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Submitted paper with wrong title
I wrote a paper which got accepted in a reputed journal, I wrote another paper with completely different work, however when  I submitted the second paper I mistakenly (actually I was in a hurry) with the old title (of accepted paper). What should I do now, should I withdraw my paper, or let the editor know about this, the paper is still in phase of "waiting for editor assignment"
thankyou

Why on earth are you even asking this question? To put this into perspective: You want to be a scientist, just like the editor of that journal. Why shouldn't you write him an email?

Such errors are not uncommon. Just inform the journal through the editor in chief or wait until you actually have an editor. It is normally possible to change titles in any case up to the time of finalization.
At worst there will be a bit of confusion until you make the correction.

will it have some affect on the revision of my paper ; I am afraid to ask the editor, as he may become biased because of my irresponsible behavior

@user7341333: Believe me, everyone working in academia for more than 3 years has seen much, much more irresponsible behavior.

@user7341333 you have to inform the associate editor before he selects wrong reviewer which will read a mismatching title-abstract, so immediatley mail to him after he has been assigned

I just checked the status of the paper, it is now under review, this means the reviewers must have been assigned by now, should I still inform the editor.

Yes, do it immediately. If reviewers need to be reassigned it will be helpful to do it before they start.

Although the question doesn't explicitly say so, I guess that the incorrect title is only in the web form for the submission, not on the paper itself. If that's correct, then I think you could just write to the editor: "Dear [editor's name], When I submitted my paper [correct title] for publication in [journal name], I mistakenly put an incorrect title [wrong title] on the web form. Could you please either correct that in the system or tell me how to correct it? Thank you, [your name]"
If, on the other hand, the paper itself had the wrong title (which I find hard to imagine), then your email to the editor should, in addition to explaining what happened, include an attachment with the correct version of the paper.


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Major revision submission time for IEEE Access
I received a major revision for IEEE Access article. How much time exactly do I have to submit the revised version. Nor the FAQs doesnt mention any, nor the email by the editor.

There is no deadline nor any notion of 'major revision' as per other journals.  All articles that require revision are 'rejected'.  Authors can then resubmit their article as 'new'.  If it is an actual reject, the corresponding Decision email will state that no resubmission is allowed.
Authors can reference the identifier of their previous manuscript to ensure the same editor, and hopefully reviewers, process their manuscript.

Resubmission is allowed in my case

I was once in a similar situation and asked the IEEE Access editorial office. Here's the response excerpt:

(...) Please note that it's a good practice to resubmit at your earliest convenience, though the system is showing your resubmission to be due on [my rejection date + 1 year - 1 day].

But I don't know if that applies to every case, so I'd simply ask them. They replied me within a day or so.

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text:
Request for Changes to the Author List
I need to change the corresponding author in my paper. The journal asked to submit a form which is about changes in the author list. The text is as follows :

Do I still need to submit this form. I have just changed the corresponding authorship from 1st author to second author. I have not added any new authors or change the authors order.

I agree that this is a little unclear. At the beginning the wording suggests that "author list" and "order of authors" might be distinct, because the sentence with "the list and order of authors" is written in a way that suggests "the list" refers to "author list". But maybe the object for "the" is actually all of "list and order of authors". It's not clear to me, and it would have been better to explicitly use "list of authors" and "order of authors" as separate notions, and be clear whether one and/or both are what is meant by "updated author list" (a new phrase BTW, not previously used).

(to continue) That said, I agree with @Especially Lime that what you are doing doesn't qualify as "Original Author List" not-equal "Updated Author List", as your proposed change has no effect for any of the interpretations of what an "updated author list" might mean -- addition and/or subtraction of authors, OR change in order of authors, OR both.

This form doesn't seem to apply, as the list of authors is the same. Being corresponding author has no direct connection to how much you have contributed, so you don't normally need to justify the choice of who it is.
I would simply have the current corresponding author email the editor (usually there is a way to do this through the system) and ask to change the corresponding author. I have done this without problems in the past.

The above form does not apply to changes in corresponding author. If you have to submit a reply letter than you will just have to do it in the portal. If the article is published than you just have to email the administrative staff assigned to your manuscript.

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Changing the role of Corresponding author in a Journal for APC charges
I wrote a research paper while i was doing my Postdoc at a university. Later I submitted one of research paper after the completion of my Postdoc. I submitted my paper to IEEE Access which charges APC (Article processing charges). My university (where I completed my Postdoc) facilitates with the payment of APC however the corresponding author needs to be from that university at the time of acceptance. Previously I (first author)did all the communication with the journal and I  mentioned myself as a corresponding author, but now I want to change the corresponding author to the second author of the paper so that we are facilitated in the payment of fees. Is it possible and does it sound rude to ask professor for funding after the completion of the Postdoc.

This is confusing. Which university is which? You say "My university..." Is that your current university or a former one?

Sorry, the formal one


text:
I've been rejected from every research program/professor I've applied to for summer. What do I do?
I'm a sophomore biology major. I'd like to be in a research lab, but am willing to do anything related to my major: interning for environmental consulting, working for the state epa, etc. The issue is EVERYTHING I've applied to and every professor I've emailed has rejected/ignored me. I'm staring down a long, empty, lonely summer at the same minimum wage job I had last year. I'm panicked and depressed at the prospect. Please help. What do I do? Is it too late to find something?
Edited to add: I have 2 weeks until I'm done with this semester and summer starts

Well, when does summer start? You still have 8 weeks here, but you might have one where you're at

Have you gotten any feedback from the rejections? You might be seen as just too inexperienced given your second year status. People may just think they will need to give you too much supervision for the return.

I have not gotten any feedback from rejections. Most programs don't ever respond or send a generic email saying I wasn't selected. Only one program explicitly told me why I was rejected, and it's actually because I was "overqualified" in a sense- they preferenced giving opportunities to people from 2 year institutions or community colleges. The professors don't even reject me they just ignore my emails.

Do professors post available jobs for undergrads at your institution? They do at mine and when my lab wants someone we advertise it; if we aren't advertising we probably don't have a spot for anyone. Also many of the summer students we take on are people who did a for-credit research project in the lab for a semester. A summer-only student isn't really in the lab long enough to do anything useful.

Professors do not post available jobs. I've seen only one professor post a job, and when I emailed him about it he confessed he would fill it only with students from his class. Do you think if I started emailing professors indicating I'd like to continue in the lab into fall semester I'd get more interest?

Perhaps consider also detailing how you phrased the email? Some professors/lab managers don't bother with students if they say they're interested in something completely unrelated to the lab, seem to not be genuinely interested (i.e., only extrinsically motivated), seem to be clearly sucking up, etc. etc. etc. Perhaps that can give us a bit more to work with.

How are you writing your emails? Make a list of your interests and match it to professors and their area of research. Be clear when you email them as in:

Introduce yourself succinctly and explain what your technical/major related background is, what your interests are (ideally match this with the lab). Perhaps related classwork/projects would fit here.
Read up the research the professor/lab has done, even if you don't understand everything. Mention specifically what papers/projects interested you in the email.
Ask to have a conversation with the professor, i.e "I'd like to learn more about x and the lab's work in y, would you have time to meet to discuss this blah blah".

Overall, keep the email short but make sure each sentence has a purpose. You might not always get a response, or maybe they won't have space and only have time for a conversation. But hey, you at least made a connection and can always try another professor after. Maybe stagger your emails from your first pick to second etc, and you could title it as something related to 'interested in undergrad research blah blah'.
Worst comes to worst, be specific about the classes that you take in an upcoming semester. Pick professors whose labs you want to work in and work hard, go to office hours etc. I can't see you failing in that scenario. Depending on your major, perhaps you could also work on a personal project during the summer and be able to showcase the project/skill in the upcoming school semester.
Lastly to add I'm not a professor, but I maybe wouldn't hire/accept a summer-only student unless  they already had some skills. Its just a fact that when you're earlier in your major, it takes longer for you to get up to speed and running. Something that could take you a week will take someone a day maybe. Professors know that and are willing to invest in the student, but you in turn should be willing to return that investment, and show that you are willing to work during the year etc


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Given 0s on Assignments with suspected and dismissed cheating?
Basically, I coded several assignments and a friend turned in code which looks almost identical. I didn't give him my code, and, as far as I know, he didn't even have any way to access it - but it happened somehow. Anyway, the professor said that he can't prove that I let him have the code, so he won't/can't fail me for the class. However, he'll still give me 0s on the assignments he suspects cheating on.
Is there anything I can do? I already went over the code with the professor one on one, and proved with little doubt that I coded it myself. If the suspected cheating can't be proved, does he have the authority to give 0s on those assignments? Would an ombudsman be able to change the situation? I don't want to push this too hard and end up digging myself into a hole where an authority may decide to fail me (if that's possible), but I also proved that I coded those assignments and deserve a grade.
The professor said that if he figures out how he got my code (supposedly if he sees that I didn't willingly hand it over to him), then he'd give me the points back. But since the case is already going to be dismissed, is that a decision that he can make or something I can fight back?
I'm sure this all varies based on different universities and their policies, but any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
EDIT: I was mistaken to say that the case is going to be dismissed - Its most likely going to be though.
EDIT2: Between advice here and what I've found out on my end, I think I know what my options are and what I can do.

