text:
What happens if you don't get tenure?
I've heard different takes on what the convention is when an Assistant or Associate Professor does not achieve tenure. Can you just remain at your existing position and continue to teach and conduct research? Can you reapply for tenure again later? Is it more conventional to leave the institution for another tenure-track position at another institution?
This is in regard to US universities, but perhaps an answer articulating what is common in different countries is best.

Freedom. You get your freedom back.

In my experience (in math, in the US), no you cannot remain in your current position (for long).  While tenure is historically a means of protection for faculty from political forces, and thus a tool to provide academic freedom, pre-tenure periods often function as a sort of long-term provisional hiring period to make sure you're right for the university/department and getting tenure is sort of stamp of certification of your worth to the department and university.  So if you fail to get tenure, the reason is typically because someone decides you're not performing well enough in your current position.
That said, the university will typically give you another year in your current position which gives you time to look for jobs elsewhere.  People who don't get tenure usually move somewhere else, or have trouble getting another job.
Note: Sometimes people go up for tenure early (before the specified date in your contract).  I don't know what the standards are for consequences of not getting tenure then--when I've seen people go up early, they got tenure.

At most institutions whose procedures I'm aware of, you only get one chance at a tenure application at a given university. If you are not granted tenure, there are usually provisions for how long you can stay—usually until the expiration of your existing contract, which typically amounts to until the end of the academic year following the denial of tenure. Following that, you have to move somewhere else, whether it's an academic position at another institution or a position outside of academia.

You normally only get one chance at a tenure application at a given university. This is incorrect at all University of California campuses, which makes me suspect that your use of "normally" here is very much unwarranted.

Sometimes there is an option to apply early.

@DanRomik: That's actually the first time I've heard of such an exception, so I don't know if allowing multiple attempts are as widespread as you think, either.

@aeismail I have no opinion about what is widespread, but suspect that in the US many places have policies that are fairly similar to the University of California. In any case it's interesting to hear that things work differently at other places. This is an illustration of the "academia is a bigger and more diverse place than you think" principle that some people here bring up occasionally, and a reminder that it's dangerous to extrapolate from one's own experience to all of academia.

My college (Literature, Science and Arts, at the University of Michigan) allows each candidate only one tenure review. Even if the review occurs earlier than normal, if the decision is negative, the candidate gets only a one-year terminal appointment for the following year.

For another couple of data points, this is how it works at my small, private liberal arts institution, and also how it works at the large, public R-1 university up the road (I have a friend who was denied tenure there, so learned more about their policies than I wanted to). Both in the US. Of course, at my institution it's very uncommon for someone to get all the way to the tenure review and then fail; the Dean will have had a quiet word with anyone unlikely to get tenure well ahead of the six-year review.

It my school there is a "point of no return" during the early tenure process (namely, when it gets sent to the Provost's office), but prior to that you can withdraw your early application and just go up at the normal time.

Here is how it works at my US institution.  (I know that some other US institutions have similar systems, and my impression is that this is in fact typical in the US.)
When hired as an Assistant Professor, the job offer includes a mandatory date for latest possible tenure consideration, normally in the sixth year of the position.  (Ninth year for clinical faculty in professional schools.)  An Assistant Professor can apply for tenure and promotion in any year before that; if they are unsuccessful they can remain in the position and apply for tenure again, up until that latest possible date.  If they are unsuccessful at getting tenure at the latest possible date, they get one more year in the position then have to leave.
So in theory, an Assistant Professor could apply for tenure over and over again through that six-year period.  In practice, that would be a terrible idea.  Most people apply for tenure only once at a given institution, and leave for another institution if they're unsuccessful.  I don't believe I've personally ever heard of someone applying more than twice for tenure at a given institution.

In my university, you have to get special permission to go up early for tenure.  I don't know if such permission is ever denied in practice, but I could imagine situations where the administration/department might say to wait a year.

Many years ago the state school where I taught gave two sequential one year contracts, then progressively longer ones until a person has been employed for more than 7 years, at which point he or she was considered tenured.   I only lasted two years, being a terrible fit there who didn't understand the school's conservative culture, nor how to teach to the students.  Learned those skills, but far too late to ever do much with the doctorate.  And that's the point, this discussion is somewhat moot as (barring superstars or people in very hot or well funded fields) the chance of anybody getting tenure is increasingly remote.  Adjuncts are much cheaper; in time tenured professors will be as rare as butlers.


text:
Teacher put all of the answers to the homework in white font?
We have Science homework due tomorrow and it's basically a "fill in the boxes" homework about energy in Microsoft Word. Well, my friends and I quickly realised that the teacher had put all of the answers in white font in the boxes. So, all we need to do is change the font to black and there's our homework.
I really don't know if this was an accident, intentional or a trap to test which of us are honest or not. So what do I do?
Do I just turn the font to black, read it over and laugh at how easy it was, or do I delete the boxes and actually try? I know which one I should do, of course, but if all the people in my class have done that and the answers are the same, what do I do?

Actually do the work yourself and don't get into the habit of exploiting carelessness on the instructor's part.

You want to learn or to get assessed? Well, assessment is important, but learning is more so.

If you want to get on your teacher's good side, you might even consider emailing them and letting them know what you accidentally found. They'll probably tell you to just do the work on your own, but they may also be grateful if it was an error on their part. Just be respectful if you do tell them.

Hard to believe it was an "error".  More likely something the teacher thought they could do for simplicity and didn't expect to be found out.  I agree, telling them is probably best.

@SeanRoberson How's that view from that high horse you're riding?  It's not carelessness, it's either stupidity or laziness, none of which are properties you'd praise a teacher for.  It sounds like OP should consider going into computer science when they get the chance; OP: you'll find friends and peers there!

@PålGD His advice is valid. This is essentially a "should I plagiarize my homework?" question. It doesn't matter how easy it is to do so. Google makes it easy to plagiarize almost any homework these days. It's academically dishonest and even if you don't care about honesty it's also a trivial case to spot... so even a dishonest person shouldn't do this, as they are almost guaranteed to be caught.

something similar happens all the time. a common mistake is that people who redact text assume putting a black box over text in pdf destroys the text. Like secrets about submarines most people just dont get computers. And mistakes do happen.

When I was a teacher, I gave a test one day and noticed that a girl sitting near my desk was desperately trying to look over at me grading already completed exams.  So I made a big answer key and left it in full view of her desk.  Of course, I purposely got every answer wrong, and she ended up with the zero she deserved.  Your teacher may be smarter than you think.

There was also the time a kid's test got cut off by the photocopy machine, yet he still magically got the question right.  I told him I was calling his parents since he was clearly gifted, and was having him transferred into high school across town right away.  He cried.  Good times.

There are several reasons you should do the work yourself, ignoring the filled in answers:

It is the honest thing to do.
You will learn far more from the homework that way.
The filled-in answers may not be the right answers. For example, the teacher could have used a file from someone who had done the homework for calibration, and made some mistakes.
If the teacher sees a lot of 100% correct answers, with exactly the same wording and formatting, they may become suspicious and realize what was going on. In that case, it may be very important to be able to honestly say you did the work yourself.

In college, the textbook exercises have answers, in the back or as a separate book.
The point isn’t to do busywork, but to practice.  Work it out, and then check to see if you’re right, and try again if necessary.  You can have the answers up front if you are mature enough.

Be honest, let the professor know about their mistake, do the homework and show your results. When you let the professor know about their mistake, do it privately before class, don't call them out in front of the class. Remember your teacher is only human, too. I used to be a professor at a local community college and have made the same mistake, so this was from my experience with it.

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Referring to papers by myself and others in my thesis
In citing a paper by myself and others in my thesis, suppose my surname is A and that I have a paper jointly with B and C.  I want to cite it, and normally, I would write

A, B, and C showed that this can be done [ABC15].

However, in my thesis, it feels more natural to say

Together with B and C, we showed that this can be done [ABC15].

Which is better?  Are there better options?
In other words, should I pretend that A is some random dude when it is in fact the author of the thesis the reader is currently reading?
For context:  This is a thesis in theoretical computer science/algorithmic graph theory/parameterized algorithms/complexity.  I prefer to use "we" as is usual in mathematical texts.

I have edited your comment in the question. It is better to add any clarification in the question itself than in comments that can get lost.

@A.Klomp But then what happens if there is another relevant paper by A, D, and E? Do you also refer to the authors as "we"?

@A.Klomp I am trying to avoid using a citation reference as a word.

@A. Klomp: In fields where author ordering is alphabetical (like mathematics, including theoretical computer science), it is considered by many to be a very bad practice to list some but not all authors' names.  This is a recipe for alienating someone for no good reason.

