text:
My paper has not been published because I did not show up for the conference presentation
My paper has not been published because none of the authors presented the paper.  My supervisor (my co-author) was at the conference, but he did not show up to present. I can only assume he was tired that day (he is an old man), although he did manage to present two other papers. He also failed to inform the conference committee of his inability to present.
This is an IEEE conference. The paper was not published in IEEE Xplore, but even worse, it is not even mentioned in the proceedings.
What is really annoying is that they still want me to have their permission to submit it to another conference. This is what is written in their email:

Your previously-submitted IEEE Copyright form transferred ownership of this paper to IEEE. However, if you would like to resubmit this paper to another conference, please request permission to do so by sending an email message to pubs-permissions@ieee.org.

They also did not reimburse us for the hefty registration fees.

How should someone in my position proceed?
Shouldn't the conference at least mention the title of the paper in the proceedings?

Why could your co-author not present the work, at least in a superficial fashion? Also, did the terms and conditions you agreed to when signing up for the conference make any guarantees about getting reimbursed in the case of not showing up? Moreover, did the instructions for authors make any statements on whether or not a presentation is required for the paper to appear in the proceedings? From your text, it sounds like you signed up, but didn't attend the conference - did you know that beforehand, and if so, did you notify the conference organizers as soon as you knew you couldn't go? ...

... Lastly, I am a bit confused by the statement "they still want me to have their permission to submit it to another conference". You mean, you have signed the copyright transfer form, so now your work isn't published, but IEEE still holds the copyright and thus denies you to submit your work elsewhere (not even to another IEEE venue)?

"My paper is not published because none of the authors presented the paper". Yes, they were right for doing that, because if everyone did that there would be no conference. "They did not reimburse us for the registration fees". Why should they? If you cannot afford to go there, why did you send the paper in this conference? I think you do not understand how conferences work, so please learn before making silly mistakes like that.

@Alexandros: I'm indeed interested in getting more information on this question, if only to understand the situation. Apparently, one of the co-authors could afford to go there. That notwithstanding, it seems the conference just followed IEEE's recommendation cited e.g. in this answer.

The implications of having assigned copyright to a venue, which then doesn't publish it, are interesting.

@Alexandros -- we could afford to go there. My co-author could not present it although he was there. He forgot to take permission from them. I also think he did not even talk to them again.

@Alexandros  please do not say "silly mistakes" - we have enough experience with conferences - please stop saying silly things!

@AJed: Why couldn't your co-author present? What permission did he forget to "take from them"? Why didn't he talk to them again?

@O.R.Mapper .. I wish I know why .. but I am assuming he was tired that day and could not take permission from the committee (he is an old man). Sorry for the lack of details. I appreciate your questions.

@AJed: One more question: Did you try to request permission from that e-mail address? Do they require you to request a permission for submitting to a particular other venue, or just a general permission for submitting to some other venue?

@AJed: Also, on the danger of annoying you, I am still not sure what you mean by your co-author not having "taken permission". Permission to present? (Why would that be required?) Permission to skip the presentation? Any other permission?

@O.R.Mapper: no, honestly, it is already too expensive to send it to another conference. I am publishing it in arxiv.org though without their permission.

@O.R.Mapper .. permission not present the paper - or for example - to let another person presenting it.

@AJed: I am not sure that is a good idea, and it might easily get you into more (and actually legal) trouble, but the question whether you can submit a paper whose copyright you transferred to IEEE already to arxiv.org should be the topic of another question.

"Please there is no need to teach me lessons here". Funny you should say that. I see at least two lessons unlearnt here.

@EnergyNumbers .. you are so funny :| .. dont cut the words of those you quote  .  In any case, this was a response to: "please learn before making silly mistakes like that"

Your supervisor acted extremely unprofessionally (did not present even though your paper depended on it, did not inform the organization, still hasn't told you anything) and he hurt your career. Instead of aiming your arrows at the conference organizers who did nothing wrong, aim them at him.

Have you asked your supervisor why he couldn't present your paper?!

A conference has a number of limited slots for presentations. When your paper is accepted for a conference, someone else's paper got rejected, because it was slightly worse than yours and slots were limited. In this sense, if you are not going to present your accepted paper, this a huge disservice to the conference (and the related community). As I already said in my comment that annoyed you, if everyone did the same thing (did not show up in the conference to present his paper) there would simply be no conference and this will be a huge waste of everyone's time (reviewers, PC comittees etc..). So, the first step is to understand that such a thing would normally never happen.
On the other hand we are still human and life emergencies happen. You may become sick before travelling to a conference and therefore not beeing able to present there. In this case, this is what emails are for. You should have notified the PC chairs that you were not going to make it and ask for leniency. On the other hand, what you describe is even more far-stretched. Your co-author did go to the conference, was probably paid his expenses from his institution and did not bother to show up at the time to present the paper. Imagine the similar example of some PHD student of going to a conference, partying the night before the presentation and not bothering waking up the next time to present. Have you considered the embarassment of the PC member responsible for your session, when they call out your name and noone shows up to present? And nobody even later this day or even two days later, bothers to send an email to apologize for this? Instead you think the conference organizers are in the wrong, because they are actually doing what they told you they would do (contrary to you). Not publish your paper if you do not show up.
A war with them would only hurt you and not them. Apologize sincerely, ask for permission to publish somewhere else and try to be as nice as possible. Do not upload to arxiv before settling things out. And in the next case, understand that in Academia your word is your currency. Make sure you do not break it for whatever reason and if you do (due to some inevitable emergency) make sure you apologize promptly.

Thanks for this detailed answer .. I like it .. but just a note: "As I already said in my comment that annoyed you" .. actually what annoyed me is that you judged me without even reading question (very "academic" I guess) .. and the use of "silly" -- do you know that I was being silly not attending? I didnt go because my supervisor wanted to go, he doesnt care if it is published or not, he didnt even write a word in it. He  will include it in his CV and research grants. I, the junior researcher, need to have my paper cited. These rules are harsh for junior researchers! You see now? :)

@AJed If your supervisor includes the paper in CV and grant proposals as being at this conference, your supervisor will be academically dishonest: so far as the scientific world is concerned, the paper is simply an unpublished manuscript.

@jakebeal The advisor probably won't lose any sleep over this dishonesty given that they didn't even bother to present the paper.

"the paper is simply an unpublished manuscript" - face palm! this is not a good day.  - but I  trust my supervisor and have no doubt in his honesty. I am sure he had his reasons for not presenting the paper. I don't even need to ask him about his reasons.

@AJed Actually, I think you really do need to ask what happened. You probably shouldn't treat it as a cross-examination, but your advisor needs to know your distress and work to resolve it. Explaining what happened is part of that.

"understand that in Academia your word is your currency" - so, what about the advisor's reputation? Shouldn't anyone (especially junior researchers) he collaborates with in the future know that he has done this?

@Random832 .. not attending a conference presentation is not a crime. I am sure he had his reasons. My supervisor is a very honest man, one of the most professional people that you can ever think of. My question is very clear: what should I do next? - and it has been answered

@AJed: in all honesty (and being remote from the tension): you mention first that your supervisor (and co-author) "(...) wanted to go, he doesnt care if it is published or not, he didnt even write a word in it.". Then you say later that he "is a very honest man, one of the most professional people that you can ever think of.". This two claims objectively look disconnected.