It sounds like you should have a chat with your friend! It would really support your defence if they came clean about how they copied your code without you knowing / without you facilitating their cheating.

Check your university's academic honesty policy for your rights and obligations. As you say, it depends a lot on the university and the department. At my university, for example, you would receive a 0 as a minimum penalty even if someone copied over your shoulder without your knowledge.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

I have heard about professors threatening all kinds of stuff because of alleged cheating. In our university, such cases may not be judged by the professors or teachers of the course (and doing so, especially making threats can get them into trouble). Instead, they are required to present it to a commission consisting of a few higher-ups in the department.
I suggest you look up how this works at your school or university. I imagine you can ask your mentor or adviser (or just another professor / teacher you trust) what the procedure is there.
It shouldn't be a problem to ask what the procedure is, and if you like what you hear you can always try to make your case. Though I'd informally explain the situation to someone you trust, e.g. mentor, adviser, etc. first. If you are willing to make a case, you can probably tell the teacher beforehand, if they don't think they have a case they might drop it all together because they don't want involve others (especially if they have little proof).
Once you do involve other people (teachers / some commission), make sure to make your case as tight as possible. If you can prove that you wrote it (e.g. a cloud service that shows when you saved, Github commits or chat logs showing your worked on it together) then that can help you convince those who are judging the case.

Thanks! The only policy I see for cheating is that if found guilty, there's a department that will handle what consequences I receive. So I'm fairly certain the professor's punishment can't be following policies. I wish I had time to dig deeper, but it's the last week of the semester and official grades will be in soon.

@zapshe If I were you I'd contact them anyway if you want to take it up with higher-ups. Academic dishonesty is a serious thing. For example, at our university it will go on the record (after discussing with the parties involved). If it doesn't really impact you much you might not want to bother taking it up, but if it does (e.g. you mail the course because of the missing points, or the they somehow put it on the record without hearing you out) then I'd consider it. And contacting your adviser / mentor could be a good in-between step to consider your options with them first.

Thanks, it seems that the issue will be progressing and if it gets to the office of student conduct I will appeal it. After talking with an ombudsman, I was told the office of student conduct will tell me my options when I see them, which is short for I have practically only a few options. I can appeal or let it happen, but it has to get there first. There's still a chance it wont, but I'll see what happens. Thanks a lot JJJ!

It seems that you are being treated unfairly, but it is a situation that can only be judged and handled locally. Your university probably has appeal processes and you can always go to the department head.
In programming as in mathematics there is often only one clear way to do something and if different students  do "the expected" thing, then their programs come out similar - occasionally very similar.
"Suspicion" of cheating should never be the final determinant.
But no one here can help you. Seek a solution locally.

Anyone with coding experience could likely come to the same conclusion that there was cheating. I even questioned my friend, who I could not even find a way for him to have cheated, about whether or not he actually copied my code. So there's evidence for the suspicion, but I'm not sure how substantial that is.

Sorry to comment again. I am seeking "local" assistance, but thought some advice from here might be helpful too. Thanks for the post.

Of one programming course I once took in the university, the professor claimed that he had written an automated program to parse students assignments and check the similarity, and once the similarity is higher than a threshold (by whatever quantitative standards he specified), he would grade 0 for that assignment. Logically, I do think there will be non-trivial chances that two people accidentally write code being similar not only in structure but in naming too, so that the checking-program cannot tell.

I once caught two of my students handing over the exact same solution with different code indentation, variable names and a few extra comments. I have no idea how they cheated, but I am sure about it because the code had the exact same functionality, the exact same dead/inaccessible code, the exact same bugs, and the exact same misunderstanding of the problem at hand. I've never seen two other solutions so similar in 4 years of teaching. Sometimes it's easier to tell someone cheated than how.

Why did you include the "can only be judged and handled locally" and "no one here can help you" parts? There are a lot of questions on here for which we can only offer advice, and for which we only have one side of the story, so it seems redundant to say this. I don't imagine anyone expects an answer saying "I got your grade fixed for you", and we should answer based on the assumption that OP is telling the truth.

You say you've already talked to your professor 1-on-1 and showed that you indeed coded the assignment yourself. If so, I suggest getting your professor to also talk to your friend 1-on-1. If your friend can also show that he coded the assignment himself, it would be sensible to give both of you the points. If your friend can't, then you have a good case for why he should be getting the zeros, and not you.

This did happen. My friend apparently couldn't justify the code to his satisfaction. The issue again is that he's still giving 0s based on the suspicion. Thanks for the post.

Therein is the most powerful point in your favor. Your professor knows you can justify the code design, but your friend was unable to do so. At this point your professor has to answer to the academic chair for acting against his knowledge. Suspicion alone doesn’t cut it. (Unless you are Kathy.)

@Dúthomhas You're everywhere! Thanks for the advice. I'm hoping that the argument against me doesn't hold water so they decide not to escalate and I can get my grade back.

@Dúthomhas I'm not sure that's a point in the OP's favor. If the friend could clearly show they had coded it, that would contradict the hypothesis of cheating. As it is now, it looks like the friend cheated off the OP, and letting someone cheat off you is, for most if not all codes of conduct, a serious violation.

I don't see the relevance of @Dúthomhas's point. The OP could have written the code and willingly given it to the other student (or even willingly sold it to the other student, for that matter). The issue isn't whether the OP wrote the code, but whether the OP cheated.

@Acccumulation By that same logic, a pickpocket can claim that the person he robbed has no recourse, because having the victim’s wallet is evidence that the victim willingly participated. Continued...

@alephzero No, the issue is whether he helped his “friend” cheat, not whether he himself cheated. He has proven himself to the professor to have learned the course material and have been honest about all other aspects of his claims; yet he is disbelieved when he says the person he was studying with stole his work and stupidly presenteded as his own. Without solid evidence either way, the process has been decidedly guilty-until-proven-innocent.

@Dúthomhas "Evidence" and "proof" are different things. Given the hypotheses H1 = "Person A stole a wallet from Person B", H2 = "Person B willingly gave their wallet to Person A", H3 = "Person A obtained a wallet independent of Person B", Person A having Person's B wallet is evidence against H3, and evidence for both H1 and H2.

@Acccumulation I think you are making my point for me.

I have had a similar issue before, where I coded something that was extremely similar to something somebody else made.  When confronted by the teacher, we went back and forth for a bit until I turned the project over to him and told him to ask me anything about the code and why I made the decisions that I did.
If you wrote the code yourself, you will be able to explain in detail your thought process and what your code is about.  This should be enough proof that even if you didn't write the code yourself, you still have enough knowledge about the problem/solution for the teacher to accept it.

I don't see how what you have described provides any evidence that the code wasn't shared. Thus, A could independently create the code, after which A gives the code to B. Then A would be cheating and (presumably) A would also be able to explain the thought process sufficiently to establish that A independently created the code.

@DaveLRenfro i guess i forgot to specify that in my case i was never given time to prepare myself to defend, which is what made it believable. also your comment doesn't make sense to me, i think you mean that B could study the code enough to explain it. and sure while this is true. an argument could be made that if hes studied the code enough that he can explain the reasoning behind it that hes understood the source concept. which was the goal of the assignment in the first place

also your comment doesn't make sense to me, i think you mean that B could study the code enough to explain it --- In each of the 14 institutions at which I have either taught or was a student (more, if I've overlooked any), a student was considered to have cheated if that student provided unauthorized aid to another student. Indeed, I remember many times when I was a student having to sign a "I have neither given nor received aid" statements on major tests and final exams. In my description of events, A provided unauthorized aid to B, and thus A (in addition to B) engaged in cheating.

If you did the assignment by yourself, then try asking your teacher to take the total points from the assignment/s he suspects you cheated on and add those points to your next quiz/test that covers those assignments. This way you have a honest opportunity to earn those points back and prove that you know the material covered in those assignments.
I know some teachers will do this if a student simply didn't turn in an assignment because they were sick, perhaps this same solution can be used for your situation.

He knows very well I can code the assignments myself. He's taking off points for suspected cheating, which I think isn't grounds for doing that. Thanks for the post and the idea!

If you did the assignment, why settle for not getting the points you deserve? That might even be considered accepting the case made by the teacher. If you aren't in the wrong, don't take the punishment as it will look as though you accept having been in the wrong even though you haven't.