So you want to use "we" as in you and your supporting network (supervisors etc.) and you want to mention B and C by name, and you don't want to have citation as a word. I'd go for the second option. The only slight variation without "we", that I can think of is something like "Together (/In collaboration) with B and C, it was shown that this can be done [ABC15]."

Personally I feel (and I know that there are many who might disagree) that it is perfectly fine to use 'I' and 'we' here. I think that obsessively sticking to passive voice makes papers and theses less readable. After all, you did do the work. Why hide behind the passive voice? My suggestion would be to go with option 2:

Together with B and C, we showed that this can be done [ABC15].

See also the answer of this question on the use of "we" and "I" in mathematical text.

"I" and "We" are not very common in paper referencing, usually the best solution is using a passive form, i.e, "As was shown at [2]" or "As the authors have shown at [2]" or "In [2] the authors and others showed that...".

I am trying to avoid using a citation reference as a word.

If all you are doing is asserting that "X can be done", then it is appropriate to cite your paper as if it was any other, using a variation of first pattern:

[ABC15] demonstrated the feasibility of this method.

Notice that this is using an active voice.
If, instead, you wanted to build on an argument that you first and fully expressed in the previous article, then you would be justified using personal pronouns:

As I have argued elsewhere [ABC15], the feasibility of this method can be verified experimentally.

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text:
How do I deal with feelings of guilt and shame related to how long my PhD has taken?
I am physically disabled. I have spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative neuromuscular disease. I am wheelchair-bound and am nearly quadriplegic. This is not to complain, but rather to provide context.
My Ph.D. thesis defense is scheduled for less than two months from now. It has been a long road. I am tired.
It has also been literally a long time. It has been 10 years since I got my bachelor's degree and started the Ph.D. program. I only made it this far with the tireless support of my extraordinary advisor and a wonderful department. They never gave up on me.
I am currently struggling with guilt, or shame, that it has taken me so long to get to the defense. My advisor, my department, and my family have not made me feel this way. But I still feel bad that it has taken me so long. How do I deal with feelings of guilt, shame, and inadequacy?
I believe that all people have value, regardless of their success or failure or their intellectual ability. But somehow I guess I don't believe this applies to me.
I am looking for help, support, or anecdotes related to feelings of guilt/shame/inadequacy in academia in particular (especially Ph.D. programs), and not necessarily about life in general.

10 years from BA to PhD isn't particularly long.

Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/87668/how-do-you-come-to-terms-with-the-fact-that-you-might-never-be-among-the-best-in/

I agree with @henning--reinstateMonica; two of my students have, for entirely legitimate reasons, taken more than 10 years.

I had a friend who took 17 years to get their PhD. Primarily, they really liked being in grad school. Eventually reality set in and they rapidly finished up and graduated.

You should discuss your feelings with a licensed mental health professional.

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11765/how-to-effectively-deal-with-imposter-syndrome-ive-somehow-convinced-everyone

Talk to a counselor about your feelings. They can help.
But you aren't alone in taking a long time. Your disabilities are part of it, but success in research can't really be scheduled. Depending on the research questions you've been asking your extra three years (say) can be perfectly normal. Insight comes when it comes. And, I suspect you've had necessary timeouts for medical reasons.
But you are probably feeling a bit of both burn out and possibly imposter syndrome. Both are common at the end of a doctoral program, even if it doesn't take longer than (whatever it means to be) normal.
Congratulations on finishing. Thank everyone who has supported you.

Do you know of any good resources on imposter syndrome? I've heard people talk about it, but I'm not entirely sure what it is. Maybe a "working definition of imposter syndrome" is a good separate question.

Start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome. A search for it on this site will turn up questions with similar concerns.

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text:
How to cite prices in academia?
In the introduction of my thesis I want to motivate the use of alternative neutron converters to helium-3 by mentioning the exploding cost of latter.
I am not directly involved with helium-3, since I work with the alternatives. Online research yielded for instance a congressional research paper by Shea and Morgan from 2010, and the wikipedia page for helium-3 links to an IEEE site also from 2010, mentioning the price explosion in that year.
Is one of those source apt for citation? Is there a best way to cite prices in academia?

Maybe you can find a public budget of a project of the scale you are targeting, where it is possible the He-3 is quoted. In any case, I imagine your target audience are the people working (and purchasing) with He-3, and they do know how expensive it is without needing you to tell them.

For prices, I assume citing like how Oil and Gold are cited is probably okay. Cost/standard unit. Oil is traded in $/barrels, gold is traded in $/ounces, and helium is possibly traded in $/liters since it is a gas.

There are two, as I see it very different questions you pose. as for the aptness of the sources, the Shea and Morgan paper is a publication that can be referenced because it is traceable and likely to be remaining for a long time in unaltered state. It is also published by a formal body.
When it comes to citing prices the question is perhaps trickier. Not knowing the market for helium-3 I do not know where the prices are determined but usually there is some form of exchange that determines prices based on the market and this makes prices shift quickly. In such cases, one needs to find a source where the market swings are documented and stored so that one can cite a price at a specific time in a time series that people can revisit if they wish to check the correctness of your assessments. This type of referencing is common in economics when discussing price variations, trends etc.

Thanks! To my knowledge, helium-3 is only traded in auctions any more. I have no idea, if the results are published anywhere. Well, I think I will use the paper.


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Who am I? A "Copy Editor"?
I help with typesetting of one scientific journal: I recieve the articles in the form in which they were finally accepted, and I re-format them etc. to make them ready for publication. Currently, my title in the journal colophon says: "Graphic Design and Typesetting: M. Name".
However, I get the impression that this position is in the scientific jargon usually called "Copy Editor", which would suit the colophon quite well since there are other "Editors" listed there (Language, Guest, Editor-in-charge, etc.). I want to make sure whether this is appropriate or not.
So: Who am I?

Hmmm.  I'm not convinced this question is on-topic here; it seems better suited for Workplace.  But for what it's worth, I think your current title is both more descriptive and more attractive.

@JeffE There is a large difference between "on-topic elsewhere" and "off-topic here" I think.

I agree completely!

Who do you want to be?

@DanielE.Shub That's a good question. I don't like the current title so much, and I wanted an unbiased opinion on it...

"Pre-press" is another term…

In order to answer your question, let me explain my view of copy editing and typesetting
In my field, after an article is accepted it is copy edited and then typeset. The role of the copy editor is to check for consistencies with the journal style, find grammatical and typographical errors, and provide guidance to the typesetter.  The copy editor often produces a short list of "author queries" where the copy editor has found "inconsistencies" (often unused references or undefined abbreviations). Generally I receive a copy of the double-spaced manuscript with the copy editors markup and the typeset article. We are then expected to make sure the typeset manuscript is "correct".
I don't think there is a difference in prestige between copy editor and typesetter, they are really different roles (or different perspectives of the similar roles). You say in your comments that you do not like the title, I would talk to the publisher/editor-in-chief about changing it. You can either approach this from a graphic design vantage (the list will look better) or from a professional prospective (I edit I don't do graphic design). The key is you need to know what you want to be called.

A copy editor is usually the person who runs through the manuscript checking that it adheres to the style of the journal. this includes checking references, checking figure numbering but also spelling and language, in short almost everything. The copy editor improves the paper from these formal/technical points of view. It is not usually the copy editor that typesets the paper because that is usually done by a typesetter involved with the printer. Having said that, with purely electronic publication it is more likely that this task would also end up with a copy editor. Thus the old demarcation lines between copy editor and printer may be less and less clear.
The editors usually handle scientific content and managing contacts between reviewers and authors on matters of the scientific content as well as making decisions. The name for this varies a lot between journals.
So who are you? Your current "title" may be OK but if you also improve the formal and technical quality of the paper, copy editor would be most appropriate.

According to Wikipedia,

Typically, copy editing involves correcting spelling, punctuation, grammar, terminology, jargon, and semantics, and ensuring that the text adheres to the publisher's style or an external style guide [...].

You say that you "re-format" articles.  I assume you mean things like changing font and paragraph attributes.  If you do not change the text (e.g., correct the errors), then perhaps the title "copy editor" is not the best fit for you.
However, Wikipedia states that

The role of the copy editor varies considerably from one publication to another. Some newspaper copy editors select stories from wire service copy; others use desktop publishing software to do design and layout work that once was the province of design and production specialists.

The last statement supports Peter Jansson's comment that "the old demarcation lines between copy editor and printer may be less and less clear."


text:
Is it plagiarism/OK if I use big parts of someones literature review for the introduction section of my paper?
The questions says it all. I have an report I want to write. The level expected is slightly lower than that of a master thesis. I do need to write an introduction to the topic and there is a very recent literature review online. It covers some things that I want to use in my introduction. I do not have the possibility to access all the papers in the review as they are behind a paywall. How should I cite the review or the papers in the review? What is common practice in psychology?

