school, a bit of a reach school that makes you drool when you imagine studying there, and something solid, i.e. in between.  What will help you control your anxiety is to remind yourself that

getting into a PhD program is easier than getting a tenure track teaching job
a good admissions committee will look at the whole person, and the whole application; some candidates are stronger in some aspects, some in others
as long as the committee is convinced you can do a good job in their program, they will want to admit you, because they are in business to accept and educated students

In your case, if it continues to prove difficult to get the desired types of letters, you may want to consider:

contacting the dean or chair of your department to request a letter explaining that the key faculty members are not available, but describing your strengths on the department's behalf
including an explanatory note in your application
including a reference from an employer

"Getting into a PhD program is easier than getting a tenure track teaching job." That's suppose to help control anxiety?!

@RogerFan - For one thing, by the time the OP is ready to apply for a tenure track teaching job, he or she will be in a better position to get a strong letter of recommendation.  For another, we don't know whether that's the direction the OP wants to go in.

That was more of a tongue-in-cheek comment. Currently glad that I'm far away from the job market though.

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text:
Should I get help from my advisor?
I am in serious situation now. I am in the final semister of my graduate degree. I am a member of a lab as the professor is also my advisor. The first 2 semister I got project to work on with my phd lab mate. I am not taking important part in the project. Now the project was done. It was not so interested to me but as the lab member I have to take some part in it and also I did not do it well. This is just the background of my story, not the case.
The problem now is that I still figure out what my thesis topic and direction is. I got stuck and don't know even what topic to start. I have meet with him a few times talking about my concern and also tell him some alternative choice and find a few papers from conferences or google scholar. Now I think that my interest in the topic I told him is not good anymore. But I am afraid to talk to him as He don't care about me. I think he lost interest in me. If I don't talk he not going to ask. I want to push the things onward but I am depressed and I don't know how to start and how to ask to get help.
I know I am the main part of this problem to procastinate to this situation but I just want to get some advice.

Talk to a mental health professional about your depression.  Talk to your advisor about your research.

@AnonymousPhysicist Thank you.

There are two issues here actually, your stated depression and the relationship with your advisor.
Perhaps the depression is the more serious issue. You should do whatever you can to resolve that. You need it and becoming more comfortable with yourself will also help resolve the other issue. You should, find a way to talk to a counsellor about your personal situation and your feelings. Many universities have an office that will work with you and also keep things you say confidential. If you find you can't resolve your feelings through just taking a break from work and chatting with friends, then I recommend that you explore talking to a professional.
The other issue is a bit easier. When a professor takes on a student they also take on some responsibility for the success of that student. Not all will recognize that, of course, but it is part of the relationship. It is also fairly common for students to get lost while doing projects and require help and guidance. If the advisor is experienced and qualified then they have almost certainly seen this situation in the past, so your approaching them for help won't be new for them.
Normally, I'd suggest a sit-down where you discuss your progress and lack of it. It probably has to be done remotely now and that makes it much more difficult. But a request for guidance is entirely natural. He may be able to increase your interest in the current topic by showing you its potential. He may be able to suggest something related but different. Lots of possibilities but you have to approach him so that he recognizes the problem.
I doubt that he doesn't care about you, though I don't know him. It is more likely, though, that he is busy with other things and other students and is just letting things go when they aren't obvious. Make it obvious that his help is essential. The longer you let it go the harder it will be to resolve.
If you are in a serious jam here, I can't guarantee that a solution won't add time to your studies, especially if you need to redirect, but it is the advisor's job to help you find a path to success. Not to guarantee success, but to show a path.

I came to talk with him. The problem is I am not showing him an obvious intention that I am in doing research. He said he wait for me to find a problem with logic and arrange discussion meeting in the lab. But I am silent. It is obviously my fault. But I am a little bit don't like why he don't push me. Why he keep waiting? Do he care about me and want to advise me. From now, I have to put something on proof and make noise more so that He get the sense that I am in need and the critical time. Hope thing better.

If you don't express your needs, somehow, they probably won't get met. See this question and my answer. Not easy, of course.

I know what to go now. For now, I have to be sure what I want, get a few good paper. Design a slide, tell the problem and what I want to do with it. I know sometimes the idea does not work. That why I afraid to go talk. Sometime, we need a hurt talk. That is the discussion to make this bitter situation work. As soon as possible. I know there will be a bit blame for my prolong thing this long. Thank you for suggest me.


text:
Do grad schools let you know whether you get a place and funding at the same time?
I know that there are often two processes after a PhD interview: the school will decide whether (1) you get a place; (2) whether you get funding. From your experience, did you hear back from your potential supervisors first whether you get a place or did you get to know both at the same time? It's been almost three weeks since my interview and I haven't heard anything from the school (I applied for a UK university and the school of Arts and Humanities, and the funding body is the university, which offers scholarships for several schools and departments). The chair of the interview did say to me that the first process will be quick and the second will take 4-8 weeks. Does this mean I won't be offered a place?

The decisions may be joined or not. This varies by place. Normally you will be told either way. You will likely hear early if you are not successful and later if you are.

When I chaired my department's graduate admissions committee (about 20 years ago), applicants were informed of admission and funding simultaneously. (Except in very unusual cases, we offered funding to everyone we admitted. Most of the funding was in the form of teaching assistantships.) As far as I know, this situation has not changed since then.

I suspect this varies quite a bit based on discipline, school, and country.  I certainly have had students admitted without aid (at the time of acceptance, usually eventually getting aid) to PhD programs in the same discipline as @AndreasBlass - though less prestigious institutions which probably could not decide on how many TA positions they would have for the next year that early; I'm sure his answer is still true for similar institutions to his in our field today.

I will give a more constructive comment that perhaps you can modify your question to be about "in which disciplines/countries/types of institutions are these two decisions typically closely connected, and in which are they not", in which case it will be much more helpful to those finding it later.  I think that people who have been around a while in discipline X in country Y can make fairly accurate answers to that.

I am not an expert, but I assume that means the decisions are independent.  If unfunded study is not acceptable to you then I would not even apply to such schools.

I did, but it wasn't technically finalized until I accepted, at which point I received the final package (which included first-summer funding, which wasn't technically on my offer).

