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Adding an Author After paper got accepted in a conference?
I have submitted a paper to a conference, but some one in lab help me after the paper has been submitted. Can I add them as a third author if the paper got approved to be appear in the conference ?

I think that in almost all cases this would be fine. But you should contact the conference (or program) committee chair immediately to get confirmation. Better to do it early than to be disappointed later.
This would especially be possible if the conference gives you a chance to revise the paper after review and comments by reviewers. Many do this.

It really depends on the conference and their advertised submission rules in the Call For Papers. Some top conferences have strictly stated rules and it is impossible to change the authors after the paper submission. They state this clearly and in the submission online system editing the authors fields are disabled after the deadline. However, some conferences allow adding authors after submission. I think you can figure our this from the submission system. If it allows you to change the authors after submission, and there are no written rule about this in the Call For Papers, then you can change. Otherwise, you may try to contact the program chairs. But if it is a top conference, and they have announced their rules in the submission instruction with the Call For Papers, chances that you can add an author are very low.


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Is it fine to post a paper to arxiv and later change the title and add authors?
I have paper with very new contributions but it needs at least one month to finish perfectly. I am afraid that someone eat my launch and publish on the area. My advisor suggests adding the paper to Arxiv. but the title may change later. is it okay?
Also, I have just checked that changing authors when replacing a paper is technically enabled. Is it okay to add authors later?

Arxiv is just a preprinting service which is [generally] non peer-reviewed. The whole point of publishing there is to just put your idea out there (it gives you the copyrights) and to get feedback from your peers who are eager enough to read your draft. It is very common practice to update the title and author list for final publication in a journal. I have done it personally without any problem. That being said, all authors, who will be on the final publication, should be included in the arxiv submission, and not just the first/submitting author.

I'd personally feel uncomfortable putting work out for the public, including for preprint, without appropriate authorship included. Of course things might change if additions or changes to the paper warrant changes in authorship. Can you clarify if you are talking about these sorts of changes rather than omitting authors from a first submission that belong on that submission?

@BryanKrause Oh no! I will edit and clarify. I certainly didn't mean to put only your name and don't include anyone. By updating I mean if there is any addition or changes that might come at later stage. Of course, you will and you should include all the authors involved in that paper.

But it is okay to be a draft. Since the writing needs improvement

Yes, arxiv repositories generally do not have any specific typesetting requirements. If you feel comfortable with your submission then go ahead. But I would still recommend make it look a bit nicer because you will be putting it out in public.

Neither change is against arXiv's rules. The title is often changed during the review/publishing process anyway, and arXiv supports that. Adding authors also works, but posting a draft that omits authors you know should likely be there doesn't exactly sound like best practice. At a minimum, I'd try to figure the authorship issue out first.
Also keep in mind that people might well read your draft. If it looks like a sloppy, incomplete mess or minimally complete work... well, you can guess what impression that'll give. While you're at it,  also guess whether that'll increase or decrease the chances that a semi-interested reader will look at future, more complete preprint and published versions. That is, you want to make sure you're not making it public too early. How early is too early ultimately it comes down to a combination of how polished the draft is, how afraid you are of getting scooped, and how important being the absolutely first over the line is. Usually some leeway is given because everyone recognizes that it takes time to do the work and write the paper. If someone posts on the same topic a couple of days late, it will usually be considered an independent discovery.
You might want to consider using this to your advantage by keeping an up-to-date and fairly polished version of the preprint, while finalizing the author list and working on the last pieces. If some other group posts a similar preprint, you can put yours up too quickly enough. If no one does, you can keep polishing the paper and then have a nice work to show the community. On the other hand, if you post an unfinished version, you might well push someone else to post their more polished version.
Also consider reading Immature papers on arXiv and What to do when you spot a paper on arXiv with the same essential material as yours?.

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Impact of book chapters
In my PhD, i have 2 chapters published in book chapters published by springer and elsavir. To what extent do you think the importantance of book chapters regarding in the PhD student CV? Does these chapters have a good impact when applying for faculty positions ?
Hint: i have other journal and conference papers.

Are these chapters open-access publications? if yes see https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/126686/93566; if no see https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/6133/93566

What is the point of the 'Hint'?

@JonCustet: As I understand, the hint gives us additional information.

I would consider them important, but it would depend on the books in which they are contained and what your contribution is to the overall content. It could also indicate that you have a circle of collaborators already in place, which is a good thing for a new faculty member.
But, I'm not sure why you ask. Certainly they are something to include in your CV and they will be evaluated like everything else in your application materials.

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Transactions journal with impact 2.5 or IEEE internet of things journal with 9
I have to choose between a transaction journal on Network science and engineering  with impact factor ( 2.5) and IEEE internet of things journal with 9 impact.
I know that people prefer transactions journals. What do you recommend me to do ? Which one is more better in my CV as a Ph.D. student.

Probably you need to understand why IoTJ has a high IF.   I note that IoTJ has many poor quality papers -- one reason is because of the high volume and quick turnaround time.    As for the aforementioned Trans., the quality of papers is high, but the community is much smaller or much more specialized as compared to the IoTJ community, which tends to be multi-disciplinary comprising of industry people to academics that work on all layers of the protocol stack.

Also because of the high volume, the editors of IoTJ have lots of discretion to reject papers and deem them to be 'out of scope'.

I don't know about your specific journals, but Impact Factor is a fake measure and should be ignored. Both the idea of measuring "impact" by number of citations and the methodology itself to collect such data are flawed, hence impact factors constitute meaningless information in most cases.
What is important are the norms in your scientific community. Ask your colleagues what is better. Do not look at "impact factors".


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A free software for recording classes with high quality
Could you please recommend a good free software for recoding my screen. I want to record a lecture and upload it to YouTube. I am looking for a software that can allow me to pause while recording. I want to record the screen and my voice with high quality.

There was a faq with a link at the top of the page... but it is no longer there otherwise I would point you to that... however software, free or not, is also linked to good equipment...

See https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/145548/72855

@SolarMike sorry I don't understand your point

Which point don't you understand and why?

or you can read this: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/10214/72855

The quality of voice recording is mostly determined by your hardware equipment. Get a good microphone and learn how to use it.

@henning--reinstateMonic Thanks for your addition. I think u don't read the question. I am asking about software not harware

I don't think you understand... I am recording my voice and use several bits of software all free with the in-built microphone on my macbook pro and get very good results. The point I made about quality hardware still stands.

Beware of quality that is higher than needed. It increases bandwidth. If everyone does this there will be problems. Netflix has finally recognized this problem with HD quality video.

@Buffy That's a good point, but I think they were referring to a different type of quality. For a given bandwidth, using a cheap ($25-$50) dedicated microphone instead of a laptop's builtin microphone will still make a substantial improvement. Background noise, static, inconsistent levels, etc, are all really distracting in video presentations, and a dedicated microphone can really help to reduce these types of issues.

@anjama Sound quality probably isn't a big contributor to bandwidth issues. For video you need to find a balance.

@Buffy I had assumed your comment was in the context of the hardware related comments about quality above, which I in turn assumed was primarily about microphones (but I now suppose could have also been about screen resolution and processing ability of the computer).

Try Zoom. I've been doing exactly what you described, sharing my screen with a PDF pulled up and recording me talking through/over it, for my mathematics course.

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is a free and open source software application for video recording and streaming. It's commonly used by video game streamers for Twitch, Youtube, etc, but is perfectly good for what you want to do and has tons of control options, including setting hotkeys that allow you to start/pause recording (requires version 24 or newer). OBS is supported on Windows, macOS, and Linux.


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Postdoc Funding for an American looking to do a postdoc in europe (in Theoretical Computer Science)
Hi I am doing a phd in theoretical computer science, and will be finishing this year and applying to postdocs for Fall 2016. I am an American, but for various reasons would like to study in Europe. Ideally the professors I am interested in would have postdoc funding available, but since that is often not the case, are there any grants/fellowships that cover postdoc salaries available for americans studying in europe? Are there other funding options I'm missing? Am I correct to assume that in europe like in America one gets postdoc funding from the professor (or from a grant), not from the department as a whole? As you can see, I know little about how funding works in Europe!
In case the answer to my question is country specific, the countries that I am most strongly considering so far are Germany and Switzerland.
Thanks for your help!

UK is definitely of the 'professor has funding' variety of post-docs. However, there are also Fellowships. This is funding intended for a researcher doing their own research and there are programs specifically for Early Career Researchers. For example, there are Fellowships available through the EU Horizon 2020 program, see http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/ (note - extremely competitive) and through the various discipline funding councils, I think computer science would be https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ and the fellowship info is at https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/skills/fellows/overview/.
You can also try organisations such as Fullbright.
A couple of other points - you should be clear about what you expect. I see lots of comments here about postdocs being training positions. This has not been my experience, I have had little supervision and no training. If you want training, you would be best off to join a project that involves several people, or seek a Fellowship with a training component. Also, make sure you are on the email / forum lists for academic communities that interest you, this seems to be where a lot of post-docs are advertised.