Have you asked your library about access to the paper behind the paywall?
University (and some public/school/technical college) have large numbers of subscriptions to major journals.
Sometimes how to get around the paywall might be a bit unexpected, such as having to connect to a VPN.
If it is in a major journal (few really core papers worth reviewing are in minor ones), odds are in your favour for your library having a subscription.

I did not yet go to the library for access. I will do that.
All in all, I just wanted to know what the general concensus is considering this practice. I mean, for some it is enough to read the abstract, others the entire paper... ob maybe just scanning the paper.. so why not just use someone elses review then and just do a quick glance at the original.

Where do you draw the line...

Consensus about how much of a paper you should read before citing it seems to be a very different question than the one in the title.

If you copy the review text from the web into your own thesis it is a clear case of plagiarism.
When you write academic text where there is a need to provide the sources for your information (as references) you need to have read the sources. It is not ok to quote sources without having even looked at them. In very rare cases, may it be acceptable to quote a source quoted by someone else in a publication. These cases may include very hard to find literature or literature in a different language. But, such secondary references should not be used unless deemed absolutely unavoidable.
If you need to cite the on-line review, you will need to look at how web-sources are cited at your school (if they are allowed). you can also look at the recommendations at American Psychological Association (APA; very appropriate for you) and their style site. You may find many other bits and pieces that are of interest to you.

I'm going to disagree with Peter on this.
Almost anything is acceptable if you are utterly utterly open and honest about it. If you lift sections from the review without proper attribution that's plagiarism but if you properly cite and properly quote a block of text from the review with quotation marks and indentation making clear where it is from then it's not plagiarism.
There's nothing wrong with including a quoted block of text with something along the lines of "and this concept is well explained in A. Bsons review [title] (20xx) " followed by a quote (even quite a large quote) which is properly indented and shown to be a quote so that people are clear what are your own words and what has been written by the other author.
Now for one reason or another the review might be incorrect or a poor choice of source or a source that is unacceptable for some other reason within the bounds of what you've been assigned to do or someone may have specifically specified that reviews must not be used as sources but that's all separate from plagiarism.
To answer in the spirit of my answer:
User woj https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15446/woj on this site once commented that

"I reviewed once a thesis which had a copied/pasted page from a
  publication (with an authorization from the author and clear
  citations) and the author added in a footnote that this is by far the
  best explanation he read and does not see any reason to phrase it
  differently (that was in an introductory chapter). I was very fine
  with that."

As a comment in this page:
Are you allowed to copy text from your Master's thesis into your PhD thesis?

"Almost anything is acceptable if you are utterly utterly open and honest about it." I don't think that's true. The usual requirement is that a thesis be the author's own work. Using "big parts" of somebody else's work, even acknowledged, doesn't seem to meet that criterion.

@DavidRicherby: I believe he meant acceptable regarding plagiarism. I agree that if you are honest and open about it, it cannot be considered plagiarism. Whether or not the work as a whole is original or not, and considered acceptable to get a degree is a completely different matter

Here's my two cents. The OP's question is formulated as "is it plagiarism/OK". Therefore, if someone copies large parts of someone's work and provides proper attribution, it is definitely not plagiarism, but it is IMHO strongly not OK. It is not OK for the following two reasons:

most academic guidelines (i.e., dissertation guides) significantly limit the size of direct copy/paste materials, so it is not possible to do that without violating those guidelines;
even in the absence of such guidelines, direct reusing of someone's work represents the (almost complete) lack of academic effort, thus, making that paper/report irrelevant.


text:
can I use instagram pictures for an academic work
The question is pretty easy and fit in the title.
So: can I use instagram pictures for an academic work?
I think I have to ask people who posted them if they agree but I'm not sure. I don't want any trouble with plagiarism and copyright.

I once did a team project, and I had blogged about each miniscule thing through it. That's a habit. One member in the team was asked to prepare the report and he printed, compiled and submitted by blog posts. It was a school thing, so it was accepted without much hassle.

In a a word no, users of Instagram retain copyright of their own images, and grant Instagram a licence to reproduce them on Instagram's website. No licence is granted to other users of the website, so you would need to approach each user individually to gain permission, unless your usage comes under a fair-use right. This differs between countries, so it depends on where the user is located that posted the image, and where you are located as to what rights you may have under this. These fair-use rights are very restricted, and have no relationship to academic work in particular.

I am not an IP lawyer, but at least in the US, my understanding is that 'for educational purposes' is one of the primary fair-use arguments.

It's in France. Their is an article on the law for that. I obteined it on the fair use French page on wikipedia. Thank you for your help.
So if you cite name and sources you have the right to use it without asking to anyone

I had a look at the French fair-use page, the translation is not entirely clear, but it does not appear to be a blanket fair-use for academic purposes, so it depends on why you are using it. If you are doing this as part of a student project it may fall under the "educational clause", but I would also consider ethical (as separate from legal) implications of doing this as part of your report.

Contra Chris Thompson, I'd say, in a word, 'maybe'. E.g., in the US, if the purpose of the work is to criticize or critique the picture, then you probably have a fair-use right to reproduce the image in your academic work. Whether or not the journal or conference you intend to publish in will accept your paper without an explicit license is another story.


text:
Should editors and reviewers be listed alongside authors, to give them credit?
Reviewing an article in your field is an interesting and rewarding experience. Any scientist has, of course, a moral obligation for reviewing other people's work just like he has his/her own work reviewed.
That being said, it's a very time consuming process and it would be nice if you could get some credit for it. Back in ye olde days of print journals, the editorial board and associate editors would be listed in the front pages so that was a form of credit. Nowadays however, with articles being accessed individually online, the editorial board gets much less, if any exposure.
Should the editorial board/associate editors be listed alongside the authors in an article or is that not necessary? If the editors/reviewers are listed alongside the authors then this would create the problem of revealing the reviewers to the authors, in an otherwise blind review.

There are some journals where each article lists the name of the handling editor.  Listing the entire editorial board seems excessive, though.

Speaking as an associate editor of a journal, I'm quite happy with the credit I receive: I'm listed as part of the editorial board online, it's listed on my C.V., and I get to help make sure what's getting published in my field is up to the standards of quality I desire.
That said, some journals do list the editor and even the reviewers after publication (see, for example, the Frontiers series of journals), so at least some people definitely seem to agree with your sentiment.

I didn't realize that some journals don't list the handling editor; all of the journals for which I have served as an editor or deputy editor list my name with every paper I've edited.

@Corvus I'm on the editorial board of an ACM Transactions journal: we're all listed in the masthead, but the handling editor is not listed on the paper.

Your question asks for both editors and reviewers but goes on to focus on editors. I will thus start with editors.
As you say editors are not generally listed on electronic copies of articles. Being Editor-in-Chief of a journal, I along with the other Associate Editors, do not see any need to be visible there. The reason is that one can ask to whom the credit has meaning.
First a practical issues. For my journal, we are all listed on the journal web site. When a person chooses a journal the line-up of editors is one criteria to use, if you recognise an editor as a prominent scientist in the field, it is a good (although not fool proof) indicator that the journal is good. So from that perspective nothing is lost. I think for most this is the most important issue of seeing the editors names for most authors/readers. Finding the web site is not difficult so I am sure the names can easily be found.
As for credit, I feel I am credited enough by having the job listed in my CV. After all, apart from enjoying the work associated with the editorship, it is a good experience to show in a CV for salary discussions, science proposals etc. That is where it counts for me. I would not be much happier if my name was listed on every paper "my" journal puts out. Besides, if an author experiences I have provided a service beyond any normal editor's tasks they usually thank me in the acknowledgement but that is not something that is common (and should not be) or expected.
As for crediting reviewers is should be common courtesy to acknowledge at least very constructive reviewers, even anonymous ones (as anonymous), in the acknowledgement. Unfortunately there seems to be a tradition in some academic cultures never to do so. One possibility is also for the journal to list reviewers in a "thank you" page although that carries with it other issues.
So on the whole, for editors, I am sure most editors are quite happy the way things are (or they would find ways of changing it) and in the case of reviewers, authors could improve when it comes to acknowledging the work.

There are many potential ways to credit reviewers and editors. The most common way from what I've seen is acknowleding the handling editors on papers and in some cases publishing a yearly list of all reviewers that have contributed to the journal during the year.
However, note that some journals have an open review process and disclose the reviewers of papers, such as the Frontiers journal group (see e.g. this example at the bottom of the page). So to credit reviewers more directly is certainly possible, but will naturally remove the confidentiality of reviewers.
You should also look at https://www.peerageofscience.org/, which is a way of formally acknowledging good review work, as well as a way to transfer reviews and also make reviews citable and allow reviews of reviews.

