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What would go wrong if we were to implement the following education system in universities?
I think, in our current education system in universities, there are lots of problems, some of which are listed below, and I think we are wasting lots of time by repeating (possibly a worse version of) the same course each year. That is why, I have the following solution, and I'm curious, what flaws does this system have.
Problems:

For example, in some departments, some of the courses are given by the same faculty each semester/year because there is no one else to offer that lecture, or only a single faculty wants to do it. However, after some time, the way the lecturer teaches the subject becomes "sloppy"; s/he does not make enough effort to explain the topic clearly. I guess, after some time, they also get bored from teaching the subject, and they just read/write their notes.
Even the lecturer makes great effort to teach the subject clearly, sometimes the way the lecture thinks does not match with the student's, which makes harder to understand what the lecturer is trying to explain. That is why, for a specific course, most of the students decision to take the course depends on who is teaching it.
In a lecture, given a question, the solution is given to student without student having enough time to think on it by himself/herself; for example, you give a theorem in the lecture, and explain why it says, what are its implication etc., and then you just prove it. Another example, you just demonstrate the gyroscope in the class, and then explain them how can we analyse it. However, this kill the creativity in student, because you just show them how to think without letting them search for how they can think in such a case.
In a 14 week semester, after 5th or 6th week, there is at least one midterm each week, and directly after the midterms, there is 2 week final week. I think any professor, or student is well-aware that in a week where there is a midterm (even if there is only one, which is not the case most of the time) the attention of the student are diminished toward the courses, and most of them anxious etc.

For these problems, I have the following education system, and I think it would be a great system to have in a university. However, the idea is not unique, and I do not know why it haven't been implemented before. That is why, I would like to ask what problems would arise in such an education system ?
System:

For each course in the department, there will be form a committee consisting of people working in similar areas and the department chair/advisors. Then 3 different member of the committee will be chosen, and their lectures will be recorded; of course, the content will be determined priori to the recording by the committee. Then the recordings will be revisited by the committee. Mistakes will be corrected if any etc. These 3 lectures will be used in each term for the actual classes; there will be no classical lectures, only the online recording which has been recorded only for once. Instead of lecture hours, there will be more office hours, by taking appointment individually from the instructor/TA.

By this way, each terms, the student will have to choice to follow one of the 3 lecturers online recording, which is not something we current have as students. Moreover, department can be sure that the education level given each term will be the same throughout the department. Moreover, student will have the chance to follow the lecture in the pace that they are comfortable.

Since for each course, there is no lecture hours, in a single term, a department can possibly offer more courses; for first and second year course, even student assistants can help about the office hours.Moreover, for each course, there will be an online from where students can ask/answer questions, so that, you can have to answer the same basic question again and again; you can just refer to the corresponding thread as a first answer. If they don't understand again, they can come and ask.

By this way, before coming and  asking a question, student have the chance to think themselves, and discuss with their friends. Moreover, by using the from, student will have the chance to answer their peer's questions, which is something most of the student don't have such a chance in the classical system.
3.There will be one a single midterm in the middle of the term and a single final exam for each course. There can be some homeworks (at most 4 in a single semester), but those questions should not be some exercises in the book; they have to have an original in most of their content.

This is sort of a Pandora's box. We could just as well ask, why does a course need one assigned textbook? For that matter, why do we need a book/course at all, why not just tell the students what concepts they need to know and let them learn them as they see fit? Why not have a set of standardized tests that allow people to earn degrees remotely for free? While some of these might (or might not) be a good/better idea than the current system, we are where we are.

@cag51 Well, if you just say we are where we are., to all of the problems's of the system, I do not think after some time, most of the countries' education system will be dead.

Perhaps you are too young that thinks you could change a really big and solid system easily... BTW I don’t agree some of your points like midterms are motivation killer or similar things about exams. If your intention is really learn something you would learn it even from bad lecturers. But unfortunately at least 70 percents of UG students’ intention is to get a degree and find a job and that’s it. They don’t learn anything in classroom not because of bad lecturers but mainly because of their wrong attitudes. You probably disagree my comment but that’s what it is.

@AloneProgrammer The only thing that I disagree with is that "your intention is really learn something you would learn it even from bad lecturers"; when the lectures is bad, not the fact that s/he reaches bad that affects me negatively, it just kills my motivation, and I get bored from that subject.

@AloneProgrammer By the way, just because the system is "solid" and big, does not mean that we can't chance it. If that was indeed the case, we are all going to die because of climate change, since the way the world works just a "big" and "solid" system.

@onurcanbektas glad you made that insight. I'm already taking swimming classes to be prepared for the climate change!

@onurcanbektas - my point is more that there are a million possible things we could change, each with pros and cons. While I'm sure there exists some "complete overhaul" that would indeed be a net improvement, I just don't see the point in discussing it here -- there are those who publish on exactly this topic; our amateur speculation will not add anything. Indeed, "broad, open-ended, or primarily opinion-based" questions are considered off-topic here; I would instead focus on things that we personally are in a position to (help) implement. Peace!

Sorry, but it will fail. I suspect, miserably. Your first "problem" implies the impossibility of your first "solution", in fact. But it is worse than that. I think you have the wrong idea about what education consists of. You seem to view it as "efficient  information delivery and occasional testing". It isn't really about that. Wikipedia and any good library have all of the information already pretty well packaged. Testing (especially twice a term) is really only good for sorting people into grade "buckets", not for educating them.
In order to learn, a person needs to engage with the subject and reinforce that learning. Taped lectures don't really encourage engagement any more than streaming movies does. It is fine for the moment, but not for true learning. Testing does too little to encourage real reinforcement, especially if it is at such long intervals.
Instead, the current system is supposed to provide an environment in which a student can explore a subject with a professor and be individually guided when necessary. Taking away the ability to ask questions is a big issue. Making near continuous feedback both ways nearly impossible is a killer.
Your "system" would advantage a small (perhaps infinitesimally small) subset of students and disadvantage everyone else. People don't learn by seeing once. Many don't learn by "seeing" several times. It takes more. There are many learning modalities (the term of choice) but for most, the learning actually happens in doing various appropriate exercises and getting feedback on what was good and bad.
I'll note that many video courses have a terrible completion rate. Those that can stick it out to the end may learn something, or not. It is difficult to say and there is no real follow up.
While it is true that the ideal suggested above for university education isn't always met, it is still preferable to be able to have a relationship with someone who has been there before and who can guide you.
If your personal learning style is compatible with what you suggest, there is no reason that you can't actually implement it for yourself, even in the context of a course. For much of the "content" of an undergraduate education, multiple sources are available. The stated curriculum can be your guide to what is important, but you can get the "content" anywhere. Getting the skill, however, takes a lot of discipline if you don't have the goad of regular assignments, nor the feedback about how you are progressing.
As to your second suggestion, again, the courseware is available for a lot of things as long as they aren't very advanced. You can "take" a lot of courses by self study. There is no real barrier. But for advanced material, the expert may well be the only available source as the market may be too small to justify the expense of your first solution for arcane, but important, ideas.
If you want to positively change the problems you see at the start of your post, then work to improve the training of university teachers. Not all have been trained to do that and may be valued more for research than teaching. There are well known ways to improve things in the classroom. The mismatch between how the instructor teaches and how the student learns is a big one. Lecture, IMO, is a failure in many situations as it is, like video, too passive. An Active Classroom can be much more effective.

I'm a double major student and in my 3rd year in both programs. Since I have started my education, I have had nearly 10 professors who come to class and just write his/her note to the board. Do you really think learning is just seeing someone explain things to you without you even having think on it ?

