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Behavior with other grad students
The University I joined as a new grad student treats grad students as both students and employees. So I am confused whether I should behave as a professional colleague or a fellow student with other grad students? I have noticed informal atmosphere within the department(people even use curses in  general while talking to professors) but again, sometimes they become very formal and rather act stiff. I am confused.

You should use first names when speaking with fellow grad students.  You should be friendly but not overly familiar with new acquaintances.  As you and a new friend warm up with each other, you'll be able to take your cues from your new friend(s).

How is the treatment to professional colleagues and to fellow students significantly different? I'd argue you should behave the same way with fellow students in a new class/program you just started than you would do with colleagues at a job you just started.

We call each others by their first names always. Some PhD students don't even greet when we meet in the corridor, but they sometimes talk during lunch/coffee, or over online chat. Since I keep my behavior same online and in person, it becomes difficult to see if they are being friendly or act according to their whim. If it's the problem of their whim, I don't have much to do.

@Anna SdTC, I also don't know that clearly but maybe I would have not spoke anything other than work with them in a professional setting. Among fellow students, I think we can explore more options like places and diversity, as the department has people from different parts of the World.

Just like in any other work setting, you start by being cordial and polite, and maybe some of the relationships evolve into friendships, while some other won't. You also have to take into account the cultural differences between people from different parts of the world, as well as the specific personality of everyone.

When in Rome, do as the Roman's do. Observe how your peers interact with their peers, superiors, and subordinates. Emulate them and you'll do fine. Note in what circumstances they are formal and when they are not. For instance, I addressed my professor by his first name in private but by his title in public. Also, don't be too shy to ask someone!

Thanks chessofnerd, I am trying to do so. What I think is, I have a consistent behavior, but I don't find the fellow PhD students' behavior consistent. That's when I am puzzled. Sometimes they are accessible, but mostly they are not.

Time will probably solve this as you get more familiar with the department.


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What does the word `scholar' convey when it is a part of a degree name?
What does the word 'scholar' convey when it is a part of a degree name? Suppose that the graduate admission committee looks at an applicant who has completed a bachelor of engineering (scholar), how do they view the word `scholar' in this context?

Semi-tongue in cheek answer: I would view it as signifying that the applicant attended a rather pretentious institution, and probably little else.

It doesn't convey anything at all to me; I've never seen this used in US academia.  I'd have to look up the institution that awarded the degree and read their policies to find out what this designation means and what criteria are used in granting it.  Then I might have some clue how to view it.  I expect admissions committees would have to do the same, if they cared to take the trouble; otherwise they'd probably just ignore it.

If you are an applicant whose degree has this designation, and it actually means something significant, I think you should include an explanation with your application materials.  I would not count on it being properly understood otherwise.

At least at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, having the designation "Scholar" means having achieved the highest grade in the Foundation Scholarship exams which are yearly exams for second years. Achieving the Scholar title means the university will waive all fees and provide you with free campus accommodation and a small stipend for five years. It is a very high academic achievement. https://www.tcd.ie/academicregistry/exams/scholarship/

As ryanp notes, I think this will be largely an international question, and if an applicant is applying outside of their home region (where the meaning is common knowledge, if it is) then they would want to explain it in their statement, or that one of their letter writers would explain the significance of the achievement (if it does have special meaning for the student).

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Can a co-first authored paper be part of my thesis?
I am at an Australian university studying Ph.D. I have written five first-authored papers related to my thesis topic during my Ph.D. candidature. 3 of them are published. 2 of them are under review now. One of the published ones is only a co-first authored paper. There are 3 co-first authors on that paper.
I am unsure whether I could paste most of the content of this paper into the thesis. As far as I know, most of my Ph.D. fellows would do this if they were the first author. I consulted with the university's academic intuition and they told me it was fine as long as I cited this paper at the beginning of the chapter. The other two first authors also agree that I contribute most to this paper.
But I am still unsure. If I am not the sole first author and copied the material, would the thesis examiner outside my university consider this behavior plagiarism? If this is too risky, I would rather not include this paper as a part of my thesis. Re-phrasing the whole paper is too time-consuming for me. But not including this work would influence the completeness of my thesis.
The academic consulter at the university told me that I should isolate my contribution from the others in the paper and only write down my contribution. But the idea of the whole paper is mine. The other two first authors are basically only executioners, so I have no idea how to isolate them...

Seems like a local question for your advisor.

This is a rather common problem for a "stapled thesis", and not only limited to papers where first authorship is shared. It is relevant whenever you have co-authors. Our very local solution is to make it compulsory to make your own contribution transparent by including a rather detailed contribution statement. This might work for you, but you have to know your local rules better than we do.

I'm curious about the field. Is it applied math? Pure? Statistics? Both "co-first author" and stapled theses seem foreign to me in some of those fields.

Note that the outside examiner is supposed to follow the rules and instructions set by your institution.

This question has only a local answer. In general, though, I'd think it would be fine to include, but the advice from your own institution suggests otherwise.
You need to follow local custom since the "powers that be" control what is acceptable for dissertations/theses at that institution.
Take the advice given. If you have the opportunity to expound on the work as a whole, say in an introduction or summary, then list the additional works there and comment as you think appropriate.
I recognize that if you have a quantity requirement as well as a quality one, this will be a problem. If it is a serious problem then work it out with your advisor and others in power so that it works out for you. But none of us here are likely to have any say in the matter and an appeal like "The internet says it is fine." will get you exactly nowhere.

If you need to separate out some things from the co-authored papers and you are having difficulty doing so, both your advisor and your co-authors might have some useful suggestions.

Thank you... I might go back to consult with my PhD advisor

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SOFT QUESTION: MS in statistics (computational statistics specialisation) vs MS in CS(data science specialisation)
Question: I aim to pursue a PhD in ML/deep learning from a top university in the US/Europe. Should I choose an M.Stat or an M.Tech in CS from the Indian Statistical Institute to strengthen my PhD application and research foundation?
Background: I hold a BS-MS in pure mathematics and wish to build a solid foundation before applying for a PhD. I am equally interested in computational statistics and data science. The Indian Statistical Institute is highly regarded for its statistical programs but less so for CS. I seek advice on which master's degree would be more attractive to PhD committees and better equip me for impactful research in ML/deep learning.
Thank you for your insights.
PS: If this question is not meant for here, please tell me the appropriate platform I will post it there. Thanks for your patience. Apology for the trouble caused.

I am not sure about the exact courses taught in either of these degrees/programs. And as you said you have done BS-MS in pure mathematics, that probably means you must have a strong theoretical foundation of mathematical concepts. However, there are three problems/aspects that I see here,

You did not make it clear how much your BS cover concepts related to ML/DL. Even though the initial concepts do not involve complex maths, but the complexity tends to increase as you learn advance concepts.
Where I see your theoretical foundations are strong, your programming skills could be shaky (just as assumptions and partially from my experience looking at other people). You really need to be good at programming including, but not limited to, python,R, numpy,scipy and so on.
Your experience with research - both reading and writing research papers. Because in your PhD you are expected to write high quality papers - a lot of papers.

You can make your decision based on the above three points, you can see and do your own research that which program is fulfilling most or all of the above points.

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Can a paper be submitted to a journal first and then to a conference?
We have finished the work and are now planning to submit it. We are targeting a journal. But then we found the journal is only six pages. Six pages only allow us to write down our brief idea and some conclusions. So we have to omit a lot of details in the paper. But we also want to publish those details. Is it possible that we submit the work to the journal first and then extend the journal paper with the details and submit it to another conference? Are there any better solutions? Thank you!

How about a journal that has a larger limit?

Or write two papers.  In my discipline, there are papers where the first paper has the title 'Blah blah -- Part I: Theory', and a follow-up paper entitled '..Part 2: Applications'.

Please specify a field. Conference submission standards are very field-dependent, and so are average paper lengths.

Closely related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/175251/can-a-paper-be-submitted-to-a-journal-if-i-submit-it-to-a-conference/

You might also want to check the journal's policies on this. Some don't mind conference submissions as long as it isn't the exact same. Many do. Alternatively.. Find a better journal for your purposes.

Not all conferences publish their results - this is a convention that is common in CS, but not all disciplines. In cases where no publication is made by the conference, it is common for articles to be both under review and under discussion at the conference.
For example, the Southern Economics Conference (SEC) does not publish the accepted papers.  It is entirely acceptable to submit papers to the SEC that are in progress, under review, or even recently published.  It is considered part of getting feedback or drumming up publicity.

Hmmm. To clarify, in CS it is the convention to publish conference papers. Indeed, it is the main venue.

While it is improper to submit the same paper to different venues simultaneously, what you suggest is reasonable since the papers are not the same. It might be hard, though, to make the shorter journal article interesting enough for publication if you need to omit so much. But if the longer article is sufficiently different then it should be fine.
Make sure to cite the "earlier" work in the later one. And cross citation might be needed if the two works are too close in time.
But, another alternative might be a journal that doesn't have such a small page limit. Major works might be hard to condense sufficiently for some journals. The American Math Society, for example has journals with short papers and another with quite long ones.


