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Students with informal dress code and drinks during lectures - How to deal with it?
I have been involved in teaching in an university. However, I find the following few behaviors of students (all Undergrads) inside my classroom slightly unpleasant:

In my university, some of the male and female students come to classroom with shorts and informal dress code.
Students drinks tea, coffee, and such stuffs (not water) during class hours.

I don't find the above two behaviors quite formal for academic teaching. I do allow them to use laptops and tablets for learning purpose. This is probably, because, I have never been in such an environment. However, the university has no issues with it. Though few of my colleagues have non-supportive views on this, nobody raises voice or take action.
This disturbs my class as I feel that students are not attentive and I feel demotivated to discuss the topic that I had been lecturing diligently about. Till now, I have never spoken about it with the higher authorities and I don't want to go against such a thing, as they might think of me as foolish and backward.
My questions are:

Should I discuss about my self-designed regulations for attending class where these two things is not allowed?
Should the students take it positively? What if they complain about me to the administration office?
And, once I do it, if someone does not follow it, should I throw him/her out of the classroom?

Any advice on this would be really helpful as the lectures would be starting in few days.

I don't get it. How does drinking something other than water disturb the learning environment? Same for informal clothes? If the university does not have a dress code, I don't think you have much chance of enforcing one without getting into serious trouble.

I don't find the above two behaviors quite rational for academic teaching Why? What is the specific negative effect on the transfer of knowledge? Aren't you the one being a bit irrational? Is there any other reason except your own feelings and you finding it slightly unpleasant. Also: Coffee would probably help me follow the lecture, why forbid that?

Would the country of your university be relevant to the discussion?

@AntonioVargas probably not just country of the university, but also the country that the OP is from (or studied at). Dress codes/norms no doubt vary amongst universities and countries.

Voted to close because the OP does not explain why they think that wearing clothes and bringing drinks are "not rational"

At least some students in the back row didn't have a pizza delivered to them during class! No, this never happened to me, but I was told it happened in one of my colleague's classes, this being about 12 or 13 years ago. On the other hand, I have had students essentially eat an entire meal in class (and not just a snack, which is actually fairly common), such as a Subway sandwich with a drink and chocolate chip cookie.

As a student who has had professors like you who think that informal clothes and non-water beverages are a problem... I have to tell you that you are making enemies. I care less about lectures where I have to follow a set of arbitrary rules set by a professor, especially regarding drinks. I can understand no food (smell, noise distraction, etc.) but drinks? There is no difference between drinking water, soda, coffee, etc., so I have no idea where this notion came from. And if your university doesn't actually have rules about these things, you are going to get yourself into trouble.

There certainly is smell coming from coffee and certain tees. But I wouldn't mind it as long as student's let me refresh too during my 3-hour lecture.

@VladimirF Oh yes. Me too. But, its too annoying when you are deriving a long proof over the whole blackboard and the students have a straw in their mouth and sipping their coffee sip by sip.

@Coder After decades of programming, drinking coffee is a trigger for engaging my brain and concentrating, to the extent that even decaf helps me focus. Sipping coffee, for some of your students, may indicate they really want to understand your proof.

I have taken coffee into many lectures at conferences. They seemed academic to me.

The problem must be somewhere else. When I was working with students, we did not have a dresscode and they were allowed to drink whatever they wanted to.
This did not interfere with my teaching, I did not even notice that.
I would also not expect that anything improves by forbidding them to drink or by forcing them to wear special clothes.
You might rather think about the underlying issue why are YOU annoyed by this? What can YOU do against it?

(You did not provide any argument how informal clothes and the consumption of beverages negatively affect your lecture, so this answer might be speculative. Also this question might be a case of a XY problem.)
I think you are not seeing the real problem
I think the problems you are having with your lecture, but unfortunately not mentioning in your question, are real, but you are looking in the wrong direction. You are misled by your convictions and stereotypical attribution, looking for something to blame that stands out in your eyes.
Assuming your class is loud and unattentive. Actual reasons for this might be:

you are not talking loud enough
you are presenting material in a boring or very unorganized manner
some bad behaving students are disturbing the class and you did not enforce silence or order

Any of these lead to the "good students" giving up on listening and doing something else, like being on Facebook and slurping their coffees. You turn around to the class and see them talking and see them drinking coffee and being in shorts and assume that this is the reason. The confirmation bias in your brain becomes active and you think: "Those coffee drinking, shorts wearing, rowdies again! If only they stopped wearing these clothes, they would immediately become attentive and model students!".
...but you should

Ask yourself what a typical person wearing shorts and drinking coffee is like in your opinion and how it negatively affects your lecture? This might help you identify the actual problems you have been ignoring.
Check if this behavior is really occurring in your lecture, e.g. "students talking loudly during lecture".
If it is: Act on it!

Make rules that prohibit this specific behavior.
Announce them.
Enforce them.

If it is not: Leave it be! Your only concern is to give people the best possible education, not tell them how to dress.

Efore you go making any rules about dress code and beverages, check university rules. You don't want to get in trouble by forcing students to obey rules that are not officially university rules.

(You didn't say where you are, so this is assuming you are at a Western university without an established dress code)
This is a really bad idea.
There are so many concerns:

Dress codes should be designed at the administration level, with advice of counsel. There are so many possible landmines related to cultural sensitivity, medical conditions, and sexism. Indeed, universities may have policies prohibiting professors from making their own dress codes (or will create such policies when they find out about this).
Students may need to eat/drink during class for medical reasons, may overheat easily, or may have cultural/religious reasons for dressing as they do. Putting these students in a position where they need to share these requirements (esp. medical information) with you is unseemly, and opens you up to charges of discrimination (even if unwarranted).
How will you enforce this? Are you going to measure pant length or inspect water bottles? Some cases will be clear cut, but for fairness, you would need to punish all offenders.
Can you enforce this evenly? For example, if you are only ejecting female students and overlooking male students (even if unintentionally), there will be issues.
Students will resent this. Even reasonable, well-established dress codes (e.g., closed-toed shoes in chem lab) lead to friction; students will chaff if you are imposing (as they see it) unnecessary, burdensome, and paternalistic requirements.

Some may be sympathetic to your concerns (e.g., that well-dressed students are more motivating), but policies like this would better be implemented at a higher level rather than ad-hoc according to every professor's personal preference.

authors: Vladimir F Героям слава


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Struggling with Lab Dynamics and Mental Health
I am currently pursuing a master's degree and I am one of two students working on one project. This project takes a team science approach to answering a question, which normally one would find invaluable. However, this dynamic has proven to be more of a strain than a benefit. Rather than a healthy partnership, this feels like a competition and I am constantly walking on eggshells around this other person. In theory, we have two separate theses with differing questions and paths, but it is not turning out that way in practice at all. Sometimes she asks questions about topics related to my thesis in her committee meetings (without asking me about it) and she has creative input over parts of the project I am working on while I am excluded from other facets of the work. It is to the point where the faculty see us as a unit. Presentations I have made for class have been skipped over because this other person did a similar things and work I do is often dismissed by partners. It makes me feel like I am not worth the time, to be honest.
Furthermore, due to unfortunate circumstances beyond anyone's control, I was the only out of the two of us capable of doing field work and other tasks this past summer (during a pandemic to boot). This put a huge strain on me in general. I am starting to feel like this other student is getting a free pass (is this feeling even justified?!) They present the work others have done at meetings and get acknowledgements for it. It seems highly inequitable, but all of this is disguised under 'team science'.
Trying to accomodate this other person is putting a huge strain on my mental health. I feel like I can't do anything right, have no creative liberty or ownership, but also no guidance at the same time.
I have not brought up all of these things with my advisor. I don't want to be the one to cause drama, but I am at the end of my rope. I have thought about leaving the program multiple times over the last few months. So with that in mind, some questions:

Am I being overly sensitive? Is this a normal part of graduate studies?

Should I just let this all go and move on enough to get that diploma in hand and call this a wash? How can I deal with the mental load?

Are there any helpful resources for dealing with this kind of thing?

Thank you so much!

I think asking your supervisor for a dedicated timeslot alone is probably in place. Develop a script of what you want to say and request and focus on realistic things. Is it credit? More input? All this assumes that you brought up some points with your "partner" before, without results. So, that would be a precondition to such a meeting. Don't make it a drama, concentrate on the factuals. You have a right for your work to be presented and for you to get credit on your work. Aren't you properly credited? If so, that's a point to bring up in that meeting. Factual, not emotional.

Is this a normal part of graduate studies?