By the way, in my freshman year mechanics/electormagnetism courses, I did not attend a single lecture, but followed the video recording of the previous years' professor's lectures. I completed the lectures with 96.5 - 98.5 average; When you are willing to do it, I think it can be done.

Of course, I can self-study, however, midterms are just motivation killers, and unfortunately there is not a limited time in the semester breaks.

Plus, some professor does not even provide a syllabus for the course, so I have to attend in order to know what is being taught.

Two ideas. One is that you may be an outlier on learning modalities, unlike the bulk of students, so the standard thing doesn't work for you. And no, I don't think that what you are describing is normal or should be allowed to happen. But perhaps you are at a top level (say R1) university in which only research is valued. Some places handle that well by having a separate faculty for undergraduates where the real  job is teaching. But not all do. As my update states, lecture is a terrible way to teach.

I don't deny that you have targeted some real problems. Some of them I consider to be malfeasance. But it doesn't have to be like that.

The flexibility to be able to change a syllabus during a course is important. Perhaps you were over ambitious when you wrote the syllabus. Maybe what was taught in the pre-requisits changed last year. Maybe just by chance this years class picked some up quicker than last year's, but something else much slower. I think the ability to adapt the teaching to the class is at the heart of the point Buffy is making.

@IanSudbery "by chance this years class picked some up quicker than last year's" I do not think this is by any chance. Most of what I observed is that, one of the lecture that prerequisite of the current one was horrible when the last years was taking it, so they didn't understand the material, hence they are slower than in this course.

Some elements of what you describe is known as "the flipped classroom", and is indeed currently fasionable with a section  of the progressive education community in the UK. Instead of your extended office hours (office hours are not usually a thing in the UK), lectures are generally replace with problem solving and "activity" based classes.
It can be successful, we have a very successful catch-up math module in our department run along these lines. I even toyed at one point with running a masters exactly along these lines - basically students would be paying for one-on-one tutorials about an online MOOC.
Proponents argue that while it shouldn't be the case, most lectures actually are treated as static content delivery mediums, and in this day and age there are more efficient ways of doing this. Buffy about suggests that "the ideal suggested above for university education isn't always met", i'd go further and say that actaully its rarely met. To be fair, its hard for " a student can explore a subject with a professor and be individually guided when necessary" when there are 250 hung-over students in your class. (also note that however much you extend office hours, your not going to see 250 students indevidually, without an expensive and difficult to quality assure army of TAs).
However, my own experiments with flipped learning have shown that if you ask students to watch a video lecture before coming to an activity class, at least 50% of those that show to the class won't have watched it, and only 50% of those that should come will have shown. The rest presumably think that watching the video the day before the exam is enough to pass (hint: it isn't). Even those that come to both don't seem to take things on as well as those taught in a traditional manner. Perhaps its harder to given a video your full and undivided attension than a real life person. Of course all our lectures are videoed, and some students choose the videos over the real lecture anyway.
In thoery videos should be usable from one year to the next, and so this should cut down on the work by lectuers. However, it turns out that preparing a video class actaully takes quite a lot more time that a live class (particulalry if you have someone else review them and suggest changes), and this probably outweighs the advantage. This is important as most lectuers already work about 50% more time than they are paid for, and many are continually on the edge of failing to cope.
In the end I suspect that those lectuers who put insufficient effort into their lectuers would put in sufficient effort into their videos. A lecture can be a lively engaging, and interactive experience when given by a skilled and chaistmatic teacher, while a video given by a bored resentful researcher is going to be just as much of a turn off as the lecture is.
Finally, you'll never get departments to record three different versions of a lecture. Firstly I'm pretty much the only person in the department qualified to teach what I teach. There is one other person who could teach some of what I teach, but they already have more than enought to do, and for the rest there is no one who understands it well enought to teach it. Same goes the other way around, I don't have a good enough grasp of what most others teach to teach it myself. Secondly it would be seen as a waste of effort - when there aren't enough hours in the day already, doing something three times seems like unneccsary effort, even if you could find three people who understood the same material and could come to an agreement on which parts of it should be in a class.

First of all, the recorgins will be done, and it will be used every year. So you just have to record it once for the whole department. Secondly, even if there is only a single person who could teach the subject, if this system is adapted in many universities, you could share your recording with another department where they share theirs with you, so that, you have now 2 video recording and etc.

About why will record the lectures; have you seen courses in ocw.mit.edu ? I'm not attending physics lectures in my department not anymore, I just watch them form there if there is, or just study by myself from a book. Indeed the teacher who is recording is energetic, charismatic, and puts enough effort to those lectures, it is much better than a classical lecture, because I don't have to finish each lecture in one sit. I can divide a single lecture into 5 parts, and between them, I can ask/answer to my questions.

There is quite a literature on the effects of lecture capture on student attainment and results are controversial. Some studies (e.g. Leadbeater et al, 2013, Computers & Education 61, 185) find no negative effect, or a small positive effect for particular users (e.g. dyslexics), while other studies find that lecture capture damages attainment (Edwards, M.R. & Clinton, M.E. High Educ (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0275-9) for most students. While I won't question their usefulness to you, you must realise that we must design courses to aid the majority.


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Graduate course taken during undergrad: counting them for the course load in Phd
I'm an undergraduate student in Turkey, and am planning to do my Phd in US/Canada/Europe.
I've taken various graduate courses from my departments - Physics and Mathematics - in following status:
I enrolled to course, but it status was NI (not included), which means I didn't take any credit from the course, and it's grade didn't affected my GPA.
In this case, when I start to my Phd, is it possible to count these graduate courses toward the course load that I need to take during my Phd ?

As a side question, if I had enrolled those course in the normal way, i.e took credit from the course, and it's grade affected my GPA, could I still make them count for the course load that needs to be taken during my Phd ?

Possible duplicate of Finishing the physics graduate curriculum as undergrad

This will really depend on your PhD program, there are no general rules for such things.

I'm a bit confused about terminology here. In the US, "course load" typically means the courses that you are currently taking, not those you have taken in the past that might support an application. I think you may mean something different.
However, graduate courses taken in the past will almost certainly support an application. But they may not reduce the number of courses that you need to take within the program you are accepted into. Some programs (not all) have actual credit hour requirements. If you have taken certain courses, you won't be required to repeat those (most likely) but would substitute other, more advanced courses or seminars. Sometimes, however, it is appropriate to re-take a course you've already had if there is some assurance that it is at a higher level than the one you previously attended. Some programs can be quite flexible and others not. Some programs, in fact, only require that you pass certain exams and write an acceptable thesis, with no course requirements at all.
So, the correct answer to your query is "it depends". But most likely the decisions won't be made in some fine-grained way. Acceptance into a doctoral program depends on an overall analysis and a decision that you are a good candidate with high probability of success in the program.

In this particular case, since the OP seems to have audited the grad course (in NA parlance), they would have no chance of being accepted as credit at the new institution. And, with no record of how well they performed, they will need to take them again if they are required courses. (If they did well, of course, that class should be easy and not take much effort).

@JonCuster I took a letter grade from that course; it is just not included into my overall GPA.

Most likely the key issue is your knowledge of the topic. If you can pass a final, pass an informal oral exam, etc.  Obviously courses can vary in difficulty and students in how much they learned.
Depending on the school, it might lighten your overall course load or they might expect same number of total courses to be done, with you enriching by taking something else to replace what you validate.