@AJed: is there a particular reason why you do not want to ask your supervisor for help? He most likely has a lot more experience in resolving  tricky situations like these...

@AJed I think you are in your right to ask what happened, in a non confrontational way; if not for anything else, to figure out if there is anything you can do to prevent it from happening again. Other people in your situation would storm into your supervisors office demanding an explanation (which is not a good way to proceed). Actually, the fact that he has not told you already is somewhat worrying.

I agree with this answer, but I think something should be said towards the supervisor. They skrewed up, so it should be on them to save the article, not the student.

"A conference has a number of limited slots for presentations. When your paper is accepted for a conference, someone else's paper got rejected, because it was slightly worse than yours and slots were limited. " -- True for reputable conferences. IEEE has sponsored a few that accept many articles without a slot limit. The rule about presenting is more about trying to make a conference reputable. During my PhD in the 90s, I went to several conferences (not IEEE) where papers were not presented. I even chaired sessions where 50% were presented.

What is this "PC" you speak of?

@Sverre Program Committee Chairs

Concerning "You should have notified the PC chairs that you were not going to make it": Unless I've missed something in the question and comments, it's possible that the OP was never planning to attend this conference and was relying on the co-author to present the paper. I've certainly seen conference rules saying that at least one author of a paper must register and present the paper, not that all the authors need to show up.

@AndreasBlass You are right that only "one author of a paper must register". And if this author did not show up, the PC chairs should be notified before happening. It did not happen (not the OP's fault). Still, the PC chairs are right in "not including the work in the proceedings", since they were not notified or offered any valid excuse.

The IEEE has a rather clear policy on failure to present: in general, a paper that is not presented at a conference will be withdrawn from the proceedings.  I have recently been publications chair for an IEEE conference, and in that role you are explicitly asked after the conference to identify any papers that were not presented and thus need to be withdrawn from the proceedings.
The person who has caused this, really, is your co-author.  Even if they had some emergency occur that prevented them from presenting (e.g., becoming ill), it is their responsibility to make a good-faith effort to inform the conference organizers so that some sort of alternate arrangement may be made.  For example, I have seen papers presented remotely, or by a non-author serving as proxy, or shifted to a different day or time.  Conference organizers are generally reasonable about such things.  If your co-author was at the conference, capable of communicating, and failed to do so, then that is a real problem, and it is entirely reasonable of the organizers to treat it as a "no-show" and withdraw your paper.  If they were hit by a bus or something like that so that they were completely unable to communicate, then that's a different problem, and a lost paper is not a big deal compared to such a health impact.
As for copyright and republication, though: I'd be surprised if you have any difficulty getting permission; the IEEE isn't likely to try to hold onto something they aren't publishing.

Re: your last paragraph: That's what I'd have assumed, too, if not for the quotation from the e-mail where it emphasizes that IEEE owns the paper and asks the OP to request permission before resubmitting elsewhere. What's the point of saying that if they're only too happy to let it go? (Is there some sort of legal complication?)

@ruakh Yes, there is a legal problem: IEEE owns the copyright.

Even if it's vanishingly uncommon for a publisher to refuse to allow re-submission elsewhere, it's still quite important to go through the formal process of requesting (and receiving!) permission. Not only is it legally necessary, it's also the considerate thing to do.

@jakebeal: Sorry, you misunderstand me. Obviously IEEE owns the copyright; that is in fact what the quotation says. What I'm asking is whether there's some sort of legal complication that prevents them from simply returning ownership automatically, since (as you say) they probably don't care to hold onto it anyway.

@ruakh My guess is that it is due to the fact that the IEEE electronic copyright form is handled through a totally separate system than their archival publications.  I've previously observed significant organizational friction between the sub-organizations of the IEEE handling different parts of the publication process, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if that was the same thing here, and they're just not set up to be able to do it automatically.  Furthermore, why should they bother, given that this should be a very rare event?  I'm just guessing here, though.

You tell us

Your supervisor and co-author was meant to present your paper
He didn't and you don't know why
He presented two other papers, but not yours
He never communicated with you that he would be unable to present your paper
He did not inform the conference committee that he would be unable to present the paper, he just didn't turn up

What should you do next? Speak to your supervisor.
Even were he not to blame, he would have a certain amount of responsibility to helping you fix this, by merit of being your supervisor.
You are well within your rights to ask, "So, what happened at the IEEE conference? I thought you were going to be presenting our paper." Do this in a neutral tone of voice, and listen to what he has to say. It's entirely possible he has a legitimate reason for this unusual behaviour, but being kept in the dark isn't doing you any favours.
Next, have a clear and honest conversation about what to do now. Don't blame him for the screw-up; your main focus is how to move forwards. Explain the problems you are facing and ask for his help in how to fix them. The conference organisers were entirely within their rights to keep your registration fee and not mention the paper in the proceedings, so focus on the copyright issue and how to move forwards from there.
If he does his duty as a supervisor he will help you move onwards and sort out the mess that was largely of his creating. Even if he doesn't, you will learn more about the situation (such as why he didn't turn up to present the paper), which will help you in your communications with IEEE should you have to forge ahead without his help.

I'm afraid you're out of luck here.
The paper was accepted and submitted, and someone should have presented the paper. Since no one withdrew the paper from the conference, and no one presented it, you're stuck at the mercy of the rules of the conference organizers.
Basically, the program organizers need not mention the paper in the proceedings, nor are they required to release the copyright claim on the paper. You will have to go through whatever procedures the conference organizers (in this case, IEEE) expect you to do if you want to resubmit the paper elsewhere.

I just want to add two points to Alexandros' excellent answer:

Registration fee is paid for attending the conference, not for publishing the paper. It may cover social events, banquet etc. Your supervisor did attend the conference, so it is unreasonable to ask for a reimburse.
This is not PC chairs' fault, and you only leave a bad impression by arguing with them. They are surely senior in your field, and are likely to be PC members, reviewers in your next conference. Having a bad impression about you may make your paper less likely to be accepted.

Actually you are not 100% in the first point: authors who publish more than one paper pays full fee for 1 paper and a reduced for two others. This is repeated for every 3 papers for the same author.

Also, my supervisor attended the conference .. could not present my paper .. presented two others.

@AJed Are you sure about that? I've never seen a conference where the fee was per-paper, rather than per-person.

@DavidRicherby: Unfortunately, quite some conferences do impose such rules. Whether this behaviour really exists is discussed in another Academia SE question, along with concrete examples (also check out the comments for those) of such conferences.

@DavidRicherby organizing conferences is a very profitable business :)

@AJed Actually, it depends entirely on the conference and its intention.  Some make a profit, but most academic-organized conferences simply aim for sustainability.  It is industry-organized or publisher/promoter-organized conferences that are likely to aim for a profit.