In the US you'd expect to hear about both simultaneously, but at least at some place in the UK I think things are potentially more complicated.   For example acceptance to the program could be decided by the department with funding coming (at least in part) from a college, etc.


text:
How to get title and pdf (and perhaps other metadata like author) from DOI
I have a bunch of DOIs, now I would like to fetch the corresponding PDF and the title and authors, creation/publish date, keywords, abstract if possible, etc. I understand that many articles are behind a paywall so don't expect to get the PDFs for those. But I would still like to get the other metadata for those articles, even though they are behind the paywall (since I imagine that info is public).
To summarize, looking for some/all of these properties in preferably JSON or XML form (except the PDF, in PDF form, if freely available):

title
authors
journal
publicationDate
keywords
abstract/description

I tried looking here at the DOI API but it only seems to provide this:
{
  "responseCode": 1,
  "handle": "10.1000/1",
  "values": [
    {
      "index": 100,
      "type": "HS_ADMIN",
      "data": {
        "format": "admin",
        "value": {
          "handle": "0.NA/10.1000",
          "index": 200,
          "permissions": "011111111111"
        }
      },
      "ttl": 86400,
      "timestamp": "2000-04-13T15:08:57Z"
    },
    {
      "index": 1,
      "type": "URL",
      "data": { "format": "string", "value": "http://www.doi.org/index.html" },
      "ttl": 86400,
      "timestamp": "2004-09-10T19:49:59Z"
    }
  ]
}

I saw CORE, which might have the metadata, but it isn't public domain / free / open source for commercial use, which I would like. Also checked at the Elsevier APIs (Mendeley and Scopus), but they are not free for commercial use either.

I suspect the CrossRef REST API might work for you, at least for the metadata/citation info.

Darnit their license is restrictive too! Hoping for PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Arxiv looks like it might be close to that, but they don't have every article.

Pubmed has 29 million. Looking here.

Here it is. It is using SciHub.

the Crossref REST API is public and doesn't have a license - all our metadata are available for reuse without restriction. That's because we believe that metadata are facts and facts cannot be owned or licensed. (The license CC 4 refers only to the documentation on how to use the API :-))
We have 105 million DOIs about 25% of those have full-text links that go to HTML or PDFs. I'm not sure of the exact queries you'll need but if you end up using it and need help you can open tickets there on GitHub.

Can you elaborate on what the license means in relation to the API por favor? My read was that if you download it through the API then you can't use it for commercial purposes.

Hi - the metadata license statement I linked to as "doesn't have a license" states we don't claim any ownership over the metadata. There is nothing that says you can't use it for commercial purposes. In fact, it says "Individual items of bibliographic metadata and associated DOIs may be cached and incorporated into the user's content and systems." Unless you read something somewhere else? In which case I will correct it!

How come https://api.unpaywall.org/v2/10.1002/(sici)1096-8628(19960111)61:2%3C111::aid-ajmg1%3E3.0.co;2-?email=YOUR_EMAIL works, but https://api.crossref.org/works/10.1002/(sici)1096-8628(19960111)61:2%3C111::aid-ajmg1%3E3.0.co;2- breaks? Do you guys have a way of getting that doi?

No idea @LokasaMawati but will ask my support manager!


text:
Where would I report missing metadata in Crossref / Science?
I hope this isn't the wrong part of the StackExchange network to ask this; if so, please point me in the right direction :-)
I just stumbled across missing metadata in Crossref, where the initial experimental publication on Graphene (DOI link) shows only the first author (Novoselov) in Crossref's metadata, rather than the eight authors on the actual publication.
As I couldn't quickly find something like a "report error" link - does anyone know where one would generally report such an omission? Should one rather address Crossref or the "data provider" (in this case: Science)?
Update, after Anyon pointed me in the right direction :
As it turns out, there is a list of all depositors (which takes forever to load), from where one can get details for all publications controlled by a specific depositor; turns out that URL scheme includes the prefix of the DOI:
https://apps.crossref.org/myCrossref/?report=missingmetadata&datatype=j&prefix=10.1126<— right here
which makes it easer to go directly to the "Missing Metadata Report" page. This then seems to indicate that 62,901 out of 265,942 articles (i.e. nearly 25%!) from Science are apparently missing author information (if I'm reading this correct), so no big deal, I guess??

From Crossref's FAQ:

I’ve found a problem within your metadata - how do I get you to fix it?
While we aren’t able to correct the metadata provided by our members, report any metadata issues to our support staff and we’ll contact the responsible member and ask them to make corrections.

How on earth did I not find this.. :-D

@Asmus Maybe Crossref is to blame for making the "search" and "www" subdomains so disjoint...

I've also now found a "Missing Metadata Report" page for Science, see the updated question.


text:
Accepting funding from a climate change denier
Abstract: A professor in my department, who seems to be a climate change denier, is offering me funding for a project that is NOT related to climate change. Should I take it?
For my stipend at the my department, I have to teach a lot. This implies 12-15 hours of work per week for the next one year. It is a lot of time I could put into research/writing papers instead.
I have been offered funding to conduct research under a professor. The research question sounds interesting, is unrelated to climate science, and is probably going to lead to publications along with relieving me of teaching duties. However, the professor offering this funding says that sea levels are not rising at an accelerated rate.
Perhaps one extreme way of looking at this would be that he is a climate change denier. However, he did claim that he does not know about other indicators of climate change- he only pointed out that sea levels are not rising at an accelerated rate, which is a claim made by climate change proponents.
He said that NOAA data suggests this. However, on doing a simple google search, I found this article on the NOAA website- https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sealevel.html
To quote from the article, "Yes, sea level is indeed rising at an increasing rate. Global sea level has been rising over the past century, and the rate has increased over recent decades."
Hence, his source of information also seems to be spurious. Should I accept funding from him? It seems to look good for my life and career in general. But should I compromise on my beliefs and take funding from him?-

Sorry, we cannot really tell you what to do. In general, in any workplace, you will have to work with people whose beliefs are the opposite of yours: it's up to you to decide whether to keep working with them or find another position in the hope of finding colleagues more aligned with your beliefs.

@corey979 Having and acting on repugnant beliefs that harm others is not the same as taste in movies.

The framing here seems reversed.  I mean, it sounds like would accept this funding if not for the source's position on climate change, right?  So the null-decision seems to be to accept the funding, as that's what you'd otherwise do.  Then, the question would seem to be if you should then change your mind, and reject the funding, based on the source's position about climate change.  This is then a question that sounds pretty opinion-based if you don't further specify why you might want to do this; for example, are you thinking that accepting would promote a position you disagree with?

I'm also wondering how you think you're compromising your beliefs by taking funding from him. I don't think anyone would ever construe that as you agreeing with his views about climate change. And in general, keeping civil relations with all the weird people out there that believe weird stuff is the only way you're gonna reach them when you want to convince them of your way of seeing things.

says that sea levels are not rising at an accelerated rate vs. rising at an increasing rate --- For issues as impassioned as this, I think extra care needs to be taken to say exactly what is intended. To me, "rising at an accelerated rate" implies the third derivative of height is positive, while "rising at an increasing rate" implies the second derivative of the height is positive. It is certainly possible that the height could be rising at an increasing rate without rising at an accelerated rate.

It is ultimately up to you. However, if you refuse to collaborate with people who have different political, religious, moral, etc. standards or opinions than you, you'll pretty soon find that you are missing too many exciting opportunities. The disagreement over a climate change is a relatively mild one as far as such things are concerned. You do not need to change your position and you can even try to convince your professor that you are right when you have some chat over a cup of coffee, but I wouldn't take the issue too far. After all, from his perspective, he offers a collaboration to a proponent of some crazy politicized hype and does it first. So I would meet an open hand with an open hand in this case, but, as I said, nobody but you can make the choice.