About the last paragraph: The experience will mostly depend on the PI, possibly also on the postdoc, if the PI is flexible with different modes of operation. Expectations about independence, supervision and training during a post-doc should be discussed as early as possible, for example, during the job interview.

For Germany specifically there are the Humboldt Fellowships. These would fund a postdoctoral position or up to 2 years. For fellowships of this type they have a high success rate of around 30%.

First, recall that Europe is not a country or a monolithic block: this means that though there might not be funding opportunities at the European level, individual countries or universities might have agreements with the US or with specific US universities for the exchange of researchers.

Ideally the professors I am interested in would have postdoc funding available, but since that is often not the case,

You don't specify the duration of the postdoc position: for a typical duration of 1 yr, it should not be too difficult to find a professor with funding available.

Am I correct to assume that in europe like in America one gets postdoc funding from the professor (or from a grant), not from the department as a whole?

This is certainly correct for Italy, where I work, but it is also probably correct for many other European countries.
Take also into account that the time needed to open a postdoc position, even with funding available, can vary among countries (for instance, the time needed to open a post-doc position in Italy is around a few months).

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How does a tenure track professor get money to recruit PhD students?
Does the university/institution or department give money to their tenured-track professors to hire PhD-students?
Do they have to write grants to get funded to recruit PhD students?
What are the possible ways a tenured-track professor can hire PhD students?
Edit:

I am thinking of European countries (France & Germany in particular).
My field is computer science.

Probably best to specify which country you're thinking of.

And a field, since that influences where money comes from.

You name two of the ways that funds for this might be available. Including support for doctoral students in grants is common. If you want departmental or university funds, however, it is best to negotiate that as part of a "start up package" that some universities are able to provide.
But, most universities will normally make at least some minimal efforts to recruit graduate students and most will also provide funds for teaching and, perhaps, research assistants generally, so the funding may not be through the professor at all, but through the department. These funds generally require the student to perform some duties in return for the stipend.


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Studying for mathematics comprehensive exams
Should mathematics PhD students work through all of the past exams, if, say, the department makes the last 20 years of exam questions available to students?
Or should students mainly focus on the most recent years' exams instead? - and that perhaps one cannot do all of the exams, because it is almost not humanly possible.
Just seeking general advice.
Thanks.

Go through them linearly backwards after you've studies all the material, and see how far you get with however much time you have left.

You should go through all of them - as a math professor, I would assume that the students have gone through all the released exams, since they are publicly available.  You will likely find that many questions are repeated in spirit, and so you get faster at solving the problems. That is the point. But you should not only do the released exams, you should also study the material directly, and be ready for problems that differ from the published exams.

Going through problems on old exams will give you some idea of the kinds of questions that are used in these exams, but the committees that write these exams will change over time.  This means that very old exams might not be representative of what you'll be given this year.  Even if you focus on more recent exams, the committee might have changed and you could well get an exam that looks very different from last year's exam.
In any case, solving problems from previous exams should not be the only way in which you study.  You should also take time to review the subject and consolidate your understanding of key concepts, definitions, formulas, and theorems.
In my experience of grading these exams, I've seen that students who have difficulty typically fail for one of the following reasons:

Not knowing some required definition or theorem.  If a question is of the form "Show that A has the Frobnitz property" and you don't know what the Frobnitz property is, you simply won't be able to answer that question.  You can avoid this by having read broadly on the subject and by making sure that you have committed important definitions and theorems to memory.
Not having good problem solving skills.  Although doing old comprehensive exam problems will certainly help with this, doing problems from many sources is likely to be just as helpful.  The key here is to focus on solving hard problems that may involve several non-obvious steps rather than the trivial exercises that fill many textbooks.  Keep in mind that with a textbook you've been given a lot of context- if the problem appears in the chapter on contour integration than you can assume that the problem involves contour integration.  This won't be true of the problems on your comprehensive exam.
Poorly written solutions.  Sloppy logic in the solution to a homework problem might get substantial partial credit in an undergraduate class.  In a comprehensive exam this is much less likely to happen.  You need to give precise and rigorous solutions that cover all aspects of the problem, and there is no room for arithmetic or algebra errors.  The difficulty in preparing for this is that you need someone competent to critique your solutions.  If you have a study partner, I would suggest that you pick some problems to solve separately and then grade each other's solutions critically.   If you find that you're making seemingly minor mistakes but usually have the basic idea for a correct solution, this is an indication that you need to check your work more carefully.

Getting all worked up trying to solve all problems will just use up a huge lot of time, much of which might be better used otherwise.
Get really familiar with the areas covered. Particularly check on newish results that might be covered.

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Comparing Computer Science masters
I am currently planning to finish my bachelor degree in CS soon (In the Netherlands, if it matters). Unfortunately for the last few years I have had the feeling that my current university is lacking in the level of education compared to other universities.
This is mostly caused by the fact that when I search information about courses (e.g. slides on a subject which I don't fully understand yet, or information I search purely out of personal Interest) they often contain far more information and knowledge than that what was taught to us.
Due to this, I am currently looking to compare CS Majors. On one website, I found they had rankings based on various factors, yet it made me doubt some of the items taken into the ranking there.
I personally would like to learn more about certain aspects of computer science such as the design and architecture relating more complex applications, yet at the same time feel that the masters that my current university offers are not challenging enough for me. In addition, most of the top universities seem extremely expensive (Though some Canadian ones seem do-able without the international fee).
How do I compare computer science master studies and find the good ones?

Hi, and welcome to Academia.SE!  I'm a bit confused by your question: one the one hand, you ask whether to take a master course (which we strangers on the internet cannot judge for you), and on the other hand you ask how to rank programs (which we might be able to help with).  I would suggest that you edit your question to focus on the ranking, and then the answers you receive may help you with your decision.

@jakebeal correct, i am still a bit in doubt (also due to age, I would be 28 before finishing mu masters which might make me old to start a job. Regardless I shall adjust the question.

I know this isn't addressing your question, but if your current Masters isn't challenging enough for you, have you considered trying to learn the extra material on your own? A ton of Universities have their material online and you sound motivated enough to be able to do it on your own.


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What is my professor thinking right now?
Professor routinely post lecture notes to the blackboard website. The professor had storage folders for the current and last semester.  After taking an exam, My professor routinely post  the solutions to be studied or compared against your own exams.
While studying for the final, I thought "perhaps he has the exam posted for last year's course?" I looked in last year's file and sure enough , the final is posted with all solutions! Now I have an idea of what to expect.
The day of the final exam comes, I look it over and it is the same exact exam...
Before escorting the class to the testing center, the professor begins to explain that the solution to the final will be posted later that night, and we can expect our final grades by there next morning.
As the class leaves to the testing center , I am the only one left who has yet to leave. I confront my professor and ask him "do you know that the answers to this exam are posted online in last semester's folder?" Frantic he says "why didn't you tell me yesterday?" And he runs off to his office to remove the files.
That was a week ago, my professor never posted the solutions , nor did he post our final grades.
I have a very good relationship with him
What does this mean? Does this make me look bad?

If I had to guess: He's probably thinking "Oh no, I really f***ed up this time, now I have to figure out how to grade this class under these circumstances" and is not thinking about you at all. But obviously nobody here can know what your professor is thinking, so I'm going to have to close this question.

I'm literally ROFL :D

Does this make me look bad? It's not your fault. Frankly, I would not have said anything before the exam if I were you. How would you know the exam problems and solutions in that folder would be the same this year?

Unwittingly posting solutions is hardly ideal, and I can understand why the professor would be upset with himself. That said, students still had to learn the material well enough to rewrite it on the exam, so all is not lost. He may have felt like a chump as he marched off, but the situation might not have been as dire as the professor initially thought.

In practice, only the good and conscientious students will have checked last year's exam. They will get a better grade than the already good grade they would have gotten otherwise. The bad students would not have had the motivation to check last year's exam, or to look through it in sufficient detail to remember it during the exam. They will get the bad grade that they would otherwise also would have gotten. So while the situation is not ideal, the number of students who this will likely affect is, in my practical experience teaching for 10 years, not going to be very large.

He never posted our grades, it's like he's thinking "what's the point" . I'll wait and see


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"I noticed an (minor) imperfection in my paper, but it is already under review. What should I do now?
I submitted a paper to a journal early last year that was given major corrections. The reviewers were generally positive about the contribution but felt the technical framework needed simplified.
I spent 6 months or so on the corrections and sent it back a couple of weeks ago. The journal secretary has since confirmed it's back with the reviewers.
I've since noticed there's something missing from the paper and although it's relatively trivial - insofar as it doesn't affect the results - I'm concerned that it will ruin my chances of acceptance.
Basically, in the revised paper I simplified the framework by binning multiple confusing definitions in favour of four new definitions of four similar concepts (let's call then apple, orange, banana and pear, with the definitions being "X is a(n) {apple,orange,banana,pear} if such-and-such a property holds"). These definitions are all in the paper as resubmitted.
Each of these concepts then has an associated definition (also new in the revised paper) of an operator whose output is a collection of each individual concept.
e.g. +(A,B) = {apple1,apple2,...,appleN}; -(A,B) = {orange1,orange2,...,orangeN} etc.
These definitions are near-identical: "the apple operation +(A,B) yields a set where every element is an apple", "the orange operation -(A,B) yields a set where every element is an orange" etc.
(I've trivialised the definitions but you hopefully get the idea).
My problem is that I've only provided definitions of the operators for apples and oranges and completely forgot the ones for bananas and pears. I subsequently say something along the lines of "consider the following banana operation *(A,B)..." and also later in the paper use the undefined operators in a theorem.
The definitions of banana and pear operator are near-identical to those for apple and orange, something I think is easy to deduce in context.
A silly mistake I know, but not only did I not spot it, amazingly two others I asked to review it (one internal one external) didn't spot it either.
I'm just wondering if it's worth worrying about? I suppose it's likely that the reviewers won't spot it either, but if they do, does this seem like a minor correction (rest of the paper notwithstanding)? And if so, are minor corrections normally allowed after major corrections?
Edited to add: I realise that the question in the title didn't fully encapsulate what I was asking. I've updated the title to more fully reflect the question I was asking.