No.  Good research management would clearly delineate each person's responsibilities and assign appropriate credit.
However, nothing is normal this year.

Should I just let this all go and move on enough to get that diploma in hand?

The purpose of a masters degree is for you to learn.  Focus on that.  You are not in a competition with other students.

How can I deal with the mental load?

Consult a licensed mental health professional if you feel distressed.

The auto-button to suggest to talk to a mental health professional which I regularly see on SE is not really helpful here. There is a real (not internal) reason why OP is stressed and that needs addressing. I didn't downvote, because there are some useful aspects in the answer.

@CaptainEmacs It is highly inappropriate to suggest that "internal" reasons for being stressed are not real reasons.  That's like suggesting cancer is not a real reason to be sick if it is not caused by an infection.  Furthermore, if someone is struggling with mental health for external reasons, or even due to a cause which is no longer present, they can still benefit from expert treatment.

I do not always disagree with that advice, but I find that the suggestion is made far too lightly at SE so  it feels like a generic cop-out for a problem that needs a specific solution. For a drastic example: When somebody is drowning, they need to be removed from the water first, before finding out whether water is in the lungs.  OP has an acute problem, and fixing that is what they need. Before advising treatment, remove the cause. Otherwise, "learning to meditate" and "get a 'don't care' attitude" is probably equally or perhaps even more valid advice.

@CaptainEmacs First, if you assume someone is having a mental health crisis because of the behavior of an academic colleague (may or may not be the case here), then I would strongly recommend consulting with a mental health professional before severing ties with the colleague because the mental health professional might have advice on how to protect ones self during the process of severing ties.  This is quite different from drowning.

Second, people experiencing mental health crises cannot be expected to be able to figure out the cause of the crisis accurately.  Hypothetically, they won't know if they are being mistreated or if they are delusional.  A mental health professional can work that out and advise accordingly.  That is also not like drowning.  Mental health professionals do provide acute care and in some cases they do remove root causes.  Equating mental health care with "attitude" change is wrong and harmful.  That's like suggesting someone who is drowning needs an attitude change when they need a lifeguard.

TL;DR
Start by talking to your advisor. Especially if you feel like you are past the point where you can talk to your colleague.
Resolving conflict professionally is the exact opposite of "causing drama".

I think there are some good points in Anonymus Physicist answer, and I will repeat the first bit of his answer here:

Good research management would clearly delineate each person's responsibilities and assign appropriate credit.

What I want to add to this point, however, is that many academics never set out to do management, they set out to do research. Research management becomes a necessary part of the job; academics got training in research, very little in management.
I would say that an important characteristic of a good adviser is that they want to facilitate a good research atmosphere. So even if your advisor is not the best in research management, keep in mind that they might not have gotten an opportunity to learn to do it well  yet.
Ideally, you would first try and resolve this with your colleague. But that might not be possible (any more, in this situation, or for any other number of reasons).
I also notice that you are using (my preferred) term advisor rather than supervisor: it implies that person is somebody that can give you professional advice (from experience) rather than supervise (your day-to-day research activities). Go ask your for advice from your advisor.
The reason you give for not talking to your advisor until now is:

I don't want to be the one to cause drama, but I am at the end of my rope.

You seem to have a conflicting situation with your colleague and peer, which is clearly impacting both your research/study performance, and your mental health. If you already feel that you are past the point where you can try and resolve it directly with the other student, the advisor should help mediate the situation.
A lot of (at least research and academic) interviews nowadays include some variation of the question "How do you deal with conflict?" It should not come as a surprise that "I keep it all in until I can't take it any more." is almost equally as bad as "I shout at the other person until they submit."
A good way to deal with conflict is to be objective and constructive. When you go have that conversation, bring in specific points and propose solutions:

When you do presentations in class, she always goes first because her name comes first alphabetically (or whatever), and since she introduces the topic most of the discussion happens following her presentation.
Would it be possible to reverse the order of presentations (e.g. alternate between alphabetical and reverse alphabetical)?

Because of circumstances (hopefully, your advisor knows this reason), you took up the brunt of what was supposed to be joint field work last summer/semester. This left you with comparatively less time to focus on the research itself.
Is she able to do some analysis, sample sorting, sample labelling, or other work that might benefit both your projects. Ideally, something on the data that you collected. Real team science -- everybody benefits.

You do not have the same opportunities as your colleague to get additional information about the project, and have creative input over it's direction (as you are not invited to the same meetings).
Could you both get invited to the same meetings? Alternate between who presents your project? Or have organised discussions (with or without your advisor) where you share what you learned that might be of interest to both your project. You may also use these meetings to decide on the respective directions you want to explore next, to avoid overlap.

The advisor might ask you whether you brought this up with the other student. Ideally, you would have. But, if you haven't, you should offer a good professional reason as to why you didn't.
Perhaps you have tried initiating discussions about your project more generally with her previously, which has not been successful? Perhaps this is why you feel you can not communicate efficiently with her, and are asking your adviser to help facilitate a conversation? Perhaps you actually want to try to talk to her first, but you would appreciate some advice on how to do it professionally first?

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sort: votes


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Submitted humanities PhD applications (US) but concerned with potentially wrong documents submitted
I recently applied to a few PhD programs in the US. Perhaps because of my drowsiness due to working late, I wasn't paying full attention when I was checking my documents (statements of purpose, personal history statements, writing samples) for the last time prior to final submission. I only thought of the possibility that I might have accidentally swapped some documents after submitting my applications.
The reason why I am even concerned at all is: I didn't name my documents with the schools I'm applying to; I only placed them into folders named after the schools. There is program/department but not school information on the heading of each of my documents, so if I had submitted something wrong, people might be able to notice through the heading. I have tried to email/call two schools' admissions, but I have not received any helpful responses or, in one case, any response at all. The schools that I'm trying to contact don't provide application proofs through their online portals; in other words, I can't directly check what I have submitted.
My question is, would committees contact you if they notice there might have been a swapping mistake in your applications? If not likely, should I keep on contacting the admissions despite having received no response?
Thank you for your time and interest!

Is it possible you're overthinking this?

It is very possible... But at the same time, I have been prone to making such mistakes even with my best intention, so I have to wonder...

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No response from Journal even after 3 Months of submission
I had submitted a manuscript to an Elsevier Journal in February 9, 2016. Usually it takes time of around 1 week to get the manuscript number assigned something like XXXX-D-16-XXX and status changes from "Submitted to Journal" to something else like "With Editor".
However, after waiting for 1.5 months, it didn't change and no number is assigned. Hence, I mailed to the Elsevier support. They replied with as usual "we forwarded your query to journal manager...". I waited for 15 more days. I mailed again. No reply from journal side. The mailing happened 3-4 times with follow-ups and remainders, but, it was only from my side. Still no response from Journal.
I also sent mail to chief editors very politely and waited for status to come from their side. But, after 10 more days of waiting no response came.
I sent final mail stating that "We are withdrawing our manuscript."
Is this type of behavior expected from reputed publisher like Elsevier. One research student can't waste 3 months of time biting nail to get the manuscript number or a response.
Please do help with your suggestions? What should I do? Should I submit to another journal? Please note that I have not yet obtained the confirmation of my manuscript withdrawn from the journal.
This is not a duplicate question. I searched thoroughly academia.SE before posting question.

This is a completely different questions as suggested by you sir. I have asked question about withdrawl of paper from journal in such situation. I didn't ask about the process flow of journal which I know already being reviewer of few top journals. @jakebeal

Can you please refine your question then, as I am unclear on what you are asking.  The possible-duplicate link answers your question: "Is this type of behavior expected from reputed publisher like Elsevier?" (No).  As for: "Should I submit to another journal?", how else can you get your paper published if you have withdrawn it?

Sir, the problem is I have not yet get confirmation of my withdrawl message from the journal side yet. The Elsevier support told the same thing again "We are forwarding mail to journal manager..." and I am sure the journal will not reply. Should I submit the paper to another better journal? @jakebeal

Did you talk to the editor-in-chief of the journal directly, or just the Elsevier support?

Yes. I have mailed directly to the two chief editors. But got NO response. Moreover, the status date and the status remains the same. I had also a communication with "Manager of the Journal Manager", but same reply "you will get reply from Journal Manager..." which is of no help. Thanks.@mdiener

From the title alone I initially thought "I find myself lucky if I hear about acceptance/rejection in anything less than 6 months, so 3 months is nothing", but upon further reading I don't think I've ever seen a paper stall at such an early step, and to receive no response upon inquiries about it.