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Uploading a preprint with wrong proofs
Summary: A senior faculty member insisted on uploading a draft of our math paper with incomplete proofs and intermediate results that turned out to be wrong to the arXiv. This was completely deliberate and done in order to claim priority. How serious is this? Does this warrant approaching an ethics committee?
I'm a PhD student in math in my last year. Some time ago, I got involved in a project with a senior faculty member, apparently a top researcher in his field, who is not my advisor. Initially everything seemed going well and I was enthusiastic about the project. As time went on he increasingly started pushing me more and more to finish the paper as he was worried about competition on the same problem, and I got into some trouble with my other work. But it's what happened in the end that really bothered me.
The senior reseacher insisted on uploading a half-finished draft to arXiv in order to establish priority on the results. He specifically told me that it does not matter that some of the intermediate results aren't stated carefully, and most distressingly that we should try to make it look just good enough that nobody will notice that most of the proofs are actually just rough sketches. In practice, this meant leaving out many arguments from our working draft and replacing them with weasel words like "clearly", "obviously" and such, or with long calculations that look relevant but on a closer reading turn out not to be justified adequately. When I raised my concerns about this being unethical he said I'm too naive to get to the top.
Some weeks after uploading our preprint, another preprint proving essentially the same result appeared on the arXiv, so at least my senior collaborator was right about there being competition. As for us, after some months' hard work after uploading the paper, we got most of the arguments fixed. The main results didn't change, but some intermediate results "of independent interest" changed almost beyond recognition. Even though the competing paper looked careful and not at all rushed and our proper arguments were on the arXiv only after theirs, my senior collaborator keeps giving talks where he stresses that we were first.
The episode changed gave me serious concerns about becoming a research mathematician. At least my view of scientific ethics was grossly violated when we posted a preprint with false proofs and uncertain results in order to claim that we were first, and moreover I'm shocked that this seems to be business as usual for someone. Now, I know arXiv isn't a peer-reviewed journal, but I'm ashamed of my part in the process and of having a paper with such a history in my publication list
I'd like to clear my conscience. I'm wondering if I should bring this up with some other senior faculty or even a university ethics committee. Would these events be considered a serious violation of scientific ethics? Would there be some consequences for the professor if I approach an ethics committee? Am I also at risk, should I wait with voicing concerns until my graduation?

I fear this is very much the usual question: Did you discuss the collaboration at all with your supervisor? Your supervisor will know if this is usual behavior from you collaborator.

My supervisor encouraged me at first, but he seemed to have some reservations that I didn't understand then. Now I think that he knew that I was going to get involved with a difficult person, but that he also thought that the reward of a student having a joint paper with a top researcher would be worth the risk. I didn't discuss this particular issue with him.

Always discuss things with your advisor, especially when you need advice. It's literally their job to give you that.

You say your advisor had reservations about Jerk Prof being "a difficult person," but he might not know the extent of JP's dishonesty. You should definitely let him (and maybe your dean/chair) know the specifics so he (they) can warn other students in future.

Your collaborator is a jerk.  Don't listen to his nonsense about you being naive; that sounds more like he's trying to justify his bad behavior to himself.  You are quite right that this is not appropriate professional behavior.
However, I don't think it rises to the sort of ethics violation that could threaten a career.  Now that you have a proof of the results and (presumably) have updated the arXiv preprint, the scientific record has been corrected, so I think you're back on firm ground.   Besides that, I'd recommend:

Don't do it again.
Don't work with that collaborator any more.
When you mention this result in your future work, always cite the other group together with your own.  Don't bring up the issue of who was "first" - even if you had been legitimately first, it just seems like bad manners to brag about it, as your collaborator seems to be doing.
If you see other authors citing your paper, contact them to suggest they cite the other group as well.

I don't think it is worth bringing up to an ethics committee or trying to "whistle-blow".  I'd just treat it as a learning experience: there are jerks in the world and you don't want to be like them.

@ChristianClason: Right, I don't think they should withdraw the manuscript, since they have fixed it.  What I mean is that if they hadn't fixed it, they ought to have withdrawn the manuscript until such time as they could fix it.  Of course, the sloppy draft is permanently recorded whether they withdraw or not, but the withdrawal would at least indicate that they know there are problems.  But all of that is moot now, so I took it out of my answer.

+1 be sure to cite other group together with your own - basically (as time passes) most people are going to take this as two groups who are 'at the same time' and in long term, it will usually be to your benefit to act in this manner.

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When should I worry if a potential postdoc PI doesn't respond?
I recently sent a cold email to a potential PI in the USA. He replied to me the same day showing interest and we set up a meeting, during the meeting he suggested we continue the selection process with a campus visit. I accepted, we exchanged a few emails, he confirmed the visit. But he agreed to set a date as soon as he was less busy. As he didn't reply for two weeks, I sent him an e-mail asking if everything was all right with the visit and he hasn't replied since. He almost always gets back to me quickly, on the same day.
Should I be worried? Or is this normal between PI's in the US?

It's normal for any human not to respond immediately when something more important to them is going on.
Non-comprehensive list of things that might be more important to a PI than responding to a potential postdoc: Mentoring their current postdocs/graduate students. Preparing or grading finals around the end of semester. Their health. Their spouse's health. Their parents' health. Their kids' health. The vacation they are on right now. The grant due tomorrow. Reading the thesis of a PhD student whose committee they are on.
You haven't been offered this position yet so keep applying elsewhere, don't let this one possible opportunity be so important to you that you don't continue seeking opportunities, it is not a guarantee whether they respond to you every day or after a couple weeks.

@Join No, it's just an email not immediately responded to. It sounds like he was busy when you were first corresponding and he's probably busy now, too.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I'd invest the time and money in a visit before getting a response. They aren't any more likely to make time to talk to you if you show up unexpectedly than they did for your letter. Or any less likely, but.

@keshlam Since the visit hasn't been scheduled yet, yes it would of course be inappropriate to show up unannounced.

@Join Lots of other posts here with similar questions, you could search e.g. https://academia.stackexchange.com/search?q=how+long+before+follow+up

@Join I think with a specific target time interval in mind, the reasonable time to wait decreases as you get closer and closer to the deadline.

@Join I'm not willing to get into that level of granularity. If you've just emailed yesterday you really need to take a breath and focus on something else for a moment, though.

@Join There is no such thing as "the" campus visit schedule for post docs in my experience; they're individual hiring decisions often at the direction of a single PI.

@Join I don't think those are useful questions to ask. Keep applying for jobs until you are offered one that you want. Stop spending so much time thinking about just this one. Expect to apply for dozens of positions before you get one.


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Is there a recommended day to send a cold email or is it better to send it as early as possible?
I've always known that it's best to send cold emails to potential postdoc supervisors on Monday morning. Now I find myself in the situation where I've found a professor who lists a postdoc vacancy on his updated website. Today is Tuesday, do I send an email tomorrow, which is Wednesday, or do I wait until Monday morning?

I'd actually say Monday morning is not good - too much crud in the email inbox from the weekend. Go send it.

Just send it during business hours any time (but it does not matter compared to the other factors. Rarely people get a bit annoyed by late-night emails)

As a professor who gets daily cold emails about postdoc positions.... it doesn't matter. If I am actively looking for a postdoc (or a potential one), I will see it pop up and open it. If I am not, I will ignore it and maybe look at it later. Being a very research active faculty, my job is not M-F, 9-5, it's pretty much every day to some degree.

I would say send one email, and after one week send another reminder. The day/time doesn't' matter. It is unlikely that a professor missed 2 emails.

I disagree. If I am not interested the first time. I am less interested the second time, and potentially annoyed. I have never decided to hire or interview anyone after the ubiquitous "gentle reminder". It's a cold email. What are you reminding the faculty about?

you presumed that the first email would always be read by a professor. Send a reminder is just a way to make sure it is read. At least for me, the first email maybe missed, or read then disrupted by other things, so that I do not reply. If an application is marginal, then one further email may help to have a reply.

Yes, that is the presumption based on my experience in research both as a grad student looking for a postdoc and as a faculty. Faculty who are looking for postdocs will open all of those emails. Those that are not, won't. On a slow day I will politely reply to those requests and wish them luck with their search. Especially when I see someone desperately emailing me with their 2nd or 3rd gentle reminder. Perhaps this courtesy makes people feel like the reminders work, they really don't, the outcome is still the same.

I give this advice not in a way to disparage those trying hard to find a postdoc, because I know it is a difficult task and very stressful. I say it so they can navigate this process much easier. Send out the email, then move on. It is more efficient.


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Should I send an e-mail showing my interest in the postdoc position if another professor forwards my information?
I sent a cold email to a professor who had already filled a vacancy. He mentioned, however, that he had a colleague with a vacancy and asked if he could forward my email. Of course I agreed, but my question is, do I send an e-mail to this other professor or do I wait for him to contact me?

Why would you wait? Exhibit interest in the position, if you are actually interested. And cc the first professor, expressing appreciation in the introduction.

Send the mail mentioning both the circumstances and your interest in working with them. Offer to send any additional information that they may need.
There is no downside to such a mail.