Is something about the composition making the question difficult to understand?

I think that this question is not a duplicate of the referenced one. However, the question could (and should) be generalized, e.g. to "I noticed an (minor) imperfection in my paper, but it is already under review. What should I do now?".

Thanks - that sums up perfectly what I'm asking, but I just couldn't find the words myself.


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Is it ethical to host ads on an institute provided homepage?
I am affiliated to an institute and they provide each student an opportunity to make their own homepage, which they can put up as www.[institute-webpage]/[username]. Now, this webpage is not reviewed by the institute. I made my homepage recently and I am wondering if it is ethical to put ads on it.
On one hand, it is my own website, while on the other hand, it is hosted on their server and I don't have to pay anything to get this.

Why would you bother? The amount of money you could make is trivial at best...

You can host the website somewhere else and redirect the institute link. Github allows you to host static things for free for instance.

Perhaps the question is not so much "is it ethical" but "does my institute allow it". I suggest you inquire with the relevant people at your institute first.

If the incoming revenue is going to your institution then 'all' you'd be doing would be diluting their brand and damaging your own personal reputation in return for a few dollars a year. If the incoming revenue is going into your own pocket then you'd also be defrauding the taxpayer (if public-sector) or your institution's shareholders (if private-sector) of a few dollars a year.

I find it difficult to believe that someone could be both sufficiently educated to merit such a position without possessing the ability to find the answer to this question themselves, if not the common sense to immediately recognize it as extremely likely to be prohibited and, that aside, obviously damaging to the institute's reputation.

In addition to your institute, the network provider might impose restrictions on what can be posted.

It may depend on the rules of your institute, but I'd bet that putting ads on your homepage is not allowed.  You should certainly not put up ads without verifying that you have official permission to do so.
If you work at a public university or other governmental institute, then putting up ads could be considered using government property for personal gain.  That's probably not just unethical, but illegal (but you'd have to look into the appropriate laws in your jurisdiction to be sure).
If you work at a private university or institute, then it may not be illegal, but there are still probably institute rules against using institute property in this way.  I'd be surprised if any big organization didn't have such rules.

This is a matter of institutional policy. Find your university's IT policy and read it; if advertising isn't explicitly mentioned, ask someone.

Here is an example of an advertising policy, from the University of Florida. It permits only a limited group of university offices to place advertisements on their sites.
Here is a policy from Florida State University and another one from the University of Greenwich that forbid advertising.
Here is a policy from the University of Aberdeen that permits advertising under certain conditions.
Here is one from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, that generally forbids advertising but makes an exception for advertising academic endeavors - for example, a faculty member linking to a retailer or publisher of the academic book they have authored.

The point is: check your university policy.

In academia the goal is to build one's scholarly reputation. While this is done primarily through publishing quality research, developing a professional network is also important.
Ideally one's webpage is:

a summary of your research,
a repository collection of useful links,
technology tips you want to save,
projects you have started,
printed on your business card, and
(most importantly) a portfolio of your work.

When I visit a colleague's tidy web page, my impression of her goes up. Ads would erode this perception in exchange for a few dollars.


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Publishing a single-author paper
This is the situation. I am a postdoc at a German university. Unfortunately, my boss is not interested in publishing the research results. He prefers to publish just when it is strictly necessary for project reports and publishes old and unimportant results in most cases.
Obviously, it is a problem for my academic career, and I want to leave this division but for personal reasons can't do it in the nearest future. Just to mention, I do not work on industrial projects, and I want to publish the results of the projects I work on. It is also worth noting that the results in our area get "old" quite fast, i.e., in a year the community won't be interested in the results as much as it could be now.
The boss also believes that everything that is developed by people working in the division he is the head of is the property of the division = his own ideas (even though I have come up with all of my paper ideas and have executed the research and papers alone) -- and he requires that everything that comes out from the division to the public should be personally checked and approved by him.
Other colleagues seem to be OK with the situation, but I would like to pursue an academic career and get published.
My question is: if in my free time I study some things on my own that are not included in any project I work on, can I publish the results being a single author? Or, e.g., can I publish a review on the topic on my own? I don't have problems with mentioning the university as my affiliation.
Was someone here in this situation? If so, what have you done about it?

Welcome to Academia SE. I am not really sure what you think we can answer for you. If this is about legal aspects, you have to look into your contract or ask the respective department of your university (who are not working against you here after all). If this is about authorship ethics, it depends on whether your boss has any intellectual contributions (which does not seem to be the case). If this is about appeasing your boss, this depends on your boss and cannot be answered by anybody who doesn’t know your boss. If you can, please [edit] your question to clarify.

My best guess is that you are well and truly stuck. There may even be contractual considerations that prevent your desired action. Some places (though mostly in industry) claim that anything you produce, even on your "own time" belongs to the institution. You can look to see what binds you legally.
I also don't know your field and won't judge whether a paper without your supervisor would be looked at a strange or normal - especially if he objects. That expectation varies widely by field.
But my advice would be to do what ever you can to find a different, and better, situation. Run, don't walk, to the nearest exit. If this means bowing and scraping to the chief to get a good letter of recommendation, then go along for now.
I don't know how hard it will be to move with few/no publications. But it is usually pretty hard to go without good letters. If you can use him to get a better position you will have a chance for a career.

I'm going to answer based on my experiences as an academic in the US which may not cover your legal situation, so please be cautious.
At my university and I believe at most universities in the US, your publications are your own and not the property of your affiliated university. For example when you transfer copyright to a journal, you alone can sign off without any input from a university official or lawyer.
If I want to write an article and submit it, I can. The same is true for our post-doctoral researchers. I can write articles alone, or with colleagues at my or another university, or with those in industry, or with those in other countries. If co-authors contribute to the work they must be listed as authors. If they do not, they need not be listed.
So while you may not be able to publish the joint work you are conducting with your advisor/supervisor, usually there is nothing that prevents you from publishing your own ideas separately. The affiliation you list with your manuscript submission is mainly a way for readers to get in touch with you and have nothing to do with any "rights" to the publication.


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How to correctly reference a supervisor who in the meantime got a doctorate
I completed one of my theses under the co-supervision of a (back then) PhD student. Said person has since completed his degree and is now officially "Dr. supervisor".
Since I want to reference his supervision in my CV, I was wondering whether I use the formal title that he holds now, or whether I reference him without a PhD, which was his status during the supervision?
I am pretty sure that this is more a non-issue for my specific case, but I can see this being a more common problem elsewhere, especially when listing references online.

FYI: I did not reference the name of my supervisor advisor at all in my industry-targeting resume.  I do realize this may be different in CV-land.
I personally wouldn't use any honorifics in the CV.  (Next you'll be asking about assistant versus full professor!)  Just convey the information, the name.  I would opt for FI, LN.  I.e. Advisor: D. Linger.  Keep it tight, man.

Given that this is Germany, where titles are a serious business, you might consider doing both.
... Herr Somebody (now Doktor Somebody).
It is partly for identification, I think, and the current title might be helpful.

There is no downside to using both titles as @Buffy recommends. If Doktor Somebody wishes to be known by everyone as Fritz, that is no business of yours in your CV, which should be all about you not about your advisor's precise titles.


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First authorship dispute
I spent 5 years doing my PhD research (4 years experiments, and one year writing the manuscript, making the figures and getting it revised and submitted by the supervisor. We submitted the paper (I was the first author) which is rejected with a recommendation for one more experiment, and resubmission. Three colleagues did it, as my scholarship was ended and as I was busy writing the thesis. I was shocked that the supervisor (PI) put one colleague instead of me as a first author, who just carried out this last experiment with help of two other colleagues (were added as co-authors). That colleague was busy doing her own project and did not do that much to my project except for that last experiment and revising the manuscript and giving some comments for correction. I refused the new order, though the paper was sent to the journal. How could I get my first authorship?

Have you talked to the people involved about this (your advisor, and the new first author, mainly)? What did they say?

It is the advisor and the new first author who planned that. I told them in written that I don't accept that, and I reminded them of my effort and contribution, I almost carried out the project alone. The new first author did not respond and the supervisor insisted that I have to accept that and sign. I am really diappointed and lost. I don't know what to do?