Some journals (e.g. Neural Networks) start off each year by listing the reviewers who have reviewerd for them in the preceding year to acknowledge the work they have done.  I think that is quite a nice gesture.  I don't think the reviewers of a particular paper should be identifiable though as that breaks down the benefit of anonymous reviewing.
A better way for commercial publishers to thank their reviewers would be to give them one free book (of their choice) from their catalog for each year in which they review at least one paper for that publisher.  ;o)


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The editor doesn't respond after accepting the manuscript
The journal editor accepted my paper and told me to ask his assistant about the next steps in the publication process. Four months ago I corrected some minor points and sent an updated manuscript to the assistant. Since then the editor's assistant remained silent. About two weeks ago I asked him about the status of the manuscript and next steps, but he hasn't replied yet. What should I do? Could the editor reject my manuscript after acceptance?

It is unclear whether your lack of response concerns the editor or the editor's assistant. The main questions indicates one thing but the text the other. So, who has not responded, the editor or assistant?

I haven't received any response from both of them. The editor hasn't contacted me after accepting the manuscript and his assistant hasn't responded to my latest letter.

When you say 'corrected some minor points' do you mean you reviewed the proof and corrected typos? Or did you somehow re-submit an edited version of your already-accepted paper?

No, I just changed acknowledgement and clearly informed the editor's assistant that it was the only change. Everything else remained the same.

You should write to the editor and tell him what you have told us.  Really your concrete problem is that your correspondence has not been returned so you don't know what's going on.  Maybe everything is proceeding as it should, maybe it isn't, but you need a reply.

Could editor reject my manuscript after acceptance?

Why do you even ask?  Are you worried that the editor thought, "No, hang on, I don't want to publish this paper after all.  Let's not publish it, never contact the author again, and hope for the best"?!?  That's just totally loopy, unprofessional behavior.  In this big, bad world of ours, anything could happen, but the chance of this happening to you -- provided only that you are dealing with a partway reputable, professional journal (essentially: not a journal that you learned about via a spammy, semi-literate email) -- is negligibly small.
Just get back in contact with the editor ASAP and take it from there.  Be polite, but be persistent.  Give the editor a week or two to reply.  I honestly expect that he will.  If not, write to the editor-in-chief / managing editor / some other members of the editorial board.  You'll hear back from someone.  Again, don't assume that something has gone terribly wrong, and certainly don't worry that your polite, professional behavior will jeopardize the future of your paper.

Thank you very much for your reply and suggestions!! So it is ok to mention that I couldn't get a response from his assistant, right?
Yes, this is exactly a reputable journal in my field! Perhaps I'm a bit anxious because previously the editor and his assistant responded to the letters very quickly, but then the assistant didn't respond to the latest letter. And it seemed slightly strange for me.

"So it is ok to mention that I couldn't get a response from his assistant, right?" Yes, it is okay and you should say it.

@Michele if not anything else, your emails to the assistant could just be being sent to spam, so he never got them.

You should write to the editor explaining that you have not received any further communication about the status of your manuscript for the last four months and that the assistant has not replied to your e-mail. I'm sure you will receive a reply from the editor. If you do not receive a reply from the editor within a couple of weeks, try to get hold of his number and call him. If that doesn't work, write to the editor-in-chief or managing editor of the journal.
Regarding your second question, once a manuscript has been accepted, the decision cannot be reversed, unless a major ethical breach, such as duplicate publication, salami slicing, or undisclosed conflict of interest, has been detected. However, if your manuscript free from these problems, you need not worry: it will not be rejected.


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How does one figure out which journals to submit a paper to?
I ask because I am finishing a paper and need to decide on which journals I'm going to submit it to, and I have never done a paper before.
I know very little about this, but my general sense is that I want to match the interest level of my paper to the renown of the journal (Nature probably doesn't want my lame paper, but I'm also not going to submit it to a fly-by-night journal that's purely for-profit). I have a vague idea of what some high profile journals are, and a few I know to be disreputable, but there's a pretty wide range in between I have no idea about.
I've heard of the concept of Impact Factor, but also heard (as that article mentions) that it's not everything and just a rough guideline. I've also heard favorable things about review journals, namely that they're often understated but can actually be a great place to submit because people often look there for fresh ideas.
Any advice on how to find the journal(s) that best match your paper?

This is one of the things that you should really discuss with your advisor, or some other trusted senior researcher in  your network. Really the most reliable way to figure out which paper to send to which journal is by experience.

Related: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/14387/selecting-journals-or-conferences-to-publish-research-work and http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10297/journals-selection-alternative-criteria-to-impact-factor

A few steps can help. Check your reference list. Where have others writing on similar topics published? you will end up with a list of reasonable journals. The next step can go in one of two ways,, either you chose a high impact journal on the list and take a chance it will be published there or you try to assess where your paper would best fit. The first approach is high risk and if you get rejected you would take the comments and resubmit to a lower impact journal. Trying to figure out an optimal journal directly is not easy and requires experience and insight. You can, for example, ask peers what they think might be a suitable journal and why. Even if you end up with a few differing answers you will be in much better shape. To decide from the final selection might be a matter of flipping coins. You can also look at the editorial staff and see if there is someone among th editors that is very close to your topic. That can be very useful since it is likely that peson will handle your paper and treat it with insight.

Checking your reference list and discussing with your advisor and senior colleagues will definitely help you shortlist a few journals suitable for your study. Once you have this list, try to figure out the best match for your paper in terms of journal scope. Also keep in mind the study design while selecting your journal. Some journals publish only original research articles, while some publish review articles and opinion pieces as well. Go through the "instructions to authors page" of the shortlisted journals carefully. Certain journals have clear specifications about the nature of the study. For example, a certain journal might not publish experiments conducted on animals.
Of course, the journal prestige and impact would also play a role in your selection. But I would focus more on finding a journal where my paper fits best with respect to the scope, study design, and author guidelines. Once you select a journal, it is always preferable to send a pre-submission inquiry briefly explaining the scope of your research and asking if the journal would be interested in it. If the editor shows interest, you can submit your paper to the journal. In case the editor is not interested in your study, you definitely end up saving a lot of time, rather than submitting your paper and getting a rejection.


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Etiquette for seeking collaboration via E-Mail?
I work on a certain topic on the theoretical side and just came across a publication that I think would be a nice starting point for collaboration with an experimental lab (developmental biology).
I am a second-year student in Europe and my supervisor does not know anyone in the other lab. The question title mentions e-mail specifically as I don't expect to run into these people at conferences or any other occasion.
What are common rules and guidelines you follow when contacting someone for the first time about stuff that they work on and you feel excited about?
How do some of you that are contacted by people like me react to their attempts? And what are aspects to these requests that trigger interest on your part?

A collaboration is comparable to a business relationship; both sides need to put significant, continuous effort into making the relationship work, and the benefits are often only realized after some initial time period has passed. Given that mindset, you'll have to convince the prospective collaborator that:

You are a good researcher,
Your idea is worth researching, and
They will significantly benefit from having your cooperation in implementing this idea.

<negative nelly>
From my experience, as a graduate student, you will likely find it very difficult to succeed at convincing them of 1 and/or 3 without having the full backing of your advisor.
</negative nelly>
All that being said, if you plan on initiating contact via email, simply compose it as you would a communique to a business contact; write professionally, describe the idea clearly and briefly, and discuss how they should contact you to follow up. You will want to convince them of all three in the email, which may be a difficult task. I would imagine you should follow up via phone or in-person meeting, as you would a business contact.


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Is it acceptable as referee to contact an author on a paper you review?
I am reviewing the second revision of a paper and am getting tired of this incredibly slow process of me pointing something out that requires clarification just to hear back from those authors two or three months from now (at the earliest).
Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author saying "Look I still don't understand X because of Y can you please explain?"?
Personally, I think that doing so would just be what science is about: a bunch of people interested in similar scientific topics talking to each other.

What did the handling editor say? Potentially it is okay, but only if the editor says so.

Okay I understand. I haven't contacted the editor yet. I thought I could just e-mail the corresponding author as I do with any other author of papers when I have questions regarding their content. But maybe I am missing something regarding the 'ethics' of being a referee?

A corollary question for the community : is an electronic platform that manages the review process should allow direct messaging between referees and authors?

You might not agree with the process, but it has the merit of reducing conflict of interest situation which could interfere with objectivity. Like you get chummy with the author. Maybe meet over a couple of beers, etc. Pretty soon, you're not doing such an objective job of reviewing the paper.  Anyway, couldn't the editor act as intermediary and pass on the requests for clarification?

@Kaz I've never heard of the scenario you paint. To my mind, if you were to get chummy in an open review process you are also going to get chummy with the current system. The contrary, referees not behaving well because they dislike the authors / compete with the authors I may have heard of.