A lot of people you will come across have ideas that you would consider screwy if you only knew of them. But you don't.
Unless the idea repels you in some way, note that if the money isn't, itself, tainted and you aren't asked to do something you consider wrong, then there is no real reason to turn it down.
If the money was coming from a Coal Baron, you might want to refuse it. Likewise if you think you are being compromised in some way.
But hopefully the work you do will have some positive impact on the world in spite of any ideas of the professor.

You say that the research is "unrelated to climate science" but I'd want to distinguish between two rather different scenarios:

The professor's professional research program is entirely unrelated to his climate change positions.  For example, let's say this professor does Number Theory.
The professor's professional research program touches on issues related to climate change, but the particular project you're working on doesn't relate to this.  For example, this professor works on fluid dynamics including applications to atmospheric science, but this project is about the mathematical side.

In case 1 I think you should completely ignore this person's non-professional non-expert opinions, and go ahead and collaborate (assuming those non-professional opinions are along the lines of being a flat earther or ghost hunting, and aren't something like working for ISIS or having a confederate flag tattoo).
In case 2 I think you should avoid this collaboration because this professor's poor professional judgement may reflect poorly on you if people see that you're collaborating with someone who also publishes junk.

"aren't something like working for ISIS or having a confederate flag tattoo" There's a difference between actively supporting a group of terroristic murderers, and having regional pride and/or political beliefs you disagree with.

Maybe you should consider the possibility that his claim about sea levels is true.
He is a math professor, who makes this claim and says he does not know about other indicators of climate change. Based on that, I would guess that he knows a lot more about sea levels than you, and a lot more than can be found from a simple google search and a single short article on the NOAA website. Maybe he has looked at the actual data.
If you want to find out, you could ask the professor, or look for proper scientific articles about whether the rise is accelerating, or get the data and see for yourself.

I guess the point is that he claims NOAA data is what clearly states that sea levels are not rising. However, the NOAA website clearly states that sea levels are indeed rising. Hence, unless NOAA is contradicting its own data, it is likely that the sea levels are indeed rising

I agree some clarification on the professor's statement is needed. There is a difference between an informed opinion that a particular methodology is flawed and a fact-denying "skeptic" who refuses to accept well-established results.

@cag51 There has never been a mass extinction due to the Earth being excessively hot. However, there have been mass extinctions due to the Earth being an "ice-ball." Your opinion that anyone who doesn't agree with you is a 'fact-denying "skeptic"' seems to arise from neglect and a mistaken belief that "settled science" is not an oxymoron. Science is a method of inquiry, and any scientist who believes his own theories ceases to be a scientist. Theories are the cannon fodder of science, and yours is mistaken.

In addition to the project being unrelated to climate change, he isn't someone who has any influence over policy except by voting. Like most culture-war issues, climate-change denialism isn't about what it claims to be about, which is why he doesn't care what the facts are and wouldn't be able to articulate what he would regard as convincing evidence of anthropogenic climate change.
This is a matter of identity: he imagines that he is an independent-minded skeptic who doesn't subscribe to the liberal agenda. There's no way to make a dent in that by refusing his funding and it will only reinforce propaganda about the intolerant left. So take his money and if you want try to reason with him if he brings the subject up. But this is almost certainly going to be a losing battle.

They do say "never argue with a fool, people can't tell the difference"...

I downvoted this for Like most culture-war issues, climate-change denialism isn't about what it claims to be about. How would you even know? What would even make this sentence true or false? If what percentage of climate change deniers actually held their beliefs for some other reason? In what way is that different from any other opinion, belief or conviction people have?

@sgf I know this because (1) there have been studies showing it and (2) culture-war positions like ACC denialism are prima facie logically and scientifically indefensible, but make perfect sense from other points of view. It's true that people delude themselves all the time about why they believe something, but ACC denialism specifically purports to be about lack of evidence, which is nonsense.

@ElizabethHenning there have been studies showing it [Citation needed] Also, if you think that there's some studies showing that p leads to We know that p, you're wrong. There's studies showing that cigarettes don't cause harm. (2) Scientifically perhaps. Logically certainly not. But that's not the issue here. You could, for example, hold that Marxism is scientifically and logically indefensible without thereby assuming that Marxism isn't about what it claims to be about.

@sgf Fine. I should have said "I believe this" instead of "I know this," which is true about pretty much anyone about anything.

@ElizabethHenning But then you should change your answer to contain "I believe that climate-change denialism isn't about what it claims to be about." Also I'm still curious what that sentence means, and what you think climate-change denialism (and culture-war issues in general) actually is about.

I believe that academics should know the difference between "I believe" and "I know."

@shoover ElizabethHenning has a point that, ahem, knowing, the precise difference between "believing" and "knowing" isn't gonna help us out here - of course we can always only believe that we know something, never know that we know it. But still, for almost anything you want to believe, you'll find at least one study to corraborate it.

"will only reinforce propaganda about the intolerant left" I wish it were a pure propaganda! he isn't someone who has any influence over policy except by voting. If he is a reputable researcher, he may have some other options too. But you entirely miss the point anyway: the OP is concerned about his own integrity, not about the conversion of the professor into his faith...

I'm not sure if I see the connection between your first paragraph and the question.

@ElizabethHenning I believe on re-reading what I wrote that there's a misunderstanding. When I wrote "How would you even know? What would even make this sentence true or false?", I was less curious about "How did you come to have this knowledge" (which is what you answered in your comment), and more "Is that even knowledge one can have", because I have no idea what it's supposed to mean.

@sgf This should really all be in chat and I don't want to spend a lot of time on this, but I'll give a brief answer here: an easy example is "pro-life." The great majority of pro-lifers also oppose policies that demonstrably reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies. This obviously contradicts the claim that the primary concern is protecting the unborn. Other features of pro-life rhetoric, which are sometimes made explicit, indicate that the real concern is "family breakdown" and women's equality in the form of women having sex without marriage and without the intention to become mothers.

@ElizabethHenning That seems like a totally different case. It's basically about the nomenclature, and we'll all agree that "pro-lifers" aren't characterized by their belief that life is a good thing, but by their belief that abortions are horrible. But that's an ethical judgment, and once you go into ethics, you get into "is this the primary goal, or is it secondary to another, and if two secondary goals clash, how do I pick and choose". (Of course, pro-lifers often being religious, they wouldn't usually claim that preventing abortions is their primary goal.) Climate-change-denialism is not

about ethics, it's about disbelieving a certain set of scientific results. I see how you could be a pro-lifer, even if your primary concern isn't preventing abortions (what you seem to call "not being really about pro-life." But I don't think that anyone even expects a climate change denier to have climate change denialism as their primary concern, it's just one of their beliefs about the world.