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What should I do with my 60 page undergraduate thesis?
I recently finished my undergraduate thesis in philosophy. It came out to about 60 pages/16,000 words. Now that I'm done, I'm wondering what I should do with it - if I should send it somewhere for publication, or if I should just leave it be.
I would like to get it published. A lot of work went into it, and the way the thesis component in my program works, the only person who ended up reading it is my supervisor. I'm also starting a masters program next year, and would like to have some publications under my belt when I apply to do my PhD.
The only issue is the awkward length. I think it's much too long to submit to a journal. I could break it up into individual chapters, which come to about 4,000 words each, but then of course every chapter builds on the next and they don't necessarily work as stand alone pieces.
Any advice on what to do here? And when I'm applying for PhD programs, will it look weird if I wrote an undergraduate thesis and didn't do anything with it, or is this pretty much par for the course with these sorts of things? Thanks so much!

What did others at your university do with their undergraduate theses, now and in previous years, especially those who applied to graduate programs? Surely you've already investigated this, so mentioning in your question what you learned about undergraduate theses at your university (especially those in philosophy) would be helpful. Also, it would help to provide a country tag (presumably Canada, by your screen name), since for example in the U.S. those desiring a Ph.D. almost always apply to Ph.D. programs directly from undergraduate, so a lack of publications is not much of a hindrance.

I'm also starting a masters program next year --- My previous comment did not take this into account, namely the fact that you are already planning to get a Masters first. In your contact with people associated with where you will work on your Masters, did you ask any of them about your undergraduate thesis? Or have you not had any nontrivial contact with anyone there? It would also be helpful to include information in your question about which of these situations apply in your case.

What did your supervisor say when you asked them about the possibility of publishing it? (And if you haven't asked them yet - do.)

@Nate Eldredge: your supervisor -- In my earlier comments I overlooked this action, which probably should be the first thing to do, although in my case (thinking back when I was an undergraduate, although I did not write a thesis), I suspect I first would have asked some of my classmates. In fact, I probably would have already known what had become of previous years theses, but maybe people talked to each other more when I was an undergraduate (lack of internet so more interpersonal communication, especially with recent issues for COVID getting in the way of conversations with classmates).

Did you want to publish in hardback, electronically (PS? PDF? HTML?) or both? For the purpose of getting cited? (Does it have anything novel? Or mainly vanity?) Obviously, check your copyright regulations and ask your supervisor. Presumably if permitted, you could self-publish electronically (HTML is good, if you want each chapter/section to be indexed well and hyperlink to its citations). Also, you could simply walk into the college library and ask the librarians if there are other undergraduate theses published (in hardback).

I think the goal of wanting to publish a thesis should be discussed with your supervisor before starting the thesis. This way, the topic and all activities can be aligned to having a good chance to publish. This is what I did with my supervisor, and I was able to publish my thesis in a journal, after converting it into a paper. I was doing it for my Master's degree. This was in Western Europe though, perhaps this is less common in the US?

You pat yourself on the back for graduating successfully, have 2 nicely bound copies made up, and put one on your bookshelf and one on your parent's bookshelf. Clearly readable gold printing of the title and your name on the spine is highly recommended.

You should be discussing this with your supervisor who is there for the precise purpose of guiding you through the academic questions like these. If your supervisor isn't doing a good job at this, you can reach out to someone else in your department.

Undergraduate work is seldom publishable except in specialized journals as exist in some fields. It would need to be exceptional to sufficiently extend the state of the art. “Interesting” isn’t enough.
On the other hand in some places such as the US neither publications nor a masters is necessary to begin doctoral studies.
However, look for such a specialized journal which might be an offering of a professional organization in the field. Then follow their guidelines.

You could upload it to an academic archive site like ResearchGate or Academia.edu; or some other online site. Even your own personal web site could host it.
Then you could ensure that a search of Google Scholar or a similar site would index it. That way other researchers in the future could find it and cite it if it was relevant to their needs.

This of course depends on the field but in maths/ theoretical physics/ computer science uploading to arxiv.org is also a perfectly reaasonable approach.

@quarague I was threatened a ban on arxiv for uploading a self-sufficient chapter from my PhD thesis. They only require things publishable as journal papers. But "Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi." and it seems that in some subjects like HEP they can upload whichever summer school lecture notes they create. Anyway, I thought me to ignore arxiv for future.

@VladimirFГероямслава My masters theses is on arxiv, as is my PhD thesis, both clearly stating that these are masters/ PhD thesis. The PhD thesis lead to an article published in a peer reviewed journal, that is also on arxiv.

@quarague Good for you. As I wrote, in subjects like HEP it seems they can upload any crap they can think of. I received "Your submission has been removed. Our volunteer moderators determined that your article does not contain sufficient original or substantive research to merit inclusion within arXiv ... Resubmission of removed papers may result in the loss of your submission privileges." This was a chapter in the form of a technical report with original simulation results and their analysis that others were interested in and requested that I share them.

@VladimirFГероямслава that is extremely unusual. I have never seen, or had evidence of, anyone having their work removed from arXiv. I don't doubt your experience, but it seems like the exception. Perhaps it was because it was a chapter of a larger work, and they felt it was not as self-sufficient as you thought?

You also have to first check that your university copyright policy allows this, and presumably add their copyright statement. (Do you share copyright with the university? or not? may depend on did they fund it, or give you financial assistance Check.)

In general, nobody can tell you what to do with your thesis without knowing exactly what is there and without being an expert in the research subarea you are working in. In other words, as others suggested: talk to your advisor.
On the personal side: I am a mathematician. My undergraduate thesis was about 30 page long and I published two research papers (each about 5 page-long) on the basis of this thesis in a very good math journal. The rest (which was mostly background material and some details of the proofs which professional mathematicians could easily "fill in") I never published in any form. I know of other work by undergraduate students in math who published their undergraduate research in first-rate math journals, some of this work is highly cited. But this is very rare. Most undergraduate dissertations in math are worthless and, accordingly, are not published. (The situation is quite a bit different in "lab sciences.") I do not see why philosophy would be much different from math regarding publishability of undergraduate research. For instance, some of philosophical work is close to logic and I expect that a high-quality undergraduate research in such area would be publishable in the form of one or several shorter research papers.

I would add to this that, while there is a not a lot of "respect" given to undergraduate theses, they can be incredibly valuable as an uncited resource. As a graduate student I was once quite confused on a particular topic (I don't recall the details now); I found a paper on it, but it left too much unsaid. I found a PhD thesis on it, but it was still too difficult, since the material was unfamiliar. I then found an undergraduate thesis written on the basics of the field, and it was one of the most readable pieces of mathematics I've ever come across, and a huge help at 'getting in the door.'

@RichardRast: Agree. Some REU write-ups are amazing even if unpublishable (due to lack originality). I especially like what Peter May does with undergrads from University of Chicago. Peter keeps these texts on his homepage.

Other answers have already given great tips about asking your supervisor about publishing and its potential benefits for your career. I'll just address some things you'd need to consider if you do decide to publish, also to give you a realistic view of what you'd have to do to address the "awkward length".
Theses are for students to show what they know and often they include some quite detailed definitions and descriptions of concepts and methods. However, the target audience of a specialized journal does not necessarily need a detailed description of the history of theory X. Thus, shorten or omit any literature reviews that might sound new to an undergraduate student but would seem "obvious" to the target audience.
Omit any descriptions not directly relevant to your topic: if you focus on theory X, there is no need for an extended description of related theories Y and Z. If you really need to address theory Y, keep it concise or refer readers to sources where it has been discussed in greater detail (e.g. "For an overview of theory Y, see Smith (2010)...").
When it comes to reporting your own arguments, focus on the important stuff, the "beef". If you have, say, 1 main argument and 2 less important arguments, consider focusing on the most important one. Do not squeeze in too many ideas into a 8-10k words article as you won't have enough space to discuss them in detail, leading to a superficial analysis. Having many arguments may also make the article feel unfocused, which could likewise easily lead to rejection by peer-reviewers. Turning your well constructed thesis into an equally well constructed article is not a matter of copy-paste: it would mean a lot of rewriting and restructuring, so consider whether it is worth the effort. Note that an academic might be inclined to split 3 arguments into 2-3 articles to give each idea the space it deserves!
If you decide to publish, check the journal's submission guidelines for the word count or structure you should aim for. Consider analyzing the structure of a couple of top articles in the journal(s) you want to publish in. Rather than focusing on the content/research, look at the sections and subsections included (whether or not they actually have subheadings): what sections do you find? How do they build on each other? How long are they relative to each other and to the paper as a whole, (e.g. Introduction = 1/20 pages, Core concepts and literature review = 2/20 pages, Argument A = 7/20, Argument B = 6/20...)? This exercise helps you get an idea of what to include and how much space to account for each section.
Finally, you need to have your text revised and proofread before submitting to journal - by your supervisor (if they are willing), by the university proofreading services, or by a proofreader/reviser specializing in academic texts. Many manuscripts get rejected because even if the vocabulary and grammar is correct and professional, the style sounds "immature" in the ears of more experienced academics, who generally have a lot of experience reading student writing. By the time you are doing a PhD and look back at your undergraduate thesis, you'll probably feel the same way (source: personal experience). The problem is, an immature style can make the reviewer feel the text and arguments are trivial and unworthy of publishing. Having a second or third pair of eyes to look at your text before submission can also help you identify unnecessary repetition or unclear ideas.