@JJJ if you know the material and you did the assignment then you would get the points you deserve when you took the test. I am just offering an alternative solution in the case that the teacher refuses to give the points back, which is likely. In a perfect world the teacher would believe the student and he would give him his points for the assignments.

In a perfect world you wouldn't punish someone unless you are sufficiently (depending on the offense) convinced of their guilt. When you, as a teacher, are sufficiently convinced, you can't give them a second chance (especially if the school / uni has a zero tolerance policy on academic dishonesty). If the teacher is not convinced, then they should drop the accusation altogether or (have someone) investigate further.

Our policy is that there cannot be a penalty for academic misconduct without handing in a report of the incident.  Instructors can do an "Instructor Resolution Form", meaning the instructor and student agree on the penalty and nature of the incident, or an "Instructor Warning", which means just about the same thing, with less penalty.  Both are reportable events, and enter into discussions of penalty for future findings of academic dishonesty.
Other than this, if the students don't agree, then they are free to request a hearing.
I guess my point is that raising a stink about this brings on the possibility that the incident is handled through more official channels, where you may be exonerated or not.  I suspect if you're in the US that your school policies are similar to mine (because of all the liability concerns), and your instructor may be misusing the policy in your favor, as the suspected incident is not being reported.
FWIW, if the situation is as I suspect it is, I would discourage your professors decision, and would recommend handling the incident officially.

I assure you it's being reported.

Then it's already an academic honesty issue, and you need to start with whatever office deals with academic honesty issues at your school to see what the appeal mechanism is.  FWIW, for a first offense, our penalty would probably be a zero on all the suspected assignments plus a reduction of a full letter grade.    The instructor involved would not necessarily be free to simply fail you, unless the penalty described results in a failing grade.

It could be as simple as checking the creation dates of the files in question. While these can be spoofed, it's likely that someone who was so lazy as to copy the files in the first place would also be too lazy to think of and then change the dates.

In the case that one person is caught copying off the other, both are usually considered perpetrators of the cheating. The one copied from is still subject to the consequences by allowing their files to be accessed. This question isn't about showing who cheated off of who, it's about consequences being placed on the OP when it hasn't even been proven that they helped the other cheat. Checking the creation dates of the files wouldn't help with the OP's issue, that would only possibly indicate who copied from whom, which isn't relevant at the moment.

Talk to your student union representative
A Professor is in a position of power; an individual student, to the university system as a whole, is a passing concern, and will often be ignored, even if s/he has been mistreated. However, the student body is large and stable; and if it is organized, is often able to exert counter-pressure if necessary.
Your student union representative should have some experience with similar situations, or at least easy access to people who have it; and they should have both the ability and the venue to bring up such issues - or at the very least the option of public protest.
Also, they will know your university or department's rules, guidelines and procedures, and will thus be able to give you better advice than us even for acting individually.

This is a lower division computer science class, and the professor thinks that grading policy is acceptable? Seriously? Lower division computer science homework is convergent, almost the same way as a sheet of math problems is convergent. Expect multiple people to turn in very similar work. There are documented cases of identical work turned in by different students.
This grading policy is simply wrong, and I recall having to argue a few of these myself. Fortunately, my reputation preceded me and there was no doubt I was perfectly capable of the work and had no reason to cheat. I would argue the policy the first day of every class that had it in the syllabus on purpose, because I was a target and the electronic turn-in mechanisms were vulnerable. My professors continued to hold the policy, but not for my homework.
And oh yes, I reported a definite case of another student helping himself to my homework off the network servers. Unfortunately I couldn't tell whom it was.
Thankfully I never had to go to the dean about it.
Only later did I learn about the convergence of lower division computer science homework. Well, I should have known in the first class I took. All perfect grades should look the same except for comments. I only escape because my word choices are really unique. If I didn't bother to comment ...

@BenCrowell: I guess you haven't heard about the high false positive rate for automated checkers such as turnitin on computer science homework yet.


text:
What are the consequences of betting on one's own research?
(Details fictionalized.) My research involves a new way of forecasting the weather. Unlike other forecasting models, the model I have developed says that the weather in a certain region will be amenable to farming next year. Before I post the preprint of my paper, I am considering "betting" on my model by investing in some agricultural stocks in the region in question.
Would placing a bet on my research have a negative effect on my ability to publish down the line?
What other ethical and legal issues should a researcher consider before making a bet like this?
Are there historical examples of scholars making bets like this, and how did it play out?
Additional details:

I recognize that being financially staked in the correctness of my research yields a conflict of interest, and I would report this when posting the preprint and seeking publication.
This question concerns the consequences of such a bet for me as a researcher, not whether placing such a bet is a wise financial decision. In this hypothetical scenario, I would not invest more money than I am willing to lose. However, if the size of the bet changes the ethics, then you may note this in your answer.

Edit: I greatly appreciate the interest this question has attracted, but I haven't selected an answer yet because most of the answers so far (with a few exceptions, which I have gratefully +1ed) have focused on the question of whether there is a conflict of interest rather than on the question in bold, which is what the consequences of the conflict of interest would have for my ability to publish.
The ethical debate can be summarized as follows: "There is nothing wrong with betting on yourself being right; if anything it lends you credibility" vs. "Stock prices are themselves indicators of beliefs rather than morality, so the situation described still creates a conflict of interest." As commenters have pointed out, this debate ultimately turns on the details of the circumstance, the nature of the financial products, and so on—details I have not provided. However, for the purposes of this SE question, the fact that this bet creates a conflict of interest is given. That is, assume that if my research is widely accepted, I stand to make a (very small) profit, regardless of whether the particular predictions pan out. How would, for example, a paper referee react to such a conflict of interest?
I concede that this may be a more banal question, but it also keeps us more safely within the margins of academia.SE's "no opinion questions" rule.  Possible answers could include

Everyone pursuing an academic career is, to one extent or another, "betting on their research," and throwing a stock purchase into the mix doesn't rise above the threshold of suspicion.
In principle, monetary instruments can create conflicts of interest, but there are ways to clarify to the referees (how?) that you are betting a small amount of money, and doing so in a way that is maximally correlated to the correctness of the results rather than people's expectations, which could be swayed by the impact of the research. As long as you make this clarification, then it's no big deal.
Even if there is not an ethical issue in the philosophical sense, any sort of monetary bet creates the appearance of a conflict of interest, and for that reason it will be harder to publish this paper in a high-quality journal.

In my own field (which, as some of you have figured out, has nothing to do with the climate or farming), I have seen a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal that argued for the efficacy of a certain sampling methodology, and then included on the final page a disclosure saying that the study was funded by a company whose primary revenue source is performing the very same sampling methodology. In this case, it was very easy to draw an arrow from the funding source to the research outcome, but the paper was transparent and well argued. In a situation like this, does the paper ultimately get published because it's good enough to overlook the conflict of interest, or because the conflict of interest was commonplace enough not to warrant additional attention?

I think the disclosure you mentioned is the only important consideration.  You might also be wise to read your employment contract and local patent laws.

Particularly if you have some connection to the companies you invest in, there is some possibility you might run afoul of insider trading laws.  Probably not, but IANAL and you might want to be careful.

I suspect the details may matter here. In the scenario you describe, you are betting on the weather. Your research (presumably!) doesn't influence what the weather does; it just influences your assessment of the probabilities. Is this really any different from someone carefully studying horses' bloodlines and performance?

In theory I am betting on the price of the stock whose companies depend on the weather, so (as one answerer pointed out) if I am able to convince enough people of my model, then I could drive up the stock price and make money regardless of whether the weather forecast turns out to be correct. The same argument should apply to any research bet that works on financial products, right? And in both cases I think disclosure would be necessary.

Also beware insider trading laws, but this doesn't sound like insider trading unless you used "secret" information in your research

First, everyone trading in agricultural stocks or futures is "betting against the weather" in some sense. Second, you seem to have a very naive idea about how the weather affects the profitability of agriculture. For example there is no "profit" to be made from producing a good crop easily, in good weather, when every other producer does the same, because the excess supply will drive prices down not up.

@alephzero It was only a matter of time before someone figured out how much I fudged the details ;)

just make sure to include it in the statement of conflict of interest

In 1984 Barry Marshall drank a broth containing Helicobacter pylori to prove to his skeptical colleagues that stomach ulcers were bacterial in origin. The consequence of this bet was a Nobel Prize for Marshall.

I suggest you go ask finance professors if they want to co-author something. Many of them build models predicting stock prices. It should be relatively simple to gather historical weather data and company stock prices to test your model.

Isn't this what happens whenever a student or professor creates a startup ? (Especially if he ups the ante by quitting academia to devote full time to it?)

To maximize your utility, you should bet against the prediction of your model. If the model turns out to be true, scientific establishment will provide you with fame and fortune. In the other state of nature, your investments will.