Are you continuing in academia?

... and some people still wonder why the system in mathematics (alphabetical order) is not adopted universally ...

@GEdgar that's not the only thing I prefer about the system in mathematics -- the culture of only publishing ripe results, rather than rushing to promote every single little epsilon-increment, is another.

I would start by trying to understand why did the order change. Did your advisor really consider that the other contributed more significantly, or is it more something like "politics"? etc. So 1) identify the reason why your advisor considers the other contributed more (number of hours? scientific content? etc.). 2) Negociate. 3) If it's obvious that you've been cheated, I would probably contact the department chair or the lab director and explain the situation in the most unbiaised possible way. In any case, I would certainly not sign anything (like copyright form) if it is clearly unfair.

I asked them but they did not reply. I don't think it is because they really think the other one contributed most. It is just because the PI, who is unfortunately also the director, loves this researcher, and as I will fly back to my country so they won't see me again except at the defense, may be, so they are not so embarrased. I can't compare the time and effort I spent during that thesis to her, she almost did nothing, that is why it is soo painful. I carried out the research very honestly, no flasification not wrong data, and it is all in the paper they want to publish.

Unfortunately there is not much you can do -- you can try to get the editor of the journal involved, but it is almost certain that the editor will not involve themselves in authorship disputes that have nothing to do with the scientific content of the paper. Also there is a high chance of severe damage to your relationship with your advisor, which needless to say is not ideal immediately before your PhD defense.
If you have a trusted faculty mentor outside of your advisor, you could try approaching them about the situation, for advice and psychological support, if nothing else.
Some journals allow several authors to share "equal contribution" credit for first authorship. This may be a compromise that is easier to negotiate with your adviser and the new students than outright first authorship.
Finally, as a practical matter, depending on how much first authorship on this particular papers means to you and your future career, it may be best to give in and move on. Treat the incident as a painful lesson in why it is important to explicitly discuss what each collaborator expects to get out of a project in terms of authorship order, both at the very beginning of a project and whenever involving new collaborators.

I just want to know. I contacted the editor and they stopped reviewing till this dispute is resolved, but now the supervisor sent me that in case I did not sign or respond she will omit me from the authors' list, does she have that right? She can't omit the part of the work I have done, since she will be practically omitting the whole work. Please tell me, as I have to respond in one day.

I contacted the journal and they put the paper on hold. My advisor is very angry, but I could not withstand the fact that my work would be given to someone else because of politics or whatever. I contacted council for good scientific practice they made her offer me co-first authorship but with my name listed second. I am afraid she won't let me get the doctor degree and let me have the defense. I sent her the thesis 4 weeks ago. Do you think she will let me have the defense after what I have done?Should I insist on first- authorship which I deserve so at least I have a proof I did a good job?

I did everything from study design, writing the protocol, picking up the samples, doing the experiments, analysis of the data, writing the draft, displaying the figures, and tables, proofreading as my English is much better than their English. I studied in English, but they did not. Professionally, she should put who deserves as a first author, not whom she likes. She kept on reminding me it is my project and I am the first author so it is my sole responsibility to do everything alone. All of sudden she  changed her mind without even prior notification.

@BosyKhalid you are now embroiled in a complex controversy with high potential danger to your future career. It is past the time for asking strangers for advice on the Internet -- meet with trusted third-party mentors, the department chair, university ombudsmen, etc to discuss your situation, and do so ASAP.


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Post-doc priorities: "Laundry list" vs. "Research trumps all"
I am a post-doc in the physical sciences and I am finding that people have very different expectations of what a post-doc's priorities should be. Typically people are somewhere between two camps. I call these two extreme views "Laundry list" vs. "Research trumps all".
The "Laundry list" view is that everything matters, and that next to research skills developing soft skills is also very important. Examples of such advice philosophy are the Times Higher Education guide (see here) and the The New Scientist guide (here). Apart from research, there is great emphasis on teaching and mentoring students, practising talks, going to many seminars and networking.
The "Research trumps all" view is that at the post-doc stage, the importance of papers far outweighs everything else. For example,  this interesting guest post on The Professor Is In advises to be very cautious about getting involved in mid-author papers and optional teaching commitments. In the Scientific American blog post "The Awesomest 7-Year Postdoc " (here), the author directly attacks laundry list advice of the above kind and emphasises selectivity in activities, putting research and teaching first. Cal Newport's canon of advice (e.g. this and this post) is generally all about selective focus on research projects and minimizing dissipation (e.g. little email communication, drop bad projects).
I am most interested in career advice for post-docs in the physics, mathematics, computer science, life sciences on a path towards a research oriented academic career. I think it would be very interesting to see what you think and where you place your post-doc priorities on the continuum between "Laundry list" and "Research trumps all".

The SA blog post is about tenure track, not about postdoc, isn't it?

Ehm, and Cal Newport writes about grad school. There is a dearth of advice for postdocs in the literature, it seems...

What an excellent question! I think the people most qualified for answering it are those with much experience in hiring committees. From my limited experience in CS, I would like to comment on the specific advice regarding mid-author papers: They're (obviously) less valuable than first-author papers, but can still have some merits, especially if the average number of co-authors is low.

I am voting to close on the "The answer to this question depends on individual factors ..." reason.  You may take this as an answer.  (Even if you want to integrate over the whole job market, you still need to tell me the measure on your integral, and that depends on individual factors.)

@lighthousekeeper It's an excellent discussion that's probably not a good fit for SE. I can see arguments for Too Broad, Opinion Based, and Individual Factors.

Frankly I see no reason why this question is worse in terms of requiring individual factors than many others we happily answer. I am voting to re-open.

I started a discussion about this close on meta: https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3832/why-was-the-recent-question-about-dealing-with-common-postdoc-advise-put-on-hold

I think this is an interesting and multi-faceted question. As a postdoc, I was very much on the laundry list side of things. I did a lot of teaching, organized events, went to plenty of conferences, helped with department service, collaborated in projects that I probably should have gotten out of months ago, started a lot of long-reaching initiatives which would not lead to any papers in the short term, wrote grant proposals, and so forth. My publication track record was good, but not nearly as good as the track record of some of my colleagues who tried harder to fend off non-publishing activities.
I think ultimately this made job searching harder, as hiring committees in virtually all research-oriented institutions put an overwhelming emphasis on published papers. However, I also feel very strongly that I am a better and more well-rounded academic now than what I would be if I had locked myself in and wrote one paper after the other. I especially feel like I am pretty well set-up to achieve my tenure requirements (which, at least in my institution, are much more well-rounded than just looking at papers alone), and the change from a postdoc to a faculty position has been rather smooth - I did not get the "shock" that some others seem to have when they suddenly need to do teaching, department service, etc.
All in all, I think a good way to see it is that the "publications-over-everything" strategy maximizes your chance to get as good a tenure-track position as possible, while the laundry list strategy trains you better for a long, well-rounded career.

"...well-rounded career" if you get hired first, right?

As this question has been re-opened, I'll put a version of a comment I made in meta here as an answer:
It Depends on You and Your Job
There is no single, written-in-stone answer for this question, which is why there are a variety of seemingly contradictory answers.
Your Job: The postdoc position itself might have requirements to it that push one or the other. For example, if your PI is coming up for tenure, and the volume of papers is primarily what they're being evaluated on, that's clearly a need. On the other hand, if you're largely funded by a cooperative agreement or other mechanism that involves a lot of work with outside groups and products that aren't necessarily papers, the "Laundry List" might work better.
Your Desired Job: There are hiring committees who are definitely looking just at volumes of papers. Who want to see that Cell/Nature/Science manuscript sitting there. For these, clearly, the "Research is Everything" approach is likely the right one. For other positions, there's much more emphasis on stakeholder engagement, or software development, or other things that don't get easily wrapped into a single manuscript, and where the "Laundry List" is more appropriate.
Vexingly, these positions might even be part of the same call.
You: It's likely that one approach suits you better.
For example, there are people who I know who are extremely good at playing "The Game", for whom the "Laundry List" approach would potentially be very productive, and where "I spend a lot of time on Twitter" is actually a major benefit to one's career instead of a time sink.
Similarly, there are people who are immensely productive when writing papers - if they can ditch the other stuff on the "Laundry List" for a bit, they can absolutely churn out solid, impactful research results. In this case, "I shall crush them under the weight of my CV" might be a good strategy.
I have seen these people co-exist in the same position, and have similarly good career trajectories.
When it comes down to it, I think a better approach is to figure out which one you fit in, and then try to find jobs that are conducive to that, rather than the other way around. I'm extremely skeptical that someone trying to shoehorn themselves into a different "style" will be as successful as they would otherwise be if they found their niche.


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Point of weakness for tenure track postions
What is the greatest weakness point Question? I want to be honest when answering this question. Actually, I have a problem which speaking so fast in English (which is not my first language). So, I would like to answer this question as" Some times I became so enthusiastic and speak so fast in English" and to handle this issue" I always ask student feedback to keep my self speaking slowly.
Is this answers hurts me?
I know there are "ideal" answers on the internet such as pointed here 1

My greatest weakness is that I’ve never been asked that question.