You will need your advisor's expertise to determine if the contents of the thesis are publishable. Many undergraduate project are just for training, and may not be really novel enough for publication.

You say a lot of work went into it. But in my view the correct question should be whether something of value for the scientific community came out of that. If you (and your supervisors) seriously think the community will benefit from your work, try publish it. Otherwise see it as part of your training and leave it be

I would like to get it published. A lot of work went into it, and the way the thesis component in my program works, the only person who ended up reading it is my supervisor.

There is a reason for that - usually such thesis (up to and sometimes(1) including PhD theses) have zero value. They are here to check a mark in the bureaucracy.
There may be cases when they help you to learn to write. Good for you then.
There may be cases when they are used as an internal reference (for instance when you built something useful). Good for them then.
There is the 0.00005%(2) of cases when there is something remarkable in the thesis, enough for the whole thesis to be published as a book. If you have doubts, this is not you.

(1) benefit of the doubt
(2) source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/238164/bachelors-degree-recipients-in-the-us/, I divided an estimated 1 (one) over a recent number of diplomas

Your university may have a policy of making available submitted theses of students on a university archive website. This is a publication in the literal sense of the word.

If not, you could upload the thesis on your personal website, or upload it to arXiv.

If you believe that there is some original research that the academic community might be interested in, submit a shorter version of it to a journal (or conference, if you are in computer science). If people are interested in reading the longer version, they could refer to your thesis.

I suggest you think long and hard about what the real meat of your undergraduate thesis is and check whether you've made any novel contributions to philosophy in the process of writing it. It's normal and important for a thesis to spend a lot of pages introducing historical context, definitions, and any other relevant information that demonstrates your journey from complete ignorance to sophisticated understanding of your chosen topic.
However, you can safely eschew all this preliminary content from a draft you prepare for submission to a journal. Why? Think of your prospective audience: the scholars that an editor would chose to review your paper will already be experts in the field for which the preliminary explanations of the topic are unnecessary. They'll be more interested in your original contribution to the discussion. Similarly, anybody interested enough to read or even cite your paper will have a comparable degree of expertise.
It's important to be honest with yourself and reflect on whether what you've accomplished will actually move the discussion forward. Getting advice from your supervisor on this regard is a good place to start. Whatever the outcome, don't lose heart. A well-written student paper or thesis that demonstrates profound understanding of a topic may nonetheless be unpublishable because the topic has already been written about to death or is not "fresh" enough to keep up with whatever the community is currently most interested in.
Good luck!

authors: Vladimir F Героям слава


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Publishing Under Pseudonym/Future Name?
I am currently in the process of getting my legal name changed (It's a bit of a process since I'm usually outside of my home state) and though I'm not looking to publish anytime soon, if I do publish before getting my name legally changed, would it be possible to publish under my future name? I'm not seeking anonymity or anything, I'm mostly just trying to avoid my academic history becoming disorganized because of this.

related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/44213/if-you-change-your-name-while-doing-research-can-you-list-both-names-on-a-publi

related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/63849/separating-academic-identity-from-social-identity

Please see the linked questions, which should provide sufficient info. The short answer is; yes it is possible (and practiced by some) to publish under a different name than the one (currently) on your documents.

It is often the other way round - that people keep publishing under their old name, because they already have some publications under this name, or that they adopt a double name for their publications: e.g., somebody who has published as Olivia Newton, but became Olivia John, may publish now as Olivia Newton-John.
Some journals help associating the publications by the same person under different name, or simply link to ORCID - but this depends on the area research.
E.g., Physical Review name change policy:

Name Change Policy
APS allows authors who have published research in the Physical Review journals to alter or update their published names and/or personal pronouns for any reason. These changes will be made to the electronic and PDF versions of all published papers in the Physical Review journals requested by the author. In most cases, authors can request changes to papers published as far back as the year 2000. Names in the reference list can also be changed, provided those articles have already been updated. See APS Name Change Policy. Name changes and metadata corrections are reflected in Cross Mark, indexing services, and Google scholar.


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Goals for getting into top Mathematics PhD from a Master's
My situation is fairly rare from what I can gather (at least in the U.S), so I just wanted to see if I could get some input from people who know much more than I do. I just finished my Bachelor's in Pure Mathematics, but will first be completing a Master's in math before moving onto my PhD. I had several reasons for this, with the main one being that I ultimately want to end up at the most competitive PhD program I can achieve.
My undergrad experience had many unexpected road bumps (including COVID and breaking my leg) which prevented me from doing as well as I wanted to, so my application coming out of undergrad was not extremely competitive. I took all of the honors courses offered as well as several graduate courses and did alright (about 3.7 GPA), but besides that no research or other notable efforts.
That being said, I somehow got into a top 20 math school for my Master's, so I feel like I am in a good position to potentially move up the rankings for a PhD. There have been many questions on this site asking about how to get into a top PhD program as an undergrad, but what should I be focusing on as a Master's student to achieve my goal? Since I will be in a position of higher expectations than an undergrad, my guess is I will have to focus essentially entirely on research and classes. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice for my position, or things I can be proactive in working towards when I start this fall.

Having some background in the area of your potential supervisor is probably the best thing. If you identify a supervisor and topic now, then spend some time learning and preparing, it will help your application. Even publish a good article on the topic, this will be even better.
Apart from that, just get the best marks possible on all courses.
Its not really like undergrad where entry exams etc entirely determine success, its more about getting someone's interest early and being able to justify funding. Getting amazing marks won't magic away the problem of not knowing what to study. I'd much rather take a good person who shows interest in what I do, than a disinterested, unprepared person who got the best marks at Harvard or something. Prove your interest by getting a paper accepted in the area of your potential PhD area (e.g. random graphs). Though I admit this is ultimately beyond many applicants, but it's a great start.


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Applying for Computer Science PhD in US after thesis-based MS in Canada
I'm currently doing MS in Computer Science in Canada as an international student and planning to apply for a PhD program in USA after completing my MS.  The reason I chose an MS after BS was that I didn't have enough research experience or publication, which I'm hoping to have through my Master's.  Now my question is: Will it be easier for me to be accepted into a PhD program if I complete the MS program or would the chances have been better if I applied right after undergrad?
I know that it depends.  But I am looking for insight into my situation.  For example, will it affect my application negatively that I applied to a Canadian university for MS but then applying to a US university for PhD?

You say it yourself: answers to this largely depend on individual factors, which is why this question is out of scope here.

It's probably worth mentioning in your application somewhere that in Canada an MSc is not a terminal degree, and is designed to lead into a PhD.

While a Canadian MS won't be a negative factor assuming you do well, neither research experience nor publications are necessary for entry to a US doctoral program.
Whether the chances would have been better along another path depends on how you do in the masters. If you do badly, then yes, it might have been better to apply directly, but you can't change the past.
One option you have is to apply to some programs in the coming application cycle even if you haven't finished the masters. You will need to send transcripts of what you have done there, of course.
Note, importantly, that letters of recommendation that honestly predict your success in a doctoral program are very important for US admissions. They need to come from people who know your work. If you are doing research in the masters then the supervisor would be a good candidate.


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CS PhD admission with 99 on TOEFL where 100 is recommended
I'm planning to apply for the Fall admission this year in the US universities for a CS PhD offer as an international student.  While none of the universities require a minimum TOEFL score, many of them recommend a score of 100.  Unfortunately my score fell short by one: 99.  Retaking the exam would do quite a number on my wallet.  I'm not sure if I should retake the test.
Universities want more applications, as that brings in quite a lot of money.  So they have incentive to publish a lower minimum score but maintain a higher one internally.  My question is: Would a 99 be outright rejected where 100 is recommended?  Or will it be judged along with the other requirements, e.g., grades, research experience, LoR, etc.?

Different universities may choose a recommended score for different reasons. If you do not have too many schools on your list, I would write to the director of the relevant program (the CS program) to ask how a 99 vs. a 100 is interpreted in the admissions process. With their responses, you'll be able to decide whether or not to retake the test. (p.s. The reason to directly write to the CS program, and not the university general graduate admissions, is because the specific professors will often be more direct about how the applications are processed.)

@tkr That's an answer to the question and should be in the Answer box.

Different universities may choose a recommended score for different reasons. If you do not have too many schools on your list, I would write to the director of each relevant program (the CS program) to ask how a 99 vs. a 100 is interpreted in the admissions process. With their responses, you'll be able to decide whether or not to retake the test.
p.s. The reason to directly write to the CS program, and not the university general graduate admissions, is because the specific professors will often be more direct about how the applications are processed.

Universities always have people working in administration who know how the system really works and love to have their knowledge appreciated. So go ahead and ask. Just make sure that you are asking for information and not for special consideration.  Ask “how does this part of the system really work?” rather than “can you treat me as a special case?”.