This situation is indeed not normal, and it sounds like you've hit your tolerance limit with this particular journal.  You've done your best to communicate, and now your paper has been withdrawn even if the journal has not recognized this fact.
Why do I say this?  The fact is, that until you've signed over a transfer of copyright to a journal, the paper is not theirs.  In the typical Elsevier publication process, you don't sign that transfer until much later, so your manuscript is entirely yours right now, not the journal's.  As such, you've withdrawn it and should do whatever you wish with it at this point (i.e., submit it to a better journal).
Now, it's possible that this problematic journal will do something else strange at this point, like send it out to reviewers despite the fact that you've withdrawn it.  If that happens, though it is not your problem.  If that happens and you find out about it, then hey, they've actually communicated with you, and you have another excellent opportunity to remind them that you have withdrawn your paper.
The only possible ethical problem is if they send it out for review, you get the reviews, and then you reverse your decision to withdraw the paper: then you would be changing your situation to having effectively done a parallel submission (to this journal and wherever you go next), which is almost always considered improper.  Stick by your decision to withdraw, and you are fine.

Dear sir, I can't express how much relaxed I am after this answer of yours. Yes, I "will" stick to my decision. I understand the publication ethics and COPE guidelines.

You don't want the journal saying that you didn't properly notify them of the withdrawl. You should make every reasonable effort to inform them. To be safe, make sure to notify them in multiple ways i.e. use all the possible contact points. (email multiple addresses, call them, send them snail mail, create another submission that just says the previous submission is withdrawn) Ideally you should be able to prove that you withdrew the paper if anything ever comes up.

I have done a lot of time, sir. Let see what happens. @Thomas

This is a very surprising situation, and definitely not normal. Withdrawing the manuscript is the appropriate answer here.
I encountered a similar situation recently, and in the end, after 2 months, sent an email to the editor-in-chief to request that our manuscript be withdrawn from consideration. In our case, we got a very quick answer from the editor and a positive decision was made in less than a week. What had happened was that the journal was in the process of being sold to a new publisher, and this had led to problems with follow up and communication between authors and journal staff.

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Do academic journals check plagiarism against papers in student repositories?
I was recently checking one of my paper for similarity. However, TURNITIN checked the similarity against the papers present in student repository in its database. Surprisingly, the paper which matched 72% from the student rep is the same one which I had checked few days back. Now, the similarity comes around 81%.
I wanted to know, whether the journals check plagiarism against such student papers? Because, if they do, it will check against the same paper present in the rep and results will come out to be higher SI.

Depends on the journal, however such a check is easy to do, every student can implement a cross check in 1 2 weeks. The idea would be to convert the paper in xml and parse it with reference to a search engine.

I don't understand the first paragraph, can you rephrase?

How about looking into the text's parts marked as plagiarism and rephrase or fix them? Instruments that just saying that the text have n% of plagiarism without refs ought to be ignored, IMHO. There're many cases when technically text is the same, but the work is unique enough. Common phrases, area-specific template, an expression which is stuck in author's mind, part of journal's template, false-positive detections, no common way to define borders of citations, etc. This is just automated hints, only a specialist can state is it a plagiarism or not.

Why would you care? The real issue is whether your paper contains plagiarism or not. Remember, by the way, that plagiarism is "presenting the words and/or ideas of other people as if they are your own". Turnitin and similar systems are advertised as "plagiarism checkers", but that's marketing. In reality they check for text overlaps, but overlaps do not necessarily constitute plagiarism. Overlaps can appear due to heavy use of cliche phrases or extensive but proper citing of others' works. Yes, universities sometimes take these "plagiarism scores" at face value and can reject your submission without looking further. It makes sense, unfortunately, as high plagiarism scores in case of student essays/term papers/etc. almost always appear due to blatant copying.
Scientific journals and conferences, on the other hand, are supposed to do a more rigorous job. They can (and sometimes they do) check incoming papers with automated systems (since blatant copying happens in this world, too), but they really then must look inside and uncover the real reason of this high score. If you indeed present the ideas of others as your own, that's bad. Otherwise the editors might complain about excessive quotations or lack of original content, but that's another issue, not directly related to your question.

If the question is whether academic journals compare submissions to plagiarism databases, I've never heard of that practice. It is not common in psychology.

Actually, it's quite common for academic journals and conference proceedings to check submissions for plagiarism by comparing against large databases of material published in journals and in other places.  The most commonly used service is iThenticate, which is a product of the same company that does TurnItIn.  I would expect that iThenticate would detect whether material had previously been submitted to TurnItIn, but I'm not sure.

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How to read and organize academic materials
It's a questions that haunts me for some day. I am a phd in computer science and recently when I need to read materials of different forms and take note, I somehow don't know how to decide. With the research area of mine increases, I have to remember vividly more classic materials, or systemically build a way to review them. Currently, the materials include

Papers : only-mathematical wise, normally of pages 20-40, some are typically lengthy to 60 pages.
Classic books : 1) code/system wise, which I prefer to read on pc so I could probably code at the same time; 2) more mathematical wise, which I prefer to read on ipad so I could do derivation and take note.

The trade-off is that, the pc has larger screen and is more natural for me to read the books, while less convenient for me to take notes, especially for hand-written note. And it's even hard to collect the annotations and highlight on pdf reader. So I would like some sharing / suggestions / ideas of how to read materials(papers, books), organize and take notes ?
Notice that this is not a question about reference manager as Reference manager with note-taking/quote-storing capabilities, it's rather to balance the usage between pc and ipad for different materials and find a systematic way to combine the note-after-reading.

This differs between people, of course. But taking notes is probably the most important element. And do so in a way that will be preserved. I find that paper is best for that.

If you search for "a holistic method on how to deal with knowledge in your life", perhaps the Zettelkasten method might be something for you.


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Can I quit an already started Marie Curie Postdoctoral fellowship to start an assistant professorship?
I received a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship in Europe. Now, due to the institute's lack of equipment + COVID, it seems I will be able to do barely any of the things I had planned. I have been offered a position as Assistant Professor at an Asian International University of Technology.
Would you leave a European fellowship for a tenure track assistant professorship that has a 2+2 year structure?
What happens if you quit a fellowship for an assistant professorship?

What would a good answer address? Yes, you can do that. Whether it is a good idea really depends on the conditions of the assistant professorship (teaching load, possibility to get tenured, funding, ...).  No, nothing bad happens when you quit the fellowship; at most the people at the host institution might be disappointed (or mad, in case you openly lied to them), but they'll understand eventually.


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Can a highly experimental paper with potentially controversial concepts published on a preprint server (not in a journal) damage one's career?
Imagine a paper which has unconventional ideas which could be controversial. Does publishing it on a preprint server have the same negative career implications as publishing in a journal? Or is a preprint server actually an appropriate place to get feedback on this type of paper?

More like I think a commonly accepted model is wrong. Specifically, an application for a statistical measure which it normally is not used for. (Although it wouldn't challenge existing applications)

Why would "an application for a statistical measure which it normally is not used for" be controversial? What is the kind of criticism you expect?

I do not see how this could be answered without reading the paper.

Imagine a paper which has unconventional ideas which could be controversial. Does publishing it on a preprint server have the same negative career implications as publishing in a journal?

Yes, potentially. You are making your thoughts and beliefs about a certain subject known publicly. Depending on what those thoughts and beliefs are, this can damage one’s career even if done in a tweet, email, stack exchange post (hmm...) or any other medium of expression. A preprint server is no different.

Or is a preprint server actually an appropriate place to get feedback on this type of paper?

A preprint server is an appropriate place to get feedback on scientific work that’s maybe incomplete but is very close to being complete. Nonetheless, the potential for career damage if the work is of very low quality or reveals you to be a delusional or incompetent person still exists. If that is a concern, consider looking for feedback in more discreet ways.

... or writing it inside a matchbook cover and leaving it on the bar or ...

I think the issue of presenting ‘unconventional’ and ‘controversial’ ideas is irrelevant. The question is- what benefit or risks are involved when any paper is put on a preprint server.
Best case-you get solid feedback and your manuscript improves.
Worst case-your competitors get a chance to scoop you or prepare eviscerating review that perhaps could be used if said competitors are asked to review your paper.
Why not take traditional approach of sending preprint to your colleagues and adversaries officially, thereby getting their thoughts while also eliminating them as potential referees?

Worser case - people in your field that you want to hire you for a job in the future recognize you as a crank and avoid hiring you.