The situation shows some parallels with the legal concept "force majeure".  The following site gives a practical explanation of this (you can also refer to Wikipedia):

Generally, death or illness of one of the parties to a contract is not considered a force majeure.  However, under general contract principles of contract, if death or illness renders it impossible for that party to perform their side of the bargain, they are excused - See more at: http://actofgod.uslegal.com/what-constitutes-force-of-nature/illness-or-death/#sthash.W5aJqpRd.dpuf

Give that precedent, it would seem only fair in this case if IEEE were to release from your contract, and consequently release the copyright ownership, given that the co-author's inability to present was apparently due to health reasons. In your circumstances I would try to see if they are open to this line of reasoning.

the co-author's inability to present was apparently due to health reasons The OP did not say that.

The OP said "I can only assume he was tired that day (he is an old man)". That sounds like a health problem to me.

Being old and tired is not necessary a health problem. Please also note that the co-author failed to inform the conference committee of his inability to present. I don't see how to use health issue as an execuse unless the co-author can present a doctor's certificate to prove that there was indeed a health issue, You made very strong assumption here.

When someone is ill, incapacitated or simple exhausted contacting someone about a cancelled appointment may be the last thing on their mind. Will IEEE ask for a doctor's certificate? Maybe not - that is your assumption. They might simply choose to accept the OP's word as to the infirmity of the co-author.

The tiredness/oldness was simply OP's guess. OP actually has no information about why supervisor didn't turn up.

I'd be interested to hear the OP's comment on this.

I think it can be solved in other peaceful ways - just a thought. I have a feeling that if we talk to the committee then they may change their minds.

Good to hear. My intent in this suggestion was to attempt to find a face-saving measure for all involved. You don't want to antagonize your co-author or IEEE, at the same time IEEE can't be seen to be lax on their rules but I think it does not benefit IEEE to appear draconian in the application of the said rules. I'm a little disappointed however that my suggestion met with so much negative comment and a down vote. Good luck with the resolution of this problem!

The problem with your answer is that the suggestion is based on the assumption the co-author has health problem which we (including the OP himself) do not know if it's true. Thus, the suggestion is ground-less.

Sorry scaaahu but where I'm from if someone writes "I can only assume he was tired that day (he is an old man)" then most people would understand that as meaning that there may be health issues due to old age that prevent him functioning. So my suggestion is not ground-less as you put it, it is based on a careful reading of the OP's input.  My reply also addresses that fact that you do effectively enter a contract with IEEE when you sign over copyright. Like all contracts there are legal rules and precedents that apply when considering if someone is in breach of the contract or not.


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How to handle possibly subtly flirtatious emails from students?
I got a series of emails from a student. At first, I thought she was being over-polite. But now things are making me very uncomfortable. For instance, at every email she thanks me for giving her good grades; it gave her motivation, encouragement etc. (this makes me very uncomfortable since it might imply I'm giving her preferential treatment) and I am the best TA she has ever seen. Her emails bear a tone which can be interpreted as either overly polite or very subtly flirtatious e.g. using emoticons, signing emails with only "Yours", "have a good night", "lovely day".
I am willing to give the student the benefit of doubt. English may not be her first language, so she may not know some phrases in emails are only appropriate with your closed ones. I want to tell her that she should avoid these phrases in formal emails not so directly. How can I convey this to the student?

Although I haven't received any flirtatious emails myself, I could definitely see it happening due to language issues. I've known people from some other countries to say or write things that sound excessively polite, and I could easily imagine it crossing the line to sounding flirtatious, even though the speaker/writer has no such intent. Of course I can't speak to whether this might be happening in your case.

@DavidZ: That's the point I wanted to make. For many/most kids, excessive politeness is just how they write when they're communicating with authority figures, and the specifically cited items (emoticons etc) are just how they write when they aren't. Beware of reading more into it than may be intended; the advice to "just ignore" those strikes me as spot-on.  The thanks for good grades, while not "flirtatious", strikes me as more of a problem, and again I like Peter's response below.

"overly polite" or "very subtly flirtatious" - Why not just settle on overly polite, which is positive, and ultimately, a non-issue.

related: How to deal with sexual advances from students

Wow, people in academia get worked up over the most nonsensical things. Have you ever just considered the fact that she's trying to be nice or polite? Try not flattering yourself, and just going on with your life. There are much more direct things a person could be saying in an email that wouldn't warrant a question on a website about them.

@JonathonReinhart we've probably all heard too many horror stories about seemingly innocent interactions leading to accusations of sexual harassment and ethical violations, lawsuits, and ruined careers. Universities tend not to stand behind their professors in these cases. It's very rare, sure, but the consequences are dire enough that many academics feel like they need to be very cautious.

And, of course, always leave the door open during office hours, especially with that student ;)

None of this is flirtatious. She obviously respects you, which is a good thing. Since you're a TA she probably considers you more accessible than a professor and uses more informal language, presumably because you've also not sent signals that you prefer a more formal relationship with students. If you wouldn't consider this behaviour flirtatious if it was coming from a male student I wouldn't worry about it.

I wouldn't consider "have a good night / lovely day" to be flirtatious at all—but I find it weird when people sign emails with "Yours." I knew a student a while back that signed all of his emails with "Yours." This included emails directly to me, to the entire course staff, to other professors, and to the other students in the class. He was born and raised in the US, so it wasn't an ESL issue. Some people just have different impressions of what language is intimate and what isn't.

Also, *close ones, not "closed ones". No?

@DaoWen Yeah, email etiquette is MASSIVELY culturally variable anyway, and students will often have little experience of formal email conventions, and even less experience of what's normal in your area. I wouldn't read anything into how a student signs off an email beyond "this student signs off emails this way".

How are using emoticons and signing off with "Yours" "overly polite"? I would think if anything that would be overly familiar, no?

"Yours" is just a contraction of the proper and formal "Yours sincerely". At least in British English use it's not flirtatious at all. Neither is it particularly informal: it falls short of the proper standards of letter-writing, but then email typically does. And it's not overly-familiar. The only implication of "Yours sincerely" is that you know the name of the person you're writing to, which presumably the student in fact does. And even if they don't, they could reasonably use "Yours" in email as a contraction of "Yours faithfully".

... Ofc if standards of email-writing in your locale are much higher than here in the UK, then it might be inappropriate (just as for example calling you "dude" might be an inappropriate mode of speech in your university), but that still doesn't necessarily make it flirtatious. I would assume it means, "I cannot be bothered with selecting the correct formal sign-off, so I will use a contraction common to all of them". However, the question here is how to deal with flirtatious emails, not "is signing off an email 'Yours' flirtatious?" ;-)

I think the idea of ESL is important in this context.  I have received emails that could be perceived very differently in english and another language, for example, a student saying 'i will play with myself', when they meant to say 'i will enjoy my personal time'.  the word play was a literal translation, and did include any english connotation.

@SteveJessop Excellent points. As for the topic of the question: this is one of many questions where the title has merit as a question while the body makes it clear that the question doesn't match t he OP's situation. Since answers will address the general case ("how to handle flirtatious emails") the question still has merit, but ideally the OP would remove the specifics that complicate answering.

There's also the issue that different TA's might have different standards. She might have made the experience that this is the way to communicate with a TA (or that open feedback/flattery works/is expected). Personally I did communicate rather informally in my first courses and changed it to more formal communication later on. In any case, don't sweat it, continue to be professional and lead by example.