(That there are political groups that have an interest in promoting climate change denialism which isn't that they actually don't believe in it doesn't really factor into how to treat individuals that, at least consciously, reject climate change in good faith.)


text:
Department head said that group project may be rejected. How to mitigate?
I'm a Computer Science student in Bangalore, India, doing a part time MTech at an autonomous university.
My classmates were avoiding working with me, and formed their own groups. I tried approaching one group but they were not willing to reveal their topic idea. So I spoke with students of three different branches: Electronics, Civil and Automotive, to see if I could work with them. While they were initially okay with it, they later backed out citing lack of time from company work.
A Civil dept teacher said I could do the project alone, so I told my department head that I would be doing the project alone. He mentioned by email that university norms require 4 people working on a group project and the Academic Registrar's permission would be required to do it alone. I replied (CC'ing my mentor) asking if I would have to meet the registrar. I received no reply. Subsequently I created my pre-project presentation and initial demo and showed it to my mentor and the department head. I got an okay for the project topic. Yesterday I presented the completed project. My mentor and two other faculty members loved it. My mentor asked if I got the Registrar's permission. I said I thought department head sir was going to handle that. I asked if it would be a problem and she said it might not be a problem.
Today my department head emails this:

I recall that your topic was okayed but not that you alone would work on the group project as it was mentioned that university has its norms.
  So if your project is not accepted by university for the reasons that you are not in a group, your project  may not be considered. Please be aware that this may happen. This was also about working in a group.

How do I reply to this? During the entire two months my mentor, the department head and even classmates were aware that I was doing the project alone. Is this a way of setting a precedent for other students? Can the university reject the project? I'm a working professional. Working in groups is an everyday job. Even companies have realized that certain people perform better when not in a group and are hired as "individual contributors". What is a university's purpose in forcing people to work together.
I'm scared now. What would be the right way to respond to him without sounding defensive? (I have cordial relations with all my teachers and department head. They know me as a good student)
Update 29th May: acknowledging my error was crucial. I did that and the HoD, my mentor and the registrar gave a retrospective approval, knowing that my not obtaining permission was not due to disobedience and that I had genuinely tried hard to find and convince project partners. Big relief. Thank you all for your help. And y'all were right. There was a good chance the university could have rejected the project.

You don't say anything about why your classmates avoided working with you. If those reasons were somehow improper (say, caste based) then you might have some reason that an exception would be appropriate.

Note that companies may hire employees as "individual contributors," but that simply means they are not managing a team. They may well (and usually are) expected to work in groups and cooperate with other employees, because very few things in companies are done by one person working entirely alone. The term "individual contributor" does not mean that someone isn't expected to work with their colleagues.

One thing that somewhat surprises me with this is that the department appears to leave it up to the students to form groups. I would normally expect students to be put in groups and told to work together.

Let us move/continue this discussion (about whether the word "ok" is grammatical)  in chat.

Thanks for the update - always nice to hear how these things come out. Glad it all worked out.

It seems like this will come down to your university's rules and the personalities involved. Still, let's consider:

He mentioned by email that university norms require 4 people working on a group project and the Academic Registrar's permission would be required to do it alone.

So you were very specifically told, in writing, that you would need to get approval from the registrar.

I replied (cc'ing my mentor) asking if I would have to meet the registrar. I received no reply.

And you didn't get approval from the registrar. As a "working professional", you should know that you can't just send one e-mail and then drop the matter -- it's your responsibility to run this to ground.

My mentor asked if I got the Registrar's permission.

Well that was predictable

During the entire two months my mentor, the HoD and even classmates were aware that I was doing the project alone.

They probably assumed that you had gotten approval from the registrar as they had told you to. It would have been nice if they had followed up on this, but this is not their responsibility.

I'm a working professional. Working in groups is an everyday job. Even companies have realized that certain people perform better when not in a group and are hired as "individual contributors". What is a university's purpose in forcing people to work together.

This is very much not the point. The program can impose whatever (reasonable) requirements it wants. Learning to work in groups is a reasonable goal, regardless of whether you personally already have background working in groups.

What would be the right way to respond to him without sounding defensive?

This is the part that comes down to your university's rules and the personalities involved. It may be that this is a strict rule and there is nothing that anyone can do. Or, it may be that there is a process for an appeal or exception. I would start by recognizing that you are in the wrong.

Covers almost all bases. The OP should try to find out why they had trouble joining a group. It may be something arbitrary and beyond their control, which might be part of their case for being allowed to work alone. On the other hand, if they have had problems working in groups before, that needs work.

There was a problem with working with certain CS classmates, because they were bullying me and I had formally reported that to the HoD. Instances of someone deleting my lab files too. Other department students just didn't have time to be able to accommodate my contribution. So in a way the situation was out of my control. But isn't it the responsibility of the HoD and mentor to not approve starting with the project if university guidelines prohibit doing the project alone?

@Nav The HoD and mentor may not have realized you didn't follow through on getting the Registrar's permission to work alone. You would have had a stronger case if you had sought permission at the start of the project.

@PatriciaShanahan the time to join a group or sort group dynamics has long gone... Time to deal with the situation as it is now.

@SolarMike The better the explanation for not joining a group, the better the small chance of getting the individual project retroactively approved. Also, looking ahead, there may be some fixable problem with the the OP's group interactions, and fixing it would help with future jobs.

Wait what? The problem here isn't that he is working alone. The problem here is he was unable to join a group due to the choices of the other students. The university must approve working alone at this point.

I would say just the opposite: if there is an entire program of students unwilling to work with OP, that is a good indication that the program must not approve working alone! Rather, OP should practice working in a group while receiving mentorship from the professor. But it is not clear that every group flatly rejected OP's request to join -- it seems rather that no one was particular eager to work with OP, and OP chose to work alone (without getting the proper permissions) rather than force the issue. The professor likely could have forced a group to work with him if it had come to that.

It's not that I chose to not get permissions. I was told by 2 people that there is a provision to do the project alone. I had also assumed I did not have authority to speak to the registrar. This was something an HoD would typically do. So I emailed him saying that if I was required to meet registrar, I could come to college (assuming he wanted me to be there when he met the registrar). He didnt reply to the email and I thought it was not that necessary since he had not said that I shouldnt start the project unless I got permission.

What is a university's purpose in forcing people to work together.

The main objective of a group project is to learn how to work as a group. The technical content is less important.
We only have one side of the story (yours) about why you didn't join a group, but the bottom line is that by doing an individual project you have not taken part in the main objective.
To be honest, I think the University is quite right to reject your individual project, however technically excellent it might be, simply because it was not done as a group project.

Even companies have realized that certain people perform better when
  not in a group and are hired as "individual contributors".

That is true, but irrelevant. An "individual contributor" who can only work by doing everything on his/her own won't achieve much. Most real world "projects" are too big for one person to do in a reasonable time, and too important to come to a complete stop if that one person becomes ill, etc. And even if someone is working "alone," they need to convince other people in the company that what they are doing is useful, otherwise it has no value to the company.