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Peer review process in a math journal
I am a resident of a 3rd world country in a south Asian country. I have completed my Msc in math from a place which is not well known for math. While an Msc student, I wrote a solo author paper on combinatorial group theory ( without any once's guide, completely myself).I submitted the paper to Journal of Combinatorial Theory series A. After referee's review it has been suggested to revise and submit the paper in an algebra journal. Then I submitted the paper to some algebra journal ( without revision) and it got desk rejection. I am not a native speaker in English and also have no experience of writing a research paper.Also there is no known professor of mine who works in this area. Now I have some questions...

Is it possible that my paper is considered as a crackpot ? I know that my writing is not up-to the professional level.
I am not belonging from a well known place and I am also unknown in research. Does this creat any negative impression ?
I am expecting to apply in graduate math program. Will admission committee take my paper seriously if I can not publish it by that time ?

You were suggested to revise and submit the paper in an algebra journal, then you submitted it to some algebra journal ( without revision), What was the reason not revise before submitting to the second journal?

Because I couldn't make any revision myself. I have no experience.

Why not ask your advisor for help? They at least have some publishing experience, right? I have read some math papers (about Cayley graph of semigroup) from a South East Asia country. I suppose you can find some local people to help you.

It is not related to graph theory ( It is highly related to group theory). I send my paper to an eminent mathematician in my country asking about some advice. He replied that he isn't an expert in this area and also said that there are only two people in my country who can actually understand the main theorem. Then I communicated with one of them but he never replied.

I suggest that you change the wording of your title. It's very generic and is less about the peer review process in a math journal, and more about publishing on your own when you're from a low-rank institution

My pet peeve as a reviewer is authors that ignore reviewer comments. If you were asked to revise the paper and did not listen, that's a desk-reject in my book. Part of the scientific method is the ability to improve one's work based on peer review. If you cannot do it for whatever reason, then expect a series of rejection.

Is it possible that my paper is considered as a crackpot ? I know that my writing is not up-to the professional level.

Yes, it's possible. Nowadays, proper academic English is the medium of communication in most academic papers (if you had lived 500-600 years ago you'd have needed to write in Latin); you need to conform to this standard before your paper has any chance of being published in a respectable venue.

I am not belonging from a well known place and I am also unknown in research. Does this create any negative impression?

I would like to tell you that only the content of your writing matters, and not your institution/rank etc., but that's unfortunately not true. While this varies between reviewers, I do believe that papers originating from well-known academic institutions are held in better regard. Of course, if you submit your paper to a respectable venue then it would be judged primarily based on its contents. However, the combination of improper English and unknown institution does not help.

I am expecting to apply in graduate math program. Will the admission committee take my paper seriously if I cannot publish it by that time?

That depends. There are plenty of places where you can upload a copy of your work for the public to see (ArXiv is one notable example). You can also try and publish it in a workshop on combinatorial game theory, so that you get a chance to solicit feedback and present your work. This will help get some visibility for your work, and perhaps signal to potential advisors that you are serious. If you send your manuscript to specific advisors you'd like to work with, and are in a position to judge the content of your work, they may look past the stylistic issues and see whether there's any potential to your work.


text:
Should I bring up minor writing errors that I noticed after submitting revised version?
I have received a decision letter on my paper from editor "I am prepared to accept this manuscript for publication provided that the authors perform some editing to improve the grammar throughout the paper" After submitting revised version, I have noticed a couple of minor corrections that need to be made with regard to writing errors after revision (One sentence was written twice and some punctuation mistakes). Should I bring these up now or just wait for the copy editing phase?

Does this answer your question? How to correct errors in proofs of an accepted paper

You should ask the editor who approved your paper about what to do. Resubmitting a new version might speed up their process or might make no matter. And, not all journals/conferences will have a copy editing phase in any case.
But leaving it unstated is just sloppy work and if it is recognized you might actually face rejection since the acceptance seems to have been conditional. Make your best effort.


text:
Found an error in the title of published article (A phrase has been repeated twice)
I have found an error in the title of my recently published article. A phrase has been repeated twice in the title. Considering that journal not accepted any changes what should I do about it?

There doesn't seem to be much you can do other than to take more care in the future, unless it was the publisher's error.

Did you contact the journal, or are you simply assuming they won't make changes?

If online only they will fix. Otherwise no action. If printed it will remain so. Errata and corrigendum are not for this thing...if it is online only see the answer by Richard Erickson.

Send the journal's editorial office a note and let them know.
I made the a similar mistake once with one of my first paper after the paper had been published online (the paper had a misspelling with one of the words and my department's admin staff caught when preparing a departmental highlight). The journal was happy to fix it, even though I had already returned the final version of the manuscript and they had published the article online. I suspect the editors did not want to have a typo in an article title in their journal.

Thanks very much. It was very useful.


text:
Need advice about a vague question on postdoc position search and post thesis submission dilemma
I am a veteran PhD student who have just submitted my PhD thesis and am waiting for my defense. The defense is to be scheduled for the end of the year (end of November). Due to lack of proper foresight and getting overwhelmed during the last year of PhD work, I have no option for my next career move.
I will be getting supported by my advisor till I defend my thesis. However, I am worried that I don't have enough time to get a position anywhere by the time I defend. I have started looking for positions and applying for them.
My advisor says that due to the lack of funds, she won't be able to keep me as a postdoc after my defense but she can support me for 4 months into the next year as a research assistant till I get some position. At the moment, I am submitting my papers, working on remaining projects. Also, would apply for fellowships.
My question is very vague, and is borderline panicked rant, and I apologize for it.
How should I effectively utilize my remaining months before my defense?
Is it possible to get and start a position within 4-5 months?
I am an international student and will secure a work visa after my PhD defense. So, there shouldn't be any visa issue.

You mention (the lack of) visa issues. Are you interested in positions in a particular country only?

If your defense is the end of November and you have support for 4 months of next year (through April?) then it seems you have a lot more than 4-5 months to find a job. You already said you've started looking and applying - good - what else can we suggest you do?

What kind of area is your interest in? Which job profile could you consider?


text:
How is it possible to buy and publish a Q1 paper?
A few days ago I saw an advertisement that claimed that they could write and publish Q1-Q4 (Q: Quartile) Research paper (with various prices e.g. 200$-500$) in less than 6 months and sell it to anyone (as the author of that paper) who wants a Research paper like last year PhD students, academic peoples, M.Sc. students, etc.
Q1: I wonder how it is possible that they are so confident that their paper will be published in less than 3-6 months?
Q2: How it is possible to buy and publish a Q1 Research paper?
Q3: Does this count as plagiarism?

What is a “Q1” paper?

@DanRomik I presume a paper in a Q1 journal, i.e., one in the first quartile of a certain ranking.

@DanRomik That appears on this site all the time.  https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/115120/how-is-the-scimago-journal-ranking-q1-q4-defined Were you asking rhetorically?

@AnonymousPhysicist no, it was a genuine question. I must have missed those discussions.

I didn’t know what it meant either.  No one reads every post here.

If you are contemplating buying such a thing. Stop. No, just Stop.

@Buffy: you mean me?

Well, anyone, actually. But your comment, below, about believing such claims had me a bit worried.

Thanks, But I never use that whether it is real or scam (It is against to my ethics). I want to stop them from scamming.

@DanRomik Q1 is the type of papers that some heads of departments demand from their researchers. Don't ask what that's to do with science, ask what that's to do with metrics.

Q1: we do not know. Q2: criminal energy finds a way [apologies to Jurassic Park] Q3: It's probably worse than even plagiarism (IMHO). Also, if you need data to write such papers, chances are these data are fake, it is difficult to produce good data in 3-6 months, even when just simulating/modeling. So, it may include falsification of results.

@CaptainEmacs, careful there. Good PIs with NSF funding do hire people to help them with the data and such. Not the same as this, of course.

@CaptainEmacs yes, agreed. Or perhaps the best advice should be simply “don’t ask”...

@Buffy OP says: "write and publish [...] sell it to anyone" - normally, a grant is given to a person with a track record for a given project. There is no evidence here that this is research directed to a particular scientific direction, there is no evidence that buyer needs to have any expertise or track record, there is every evidence that this is research without input by buyer, carried out on contract and "gifted" to the buyer. I think there is no ambiguity whatsoever here. It were differently if the ad was for a research contractor, but academic rules would have to be applied then.

@DanRomik Lucky the people who need to ask, that's all I am saying.

@CaptainEmacs indeed.