Re @SteveJessop's point "I cannot be bothered with selecting the correct formal sign-off, so I will use a contraction common to all of them" -- remember that sign-offs are often "signature blocks" that the user set and which are thereafter appended automagically by the mailer unless explicitly removed. The user not only (probably) didn't mean anything by it, but may not even have typed it. This really does sound likely to be the reader's problem rather than the writer's. (Deleted and reposted because that's the only way to fix a typo noticed after the 5-minute window. Sigh.)

As a female grad student, who also happens to be quite friendly (and sometimes perhaps "over-polite"), I find it troublesome and sometimes offensive when male authority figures interpret friendly interaction as flirting.  While no-one has told me directly how they feel about it, in some instances it was quite obvious that they felt uncomfortable and/or started hinting at not being available, while similar friendliness from male students was interpreted in a normal way. Now, by no means am I trying to accuse you (the OP) of those reflections, I'm just expressing my point of view as the other(*)

(*) Person, and point out that she could feel uncomfortable as well, if she feels that you treat her more coldly than you would usually do.

To add to my previous comment(s), and that might not be relavant for a TA, but more to professors interacting with grad students, I find it inconvenient on the professional/friendly relationship level, i.e at my university at least, it's quite common for some professors and (male) PhD students to have lunch or coffee together. However, I think it's likely that if I suggest something in that spirit, the other person might read more into it and decline.

You should keep your replies short, polite and professional. Do not respond to what you see as flirtatious. Try also to interpret what you see as flirtatious in a different light, as you say, it could be due to language issues. It would be bad if you started to respond in a manner that assumed something that was not intended.
In the end it is very important to not fuel any behaviour that you think is "suspect" but at the same time you cannot avoid responding altogether. Acknowledge praise briefly but do not return praise since that could appear as favouring a student before others. Turn the focus of a response quickly from any polite exchange to focus on the course material. You may also take opportunities to point out that information given is also given to others to at least subtly impress the fact that there is no "special treatment".
In short, act as if nothing special is going on, be brief to the point and professional in your response. Do not try to be anything other than yourself or treat any student differently from others. Keep records of your mail or other exchanges.

+1 for brevity and politeness!  It helps diffuse a lot of otherwise sticky situations...

You may also take opportunities to point out that information given is also given to others to at least subtly impress the fact that there is no "special treatment". For example, "No need to thank me - just doing my job", maybe? I think that dispels the idea that there might be special treatment.

I would try to ignore it as long as that is practicable. As in Peter Jansson's answer, just reply professionally, as if you didn't notice the tone of the email.
Unless the emails become overtly flirtatious, or unless the student begins to say inappropriate things in person or in other settings, you may be able to just avoid responding to the tone you perceive in the emails. Each class ends in a few months, after all.
If you feel you cannot ignore it, I would show the emails to another faculty member you trust, and ask for their opinion. Don't tell them what to look for - just ask them to read the emails and tell you if they see anything unusual. This is a good test, in general, to see whether you might be misinterpreting an email.
If the other faculty member agrees the emails have crossed the line from friendly to flirtatious, I would first try a non-confrontational way of resolving the situation. Two easy options include:

Make an announcement to the entire class about how to write a professional email. Of course, the announcement may be intended for a particular student, but it is less confrontational to announce it to everyone at once.  Don't focus just on the flirtation issue, but make sure to emphasize that the student/professor professional relationship should be respected.
Send an email to the entire class about professional communications, similar to the announcement above.  Again, the goal is for the one student to get the message without realizing the email is really intended for him or her.

Only if that sort of non-confrontational technique does not work would I move on to any sort of direct intervention.

I'd add that it's a good idea to anonymise the email first, before showing it to others: both for the student and because it will avoid prompting the other staff member - people are less likely to assume flirting if they don't know the gender.

Even if you manage to ignore it for this year, you could do the "professional email announcement" for next year's class as prevention rather than cure.

This is an extremely common problem for some teachers.
It may be difficult for her to control. Some cultures have extremely high regard for teachers. This puts you in a natural position as a target of infatuation.
If it can be interpreted in multiple ways, try to ignore it.
If it continues to get stronger, then explain that what she is doing is inappropriate considering your relationship (I'm referring here to the power dynamic between teacher and student).
If you are really uncomfortable and you cannot let it slide, then explain to her that she should not use certain phrases because it implies something that will never be there.
If you're too gentle with it may encourage her to try even harder. So, be clear (not mean, but clear).
One last, very important, thing is to make sure that you are not accidentally doing something which, in her culture, indicates some (romantic) openness on your part. In some cultures smiling at a stranger is just a nice way of saying hi. In other cultures that same exact smile is saying, "Hey, I would be very interested in dating you."
People see what they want to see, so look at yourself and see what you do that might be indicating to her that she has a shot. Then change.

Regarding the cultural clash, it is likely the student will be doing the same thing with others. How would you politely tell them that what they are doing is wrong, before someone else, say, sues them for harassment?

@Davidmh It seems it can be interpreted at least 2 ways now. If I were in line in a crowded store and a stranger brushed up against me, I would not immediately say "If you touch people without asking you could be sued so watch out!" I would give them the benefit of the doubt and let it slide. Once doubt is removed, I would address it.

@Davidmh: this is the sort of thing that I would handle in a non-confrontational way, as in my answer. This has the chance to also inform other students about best practices.

@Davidmh: It was also my intention. Informing the student, so in future she doesn't embarrass herself.

+1 for thinking if an approach that does not involve the entire class. Not that I disagree with informing the entire class, but that there is likely situations where handling in an individual setting is more appropriate then at a group level. Say if your in a CS class with 15 guy students, a male teacher, and 1 female student--but that never happens ;)

I should -1 you for bluster: "Well, you know, it's extremely common for people like me to have students flirt with us... we're just so damn desirable" :-P ... just kidding.

A general way of responding to behavior that might appear flirtatious or unprofessional is to politely inform the student that while you appreciate her efforts to be polite, other people might possibly misconstrue her language or actions as meaning something she didn't intend.  Don't imply that you perceived her actions as being flirtatious or in any way dishonorable, but rather that--whether or not she is aware of it--some people are very sensitive to such things.
Such an approach will effectively request that she avoid acting flirtatiously toward you, but at the same time avoid any aspersions on her actions to date.  A statement that a person's actions could be misconstrued is not an accusation of impropriety, since it could be true even of some actions which were 100% proper.  Someone who welcomed a person's flirtations and expected to continue doing so would be unlikely to make such a statement, but a person who thought continued flirtations might become annoying might make such a statement even if they hadn't yet.  Consequently, the act of making such a statement is not a claim that one has been offended.
Ignoring a person's attempts at flirting may sometimes be effective, but some people may escalate their efforts until they get some sort of response.  Since there's often no good way to respond to acknowledged attempts at flirting, it may be better to respond to an attempt at flirting which is subtle enough that one can claim to believe it wasn't deliberate, than to wait until increasingly-overt attempts can no longer be denied.  The sooner flirtation can be discouraged, the easier it will be for everyone involved to save face.