You should reconsider your word choices. Your answer implies he would be better off dragging along three freeloaders. I don't think you actually mean that.

@Joshua How does it imply that?


text:
PhD supervisor stalling research paper submission
I am currently trying to submit a research paper to a Journal, I am a PhD student in his final year.
My supervisor, who provided the data for the research paper and has overseen the whole process, is a very difficult person.
When I submitted a Conference paper, things were relatively easy, because of the deadline for submission.
But now with the Journal paper, my supervisor seems to be stalling the process just enough time for me to go to my final examination without having the paper accepted. She is that bad of a person unfortunately. The stalling is by the constant need to change the text and edit the paper, and the never ending stream of comments.
What are my options in this case, could I submit it without her as a co-author if she continues stalling.
Update. Yes having accepted research papers is essential for the successful completion of the PhD examination.
Update. Yes it is stalling, I cannot tell exactly the specifics, but in case someone might have a similar experience and might get some answers here, please assume that this person is doing this to hurt the student's progress and examination.

Why do you think it is "bad" behaviour and not just perfectionism?

Have you submitted other journal papers with your advisor before? If so did you have a similar experience? In my field journal papers are held to a higher standard than conference papers and therefore it seems reasonable that your advisor is more critical about the work. But without more details it is hard to determine whether your advisor is stalling or just seeking a better paper

Hi Ragnar, it is my first Journal paper.

I don't see anything out of the ordinary.  I normally edit my students' papers probably at least 100 times before I allowed him/her to submit.  If it was for a conference, then the maximum number of edits very much depends on the acceptance rate of the conference.

@CaptainEmacs Perfectionism is often bad behaviour when the benefits of perfection are not proportionate to the costs.

This does not sound like stalling.  A typical stalling tactic would be to tell the student to wait several months for comments, and then after the time has passed, tell them the same thing again.  This sounds like indecisiveness.

@AnonymousPhysicist "Benefits of perfection"? As reviewer, I often find myself polishing errors of the authors who think it was not worth their time doing a proper cleanup or doing the job of a PhD adviser. The benefits of perfection are that the reviewer and generations of scientists who will read the paper do not have to do this. If the paper is not directed to generations of scientists or at least a single scientist who should be able to meaningfully read the paper, why write it in the first place? I know some colleagues believe we live in times of write-only papers, but I think it's rude.

@CaptainEmacs Is this just a rant or do you want me to explain in detail why perfectionism can be harmful?  Excellent and perfect are not the same.

"please assume that this person is doing this to hurt the student's progress and examination":  I appreciate that you may not feel comfortable explaining the exact background behind this, but could you perhaps elaborate a bit?  For example, do you believe that your advisor is attempting to hinder you for malicious reasons, or are they trying to keep you around for your research output, or, basically, what do you think is their motivation?  I ask largely because understanding their motivation would seem key to resolving an issue with them.

@AnonymousPhysicist I do not know the level of your work, so perhaps you are expecting a good enough level - neither, with respect, do you know mine, so you can not know whether I am exaggerating with my expectations. However, I have too often in latter years seen the argument that "perfectionism is too costly" as an excuse for sloppy work. We do not know whether OP's superviser is really dragging their feet on a perfectly rounded submission or simply reacting to shoddy work by the OP. And note, my original comment was about submission optimisation vs. submission sabotage.

Hi Nat, this person has already decided that I'm going to my examination without that paper accepted, and told me so. It is person who threatened me many times over the years of my PhD and in general is a manipulative person.

@JohnA Besides being a "bad person" what would your supervisor gain by sabotaging your PhD defense (a poor showing by their student makes a supervisor look bad) or delaying publication (publishing papers as a senior author is a key, if not the key measure of a professor's research output)? I think this is why your assertion of "stalling" is being met with some skepticism here. You say "this person has already decided that I'm going to my examination without that paper accepted, and told me so" which could be because they want you to focus on prep for your defense which could be good advice.

No one here can judge whether your supervisor is right or wrong. Perhaps your paper really isn't yet ready. I don't know your field, of course, and don't know why it is important to you to submit the paper now rather than later.
Your first consideration should be your examinations, I think, and completing your degree. Perhaps publishing the paper is essential to that process, but you don't indicate that.
But, few students really prosper by directly going against their supervisors. It just isn't a productive career path. And, depending on your field, cutting your supervisor out of authorship might be considered unethical, but even if not, might be a career killer.
Having a supervisor who is happy with you and your work is much more productive. And giving a lot of feedback on your paper is, in most cases, a positive thing.
Once you finish the degree you get to make your own decisions, of course.

Hi Buffy, thank you for your answer. Yes, having accepted publications is important for my PhD examination. But I do agree with you on this matter, going against a supervisor isn't a good solution.

As Buffy has pointed out, it is impossible for anyone here to properly asses this situation. It is not unusual for supervisors to give very extensive feedback on papers, what to you looks like stalling to her could simply be making sure that your work is of sufficient quality.

could I submit it without her as a co-author if she continues
  stalling.

Unless she agrees to this, definitely not! Given that she has contributed to the work through your supervision, feedback on the paper and providing you with the data, she has a clear claim to authorship. Publishing the research without crediting her will likely end up with the article being retracted by the journal, which would be a career killer for you.

You do not have any good options.  My recommendation would be to negotiate a timeline with your supervisor.  Ask your supervisor to send you a complete set of comments by a certain date.  In return, agree to make the corresponding revisions by a certain date.  Make sure you perform the revisions correctly.  Finally, agree to complete the submission by a third date.

That seems to be the most logical thing to do.

I'm going to add a reason that your supervisor might be stalling: it may be better to have a paper "under review" than "rejected".
Disclaimer: I have never been an examiner. I hope examiners are unbiased, but I know I would probably (unconsciously) regard work "under review" (especially at a good journal) more favourably than work that wasn't under review or work that was already rejected. I don't know if you'd mention a rejection at your examination.
I don't know the quality of your work or the level of journal you're submitting to, but if the two are not a good match, you might have a higher chance of rejection than acceptance. If your supervisor thinks this is the case, then she may well be stalling so that the paper is "under review" when you sit your examinations. It's not personal, just tactical.
As to what you can do, have you tried outright asking her if she is stalling and if so, why? If you haven't already, just be up front about why you'd like to submit sooner rather than later. She might not think she's stalling, just that she's minimising the possibility of rejection. If she fears an ill-timed rejection, is it worth considering a different journal from the outset? Is your supervisor known for stalling?

I am facing a similar situation. I have been working on a problem for almost 4 years now and have a bunch of results but my advisor keeps adding new and very difficult things to the list of required items. So I won't be publishing anything before I graduate in a few months.
After I graduate, I plan to keep working on the problem but only if/when I get time and won't pressurize myself on it. Progress will be very slow and I don't expect a paper to be honest.
Academia is hard and is full of very difficult people and we are not that lucky to get an advisor of our liking. Just accept that and focus on the quickest way to graduate and then start planning for what you want to do after that. Don't start any argument with your advisor now. That's what I am doing.