There is an interesting discussion on the subject at MO:
http://mathoverflow.net/questions/50947/on-referee-author-communications

No, you should not, but there is of course no law that prevents it. Peer review is a process where the editor appoints reviewers because of their expertise to provide independent and knowledgeable views on the submitted manuscript. As such the reviews should pass through the editor since they are not only made to improve the manuscript from the point of the author but also prepare it to be worthy of publication in the journal to which it is submitted. Making such contact is thus breaking an understanding with the editor/journal and integrity of the journal review system and quality assurance. The correspondence needs to go through the editor.

If I understand you correctly, refereeing isn't about being another scientist interested in the same field as the authors of the manuscript -- it is really just about doing (unpaid) work for a journal?

Sorry if I did not express it clearly enough. Reviewing in the broader sense is of course to safeguard and improve science but it is the journal editor who is apointing the reviewer and the interest is thus also to make sure the manuscript meets the standards of the journal. There are as I understand it paid reviewers in some cases (although not in my field). So reviewing is unpaid and the job is done to keep the quality up in general but we also serve the journals and their publishers to uphold their reputation (whch we also benefit from in terms of e.g. citation index).

I can see upholding the quality of journal: if the referees only accept brilliant manuscripts that are likely to attract lots of citations then all future authors benefit from a higher CI.

I am reviewing the second revision of a paper and am getting tired of this incredibly slow process of me pointing something out that requires clarification just to hear back from those authors two or three months from now (at the earliest).

You don't need to e-mail the authors directly to get the information you want.  The several month delay you are talking about is the time it takes to collect all the reviews, send them to the authors, and wait for a revised version of the paper.  However, in the journals I'm familiar with you could request clarification by asking the editor to send a short message to the authors now and relay the response to you.  Going through the editor might slow things down by a day or two, but not by months.

Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author saying "Look I still don't understand X because of Y can you please explain?"?

The phrasing of your question is hyperbolic, but yes, this is something that could be considered offensive or unethical.  Sending queries through the editor slows things down only slightly, while it avoids various difficulties:

Reviewers might bypass the editor on requests they would rather not call to the editor's attention (for example, suggesting that their papers be cited).  Along similar ethical lines, announcing to the authors that you are reviewing their paper might help you pressure them for favors elsewhere.  For example, it would be unethical to write "Dear X, I'm a reviewer for your recent submission to Y.  I'm having trouble understanding it, so I fear it might take a while to arrive at a decision, but it could help to know blah blah blah.  Can you supply any additional information?  Regards, Z  P.S. Have you reached a decision about participating in the joint project I proposed?"
It's important for the editor to be aware of all relevant information.  If several reviewers request clarification about something, then that is itself informative about the clarity of the manuscript, even if they all agree in the end that it is correct.  It's also valuable for the editor to see and judge the response itself (and not just to know whether it convinced the reviewer).

As Daniel Shub pointed out in the comments, you can always ask the editor whether it would be appropriate for you to contact the authors directly (it may depend on journal policy, customs in your field, or the editor's judgment of the particular situation).  If the answer is yes, then you are all set.  However, if the answer is no or you don't ask, then you should relay all communication through the editor, and I would expect that to be the usual answer.

I am reviewing the second revision of a paper and am getting tired of this incredibly slow process of me pointing something out that requires clarification just to hear back from those authors two or three months from now (at the earliest).

So what?  Your understanding is not one of the required outcomes of the refereeing process.

Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author saying "Look I still don't understand X because of Y can you please explain?"?

Perhaps not, but you would subvert the whole point of refereeing, which is to judge the paper on its own merits.  The typical reader is not going to have access to the authors to clarify any confusing aspects of the paper.  If the paper is confusing, it is simply not ready to publish; contacting the authors would not change this fact.  If the authors have not addressed your concerns despite multiple rounds of reviewing, the appropriate response is to recommend rejection.
Others have raised additional ethical issues, so I won't repeat them.

excellent point about my understanding not being the required outcome of the whole process.

I think one desired outcome of the refereeing process is to get the paper to a point where the typical reader can understand it.  Sometimes the paper needs too much help, and it should be rejected.  But if you the referee can eventually get the authors to revise it to be clearer, then, as byproduct, you will also likely understand it better.

Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author?

You are "hired" as a reviewer by the responsible editor hence by default you should obey the journal editorial board/conference programme committee rules. In your particular situation, I do not think contacting authors is appropriate. Obviously, they did not communicate their ideas/results clearly enough for the target audience, which is a reason for rejection (or at least subtracting "points" in the review). As a referee, that's just about what you need to care for. You are not supposed to do the authors' job, or invest more energy than any other interested expert reader would.
Communication with authors:
Generally speaking, sometimes there are sound reasons for starting a communication link with the authors (for example when the referee process is friendly, such as for invited contributions to journals, or chapters in an edited book). If that is the case, then you have at least the following options:

anonymized channel: preferrably channel all the communication between you and authors via the responsible editor who will "anonymise" your messages. Of course the editor has to be OK with such a setup;
direct communication link: ask the responsible editor for approval whether establishing a direct communication link is fine with her/him and if so, obey by whatever restrictions (s)he puts in place and keep the editor in the loop too - you need to keep a good track of the communication should there be a dispute later on. Sometimes communicating with authors is outright forbidden in guidelines to referees. Check the journal's rules carefully! Or finally,
after-review contact: you can finish the review on the basis of what is submitted as is usual, but you identify yourself in the review. Again, ask the responsible editor for approval first. Authors might choose to contact you, or not. It will be their decision.

In the past, I went the route #3. It worked well. But remember, reviews are blind in order to allow reviewers to be frank. Sometimes (most of the time?) such a feedback causes pain and friction. You need to think twice about this and always obey the editor's guidance. The reason is, sometimes with a best intention, you might cause harm! Such as rejection of the paper on the grounds of a mismanaged review process.


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Does getting awarded your PhD in physics depend on the quality of university?
Say you wrote a good thesis on some discovery you made in physics.
If it was a mediocre discovery, nothing special, are you more likely to get awarded the PhD at a 'not very good' university than at a top class university like Cambridge?

In part. But more so on the publication record.

The quality of the university and the quality of the theses produced are not perfectly correlated. You are just as likely to end up with a "nothing special" thesis at a Cambridge as at a Random State University. The criterion for awarding a PhD is the completion of an independent and original contribution to the field of knowledge one is studying. There is no requirement that it be "groundbreaking."
That said, given that the "top" universities also tend to have superior resources available to students, the likelihood that a "nothing special" thesis will be accepted by the advisor as suitable for a PhD thesis is also somewhat mitigated as a result.

Just as likely?  I don't believe that.

As someone who's been at a Cambridge-like school for my doctoral studies, I can attest that many of the theses do not exactly set the world on fire. Maybe I shouldn't have said "just" as likely, but the institution does not guarantee the quality of the thesis.

I also went to a Cambridge-like school for my doctoral studies and am now teaching at a state university.  The difference in the average quality of the theses is not hard to see.  Although the majority of theses at a top university are not ground-breaking, the percentage of ground-breaking theses at a top place is surely higher.  To say otherwise is to suggest that there really isn't that much difference between the students at a truly top institution and the 200th best institution, and I'm sure you know that is not the case.

@PeteL.Clark: OK, your point is valid. However, with respect to the OP's question, the basic truth of the matter is that a "nothing special" thesis gets you a PhD at a school like Cambridge, too.

the range of theses at any institution open long enough is always the same; the distribution over that range is what changes from place to place.

The quality of a thesis depends on several factors, the PhD student, the advisor and the work environment of the department where they work. th ePhD student should do the work and come up with own ideas and drive the work forward, more so towards the end than early on. the advisor, in most cases have established the basic research questions for the project in which the student works. The advisor also has a responsibility to facilitate understanding of the scientific method, ethics and plain knowledge to the student through the advisory role. The department may or may not have resources to provide a good work environment which includes size of collaborating research groups, lab space etc.
From this view it may be likely that a top tier university has more funding, has attracted "better" (however you wish to define that) scientists and lastly may attract better students (at least from the perspective of competitive application processes). It is, however, clear that these ingredients may not necessarily lead to success but it would not be a wide stretch of the imagination to say that basic conditions may be better and that this is reflected in the theses produced.
The bottom line, however, is that a good research environment is more likely to produce better work than just top tier ranking. In some cases bad luck may lead to poorer output, for example if the ice samples from Antarctica on which you completely rely for your work melt in a freezer accident. The question that remains is to what extent good research environments are determined by tier ranking.


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What does it mean to accept a job offer
Related to this question: How to buy plane tickets for job interviews?
What does it mean to accept a job offer? Or maybe more accurately when have you accepted a job offer?
The latest and most conservative might be when you sign a contract. This seems a little late in the game as often contracts, especially in the States are slow to be generated. The earliest might be when you go for an interview. In the UK it is pretty standard for universities to not reimburse candidates to whom offers are made and subsequently turned down. Middle ground might be when you enter contract negotiations or verbally agree to the terms of your contract.