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Why should a P.I be motivated to write a strong LOR even if that means losing a undergraduate from his/her lab?
Suppose, you are the head of a lab, and there is a particular undergraduate in your lab that you want them to continue working in your lab while doing their graduate studies in the university you are working.
You know that the student wants to go abroad for their graduate studies, but if they can't, they will stay where they are (in your lab).
And they ask you for a letter of recommendation for their graduate studies.
Why should you write a strong recommendation letter for them, even though you know that it will increase their chances of going to another university for their graduate studies?
Note that, I've read this question.

Answers in comments and discussions about ethics have been moved to chat. Please read this FAQ before posting another comment.

When I am evaluating a research group leader, one of the most important things I examine is where their former students work.  If their former undergraduates have moved to PhD programs at excellent universities, that makes the group leader look like an excellent mentor who teaches their students well.  This improves the group leader's reputation and helps them recruit new students.
A savvy letter writer also knows that a letter which literally says "This student has excellent achievements x, y and z." implicitly says "I am a good supervisor for helping the student achieve x, y, and z."

But, the student will not be listed anywhere as his/her former undergraduate ? Do people list their former undergraduate somewhere ? I only saw that for their current undergraduates/Msc/PhD students.

@onurcanbektas They should.  Not everyone does.

In many grant applications undergraduates are still considered although usually given less weight than graduate students in the evaluation of the CV.

The most brilliant answer ever read, thanks!

One of the types of people that evaluate group leaders is future students.  Any student interested in working with any PI should (and some actually will) ask the PI's other students how happy they are, and verify for themselves how successful the PI's current and former students are. A PI that gets a reputation for being a jerk will find it much harder to hire competent students.  (You did ask your PI about their former students before you agreed to work with them, didn't you?)

@JeffE. Of course I did (not really; in my case, I chose me P.I  according the my self evolution of the job that they were doing, but of course, before joining them, we talked one-to-one about what can I do with them, what are they doing, how are they doing etc.).

Professionalism.
There’s also some measure of self-interest in that a good student moving elsewhere will enhance the reputation of the original group with other researchers and with other students.  In particular I note that students talk and if it were broadly known that a PI “torpedoes” good students then the likelihood of recruiting good students would nosedive dramatically.

This answer is good balance between self interest and professionalism.

Recruiting can be a benefit as well, students (and professional peers) could recommend someone based on the perception that they value their charge's growth and career progression.

This brings to my mind a wisdom that may roughly be expressed in English as "great people (in the character/personality sense) surround themselves with others whom they help grow. Small/mean people surround themselves by others whom they keep down/small."

@cbeleitesunhappywithSX what is the original of that quote?

Because not doing so is extremely selfish. I don't own the student, and they should be free to pursue their own career goals. If those goals involve studying elsewhere, that's disappointing, but it's still not mine to sabotage (as not writing a strong recommendation letter would be) the student.

Note the question is in the "Why...?" form...

The PI should write a reference truly reflecting the skills of the student.
The reference should not be "dumbed down" or "over egged", both practices are incorrect both ethically and professionally.
If this means the student moves on, then so be it. There will always be other students.
It may also mean that the student comes back in the future or they end up collaborating in the future.

This doesn't answer the question. To me, the question asks why, not what.

The way most people are answering is based on ethical reasoning (which I don't disagree with), but some of the OP's follow up comments / questions make me wonder if OP is contemplating whether doing the "nice" thing (which supposedly have negative short-to-medium term consequences) might actually have longer term consequences, or not.  I think the answer is: failure to write the LoR in this case is actually a bad idea for the professor.
By refusing to write a LoR, the professor in question believes that they are more likely to keep a potentially useful grad student / employee; writing the LoR makes this less likely.  So, doing the thing that helps the student achieve their goals seems to hamper the professor's.  However, I'll argue something much different: the pragmatism of niceness (or, at least, perceived niceness), which some of the answers (Zero's; Sandra's third point; Lecter's third para; and Peteris') have alluded to, but I think is worth stating straight out.
If we re-examine some of the assumptions in the professor's argument (or, at least the one I'm imposing on them), there's the notion that the lack of LoR makes it significantly harder / less likely for the student to move on.

Having a LoR from a well known professor with whom you have worked is nice, but not the be-all-and-end-all.  In the post linked to  by the OP, answerers were arguing the the student in question should go get other LoRs.  So, the professor's refusal to write one is not a deal breaker for the student's efforts to move on.
Also, the professor has assumed that failing to get a LoR will not impact the effort the student puts into leaving.  There are lots of folks (myself included) that would make it a TOP priority to ditch a boss that treats me like that.  Lastly, even if the student doesn't leave, the professor has not (apparently) thought about how failing to write a LoR will impact the student's desire to put time and effort into the job.*
Plus, let's be honest; the professor can try to attract another student, right? The loss of this one is probably only a temporary set back in that the professor needs to start the process to get another student.

So, I question how effective this lack of a LoR is for the professor's future benefit (i.e. keeping a well-motivated student to work in the lab).  Then there are the potential negative consequences for the professor.
If word gets out about this attempted sabotage, the info would have to get to potential applicants, before they would choose not to apply into this program.  But, this can happen; it could negatively impact the climate of rest of the lab (who, if annoyed enough by this or other bad actions, could tell potential new students).  Additionally, the professor could develop a bad reputation among colleagues, who will be less likely to send new students to him. (Let alone any other consequences, such as de-prioritizing collaborating with the professor, if the reputation gets worse.)
So, I will say that it is actually in the professor's best interest to write the LoR. The benefits of trying to keep the student are probably less than the professor thinks, and the negative consequences are probably much worse.
*Just to cut off any arguments about how no-one owes a LoR to anyone else:  Wanting someone to stay and work for you, but being unwilling to write a LoR for a similar position is a major red flag to me; it smacks of the employer/professor failing to see the employee/student as anything other than a means to an end for the employer/professor.  It would be different if the employer was getting ready to fire the employee, of course.

Also, making the student stick around for their Master's/PhD may actually be counterproductive in the long run, because it likely forces the student out after their PhD. Unless the local academic culture tolerates people staying in the same group from their undergrad all the way to their independent career ("academic inbreeding"), keeping a doctoral student means sacrificing a likely much more productive postdoc or faculty.

First of all, people who choose working in science tend to be decent non-selfish people. Those who are selfish or not decent prefer other occupations. Professors will submit good recommendation letters just because it is the right thing to do.
Second, a professor's salary does not depend on whether his student leaves his lab or not. Professors usually have a permanent position and a fixed salary. There is no direct selfish interest for a professor to keep his student in the lab.
Third, connections and collaborations matter a lot in science. It is often to a professor's advantage to let his student go abroad. The professor can, for instance, indicate his former student as a suggested referee for papers submitted from the lab and can also reach other people via his former student. The more talented the former student is, the more beneficial the connection will be.
Fourth, undergraduate students are generally less valuable than they think. Professors generally encourage and praise them, but the reality is that undergraduate students know almost nothing, cannot write good articles, consume a lot of time and energy of their supervisors, make mistakes in research calculations, etc. Many professors see working with undergraduate students as a duty rather than something beneficial.
For the above reasons, almost any professor is highly unlikely to submit a weak recommendation letter if he is able to write a strong one.
If you are worried that this might nevertheless happen, you can make the following steps to reduce the risk:

Prepare a draft of the recommendation letter and say something like, "I have prepared a draft, and you can modify it in any way you wish." Professors are generally very busy and have neither time nor energy to carefully write strong recommendation letters, but, given a draft, will usually just make stylistic corrections and sign/send.
Carefully choose people whom you ask to write a recommendation letter. If you work in a lab, you may have a few people to choose from. Choose decent people who have neither envy nor strong interest to keep you in the lab. The usual situation is that you have a head of the lab and a mentor, who is subordinate to the head of the lab. Make a wise choice between the two. Consider their human qualities, possible selfish interest, etc. If you make a few different applications, ask different people to write recommendation letters for different applications so that no one will be able to spoil all applications of yours.
Promise to collaborate in the future. Tell them that you plan to build a great career and will always be helpful and thankful. Tell them that after you move abroad, they can indicate you as a suggested referee for papers submitted by them. Promise to be a very friendly reviewer. Say and do everything to ensure that people see your departure positively.
If the recommendation letter has to be sent by email, consider asking to include you in BCC. Just say that you want to be sure that the letter is sent. It will be hard to refuse such a request, and if it is refused, consider asking another person to write a recommendation letter. Analogously, if the recommendation letter has to or can be sent by ordinary mail, consider asking to give you the signed letter. You can then just put it in an envelope, write the professor's address as the sender's address, and send the letter by mail. If the letter can be sent by fax, just get a signed letter and send it by fax. The idea is that if the professor knows you will see the letter, he is unlikely to deliberately weaken it.

Pre-preparing a reference and giving it to my supervisor would have got short shrift... So, that is obviously very much location specific advice.

@SolarMike I worked in Germany, Australia, and Russia. In all these countries, preparing a draft is a standard practice. The Russians even have a special slang for a recommendation letter draft prepared by a student: рыба (fish). A typical dialogue: Student: Мне нужна рекомендация (I need a recommendation letter). Supervisor: Без проблем, только дай рыбу. (Okay, just give me a fish).

@SolarMike In Russia, a "fish" is considered to be needed for two purposes: First, it saves the professor's time, and second, it eliminates the possibility of the student later blaming the professor for writing a letter that was not strong enough. I myself submitted some recommendation letters for students, and I always asked for a "fish." This approach makes both parties happy.

German and Australian professors tend to not ask for a draft themselves, but are generally happy to get it from the student if he politely gives it and says that it is just a draft that the professor can completely discard or modify as he wants. I myself never faced a negative reaction when I gave recommendation letter drafts written by me.

First of all, people who choose working in science tend to be decent non-selfish people. Those who are selfish or not decent prefer other occupations. - I'm not convinced that scientists tend to be more decent than people in other professions, though I agree that most scientist (as well as most people) are more or less decent.

@Kimball People don't become scientists to earn a lot of money. There are much more financially rewarding occupations that require similar skills. Those who choose science tend to be less selfish and more idealistic than average people. It is my overall impression based on my experience.

Rather than giving a draft of a letter, give a bulleted list of talking points. These points should be examples of accomplishments, tasks or performance measures related to work you did for/with them. These points will ideally be different and more personal than things on the CV. The prof can then write the letter using these talking points.

@Sandra They don't become scientists to earn a lot of money - but they may become scientists to gain glory or some other potentially selfish aim.  As Kimball says, most people are decent; scientists or not.  Are you saying that you notice scientists of your acquaintance as being noticeably more decent than non-scientists?  That is not my experience.

@MartinBonner Yes, scientists of my acquaintance are more decent than non-scientists of my acquaintance on average. Or, to be more exact. I find scientists of my acquaintance to be used to do right things just because they are right things to do. I have never heard any ideas about falsifying research data, misrepresenting data, deliberately writing a bad referee report, etc. The worst things I saw were just exaggerations of things in grant applications. Non-scientists tend to be much more ethically flexible, so to speak.

@MartinBonner "They don't become scientists to earn a lot of money - but they may become scientists to gain glory." Most scientists I worked with had no big ambitions and knew they would never win a Nobel prize. They just tried to advance their narrow fields of research by solving some small problems. They simply enjoyed working in science and had no big goals.

"4.If the recommendation letter has to be sent by email, consider asking to include you in BCC." That seems a strange idea. The basic point of references in industry, or recommendation letters in academia, is that they are independent of the person they refer to. Being required to share a copy reduces the process to the level of "giving feedback" on Ebay or Amazon, or "likes" on Facebook.

@alephzero But in my experience it worked. Almost everyone whom I asked to write a recommendation letter had no difficulty including me in BCC or giving me the signed version to let me send it. One guy, however, said no, and then I found someone else instead.

@alephzero Furthermore,I believe that if a student asks a professor to write a recommendation letter, the student wants and expects that the recommendation letter will be positive and strong. Nowadays many positions and stipends are very competitive, and a strong recommendation letter is usually a must. If the professor is willing to write a strong positive letter, he won't have any difficulties sharing this letter with the student. If he has such difficulties, it is a red flag. The student should then find someone else to ask to write a recommendation letter.

I'm German and IMHO a student should never offer to write a draft letter of recommendation (or Arbeitszeugnis) as that could terribly backfire - they should be prepared to do so in case the professor asks, though.

@MartinBonner: one other such potential selfish aim being power. I've heard someone give that as the reason why they took a professorship after being in an industrial management position...

@alephzero: at least for Germany and Austria, so-called Arbeitszeugnisse (letter certifying what you've done and how good you were at it) are common, and they are always given to the (parting) employee. So in these countries, a LoR may be seen as rather similar to such a certificate. Legal requirement for that, btw, is not independence but truth and benevolence (ill-will due to the fact that someone is leaving or the cause of that is not allowed)

The  proper interaction with the letter writer vary by country, profession, academia vs. non-academia, etc.  In STEM fields, US,  an academic recommendation is practically always confidential. If you apply to graduate school, the application site has a box that you check to waive right to see the letter. Every student who has asked me for a letter (about a dozen a year) has checked the box. I would regard it as mildly inappropriate for a student to request to see the letter, no matter what reason they give.  Confirmation that LoR was sent is now handled automatically by submission sites.

Your peers will read them
The audience for your letters of recommendation are your peers who are leading other labs in your field. If the letters they get from you indicate that you're sabotaging your students (and they'll know, they're as experienced as you or more and they know all of the nuances of this process), well, then you'll gain a reputation in your field for sabotaging your students.

Because if you did not write the recommendation letter to the student, the student will become upset and most probably you will lose them anyway.
It is better to help a student, as this is what you should do. Besides, if you did not help them, you will end up losing them anyway, but with bad-terms.

You are describing one of the many conflicts of interests which can occur in academia.
While in reality, most of the people might be selfish and not professional at this stage, the majority will still be and won't sabotage your future. Worse case they usually don't help you like in the other post you have outlined. I have outlined the possible reasons I have observed why a PI would support you independently of the conflict of interest:
Why? Because it shows that you are a good mentor who can not only support his/her own interests but also of the people around you. It is a sign of both personal and professional growth.
Depending in which country and at which stage of you career as a PI, some people will be interested to know if you have achieved this step personally. One way to show this is that you push these people to continue to work in the academic system and that your mentoring help these people to achieve even greater results.
Alternatively, there is another explanation which occurs in people who are already reached tremendous success. It also personally rewarding in terms of your ego when you see all the people you have mentored working in supporting all the ideas and work you have invested your life in to be carry on in the future. It shows that this topic or area of research is interesting and important. It increases your own importance and relevance for posterity.

The student's welfare is the only thing that matters.  No mentor should put his or her interest before doing what is best for a student. There is nothing to weigh. First do no harm applies to this situation.