Follow up to your edit: you seem to have several misguided assumptions that underlie your question. 1. how would a referee react to such a conflict of interest? it’s not the referee’s job to comment on COIs, that’s handled at the journal level (editors etc) according to the journal’s policy. 2. the fact that the bet creates a conflict of interest is given. No it’s not, see my answer. 3. I have seen a paper published […]. This is indeed an actual conflict of interest, but is nothing like your original “betting on a research prediction” scenario and bears almost no relationship to it.

I think some (but not all) of the answers here are over-interpreting your use of the word "bet" to focus on some more trivial cases: the sorts of bets one might have among friendly rivals of different sports teams, for example. Petty cash, bottles of liquor, risking gastrointestinal distress by drinking something one wouldn't normally.
However, the question as asked is not about these trivial bets but about having a financial stake in the matter. This changes things into a potential conflict-of-interest scenario. The key in this scenario is disclosure: you'll need to reveal your position (possibly even if it is a future planned position, though that might spare you from some legal if not ethical rules).
Yes, these conflicts may impact whether a journal wants to publish your paper as well as how others view it. Of course, if you turn out to be correct, then it will be hard for others to see the research too negatively. On the other hand, if you turn out wrong, you might look bad beyond the cost to your pocket: it may appear, whether intended or not, that the paper was just a ploy to influence the investment patterns of others to your benefit. In other words, consider that you may be making more than just your financial bet.
These issues come up in the pharmaceutical literature all the time, though more often in the form of direct payments (unless the authors are actually employees of the company). I don't think there is anything inherently wrong in papers being funded by a company with an interest in the results (and I think there is scientific benefit to having those papers released publicly rather than being used only for internal decision making, or selective release of only positive results), but when some product has a bunch of mixed literature from the broader scientific community and only rosy publications from those with a financial stake, well, it doesn't look that great: for the company, product, or authors.
However, peer review should always be focused on a specific submission, not the past. Dabbling a bit in the sort of thing you discuss doesn't seem like it would be harmful long-term; building a reputation as a charlatan is another matter.

What you’re describing is actually not that unusual. There is a sort of tradition among physicists and mathematicians to make bets on whether a research prediction they are making will turn out to be true. These bets are usually made with colleagues who hold a conflicting opinion. The stakes are usually fairly low (a bottle of wine, meal at an expensive restaurant, etc) but sometimes involve large amounts of money, for example $10,000 in a very recent example.
In terms of the ethics, I don’t see a problem (and neither does anybody else as far as I can tell) with betting that your prediction will turn out to be true — after all, even those of us who don’t make explicit bets are effectively invested in the outcome of our predictions. If the predictions work out we gain reputation, prestige etc, which can lead to job promotions, awards, and other material rewards. But the incentives are aligned correctly: we only get the rewards if we make a correct prediction, and the scientific community actually wants researchers to try as hard as they can to make correct predictions. So despite what some people here are suggesting, this situation is not a conflict of interest (at least in a generic example, and in your particular example; perhaps someone can come up with a special case where there would indeed be a conflict).
Now, on the other hand, if you were involved in some weird scheme to bet against your prediction turning out to be true, then that would be a genuine conflict; this is analogous to various scandals that occurred in professional sports where players made bets against their own teams. From some googling I did it seems that the major professional sports leagues explicitly forbid their players from betting against their own team, and with good reason. So don’t do the scientific analogue of this practice.

In this specfic case it is IMHO morally even clearer, because OP is not betting on her paper saying something good, but - because the "bet" is in real stocks involved with the real results of the technique - the actual, real results of the research, meaning that there is no incentive for OP to produce bad but good-looking research (which is the main ethical problem with betting on research outcomes)

@Hobbamok But much of the stock market isn't based on current value, but on expected future value. So I think OPs concern that merely publishing the model - whether it is right or wrong - may affect the stock price has merit. So there actually might be an incentive to produce 'bad but good-looking research'. I'm not saying that it necessarily is unethical, but I do see why OP is conflicted. A possible solution to ease OPs conscience might be to go long on the stocks and hold at least until the prediction comes true (or not).

@Hobbamok Actually, Daniel Hatton has a counterargument. OP betting on stocks means that OP might have an incentive to create particular beliefs in the weather, not actually predicting the weather (unless they work long-term, in which such skullduggery usually gives way to reality, but nobody talked about time frames here).

Re betting against your predictions: in sport, you as a player have an influence on the outcome. Bidding against your team makes you interested in sabotaging the play, which is unsportsmanlike, hence the ban. But you don't have any influence on whether a scientific prediction will turn out to be false or not, so I don't see a problem here.

In fact, Stephen Hawking famously bet against the existence of black holes, while most of his work was based on the existence of them.

@Neinstein you have influence on what predictions you make. If you could profit from making wrong predictions, it would be very easy to intentionally make wrong predictions and then use them to reap profits from bets.

@Neinstein the existence of black holes was predicted by other people before Hawking, so this is not an example of Hawking betting against his own prediction. You could call it a kind of hedging, since as you say he stood to profit in other ways if it turned out that they did exist.

I do not see any ethical problems with betting against one's research.  It is not like baseball where one can intentionally underperform to win a bet.  It might be wise to bet against one's research.  For example say a researcher worked night and day on a miracle COVID-19 cure.  If successful, the researcher will be a billionaire.  If unsuccessful, the researcher will have nothing to show for it.  Maybe that researcher could bet against the cure to guarantee an at least comfortable life regardless of outcome.

@emory you seem to be saying that if someone can benefit from doing something and “might be wise” to do it, then it cannot be ethically problematic. That’s obviously not true. Am I missing something in your argument? By the way, I didn’t say it’s necessarily unethical, there might be circumstances when it isn’t. But it’s definitely a conflict of interest, and allowing researchers to bet against their predictions could incentivize some of them to intentionally make false predictions (which would obviously be unethical).

From my perspective, the conflict of interest arises if you go public with your research before the time period in question passes. In this case, if the public believes that your prediction is correct, that information may influence the market of the underlying agricultural stocks. You might then sell the now inflated stocks to make a profit. If the information you make public is materially false, that might be considered market manipulation which is against multiple federal regulations in the US (insert disclaimer about not a lawyer).
If you (very correctly) disclose this conflict, an editor might take this into consideration when making a decision. Conversely, research conducted by commercial entities with direct financial conflicts of interests are published in high impact journals all the time. Disclosing the conflict adequately is the key.
However, if the investment was made historically, and the time period predicted is in the past, I am not sure there is a conflict.
Also note that many institutions (including the National Institutes of Health) have guidelines on reporting ownership of particular securities.

To me, and probably most academics, getting the research published quickly and avoiding getting scooped is more important than winning the monetary bet, which is just icing on the cake. I agree that the timing is in some ways at the heart of the quandary. In the situation given in the OP, it could take more than a year for the bet to pay off, so if your advice is not to publish until the bet has matured, then it's as good as saying you can have either the bet or publication, but not both. This may be the correct answer in the end.

I'm not saying you can't have both, just that there is a clear potential for a conflict. If you adequately disclose the conflicts, it's up to the editor and potentially the reviewers to make the decision about whether it can be properly managed.

Would placing a bet on my research have a negative effect on my ability to publish down the line?

You are required to declare conflicts of interest, but it's improbable that a bet would negatively affect your ability to publish. It would make the others examine your paper more closely, but if your work is sound it should still be publishable.

Are there historical examples of scholars making bets like this, and how did it play out?

Sure, see Timothy Springer, a Harvard biochemist who became a billionaire investing in biotechnology stocks. His lab is still publishing a lot of papers, as well.

Are there historical examples of scholars making bets like this, and how did it play out?

Although not entirely analogous to your situation, there are some well-known cases where academics have made bets on outcomes that relate to their research work and academic hypotheses.  Usually this happens when two academic antagonists get pissed off with each other's contrary pontifications, until one finally says to the other, "Care to put your money where your mouth is?"
A famous example of this is the Simon-Ehrlich wager between the economist Julian Simon and the biologist Paul Ehrlich.  Prior to the bet, Ehrlich had long argued that growing human population would lead to resource scarcity and other global catastrophes, whereas Simon had argued that resources would generally become more plentiful and cheaper.  Simon challenged Ehrlich to choose any raw material and they would observe the inflation-adjusted price on an agreed date more than a year away.  The pair ultimately agreed to bet on the inflation-adjusted prices of copper, chromium, nickel, tin, and tungsten, at an end date approximately a decade from the initial bet.  All five materials declined in real price over that time and so Simon won the best convincingly.

I think one additional point of view, not taken in the previous answers, is to start from a definition of a conflict-of-interest. There are of course many definitions, but this one seems to appear in slightly different forms in Elsevier's journals:

When an investigator, author, editor, or reviewer has a financial/personal interest or belief that could affect his/her objectivity, or inappropriately influence his/her actions, a potential conflict of interest exists.