This sounds like a scam, so I doubt you'll get whatever they promise
It's possible (though unlikely and unethical) for anyone capable of producing the research to exchange money for an edited author list, but the problem of finding a buyer in the same area of your expertise is not trivial and probably doesn't make for a profitable strategy unless... See above
Absolutely yes. It's plagiarism to claim someone else's work as your own, even if you pay them for it.

But they convincing the applicant by showing the older customers paper.

And if it is a scam, so why no one complained after 10 years activity?

@C.F.G No one who tried the service would likely complain publicly for the fear of then being charged of academic misconduct by their university or community.

@C.F.G What stops them from taking any published paper and say they produced it?

@BryanKrause: By a simple search and following up using paper author, address, e-mail one can check their claim. But they don't tell the exact paper title and author name. Anyway, someone who is retired or is poor talented student can write paper and sell it.

@C.F.G You're going to follow up with the author "Hey, did you pay someone $500 to write this for you?" That's an accusation of major misconduct. "they don't tell the exact paper title and author name" - then they haven't shown you anything they can produce. I can't tell if you are just trolling here, but this is an obvious, obvious scam.

Anyone can write a paper if someone else has already done the research. This is called "ghostwriting". Pharmaceutical companies are often guilty of this (although it costs much more than $500 and the actual writer is still on the author list). But no one has go from zero to a published Q1 paper in three months, including coming up with the research topic, doing the research and submitting the paper. Its just not possible to do so reliably. And anyone who could would be a superstar academic and make much more than $500 for it.

@C.F.G Ask them for proof in the form of details about their older papers that are not available in the actual published paper. Not half written manuscripts (I could easily produce those out of Albert Einstein's papers), but something like raw data. If they send something and it makes sense (e.g. raw data that fits the published results), ask the authors of the paper to send you the same. If they are the same, they might tell the truth - or they asked the author for raw data as well, and got it. If they are not, you can uncover their lies.

@IanSudbery: I am agree with you about ghostwriting. But they write in any field and not just in medical field and pharmaceutical companies. For example, I called one of them for price and they told me that they done this (publishing Q1 paper) for a computer student for 500$ and also told me that their small company have a few ready to publish papers in hand in various fields!!

ghostwriting (writing for someone else?) is plagiarism?

Also to clear up some of this discussion about ghostwriting. My understanding of ghostwriting is the following scenario: a scientist does all the actual research, and can summarized the results in, say, a talk on their own. But they don't do the final writing, and pay someone just to write up the paper about their results (acceptable in industry perhaps). This is not the same as producing a paper, and in no way would it require 6 months. What the OP described does not sound like ghostwriting to me, it sounds like generating a paper from scratch and selling it.

There is just no way a company can produce a Q1 paper in any field, on-demand, without anyone already having done the research. In some fields it might be possible to fabricate results, but to do that well enough to get in a Q1 journal will be hard, and if you are spotted, you are in even more trouble. In things like CS, where you'd have to make your code available, I don't see how even that would be possible. One real test would be, are they will to wait for publication before being paid?

Ghostwriting is ethically unclear. By many journals definitions of "author", just writing the words is not sufficient contribution to be an author, and it is entirely possible to be an author without writing the words. Despite that, many would regard it as ethically dodgy.

Yes, certainly it would be plagiarism. And no one can guarantee publishing in a quality journal. So it is just false advertising. Let the buyer beware.
I also suspect that any buyer would be caught out.
But you can try to sell most things, whether it is ethical or not. Few laws would counter it.

But they convincing the applicant by showing the older customers paper.

@C.F.G that is their claim, but why would you believe scammers?

"And no one can guarantee publishing in a quality journal."  That's obviously wrong.  The guarantee can be "We guarantee we will publish in X or you get your money back."

@AnonymousPhysicist, hmmm. no, it is actually correct. You suggest something entirely different, thank you very much.

What do you think "guarantee" means, then?

@C.F.G why would you believe that they actaully wrote the paper they are saying they did?

@IanSudbery: Since it isn't impossible.

@C.F.G thats not how proof works. Just because something is possible (and I don't believe this is), does mean some who said they did it are telling the truth. If I was going to risk my entire future, I'd want better proof than just "it isn't impossible"


text:
Starting collaboration through first e-mail. Can it work?
I was an undergrad student with Professor X a few years back. Prof. X used to be a co-author in all the publications with Prof. Y. Prof. Y is very popular in the field.
Now, I am working in a university. I have keen interest to work with Prof. Y on a few problems of interest.
I have less idea on how to collaborate in such a situation where I don't have indirect contact apriori. The option that I have is to send a mail to him which looks as follows:

Subject: Request for collaboration -- Problem A and Problem B
Dear Prof. Y
Greetings!
I have learned about you from Prof. X during my works with him.
I have gone through your recent papers: [this] and [this]. I am good in Method1 and Method2 which could suitably address your problem.
My recent works can be found in [this profile link].
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
me
--
  [my signature]

Is this approach a suitable for my collaboration with Prof. Y?
Update: I had sent an email to Prof. Y after incorporating the suggestions from the fellow academia.SE community members here. I got a response from Prof. Y and looks like he is also interested in working together.

Your draft seems a little bit informal and you are not asking anything. You are saying "Here I am, now please ask me to collaborate!". You should probably ask directly if a collaboration is of interest for Prof Y.

@ian_itor Could you please help me? I thought I am bit more formal in my present mail.

@ian_itor If I add something like this: "Sir, if you have a very small problem to solve at present, could you give a brief on it. So that I can start my work." -- will it be okay?

You say "looking forward to hearing from you", but you didn't ask for anything.  I think you need to put in more effort up front so you can say, e.g. "I believe method 1 could be used to solve problem X, which I know you are interested in.  I've attached my notes showing how this works, but some details are missing and I think you have the right expertise to complete the proof/experiment/computation.  Would you like to work with me on this?"

In my field, it is more customary to skype or visit to discuss a potential collaboration before a collaboration actually occurs. I would be much more open to people asking to collaborate if they ask to first discuss the topic at hand instead of immediately asking for a commitment in collaboration.

@TK: are you saying I should send the Prof. Y an informal proposal report on what could possibly be done.

Maybe you can asl Prof X to introduce you two. His email will certainly be read by Prof Y, and his word will mean you are not a crank.

@Coder I would not send something too long, it would get glanced over typically. I would just say something short and say "I would like to talk to you further about your work and possible new directions in your work using my ideas and techniques."

Let's elaborate on my comment in this answer. Here are the issues:

There are just statements in your draft, no actual question.
The tone of the mail is a bit informal for the case you don't know Prof. Y (at least in my opinion). Leaving out the "Greetings" will make it better.

Here's my proposal for the mail:

Subject: Request for collaboration -- Problem A and Problem B
Dear Prof. Y,
I have learned about you from Prof. X during my works with him.
I have gone through your recent papers: [this] and [this]. Recently, I have worked with Method1 and Method2 which could suitably address your problem. Would you be interested to (Removed: collaborate on [thing] with me?) talk with me about the topic in a phone call or meeting? It would be a pleasure to work with you on this topic.
My recent works can be found in [this profile link].
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
me
-- [my signature]

I still think this is too informal, and I'd personally be surprised to receive an email straight out asking to collaborate. I would suggest allowing them the initiative, something more along the lines of: --
"I have been reading through your recent papers: [this] and [this] and I have some ideas which may be of interest. Would you be available for a meeting where I could discuss them? I have recently worked with Method1 and Method2 and I think they could possibly address your problem. It would be a pleasure to work with you on this topic."

@Daniel: Good point, I'll rework that sentence.

Simply stating "I have worked with ... " the methods is not good.  Probably many people have worked with the methods. Why should he collaborate with you and not someone else? Don't make him click through and read all your publications; explicitly say "In [publication], I used Method X to [do something], and in [publication] I used Method Y to [do something else]".  Show that you are expert enough in the methods that you can get publications with them. If you haven't, an experienced researcher is not going to be interested in working with you.


text:
Collaboration outside PI's lab and ethics dilemma
I am currently a Postdoc at the University of A. I did my PhD (in Computer Science, if it matters) at the University of NotA. All my Postdoc funding (salary, etc.) comes from my current PI's grant.
I work full-time with my PI (Dr X) on several projects. However, I also collaborate (provide guidance, write codes, papers, etc.) with my research team from NotA, primarily on weekends and beyond the working hours at A. These are some projects that I was already involved in during my PhD at NotA. Furthermore, I try my best to ensure that my external collaborations have no or minimal effect on my current postdoc research.
I have this "ethics" dilemma and confusion regarding my current collaboration setup.