Well, in the real world, the sentences using "should" and the ones using "does" generally not agree with each other, so what you are saying is not an answer; but I'm still thankful for the effort and time.

Several reasons (beyond being fair, ethical and/or a nice human being):

Their reputation (believe it or not, undergraduates also talk between the semesters and there are good chances that your behavior like messing up somebodies career because you consider them your slave discourages future students)
A good connection to one more team. Much easier to ask for a collaboration with the student as a PhD when you were constructive.
Maybe the student even comes back for postdoc after learning new techniques somewhere else

I'm a professor in a STEM field in the US, and I write about 10-15 LoR's every year, most of them for undergraduates who move on to graduate school.
What I have to add to the previous points of view is the "evolutionary" aspect of science. Science is a community effort: we stand on the shoulders of the previous generations, and our students stand on our shoulders. Their successes reflect back on us the professors (they become colleagues and collaborators, our prestige is enhanced by theirs, academic "parenthood" is a very fulfilling sentiment, ...).
Science is also a community effort in the sense that collaboration and exchange of ideas lead to better science and more successful careers (on average) for everyone involved. So, at the level of an entire area of research (say "quantum computing", or "algebraic topology") it's in the interest of every member to support the others.
For the same reason, fields populated with nice, enthusiastic and happy people have a chance to develop faster, given equal resources. And they attract more talent than fields with grumpy backstabbers and dictatorial bosses, because academics exchange not just technical ideas but also "gossip". It's like a village -- your reputation is made as much by what people (some of them your students) say about you casually as by the official LoR's.
In summary, on a larger scale, good and successful science requires a culture of support and collaboration. What if a place or an entire field has a toxic negative culture? There sure are places and areas of research where bosses are narrowly self-interested, torpedo their collaborators and competitors, perhaps even cheat. In the longer run, these places simply loose the intellectual competition, fall behind in creativity. Other centers, other paradigms, and other ideas will emerge, and the toxic ones are left to the side to shrink.

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text:
Does doing more than one undergrad research affect my Phd admission?
I'm a undergraduate Physics student, and also doing double major on Mathematics.According to my plan, I will both do undergrad research on both physics and mathematics more than once.
What I am curious about is, whether doing more undergrad research in physics or mathematics affect my Phd admission,and if it is, in which way ?
Of course, if I do some noticeable work on them, it will affect positively but what exactly I am asking is if all of the research will be on just "undergrad research" level?

In English, "research" is a collective/mass noun like "water" or "soccer" or "justice", not a countable noun like "paper" or "student" or "brick".  You can't do a second research; you can only do more research.  And this is a philosophical distinction, not just a grammar issue.

"Just 'undergraduate research' level" is misrepresentative.  Many masters theses are not far beyond what's within reach of a motivated undergrad.  Certainly you want to get strong results, but it's at least as important what impression you make on your research mentor, who will likely write a recommendation letter when you apply to grad school.

@JeffE The OP might be referring to an REU or similar as "a research" (not that this is correct of course). It does highlight how little such a research "experience" is really like doing research "for real".

@JeffE what I had in my mind was, taking 2 different "Research course", since in order to do undergrad research, you must first enrol it as a course, at least in my university.Therefore, when I said "doing a second research", I meant enrolling that second course, but still thanks for clarifying.I will correct that part.

If you want to get a PhD, your goal as an undergrad (in addition to learning as much as you can) should be to show your professors (who will eventually write your recommendation letters) that you have the qualities needed to succeed in graduate school.  These include, for example: curiosity, creativity, perseverance, a strong work ethic, and a solid grounding in the basics of the field (such as calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations, in mathematics).
What you don't want from a letter writer is something like: "Leth was in my class and got an A".  What you do want is for your letter writers to each share different anecdotes where you clearly display these qualities needed for success in graduate school.
One way to demonstrate these qualities is through a successful undergraduate research project.  But undergraduate research is neither necessary nor sufficient.  Two or three mediocre research projects is better than nothing, but not much.  One strong project is much better than three weak ones.
But there are other ways to impress your letter writers.  Maybe you do an independent study and really work your butt off, showing that you know how to learn on your own and that you have the passion and desire to make it happen.  Or maybe it's not even an independent study; maybe it's just a class project where you really deliver far more than what is required.  Your goal should be to make your letter writers more than happy to have you as a graduate student, if you were to apply to do graduate work with them.

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text:
How to cite the content of a zip file?
How would you cite the content of an archive file?
Inside this zipfile (141MB, if you care to download), there is a notes-file (in the split directory) which contains some useful information. It belongs to several papers, yet this information is a detail I have not found in the papers.
I previously asked at tex.stackexchange, where @Johannes_B recommended to better ask here. Google for citation archive etc. did not yield results. Or should it just be left alone and not cited?
As @earthling said

If you are unsure, cite it to be safe.

This relates to How should I cite presentation slides?, yet unlike that question, this data is publicly available and meant to be accessed.

Would the downvoter explain his/her downvote, or not?

@schester: If there is a canonical approach, it would be nice to avoid asking him about such a detail, but it is a good idea. (especially since he gave his email address in the notes and encouraged questions).

Trying to cite a ZIP file is like trying to cite a shelf in a library.

@DavidRicherby: The question was about a file inside the zip file. Do you have any suggestions on what to clarify (or not)?

Looks like what you are actually citing is the software (which happens to be zipped), not the zip file itself. Obviously, how to do this this depends on what citation style you are using.
The according to the APA style blog,

Use an individual’s name in the reference if he or she has proprietary rights to the program. In all other cases, create a
  reference as you would for unauthored works.
After the title, in brackets, provide a descriptor for the item. This helps the reader immensely.
If the software is available online, provide the URL rather than the publisher name and location

While the MLA Style Guide says

To cite software, use the following form:

Epi Info [computer program]. Version 3.2. Atlanta, GA: Centers for
  Disease Control and Prevention; 2004.
Intercooled STATA (for
  Windows) [computer program]. Version 7.0. College Station, TX:
  StataCorp; 2000.

Software need not be cited in the reference list if it is mentioned
  only in passing or is available without charge via the Internet (eg,
  shareware or freeware).

Whichever citation style you are using should likewise have guidance posted for how to cite software.
Edited to add:
Similarly, you should be able to find citation information in your chosen citation style for "citing datasets". Some examples are given At the MSU library site as well as other library sites. The APA, for instance (according to the above link) gives

Unpublished raw data from study, untitled work
Basic form:  Author, F. N. (Year). [Description of study topic].
  Unpublished raw data.
Example: Smith, J.A. (2006). [Personnel survey]. Unpublished raw data.

Further edited for second follow-up question:
The University of Oregon Library website gives some general guidelines for citing any sort of data source:

Citation Elements
To be most effective, a data citation should include at least the
  following elements. The utility of these elements will depend on the
  research discipline, source data center/repository, and data format.

Responsible party (i.e., study PI, sample collector, government agency)
Name of table, map, or dataset with any applicable unique IDs
Name of data center, repository, and/or publication
Analysis software, if required
Date accessed
URL and/or DOI/DOI link or other persistent link

Thank you. What if this is supplemental data with some code to make use of it rather than the software itself? (it does not have a name, neither a version)

@user Updated the answer to add more info :)

Is there a common practice for citing the file, not just the whole dataset?

@user Added some more generic info.