Now, first, does this betting influence your objectivity? Most probably not. There is no incentive for you to be wrong, and the betting takes place after you have performed rigorous research.
Second, do you have a personal interest that affects your actions? The answer to this questions seems to be yes. However, are these actions inappropriate? For more context, inappropriate would here usually mean having some kind of dual commitment:

Conflict of interest exists when an author (or the author’s institution), reviewer, or editor has financial or personal relationships that inappropriately influence (bias) his or her actions (such relationships are also known as "dual commitments", "competing interests", or "competing loyalties").

This should clear up the issue. Whatever happens during peer-review / post-publication, you must first be loyal to the research. For example, you must not insist on not making changes the peer-reviewers or editors ask, if the reason is that it means you are suffering monetary losses.
Thus, I would say this does influence the publishing process. More often that not manuscripts are heavily edited after being first submitted for publication; the editor and reviewers will be unsure whether you can be trusted in making requested changes. Declaring the conflict-of-interest of course does give you +1 but it is still easy to go below zero.

Declaring the conflict-of-interest of course does give you +1 but it is still easy to go below zero. Could you clarify this sentence? What scoring system is this? +1 relative to what? Are points good or bad?

Talk to a Hedge Fund
Why make a small bet? If you really have a meaningfully better way of predicting the future (weather) then there are companies that will be willing to make very large bets, although they'll probably prefer to call them investments. This is what many of these firms do day in day out. There need be nothing inherently unethical about it as long as you disclose your interests where appropriate in the publication process, but then you may decide you don't want to publish... which raises a different set of ethical issues. If all goes well you'll be able to ponder them from your Yacht.

Yeah, the "very small" profit potential makes it seem both "shady" and worthless.  If you're going to go, go big or don't bother at all.

You've done your research.  You're not placing a bet on it.  You're placing a bet on some stock or commodity performance.
In research, the ethics comes down to conflicts -- reported or unreported.  If you design a drug, say, and have IP rights to that drug, readers have reason to suspect that your financial interest creates a situation where you might highlight good findings and suppress poor findings.  Thus, you would need to declare your conflict and manage it.   In this case, you may be blinded from your own findings, or an independent monitor of your data may need to do any analysis before you do.  Readers would be made aware of the conflict and mitigating strategy.
Here, it doesn't feel like you would be creating a conflict.   You're not trying to generate cherry-picked data for your model.  You're trying to make money.  If you, however, were going to write about your model, and you wanted to publish your experience to make your model more valuable for licensing purposes, you may well be creating a conflict.
You might discuss this with your chair (I'm not a lawyer), and see if you need to update any of your conflict reporting forms.

If your paper demonstrates a way to predict company bankruptcies for example, and you short companies which your technique predicts to go bankrupt prior to your paper being published, then yes I think that would be classified as unethical. Specifically if you were intending to close the short on any subsequent dip in prices (as other people presumably flocked to short based on the new technique), rather than waiting for a bankruptcy.

Why would this be unethical? This is exactly how financial markets operate.

This would be illegal if you are an "insider" of the company, but as an outsider it is probably fine.

No this is not how financial markets work, this is how penny stock tip sheets work, which are also widely considered unethical for precisely the same reason. The people publishing the tips take their position in advance of publication, with the express intent of closing their position by selling/buying into the reaction which they themselves hope to trigger.


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How to find an editor for a statistics book?
I am writing and self-publishing a book on statistics. More specifically, it is titled "The general linear model: Assumptions, violations and remedies (or what to do wen your dependent variable won't behave).
I have a general editor, but she knows nothing about statistics. I'm looking for someone to edit the statistical part.

You might be able to pay an under appreciated graduate student.

That's a good idea. Thanks.

Can you specify what exactly you want that editor to do for you?

He/she should check formulas and such, make sure I haven't messed up somehow and comment on the topics and flow of the book.

Peter, I'd be happy to get in contact. I probably wouldn't be willing to proofread formulas (or you probably wouldn't be willing to pay me as I think appropriate) and if grad students are your intended audience I think you'll need one of those anyways. But if feel early feedback from someone from natural sciences (including a bit of health) would be helpful, send me an email (see my profile).

Are you sure you're looking for an editor? It sounds more like peer reviewer to me.

@cbeleites I tried to send you e-mail but it bounced back to me

Students can make good people to give you advice. If you pick someone who already has the knowledge they can probably give you good feedback on how what you say will work, assuming this is a text and not a professional work.
Graduate students in the field are often needing a bit of extra money and can often be recruited to help, especially if you also give them an acknowledgement. They are also good for providing solutions for exercises that you might include.
However, even advanced undergraduates can verify a book, both for readability at the level you are aiming for and for pointing out where they don't understand the formulas and technical terms you use. That can be especially valuable.
You are wise not to depend solely on your own reading. It is too easy to "see" what you think you wrote, rather than what you actually wrote. And for a textbook, someone who has taken the course in the not too distant past can have a valuable viewpoint.
I assume, of course, that you don't need someone to actually make corrections, as that may be beyond some students. You can do that yourself, certainly, as long as you learn where there are issues that should be addressed.


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How are multiple sections of a large course assigned?
Especially at large universities, some introductory courses (Calculus I, freshman English, etc.) will have many sections. How are these assigned to professors? Do professors who volunteer to teach the 8 AM section make friends with their colleagues by doing so?
(This is research for a novel I am writing).

Don't underestimate the variations in personal preferences. I teach at a school and the best schedule I ever had was one with two "free" mornings, but classes every afternoon plus one evening. I have colleagues who would love to start every morning at 8am and have the afternoons free whenever possible. Some of them even wanted to go back to the "good old times" when school started at 7:20am - I was hardly awake when I had to teach so early...

I doubt that making friends with other faculty is an important consideration. Some people like to get such duties out of the way to permit the rest of the day to be open to other activities. It can actually be disruptive to other activities to have to teach a course at what seems like a more popular time. We are well-known to be absent minded of course.
The department head/chair is responsible to assure that all required slots are filled. They will, in rational cases, ask for preferences and try to fulfill them when possible. (For purposes of a novel, though, a vindictive head might do ... whatever.) But they might have to go outside preferences in some cases. They might (probably do) have the power to bribe faculty in some simple way to get them to fill a slot they don't prefer, perhaps with promises for the future.
Another option you might see is for unpopular time slots to be filled by new faculty. Or even by old and about to retire faculty who are no longer especially active in research.
Sometimes the "sections" may not be what you think. A "section" of 30 or so might be assigned to a teaching assistant, but the actual lectures are given to 300 (or more) in a vast lecture hall. The professor does most of the lecturing and the TAs do the individual contact that students need.
Note that I say "most" of the lecturing, as a TA might get the chance to do a lecture as part of their training. The professor might be present to give them feedback.
At an R1 that I was once associated with, the professors were required to lecture to two groups, usually three times a week each. A "group" might be a section of 30 (or fewer) or a huge lecture of 300 or so. The large lectures were, as you guess, early courses in the curriculum and the small groups more likely to be advanced courses.
The large groups might be largely general education students who need a few courses in a particular field, but outside their main focus (major). The small groups more likely to be majors only.
And, advanced TAs might be given the opportunity to actually teach a small section of some elementary course after they have had some experience and are trusted to do so. And, that opportunity might be associated with an unpopular time slot, assuming such exist.

Thanks for the very thorough (and quick!) answer.   I was thinking that a person who offered to take the 8 AM classes might be like people who volunteer to work on holidays; the friends would be a byproduct, maybe?

@PeterFlom I think you greatly underestimate the number of people willing to start work early in the morning.

To add to @buffy's excellent answer, there are additional incentives to teach courses at stereotypically undesirable times. Undergraduate students generally dislike being prepared for class at 8 AM more than many faculty. This means that early morning classes tend to have lower enrollment (thus fewer assignments to grade and questions to answer outside of class). The students that do select in to and participate in these classes tend to be better than the typical undergraduate and make the job of teaching more enjoyable. This effect is stronger when the same course is also offered at a more popular time.
Incentives vary across universities, but if faculty are evaluated on teaching effort by the number of course-hours taught (as I am) and not the number of student-hours taught, then some (but definitely not all) faculty may prefer otherwise undesirable course times.

Thanks! As a student, I preferred early morning classes for some of these reasons.

My lecturer for Logic and Set Theory in the third year chose to deliver his lectures at 8AM on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, apparently for this reason exactly.


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My abstract has been accepted for oral presentation but there is no info in the preliminary programme?
I am a graduate student and just had my first abstract accepted for an oral presentation at a conference. We have been notified by email about our acceptance. Wheb I checked the preliminary programme today I couldn't find my name in any session. Does that mean I can't attend the conference or have been removed from the presentation list? I am really nervous about it since this is my first time presenting at a conference.