Since X fully funds my salary, is working outside X's lab ethically or morally correct?
If yes to (1), do I stop all collaboration with my team at NotA?

Distantly related posts: here, here.

You are providing free work to Uni NotA. Why? Are you interested in building your CV?
What advantages do you plan to obtain from working for them? if it purely out of philantropy, consider that you have plenty of other options.

@EarlGrey Well, I do this for research. I clarified my question, "I also collaborate (provide guidance, write codes, papers, etc.) ...". It is similar to what a professor does when he collaborates with other universities/organisations, except in my case, I am getting a salary from my PI's grant.

"I do it for research" in the sense of philantropy or in the sense of your CV? if you are doing that because uni of NotA lacks someone as skilled as you, please reconsider your role and Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime

@EarlGrey There is no question here on whether I am replaceable or not. It is just that I am doing this because I like working with the NotA team and the research problems. I learn from it; publications are a byproduct, of course. Do you mean if an organisation hires someone, they must restrict themself to the same organisation and never collaborate with others? We would never have seen any scientific progress if this were the case. Isn't science a collaborative enterprise?

I do not know if science is a collaborative enterprise. When something requires someone to work beyond their working schedule, it is the sum of the exploitations, not a collaboration. Anyway, what I think is not relevant, what is relevant is what your supervisor thinks, i.e. what are their moral/ethics. Your moral/ethics are that working unpaid in the weekend is fine,. so you have to understand if they are ok with that. There is no such thing as a general moral, and the moral/ethics you find as an answer on SE would be even less general

There is a difference between wrapping up the final papers from NotA, and continuing forward with an ongoing collaboration without informing your current PI.

Side comment: for your CV, while having more publications is nice, it is also important to show your independence. Collaborations with anyone except your PhD group would be better for that. Though I am in no way implying you should stop working with them.

This is a pretty normal situation that happens with many postdocs. What you should do is have an open discussion with your PI Dr. X about these collaborations (in the future, it's best to have that discussion already during interviews, or at least before signing a contract). Three common outcomes of this discussion:

Dr. X does not want you to work on NotA's research, period. I find this stance ethically quite questionable, but I know of multiple people who were in that position during their postdoc - so it seems to be a position that some PIs take, even if I find it a bit outlandish. In this case you can either stop or insist that you continue working with NotA outside of your work hours (but check your contract if there are any non-compete clauses in there). The latter has a good chance of antagonising your PI, so that's difficult to recommend.
Dr. X is ok with you working with NotA as long as it does not impact your work at A too much. That's more or less the same as what you do now, but with the added benefit of not keeping secrets from your PI. Most reasonable PIs would also be willing to give you some small feedback or help on these projects, even if they are not directly involved.
Dr. X is ok with you working with NotA, but wants to be involved. A quite common reaction to finding out that your postdoc still has some strong, active ties to another research group is to see this as an opportunity to establish collaboration with that group, essentially turning the "moonlighting" you currently do into yet another project that you work on with your PI (and your old PI). You don't have to worry anymore about doing it outside of work hours, and you get to spearhead a new collaboration of your lab. As long as everybody gets along, that's probably the preferred outcome that works best for everybody.

I would consider all of these outcomes preferable to working behind your PI's back, if for no other reason than that they are bound to find out (at least once papers get published). No ethical concerns arise once you have an open communication with your PI.

added benefit of discussing with PI: if they react as (1), and there is no way to mediate, it is a clear sign of strong character incompatibility (which may come down to an agreement, the common mutual view "the other is an a**hole" when each sticks emotionally to its own point of view...)

@EarlGrey Agreed. I find it's much better to know in what regards you have different views than your PI than to tip-toe around any potential issue suspecting problems. It also makes it easier to decide if you should renew your contract and/or look elsewhere.

may even allow the OP to work with NotA during part of the week, not just during the week-end, so it is better than the current situation. This is the most common situation in my field (in CS).

The OP should read their employment contract and/or other paperwork they signed (IP assignment, personal conflict of interest, ...). Where I work, continuing outside work (paid or not) has to be on the PCI and approved, and anything going outside the lab goes through formal review and approval. As a manager I want my postdocs to wrap up their work. But I have plenty of good new work they can use to get a real job without ever needing to mention their PhD work again.

"collaborate" may range from "I review the presentation they prepared for next conference" to "I am responsible for the Fortran code that is at the foundation of their work".
In the first case, it is normal academic activity, no need to limit yourself to weekend nor to hide it from your supervisor, in the second case it is normal academic exploitation, no need to hide it from your supervisor unless you want to be exploited on one side and fired on the other.
Additionally, if it is the second case, if you are so important that the project cannot go forward without you ... please reconsider yourself, someone else can do your job equally good, but you are preventing them from being hired to do that job (and you are doing it for free, apart from the obvious mental and possibly health costs deriving from overworking).
If you feel you cannot be replaced ... please remember

Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime

The perspective on collaborations that this answer seems to be based on is quite different from how academic collaborations work in my experience (at least in my field, which is math; it might be different in other fields).

@JochenGlueck I welcome to be wrong, you are welcome to provide info on how things work in maths. But the answer must be as general as possible and OP did not explain which field they work. Math represents 4% of the awarded PhD in the US. If 96% are non-math, I think the standard is quite different

From your answer and also from your comments under the question I got the impression that you consider collaboration as a relationship where one side (a PI or a lab or whoever) uses the services of the other side. In maths a collaboration is, in my experience, a more even relationship: people choose to collaborate on a certain topic or problem because they all find the problem interesting. The question whether someone can be "replaced" in a collaboration isn't really something most mathematicians would ask - people work together because they like working together on a particular problem.

Regarding generality of the answer: I agree that it should be as general as possible, as OP has not specified their field. I'm just not so sure that all (or most of) the 96% outside of math work the way that you decribed.

@JochenGlueck to get fired is an hyperbole, but a lot of bridges can be burned and a lot of damage can be (self-)done by doing things behind the back ...

Yes sure, I agree that OP should not hide this from their PI in their current lab. My comment rather referred to OP's collaboration with the lab at the other university - your description sounds to me a bit as if the OP is more or less a service provider for the other lab; I just wanted to point out that it is not clear whether this is really the case since not all collaborations are of that kind.

@JochenGlueck It's not. I am not providing service. I am working with them. There is a difference.

@Coder: "There is a difference." Yes, I agree. That is the point of my comments.


text:
Is it normal to feel lost while following a mathematical / physical reasoning?
I re-uploaded this question here, since a user from Physics Stack Exchange told me it might fit better.
TL;DR: I feel like I could not come up with most reasonings myself, so I end up feeling like I'm a phony, a bad student, or not good enough, and I can't focus on the actual problem.
I have been meaning to post this question for a long time. I am aware that this might be a little too personal for this forum, but at the same time I think I might not be alone here. And whether this is a common phase to go through during one's mathematical education or just something people have to learn to deal with, I think it could be of use to others. So here it is.
I'm a third year physics student in university. I am not American, but Spanish, and university/college here does not work like most Americans are used to, which is why I want to clarify this first. (You can skip this if you know how college works in most countries outside the USA). People can't choose what they want to study with as much freedom as people do in the USA: you just choose a degree, like Physics, or Mathematics, and then follow the curriculum with very little deviation. You can choose a bunch of optional classes to start leaning to a certain branch of your discipline, but that's it. No history, language, arts, cinema or biology classes if you're a Physics student. Therefore, a physics student is expected to have passed all of their mathematical training in their second year of university: linear algebra, real and complex calculus, differential equations, etc., and all of the major branches of Physics after their fourth year: Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Electromagnetism, Quantum Mechanics, and the rest of them. There is very little actual research, so students are expected to spend four years studying to get "the basics" down before they can help or research for themselves.
I wanted to tell you this to give you some kind of idea of the type of content that I might struggle with. Now, my problem is the following:
Every time I have to follow some kind of mathematical reasoning (even if it is applied to a certain physical problem), I get nervous and lost if I can't grip it the first time I read it. Sometimes because I don't remember the mathematics too well, sometimes because I just don't understand why they chose to complete a step in the way they did, kind of like when a professor suggests a change of variable that works for solving an integral and you think you could have never come up with that. Even after seeing the complete reasoning, I just don't know why they knew they had to do what they did to get there. And the most common one for me: sometimes I can follow the reasoning, but I have the feeling that I could have never thought about that myself, and therefore I'm just being a phony. When I feel like that, I just feel like giving up and checking the final result: "I am going to forget this anyway, since I could not come up with that line of reasoning".
Is it normal to feel like this at this point of one's education? This might be impostor's syndrome, or just the fact that maybe I am not very well prepared, or that I might need to find some kind of mental peace in the fact that this is common before I can actually sit down and do things.
Thank you all. You are a great community. I could talk to my therapist about this, but first I wanted to talk to people who might actually have encountered this problem in their lives.