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text:
Is it appropriate to send an email to a professor at the end of the semester thanking them for their teaching?
I'm aware of very similar questions previously asked - all with good answers. These usually pertain to following up with a professor after a recommendation. My question is specifically about sending a thank you letter to a professor at the end of a semester.
My current semester is ending in three weeks and it has been my favorite semester by far. My professors taught their material really well and I was engaged non stop from the beginning of the semester. Among my professors, some assigned great homework questions, or lectured really well, or were very accessible during office hours. Overall, I had a great learning experience this semester and I want to express my appreciation because I haven't had a semester like this in the three years I've attended school.
I understand it may seem silly to question what is just a polite and appreciative gesture (I think it's silly myself), but I'm a little intimidated about the impression it will leave on my professors. I want to avoid the stigma of "teachers pet." For this reason, I've considered writing anonymous notes, but that seems creepy.
Kind of a light dilemma but I'd like some input because after thinking about it for a while I think it's an interesting topic. Thank you!

I think the vast majority of professors (and all teachers of all kinds) would appreciate a short, thoughtful note like this. No need to overdo it though. Even better, stop by their office hours and thank them in person!

Why would you want to do it? It's the professor's job to deliver great learning experience. The professor was paid for doing it.

@StudentT Do you ever say "thank you" to a waiter? Flight attendant? Doctor? Salesperson?

The professor was paid for doing it. @StudentT this may surprise you, but not everyone is driven by monetary rewards. Some of us find personal gestures very gratifying and they give us motivation to continue doing a good job in the future. (By the same logic, to answer your "why would you want to do it?", some students, and more generally some people, enjoy thanking people who helped them, regardless of whether that was done voluntarily or as part of a paid duty.)

I want to avoid the stigma of "teachers pet." You're out of high school - getting to know your instructors well in college isn't "brown-nosing", it's intelligent and (for instructors who teach topics that interest you) expected.  They've got the best contacts when you go job-hunting, and they're going to be the ones writing amazing letters of recommendation for you.

Such emails, when heartfelt and specific, make my day. If you're worried your message being misinterpreted (and I don't think you need to be), just wait until grades are submitted.

@StudentT Good thinking. Last Veterans' Day, I was going to thank my wife's grandfather for his service during WWII, but then I realized that my grandfather's tax dollars paid his wages -- so f*** him.

@Corvus That is a good recommendation, thank you. I also laughed out loud to your second comment!

My advice in answer to a different but somewhat related question is also partially applicable to your situation (especially the first paragraph).

You're overthinking this. You do not need the advice of the internet on whether you should send a thank you email.

In addition to thanking the professor, you might also let the department head know about the good job the professor did.

@ff524: "Do you ever say "thank you" to a waiter? Flight attendant? Doctor? Salesperson?" - Granted, it's not like not thanking at all, but I do see a difference between thanking a waiter/flight attendant/doctor/salesperson by saying "thank you" or something similar right after I've been served by them (the equivalent for professors being applauding at the end of each lecture), and specifically contacting any of them just to express praise (which I'd fine - beware, your cultural background might differ - completely exaggerated).

@DanRomik I hadn't seen the question in reference, probably because of different wording in the question titles, but thank you for the link! It is especially relevant to the sentiment I wish to express to my professors. Thank you!

@DavidRicherby Overall, invoking the thoughts of professors and students who have had the exact experience in reference has been very helpful for my comfort going forward with my original intentions. In this case, the internet was quite important.

@AdamPollack No, seriously. You do not need the internet to tell you that it's OK to say thank you. It's always OK to say thank you.

@DavidRicherby It's always OK to say thank you. Agreed! And it's also always OK to ask the Internet for advice about silly things.

The "teachers pet" concern would mostly be about how the other students view you, rather than how the teacher views you:  that is, "teachers pet" is a label put on a student by their fellow students.  Since it's a private email this is not an issue.  Personally i think that the "teachers pet" tag is only really a valid concern at high school:  any student at university who thinks of their fellow students in this way is extremely immature and you shouldn't care what they think.  Personally i think your professor would be very happy to receive a (short) "thank you" email.

Can't seem to add an answer, so I'll keep this brief: we always used to more or less shrug them off but then such emails were often clearly sycophantic. If you want them to receive recognition, write the letter to the chair of the department. If you want the professor to know your appreciation, come see them after grades are posted and thank them in person. And bring a coffee with you for them; professors love coffee.

In the academic culture I am familiar with, this is a perfectly appropriate and appreciated thing to do after grades have been released. (A letter at the end of the semester but before grades are finalized can look like an attempt to influence the grading process.)
I have received some emails like this, and I was very happy to receive them. They left me with the impression that the student is a mature, appreciative, and thoughtful person, not that he/she is somehow trying to be a "teacher's pet."

thank you! I hadn't thought about the timing of grades, but I think that was the source of my uneasiness. It's such a simple solution!

I have received emails like these, and even written thank-you notes. They are among my prized professional possessions! I am grateful for every single one.

@D.Salo written ones are by far the best. I actually hold on to those

It may also be good to point out which things made the course so enjoyable for you: this reduces the teachers-pet appearance, and it helps the teacher to realize what he did well (this is not always obvious from the first person perspective).

Just to echo Peter's point: "I really appreciated the way you...."

Professors are people too -- they appreciate if they are told "job well done, thank you!" emails. Most of us try to be good teachers, make the material and the way we present it, interesting to our students. It is nice to know that sometimes it works. So go ahead!
(The only caveat I would add is to wait until grades have been posted, so as to come over as sincere, and not as a backdoor way to curry favor in hopes of getting a better grade.)

I would personally go one step beyond 'they are human'. They are human and work in an environment where there is often very little in the way of positive feedback.

As a student (many years ago), in the US I had a similar experience with a professor who really inspired me.
After the semester was over, I went over to his office to have a chat with him to tell him how much I enjoyed his class; even though it was the most challenging course I had taken.
At that time, I thought writing an email or a note would would not be enough to express my gratitude for what he had done for me as a student and furthered the interest in the subject.
We ended up chatting for a while in his office where I learned a bit more about his background as well.
It is one of those moments that defined the rest of my career as I always continued to be inspired by the way he was able to distill his considerable wealth of knowledge on a very dry and difficult subject into engaging course material.

The reason I mention the above is that he and I were from very different backgrounds (culturally and socially) and I believe if you approach the issue with sincerity; the words in your note/email will not appear as those of a "fawning teacher's pet" but rather that of genuine thanks and gratitude; as I sense the hesitation that prompted your question may have to do with making sure your intentions are conveyed correctly to your professor.

As another alternative available at some universities, use the "regular" way of thanking: Thank the professor by submitting a favourable judgement in the semester-wise teaching evaluation. This has several advantages:

It will give the professor the same feeling of praise.
There is little chance this will seem over the top, or as an attempt at currying favour, as praising (or criticizing) where appropriate is the very point of the evaluation (plus it is anonymous, while still somewhat verified if the evaluation is normally only accessible to students at that university, possibly in that course).
The praise will also be visible among the professor's colleagues, and thus might be considered when looking for "best" (or at least apparently popular) practices.
The praise is aggregated, so rather than seeming like a one-off message, if more people voted favourably, that is a convincing indicator of general satisfaction with the teaching. Arguably, this is more useful for the professor to know than that a single student who bothered to write an e-mail is happy.

Actually, to do this one to a higher degree, just shoot an email to the department head or dean of students. I've had that happen twice because students felt I had gone out of my way to help them (I didn't think I had, but I digress), and it was very well received by the administration. Probably in large part because they normal field complaints, not praise, but I'd say they stood out in my department head's mind far more than anything said in my anonymous evaluations.