I doubt that it will have any real effect. Only a few universities would reject on this basis, probably using an algorithm. Similarly for marginal GPA. Admission in the US is broad based and relies heavily on letters of recommendation.
What it might mean, however, and the same with GPA, is that if you have marginal numbers then your application might be considered later than others. And if they reach their quota there is no need to look very hard at others. Competition can be stiff, but other things than TOEFL are almost certainly more important.
And, had it been intended as an absolute cut-off it would almost certainly have been made clear.
BTW, you are wrong about universities wanting lots of applications because they generate quite a lot of money. In fact, they increase staff costs as well, and, at the scale of research institutions, application fees are minuscule.


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Reviewing paper (probably) written by mentor?
I am a grad student reviewing papers for a small workshop at an upcoming conference. I am fairly certain one of the papers assigned to me is written by my direct research mentor, with whom I'm doing an internship. The process is double-blind, but due to writing, style, topic, particular obscure citations, and other factors I'm fairly convinced of this.
Is there usually a mechanism for passing on the paper review due to a conflict of interest? Moreover, would that be the right decision here? I respect my mentor very much; he is a top researcher in the subfield the paper addresses. I am unsure if this constitutes a conflict of interest.
This is also my first time as a reviewer, so am not familiar with the guidelines/expectations for this process. Any help would be appreciated!

Just excuse yourself and explain the situation to the organizers.

Absolutely a conflict of interest in more ways than I count. When that happened to me in grad school and the editor was informed (by me) they always immediately cancelled the request and thanked me.

@user3508551: That's a complete and useful answer, you should post it as such.

Thanks for the help!

This is a clear conflict of interest.
Do not do this review and return it to the organising committee immediately with your concerns. Because even if the author is not your mentor, being convinced that they are can already influence you to make an unfair assessment of the paper. Writing your review and informing after is just loss of time for you and the organisers.

Thanks for the advice. Is it proper to contact the workshop chairs from my (non-anonymous) email? I assume only the meta reviewer knows the identity of the reviewers, is it fine to directly message the chairs without anonymity?

How were you contacted? Use the same method to reach them.

This is on OpenReview so no direct communication.


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GPA vs Undergrad prestige and difficulty
Consider the following scenario:
Bob goes to a top-tier university for his undergraduate degree. This university is known for its extra challenging curriculum and Bob also challenges himself while attending. Bob is able to learn the material, but due to the extra rigor of the college, Bob graduates with a 2.5 GPA (B/C Student).
John goes to a different university for the exact same undergraduate degree as Bob. His university has a significantly easier curriculum and as a result, John is able to graduate with a 3.5 GPA (A/B Student).
Other than going to a different undergraduate university and their GPA, Bob and John are identical. Both are now applying to the same grad school and the same program at that school. Which is a better graduate school candidate?
Note: I know this question is similiar to How are GPAs from different universities evaluated for admissions to MS programs in the USA?, but I am looking for an answer that is narrower. In my case, I would like to know how two candidates would be judged if there only differences was undergraduate GPA and undergraduate university. In all other aspects of the application process, these two hypothetical candidates are identical.

Admissions don't come down to a single number or any single factor. Knowing no more it is impossible to say which of these two is a better candidate.
While it is true that some universities are considered "better" than others, it is an ephemeral thing. Some marvelous teachers work at some quite "modest" places. Moreover, the universities that have a really great reputation, often do so because they are able to offer more learning support to undergraduates, though that isn't always the case. They can often attract top faculty, of course, for financial reasons, but that doesn't necessarily translate to better undergraduate learning. Certainly not for every student.
Someone with a low GP from a top university, might have been somewhat disconnected from the learning process and had little contact with those top professors. Someone from a lower ranked place might have that higher GPA because he/she worked closely with the faculty and has a much better grasp overall. This, too isn't necessarily true, but it can happen.
Another factor, of course, is that not all of the "top" students go to the "top" schools. Money plays too big a part of who gets to go to, say, Harvard. Some people just go to a local State University of modest reputation due to family or other reasons. But they can get an excellent education there, and have done.
And don't assume that John had an easier path or that his university had a "significantly easier curriculum". There is no basis for saying that. Some graduates of highly ranked places are also quite weak in skills.
However, I suspect that there is a general feeling among academics that a student who has done well locally (high GPA) has taken advantage of the offerings and is well prepared, while one who has not done so well in the local environment may not be as well qualified to continue. But that "general feeling" needs additional evidence, so isn't considered definitive.
Admissions is a game of balancing. Many factors are looked at, grade point and college reputation among them. But those alone won't tell a useful story about a candidate.

For me, a long-time admissions person (and now-and-then director of grad studies) in mathematics, in a large state school in the U.S.: I do not care very much about GPA. Reason: there are too many reasons, unrelated to mathematics, why someone might get good or bad grades. Even "chronic good grades" can be a somewhat negative indicator, potentially, if it means that the student is obedient and conformist above all else.
Undergrad programs (not so much "universities", and not so much "higher-ranked") with richer programs obviously tend to have more resources to offer students. Having inaccessible big shots does not guarantee a rich program, for example. Nor does everyone take advantage of the potential in their environment. And so on.
And, specifically, "identical in every other regard" would have to mean identical letters from the same faculty members. Well, this never happens, for many reasons, especially to students in different universities.
So, although I understand the intent of the apparent premise, on one hand if I play along with it then the answer is something like "they're still essentially identical", but/and, more realistically, this does not happen. That is, the premise is essentially never met in practice.
To amplify: being in different universities usually means that one has access to different faculty, and has different people in one's cohort. In my appraisal of grad school applicants, this distinction is the origin of my comparisons of applicants... which is manifest specifically in letters of recommendation (and applicants' statements of purpose, which reflect the students' perceptions of their experiences).
EDIT: Also, now that I review things, the notion of "easier curriculum" is quite a bit of a phantom, too. It can only sensibly refer to "minimum requirements", which are rarely an attractive profile to have, in the best of cases. It's not that mathematics (e.g.) itself is easier in some locales than others. Students can avoid engagement or not, especially with the internet, in nearly any physical location. The question of the local minimal requirements is hardly relevant to anything (apart from the unfortunately common misinterpretation of "minimum" as "desirable"...)
One can be passive and disinterested at an elite place, or proactive and engaged at a less-elite place... and in both cases it's still impossible to predict "GPA" since the latter is badly correlated with actual mathematical activity, etc.

It's not realistic that a 2.5 at one school might equal 3.5 elsewhere.  There's obviously some difference but not that much.
A 2.5 is a terrible GPA everywhere, even from a top school.  Acceptance into any reasonably selective graduate school would be unlikely.  A 3.5 is okay to excellent for a master's program, possibly a little low for a PhD program at a selective school, but should merit consideration no matter where you got it.

A key part the question is that these hypothetical students have gone to universities that have substantially different curriculums, and one is easier than the other. I would think that there is a point where a 3.5 GPA is not as good as a 2.5 GPA, such as if the student went to a university that barely received accreditation and goes out of its way to ensure its students get good grades. Please clarify if you believe that numeric GPA value is substantially more important than the source university?

@Andrew  I've clarified my answer.  It's not a realistic hypothesis that a 2.5 at one school = 3.5 at another.

I totally agree that a 2.5 is a horrid GPA that would not be overcome simply by prestige. But with international students, the  "low tier" universities in some developing countries really are that bad, that no matter what their lovely transcript says, I doubt they know any of the topics listed on it. And I would definitely prefer the barely-passing students from a rigorous school.


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When reapplying, does it pose negative effect in the admission process if you use the similar personal statement?
I was reapplying the same institution that rejected me last year. Last year, I didn't reach any potential supervisors and this year, one professor told me that he would assist me. I thought the personal statement last year was not the main problem for rejection so I reused it. I added two lines to update my background information. And I reworded two paragraphs though they express the same meaning and intention.
I just realized this problem after I submitting my application. Will the selection committee check my previous application? Will it pose negative effect? I really don't want to mess it up with this opportunity.

No. It is unlikely that anyone would have the ability to discover this repetition (at my institution we don't store applications from previous years), and even if they could there is no reason they would look at your previous application.


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Can I publish my Master's thesis while my supervisor is marking it
My supervisor has not finished marking my master's thesis.
Am I allowed to publish it in a journal before he finishes marking it? I asked him the question  twice, but he never replied to me.

Perhaps he considers the question as pending while he is marking it? Perhaps he wants to check whether it is up to scratch?

Sure, but you may regret it if the supervisor finds a problem.

Definitely!  Your thesis reflects your supervisor's research standard.  In other words, if your supervisor approves, that means your thesis is up his/her standard.  A poor thesis simply conveys the fact that your supervisor/you/uni produce poor research or has a sub-par research culture.  Do you want to be associated with that fact forever?