"I am going to forget this anyway, since I could not come up with that line of reasoning".  Think about what you're saying - why are you reading this material? Presumably it's to learn something.  If you already knew the line of reasoning, you could skip the reading.  It's good practice to try to anticipate the writer's arguments, but don't beat yourself up when you can't do it.  Be kind to yourself.

"sometimes I can follow the reasoning, but I have the feeling that I could have never thought about that myself," This is very common for me, and one of my primary struggles in learning math. It doesn't bother me, though. I just think it's normal. Trying to understand math so well that you can see how somebody might have discovered it, is the work of a lifetime. Sometimes after a year or so I finally realize that something is obvious. (Note that some math authors try much harder than others to provide motivation and intuition. I tend to greatly prefer those authors.)

@JairTaylor I know that I need to be kinder to myself. Most of the time, I just compare myself with more knowledgeable (and older, and more experienced) people and pressure myself into thinking that I should be "as good as them", which is utterly unreasonable. Thanks for you answer :)

@littleO It truly feels like the work of a lifetime. And, of course, I had my professors (many of whom are about 60 years old) as a reference. It's reasonable that they can already come up with lots of different proofs: they've been doing it for 40+ years. I shouldn't beat myself up this much. Thank you for telling me about your experience. I'll just let time, hard work and good authors make me more comfortable with this process :)

What you are experiencing is very normal for a student. It takes a lot of practice solving simpler problems before you can, on your own, solve the harder ones. You have also discovered the truth that it is harder to produce a proof than it is to follow it. But it is also easer to read and follow a fictional story than it is to create one. That also takes a lot of practice.
In fact, it takes a lot of failed attempts before you learn to see the successful path. Even then it is hard.
Moreover, if you are reading the professional literature (published papers), note that most mathematicians will leave out all but the most essential steps. This is both because of page limits, but also because they are writing for people just like themselves, and not for novices, including students.
So, while it is discouraging, it isn't something to think of as an indication that you are a failure. It is just genuinely difficult to follow sparsely written proofs and even harder to produce the steps between what you already know and what you want to prove. And the more practice you get, the easier it will become, partly because that practice helps you recall what you once knew but don't remember very well, having not used it actively for a while.
Press on.

Thanks for your comment, it's very encouraging. I value advice from people with more experience a lot. I read a few days ago that physicist Imre Bartos told someone that "we all skip over the math [in academic papers]; unless we think it’s wrong, we skip it". I know this probably doesn't apply to everyone, but things like these make me get in touch with the more human part of science, which I can't really see most of the time. Thanks for your time!

I don't think that is great advice, actually. The practice is worth it if you have the time to put in the effort.

I didn't read is at advice (I do like to read and try to follow the math in most papers). I only took it as a funny comment. It also made me remember that researchers are human and have quirks and sometimes are lazy and skip things. Everybody does. And I think I tend to forget that because I have grown up in a place devoid of academics, and the only image I have of them is that of aloof individuals who never joke and never make mistakes.

Every time I have to follow some kind of mathematical reasoning (even if it is applied to a certain physical problem), I get nervous and lost if I can't grip it the first time I read it.

Why do you think that it's unusual to have to go through a line of mathematical reasoning several times the first time that you've seen it in order to fully absorb it? I do that all the time when I come across something that I haven't seen before.
As for not understanding why someone chose to perform a certain step in a mathematical procedure (like a change of variable in an integral) or a physical argument and then feeling inadequate because you feel that you wouldn't have been unable to think of the step yourself, realize that when you're reading a book describing some mathematical proof you're looking at a final, polished product. You don't see all the dead-ends and speed bumps and wrong turns that the person took in the course of delivering that final product.
With time, experience should make you feel more comfortable and confident. You'll notice that oftentimes a mathematical proof is making use of a trick or concept or procedure that you remember seeing before. You'll start to see familiar, recognizable patterns in the mathematical proofs and procedures more and more often as your experience grows.

Thank you so much for your answer! I have been realising some of the things that you just said for the past few hours (it's an ongoing, slow process). I probably just need let time and lots of work make me feel better about the things I know. I'm just an undergrad, after all. I have also realised that I usually compare myself not with people, but with abstract beings that don't exist; sort of like thinking that people here know everything just because there are experts who give detailed answers in questions of their domain. I need to be kinder to myself in general. Thank you!


text:
Is my supervisor making things clearer or confusing?
I am struggling a lot these days while presenting in front of my supervisor. I make many mistakes, sometimes very stupid mistakes, and he is now saying, "You need to avoid these mistakes." I am not able to focus on theorems, lemmas, etc. but instead focus on things like how to avoid mistakes in front of him. Many times I feel nervous in front of him, sometimes sweating in front him due to nervousness. Although he tries to make me calm but also give strict feedback.
The one question that makes me worry is that he knows the things I am presenting in front of him, but he doesn't try to clarify things. To me it appears that he creates confusion in the proof that I try to present.
Question: Is my supervisor making things clearer or confusing?
On the comment of @Magicsowon I am going to add a detail here. When I discuss things with him he asks, "What is this?" Now the problem is there can be multiple definitions of the same term. Then I often assume the wrong one and do the proof. In the literature I follow, things are not defined in a good way so most of the time it happens that there is a confusion on concepts.

Do you have this "anxiety" only with your supervisor or in general when presenting stuff? Maybe this has nothing to do with your supervisor but is a general problem you should adress with professional support.

@JayFromA infront of  supervisor

There is simply no way for us to answer the given question without knowing the details of what your supervisor says. And that would be getting into way too localized territory to be on topic here.

Regarding the update on your post: How long do you know your supervisor? Maybe you just need a while to "sync" with him, to get to know each others terminology and ways of thinking.

@JayFromA I know him from more than couple of yeras

It would help to know exactly what you're asking. "Is the role of a supervisor to clarify things or to introduce doubts?" Or whether your supervisor is acting appropriately? Or how you should act in response to your supervisor?

An alternate question that might provide insight is also, "Why might my supervisor be asking these questions instead of clarifying the concepts?"

When and why would I, as a supervisor, ask students "What's this?" rather than just telling them (assuming that "this" is something I already know about)? The most likely situation is that I can't tell whether the student understands the relevant definition. If I already knew that the student didn't understand the definition, then I'd explain it, but if I'm unsure about the student's understanding, then I might ask questions intended to show me what the student knows or doesn't know. The student might view such questions the way you did, as "making things doubtful", but that wouldn't be my primary intent. (It might be a good side effect; if the student has a wrong idea, causing doubt about that idea might be a good preface to explaining the correct idea or to sending the student to study it.)
I'm worried by the last part of the material you edited in at the end of the question, the part about multiple definitions of the same term, assuming the wrong definition, things not defined in a good way, and a confusion of concepts. This sounds like a recipe for a disaster. I would recommend that, as soon as you see two genuinely different definitions of the same term, you try to determine whether they are equivalent. If they aren't, or if you can't decide whether they are, then ask your adviser to explain. Are there really two different concepts with the same name? If so, which interpretation of the name should you use? Getting the definition clear is necessary before any other work involving that concept; anything built on unclear definitions will be unclear (if not outright nonsense).


text:
Getting LOR from mentor at an open source organisation
I have been involved with a particular open source organisation that works in the area that I'm interested in pursuing my PhD. Almost all my works at this organisation could be demonstrated as research works since research & developlment is one of key focus areas at this organisation.
However, my mentor has never met me in person. It has always been communication through emails or on IRC.

How would the admission committee look at such a guidance?
How much importance would the admission committee give to my mentor who is from an open source organisation?

Full disclosure: I am not a faculty member.
To answer your first question - does it matter if you've never met your mentor in person? - the answer is: probably not, so long as you've worked together long enough or closely enough where they can still write a strong letter. It's unusual, perhaps, but so long as the letter itself is strong, I can't imagine there being an issue.
As for the second question - how much importance does the admission committee give to recommenders from open-source organization? - the answer is likely: no more than they'd give to any other recommender. Granted, if you're applying to a computer science program and have a recommendation from Richard Stallman, it probably looks better than a random developer on the internet.
But that gets to a much more important consideration: what qualifications does your mentor have? Admissions committees (to my knowledge) give more weight to recommendations from highly-qualified sources, such as another faculty member or an experienced professional. If your mentor is just a random developer on the internet working on an unknown project, there letter may not be considered as important as a letter from a faculty member who, while perhaps relatively unknown, at least has some publications.