@guifa: That might be culture-/organisation-dependent, but I could imagine such an e-mail might either drown in the loads of e-mails the department head gets anyway (as it is not constructive of its own and doesn't require an answer), or the department head will actively suggest to the student to go through the regular channels instead, because positive responses in the evaluation will be treated as a part of the normal process, whereas praise "outside" of the normal channels creates extra work.

I suggest this might be additional to a thank-you email.  The professor may not get full details of individual feedback (though comments should always be passed on).  Also a direct email takes a touch more effort and thought than filling in something you're expected to fill in, and so carries more weight.

@ChrisH: I agree it depends on whether comments are indeed passed on, and possibly on how voluntary filling in the evaluation forms is. I'm still not convinced of the e-mail part; as implied in another comment, I'd wonder what is the actual goal of the student by behaving so weirdly (yes, that's what I'd perceive an e-mail simply written to express praise as, if there is a "regular" way to express that praise that is, for some reason, not chosen by the student). At worst, I might become wary of accepting them for any projects because they might be prone to choosing an inefficient path of ...

... action (in this case, spending effort on writing an e-mail instead of simply using the evaluation form).

I think this is dependent on the culture you live in. Where I currently live (Germany), I have the feeling that receiving such an email could be seen as an attempt by the student to suck up to the professor.

Upvoted; being German myself, I agree I'd have a weird feeling receiving such a mail with respect to any of my teaching - at least if it is an unspecific "thank you" rather than a concrete statement about some particular topic that helped the student achieve a particular goal.

I am german (and currently in Germany), and I don't really feel this way. If someone bothers to thank me because they want to, they will bother to write a nice reason for why they do it. (Like "I liked how you did this or that.) If they did not do that, then they maybe only wanted to suck up to you. It all depends on the wording (and, if I have more knowledge about the habits of a specific student maybe on that, too).

Maybe my above comment needs to be qualified with some context: I am referring to settings where students are largely anonymous towards lecturers, there usually is no direct contact from students to lecturers within or related to lectures. As such, from the lecturer's PoV, a general thank you mail would essentially be an unsolicited message from a stranger who claims to have attended a given lecture (no way to check this, as there is no registration for lectures) and who starts praising out of nowhere. This is barely distinguishable from certain forms of spam and raises some red flags.

@skymningen I should have been a bit more careful with the wording of my answer. I didn't mean to say that I think: "students who write thank-you notes are just sucking up to their professors." As a matter of fact, I can easily imagine a situation in which some might quite honestly feel grateful and just want to express that. What I meant was that the receiver of such a message will often not care much about it (at best) or be suspicious of it. And of course, I should further qualify this by saying that I don't think that everyone in Germany will feel that way, but I do think it's common.

@skymningen And I agree with your notion that the wording of the note might have an influence on how it is received. Again, I should have been more clear in my answer, especially about all that's hidden in the word "could".

Thank you for your insights. I think it's interesting how responses differ culturally!

While an email note might be appreciated by many professors, I feel that there are a large number of professors who do not regularly communicate via email. If you have communicated with the professor via email before, then email can be a fine medium.  However, sending an email can be quite impersonal and the teacher may have difficulty putting a face to the name if it is a large class or the teacher isn't familiar with you personally.
The best way to thank a teacher is to do it in person (e.g. during office hours).  If you want to show an especially appreciative gesture, you could nominate the professor for recognition (e.g. faculty awards).  Really, though, professors appreciate seeing their students learn and hearing about what they liked in the class. So, if you could communicate why you especially liked their class, that would be quite welcome!

"I feel that there are a large number of professors who do not regularly communicate via email." Really? I don't know a single one below the age of 80 who does not use email daily.

@Corvus I know one--a very famous one in CS, actually. http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/email.html. Since 1/1/1990, at that time he was 51, he has not used Email any more.

@Corvus you must not know very many professors.

Gefei, good point; Don Knuth is a famous exception.
@farrenthorpe, having been one myself for 15 years, I would have thought I'd know a few by now.

@Corvus yes I've been one as well and worked at 4 universities... and there are many professors out there who do not regularly communicate via email. MANY.  Not sure what you stand to gain by posting a sarcastic/snide comment on someone else's experiences.

When asking questions such as these I have learned that the best approach is to BE YOURSELF.
If you want to say something nice - say it.  If you want to do something nice - do it.  Don't worry about the repercussions of being nice.
I had the same question at work.  After my first Christmas bonus from the owners (it's a small company) I wondered if it would look like I was sucking up if I thanked them.  I asked HR and she said she thought it would be appreciated.  Using the e-mail they sent to tell me of the bonus I replied to all and didn't hear back from any of them.  I asked again the next year, replied to all again, and heard nothing back again.  So, if they don't respond to my gratitude does it annoy them?  I hadn't heard of anyone else doing it and they never said anything to me about it.
The next year I decided that I didn't care if it annoyed them.  I wanted to say thanks because I was thankful and I feel it is a good to express those feelings (regardless of the circumstances) - it's who I am.  If they don't like it then that is on them.  Being (sincerely) nice, in my opinion, is never inappropriate.

I agree with most of the other answers that it would be appropriate to send a thank you note if you liked the lessons.
Now as a teacher myself, if I receive a thank you note I would also really appreciate to read what it was precisely that made the lessons so good. Knowing what students like in my lessons certainly helps in doing exactly those things again when I have to give the same lesson again next year.

I just today received a very nice set of chocolates for the teaching I did this year. Small tokens of gratitude really go along way in fostering good teacher student relationships and as Maslowe would tell you being appreciated makes you feel good.

Personal discussions are always more lovely, and I always remember when a student tells me they loved my teaching/class etc in person.
However, in an age where student evaluations of teaching can make or break a new contracts/promotions etc, emails can be quite helpful for lecturers in having written feedback beyond the traditional qualitative student comments.
Any email a student sends me I keep a copy in a feedback folder. That way, if/when I go for a job, or a promotion, I can use it as additional supplementation. That might sound horrible (I know) but it can be really helpful when a lecturer can show qualitative feedback on their teaching from students who took time to say so outside of a mandatory (or not) anonymous survey.
So depending on where you are, an email might be better received, only in that it can then be kept and used down the track as evidence for good teaching.


text:
Changing some part of the paper after getting accepted for a conference
My paper got accepted in an A* CS conference, however, the reviewers criticized several points and suggested many others. They suggested improving the method by adopting and involving other approaches which need implementation and other further evaluations.
I agree with the reviewers on some points and I believe this would make the paper better. Consequently, the paper will be really different from the original submission. Since it is a conference and there are no further review rounds, I am wondering whether I should modify the paper (part of the method, result and maybe conclusion) based on the comments of the reviewers.

Unclear. It seems you are going to write another paper. Also in my field submitting a paper to a conference means submitting an abstract, so I don't understand if acceptance refers to you presenting your results at the conference or really a proceeding must be sent along. Normally these are separated processes.

In most (if not all) CS conferences, authors submit their entire works (similarly to journal submission).

Ok then following author recommendations is required. Likely the paper will be sent to referee again. I would personally point to the editor/conference board  that following the referees resulted in a substantially different paper too. According to the description you made, I suppose the title can be different too.

I am wondering whether I should modify the paper...based on the comments of the reviewers.

Yes you should. Acceptance was (most likely) coupled with an expectation that you'd address some or all of the comments. The reviewers (presumably) consider their comments relatively minor, since they'd have rejected otherwise, and are trusting you to make sufficient changes (that they won't check).

But these changes will change the paper completely, including its conclusion and experimental results. Your confidence increased my doubt.