Updates:
I have contacted the organizers, and there was indeed a problem. They replied me that they made a mistake. And the automated system sent all accepted authors an acceptance for Oral Presentation. I am one of those poster presenters.
I am fine with poster presentation. But sadly, I still missed this chance. Just 2 days before the conference, I was informed that my registration is withdrawn because of some regulation issues. I was really looking forward to it before.

In my field, it's common that the preliminary program includes the plenaries and symposia (where the authors are chosen ahead of time), but not the research sessions (where the presentations are chosen from the abstracts submitted).  I suspect that's what's happening here, but it's fine to contact the organizers for clarification.

This is the most likely scenario. The final program should include more detail.

Thank you for ansewing me. I contacted the organizers, and there was indeed a problem. They replied me that they made a mistake. And the automated system sent all accepted authors an acceptance for Oral Presentation. I am one of those poster presenters.

You need to contact the organizers of the conference and ask for clarification. It's unlikely that they canceled your talk without notifying you, but there is a problem and only the organizing committee can figure out what actually happened.

Thank you for ansewing me. I contacted the organizers, and there was indeed a problem. They replied me that they made a mistake. And the automated system sent all accepted authors an acceptance for Oral Presentation. I am one of those poster presenters.


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Getting a W on your transcript for grad school applications
I am a Computer Engineering major at a top 15 engineering school. My goal is to get into grad school for Machine Learning. I have set very lofty goals and am aiming for places like MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, CMU etc. I will be applying for safeties too but these top tier colleges remain the goal.
I have got a 3.8 in college till now. The issue is that I am messing up a lot in my electrical circuits analysis course. I am in the C to D range in the course. The professor is extremely harsh while grading and covers grad school material in an intro course. I am thinking of withdrawing from the course. I am confident that I can perform well next semester when I take it under different circumstances. Seeing as circuits aren't related to machine learning or computer science, I was wondering how bad would a W for this course look in my transcript, while having an otherwise great record.
I am also involved in research involving machine learning and will be doing so till the end of undergrad. It's this one thing which is worrying.

Seeing as circuits aren't related to machine learning or computer science — [citation needed]  Perhaps circuits are not related to the corners of machine learning and computer science that you care about, but that's not the same thing.

The importance of the topic to your grad major isn't the only concern. It is a mathematically-challenging engineering course, that suggests how you will perform in others. Is this just entry-level linear circuits? I can't imaging it is the toughest class you will encounter. As for the "W", are you taking an overload of courses?

I'm not in your field, but it would seem to me that either a W or a D would warrant explanation if they come from a core subject. A W plus a retake with better grades is probably better than a D, but in either case you should probably make a note in one of the open fields on the app. If you withdraw, you could write, "I took on an ambitious workload during my sixth semester and elected to withdraw from Electrical Circuits Analysis because I wanted to prioritize my research and didn't feel that my performance in that course fully reflected my academic capabilities." This is the truth.

You chose the wrong major. If you're doing CE + machine learning, then the logical next step would be designing ML GPUs and ASICs and such. Then circuits are important. If you're not interested in circuits, then you need to switch to CS.

@user71659: I agree with the point you're making, but I would suggest that the time to switch is not during undergrad, but at the point of making graduate school applications.  CompE and CS are plenty similar that CS PhD programs will give full consideration to applications with BS in CompE.

I am not taking an overload of courses but research is taking a lot of time. The course even though it states is linear, the professor added elements of transistors and diodes in the curriculum. Also some stuff he taught us is taught to master's students. As far as performance goes I did excellent till the class was only linear circuits, my grade went down later. Also @user71659 I entered into CE not being sure about doing hardware or software and the fact that the CE department at my college has a larger research drive towards ML than the CS department does.

CE and CS are close enough that switching is possible. Linear circuits should be a sophomore level class, so it's an issue of 2 years of VLSI and computer architecture vs getting a solid background in higher-level programming. The issue is in grad school you will be competing against people with a solid CS background. You shouldn't be gaining a skillset focused in low-level software and computer-level hardware if you don't like either.

Complaining that transistors and diodes are in an analog circuits class isn't going to get you very far at all.

It is, of course, impossible to say how someone will look at it, but I doubt that very many people would think it odd or unusual. It is pretty easy for students to get in too deep with studies and the other things during undergraduate years. If you drop now and do well later few would think less of you, I predict.
But if you make a habit of it, then things might be different.
Since it is difficult to predict the time requirements for research, you have a ready-made explanation for getting in over your head for a term.
However, a poor grade, such as a D in a major course would be cause for concern. Not necessarily disqualifying but it needs explanation.

I have some personal experience with this matter. Every semester during my undergrad, I enrolled in well beyond a full course load with math and computer science courses outside my major (biology). I was trying to break into bioinformatics from a state school without a bioinformatics program. I put classwork on the backburner to more thoroughly invest in my research and ultimately withdrew from a biochemistry course. I graduated summa cum laude with departmental honors for research and a 3.65 GPA.  My goal was not as lofty as yours. l simply wanted to gain entrance to a PhD program in bioinformatics. I am currently a second year PhD student with a W on my undergraduate transcript. I think that demonstrating consistent commitment to research is of greater value than a pristine GPA and minimal introduction to graduate level reseach.  I cannot say whether programs at more prestigious universities value one area of student success more than another or if success across all endeavors is expected. But there are graudate programs that accept students with Ws and research narrative that overshadows the minor transcript blemish

That sure makes me feel better. If you don't mind me asking can you talk a bit more about where you were accepted and where are you currently studying

If you withdraw from a course during an otherwise "normal" semester, most people judging your transcript from the perspective of graduate school admissions will assume that you were not doing well in the course. If you later complete the course with a good grade (A or B), this won't matter much. It also won't matter much if the course content is not particularly important for your Ph.D. field. To be honest, it will not hurt your application terribly if you get one or two bad grades in courses that are not particularly important for your Ph.D. field as long as your overall GPA is not impacted too much.
What would be more troubling to me would be to see a student receiving a poor grade in a course even though they withdrew from the course on an earlier attempt or attempts, withdrawing from the same course multiple times, or withdrawing from multiple courses over your program.


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How to get (a payed?) feedback with discussion?
I try to publish a text without success. In peer-review most replies are "does not fit our journal", even though some journals gave me full referee's report (with negative opinion). I understand it is impossible to discuss all "low-level" works which exist (maybe the mine is one of them...which I do not believe). Yet I would like to discuss and defend my work. "Defense" is in peer-review process impossible, referee gives his opinion and the story ends. Linking my work on the relevant stackexchange forum did not help either: few negative comments were discontinued after I replied.
Question: Is there maybe a payed option to have the work discussed with the engagement of the referee to get and give responses? Is there a way to get discussion by paying (even on potentially low-level work)?

Welcome to AcademiaSE. Are you a PhD student? If yes the standard process is to have this discussion with your advisor, they would be able to help you make your paper publishable.

No, I am not, but I try to publish in an area which is outside my official affiliation.

Usually authors act on feedback, improving their submission and send it back to the editor. Once checked by the editor and/or reviewer it may then be accepted or not (requiring further revision). If you don't engage in that process, don't expect it to be published.

Then maybe you could try to collaborate with someone who is more expert than you in the target field.

Present at a workshop or (depending on your field) a conference.

I do not fully understand your question.  You have sent it out to several journals, and all have rejected it.  Some reviewers thought it was too low level.  These are the experts in the field, and you claim you are not in this field.  It seems to me that you got the feedback you should get - your work is not up to the standard of the field.  The fact that you don't believe that is concerning, since representatives of that field are telling you so...

Maybe, but discussion did not take place and I am ready to discuss. Do you have any experience with discussion when you get a negative referee's report? Not me. Text is reject, period. Of course, I cannot force anybody to review the text, it seems to me a fair idea to pay for it (and get what I want). Is discussion something wrong? Well, it might be a loss of your time... but not when you get payed. I honestly believe there are barriers in publishing: un-established authors are recognized by their vocabulary and style, stress is given to formal things (e.g. literature) and not main idea..

How to get (a payed?) feedback with discussion?