It sounds like customs depend on the field and country, but here's my experience based on mathematics in the U.S.  I'll answer based on customs rather than laws, since that's generally more relevant: one can get a bad reputation for doing something perfectly legal, and one can get away with things that aren't legally justified if nobody is willing to enforce their rights in court.
The short version:
Acceptance is understood to be a final decision that commits you to showing up for a year.  You can ask to be released from that obligation, but you shouldn't just announce you aren't coming.  If you give a good enough reason for your request, they'll grant it.  If your reason isn't compelling to them, they won't try to force you to show up but you'll really damage your reputation (not just at that university).  Saying you got a better offer afterwards is not considered compelling, and you are expected to withdraw other applications upon accepting an offer.
The long version:
Negotiating does not imply accepting an offer, and in fact you should always try to negotiate over whatever you care about before you accept, since your leverage will never be higher.  (Some candidates don't like the idea of having leverage, but you can think of it as a benefit to the department as well: it's much more effective for the department to tell the administration "We need to do X to get our wonderful candidate to accept" than "Our wonderful new hire wishes we would do X".)
Accepting an offer just amounts to saying you accept it.  In principle, this could be tricky: people's memories of an oral acceptance could be disputed later, and it's possible to write things that sound like an acceptance but might not be meant that way ("Great, I guess we'll be colleagues next fall then").  Of course I'd strongly recommend avoiding anything that might be ambiguous or confusing, just in case, but in practice I've never seen this actually cause a serious problem.  Any sensible department will follow up to get an unambiguous answer in writing, so if the situation remains ambiguous it's because both sides screwed up.
The real question is how binding an acceptance is, assuming both sides agree the offer was accepted.  In the communities I'm familiar with, you cannot unilaterally change your decision once you have accepted.  You could presumably get away with it, since the department isn't going to sue you if you don't show up, but that would be very bad for your reputation.  Instead, the standard approach is to explain how things have changed and ask the department for permission to withdraw your acceptance.
In certain cases, this is perfectly straightforward.  Suppose an unexpected problem has arisen in your life: for example, one of your parents was just diagnosed with cancer and you want to live close to them for the next year or two.  Surely any reasonable department would understand and approve.
Of course, most cases are less clear cut, and amount to personal preference.  This is more likely to arise after a deferral, where you accepted a job but then went on leave for a year first, since the extra time allows for more things to change.  In general, departments will be pretty unhappy if you defer and then change your mind.  It's important to ask to be released from your obligation rather than simply announcing you won't come; the department will often agree, since they understand you would likely leave after a year anyway.  It's not good and you should try hard to avoid this situation, but occasionally it happens.  If it does, you should feel a little guilty for making it harder for other candidates to get deferrals, by contributing to the impression that people with deferrals might change their minds in the meantime.
At the other extreme, you might simply change your mind within a single yearly job market cycle and decide you prefer another offer you already had at the time of your decision.  This is probably not even worth asking about: when you accept an offer, it is understood to be a final decision, and you can't just re-evaluate your options.  You should officially decline all your other offers when you accept an offer; if you aren't ready to do that, then you aren't ready to accept a job yet.
Of course, the trickiest case is when you get an offer with an early deadline and have to make a decision before other universities you might prefer can make an offer.  Most departments don't want to pressure people into making this kind of decision, and it's always worth asking for an extension of the deadline.  Many departments will agree, but a few will not (I know of one department that strategizes about how to put time pressure on people).
If you are caught negotiating with a department that is trying to pressure you in this way, then you should be as tough as they are.  On the other hand, their behavior does not mean your acceptance becomes non-binding, and unilaterally changing your mind will still look bad throughout the community.  If the department refuses to grant an extension or show any other flexibility, then they are clearly indicating they want a definitive answer now, and you'll have to give them one.  It's worth considering whether you even want to work for a department that would treat you that way.
As soon as you have accepted an offer, you should withdraw all your other job applications.  Partly this is so they don't have to waste time evaluating a candidate who is no longer available, and partly it is because if you don't withdraw them, then it looks like you are still hoping for a better offer.  That is what will really offend people, because it will look like you tricked the department whose offer you accepted by giving them what was understood to be a final decision while still staying on the market to see what other offers you could get.

I totally agree with this. I would go even further and say that acceptance of a TT job commits you to showing up for TWO years. The job market opens so early in many fields that you cannot give a new job a fair shot before you need to apply for new jobs.

There are many different takes. “Accepting” a job offer is pretty much that: if you tell the person who offered you (your HR contact, the hiring committee, any person of authority in the hiring process) that you accept their offer, that you take the job.
Does it mean there's not turning back? Of course not! The question then becomes: how binding is that agreement? And again, there are answers on many different levels: legal, moral, diplomatic…

Legal: as always, better ask a lawyer, union representative or knowledgeable and trusted friend. Everything depends on the local law, the type of offer made, what you said and/or wrote, etc. It may sound logical that nothing's set in stone until you have signed a contract, but that may not always be the case. Some institutions might, for example, require you to write and sign a binding letter of engagement before the contract is drafted (which, as you said, can take time). In some jurisdiction, the simple fact of showing up for work on the first day of the contract is a binding, implicit contract following the terms of your offer. (Though I would say it should be obvious to all that actually coming to work is pretty binding.)
Moral: that's the most variable of all. Turning down an offer you had accepted orally, because you now have a better offer from some other place, is not wrong in itself. The important thing is: being of good faith, and being diligent to inform them that you have changed your mind. If it turns out that you have accepted the offer, knowing all the while you would end up turning it down, that would be unexcusable.
Diplomatic: people understand the position you're in, as they have most probably been through it themselves some year back. So, they will be sympathetic, as long as they feel you are of good faith, diligent and show acceptable contrition (not sure that's the right term for what I'm trying to describe… let's say you look/sound apologetic enough). Otherwise, well, you risk make enemies and that may not be the best thing to do early in your career.

The fact is: the game is played by both sides. Hiring committees don't dismiss all other candidates immediately when they offer you a position, and they know that Stuff Happens. In a competitive environment such as academia, they surely have a plan B (and probably C and D).
Finally: if that's a tenured or tenure-track position, you'll probably stay very long (life?) there. It's an important choice, and thus you shouldn't find yourself bound by promises made too fast, or you may come to regret it.

great answer! I couldn't agree more, especially regarding the different perspectives to the question

The moral and diplomatic parts are very very tricky. A few years ago there was a publicised incident in Mathematics where things blew up rather spectacularly and very unfortunately for all parties involved. The only sure thing I got out of the aftermaths of that event was "someone will wind up pissed no matter what you do."

@WillieWong So true… Such matters are tricky, and there is always a risk… What I tried to summarize below is something like “commonly accepted” customs for handling these matters.

I strongly disgaree about the morals: many people do consider any acceptance morally binding.  (I have no statistics but I'd estimate it's a majority of faculty in the communities I'm familiar with - maybe mathematicians are unusually rule-bound. :) )  And this is critical to keep in mind.  Even if some, or many, faculty are willing to view changing your mind as just playing the game, it can still ruin your reputation.  For example, in the case Willie mentioned this controversy is still among the top three Google hits for the applicant's name three years later.

@AnonymousMathematician the blog post linked to indicates that the person what honest and diligent, I don't see why that should haunt them. If you mean, people love to gossip, sure… but this particular incident seems to be an isolated case that was blown out of proportion

In my experience, people sometimes make a future commitment ("I'll come work for you after I spent a year at Institute X") and then change their minds before they arrive.  This has to be handled very delicately, basically by saying you know you are obligated but hope they'll understand and release you from the obligation (with the subtext that if they don't you'll come for a year to fulfill your obligation and then leave, which won't be any good for anyone).  The time delay is crucial here, in establishing that the situation now seems different than when you accepted the job.

Anyway, usually hiring committees establish a list of candidates ranked by suitability… so they call #1, and if the appointment doesn't go through, they can call #2, etc. Maybe this is field dependent. In my field/country, appointments can very rarely be delayed to suit the applicant's situation, that may be linked…

On the other hand, accepting a job and then trying to switch to another job during the same year/job market cycle is very rare (at least in mathematics).  This is incredibly risky for your reputation.  It might be possible to pull it off if you really beg, but even still some people will think you did something wrong/manipulative.

@AnonymousMathematician if job deadlines are different, you still have the problem of deciding on A before your get an answer from B. Everyone gains by being a little flexible.

Yeah, it's almost certainly field/country dependent.  I just want to emphasize that there are cases where changing an acceptance can be very dangerous.  (And the linked case is definitely anomalous - it got a lot of internet discussion precisely because it was a borderline case and opinions differed.)