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How can a new researcher judge the veracity of a paper's methodology and results?
I've been wanting to do some research on some quite controversial topics for a while now to stay educated on the common talking points of today, but every time I want to look at a research paper, I wonder whether the people who conducted the research are biased, or whether the journals are biased or whether the method that they used was flawed.
With the controversial topics, I tend to think that the researchers are generally more prone to skewing their results than if it wasn't a controversial topic. However, I'm still a big rookie at this, and I have no idea how to quickly ensure that the journals are legitimate, the researchers are legitimate, and they aren't biased etc. I don't want to spend all my time making sure that they're legitimate then not have time to actually look at the study itself.
Is there supposed to be some kind of method they teach in university or is it all self-learned? Because I'm not in university yet and university seems like the place where people start publishing papers and doing research for those papers, and also my country has mandatory enlistment for close to 2 years before I go to university, and it seems like a good time to do actual research on the topics I'm interested in so that I don't waste my time.

Keep your wits about you, common sense is your friend, keep your mind and heart open. Advice, but not necessarily for scholarly success.

There's no such thing as an unbiased researcher. We're all human.

Also, I don't know why this was downvoted. I think the core question (how can a research novice differentiate between legitimate and "crackpot" research) is good and interesting.

@astronat Bias meaning that the researcher isn't intentionally skewing the results. If the bias is unintentional, then I think chances are is that it would have less impact on the results.

@prata ok, I am going to edit your question to reflect that, because I think the word "bias" connotes an unconscious thought process e.g. racism, sexism etc (which are equally damaging to research, though in a less direct way than active sabotage or faking results [and people can of course be consciously racist, sexist etc too]).

Beall's list is a good place to find out if a journal is predatory and publishing bad research: https://beallslist.net/.

I really do commend your enthusiasm, but to me this question reads more like "how can a layman/science enthusiast differentiate between legitimate and crackpot research". That's also an interesting question, but if I understand correctly, the OP is at a pre-university level and looking up research literature on their own time. This, I would argue, is a much different situation than for a student who is required to at least partially learn research, reading with understanding and synthesis skills as part of the educational programme.

Maybe not a dup, but seems very related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/130443/4249

Research (at least in the organized form taking place in academia) is a discussion taking place between various individuals. If you have a hard time assessing papers, the natural thing to do is to see what people interested in the same subject think.
Published papers (in reputable venues) have passed some form peer review, so that is a good sign. Sometimes the reviews are available and can point to potential problems or contentiuous aspects. Often, though, the reviews are not public. Then, the best way to find out what the community thinks is to find papers that cite the one you are interested in and see what they say about it. (I find it useful exercise to compare these writings with what I initially thought about a paper, I see it as a way to train myself to detect problematic points that I may have missed.) In particular, look out for comments on whether the findings could be replicated. Be aware though that blunt criticism is rare, and you may have to read between the lines.
The obvious caveat here is: what about new papers, or papers which have not been cited a lot? In the first case you can wait, in the second case that may implicitly contain some information, too (not that a paper is incorrect, but maybe more that it isn't incredibly interesting to the field).

some kind of method they teach in university

Replication of the research is the correct way to verify research.
The more popular and cheaper method is to ask someone who has prior knowledge of the subject if the research looks correct.  This is less reliable, but often good enough.


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Urgent help to decide on degree choice
I would really appreciate it if someone could help me!!!
Aptitude and background
I am from the UK, and for A-levels, I am studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry, and I am predicted decent grades in all of them.
For my Morrisby Assessment taken a year ago: Numerical reasoning 70%, Abstract reasoning 80%, Verbal reasoning, 95% - This was slightly lower for numerical then I expected, but it does make sense since I have to try pretty hard in maths.
For me, chemistry is my strongest subject, with physics close behind-ish
Interests
Physics:

Pros: [1] Family likes the idea of me studying physics, [2] like quantum, thermal, chemical and nuclear physics, [3] opens the most doors out of compared to the other two, in that I can transfer into engineering/machine learning, [4] well-respected known undergrad for non-physics jobs.
Cons: [1] More difficult for me [2] dislike electricity, EM, fields, waves which are integral topics [3] On the surface, there seems to be less direct jobs related to physics compared to chemistry, in/out of academia (please prove me wrong though, i am only 18, hence why I am here asking!)

Chemistry

Pros: [1] Easier for me aptitude wise [2] Like all parts of chemistry, apart from some niche topics [3] (could be more transferrable to material science and nanotechnology? - therefore opening the 3rd option up as well [4] right now quantum chemistry and orbital approximations are my favorite subject [5] well-respected and known undergrad for non-chemistry jobs
Cons: [1] Less transferrable than physics [2] Don't want to be stuck in an industrial/pharma job, where I am glorified lab rat following a list of instructions [3] Lower job satisfaction on the internet compared to the other two

Material science

Pros: [1] Very large interest for it since it combines chemistry and physics components I enjoy [2] Possibly better paid, due to the large amounts of engineering involved [3] able to go into nuclear materials research, and medicinal too, therefore opening more opportunities than chemistry.
Cons: [1] less-respected well-known undergrad, and could always do it at postgrad level [2] Studying metals and ceramics seems boring, I prefer nanostructures!

Conclusion
Therefore, It would be amazing if you could answer the following questions! [or just provide info in general]
Is chemistry or a physics undergrad better to become a material scientist?:
Using the above information, which degree out of the 3 may be better suited for me?
Which out the 3 jobs, will be most in-demand in 6+ years, a chemist, physicists, or a material scientist?

"Which out the 3 jobs, will be most in-demand in 6+ years ...": I don't think anyone in here has the ability to predict the future.

I am not your discipline to answer this. Just thought to comment to support you. I am proud of you. At such a young age, you plan ahead. Meantime, my advice is, Give 1st priority for job security, the rest, you can make them as a hobby. I wish you all the very best and hope some expert would answer you.

@onurcanbkts I realise this - but i was hoping maybe a scientist might know a hot topic which has good potential

@Dendrobium I appreciate the nice comments! I wish you the best for the future as well

What about a combination; Chemistry and Physics. Later you can easily diffuse to computational chemistry, bioinformaticians/biophysicists, industrial chemical engineering. Go to Linkedin and ask your question. then use tags #

Pick the one you enjoy most. Life is short. Don't waste it.

@Dendrobium Thank you for both of those suggestions! Really appreciate it

@Buffy Dr Buffy that's true, the annoying bit is that i like all of them :( :)

Then stay flexible and don't specialize too soon. And don't choose a career based on what "might be true" in half a decade or more. Hopefully civilization lasts that long.

There are materials science undergraduate degrees (I know Oxford has one, and I presume many other universities with big physics and chemistry departments will too). Also, "dislike electricity, EM, fields, waves" -- me too! Didn't stop me from getting a master's and (soon) a PhD in physics :) Sometimes you have to endure topics you don't like to get to the ones you do! Plus university level physics is far more interesting than the stuff you learn at A Level!

Also consider the natural sciences course at Cambridge, where you can take a mixture of chemistry and physics (and maths, I think) for two years before specialising. Again, there may be NatSci courses offered by other, less competitive institutions -- this is just one I happen to know of.

My opinion.
At your age (at any age) planning years ahead is hard.
I'd recommend doing what excites you most and what you're best at. That seems to be chemistry. Doors may open (or close) down the road that you can't foresee.

Thankyou for your contribution - it is hard to predict the future - although as a mathematician, i think subjects which have a higher mathematical component may open more doors. This is pure speculation though!

I voted to close as too personal, but I'll make an exception and vote this answer up.

thank you  @buffy


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Help writing a follow-up letter asking a professor to act as an academic reference
I need your help on how to write a follow-up letter requesting a professor to act as an academic reference.
I wrote to the professor a couple of weeks ago but so far I have not had any response. The original e-mail explained how we met (I was a visiting student at her lab), how long ago that was, what I´ve been doing since then and why it is important for me to have her recommendation. I know she travels a lot but she always uses an out-of-office auto-reply, which I didn´t get this time, so I don´t know whether she even got the e-mail or not. Should I write a brief note indicating that I sent her an e-mail a few weeks back and then include the content of the original e-mail? (I am writing from another e-mail address in case the first one was blocked by the spam filter). Or should I merge the brief note and the original content in a new e-mail? Any help will be greatly appreciated!