It is extremely country specific and strongly cultural.
I can explain how I would do in your shoes in France. You need to adapt my hints to your country.
I would first attend several university  PhD level seminars (or at research institutions like CNRS, CEA - I am employed at CEA, LIST but soon retiring - , INRIA, INSERM or Grandes Écoles like Polytechnique or ENS Ulm or ENS Paris Saclay -from which I graduated-). Or even Collège de France ones. BTW, Grandes Écoles and Collège de France are very French, you are unlikely to find equivalents in other countries.
At seminars with a small audience of less than 30 persons, you are allowed (at least in France) to attend them freely (no need to pay) and to ask clever (and politely) questions. You'll use Google or the Web to find such seminars.
Any scientific researcher is very happy to get oral feedback, as long as you respect his work (even if your opinions are different). That is part of the science game since at least Newton.
Then you have established some direct contact. Discuss with them your ideas. They might be interested. If they are, send them by email your draft and ask for feedback.
BTW, you should attend peer-reviewed conferences in your field of expertise. If in Europe, consider being part of some H2020 or HorizonEurope submission. Being inside a putative consortium submitting some research grant proposals will teach you many related skills. But you need to accept and contribute to your part (or even a bit more) of the submission efforts, and research grant submissions are generally highly selective (less than 10% of proposals get funded).
Read hundreds of scientific papers (in journals or peer-reviewed conferences) related to your field and scientific interests. Be sure to have a good bibliography of citations in your own text. A priori, several dozens of references (e.g. using BibTeX for your LaTeX paper).
At last, if you can afford that, consider starting some PhD. Your advisor will teach you most of these soft skills, including scientific writing skills, because that is part of his/her job.
My answer to another question on this forum also contain some useful hints.
PS. A poorly known fact is that on the average, every scientific publication has less than 2 or 3 readers. As Higgs explained in his Nobel prize talk, the "publish or perish" mindset of current academia is globally counter-productive: most of the research papers I am reading these years give a sense of déjà vu.

If your field is physics, geophysics, biology, volcanology, or neuroscience, you could talk to Sabine Hossenfelder.

@corey979 I'm not part of the team and have not used the service. It's true they don't review written material but from the OP's description it sounds like the problem with his/her paper is one about ideas, not implementation, so he could talk to them about the ideas in the work.


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Can I do PhD from different country after getting one PhD from one country?
I am currently pursuing doctoral research in Chemical engineering department at IIT Kharagpur, India. I am about to complete my Ph.D. within 2 years. I am thinking of doing another Ph.D. possibly from outside India. But I would love to do a Ph.D. in the same area.

It can be done (depending on institutional rules), but why would you want to?

Possible duplicate of Is doing two PhDs a good path?, https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/121066/second-phd-in-austria and other questions

In general, yes, this is possible. More concretely, it depends on the rules of the institution your apply to (and on the people reading your application).
What you cannot do (at least in most reputable institutions) is to use the same research for two degrees.
However, do expect the question on why you want to do a second phd and prepare a good (and honest) answer.


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Conflicted about whether to start preparing for grad school
I'm new to this forum and am mainly asking for advice. -- From a conflicted rising junior in undergrad (at an Ivy).
I'm an engineer majoring in ECE with interests in CS (definitely planning on a minor, and if sanity is sacrificed a bit, a double). I've been doing research with a professor in my major and his lab since last summer, after freshman year. So far, I've coauthored one paper that has already been presented at a conference by the first author grad student but hasn't officially been published yet. I know a lot of the advice I've read is to experience industry at least once, which I'm planning on doing the summer before senior year.
However, I'm conflicted as to whether I'm actually fit for grad school. A lot of the questions I ask myself are, "Do I like research enough? Am I motivated enough?" I definitely enjoy doing research and the topics I can explore with it, as well as the flexibility of hours and such. Often during the semesters I find myself wanting to put more time into research and less on my equally important classes.
Part of me tells myself I should just find a job and settle, perhaps go for a masters. However, another ambitious part of me tells myself to go for a Ph.D. I'm quite conflicted about my path since my past semester was a wreck. My grades were unsatisfactory (1 C and 2 C+'s in major-related classes and a math class) due to my taking of 22 credits (includes 2 research credits -- an A) which tanked my GPA to a 3.1, which isn't horrible, but not ideal.
How do I decide whether I should start prepping for grad school? (Consider that there is an M.Eng program at my school that does not require a GRE, but does require a higher GPA ~3.5.)

A 3.1 undergraduate GPA is indeed low (even from a top school) among successful applicants to a PhD program.  But there are over 130 R1 universities in the US, so it seems likely someone will take you.
I can't advise whether you should get an MS and work for a while before thinking more seriously about a PhD.  What I can tell you is that very few people who start with that intention actually do it.  It's possible to get a master's part-time while you're working but realistically, a PhD requires a full-time commitment and therein lies the problem:  Once they begin working full-time, pulling in the typical $100K+ engineering salary, most people begin spending it.  Worse, they get committed to continuing to spend it.  They take on loans for cars and condos or houses and so on, and then they're handcuffed.  They can't easily leave.
In my own 40+ years in industry, I've known lots of engineers with PhDs.  But I can only recall one person who quit to go get one.  And he had only been working for a year and hadn't yet started spending.  Sure, there may have been others, but I can't remember any others.
So, if you are thinking about a PhD, the best time to do it is probably immediately after you finish your bachelor's.  When I advise engineering students here at Michigan, I point out that I wish I had done that.  I never got a PhD and I regret it.  (And at 68, I think that ship has sailed.)  YMMV.

There are many similar questions on this site already, and many of them have become closed due to the inability of users to make personal life decisions for each OP.
I will address the last question, “How do I decide whether I should start prepping for grad school?” because it seems to affect many undergraduates without a clear path. I will try to answer it as generically as possible.
One of the first steps in making this decision is to find out what exactly grad school prep consists of, and what level of schooling (Master’s or PhD) grad school means to you. Applications generally require transcripts, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, and some version of a statement of purpose. Depending on your particular circumstances, you may be asked to provide other things (English proficiency, a CV, writing sample, research work, etc.). If you determine that you could provide these materials, you may consider applying to schools.
Preparation for grad school may also consist of outside study and genetic preparation. Whether you decide to go to industry or on to more schooling, any extra learning will not hurt you in the long run.
Deciding where to apply to grad school is another matter. If there is a particular program or professor that you feel would be a good research fit, you may consider contacting the department/professor to learn more.
Alternately, deciding where you would hope to be after undergrad is another way to make this decision. If it is in industry, consider where exactly you would hope to be. If a particular industry path requires higher schooling to advance, this may influence your decision as well.
Asking your advisor their opinion on the matter is probably the best course of action if you are genuinely unsure of which path you should take. They will be able to assess your progress in school thus far and may even have specific suggestions for people in your situation.


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What is the proper protocol for applying to a postdoc sponsored by an one's undergraduate adviser?
I am finishing up a PhD in Statistics in the United States and am currently applying to postdocs. My undergraduate studies were done in a top 5 institution in Statistics; my grad school is top ~25. I saw that my undergraduate thesis adviser is looking for a postdoc, and it seems like a great fit with my research interests.
What is the proper protocol to apply for a postdoctoral position with a professor with whom you already have a working relationship? Would it be appropriate to send them an email to indicate my interest in the position (along with say a cover letter and CV)? Wording this email has been a little difficult, as I'm trying to avoid sounding like I'm leveraging my connections with them to get this position. Is applying to a postdoc sponsored by a former adviser something that one should avoid doing? What else should one take into account in such situations?
For more context, I have been keeping up with this professor, but not extremely closely (we send each other a few emails a year just to catch up). This person supervised my undergraduate honors thesis and supported my application to graduate school.

Welcome to Academia.SE. I had a little trouble parsing your question as it was so wordy, so I tried to clean it up -- feel free to edit if I botched anything.

I would suggest that you apply in the normal way, just as anyone else would. There may be rules for how that is done and you have to be attentive to them. Provide all of the required materials and make your best case for your application.
But you can, in addition, send the professor a simple "heads up" email that you are interested in the position and are applying. Don't try to make your case in this email. Do it in the application materials.
If you didn't have a previous relationship with the prof that you have maintained, such a letter would be presumptuous and ignored or treated as an irritant. But in the case at hand it would be a normal thing.
You aren't taking advantage, exactly, since you have no control over the process.


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Where do they keep record of graduated students?
I'm wondering if it is possible to find out if someone is graduated from a University. Like, I could write on my CV that I graduated from Harvard, but then how can you prove it? Suppose I'm an excellent hacker, I could still fool people by doing clever tricks that make a counterfeit of a diploma or something. So I'm wondering if there is an official protected and verified database that records the information that a person is a graduate from a specific university?
Suppose that I'm an employer and I want to verify my candidate is a graduate of X university, how do I do that? What if the university is in Canada?

Information on awarded degrees is considered publicly releasable directory information in the US. Dates of attendance, for those who did not complete a degree, as well as honors (which imply a certain class rank or GPA) can be released as well.
Most schools sell this information to an aggregator, the National Student Clearinghouse. For a fee you can verify a degree by providing the student's name, date of birth, and school.
Harvard, specifically their school of Arts and Sciences, directs third parties to this database.
Laws in Canada differ and require signed permission from the student. A similar aggregator, AuraData exists.
Otherwise, the student can have the school's registrar send a document, on security paper and sealed, listing awarded degrees to interested parties. This is called an official verification and is essentially a transcript that does not contain course or grade information.
Finally, if the person has a graduate degree that involved a thesis, one can  check the school's online library catalog to see if one is listed.