+1 - this is a a good practice in general, an a good idea for this situation. Regarding ignoring the situation, which I had written about: the person in the question has to make an important judgment about the trajectory of the situation. If it seems stable, then ignoring might work. But if it seems to be escalating, then ignoring it too long can make the situation more difficult to resolve.

It is a delicate matter as it can't really be pinned down as flirtatious but it does not seem very professional either. For example, even if I get quite familiar with some collaborators or colleagues, I do not add emoticons or texts that I normally use when talking to my family.
I would keep the answers as professional as possible, keep the tone quite "dry", and keep a very good track of all mails that go back and forth (just in case any problems later arise).
I would also approach as soon as possible, as part of the lecture course, the way that communication between teacher and students should take place - as @Oswald Veblen wrote above, or new routines in communication... you can eventually come with some reason for it. If the mails from the student continue in the same tone after bringing it up to the class, I would approach the subject directly with the student, at school, in an open space (if her intention is to flirt, you can never know how she will react when you will bring up the subject - better to have things as transparent and as clear as possible).
I would not start to change myself and be on a 24/7 stakeout, analyzing each and every move and grimace I make. I would make sure though  that I behave in the same way with everyone.
A last thing, if it helps, maybe not :). Last time I was in a similar situation, only that it went to a not so subtle communication, I approached the person and told him that - probably I have misinterpreted the whole situation but I'd rather make a fool of myself than leaving things unclear. I told him I appreciated our collaboration but I was not interested in taking things further than just professionally.
Hope it was all just a misunderstanding! All the best!

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Publishing a master's thesis
A master's student in the department of mathematics that I work in has recently finished his master's thesis, on a topic that is well represented in the literature. There are several books and surveys concerning the subject but they are either semi-elementary treatises, or research level expositions.
He managed to write his thesis in quite a mature style and he treats results up untill 2022, (much like a survey). It should be noted that he has made no original contributions to the field, though he has written  down some of his ideas and approach to the subject.
As such, I would like to ask wether he should publish his thesis, on the account of pedagogical reasons (and not only that) and if doing so could impact possible PhD applications? How whould the comunity recieve a survey-like publication from an unknown student?

I think you should talk to publishers. My experience is that they are very keen on discussing planned books. I can't really predict whether this one will work well, but responsible series/field editors will have a qualified opinion, and if the opinion is positive, they will be keen to sign it (after the usual review stage).

Some math journals publish expository articles, for instance, L’Enseignement mathématique. Another possible venue are proceedings of math conferences. If the survey is high quality, it does not matter if the author is an unknown MA/PhD student. I suggest you talk to your advisor.

It isn't obvious that he can publish the thesis other than on a private site or something like arXiv. Publishing with a formal publisher is decided by that publisher, not the author. It will need to pass muster by reviewers and an editor whose standards probably include some measure of novelty. And it isn't clear that what you describe has the required novelty.
But, if a reputable publisher will issue it then it is probably a plus for doctoral admissions. Private publication counts for much less if it isn't also formally published. For an established researcher that isn't quite the same, however, and preprints from known scholars can be highly valued, though also as a step along the way to formal publication.
But, the work may have pedagogical value. It might even be worth publishing as a separate volume as a service. Making it known to those who might want to see it is a major hurdle, however. Especially for someone new to academia.

My best-placed publication is half of my MA thesis. I would suggest the student to try to add some original thesis/overall interpretative structure to the work and to publish it.

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Typo in birthdate in PhD application
How serious of a mistake is a typo in the birthdate of a candidate filling a PhD application in mathematics? For example, if the correct date is 08/10/2000 and the submitted one is exactly one day off, like 07/10/2000, while there have been official documents submitted supporting the correct date, (national ID, passport, etc), what may be the consequences for the applicant?
What should one do in such a situation? Should they conduct the institute recieving the applications, though it has been specified that no corrections are allowed after submission? Should they redress the application, if it is rejected?

It is very likely no consequence to anybody involved, but could cause problems down the line. For example, if the university has to sponsor a visa for you, and the visa has information that doesn't match your passport, then it can absolutely cause problems. Just contact the department, explain the error, and ask if they can correct the record.

First of all, there are cases where the age of the applicant might matter. Being a day off is not likely to bear any significance in the reviewing of an application, but being an year off could.
@David is correct, however, that it might still have a major impact on validity of any documents moving forward. It is a tough situation to be in, admittedly. There are two kinds of people in the loop: those reviewing applications substantially and those who help moving the papers around. Counter-intuitively, a formal mistake may create a lot more friction in a bureaucracy than a substantial one, because there are so many more entities involved. Leaving a lorem ipsum in the middle of your CV will cause a few raised eyebrows for a small handful of people. But having a visa or grant denied or massively delayed purely on the grounds of someone failing to carefully check their own info is not a minor thing (but the perceived severity of an infraction would depend heavily on the country/institutions in question, of course).
Overall, I would interpret the "no corrections" policy as "this creates a lot of unnecessary work for us, and we certainly do not want to see your third and revised version of SoP because this one clearly makes your application stronger". But the correction still has to be communicated. The best time to do that (often impossible to know from the outside) would be when the relevant paperwork is being filled and there is almost no disruption to the normal process. The second best time is as soon as possible.

Indeed the distinction is important. I suppose that the policy indeed is about significant matters (that matter for the decision), in any case, just contact them apologetically.


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Structured plagiarism by using similar citations in a paragraph
I cited a paragraph of an article, which classified some model according to different categories. For each class it contains related work from the literature. Is it plagiarism that some citations match with mine?
Structure of the cited paragraph:

Class 1 / related work
Class 2 / related work
Class 3 / related work

To summarize:
I cited that the structure is obtained from the article. I did not cite, that some of the related work for each class was contained in this article.
For example I cited some paper belonging to the first class, which was the first in this category.
Is this considered as plagiarism?

Your question is not clear.
Why do you need to pedantically repeat the classification presented in the article you refer to?

I do not want to repeat it. For each class there are several related paper. If I have similar citation as the author, how should I cite this?

Are you asking if it is plagiarism to cite the same work that someone else cites?

yes you can say that

If it is someone else work, cite it or it is plagiarism.
If it is your work, let it be your work.
A lazy way would be see article xyz and reference therein.
From what you describe it seems to me that you need to cite every work for each class, but maybe you can simply cite that the classifciation of the models have been presented by xyz, and you are referring to model of class n only.

I cited that the classification has been presented in this article. I refer to all n classes, but I do not know how I should cite the related work inside a specific class if I also want to include it?

For example: In class i he presented 10 papers. I want tom include 2 of them. Do I have to cite this in some way, since I would use the same citations?

" In class i he presented 10 papers. I want tom include 2 of them. " Then cite the work from the original author, plus the 2 papers you want to include and you are good to go.
Important thing is always to give credit. Origianl author made the effort to find and cite the 2 papers you want to cite? then cite the original author citing the 2 out of 10 papers. It is not plagiarism.

Do you imply that I cite the general classification from the author and cite the referenced paper from the respective authors? Or do I cite the referenced paper and simultaneously the work from the orignal author.