(I agree about flexibility, but in the communities I'm familiar with, this is almost always handled by asking to extend the deadline.  It's pretty standard for departments to do that, and if they won't then it's a clear sign that they would be unhappy about rescinding an acceptance later.)

An important defense against the moral ambiguity of an oral acceptance is to speak carefully.  Don't say "I accept the offer" before you have a written offer letter.  Say "I'm eager to take the job, but for obvious reasons, I need to see the offer letter before I can formally accept."

@AnonymousMathematician would love to see an answer from you...


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Applying for masters in a field different than what I have experience in
I am sorry this is a bit long, I tried to keep it as short as possible. So please bear with me.
I am currently in the final year of my undergraduate course and am planning to apply for masters in computer graphics, and although I have a significant experience in graphics (by working on shaders and image effects for games as I am heavily interested in game development), I don't have any academic research work, or recommendations in that field and moreover none of the professors in my university are actively working in that field whom I can work with.
I do have research based work in AI and natural language processing including a research paper but only because a lot of my professors and peers were enthusiastic in the field whom I could work with and also I had somewhat interest in that field. But its not something I would want to pursue masters in.
My question is how do I make my application such that I can represent myself as a valuable and worthy candidate for a course in computer graphics even though I have little experience in it. And also will showing in my application (SOP) that I have research work in AI and not in computer graphics weaken it, as it will portray me as someone whose not focused towards this track, or for some other reason? Or would it actually be beneficial to include that?

@mhwombat: Do note that the answers to that question are, depending on the interpretation, either somewhat place-specific or PhD-specific. I feel they do not quite apply to Masters degrees in some European countries (and the country is not specified here).

The answer in that link talks about two different degrees which might be as disparate as engineering and economics . The fields that i am asking about are pretty similar to each other , so i was hoping to get a more definite answer than the one in the link. And i am planning on applying to colleges in usa onlg and i am currently from india


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Can subjects studied in Master and PhD be different?
I am in the middle of my master studies in math and need to decide which subject I want to choose for my master thesis, geometry or statistics. I have the following questions:

Is it possible to start the PhD (say in statistics) in a different subject as the master/master thesis (say in geometry)?
What actions would you recommand, if I want to change the subject? (e.g. first taking a job in statistical area before starting a PhD in this subject)
Would it make sense to do another master in statistics?

I thought going from the more theoretical subject geometry to the more applied subject statistics more "natural".
Note that I have in both subjects, geometry and statistics, at least 30 Credits, but my studies (also my Bachelor) is more focused on geometry.

Possible duplicate of Graduate school admission with a degree in a different field

@Ian_Fin The duplicate is much more general and less specific and moreover the last two questions are not answered. I only get a very raw sketch from these answers.

Note that the first italic sentence at the bottom states that the purpose of that question is to prevent lots of field-specific versions of the question.

@bjn the fact that the duplicate is more general only makes the assertion stronger - since you can do a PhD in statistics after having a master in history, medicine, economics or anything else, you definitely can do a PhD in statistics after having a master in math, even if the topic is different.

I found a much better duplicate of my question, here http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/19803/ms-in-pure-maths-to-phd-in-statistics

Yes, in, say, Economics, its encouraged. Having a strong background (i.e. a masters in math or statistics) is a bonus. That being said, it is expected that you aren't blind about the subject you going into your PhD for (but that should be obvious).

There is a self-evident answer, - yes, it's possible, no any official restrictions, no one care (maybe, except your advisor).
And there are obvious consequences when you're changing the research topic - you're starting something new with less experience. This can be good or not, and this is your, and only your decision.


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How much should I charge a colleague for a translation project?
I have come across a situation that I'm not entirely sure how to handle and am curious if there are any norms in the United States for it.
I teach in my university's foreign language department.  A colleague in another department approached me to see if I could assist in translating an article for a book that he was working on.  The article is in the language that I specialize in and also very closely related to my research area.
If it were just a paragraph, I would of course do it without question.  However, given its length (about 13k words), I'm not sure how to approach.  He has offered to pay, but is it normal to charge the same amount as I would were it a private business?  Or is it expected to offer a reduced rate in the name of "service"?

@AntonioVargas perhaps it's different in other fields, but oftentimes things like editing/reviewing are indeed considered part of service to the academic community, but generally not paid (I figure maybe in the sciences where people pay –per page even– to publish that things are different).  That's more or less the root of my conundrum.

translation is not really scholarly work-it is just work-would it help if you included that in your tenure case?  Would you approach the accounting professor to do your taxes or a computer science professor to program something?  This sort of thing is not part of normal academic service so it is totally appropriate for you to settle on a price and do the work as any other translator would.

@Ukko: "translation is not really scholarly work" - but arguably, working on or helping with an article for a (presumeably) academic book is.

@O.R.Mapper it only counts if it is the academic part of the project.  If there is something about the translation itself that is of academic interest they I would agree.  If you are just providing cheep labor that would have been contracted out, then it doesn't count.  Would you feel like a translation service that did the work should get a co-author on the resulting paper?  If not then there is most likely no academic contribution going on.

I think it is appropriate that you accept compensation given that it is a sizable chunk of work. I also do not think you should be giving a family and friends discount for actual work unless they are actually family or friends.

@Ukko: Various common steps in scholarly work do not warrant co-authorship on their own. These range from organizing projects and arranging for funding to translations of proofreading of documents, designing of presentation materials and giving talks.

@ColinMcLarty: I do not know how much of your work you manage to outsource to paid services, but a considerable part of my academic work are activities like the ones I described.

@ColinMcLarty: That scholarly work includes plenty of tasks that are not of academic interest on their own, but that are necessary to achieve and disseminate findings. Note that I am making no comment on whether the OP should charge in the particular described case, or whether they should offer to do the translation at all. I am exclusively responding to a commenter's claim that "translation [as a part of publishing an academic text] is not really scholarly work".

@ColinMcLarty: Who said anything about promotion?

@ColinMcLarty: Ah, so your comment was unrelated to what I wrote, or what was the subject of the question. Please do not start extensive off-topic discussions; that's not seen favourable by the mods on this site. I'll leave it at that to prevent this comment thread from growing uncontrollably.

As several people have said you cannot expect to be compensated for the work in any way but thanks and payment. @O.R.Mapper  is right that it could be considered scholarly work, but it is very unlikely that it is the kind of scholarly work that either your Dean or your promotion committee will consider significant.

I imagine the answer here is slightly subjective, but my personal thoughts are that you should charge whatever you feel your time is worth. The industry price is probably a good starting point -- don't undervalue your time for sure. And remember the time and energy that went into developing your language skills too, not just the time it will take you to translate the article.
That being said, the industry price is just that -- a starting point. If you want to reduce the price for a colleague, you can certainly do so. You may have political reasons for doing so (you want their support on something within the university), or they may have services to offer you in return (as in a barter economy). I'd caution you against reducing your price too much -- you don't want to be inundated with requests like this in the future.

Thanks.  I ended up offering a slight discount over my normal rate (about 20%).  The article/chapter will be published in a well-regarded press and while it won't count at the same level as a paper I developed and wrote, talking with my dept head and one of our endowed chairs, it will be seen somewhere between an article and a conference paper.  (Conferences for us are not worth much on the CV ha).

@guifa: Thanks for sharing the outcome -- makes this site all the more valuable :)


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What can I do when my e-mails to professors go unanswered?
I have accepted as postdoc researcher in a Swedish university. Three professors in the university are correspondent for this position. I have to travel to Sweden within 2 weeks and start my new job. However, I should make sure about some issue before leaving my homeland. They all are so quick in answering. However, I sent them a short e-mail but did not receive any reply from 10 days ago. I don't  know what I should do. Does such a behavior mean "No"? Or am I annoying them because of my e-mail?

Is such a behavior means "No"? Do you have a signed contract or not?

@Alexandros , thank you for your help. I have just signed a hosting agreement.

@JackSt.Claire St. Claire, Thank you. I have forwarded my original email to them but no answer yet.

Just call them by phone.

Seconding gnometorule and Mikey Mike - A phone call is the best course of action here. Contacting an administrative assistant is likely going to get you a better/faster response especially if it is regarding logistics.

Variants on this question come up a lot: "I sent an email to a professor about X and they didn't reply, now what?"
My untested pet theory is that it's related to imposter syndrome somehow.  People in graduate school, or entering graduate school, or otherwise just trying to enter academia, never feel like they belong.  You're clearly not good enough to be there, so you had better try not to make waves lest someone notice and rectify the situation.  So when a professor fails at something basic, like replying to an email, the automatic assumption is that it's probably a reflection on how little you belong, even in their inbox.
Don't get me wrong, I and every PhD student I've talked to have felt the same way, and I imagine that doesn't change at the post doc level either.
But the general answer given is "what you asked is reasonable and they should have replied.  Don't assume the worst, they're probably just busy.  Yes, you should absolutely follow up again after allowing enough time to go by from the first attempt."
From what you've said, this advice exactly fits your situation too.  Following up with a phone call might be even better - you're not accusing them of anything, or upset they didn't reply.  You're just helping them out with fitting you into their busy schedule.
The bottom line for me is that if they are actually sending you an implicit "no" by not replying, it is they who should feel sheepish when you follow up, not you.  We all face rejections at various points in our academic careers, and there's no excuse for avoiding giving timely, professional rejections to others when necessary.