People lie about degrees all the time, and often only get caught years after, by coincidence. Once upon a time it was common to ask for the actual diploma, which while not unforgeable, is beyond the average liar's ability and/or motivation. These days, it's easier to just call the university and ask them to verify. But most companies don't even do that.
However, in practice it's not such a big loophole:

Many employers already ask for references. That's to get some second opinion on what sort of person you are, but it also demonstrates that you probably did go to that school.
Degrees themselves don't carry much weight. You will be asked about projects and internships. Those are verified in obvious ways and indirectly verify your education.
Companies will often employ some private agency to do background checks. This will easily reveal whether you actually attended a school. They can check both government databases as well as ask the university itself. They can also check social media which can often be revealing.
It's very risky to lie about degrees. You'd be living your life in fear of being discovered, and even if you go for decades before being caught, it could ruin your life and undo all the undeserved gains you accumulated up to then.
If a degree is required for a position, chances are you need the skills taught by that degree to function at work. Even if you lie and get hired, you will soon be in dire straits when you cannot keep up with the work. Maybe you are just a genius who can keep up - but if you are such a genius, how come you didn't just get the degree in the first place? Of course, sometimes exceptional circumstances can put people in weird situations, but typically "excellent hackers" will put two and two together and just enroll in a college so that they don't have to lie, don't have to worry about being caught, and also get all the various benefits provided by going to school.

Certain professions have professional associations, such as medical doctors, psychologists, teachers, accountants, lawyers and engineers. These tend to have a sophisticated certification board that goes to lengths to verify its licensees. For these professions, the degree itself is kind of irrelevant, because employers will instead ask for your license, which can be readily verified through the professional organization. The organization in turn will not be easily fooled, among other things they often have good connections to the universities themselves.

To extend on how you could get discovered by coincidence: The advisor is a key part of getting a PhD. A PhD students works with an advisor for 3, 4, 5, or more years. Each advisor has only a limited number of PhD students. It is quite common to ask "with whom did you do your PhD" as just small talk if you are somewhat familiar with some of the faculty. And if you give a name, and she knows that person and meets him or her later, than common small talk would be "I met one of your former PhD students", and if he or her does not remember that name than...

@MaartenBuis For a PhD student, people would also look at papers published in that lab. Even if you are legitimately an alumnus of that lab, but don't have papers and/or recommendation from the PI, things will already be very difficult for you - no lying required.

Harvard has these records, of course - they have the student's transcript, showing all courses taken, grades, degrees earned, etc.  But they are confidential under US law and are released only with the student's permission.
The student can request that an official copy of the transcript be sent to anyone they choose.  Traditionally, this is done by mail, on tamper-resistant paper with an embossed seal.  Electronic solutions based on digital signatures are starting to appear but are not yet the norm.
So if you have a degree from Harvard, and you wish to prove it to some person X, you may ask Harvard to send a copy of your transcript to X.
If you are an employer, and you wish to verify that your employee has a degree from Harvard, you ask your employee to ask Harvard to send you a copy of the employee's transcript.  You can make it a condition of their employment that they do so, so that if they refuse to request the transcript, you fire them.


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CS Conference paper reviews, decision and supervisor issue
I have submitted one research paper in a famous Top rank conference, my main supervisor was not happy to submit because he thought it will be rejected and still needs to be improved but my co-supervisor encouraged me to submit.
So, finally I submitted the paper and my main supervisor asked me not to write his name on the paper, I requested him again but he refused. now I got positive feedback from two reviewers first one accept, and 2nd reviews was weak accept. when I told my main supervisor about it but it seems he was not happy and after 3-4 day which is very unusual , I got the third review which is weak reject and it had same comments which my main supervisor used to tell me before submitting. I doubt that he used his influence and caused the problem for my paper.
The final decision is still due but I don't have many hopes because he told me that the program chair is his very close friend.
I wanted to change the supervisor but everyone is scared of him and nobody wants any issues with him so everyone refused, even one agreed but after this incident of 3rd review he also excused and said sorry he cant supervise.
now my question is this, how and what i should do with my current supervisor? should I continue with him? or what? also do you guys advise to discuss things openly with him>

Hi Kevin, welcome to the site. The format of stackexchange is a question and answer site. The way your post is written right now doesn't fit in to this format. If you can reword it so it has a specific question, then it may be more suitable.

It's too early to worry about anything.  The paper isn't accepted or rejected until you get the official acceptance or rejection.  I would definitely not assume that a paper with "accept / weak accept / weak reject" will be rejected.

If you don't trust your supervisor not to interfere with the review process for your paper, you need a new supervisor.  Similarly if you don't trust the conference not to reject any attempted interference from your supervisor, you need a new conference!

What is your actual question?

updated my question @JeffE

Can't you imagine the simple situation that your supervisor is simply the expert in the field who can see what the flaws of your paper are and the conference reviewers simply saw the same problem? Smart supervisors can predict (and therefore preempt) problems reviewers may have with a given paper - that's why they get their papers accepted at a much higher rate than others. There is no reason to suspect your supervisor just based on that; if you do, and worse, if they suspect you do, you may have burned bridges without necessity.

Generally, it is a good idea to do what your supervisor says unless you really, really know what you're doing. In this case you have two supervisors who disagree. This is why people say that it's a good idea to avoid having co-supervisors. In any case, now you have them - the ideal solution is to get a unanimous decision from them. Maybe try to have a meeting with both present, or send an email to both, and ask for a clear decision on whether you should continue with the submission or withdraw it.
It's usually a bad idea to submit a paper that your supervisor is not on. In this case, one supervisor is on it, so it's kind of a grey area. But you say your supervisor is mad you submitted, that makes it not grey! It's hard to go far in science if you do things that make your supervisor mad.
Just because the reviewer had the same objections as your supervisor doesn't mean your supervisor influenced them. Maybe they independently recognized the same objective flaws. If you really want to get this published, I think your best option is to talk to the supportive co-supervisor, figure out how to deal with the problems, figure out how to best make a case to your unenthusiastic supervisor, then go to him and ask him to reconsider. If he won't reconsider, let it go. The benefit of the paper to you will not be more than the harm of annoying your supervisor.

It's usually a bad idea to submit a paper that your supervisor is not on — [citation needed]  See several past questions about advisor co-authorship.

@JeffE I don't have a citation, but why on earth would you choose to not get your advisor's, well, advise on your publications? In any case, I invite any future readers to consider their own experience in their field, their lab, the papers they've read. Look at how many don't have the supervisor as an author, and feel free to make your own decision on whether it really is a good idea.

why on earth would you choose to not get your advisor's, well, advise on your publications — I never suggested that you shouldn't get your advisor's advice, but advice is not necessarily sufficient for authorship.  Follow the links in my previous comment.  (My comments are based on my own experience in the field, the papers I read, the papers I wrote as a student, and the papers that my PhD students have written without my co-authorship but with my advice.)

JeffE> my supervisor gave me green signal to submit a paper, only then i subitted but he said not to write his name ( i requested couple of times) but when he came to know that i got positive reviews then his egotism was hurt and he used his influence to change acceptance into rejection ( one more review)

@Kevin Find a new advisor, even if that means finding a new department. You are accusing your advisor of grossly unethical behavior. If the evidence supports your accusation, you need to get as far away from him as possible. And if it doesn’t, your distrust is going to poison your relationship anyway.

@JeffE Thanks. I tried with couple of other professors in the same department. but all were reluctant and did not agree. and yes, with this distrust its difficult to work with him in future.....but problem is this no one is ready to take his student

You aren’t “his student”. He doesn’t own you. If the other faculty in your department are unwilling to advise you for fear of angering your current advisor, you need a new department. Get out. Don’t walk; run.


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PhD opportunity | Confusion
Recently I am offered a Ph.D. position ( Industry Project) in Australia and they want me to join ASAP. (It will be fully funded , fees will be waived off and even I will get monthly stipend)
but my question and confusion is that currently, I am doing Master by Research (2nd year in Australia) and should be ending it by the end of 2019 (or even a bit earlier If I can complete and submit my thesis but It will take at least 3-4 months). My Master research is also fully funded. (fees is waived off and getting a monthly scholarship)
I am confused and do not know what to do? Either complete my Master(but I may lose this Ph.D. opportunity) or leave Master and start a new Ph.D. or some other option?
Note: Research Areas are totally different in both cases.
Please advise??
updating:
i) The future plan was to do a PhD and join Academia
ii) Joined Master by Research instead of Ph.D. earlier to fill the gap which I feel is filled now after working for 10years in an Industry.
iii) The current area is hot but I feel my programming skills are not up to that level. for Ph.D. I know I will need programming skills but I feel I can manage that

There is no right answer. Try to negotiate a later start date and ask for advice from the PhD supervisor.

"ASAP" means "as soon as possible". In your case, "possible" will be when you have finished your Master's. You need to ask them for a later start date.

@astronat for PhD they said Master is not the requirement

Guys  I have updated my question