Something like this. Assume [1]  is orignal author,  [2] is referenced paper.     First possibility: Text conerning classification [1]. Text about referenced paper  [2]

Second possibility: Text conerning classification [1]. Text about referenced paper [1,2]

The first possibility, but please remember that plagiarism is taking the concepts/ideas/woks without citing, it is not the only issue. If you copy the text from almost word by word, even by referencing it, you are not doing plagiarism but you are still copying. There is a fine line between referencing and copying. Referencing is mentioing something you master or at least something you have understood, copying is ... well, copying.

Thank you very much. It helped  lot.

Note that plagiarism is about misattribution of the ideas of others, usually to oneself. It isn't about words or structure, necessarily.
Nothing in the question seems to imply misattribution of any idea.
In particular, with regard to citations, if you are writing some paper that extends another then citing some of the same work as the first seems perfectly natural. Likewise for a review article. In fact, it might be plagiarism not to cite.


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Is using Mendeley to organize my files a good idea?
My Library is already partially organized (manually) with regular filesystem folders. But it is pretty messy right now and getting unwieldy.
Also several files should be renamed to something meaningful (right now paper titles-author-year is best for me).
I am wary of pulling the trigger, Mendeley may make things worse, not better.
Any opinions? Experiences? Thanks.

I find the MS Word plugin for Mendeley invaluable time saver for citations.  Mendeley can automatically gather citation data and organize citations and bibliography in word.  You will pay for not using it.

Mendeley has always like to describe themselves as "Opens up Science for Everyone", but their EULA is very restrictive (e.g,. see my question on Open Data.SE). Mendeley is now owned by Elsevier. Many people felt betrayed by the move (cf. this article in the New Yorker).
Academic careers are long and I would be very hesitant about putting my library of articles in a closed source system with a restrictive EULA that is owned by one of the major for profit publishers. While Menedely might be better than your current system, it is unlikely to remain the best system over the next 30+ years. You might be better served by developing your flexible system for keeping track of articles.
I am not aware of a FOSS clone of Mendeley (see Free, open-source substitutes for Mendeley?), but FOSS projects like JabRef and Zotero might meet many of your needs and provide better flexibility going forward.

Interesting. Do you know of any cases where someone uploaded their own paper and it was removed?

Thanks for mentioning that background on the company and other considerations, I hadn't heard of any of it and I never used Mendeley in any of those ways, so wasn't even aware of the politicized issues that surrounded it. I've just been happy it helps me find meta-information on the paper and help me cite it, as I tend to save interesting articles and then forget how hard it can be to reverse-search and get a proper citation for it later. Still, it's important to be aware of and gives some validation to my paranoia - always backup things to multiple places!

Agreed. I downloaded FOSS options to try and searched here for recommends, http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5352/free-open-source-substitutes-for-mendeley.

I think I need to use Mendeley until other options are ready for primtetime and/or have the same feature set. I use Zotero in tandem with Mendeley right now. We'll see how it goes.

I've personally used this feature, and I really like it - though honestly, part of the value I get from Mendeley is that I stop worrying about my files and folders and just use the software itself most of the time. As I have it sync them up I'm not even really concerned with where it stores them any more.
My recommendation is just to copy-paste your directory of files to a separate area "just in case", then fire away. File naming is (was) a pet peeve of mine, and I really like to have the files nicely named so I can search them - then I usually also sync that folder to Google Drive so I can access my documents anywhere (phone, guest account, etc).
It's a useful and nice feature, but honestly I found less value from it than I expected precisely as I began using Mendeley more. I still use the feature, but the other things the program does make it almost redundant - but still nice and I'm glad its there.

Thank You, a trial run is the best idea. it is difficult to let go of control. I need to separate & recategorize files: one set of files just papers (Mendeley maganged), the other set for all other academic files. For remote access I would expect you to be able to login to your Mendeley account via web.

Mendeley does this quite well. The options for folder organization are any combination of author/title/journal/year, in any order you want. The options for file names may also include any of author/title/journal/year, in any order, where you can separate by underscore, hyphen, comma or period.
One thing which could be improved is that Mendeley will not let you change the format of individual fields. For example, for author names, if there are up to 3 authors it will have all author names (e.g. "Johnson, Cohen, Livingstone_Nature_2013.pdf") but if there are more it will write it as "Johnson et al._Nature_2013.pdf". Also as you see it uses spaces and commas. So if the exact formatting is very important to you this may be a problem.
Note though that Mendeley has a special site where you can ask for new features and follow up on their progress. It works pretty well, though the timelines can vary (took them ages to get an android app).
As BrianDHall mentions, there are many other better reasons to use Mendeley - I definitely recommend it.

Good info, appreciated.

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Severity of plagiarism
In my previous question I asked about being accused of plagiarism.
Finally, the examiners have sent me the pages where I have not put the sources. These are 8 pages in total where I accidentally forget to cite due to some family stress and lack of knowledge about plagiarism .
As far as I remember I have put some pages in my thesis for reading purpose and forget to remove it from there due to my own carelessness.
What should I write in my answering statement to retain my degree?

There will be a meeting expected in near future. But I have to give a Statement in written why I not marked citiation.

@Buffy I want to know what should I write in my statement

It's not clear to me what you're saying you did. Do you have 8 pages that you copied from another source? Or are there 8 pages where you are missing all citations? Or are there 8 pages where you missed an occasional citation?

I copied these 8 pages and not cited. These pages I copied just for the Reader to read the addtional information about background. Infact these pages I put for my own reading and forget to remove these Page before submission.

If I were on the student integrity committee considering this case, I would not have found this explanation plausible. But it is between you and your university.

You submitted your thesis and didn't realize that 8 of the pages weren't your own? I don't think there is any reasonable way to explain that.

I didnt say that I didnt realise. I wrote that I forget to cite it. That is the main point. I put these pages as for my own reading and then forget to remove it. Or the other way I ca say that it only for the reading purpose to get addtional background about the topic.

"I forget to cite it" "forget to remove it" If you wanted to remove it, then why would you need to cite it?  These two statements seem contradictory; it seems that one or both of them are false.

Does this answer your question? Accused of plagiarism in my master thesis, which I submitted two years ago. What now?

This question is a clarification of the linked question above. I voted to close as duplicate.

"That is the main point. I put these pages as for my own reading" This is not something that anyone normally does (copy-pasting several pages from some other source into their thesis instead of, I dunno, printing them out or saving them into a separate file) and it's unclear why you would do this, so you'd need to come up with a very convincing explanation for this. (I cannot think of any myself.) Especially if you happen to have had such bad luck that the pages that you put there for your own reading happen to have landed into contexts where they fit in seemlessly with the rest of the text.

Also the fact that you have two unrelated reasons for doing this (family stress and lack of knowledge), when either one would make the other irrelevant, makes me think you are just making excuses.