Hi Rob finally a person who tells the truth academia is full with bad people and managing to work with them is something challenging. I will do the same thing, I will continue working and not start any argument. Indeed I agree the quickest way to finish efficiently and the best way out. I'm also going to follow Anonymous Physicist advice and negotiate specific dates for submission and revision of comments, and final submission dates.

@JohnA: How did the situation end up working out for you?


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Can an energy drink or chocolate before an exam be useful ? What sort of other edible goods be helpful?
At the end of a session, we have to give an examination where 2 years worth of syllabus is asked and it is the most important examination. It takes place in 2 sessions 9-12 and 2-5. I have heard from some of my peers that having things like energy drinks or consuming chocolate could help boost the performance, while others tend to thing it's useless and might even have a negative effect on our performance. We get only 1 shot at this exam and I don't want to take any chance with it. So what I want to ask is,
1) Can consuming energy drinks or chocolate have any effect on my performance (Positive/negative)
2) Are there things whose consumption or general recommendations which can boost my performance on the final day as after giving a 3 hour paper is quite exhausting mentally and physically. And also since it's lunch time, the type of food that I should consume (eg should I have more carbs to get energy or will it make me feel sleepy ??)

Possible duplicate of What to do between 2 consecutive papers to have maximum performance in the second exam

This question is very similar to your previous question, asked 5 minutes earlier. Please consider making sure both are on topic and then merging them.

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I think doing such things may be risky. Instead, do something natural. The most important is to get plenty of sleep the night before the exam and don't try to cram up to the last minute.
Between the two exams parts, get some light exercise and, again, don't cram. Let your mind relax and let it integrate what you know rather than trying to force it to absorb things that may mask other, more important things.
As for food, eat as you normally do but nothing heavy that will make you groggy and wanting an afternoon nap. If you eat differently, your gut may rebel against you.
If you have been taking good notes throughout the learning period, then summarizing them on note cards (big ideas only) in the week previous can be a good plan. You can then do a light review at the morning and mid-day meal. A light review. Big ideas.
But make your body and mind as comfortable as possible. Breathe deeply. Relax your face. Smile. (These are martial arts advices, actually.)

Thanks a lot for this great piece of advice, maybe keeping things normal and relaxing is really what I should do , rather than fuzzing too much about small details.

@RandomAspirant about the “getting plenty of sleep the night before”. While this is true, make sure to get enough sleep the days leading up to the exam. There is no benefit in sleeping 5 hours a night for the week before and then sleeping 11 hours the night before.

@G.Chiusole, yes, agree. A relaxed mind is a powerful mind. (martial arts, again)

And don't freak out if you are too nervous and can't sleep the night before. Says she who still remembers showing up at an exam, feeling refreshed, because she had slept 3 h the night before, not just the usual 45 min nervous doze.

"I think doing such things may be risky. Instead, do something natural."
This is meaningless. There's nothing unnatural about eating chocolate or consuming small amounts of caffeine, and the positive effects (as well as side effects from overuse) of them have been well established by research.

@Cubic - I interpreted that line to mean natural in the sense of 'do what comes natural to you' i.e. don't start chugging energy drink if you normally wouldn't. However, reading the rest of the answer you could well be right. Buffy, you might want to clarify this section a little.

Whether it has positive, negative ot neutral effects is completely up to the person. You may do some tries before - drink/don't drink and do some concentration tasks, compare your performances.
About question 2, another things which could have positive or negative are drinking coffee, doing sport and learning new things just before the exam. (For most people, the last one is bad.)
Of course, you should not take any "strong" substances which need a doctor's prescription without discussing this with a doctor. After all, it's just an exam - your health is worth so much more!

Well said. In law school I normally had an energy drink at every exam, but I was a frequent coffee drinker to begin with and knew how it affected me. I took it up a notch for exams, but it was a small notch for me. For someone who doesn't drink much caffeine and doesn't know how it affects them personally, the results might been different.

I had the experience a couple years ago of conducting a hearing.  There were ten days of hearing and each day the hearing went from 9 to 5 with an hour break for lunch.  Each day was as intense as an all-day exam.  I found that my concentration in the afternoon was best if I followed the diet that is recommended for gestational diabetes: frequent small meals that emphasize protein. I had a light breakfast and then a snack around 11.  The lunch break started at 12:30 or 1, and I found it helpful to make a point of only eating half of my usual lunch.  Then I had the rest of my lunch a couple of hours later.  Following this pattern was extremely helpful.
Proponents of the low-carb diet say that it can be beneficial for everyone, not just those with impaired glucose metabolism, in that it boosts afternoon concentration and productivity.

In the short term, a low carb diet can have adverse effects: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rosspomeroy/2013/11/12/do-low-carbohydrate-diets-make-you-dumber/

Are you allowed to eat/drink during the exams? If so, I'd have water or something like lemonade, and possible chocolate covered coffee beans. The logic behind it fairly simple, you'll likely run low on sugar and it's good to replenish that in a swift way (of course without overdoing it).
If you are not allowed to bring anything with you, then I wouldn't bother. Overshooting sugar to "energize" yourself may result in spiking your blood sugar, which may make you sleepy at best. In any case, you'll likely get rid of that sugar before half-time (unless you are diabetic, but then I doubt you'd ask this in the first place).
If that's the case, just take a nice break in between the two exams and try to detach. Food is a good idea, obviously, but try not to overeat (for the same reason as above). Exercises for neck and shoulders would be helpful, as well as a walk in fresh air.
Also try to look outside at different distances, if possible, during the exams. Staring at the same distance for longer times is not really good for your eyes, and might contribute to both mental and physical fatigue. Changing focal distance has helped a lot during 5h university exams, and still helps me  during hours of reading or computer work

Thank You so much, Well we are not allowed to have anything during the exams, but I think the last advice for focal distance would be really helpful, Thanks a lot :)

I like chocolate almonds. The fat and protein slows the sugar and theobromine uptake.

There're a variety of so-called cognitive enhancers available on the market. Their use is controversial and their efficacy is uncertain, especially since what works for one person might not work for another. If you choose to use them, you're on your own.

Hmmm. So, risky.

@Buffy Only risky if you don't know how it affects you personally. It might be riskier to go au naturel if you know you run out of gas halfway through.

Do what you know works for you and what you have tried before.
You are very unlikely to be able to gain an 'edge' you haven't had in practice, but could easily throw yourself off.It's not always easy to predict how different foods/drinks/sleep schedules/chairs will affect you and it's not worth leaving it to chance on the day to find out.
If you can, do practice session(s) as close to exam conditions as you can; that includes eating the same food, sleeping well the night before, sitting in a chair for two 3-hour sessions. If you try that you'll find out what works for you and what doesn't and will help you on the day as you can think about only the exam and not need to worry about unrelated things.