If it's any help, I was in a very similar situation to yours. I wanted to publish my master's dissertation before I handed it in. In the end I decided to do one thing at a time - submit it to uni first and then ask for approval to publish from my supervisor, which is what I did. I missed one journal deadline because of this but I thought it was the right thing to do.
I did get approval pretty quickly after that so I submitted it for publication a couple of months before the mark came in and in time for the journal's next deadline. In your case I would wait for approval before you submit for publication because your relationship with your supervisor pre and post degree result is of great importance. I know only too well the urge to submit for publication but it's important that you get the green light first. I can't see a reason why you'd be denied it, but I would personally retain a good working relationship and wait. If you have a pressing deadline, write again and copy in another departmental member, or go in and see them.


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Is it okay to send my professor humorous material?
I found a one-panel comic that is relevant to the content of a course I am taking. I think my professor would enjoy it. Is it socially acceptable to send him a hyperlink to it?

It depends. Do you want your professor to take you seriously? And given their inbox is likely to be a daily problem, do you want to add to their problems?

I agree with EnergyNumbers. Be very careful with such things, because it can leave an impression of you that might be hard to get rid of.

One potentially relevant piece of information that is lacking is your relationship with the professor. For example, is this someone with whom your only contact is sitting in their lectures, or have you had more significant contact with them? I'd generally err on the side of Jessica B's suggestion to raise the comic in class, but if this was a professor that I had gotten on well with in the past then I might consider sending it to them directly.

I even doubt the professor will open a hyperlink from anyone he doesn't know. So, there is not much point in sending him, unless you have a regular communication, personal or by e-mail. If I had regular meetings with him, I would probably bring it printed or on my computer to show it to him.

This will depend massively on the culture of your institution. At some institutions, you'll get scolded for addressing a professor as "doctor" instead of "professor". At mine, undergraduates in certain research positions commonly addressed professors by first name.

I guess the most important question is - what's the comic!  Please share a link in the comments!

If you're taking my course, then yes, please send it.  Better yet, post it to the course Piazza site.

Just do it and see if that professor has some social skills. If not, that knowledge will be quite beneficial when you choose someone to supervise your thesis.

The person who knows the answer to this question is the professor. Ask him.

If you need to ask this kind of question on Stack Exchange then the answer is no.
You're contemplating engaging with them on a personal level, which requires a some degree of a social relationship with them.  You clearly don't have that relationship.
If, on the other hand, you had a good social relationship with your professor - shared tea and cakes during your supervision meetings, say - then of course this would be appropriate, but you would know that already.

I find the first sentence of this a little difficult. I think it's the sizeable number of questions, at least here on Academia, which are arguably somebody overthinking something relatively trivial/inconsequential. I don't disagree with your general answer, but I would disagree with the idea that feeling you need to ask on here about an action necessarily means that action will be problematic/inappropriate.

I was aiming to be a bit provocative with that statement - I meant: having to appeal to a pseudo-anonymous online community that is completely cut off from the social context in which the question arises, indicates that the asker lacks the kind of social relationship needed to answer the question in the affirmative. This rests on the assumption that to answer a question of this nature requires one to be enmeshed with in that social context; it's not a matter of academic etiquette in the strictest sense, but really one of 'what is my relationship with the professor'!  Thanks for the comment!

Even if you have a good social relationship with your professor, I'm not convinced an email is usually the right approach if it just says 'I thought you'd find this funny'. You are still not their friend. I would think it's fine to show it to them in person, or to mention it and see if they'd like you to send them the link. But simply sending humour with no explanation is still not a great idea in a professional context.

I'm not suggesting that having a social relationship would be ok, I'm suggesting having one would enable one to know whether or not its ok (and hence not having one is a strong indicator not to).

Given the title I thought my answer was 'definitely no', but I think you might have made it to the borderline. It probably depends on the specifics of the situation.
As EnergyNumbers has said, they are probably swamped with emails as it is. However, some professors may be interested if there is sufficient link for it to actually be relevant to teaching the material.
You haven't given enough context for me to tell whether it would fit, but I'd suggest instead taking it to class and sharing it with the class at the end while people are packing up. If it's too big for that, and you really feel you want to email, I would suggest something along the lines of 'I saw this and thought it gave a helpful illustration of this point because...'

If I was an overworked student in a class and someone insisted on sharing a comic, I'd be thoroughly annoyed and think the student was wasting my time by sucking up to the professor.  No doubt there are many students who would enjoy it, but you'd have to balance that against those (perhaps a minority, but one with strong feelings) who would resent it.

I like this answer as it stresses the aspect of how relevant the content of the comic is to the course and/or what the professor said in the course.

@iayork It depends on what the class is like. I don't mean get up the front and do a formal presentation. If it's a small class, you can share it by keeping one piece of paper out as you put your folder away, and nudging your neighbour to say you want to show it to them.

Yeah, could be, but my experience has been that "people who like to share comics" way, way, way overestimate how much people like to have comics shared.

Somewhat counter to some, though not all, existing answers to me the key-point is not how familiar you are with the professor, but rather how relevant the content is to the course and how you present it.
Personally, I would not mind to receive an email as the one below even from a student I barely know or do not know at all (if the content matches reality of course).

Subject: A comic related to your course on {Subject}
Dear {Name},
I am a student in your course {Subject}. I just came across the following comic in {Some source, plus reasonable link} that I feel illustrates the point on {Something} you made last week during class in a nice and playful way. I thought it might interest you.
Best regards,
{Your name}

By contrast:

Subject: Some fun
This is a comic I found funny. {Some dubious link}

Is something that tends to annoy me even if from closest friends or family, especially when sent as bulk email.
The point is in the first case it is clear that somebody made a genuine effort to share some information with me that they think might be relevant to me, while in the latter case it seems like a pure distraction. Moreover, as mentioned by others, there is the aspect of needing to decide if the thing is genuine or malicious.

Perhaps the reason for the divergence of answers is that there are two ways this could work. A very relevant comic could be worth sending even if you have no meaningful relationship with the person. On the other hand, a good relationship might make even a not-very-relevant comic appropriate (but I agree that email probably isn't the right approach even then).

I've done this before.
I would not recommend it however unless you had some level of relationship with your professor where they know who you are. I also would make sure the content is "clean" - not just to you, but in such a way that an overwhelming majority (99% of people) would not find it objectionable.
This is important because a lot of things people find funny are not funny or are just plain disrespectful to others.
Overwhelmingly this will depend on two things:

Culture at your institution/country
Your specific relationship with the professor

Only you can know the answers to both of these. In my case, the class was heavily discussion based, relatively small, and I was quite vocal in-class and had interacted with the professor enough that she definitely knew who I was. I also expected from her personality as a professor she would enjoy it.

I even managed to get away with sharing a "less than clean" science joke with a lecturer, because I knew that, after 4 years of knowing him and being active in our small classes, that it was the kind of humour that he would appreciate and not find offensive, even if was a little bit dirty.

Are you 1000% sure that it won't be misunderstood?
Have you let it wait for couple of days and you are still 1000% sure it won't be misunderstood?
If both answers are Yess, then go for it. Otherwise let the fun rest in your head instead. Good indication is whether your professor makes fun of his own work sometimes or whether they are always serious.

I often print comics from PhD Comics, XKCD or Buriden's genetically modified donkey if they are on-topic and I am sure my colleagues won't be offended by them and place them on a whiteboard in the corridor.

As others have said, it depends on your relationship with the professor.
As an alternative, have you got somewhere that you can put it so that the professor could see it along with the rest of the class? This is a good way of bridging the gap between directly contacting the professor and not showing him at all, plus it might brighten the day of some of your fellow classmates.

This is the (almost) best answer imho. If he has a good relations with the professor, he might approach him before or after the course, mention the comic, and if professor is interested - show it to him. The bonus is that should professor not answer the mail, you would be left wondering whether you behaved okay.

Definitely no if you just send the hyperlink. Do you want the professor to spend time deciding if it's a scam and take risk to open it? If it's comic, you should be able to get the picture and attach it if you decide to send.
On the other hand, if you are sure there's nothing wrong with the content (check enderland's answer), and you hesitate just because you don't know each other well, then sending it would be fine. When you send, write a very short intro of yourself and the content (25 words say).


text:
What does 'published elsewhere' mean?
I want to send a paper to be reviewed in an academic journal. An early version of this paper is available on a website as part of a grant I received. The early version is not in a journal nor is it reviewed. But one can read it online. The grant programme encourages publication of findings in peer-reviewed journals. However I am not certain whether or not this is considered 'previously published' material? Any advice?

This will depend on the specific policies of the journal you submit to. Some are more strict than others, so the best idea is probably to ask them directly.

That's probably OK (hard to be sure without specifics). In several areas, it is quite common to post preprints (e.g. in the ArXiv https://arxiv.org/ ) and those do not prevent one from submitting it to a journal. Some areas (e.g. CS) are even OK with publishing preliminary versions in conference proceedings. What is not allowed is to submit a paper previously published in another journal or even submit a paper to more than one journal simultaneously. I think everyone frowns on that.


text:
in-text citation: multiple section of a book
I am using APA 7th and IEEE.
In in-text citation, how to refer to multiple section of a book.
I mean, i want to say in chapter C1, section S1 and chapter C2, section S2 the author talked about X.
Here C1 is the chapter name and not number.
And S1 is section name and not number.
I am interested in both Narrative format and Parenthetical format.
I could not find the documentation but I assume the Parenthetical format for APA 7th would look something like:

The author discussed the implications of X (Doe, 2020, Chapter C1,
Section S1; Chapter C2, Section S2).

the Parenthetical format for IEEE would look something like:

The author discussed the implications of X [1, Ch. C1, Sec. S1; Ch. C2,
Sec. S2].