Because this is my first research work in the form of thesis. That is why I dont have enough pladgirism knowldge. And also have a family stress

Sorry, we can't give individualized advice; you should try to rephrase your question so that other people could potentially have the same problem in future and benefit from this post. Beyond that, the only answer to "what should I write" is "an explanation of what happened"; there is no magic formula that will get you out of trouble.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Lack of knowledge about the plagiarism" but if you only mean that you mistakenly left it in rather than that you don't understand plagiarism, then you could say that.
You could also mention your stress based on family issues. I note that you haven't mentioned stress before, nor its nature. I don't suggest you add it here, but you might need to in your letter.
But, I suggest that you be honest in all things. Describe your process and how it failed. Offer to make suitable corrections.
I can't guarantee anything about the outcome. Hopefully you will be able to have a meeting. Answer honestly. Carelessness is bad but better than evil intent. Carelessness amplified by stress might get you forgiveness. Good luck.


text:
Low quality postdoc application and deadline extension
I was interested in a postdoc offer and forgot about the deadline.
I remembered the deadline to apply was today. I rushed to make a CV and motivation letter and sent it at 23h59. The day after, the PI sent a message on a job offer mailing list saying that the deadline is extended for one week.
The question is: should I rewrite a better application and send it again, or just wait for an answer on my poorly written application? Or, maybe there is another solution? (And yes, the best solution is to prepare an application before the deadline)
If anybody has any ideas as to what to make of this situation, please do share. In advance, Thanks for your time.

Nope, I directly sent a mail to a person that seemed to be HR.

You can always add material and submit again, regardless of deadlines. Sometimes people get publications and awards after they submitted their materials. You shouldn't totally change major things like career goals or plans, or you may look indecisive or insincere.

Contact them, explain yourself, and ask if it is OK to resubmit your application. (And make sure that you can submit a significantly better application before the new deadline.)
This has the added advantage of bringing you in contact with the PI, and putting yourself on their radar.


text:
What to do when the organizers close the submission portal earlier than what was announced?
I was submitting the camera-ready version of my paper to a conference in China, and its deadline was by the end of Sept. 7th based on Pacific daylight time. But, they closed the submission portal at 16:00 (PT) Sept. 7th.
I already contacted the program chairs (which are Professors of Chinese Universities), but I have not heard anything back from them. I imagined they have closed the webpage (maybe by automatic settings) according to their local time in China which is more than half a day ahead of PT. But the conference website (keydates) clearly says that all the deadlines are at 11:59PM Pacific Daylight Time.
Update: After exchanging a couple of emails they noticed it was a technical problem from the web service they were using for submission management. They solved it eventually and now everyone is happy! :D
So, what can I do instead of giving up on my paper?

In future, plan to be more ahead of the deadline - avoids this type of issue "I was trying to submit 10 seconds/minutes before it closed" is often heard from students...

@SolarMike You are right. I always try to do such as far as I can. But this time I was at least 4 hours ahead of the deadline. :D

Check also, e.g. by phone, whether or not the program chairs really received your email: it's not uncommon (or at least it was just a few years ago) that emails from foreign countries got blocked by the Chinese government.

If it's a decent conference, there is hope, since the PC chairs will want to make up for their mistake. If they don't, the conference probably wasn't that great to begin with.

Expecting them to be checking their emails on a weekend is a bit presumptuous. It is Monday now in China, give them a chance to have a coffee, get through some admin, and then deal with their inbox. You may not be the only one emailing to complain.

I cross my fingers on that assumption! :D

In case I haven't heard from them in a day from now, should I send an email to the steering committee of the conference?

Since this is a camera-ready, can you email it (with the extra details) to the publisher in charge (if one has been in contact with you)? This sort of deadline is likely more flexible — the paper's already accepted, it's now a matter of typesetting it in time.


text:
How important is the TOEFL speaking score?
I am a student from China, and I want to apply for (pure) math PhD this fall, in the USA. Now I have a TOEFL score which has 102 points in total but only 20 points in speaking section. I am hesitating to take another TOEFL test.
What I want to know is, how important the TOEFL speaking section score is. Does a 20 speaking score will make me rejected? Also, I want to know how the professors view applicants' TOEFL scores. Some universities, such as the UCSD, said that "Our department also looks critically at the speaking scores of the TOEFL and IELTS. It is strongly recommended to have at least a 23 speaking score on the TOEFL and a 7 speaking score on the IELTS.". Does this means I have no chance to be admitted? Should I try to get a 23 score in TOEFL? I think it is not very easy to me, and a TOEFL test is somewhat expensive...
Another question that I really want to know is, even if the university said that they only require a minimum score in total score of TOEFL, will a low speaking score undermine my possibility of being admitted?
Anyway, I will appreciate anyone who can help me. Any advice is welcome.

This is impossible to answer as it’s highly dependent on where you’re applying to.

@Spark Thank you for your comment, I thought that different universities take a similar view of speaking score before you say that. I am sorry to post such a bad question.

Apart from the effect of score on admissions, you need to find ways to improve your spoken English. To get the full benefit from courses taught in English you need to be able to ask questions and participate in discussions with your fellow students.

The level of the TOEFL or IELTS speaking score is important as a hard criteria for admission to graduate schools in the US because it is an effective first step for the university, the department, and the advisor to police against allowing specific situations to go wrong.
You may be supported by the department as a teaching assistant. In this case, you will have to interact with undergraduate students in labs, in recitations, or as they visit you to discuss their homework assignment or grade. Your ability to speak coherently and clearly is critical in all of these cases, but especially in the first two. Otherwise, the students will evaluate you as being unable to carry out your duties as a teaching assistant because you are unable to speak English.
You may be supported by a faculty member as a research assistant. In this case, you will be required to provide your advisor with verbal reports on your research progress and likely also to give oral presentations about your work. Here again, you ability to communicate coherently and clearly is critical. Otherwise, your advisor may evaluate the situation and decide not to continue to support you because the extra effort he or she requires to communicate effectively with you in English will delay achievements on the project beyond reason.
As a graduate student doing research in the US, you will be expected if not required to be able to communicate the results of your work to the community of researchers in the US in English. This means you will be asked if not required to give oral presentations at local, regional, or national conferences. Your ability to speak coherently and clearly will reflect positively on you. The inverse case is often more dire. When you cannot speak well in English, the net result will reflect poorly on you but can also be taken to reflect badly on your work or the quality of your project.
Graduate programs in the US also require students to take courses. The teaching approach in US graduate courses often if not always demands that graduate students interact verbally with the instructor and with their peers. Your ability to communicate effectively in English can and often absolutely will determine your level of success to complete homework, do project assignments, and pass quizzes or exams.
In summary, you must meet the required verbal score because not doing so is a sign that you can and likely will fail at one or another of your required duties to communicate effectively in English as a graduate student in a US degree program. Universities, departments, and faculty are not interested to support such cases of potential failure. They have enough applications that meet or exceed the speaking requirements that they do not need to waste their time on those that do not.
One possible exception to the above must be acknowledged. In some cases, the admission criteria to the university could state that verbal scores below the cutoff may be admitted but that, in such a case, the applicant (you) will be required in the first year to pass courses offered at the university in English as a second language. In such cases, university policy may disallow you to be supported as a teaching assistant until you pass the courses. Alternatively, faculty may not wish to support you on their research funding until you have passed the courses. The English language courses may run for a full academic year.
In conclusion, as one who has reviewed many applications to graduate programs in science and engineering, I offer you little to no hope to continue your application process until you bring your TOEFL or IELTS verbal score to the levels that are demanded in the admission requirements of the universities where you intend to apply. The best alternative is to have a faculty member in the department who will make the case to the department and the university to support you as an exception to the rules.