What I can recommend you is to chew gum during the exam. It helps you stay relaxed, because your body associates the action of eating with a save environment.
Furthermore the main factors of eating or drinking something before the exam are more or less placebo (If you leave out any drugs).
So if some people tell you, that certain things are helpful, yet other people tell you they have negative effects, both groups may be right. It depends on your mindset.
Some say that you can help your brain out by training it with a certain flavor.
For example: If you drink cherry juice every time you study, it could help you remember some things when you drink it while you are writing your exam.

I would suggest a big bag of sultanas.
No science here, recommended to me and I found it helpful.

I'm not exactly sure , what you mean by Sultanas

@RandomAspirant it's a type of berry - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_(grape)

I think it translates to "raisin."

@shoover Not exactly. They are both dried grapes, but different varieties. Sultanas are sweeter than raisins and less "dry".

@alephzero Not exactly. The names seem to mean different things in different regions. The term "sultana raisin" also appears on the Wikipedia page, so the terms aren't exclusive.

I have heard from some of my peers that having things like energy drinks or consuming chocolate could help boost the performance, while others tend to thing it's useless and might even have a negative effect on our performance.

Different strokes for different folks, but I am personally in the former group.
My example is more related to billiards, which I used to play competitively in a league. Billiards is more of a mental game than a physical one (especially the version I played), and I noticed a dramatic improvement in my tactical approach after having consumed caffeine (mostly energy drinks, but coffee worked as well to a lesser degree).
I have since tested this on other occasions e.g. playing chess, and the same thing happens there.
But this is different from person to person, as my friend (who I played in the league with, and was playing chess against) does not experience the same thing.
So, to answer your question: can it be useful? Yes, I can personally vouch for that. Will it be useful for you? I can't guarantee that. It might, it might not.


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How can I increase my productivity through my daily habits?
I recently posted this similar question here but I guess even this site could help me with that it or could even be better.
I am student how can I increase my productivity for studies by adapting/incorporating some habits into my lifestyle that will help me in the long run.
It got me curious because my teacher's keep telling me but getting a goods score, it's not all about studies , but other practices /habit that help too. I think what he means is  more on the line of smart work v/s hard work. And the earlier you'll incorporate them in your life , the more/better results one can see.
So what I want to ask is that are there few practices taht I can incorporate in my life that will help me in my studies in the long run or can be beneficial for me, both physically and mentally.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it has been posted on another SE site already https://musicfans.stackexchange.com/questions/8550/how-can-i-use-music-to-increase-productivity

@RichardErickson Is this practice something that I should not do... ?? Should I delete the question from one of the sites ?? I thought of asking the question here too , because not all of the users use all the sites and I thought certain users from both the sites can help me / find it useful.

This Stack Exchange meta says no to cross-posting. I would leave the question you think is the best site. If you cannot decide which site to you, ask on SE meta or the meta for a specific site.

@RichardErickson I have edited the question...

It seems sufficiently different now, that I'd leave it live.

Actually, my advice would be quite different from "work smart", though there are aspects of that also.
Get enough sleep. Every day. If you have exams, don't "cram" for them or stay up too late. Make sure you work steadily enough so that cramming isn't necessary and a brief review of essentials is all that is required. Just review your notes (and summaries).
Get enough exercise. Every day. Part of it is aerobic if possible, though just walking can also be a benefit. The time it takes for this isn't "wasted" as it lets your mind integrate the things you are learning.
Eat healthy and on a regular schedule. Avoid high caffeine and high sugar snacks. Or, limit them, at least. Avoid fad diets for balanced diets with fruit and veggies included.
Engage socially with people, face to face. At least a bit. Don't close yourself off.
Generally, watch your health and deal promptly with any issues. Don't neglect mental health.
As for the "work smart" part:
Take a lot of notes. Summarize those notes. Paper is known to be better than electronic (yes, there is research) as it engages your mind more completely.
Do a lot of reinforcement, such as by doing a lot exercises in your courses. Get a lot of feedback on what you do and what you write. Strongly prefer working on exercises over looking at solutions.
Ask for help when you need it, but try to answer your own questions first so you can respond intelligently to "What have you tried?".
Don't let social media dominate your life. Step away from the keyboard.
Have a schedule for work and play. It can be flexible, but stick to it unless there is a sufficient reason to deviate.

Generally I would also suggest to work in groups as this "forces" one to engage in social groups and gives a bit of routine into learning. Even if learning in a group has more opportunities for off-topic conversations, from experience, the overall productivity is higher as you motivate each other and it's not as exhausting as sitting alone on a table all day.


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Best technique for prolonged study
According to my daily schedule I need to study for long hourd each day including weekdays and weekends sometimes I find that this is just too much sometimes.
What are some methods to get the optimal efficiency while studying.
Can you suggest me some great tips for effective study or in general give me some tips and techniques which I  should follow so that I can get the maximum output for my input.
It's actually for an exam , which is after 1 year and the syllabus is vast ( 2 years of schooling worth of syllabus) and of  Maths(Basic algebra, Calculus, Co-ordinate Geometry ) Physics(mechanics electrodynamics, modern physics and optics) And Chemistry (basic organic inorganic,physical) (about 30 chapters each)
So also some methods to remember what I study for long time might be really helpful :)

Who set this schedule? It doesn't sound sustainable.

I don't know of anyone who can get anything near 13 really good hours of learning in a day.

Let's just say long study hours....Ways for optimal study for long study hours

Since you have tagged it exams, let me offer some hints. I don't know what subject, so I'll assume something like math or CS.
The best way to study for exams is not to have to do it at all. That is to say, make sure that you know the answers to most of the questions likely to come up in an exam long before the date of the exam.
In order to learn something deeply, you need to use repetition and feedback. The repetition means doing exercises, working problems, writing programs, etc. In other fields it might mean writing on topics of the course. The feedback part means that you have to get someone to comment on your work on the exercises. Normally that is the professor grading your work, but you can also use study groups to get feedback from peers (and give it to them as well). For some things you can use some form of automation to get feedback.
But if your main technique is memorization it will likely be ineffective. It will be ineffective for most people, at least. It would be possible to memorize something like the complete text of a calculus book, for example, while actually understanding almost nothing and also not being able to solve anything beyond the easiest problems. Practice - reinforcement - and feedback.
And you also want to give you brain a rest. You aren't a machine that works efficiently as long as it has fuel. Your brain needs periods of rest to actually allow it to synthesize the ideas that you are trying to learn. Pushing it constantly leads to less and less efficient working. Take a nap, or use physical activity to recharge.

I couldn't find tags 2) It's actually for an exam , which I have 1 year to prepare from and the syllabus is vast ( 2 years of schooling worth of syllabus ) 3) Maths Physics And Chemistry ( about 30 chapters each)

Thank You Dr.Buffy

For standardized exams, forming a study group might be a good option.