Please let me know if this is correct.


text:
Cite a specific section of my own paper
I am using APA 7th. I want to cite a specific section of my own paper.
How to say look into section X for more details.
Please show both parenthetical and narrative.

Can you explain why you don't just cite the paper? Why would you need to point to a specific section?

"Look into section X for more details."

Are you asking about cross referencing from within the same paper, or a precise citation from another document? The former doesn't require a formal citation, and in the latter case the fact that it's your own paper doesn't matter.

@Anyon I am asking about cross referencing from within the same paper.


text:
Design-Based Research and Design Thinking: are they the same thing?
Is there a difference between design-based research and design thinking? I was introduced to the idea of DT in a start-up scenario. The experience led me to DBR. Sometimes I think they are doing the samething but the terms are for different audiences. Does anyone have an thoughts, please?

Design thinking focuses on the human-centered creation and evaluation of tangible artifacts. The result is a series of physical prototypes, such as new hardware gadgets, user interfaces, and mobile applications.
DBR on the other hand provides clear, consistent definitions and guidelines for the research process. The defining feature of DBR lies within the construction of new and innovative artifacts that solve relevant design problems. This results in presentation of new concepts and approaches to enhance the knowledge base.
Maybe you have gone through this, but this seems very relevant to what you are asking.

No, I never came across it! Interesting that it positions DT as a method within a DBR methodology


text:
Removing first name on request by supervisor: how to avoid complications in the future
Say I have three names viz... Firstname Middlename Surname. My first name is quite long. My supervisor is requesting that I only use my Middle and Surnames. This occured with my first manuscript with him (he has two short names). Although, I have one publication (with my full three names) before studying under my current supervisor, I have tried to do this. My ORCID account contains the three names. IEEE membership name emphasizes my Firstname and Surname. My question is if I would like to use only my Middle and Surnames now, what are the things I must do and precautions to take to ensure consistency and avoid complications in the future.

What is the real reason your adviser doesn't want you to include your first name?

Actually he prefers the use of two names. Although, I know someone who has worked with him with an intial between two of his names, he isnt encoraging that. Perhaps he thinks it is proefssional especially when working with several authors (Perhaps from his experience). I'm trying to retain my first name as initial, but it seems he doesnt like it Still. I also think wants me to start with that early and retain this in the future.

It is your name, and not your advisor's.  You own it; your advisor does not.  You have the right to use it as you wish; your advisor does not.

he doesnt like it Still. Buddy, your advisor is behaving unreasonably and coming dangerously close to abusing his authority over you. Advisors and coauthors don’t get to decide what name you use on the papers you coauthor with them. His reasoning is irrelevant, although he is free to explain it to you and let you consider his advice and choose how to proceed. I don’t have suggestions what you should do since that’s a much more tricky question, but for starters, it’s important that you understand that if his “request” is as forceful as you make it sound, this isn’t right. Good luck!

Use the name that you wish to be known by within academia. For the next 40 years (depending on age and career), you will build a reputation attached to your name. That name will be on your papers, announcing you for presentations, on your name tag at conferences, as the author of any books you publish and for many other uses.
Your supervisor is not asking for a trivial change for his or her convenience, your supervisor is asking for you to either give up your preferred name throughout your career, or to have multiple names on publications. While it is certainly fixable to have multiple names, it is harder to ensure you get credit for all your work.
You could perhaps ask why your supervisor wants you to use a different name. There may be a good reason in which case you can take that into account in your decision. Since you have a long name, do people use the full name when addressing you? Would it be reasonable to use perhaps a shorter version of your first name if that's how you are known?

Don't do it! Using not your first name is really bad practice, because people (and systems) will be confused. Your name is as it is - don't let anyone mess with it.

I agree with the above. However if for some mysterious reason you skip firsname for the actual paper, from now on, use just one consistent option.


text:
Presentation of an algorithm
Background:
I recently wrote a paper on the algorithm A that I developed for predicting fault events in the machine. The algorithm is tested, evaluated on a machine data set.
I developed another algorithm B and the inputs to this algorithm are the outputs from A. I tested the algorithm over the same data set of the same machine that I used to test A.
I am currently in the process of writing a paper to explain the algorithm B. However, it is required the numerical results of A to be presented along with the numerical results of B for the reader to understand the complete picture.
Question:
What is the best way to present the old results in the new paper? Should we create a separate section or is it better to write in the results section? Basically, it is just the repetition of the numerical results from the old paper (results are in tabular form). Any lead points would be helpful. Will it be considered as self-plagiarism or salami slicing?
Note: I had no idea about the development of algorithm B when I worked on algorithm A. I see algorithm B definitely extends the field of research and thinking.

I don't see any problem with reusing your own data from a previously published article, as long as it is cited properly. This would look like:

We evaluated algorithm B using previously published data generated by
  algorithm A (Myself et al, 2010).

If the dataset is deposited somewhere along with the article describing algorithm A, it might have a DOI that you can also cite. If it isn't deposited, or hasn't been assigned a DOI, well now would be a good time to do that.
If the article describing algorithm A is more than a couple years old, nobody will think it is salami-slicing. And you only need to cite this article properly to rule out "self-plagiarism". Self-citation is an easy way to increase one's citation count, but it is definitely not unethical: you have to cite previous work relevant to your current article, even if it happens to be also from you.

Thanks for your comment. The data cannot be shared publicly due to confidentiality agreements

@Muk Are you able to at least cite it, for the possibility that in the future the data will be available for others to see?

@JAB. The data cannot be shared in public. Therefore, the data will not be available for the public to see other than the people who are involved in the project. I hope its clear now.


text:
Under peer review
Hi I have a paper submitted to a journal. The manuscript has been under review for 2 years now. I made 2 attempts at contact with one of the editors at separate times last year but with no success at getting a response. I also emailed the other editor - same outcome. I left it alone for a year before again making contact a few days ago. Same result: no response. My manuscript has been sitting there for 2 years. I don't know what to do next: either withdraw the paper or wait another while longer. Can anyone advise? I would be grateful for suggestions. Thanks.

Same answer: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/142485/journal-editor-does-not-respond-about-status-of-paper-1-year/142500#142500 Although in this case, 2 years makes it sound like the journal is dead.

I doubt that they will respond to your withdrawal request also. Just write the publisher directly.

Thanks for your suggestions

Two years is pretty long by any standard. I would suggest to withdraw and submit elsewhere.

Thanks for your suggestions


text:
Starting of cover letter for academic jobs
I have sent an academic job application with a cover letter starting "Dear Madam or Sir,..." and I've just realised that the correct form is instead "Dear Search Committee Chair,...". Have I made a huge mistake?

Probably not. I doubt anyone is going to catch it and, if they do, they probably won't care.

You haven't even made a small mistake.  The salutation you used is just fine.  I actually like it better than the other idea you find (Search Committee Chair).


text:
What is a "recent" investigation?
I am writing a doctoral thesis in philosophy (Europe) on an author who passed away in 1980. Over the past 20 years, there has been a significant volume of research on his thought. In my thesis, I sometimes need to refer to the "most recent" investigations in order to justify certain claims. However, I don't have any justified criterion to define what is considered "recent." I simply limit the research to the last 5 or 10 years because that is what is conventionally done.
Is there any text, book or author that explains how to define what "recent" means in academic research?
Thank you in advance.

You say you're referring to the "most recent", but that means something different from just plain "recent"; it's possible for the "most recent" thing to not be recent at all!  Exactly what term(s) are you using in your thesis?

'Recent' means 'after I started grad school'

@jwodder  I understand your point, and you are right. I simply wanted to refer to the freshest and latest research that has been done. That my criteria are relatively conventional and arbirtrary is something I already say in OP.

I wonder why you say you "need to" refer to "most recent" investigations and then you ask for the definition of what you just wrote. Is this wording from some regulations or official guidelines, e.g., of your department regarding doctoral theses?

@ChristianHennig Frankly, I don't understand your question. A doctoral thesis should ideally contrast its research with the latest publications that directly or indirectly address the research topic. The question here is how to demarcate 'the latest.' I think the question is fairly clear.

Well, you asked for the definition of a term in a way that made me wonder whether you wanted to know what the term used in some official context (i.e., PhD regulations of your university or the like) exactly meant. This doesn't seem to be the case, which is all fine, but I had seen questions of this kind before that were about understanding regulations and the like.

There is a point where we just need to take language as it is practiced. You want to define "recent" in "most recent investigations", but I think that's about as fruitful as wanting to define "investigations": The word means different things in different contexts and to different readers. But most experts in an area will understand the meaning of the word as it is used in that context. For example, "recent" in your context may be the last 20 years whereas someone writing on the "recent history of the universe" might mean the last 5 billion years. Similarly, someone talking about the history of writing on Shakespeare will use the word "investigations" differently (namely, as in "research on a topic") than someone considering the difference in police work depending on the race of the person being investigated (namely, as in "assessing facts and motives").
And these differences are all fine: Language is a way to communicate between people who have a shared cultural understanding of the use of words in a specific context. It is not necessary to define common words.