In addition to all this, a graduate student should be able to ask questions in class and participate in informal discussions with other graduate students. If English is the school's working language it may be the only common language among the students in your department.

They will tend to look at the speaking score in terms of you making presentations at conferences and also teaching classes as well as helping in workshops etc.
So they will take it into account - may not be the only thing looked at but still part of the application.


text:
How to find out who funded a study / research?
It has been proven that the source of funding can have an influence on the results of a research (funding bias, well documented here and here).
When we check for pieces of research, for example through the Pubmed database, how can we check the source of funding? (And check for possible financial conflict of interest?)

I think that your first statement urgently calls for references. As for determining sources of funding, AFAIK, research papers typically include acknowledgement of funding sources and even specific grant references. Many authors also include conflict of interests statements.

Are you referring to government funding? Private funding? something else?

@AleksandrBlekh : Just added some references you asked for. Does this mean that there is no way to verify the funding source of a study, other than look at what is claimed by the authors in the paper ?

@ff524 I was speaking about how to check it "in general". But for a "funding bias" or "funding effect" to occur, there need to be some sort of interest, that's why this is typically a question about private fundings (industry fundings). Again good source here.

I asked because it's easier to find out who gets government funding (NIH RePORTER, for example). For private funding, there's no way to check other than what authors themselves report in the paper. (Why should there be a way to check? Who is supposed to be responsible for verifying funding source?)

Reputable journals require authors to disclose funding sources and other financial interests, which are then displayed in the article text. See for example here.

Thank you for the references (now I can safely upvote). In regard to your question in comment, certainly, there are ways to verify funding sources. As @ff524 mentioned, government funding information is public and is accessible on corresponding funding agencies' websites. For example, NSF research awards can be searched by various criteria on this page. I think European Union-sponsored research details are also available on relevant websites. I even saw details on privately funded research awards, posted on foundations' sites.

Reputable journals might require authors to disclose funding sources, but as noted, this practice, reputable journals notwithstanding, is inconsistent.  Beyond this, there are no standards for determining what is a reputable journal.
As to the comment that two citations do not prove the point, the literature is replete with studies demonstrating funding bias; a few examples: Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship and research outcome and quality, Lexchen, Bern et al; Avoiding biasing the conduct and reporting…, Hillman, Eisenberg, et al; Systematic review of empirical evidence of study publication bias, Dwan, Altman et al.

I wouldn't say that two studies is "proven," especially when neither of those is empirical: The first one is a literature review, and the second one is a theoretical article. Besides, both of them talk almost exclusively about the funding of medical/pharmaceutical research by pharmaceutical companies, and not about funding agencies as a whole.
That said, journals are supposed to be the gatekeepers of this information. When scientists submit a journal article, most journals these days ask them to disclose a conflict of interest: whether their funding or other personal interests is tied up with the research they're doing. Some journals publish this information publicly for readers to see, and others do not. Some journals require a funding statement - a little paragraph in the footnotes that states where the funding comes from
But this is done inconsistently; there's no standard from journal to journal, and not all journals report the information at all. The one "exception" is NIH funding - because of new NIH regulations, scientists have to disclose their NIH funding in the journal article and link their funding to the articles themselves, so theoretically the public can see where their tax dollars are going. In practice, the process of linking can take several weeks to several months (although this will probably speed up as it becomes more commonplace).
So the answer is - often times the only way to check IS what authors themselves report in the paper, short of contacting the author(s) and asking them yourself.

I would note that there are many other NIH-type "exceptions" - it's a policy for all UK RCUK-funded grants, for example - but exactly how effective these policies have been is not yet clear.

All funds I've been involved in did require thanking the source (and often state the exact grant) in any publications.


text:
Is it possible for a PhD applicant to be rejected against the potential supervisor's will?
I have been in contact with a potential supervisor in one of tier two US universities before applying and all the way to receiving my rejection letter a few days ago.
The individual department I applied for has seven faculty members including my potential supervisor and as I know he is not on admission committee.
I try to quote his responses to me in our email exchanges.
When I first contacted him in October to show my interest in applying for Fall 2017 semester he replied: "I am interested to have you as my PhD student. But, you should apply fast to be here by Spring Semester. I can get you on a research funding that I have for next semester on ***** Project."
I couldn't prepare my application materials on time and I was told: "It is too hard to get the I-20 in a timely manner that you can be here for Spring semester. So, I am changing my plan of the project to be able to support you for the next fall."
I updated my application for Fall 2017 semester.
Last time before receiving my decision he replied, "Your application has come to college and is under consideration, I supported your application strongly. We should see the result soon." to my email regarding application status.
After receiving my rejection letter I emailed him to let him know I was rejected and thanked him for his support during this period.
But I think he was as shocked as I was on hearing that I was rejected.
He replied: "Why, your application was rejected!!
Please let me know, I should be able to help you."
and "Everything were positive on your application from my last communication. I am thinking that  your application may not have gone from **** Department to college of Engineering and to Graduate school, I will check on that tomorrow morning and I will let you know."
Do you think is it possible a rejected applicant being accepted when their potential supervisor really wants them?

To make it short: yes, because the departement seems small and the university second-rate.

Possibilities: Mistakes happen. Someone tried to shoot down the prof's applicant. The prof indicated disinterest earlier and did not signal a change in status to the board. Who knows?

Yes, it's possible.
Practices vary, but in most US universities, graduate admissions are not decided by individual professors, but rather by a committee of faculty.  Their decisions often must also be approved by a graduate dean or another higher-level committee.
There are many possible reasons why an applicant could be rejected, even if they have the support of a potential supervisor:

The committee might disagree with the supervisor's assessment of your qualifications.
The professor might have a record of questionable judgment in recommending PhD students.
Many PhD programs include coursework and exam components before beginning to work on dissertation research with an advisor.  It could be that the committee isn't confident that you would pass those components.
The program, or the university, might have strict minimum GPA or GRE score requirements, that you might not have met.
The committee might not feel that the professor would be a good supervisor.  This could happen if he does not have a successful record with previous students, or if they feel he already has too many students to advise well.
The program might have a limited capacity for students, or a limited amount of funding.  Even if the committee agrees with the professor that you are well qualified, there might still be more qualified candidates than they can accept.  Maybe there are even too many candidates who have the support of particular professors. If so, some good candidates have to be rejected.  This is probably the most likely reason.
It could be, as the professor seems to think, that a mistake has been made, and his recommendation has been unintentionally overlooked.  If that is so, it is possible, though not certain, that the decision could be changed.

For international students a minimum TOFEL score is often a big hurdle that potential supervisors forget about.

This is a good answer - and I believe most of these points would apply outside of the United States also.
I would also add to this list infrastructure and resource considerations, particularly in disciplines in high demand and especially where they involve lab work, field work or anything that places demands on the resource base of the college/school/department/faculty.

Yes all sorts of things can happen. While the response seems positive, I would suggest not getting too excited. There are lots of reasons why a student would not get accepted even when a supervisor wants to work with them.