My greatest strength is that I've never asked that question.

I believe that your actual answer doesn't matter that much.
These "open" questions are often asked, in my experience, to get you to talk. Unless the content of your answer raises a big red flag, the relevant part will be how you react to it, how you pose your answer, etc. It's a "starter", depending on your answer you might get interesting follow-ups that lead to somewhere interesting, or maybe just move on with the conversation.
Don't try to force it back to your pre-defined talking points, and never push shop talk during social events, like during the meals with the committee. If they steer the conversation that way, sure, but be yourself, with more interests than research/teaching, etc...
Beyond all else, don't overthink it. Nobody solid is going to get discarded over this (again, except red flags), and nobody "unprepared" will get picked because of this. Use your energy to be very sharp on your teaching statement, research ideas, etc. That's what actually makes a difference.


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Is an internship in theoretical physics valuable for me?
I am planning to do an internship in a theoretical physics area for a year before applying for PhD. My current masters' thesis advisor (who is a hardcore experimentalist) warned me that I might not actually learn anything new in a theoretical intern, and that I will only end up solving some textbook problems. I was wondering how plausible this is, and if it is a strong possibility, how I can make sure that there is a significant addition to my skillset during my intern in theory. Anyone?
EDIT : This internship will NOT be a part of my M.Sc. I will be doing it to bolster my otherwise ordinary profile. I basically want to publish something or at least get a good recommendation letter before I apply for PhD.

Given one of the answers, I think you should clarify if the internship will be part of your MSc or if it will be between MSc and PhD.

I might not actually learn anything new in a theoretical intern, and that I will only end up solving some textbook problems — If you don't learn anything new from solving textbook problems, you're using a crappy textbook.

Answering is an experimental physicist who had authored a few theoretical papers. I find the suggestion given to you incorrect (maybe voluntarily, as your MS advisor would like you to be his/her PhD student right away?). As a Master student, the level of work you will do is not limited much by your skills/knowledge, rather from your supervisor's wits and guidance. An excellent supervisor with a brilliant idea waiting to be executed can guide you to a very valuable research publication in three months or so. And of course you can be left in a corner with a textbook and generic instructions which will only leave you confused and isolated. It really depends on your supervisor and how much effort will you both put into it.

+1, it really does depend on the supervisor. My Master's project is in theoretical cosmology and could have easily been constrained to textbook problems, but I have a great supervisor who has led me to do some really cool novel (if not quite publishable) research.

@astronat thanks, and hope you'll manage to get your own work into publishable shape sometime soon!

I am not sure that this will be related to his Master's. In principle, internship is something different.

@Helen let's wait for the OP to clarify. My understanding is that he has completed or almost completed his MS, and has time to invest, or simply explore. An internship in academic research in my opinion is just another word for research at junior level, i. e. not self-directed.

I did an internship of a few months in theoretical physics in an excellent lab in Paris, France. The head of the group was a famous professor who made his name a long time ago by developing a method that is now widely used today.
To some extent I would agree with your supervisor that you might end up solving textbook problems. This was the case for maybe 50% of my work, mostly because my background in the field was not strong enough. Had I arrived with better preparation, I would perhaps have had a chance to jump right to contributing to new work.
At the same time, I don't think it was a waste of time at all. I learned and improved on a lot of basic skills such as reading literature, writing code and presenting my work in a report and oral presentation at the end.
I think it depends on what you want to get out of the internship. If you are hunger to work on something where you can quickly churn out publications and apply your knowledge, perhaps theoretical physics is not the best option. However, gaining a solid foundation in a theoretical subject is likely to be highly useful whatever you end up doing.

What is your reason for wanting to do so?
If your PhD will be in theoretical physics, as I understand, then why not jump in immediately?
If you would like to save some money before PhD, then I think this is a valid reason.
EDIT: To answer the question per se, the best thing you can do is discuss with the internship advisor what you'll be doing before you commit. And, as others have pointed out, even solving textbook problems at this stage can really give you something (but some planning and discussion is needed for this to be sure as well). You can also try to gauge if it's likely to participate in a publication during that time.

I am doing planning to do the internship because my profile (grades, university, etc.) is otherwise ordinary. I wanted to work with someone from a proper research institute, gain their recommendation and publish something before I apply.

I see, I think this makes sense. I've also added an edit to my answer.


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Several questions about Master Applications
I'm a last year student of Mathematics (and Physics) in Spain and I'm going to apply to some masters degree programmes in pure math in Europe this month and I have a couple of questions:

In one of the universities I intend to apply they say that they are expecting good marks, about 7.5/10 . My marks are about 7.45 at the moment but I have 6 subjects to do this term. I'm seriously expecting to get good grades in those last subjects of my degree. Two of them are the thesis, which I have already done and have really good critics. So if everything goes as expected I could go over 7.5. The thing is that the deadline is in two months so I won't be able to show those results.

Should I talk about this in my application letter? In that case, what should I say? I'm planning to send my thesis in the application to make them "forget" about the GPA a little. If my thesis is good enough could this help?

I'm simultaneously doing a degree in Math and another in Physics. The amount of work obviously affected my perfomance. Should I stress in the letter the two degrees thing? My thesis in the Physics University is about Entropy in mathematical physics should I include it too in the application?
I know that in American Universities they tend to appreciate if you have done some non-academic activities. I've been working as a jazz musician intensely since I started university. I received some grants and I've played in some national events. Should I omit this in my CV? Is this considered irrelevant in Europe? Maybe in some countries more than others?

Where does that kind of information usually go in your application? In the CV or in the letter?
Thanks a lot for your time.

Send them the facts, if available partial grades. Do not go speculating on your future grades, it should be enough to list future classes. Do not swamp them with stuff they probably aren't qualified to digest (last draft of your thesis-in-progress). Do concentrate on getting strong letters of recommendation.
Committees which look over applicants normally aren't staffed with specialists in the area to which applications come in, they get lots of applications to process, but also know that some of them won't be able to provide everything asked for for a variety of reasons. Explain the reasons, give firm dates for completing missing data, provide an alternative where it isn't available (unofficial/partial transcripts instead of official, complete ones).


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Why hasn't anybody built a free bibliographic database yet?
A globally available, free bibliographic database, much like Google Scholar but with stronger query-building and export of hits, would be tremendously useful.
[Edited to add explanation of why this would be useful: Specifically, systematic reviews and meta-analyses require replicable procedures. This means queries must be repeatable (yielding the same hits) and hits must be exportable to enable e.g. double-blind, documentable screening procedures. Ideally these procedures and their replications are Open (i.e. inclusive to all researchers), and so expensive licenses can be undesirable.
To clarify what I mean by queries and exporting: e.g. a systematic review could use a query like:
(TI:("condom use" OR "safe sex") OR
  AB:("condom use" OR "safe sex")) AND
(TI:(determinants* OR "psycho-social variables") OR
  AB:(determinants* OR "psycho-social variables"))

Which would look for all papers that include either 'condom use' or 'safe sex' (or both) in their title or abstract, and also include either 'determinants' or 'psycho-social variables' (or both) in their title or abstract.
The next step would then be to export all hits to enable screening of the hundreds or thousands of references for relevance (ideally by two or more blinded screeners).
Google Scholar has very limited query-building capacities and no exporting functionalities (i.e. it does for single hits, but not for thousands of hits in one go).
However, no such freely available systems seem to exist.
Is there some reason for this other than that nobody has got around to it yet? Are there license problems? The title, authors etc are not copyrighted I think, but maybe abstracts are - on the other hand abstracts etc are all in the public domain, so I assume they can be copied, emailed to colleagues, etc, and so I guess they could be included in such a database as well. Or is that not allowed?

In my field (computer engineering), IEEE and ACM (if I'm not mistaken) allow papers/abstracts to be emailed between colleagues for personal use only (unless you pay a rather large fee) -- what you're proposing would most likely violate that. But more to the point: I imagine it has to do with the fact that Google Scholar/individual databases already more or less provide what researchers want/need. You can search pretty much any database (at least any database I can think of) for free -- it's accessing the actual papers contained within that costs $$.

What do you mean by "with stronger query-building and export of hits"? Please clarify.

Apart from breadth of coverage, would PubMed qualify? PubMed is a pretty big thing and going even bigger seems hard.

Since you make it sound so easy, perhaps you could throw it together this weekend?

DBLP is a free bibliographic database that covers at least 90% of the computer science literature.  There are similar databases in other fields.

Do you enjoy working for free?

The last sentence of this question contradicts itself by saying that abstracts might be protected by copyright but are in the public domain.

@scaaahu, I've attempted to clarify the issue further.

@tonysdg: I hope the clarification helps to explain this, too.

@StrongBad: yes, PubMed is a good example, but as you imply, quite narrow in its focus. Curious why nothing broader exists yet.

@JonCuster, I don't think this is easy - but it's definitely doable (not by one person, but by an organisation).

@JeffE: Thanks - is there an index of those somewhere?

@CapeCode: yes, depending on the work.

@PeterTaylor: I'm not sure which it is...

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/public-domain/welcome/

Voted to re-open and upvoted.