Thank you. This is the answer that most closely resembles my point of view, and is the one that seems most reasonable to me. I am simply annoyed that there are no more “objective” or less relative criteria to determine what is something recent academically.

@Ian Well, but that is true for almost every common-language use. I mean, is there an objective academic criterion for what "is" means? Or what "means" means? I'm sure philosophers and linguists have written whole books about it, but for the rest of us the issue is really not of great concern and we happily use the word in its common usage and understand each other just fine.

I guess you are right, could it be that I’m a philosopher?

I fully agree with Wolfgang. Not every word in a scientific paper is a term that needs precise definition. It's just common language, and you as the author decide where you want to be vague and where precise. If you are unsure yourself what the word means, choose another word. But I like the word recent because it lets me express something without the burden of proof.

Say, I write in the introduction something like "Studies of ... caught a lot of attention recently due to rapid developments in quantum computing." The only thing I want to say with this sentence is that I am writing about a hot topic. I don't really care if it's 5 or 10 years.

@Vosoni I think the same, I think it is an appropriate word. I understand that what you are suggesting is that what is recent is demarcated by the author's own authority, based on relatively subjective criteria that have to do with research.

Using relative terms in academic writing is a good way to cause confusion. You mention 'recent' as an example. Recent will have a different meaning for e.g. people who study the last ice age and those who study global warming. Hence relative terms should always be avoided. I once wanted to know the temperature variations in an area and found a paper with a title discussing 'recent temperature variations' in the area. The paper was from 1940 and not exactly what I was looking for.
Relative terms like recent, large, small, heavy, light and many more will always be judged by the reader's own perspective and experience. In all cases there is no standard on what is large, small etc. Similarly, 'recent' is just relative and can mean anything and, I would argue, is never possible to interpret in an absolute fashion. The recommendation is always to express values rather than relative terms but the use of the relative terms is tempting when you are deep into your own perspective.
So there is no definition of what 'recent' means.

Yes. Rephrase "recent research" to "research in the past 5 years" or something similar. Or even "research since 2019" to be more precise.

@JonCuster Perfect. But then, how do I justify that five- or ten-year cut?

@Peter Jansson Your solution is the most definitive. But we throw the baby in with the dirty waters. I would like to see a way to save the expression and at the same time be accurate.
I see frankly very normal in a thesis to use phrases like “in recent research on X, Y is justified...”

@Ian - how many papers do you need/want to bring up - that many years…

The meaning of "recent" and "most recent" can be very different. If something was published 100 years ago and nothing was done on this topic since then, this 100-year-old publication is still the most recent but no longer recent. In rapidly developing fields, something you refer to as "recent" in your preprint is no longer recent by the time your paper gets published, because things change faster than typical turnaround times of the journals.

Well, all you're saying is that the expression is relatively proportional. But based on what criteria is that relation or proportion made? Is it a convention or there is an objective criteria?

I would say there is no objective criterion for "recent", it expresses how you as an author feel about it. For an elderly professor something that happened 20 years ago could still feel recent, while for a young student everything that happened last semester is old. On the other hand, "most recent" is objective and can be proven using publication databases.

Much clearer now. And what is the criterion for the “most” recent ones? Obviously we are referring to the “latest” publications, but where do we demarcate what is “latest”? Also in a convention?

Well, you take all publications, order them chronologically, and the last ones will be the most recent. E.g. 5 most recent publications, independently of why (in absolute terms) they were published.


text:
Uncooperative PhD Labmate
I'm a 2nd-year PhD student at a university in the US. I am experiencing issues with a labmate I was supposed to collaborate with. Our research is highly experimental, though our topics are different. While my labmate has a much better theoretical understanding of his research topic, I have more experience on the experimental side since I joined the lab a year before him.
Although our advisor likes both of us, he prioritizes my labmate's research project over mine because most of the funding comes from his project, and our lab has more achievements from his project due to previous publication records by other members. I used to respect my labmate a lot and wanted to learn from him until my advisor asked me to collaborate with him on the experimental part of his project to speed up the process.
My advisor left for a summer trip, and suddenly, my labmate started to ghost me and began working on the experimental work all on his own. I tried reaching out to him, but he was unresponsive, which led to a deterioration of my relationship with him. The project had three phases. Since I had more experience, we could have finished all three phases in two months. However, due to his ego, he alone worked on the first step, which I already completed in the first two weeks. I asked him to share and divide the work, but he didn't listen to me. In fact, after he finished the first step, I could have helped him complete the second step in one week. However, he ghosted me again and worked on the second step for more than a month. When I asked him about it, he got angry and said he was not seeking cooperation.
I was extremely saddened by this situation because I am the one who trained him on a major part of the experimental work. Most of the equipment to be used in the experimental work is also optimized by me.
I absolutely don't know what to do in this case. My project is progressing slowly as it's a completely new topic for our lab, and the only way I can get some publications is by collaborating with him (I don't want to be the first author either since it's his project). But he has made sure that I don't get to play any part in this process. Should I talk to my advisor about it, or should I switch to another research lab that focuses more on my topic?

I hope that when your advisor asked you to collaborate with this lab-mate, he told the lab-mate about it.

why don't you just start cc-ing your mentor on emails to this colleague and see what happens??

Should I talk to my advisor about it?

Yes, definitely. In fact, it sounds like 6+ weeks have already passed; you should have looped in your advisor much earlier. The cleanest way to do this would have been to cc the advisor on the e-mails to your lab-mate when you initially observed that they were declining your offer to collaborate. You didn't do anything wrong, so there was no reason not to inform your advisor that you were blocked due to something outside of your control.
At this point, enough time has passed that your position is not nearly as strong. 6+ weeks have been wasted, which is of course bad. And the other student has been making progress without you, so your advisor has fewer options for fixing this than they would have had if you had informed them promptly. But even so, telling your advisor now is the right (indeed, only) thing to do. The longer you wait, the worse it will get. Don’t be too nervous; although it would have been better to have communicated with your advisor earlier, a reasonable advisor will understand that you were unsure of your footing here.

should I switch to another research lab that focuses more on my topic?

Dealing with unreasonable and unfriendly personalities is unfortunately a major part of research. If you switch labs every time something like this happens, you will never make progress. That said, after you meet with your advisor, you can assess your options. A reasonable advisor would either find an alternative path for you, or force the other student to engage with you. If your advisor doesn't do either of these, then that's a much better reason to switch labs.

Yes, definitely. And I think all of cooperations like experiment assignment should be instructed by your advisor, not you. It is because you and your labmate are at the flat level. In theory he does not need to report the project stage to you. He may even suspect you want to 'steal' his project by doing some experiments.


text:
I could use some advice on an appeal
I have what I think is a hot mess on my hands.
I'm just going to lay it out chronologically, I'm not sure how to summarize my issue.
I first attended college over ten years ago. I dropped out after two years. I then attended another college after moving to another state, and dropped out of that after one semester. I then attended an online college and was expelled from that after failing two entire semesters.
Now I am in college again. Overall, I am performing much better than I ever have. I have a passion for something and I'm able to chase it and succeed. However, I have had three courses that I have failed. The first failure was manually adjusted by an instructor after a requirement was missed, another was failed due to a life event, and I now have a third failure where I barely missed a passing grade. The first two I have re-taken and passed.
I now have to appeal to continue going to school where I am at. After reading around online... I think this goes from bad to worse.
When I first started courses at the current school, I sent in transcripts from the first school but neglected the other two since I did not think it was required, and I did not believe anything would transfer. Now I am reading that all transcripts from every college are required. My end game is I want to complete this program and go on with life, and maybe even go further.
I would appreciate any advice on how to proceed. I really want to finish this degree and do something with my life, and do not want to give up. Yes, I screwed up. A lot. Academia is really hard for me but it is something I have to go through to get to where I want to be.
I'll provide other information upon request.

Is there any explicit link that you've been clearly told between your current appeal and the skipped-over transcripts? At first blush, these seems to be unrelated issues.

I am worried that I might be accused of dishonesty or fraud since I did not disclose them thinking it was not required, but now that I re-read the policy... maybe they are?
"If you’ve completed Dual Credit courses or have attended and earned college or military credits prior to your enrollment at [current college], you must have your official college and military transcripts sent to [current college] directly from the issuing college or military. Without those, we cannot grant you credit for previously earned eligible college coursework."
Then again, maybe I'm paranoid.

The passage you quoted doesn't make it sound as if you needed to send them your previous credits. It seems to say that if you want them to count towards your degree they have to be sent directly from the colleges, rather than you sending them a pdf of some marks and pinkie swearing it's real.

Focus on the present appeal and your upcoming courses.
I don't see any reason to think that the missing transcripts are related to that in any way. Nor is it reasonable to think the college has any mechanism to find out about them. I'd suggest you not make further complications or trouble for yourself at this time.