They often turn unproductive because either the people you are with ae not competitive , so waste your time by doing random things , or if are equally or more competitive, become selfish, and don't want the other to grow.... As you are ultimately their competitor. Competition is fierce (1.5 million people, being in top 300 is what you want)

Here is a weird thought. Suppose the other four people you might have formed a study group with do so without you and they wind up among the 300. Maybe it is the thought of competition that is hurting you and leading you to unproductive behavior.


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Publishing in 'leftist' journals or book projects: Impact on career?
I am aware that this question is of different relevance for each science field. I am asking as a social scientist/sociologist here. The line between research and own political opinions is more or less clear/diffuse for other fields.
In short, my field of research is relevant to some more or less intense political discussions, especially coming from the political 'left'. Along with my own political believes (which I don't discuss here), publishing in some journals or book projects is interesting for me a) because it advances my research on specific topics b) it allows me to articulate critique and take a position in public discourse c) advance critical sciences and critique in my field -- and in society as well.
Is it a problem for a pursuit of an academic career, if I publish some papers in 'political biased' journals/books? Of course my own choice of jobs/funding etc. is selective and tends to exclude opportunities that are for example 'too conservative' for me. However, sometimes you cannot chose freely. Further, said publications can be omitted in my publications list; but internet makes one transparent. Has anyone of you made any experience in the either way? Or has anyone expierienced conflicts?

Which of the questions at the end of your description do you wish answered? If the title question, the answer is: yes. It is illusory to believe that choosing a politically coloured outlet will not put a stamp on your research which, depending on the field, may be a desirable or undesirable thing for you.

The question does not indicate simple yes/no/perhaps answers. I wanted to get input on possible conflicts and impacts on career. Since every field is different, I think no answer will be 100% correct.

"Further, said publications can be omitted in my publications list;" That's not how CV's work.

There is nothing wrong with communicating your research to (a part of) the general public. In all likelihood public funding was used to pay for part of your research or used in your university, so it is only fair to give something back when you can. I would not hide it either, that only looks suspicious. Instead I would just add a section to your CV for communications with the general public. It would often be viewed as positive, though other things like publications would be valued much higher. Who knows, maybe you will end up in a very close race some day and that little extra is just enough.
If those pulbications have nothing to do with your research than those are just your private actions as a citizen. You don't need to mention those in your CV, but I don't think they will be held against you.

I think this misses what the question is really about. It's not about publishing something in a non-scientific setting, it is very explicitly about publishing something in a venue that down the road somebody may find offensive, and to publicly express (radical?) opinions that future evaluators may disagree with.

That is covered by the second paragraph. HATEthePLOT mentioned (s)he is from sociology, so the left side of the political spectrum is pretty "safe". Unless (s)he is so far off to call for violance or something similar, but then (s)he has other problems to worry about.

Well, political agenda and scientific research sometimes go hand in hand (not only in sociology). The question, however, related more to specific journals and book projects and how they are perceived, eg when applying for grants, positions etc. @Maarten Buis is right however with a section pro political/cultural communications.

Not all books and journals are scientific. That is fine and legitimate. People who do science for a living, can also participate in other fields outside their work. That too is fine and legitimate. If your journal article/book project has nothing to do with research, then don't list it in your CV as part of your scientific credentials. As long as you keep the two separate, I don't see a problem.

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


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Fixing mistakes from math's thesis and put that to the Internet?
I wrote a bad master's thesis, got a work but now I'm unemployed. I would like to improve my probability to get a work and show that I can write a better thesis. How wise it is to rewrite the thesis and say that I wrote the thesis on the subject, the grade was bad but I have learned from my mistakes? Some students might think it is easier to read my corrected work than the original paper. I wrote my thesis on particular mathematics article. I'm going to say honestly that this is not my thesis but a learning material for someone who is interested about the subject.

Yes, several people have done that (including myself, though the errors were typos). It is almost always looked upon positively in the academic community.
Will the industry look positively upon it? Not sure. On the one hand, it's a positive that you are taking responsibility for what you wrote and correcting the record despite not being required to. On the other hand, it's a negative (for them) that you are still doing research despite intending to leave academia. Most realistically, they won't care or even notice.
Do you have to disclaim that it is your thesis? I don't think so. Writing "corrected version of my thesis" or "thesis (updated)" should be perfectly enough; I don't recall anyone getting in trouble for it. Out of an abundance of caution, I would remove whatever parts of it signal that it is literally the version you submitted -- such as the university's logo and whatever statement you made on the first page about it being your thesis. (Readers won't care about them anyway.)
Don't declare it "learning material", though, unless it has genuine expository value.


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Applying for a position: Certificates and Supplements
When applying for positions in academia (I think the question is valid for economy as well) I add several documents to my application: cover letter/motivational letter, CV, publication list, PhD Certificate, Diploma, employers' references. As a PhD student and as a post-doc I have visited several courses that train soft skills like conflict management and are certified. These courses are offered by the university and provide a certificat and a supplement.
For any application, should I attach both documents (certificate and supplement) or only the certificate?
All in all my application start to get quite bloated (around 16 to 22 pages).

I would say attached the "required" (specifically asked for) documents only! Regardless of the size of your application.

Yes, that sounds reasonable (and I did this). However, sometimes the required documents are not specified.

I'm not posting this as an answer because maybe I'm wrong, but I would think that if you have not been asked for explicit documentation, then you should just list these things in your CV.


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What does "external reviewer" mean for a computer science conference?
I've seen the term "external reviewer" used in someone's CV for conference reviewing in computer science. Does this mean the person officially reviews the paper for the conference, or he/she gets a request to review from someone who officially reviews the paper?

Conferences are organized differently in different subfield of computer science; my answer describes the situation in theory.
At theoretical computer science conferences, the program committees are relatively small, in part because submissions from program committee members are strictly forbidden.  Each submitted paper is assigned to 2-4 PC members to review; for a typical conference this means each PC member is assigned 25-50 papers to review.  Reviewing that many papers is a huge burden, and despite a preliminary bidding process, every PC member is assigned at least a few papers outside their areas of expertise.  So PC members regularly solicit reviews from people outside the committee whose expertise better matches a given paper.  Those people are external reviewers.
Normally each PC member tries to gets a different external reviewer for each paper (except the papers they review on their own), but a single external reviewer might get papers from multiple PC members.
(In other communities, what I call "PC members" are called "area chairs", and what I'm calling "external reviewers" are called "PC members".)

Does this mean the person officially reviews the paper for the conference, or he/she gets a request to review from someone who officially reviews the paper?

Both.
A list of all external reviewers is typically included in the conference proceedings just after the table of contents (for example) as official acknowledgement of their service.
On the other hand, PC members are expected to use the external reviews they solicit as guidelines, not as substitutes for their own judgement, especially when comparing submissions that were reviewed by different people.