I4OC: the Initiative for Open Citations
This is probably the leading project to do this, though I believe there have been various proposals in the past.

The idea of creating an advocacy group to promote the availability of citation data gained momentum at the 8th Conference on Open Access Scholarly Publishing (COASP 2016), in response to a report that only a tiny minority of the almost 1,000 publishers depositing references with Crossref at that time were making this data publicly available.

They're making pretty good progress:

As of June 2017, the fraction of publications with open references has grown from 1% to more than 45% out of the nearly 35 million articles with references deposited with Crossref (to date).

However, there's a long way still to go - not least that the 35m target quoted there is only articles in Crossref, which means ones for which a DOI has been issued. Once you get into historical material which never made it online, this can potentially get a lot more challenging; I'm not familiar with how (or whether) they plan to address legacy material.
And, of course, it's only targeting the underlying data. They haven't made a move to build a "user-friendly" database on top of it, though there's nothing preventing a third party from doing so.

That is pretty good coverage, and indeed, although they provide no interface yet, it's a great start!!! In fact, for replicable research, using scripts and e.g. the R package 'rcrossref' is preferable over using a "user-friendly" interface. So people are working on this - it is not only doable, but being done :-) Thank you!

One possible reason is that there is no real need for such a (locally stored) database. Currently the Web itself is used as the ''database'' for bibliographic information, and the Web, through Google, allows all users to have very good querying mechanism.

I hope the extra explanation makes a bit clearer what I meant, sorry for the initial vague question!


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No response from journal after submission
I submitted a paper to a journal just before Christmas time last year. The journal didn't send any note whether they have received the paper or not. Mid of January this year, I sent again an email asking whether they have received my submission or not, but still, didn't receive any reply.
Just last week, I sent an email to the main publisher regarding the matter, and they told me they just emailed the main editor, who will contact me soon. But until now, I have yet to receive any reply from the editor.
I am thinking of emailing to let the editor know that I will wait for another week before I will retract my submission to be sent to other journal. I understand editors are busy people, but I think they should notify the author that they have received their submission. What do you think?
Also, from SJR Scimago, this journal is from the UK. Nothing against people from UK, just want to ask whether it is vacation season now for the academics, which in that case I should wait a little longer?
Thanks!

How does the submission process work for this journal? Is it via a web portal? If yes, did you try logging in again and check for status of your manuscript there?

No. Paper is submitted through email only..

That doesn't sound so good, which publisher is this? Have you consulted with colleagues about the reputation of that journal.

It is from Taylor and Francis. It is ISI indexed so I suppose it is reputable.

It's February, so the holiday season is long over, and no reasonable journal ought to have lost its entire staff to vacation for so long.  Moreover, most journals have an automated system that will acknowledge your paper and tell you about its current status.  If this journal hasn't got the infrastructure to even acknowledge your submission in over a month, then I would it a rather dubious prospect for publication.
Note, however, that there is another possibility that you should rule out before withdrawing, and that is whether either your emails to the journal or their emails to you are getting lost in a spam filter.  This is particularly likely if you are from the developing world, to which blacklists are often applied quite carelessly.

Thanks for the reply. I sent the email through my university email in Japan. In that case, I guess I will retract my paper

I'd give them one more (brief) chance myself, but I'm a bit of a soft touch perhaps.


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Representing independent rediscoveries of a result in a survey paper
How to deal with multiple rediscoveries of the same result in a survey paper? The authors are seemingly unaware of each other. The first discovery is more than a decade old, yet people keep reproducing it. Do I only mention the first discovery, or do I also list subsequent ones? I do not want to cross anyone. The survey is part of an effort to build connections within the community.

As you said, the goal of a survey paper is to make people aware of what other groups / communities are doing and bringing them together. It would be useful to present the full history of discovery and following re-discoveries, development, alternative approaches, etc.


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Conference and journal papers in physics
I am preparing an interdisciplinary paper for publication in a leading physics journal. A preliminary version of this paper has been submitted to a conference in my field. Can the editors reject my paper based on this fact? In my field it would not be an issue. It is usually required that the journal paper expands on the contributions of the conference paper. In practice there a number of ways to overcome that requirement, so that it does not really matter. You need to submit a full paper to talk in a conference, so people use them as a first step of dissemination. But I do not know what is the relation between journal and conference papers in physics.

In what field is the conference paper? CS?

Electrical engineering

I have seen, at various times, deliveries at conferences that discuss papers which:

have been published,
papers that have been submitted and accepted for publication,
papers that have been submitted and are in the review process, and
papers which are still being prepared for submission (including papers which have not yet been written).

Sometimes a conference paper is also prepared and published as conference proceedings, as a summary, lead-in or discussion of preliminary results which are then published in detail in a journal.
It is expected that the paper submitted to the journal will be different enough to the conference paper to be suitable for publishing as a separate article without infringing on the "not submitted elsewhere" condition, and you will probably also need to either cite the conference paper or the journal paper in the other to avoid plagiarism.

Alright, that sounds more or less like the conventions I am used to from my field. It should most likely be fine then. Thanks!


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No specific guideline for the template of first submission
I am planning to submit my work to Pattern Recognition journal, and I am looking for its appropriate latex template.
I read the author guidline carefully, but honestly it is quite confusing to me. As to the template, all it says are

elsarticle.cls should be used for latex template
page limits to 20 to 35
double spaced and single column

Then, I am wondering if I can change the the provided template settings when there is no specific instructions for them Specifically,

May I use the template from here, and am I allowed to change its margin? (The guideline gives no specific instruction for the margin specification at all.)

My lab published several papers to this journal recently, however it was all done by docx using Word. What really confuses me is that the latex template provided here has a much bigger margin size than the docx template our lab used.
I would be very grateful if someone who published to this journal using latex could give me some template advices on the first submission.
Thanks a lot for reading my question.

I think you are overthinking this.

Try making changes to the \documentclass[review]{elsarticle} in the elsarticle-template.tex file to get a better look, if that's what is bothering you.

I think the default template Elsevier provides has it set to what I mentioned. However, you can change it to \documentclass[final, 2p, times]{elsarticle} This is my personal preference in elsevier templates. It makes the paper look a bit better.

@AaqibBashir Thank a lot! So you are implicitly saying that I am allowed to change few of the template settings (for exampling, slightly reducing the margin), right?

Yes you can, however you should have in mind that the final formatting is to be done by the journal itself, if the paper is accepted. So, in my opinion doing something other than this would be just wasting time.  Unless you're making your figures, tables look better and making sure the references are not messed up. You're good to go. However, I understand the urge and eagerness to make changes/make it look more better. Trust me, it all comes down to your research results, your scientific rigour and your professional attitude towards formatting the paper. No need to sugar coat it.

I don't know the rules for this specific journal, but in most venues you're not supposed to tweak the page geometry (margins, headers etc.) of a template, if one is given. To me, it feels dishonest to secretly shrink the margins and squeeze in more content. It may reflect badly on you if the editor notices it.
In any case, I recommend that you contact one of the editors and ask them. That's the only way to get an authoritative answer.


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overlapped results in tables for research journal
In research papers (for examples, computer science journals), may I have overlaps between multiple tables containing experiment results?
My situation is like this. I have two tables Table A and Table B in the experiment section. Table A contains performance results from model-a,b,c. Table B contains performance results from model-c,d,e.
Thus, the two tables has an overlap as both contain the same reulst of model-c.
Each table highlihgts a distinct point. That is, each table is made to verify a different claim.
If I simply combine them into one table that shows all results of model-a,b,c,d,e, it will seriously degrade readability and make the points unclear.
So I am wondering if it is okay to contain overlap in diferent result tables.

What you write is probably fine, but ultimately it depends on the journal how much duplication they will allow.

@jachilles You seem to be thinking about the potential readers, which is fantastic.

If you think this should be closed for "individual factors" please give an example where it would not be okay.

Sure, there is no rule against that. Just make it clear to the reader that some of the data is the same as in the other table.
The main disadvantage is that you are increasing the length by duplicating content, but if not doing so seriously degrades the readability as you say, then I don't think it would be an obstacle.

Being a table column , it does not even makes the paper longer, at least not in a linear way. What will make the paper longer is OP saying something about the different use of the same column. Plus 1.


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Adding new results during review process
I submitted a paper to an applied mathematics journal. I have since found a way to generalize one of the results.
Is it acceptable to update the paper during the first review step even if I have not been requested to improve on this particular aspect?
I understand that this would create extra work for the reviewers since they would have to check that part again. However, writing a brand new paper with the additional result would probably cause even more extra work for the review community. I also understand that a dissemination strategy that incorporates some salami slicing might be better for my career, but somehow I am opposed to doing that kind of thing.

That question refers to a very minor change after acceptance. I would like to make a somewhat major unrequested change (rewriting 1 or 2 pages) in the middle of the review process. The purpose of the change is to strengthen the contribution. This change will be reviewed by the original reviewers.