Consider the reviewers' perspective: They accepted and proposed changes. Surely this suggests that the reviewers want changes implemented, otherwise,  changes wouldn't have been proposed.

I think it is unusual that reviewers want changes to conclusions and experimental results, since this seems like a major revision, which would merit a second round of review. But, with the information you've provided, I cannot possible know, whereas the reviewers do.

I must agree with @user2768. It is best if you honor the reviewers' comments and implement them. They have accepted and suggested you make those change. Also, bear in mind that these reviewers are senior researchers in your field with whom you will have further interaction in the future. If they find out that you ignored their comments, this will leave a negative impression on them! (and you don't want that!)


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How to balance authorship roles when my contributions are substantial but I am evaluated on last authorship?
I am a senior researcher in computer science, and I am applying for associate professorship positions. The evaluation of my last application was positive overall, except for the concern that I am not listed as the lead author often enough. According to the committee, they interpret the lead author as the last author, which typically signifies the senior supervisor role. In my 45+ publications, I first authored more than 60% of them.
In my role, I supervise multiple students and research staff, but most are not pursuing a PhD and aim to move to industry. Their work often involves small, independent contributions that I combine, significantly enhance, and then write up as full manuscripts where I typically list myself as the first author. This feels appropriate since I do most of the work and writing.
However, this pattern seems to conflict with the committee's expectations. Even if I wanted to credit another as the first author, it would be challenging to pick a single student when the paper is the result of combining several small efforts.
Given this, what is the best way to proceed with manuscripts I already wrote to align better with expectations regarding senior authorship? Should I rethink authorship strategies going forward?

"This feels appropriate since I do most of the work and writing." This is not what a professor should do so, though, right? Rather , they should be delegating significant workto students and podtdocs. It’s unclear to me whether you want to fix the presentation of this mismatch, or the mismatch itself. Can you clarify that?

@MisterMiyagi We cannot force an employee who is not willing to pursue a PhD to conduct more experiments and write manuscripts. If they do it, it would be of course great because less work for me and more publications. At my organization, researchers (and researcher assistants), including myself are not required to publish neither to pursue a PhD but rather complete the tasks of the acquired projects. For master students, it is even more critical because publication is not part of their graduation. Delegating such a task to them is literally "exploitation" unless they aim to stay in academia.

I guess it's probably field dependent, but equating "last author" with "lead author" feels pretty bizarre to me. I mean sure, it can be that the PI comes up with the project, sets a student to work on it, and gets a last authorship as a result, but not all research fits that mould. Sometimes the student first author is the one who came up with the idea and the last author professor is just someone who contributed to it.

Do I guess correctly that these people looking at your CV are not, primarily, from CS, but from a variety of fields? Or, alternatively, from applied CS?

@Yacine It's one thing that you and your students are not required by your current institution to focus on publications as a group. But it does not change that the institutions you are applying to expect you to focus on publications as a group. So my question remains - do you want to fix the appearance of this mismatch, or the mismatch itself?

@Yacine why would "Here new student, read this, understand the work that Alice did before she left the lab, then talk to me about improving it, and finally write it up in a nice paper" exploitative? That would be a very useful learning experience for the student, who'd also get a paper out of it (you could even have them be a co-first author with the departed Alice). It seems like a win-win to me, what am I missing?

@terdon they wrote that "publication is not part of their graduation" and "unless they aim to stay in academia", so seems like OP is supervising non-research-track master students?

@MisterMiyagi   "This is not what a professor should do so, though, right? Rather , they should be delegating significant work to students and podtdocs."  This is one thing I think is wrong with academia today. Successful professors might have many simultaneous PhD and postdocs generating tons of publications. If the professor does not do significant work, except giving the working guidelines to phd students and postdocs, then why is he/she on the list of authors?

In mathematics the list of authors is alphabetical. Generally only people contributing significantly to the content of the paper are in the list of authors.

Since the committee was clear on their concern, where is the difficulty on clarifying to them exactly what you explained here, on how the order of names has come about?

Given this, what is the best way to proceed with manuscripts I already wrote to align better with expectations regarding senior authorship? Should I rethink authorship strategies going forward?

Whenever I mentor younger researchers (towards tenure evaluations, etc.) I emphasise that one should not look at individual detailed metrics and optimize against them specifically, but look at what deeper construct these metrics are supposed to capture. When your committee says that'd expect more papers where you are last author, they, in all likelihood, don't really care so strongly about you having ticked off some boxes in their evaluation form. What they are concerned about is that your publication list demonstrates skill in conducting your own research and integrating smaller contributions of others, but not so much in advising others in their projects. That's a reasonable thing to be concerned about when appointing an associate professor.
In consequence, your approach to deal with this problem should not be "how can I mangle my authorship orders going forward", but "how can I demonstrate these skills in the best way". If you simply start randomly listing your undergrad students and research staff first, your committee is likely to pick up on this and inform you that, no, this was not what they meant. You will need to find ways to (co-)supervise doctoral students for a longer period, so that you can demonstrate your ability to lead the research of others. For example, some people I know at institutions without PhD programs have developed stable relationships with colleagues at other R1 institutions, helped them co-supervise students, and got long-term advisory experience this way.

That's a valid point; however, papers authored by collaborative students at other universities are typically last-authored by their primary supervisors. Currently, I have two PhD students (paid from funding that I acquired) who require a full professor as their main supervisor (as only professors are eligible to officially supervise PhD students), and these professors also expect to be listed as the last authors on their work.

@Yacine Maybe look for some collaborators that are more understandable towards your situation and more willing to share the last authorship? For example, whenever I co-supervise with somebody, my expectation (and what I offer if I'm first-supervisor) is usually that the primary supervisor would be the last author on the first publication, and then the supervisors would do swapsies for last place. I've observed this from more senior academics who used to be my supervisors, so I try to follow their practices in my own work too.

@Yacine My deeper point is to not fuss too much about the specific item "last authorship", and more what that might indicate to an evaluator (lack of experience guiding others). If you can (demonstrably) fix the latter, the lack of the former will become much less of an issue.

Your answer describes the way things SHOULD work, but unfortunately, I've seen some committees be overly literal with this sort of thing. Given that they told OP in so many words that they want to see more last-author papers, it's safest to find a way to get more last-author papers, in my opinion.

@user1149748 well, YMMV. My experience in three different countries has been that committees are usually only nitpicky in cases where they have deeper concerns - if the overall impression is very positive, much can be overlooked. But if it isn't, it's easier to say "checklist item 13.3.c not fulfilled" than "the supervisory experience of the candidate overall does not seem sufficient".

Just to second what xLeitix said, but perhaps put a slightly different spin on it.
You've basically served two roles on the papers you have author - you have devised, directed and had strategic oversight of the project, a role generally associated with last authors, and you have done most of the actual writing and integrating, a role generally associated with first authors. Your committees are tell you they care more devising, directing and oversight of projects than your ability to technically do research and write about it.
I can think of several practical ways forward. You might list yourself last, and then leave a note on the authors list that  authors are listed in alphabetical with the exception of the last author.
You might list yourself first, but mark yourself as corresponding author. In my field marking the corresponding author is to select them as the "senior" author.

Since obtaining my PhD, I have been the corresponding author in all papers I first authored. I think I should emphasize that in my CV.

First author, and corresponding author can mean different things. This too can be field dependent.

@Buffy Indeed, I'm sure it is field specific. In my field the corresponding author is the last author by default, but you can add a special note to say the first author is the corresponding author.