Interesting theory. I've always gone with the idea that people ask these sorts of questions because they don't want to be seen to be making a fuss by contacting the person again, and so hope they'll be pointed in the direction of a new person that they hadn't thought of. Maybe that's the British in me. The same trait that causes me to apologise to people who've stood on my foot...

@Ian_Fin I think that's a solid theory too.  Well, not the foot part; that's probably just because you're British. :D

@JeffL. Thank you so much for your promising answer. I do hope that i can call them soon. To be honest, cultural differences is also another issue when we are trying to contact with another people.


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Editor rejected for small reasons
The reviewers comments are so simple that I can correct them and send them immediately. But the editor says cannot accept the manuscript. Is there any chance that if we justify the comments, there can be acceptance? Can we write to the editor in return?

Well, did the editor give any reason for rejection? The reasons for rejection may be unrelated to the reviewer's comments. For example if the reviewer said "The authors provided a new approach for performing A, but made the small mistake B", it may be that the editor rejected the paper because A is not a timely topic anymore, rather than because the initial manuscript had problem B. Even if fixing B is easy, the editor may not be willing to publish a paper on A.

In addition to @DCTLib's comment, it is also possible that even though the referees had few specific comments for the authors, they recommend rejection for other reasons like the work not being suitable for the publication. Those comments may not be available for the authors. You may contact the editors for clarification on the specific reasons (if not given) so that it can help you submit the manuscript elsewhere, but I would not expect them to change their minds regarding the rejection...

@DCTLib it seems unlikely that the paper would have been sent out for review in that case.

As @MarcClaesen it's unusual for an editorial rejection to happen after the submission has been sent out for review.  You could also check whether the journal has changed any editorial policies, max length of paper, scope, etc.

@MarcClaesen -- in my field its pretty common that the editor only glances at it to pick reviewers, and doesn't make any choices about appropriatenesss for a particular journal, and there are reviewer questions on appropriateness and, more importantly, impact and priority.  Low priority papers may just end up rejected, no matter how perfect the research and how clear the conclusions.  In one clinical journal I'm thinking of, the question reads something like "Is this manuscript appropriate for our wide readership?)

@ScottSeidman as a reviewer I wouldn't be pleased to have my time wasted reviewing articles that are clearly below standard and/or clearly out of scope (I've already been asked to do both). I expect action editors to do at least that much instead of pawning articles off to experts that voluntarily put in the effort. After reading the abstract it should be clear whether a paper has any chance or not, in terms of writing style, clarity and significance of results. If the abstract fails to clarify such issues, then it's a bad paper anyway.

First things first, you should check and see whether the editor has actually rejected the manuscript, or whether you just received a very awkwardly worded request for revisions.
The reason I say this is because the specific phrasing about "cannot accept" you use reminds me of some terrible editorial communications I have received that begin: "We cannot accept your manuscript in its current form ..." but are actually a request for revisions.  I've nearly been fooled into thinking a request for minor revision was a rejection this way, and only realized I was wrong when I noticed a date for submitting the new version at the bottom of the email.
My advice then:

Reread the email and see if you've really been rejected.  You might not be.
If yes, or if you can't tell, get in touch with the editor, express confusion and ask for help understanding the reasons.  A good explanation is appropriate.
Be prepared to take the paper elsewhere, because an editor once decided rarely changes their mind.

You can certainly contact the editor and ask for a clarification for the reasons behind the rejection if that is not clear to you. I think any reason for rejection should be made clear to authors so that they can, if possible, still salvage the manuscript and publish it somewhere later (assuming it is in some way salvageable).
The editor has the responsibility to make decisions and usually does so based on scientific grounds and what is best for the journal, reviewers and authors. It is not uncommon that authors disagree with a rejection decision and as an editor, I have seen more than one angry rebuttal to the decision from frustrated authors.
Whether or not you wish to take up a discussion about the decision is entirely up to you. I can only urge you to be civil and provide facts rather than emotions as arguments. Editors are humans and are just as prone to errors as others. So there is always a chance the decision is questionable, at least until you know its basis. The number of decisions I have had to change over my five year "career" as Editor-in-Chief is in the single digit percent, bordering on permille.

Is there any chance that if we justify the comments, there can be acceptance? Can we write to the editor in return?

You can always try, and if you truly feel treated unfairly, you probably should write the editor. However, keep in mind that (contrary to popular believe) it is the handling editor, not the reviewers, that decide whether a paper is accepted or rejected. So from a formal perspective, it is OK to reject a paper even if the reviewers all voted to accept. Of course, from a practical perspective, this behaviour, especially if it is a common occurrence, raises all kinds of questions (such as why the editor bothered the reviewers in the first place).


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Is there a journal that publishes slides together with the text?
I mainly refer to applied mathematics when describing my experience
Often I find that it is easier to grasp a concept from the author's slides than from the description in a paper. When one has to summarize their findings for a talk, they often end up with an exposition that gives a clearer understanding of the "big picture" and the nontrivial details. It is easier to separate what is important and what is not. If someone really needs more detail and rigour, they can check the paper, but I think that 90% of the readership would get more from the slides than from the paper.
Of course a real paper is still necessary, to provide details to the interested reader and to testify that the details work indeed (and the referees can certify it).
However, slides are typically difficult to find. Some scientists self-archive (a subset of) their slides on their personal web pages; some others are hidden in conference sites. No database such as Scopus indexes them. It is often tricky to match up a paper and its slides.
So, my question is the following.

Is there any journal that publishes slides together with their papers? Or slides only? Or, more generally, that tries to experiment and consider similar less formal media for presenting real science?

(Moving previous answer to a comment as suggested by another user.)
I asked the same question on MathOverflow: Is there an arXiv for Beamer presentations of scientific work?
Someone suggested I look on this forum, and then I found the question was already asked.
Basically I'm also curious if there's a reputable journal that publishes the slides from research presentations. If there isn't I think that we should have one. It could give a way to better publicize our work.

@LukeOeding Could you please link to the MO question, for reference?

Yeah, sorry the link didn't automatically come with the copy-paste. I'm not able to edit the comment for some reason, so here's the link: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/178702/is-there-an-arxiv-for-beamer-presentations-of-scientific-work

@LukeOeding It works as the SE developers intended: unlike answers, comments can be edited only for 5 minutes or so after one posts them (and they have no saved history). And, by the way, thanks for the link.

I don't know of any such journal.  The closest I've come to this is that often after I've listened to a talk, I've asked the speaker for his slides.  I can't recall ever being turned down.  Alternatively, if you can't attend a talk, you might still ask the speaker for his/her slides.  This request will likely be a bit more successful in person, but even via email it can't hurt to try.

I post my slides on my personal website. That way people can take a look on their own time if they want.

I do not know about any such journal. But one idea could be to archive your papers on a pre-print server, such as arXiv and always append your slides as an appendix.

All the Nature journals and Science make their figures available as PPT slides with the captions available as comments, presumably to facilitate their use in journal clubs. Tinkering with something such as TikZ for a bit will tell you that it's not trivial to productively annotate equations.
Perhaps, and I don't say this glibly, you would deepen your understanding of difficult papers by making the slides you wish you had. It helped me.

Interesting. Do you know what the copyright terms on the figures are?

I believe for "academic use online". That is, you can't claim it as your own and unless you're just making notes for yourself put a citation at the bottom of the slide.

Journals are generally much more protective about copyrights. Every publisher has a link their journals page where re-use of figures etc can be requested through a form. E.g. in the case of Nature every article has a "rights and permission" link, which leads you a copyright clearance service where you can ask permissions for use even if you are the author yourself.

With many, perhaps most)  journals it is possible to add materials,often referred to as Supplementary Material or Supporting Information or something similar. This can be word files, powerpoint files, excel files (or equivalents), media files (sound, movies, animations) containing material that support the article but cannot be accommodated within the usual journal format.
I am, however, not sure if a slide presentation of the article material would be permitted since it would not necessarily add anything new but rather be a simplification of the article content.

Elsevier journals now offer AudioSlides,

short, webcast-style presentations that are shown next to the online article on ScienceDirect. This format gives authors the opportunity to present their research in their own words, helping readers to quickly understand what a paper is about and appreciate its relevance.

Hopefully this is what you're looking for.