I see. But the two questions refer to two different situations. The other question refers to the 'almost-accepted stage'. In the other answer you say that it may happen that an extra sentence or so may be needed to clarify the changes. That is hardly the same as replacing one or two pages of text and requesting the reviewers to evaluate this part a second time. That requires an extra effort of their part. Furthermore, since the change is non-trivial, the reviewers may not agree with it.

Could there be an issue of priority if someone else finds the same result after your submission date?

Could be. The journal keeps track of each updated version of the manuscript. The date of each update is displayed in the published paper (including the date of first submission), but it does not state what the updates consisted of.

Yes, yes it is. Just make it clear when you do so the reviewers can review the new additions.
That said, if you think the result merit a new paper, make a new paper, and reference the one under review.
However, while I am an early stage researcher my suggestion is: have a high ethos when publishing. It is way better to have 1 very good paper than 3 weak-related ones. Your objective is to show the world new research, do not fall in the paper-mill trap. Your worth is in the quality, not in the quantity.

In this case you should inform the editor that you have improved results, indicate briefly what they are and ask for his/her advice. It might depend on the state of your original paper's review, of course.
You could also express your desire that it get updated so that it is more complete. Give your reasons as you express them here.
But if you try that and fail it won't reflect badly on you if you publish the updated results separately.


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What are questions to ask during oncampus visit?
During the campus visit, I meet the faculty members, dean and provost individually and they asks me if I have questions to them. Actually, since I got all answers from the chair, I reply "no, I donot have questions". My question is what should I ask the dean, and provost, and other faculty members?

Does this answer your question? What questions should I ask as a candidate during an interview for a tenure-track assistant professor position?


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How to make a student evaluation using Blackboard?
This is my first year to teach classes in computer science as an instructor. I am looking to get student feedback about the course so far. I know that there is a student evaluation at the end of the semester, but i am looking to get the feedback now using the blackboard. Any suggestions to how to create a good evaluation survey on the blackboard? I am looking to use that student evaluations and put it in my CV incase it was good evaluations

Are you referring to the Blackboard, the learning software?

Is there a survey function or activity? Even a quiz could be used if you work on the questions...

Did you ask your local learning technologist this question?

@GoodDeeds +1: Heba Mohsen, can you edit your question to clarify? I read the blackboard to mean a physical board attached to the wall that can be written on with chalk. (Actually, I believe that's the only reading.)

I'm not sure how well it works, but under Course Tools you'll find 'Tests, Surveys and Pools'.  The 'survey' option lets you write a course survey.


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Why not asking about updates of search process
I have a campus visit two weeks ago. The search committee chair told me that if I got a positive feedback, they will contact me, otherwise they will contact me after three weeks and half ( I assumed that I may be the second choice). I read many answers that suggest not contacting the search committee about their decision, but I still don’t know why most answers recommend not contacting the committee. Actually, I will defend my thesis sooner and I am worried and over thinking too much so I want to know a decision. So, I want to email the search committee chair about decision or any updates, just to stop thinking, is it ok to do so or it will hurt my application?

I think there are only two cases where you should follow-up with the search committee:

The time by which they said they would get back to you has passed.
You have another opportunity that requires a time-sensitive response.

A while ago I read some good advice (somewhere on this site) about how to deal with the waiting period after a tenure-track interview:

As soon as you're done with the interview & visit, thank everyone who you've met, and then immediately move on with your life under the assumption that you did not get the job, i.e., search for the next opportunities, etc.

Do u think the two weeks is the period I should consider as the time and it is already passed? I also read on their website that the university will go for a hiring freeze due to Coronavirus. Is this another reason to contact them? So i can relieve anxiety and see my life

@HebaMohsen -- The period to wait is "three weeks and half" and not two weeks.

You are right. Actually, the hiring process is very slow and it is causing alot of anxiety especially for an over-thinking person like me. I had an opportunity for two campus interview this year. One of them is canceled due to Coronavirus. And this one is the last one. Otherwise, I have to wait one more year and apply in November for jobs starting on fall 2021

Two aspects:

It's unlikely that you will get any helpful answer. If they give you a precise timeline like "three weeks and a half", they certainly follow some clearly defined process, the outcome of which can only communicated after three weeks and a half.
By the mere act of asking, you deviate from the communication protocol that was agreed on, which could come off as slightly negative (annoying). It probably won't make or break your chances, but it's still a signal you might want to avoid sending.

Your best bet is to be patient. Focus on other activities and write more applications, which will help you put that particular position in perspective. It's not your only shot.

But the committee chair told me two weeks to reply. Also, I don’t have other shots, the other shot is canceled due to Coronavirus

I don't see the part about the two weeks in your original question. It looks like you will hear from them after three and a half weeks the latest, and that's a sane timeline to wait for.

Every new application that you write is another shot. You need to get comfortable with the idea that this one may not work out, but there's more possibilities.

You might not be aware of the hiring freezes.

Hiring timelines often do not work out as intended, but that's no reason to ask them for updates.

Yes, the university website announced a hiring freeze. So, I think this is another reason to contact them

@HebaMohsen That's indeed a proper reason. If you write them, you should focus on this particular concern.

@lighthousekeeper should I contact the search committee chair or the department chair?


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Advices for writing the research statement
I am writing my first research statement to apply for a faculty position. what are the most important parts to focus. I am thinking of dividing it into 3 sections. One for current Research, the second for future research and the third one is for previous research works. Is this a good organization?
What are common mistakes to avoid?

When writing your research statement (and cover letter), it is important to recognize that hiring committees will be swamped with applications. My main advice is to keep it short (2 pages should should be enough to explain your research). You can assume that the readers will be scanning the document and not reading every word, so make the important information stand out, such as key techniques or accomplishments. Cover letter should be 1 page max.
In addition, some applicants write their research statement as a short grant application, with clear motivation and specific aims. Depending on your field, that can be a great strategy. Your research statement will also be the outline for your chalk talk.

But I am in engineering, and I have many problems to cover in my research statement and 2 pages would be very short. It is 6 pages right now


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Will a letter of recommendation from a postdoc fellow be valued for applying a PhD program?
My master thesis supervisor is a postdoc fellow. And I plan to do a PhD program after finishing master degree. Is it matter to my PhD application with the letter of recommendation from her (my supervisor). I mean whether the members of the PhD application committee will think that she does not have enough knowledge and skills in research to evaluate my research ability? And therefore, they will not highly evaluate my application?
Many thanks in advance for your answers.

What the admission committee looks for is specific and reliable information about the skills of the applicant.

Specific. If a postdoc fellow, or any other member of a team worked with you long enough, they usually can describe in some details what you achieved and how your skills and mindset helped you to achieve this. The more specific examples they could provide usually the better. In academic reality sometimes students spend more time with their TA's than their Profs, and I think people in admissions usually realise that.
Reliable The letters from Profs are usually considered as more reliable than the letters from colleagues of moderate rank, and not without a reason. Indeed, if a Prof would decide to praise his student more than they deserve, it would be noted, remembered and all further letters from him would be taken with a bit of salt. Therefore, Profs are really responsible for providing actual information to each other in a small world of academia. RAs and TAs do not necessarily feel that their academic credibility is at stake, and can be more inclined to "help" the student by over-assessing their abilities and achievements in their reference.

The balance of these two factors makes the game. My suggestion is --- go and ask that postdoc to write a reference for you, but also ask them to be very specific about everything they write, and only put in their letter the information which can be justified by some evidence.


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Received an incorrect review from a conference (a review for a different paper). What should I do?
I've submitted a paper to a computer vision conference (a top one), and recently recieved reviews from the reviewers. An issue was that one of the reviewers provided an incorrect review (i.e., a review meant for another paper than ours).
At the moment, I do not know which Area Chair (AC) manages my submission. All I can do is to contact the Program Chair (PC). Should I contact PC about this before submitting my rebuttal (i.e., responses to the reviews)?
The context is that my advisor told me that if I contact PC for this reason, it might be interference. So I was kind of scard and this is why I ask a question here. Also, it might not be completely obvious to others that the review is an incorrect one (althoguh it is completely clear to me).

And what has that advisor of yours recommended to do instead?

I do not know which AC manages my submission. All I can do is to contact PC.

Therefore...

Should I contact PC about this before submitting my rebuttal

Yes, or more broadly: use whatever contact information you have for the organizers. There is no point in rebutting an editorial mistake.

Sending a formal "rebuttal" may cause even more confusion, if somebody (e.g. a secretary or administrator) thinks it came from the real author of the paper. You don't have a review to respond to yet - you just have some mail that was sent to the wrong person.

My advisor told me that if I contact PC for this reason, it might be interference.

Your advisor is mistaken. If you had contacted the Program Committee chair trying to influence the refereeing process - yes, that would have been inappropriate. But it is actually very common for authors to contact PC chairs, for a variety of reason:

Problems with the paper submission system.
Delays in replies.
Requests for clarifications regarding the call for papers.
Questions regarding the submissibility of papers
Requests for deadline extensions (not saying that these are granted though...)

so it's not considered inappropriate in general.
Also remember that program committee chairs typically don't referee/review submissions themselves, so you're not contacting the person who's reviewing your work, nor interfering with that review.

Thank you for clearing this up!


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How can I get my name removed from the acknowledgments of a published paper?
I was actively working in a research project, contributing experiments, hypotheses and analysis. Suddenly, I was forced to leave the program. The adviser stopped to sponsor me and replaced me by another person (who had only contributed purification for 3 weeks). I was relegated from the second to the third or fourth author. The supervisor decided all this without consulting anyone in the project.
Finding this unfair, I resigned from the paper, and I specifically requested not to be acknowledged at all. Against my wishes, however, my name was included in the acknowledgement, as if nothing had happened. I was stunned. (The paper itself was not even very fascinating.)
What can I do to have my name completely removed from this published paper? This includes not only the authorship but also the acknowledgment and anything else.
Thank you for everyone's answers.
My point is I do not want to be in academic at all so there is not much to talk deeper of academic career.
I was never informed about this publication
ie I was not given a copy before it was sent to publication.
I did not know when and where it was published until I was looking for job and looking for details of that work after a year later.
I had very explicitly stated that I did not want to be involved in this publication by the time I left. This was cc'ed to a third party.
The result I had was not reproducible and I did not agree the methodology of the publication on top of the disagreement.

Ask for your name to be removed. Big journal require permissions to be even acknowledged. But, ask yourself, is it really necessary to create this trouble? Do you plan on an academic career?

@CaptainEmacs  Big journal require permissions to be even acknowledge --- [citation needed]

@JeffE I think Nature does (at least several years ago I read something to that effect - haven't submitted since, so I may not be up-to-date).

@CaptainEmacs Nature's submission guidelines suggest no such requirement.

@JeffE Many medical journals do - tracking down approvals for folks in a Lancet ID paper when I only knew them by their username was "fun".

Indeed, Lancet does require "written consent of any cited individual(s) noted in acknowledgments or personal communications".  Time for a new question.

@JeffE I wasn't sure about Nature, so if they don't, it's my mistake. But thanks for finding out that Lancet does!

You can't, and you shouldn't.
Authors are obliged to give proper credit to everyone who does work contributing to a paper. This is why papers must cite earlier relevant research.  By failing to acknowledge you, the authors would be falsely claiming credit for your work, just as if they had failed to cite a relevant paper in which you were an author.
Unless the acknowledgement is factually inaccurate, your disagreement with the authors is irrelevant.

Sorry, there are papers I wouldn't want to be associated with, not as author, nor as acknowledged person. Of course, I probably wouldn't fight it out formally, but I would be quite clear I wouldn't want to be mentioned. In fact, some people may use an acknowledgement as a vehicle, and that's exactly why some top journals (I believe Nature, see above) require an agreement by the acknowledgees.

I should add: in fact, if it were as you say, I would become very careful with whom I would help informally, and I must say, I'd hate to do so.

@CaptainEmacs: The question is really hard to parse, but I read it as a student (PhD- probably) working as first author on a thesis related project, then leaving over some disagreement, then adviser getting another student on board to finish the work and relegating the leaving student (who says to have contributed a lot to the project) to a less prestigious authorship position, after which demotion student wants to disassociate entirely from the project. I agree with what you say, but I think in the case at hand, JeffE's answer seems spot on, doesn't it?

@gnometorule Well, if the student's authorship was wrongly demoted, and the student therefore wants to disengage with the paper, then it is pretty unfair to drag him in - just to be "formally" correct - via an acknowledgement. I think that's adding insult to injury. Because, either the student has worked enough to be an author, then he should be one. Or not, then he shouldn't be. But acknowledging him is the worst of the both worlds - it says the student has worked on the project, just not enough to be co-author; and they put him in to keep their conscience clear...

... that being said, it's not clear whether the new person deserved to be at second position or not, and the OP may not have the full picture. But, assuming the OP is correct in being offended, then the OP is right to be left alone, rather than getting an acknowledgement where authorship would be appropriate.

@JeffE The context may be different from the OP's question, but let's consider the following scenario: what would you do if some random student discusses some questions with you and later submits a really weak paper thanking you profusely for the extended discussions and valuable input that significantly contributed to this paper? Would you want to be acknowledged?

@CaptainEmacs What I would want in that scenario is irrelevant. How would you feel if a random student submitted a really weak paper that cited one of your papers as its main source of inspiration? Do you really think you would have any standing to object?

@JeffE citing a paper is not the same thing as acknowledging a contribution. I'm with the Captain, there are papers to which I really don't want people to think I contributed in any way.

This may be a field-specific thing.  In my field (theoretical computer science), citing a paper is exactly acknowledging a contribution.

@JeffE Often in mathematics there is a short acknowledgement section (usually) at the end of the introduction, where the authors thank people who they had "valuable discussions" about the work and those who maybe helped point them to valuable ideas. They are acknowledging contributions to the work being written up (not past work that the work depends on.) See page 3 of this paper http://arxiv.org/pdf/1602.02637.pdf for a typical example of this.

@PVAL Yes, that's exactly the model I'm used to: http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.00571 (page 12).

This can actually be fixed by changing the current form to a line like: "The authors would like to thank a person who wants to remain anonymous for valuable contribution..." That being said, in my opinion getting angry for being demoted might be natural under the circumstances, but the actions taken by the OP are childish and might damage OP's reputation if word gets out....

I get the motivation to dissociate oneself from ... people one finds reprehensible, or unethical, or morally bankrupt. And yup, that acknowledgement might feel like a far-right/left organization endorsing a public person who is anything but far-right/left. One can feel "used" here, even slimed. Esp. given the common misunderstanding that being endorsed/thanked/etc by an organization does not mean that you agree with that organization or its goals.
But an acknowledgement is not a co-authorship. With an (co-)authorship you would vouch for the quality of the paper, you would "sign" it with your name and would have to stand (and fall) by it. Nope, an acknowledgement is done by the authors and which works from the perspective of the authors and which can be uni-lateral. (Exception: As JeffE mentioned if they claim something factually incorrect, e.g., thanking you for the data analysis when you haven't done it.)
If someone were to add me as co-author without my consent, I'd fight tooth and nail to get my name removed (and I'd win). But with acknowledgements -- and esp. here, if I understand this case correctly -- I'd distance myself (mentally) from the paper. It even might have been meant as a nice gesture (intention and how the action is perceived are not necessarily identical). And if not, it's an asshole move which (further) disqualifies that group. In the later situation, standing above it might actually show more maturity.

As I said, I probably would ignore that myself. But I can see why people do not want to be acknowledged. There is a thing like having your reputation ruined by association, whether you like it or not.

While I agree with some other responses that you can try to contact the journal to have your names taken off, but I'd also like to propose another way of looking at it.
First, in future do not resign so easily. Your idea is your idea and even it is not completed by you, a publication is a publication. Unless you see that the study is going to a direction that violates your own or your professional moral standard, try to stick around. Another good feature of being a co-author is that you have to formally approve the paper before it's submitted. At that point you have a lot more secure contact with the editor and also more leverage.
Second, think what is to gain. Now, those collaborators got one more publication. You are still spending time trying to undo something that probably is not even wrong. (I agree with the author acknowledging you. For acknowledging you does not mean this paper is your idea, but if I don't I can get into trouble.) And please forgive me to sound like trivializing this issue, it probably does not matter. Thus far I have not seen anyone's career got ruined because he/she had been acknowledged in a paper. Most of those cases I heard of are about data fabrication, improper use of funds, and other criminal charges (sexual assault, adultery, etc.) Acknowledged in a paper? Nada.
Third, just look at this these yourself:

I was actively working in a research project, contributing
  experiments, hypotheses and analysis.
...
(The paper itself was not even very fascinating.)

I'd say, if this is not a wrong paper and if this does have some of your fingerprints in it, let this go. The adviser's decision to include you can be seen as insensitive, but can also be interpreted as fair. And for you, you can spend time and effort to get the name off a paper (which is probably not going to hurt you if left untouched.) And yet, when all the dust settles, you will find that you have not moved forward a bit. If you do feel so angry and upset, use that energy on your work and write something that you can truly be proud of.

I agree with those who have recommended that you drop this matter--in the broader picture of an academic career, it is probably not worth the bad feeling that you are creating (even if that is not your intention) by fighting this matter which, although quite major to you, is probably relatively minor to your advisor, and perhaps to other co-authors involved.
That said, I also agree that it is your right to refuse to even be mentioned in an acknowledgement if you feel so strongly about it. I had an article where, for reasons of political conscience (nothing personal against any of the co-authors), a research assistant who actually merited co-authorship refused to even be mentioned in the acknowledgements. As some of the other answers have pointed out, this caused an ethical dilemma because I am obligated to acknowledge substantive contributors. Finally, I resolved the issue by mentioning this in the acknowledgements: "We gratefully acknowledge the indispensable contributions of an anonymous research assistant." This respected my research assistant's desire for anonymity, and yet satisfied my conscience that I was not failing to acknowledge his work.
If you still feel so strongly about this, you could ask the lead author to ask for a revision of the acknowledgement. Depending on the journal publishing process, it might or might not be feasible to make the change, but I recommend that you request the change directly by asking the lead author, not by contacting the journal directly--the journal most likely wouldn't make the change apart from the lead author's consent, anyway.