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Reviewing equations
I need to perform several text reviews, each of them containing lots of equations. I need some methodology for proof-reading the equations. The context is not really academic, but I believe a similar situation happens for peer-reviewers in scientific journals, or when some one proof-reads a book before publication. I'm not allowed to contact writers directly.
In general, I can try to "read paying attention", just like someone would read an english text searching for grammar and spelling mistakes. I believe this would be tiresome and prone to error.
Some equations are "practical", such that I can place numbers on them and test consistency of results. Most are not. A few of them might have quantities associated with physical dimensions, such that I can check for errors in the physical dimensions.
A few equations could be tested by implementing unit test-like software that would simulate them, but this would be a long, time consuming process which itself is also prone to error.
Some equations are referenced in the literature, but the notation is quite different.
I have at least to assume that for any equation:
1-The writer might have come up with something that is just plain wrong.
2-The writer might have misspelled something, and this error may propagate to later equations
3-There might be errors in the derivation of those equations.
My performance guidelines are:
1- I'm expecting around 5% of the equations to have some issue, but If I tell some equation is wrong, I'm allowed to be myself mistaken less than 5% of times. But out of all wrong equations, I need to point out 95% of them. The idea is that after 3 reviews by different people, the chances of any mistake having slipped through are negligible.
2- I need to present my reasoning to tell why an equation is wrong, at least to the point where if I'm wrong myself, my own mistake can be pointed out to me.
Are there rules or best practices used in academia for this purpose? Are there other assumptions one could/should make when performing such kind of review job?

As peer reviewer in science I'd expect equations to be either referenced or explained (proof or remark that this follows from xxx easily or along so-and-so lines). I wouldn't need to say that an equation is wrong, it suffices to say "this is unclear, so reference or clarify it" (of course if I know it's wrong I'll say it, but if it's unclear I don't need to make my mind up about whether I believe it or not; science is not about belief). However I suspect that this won't help you because your job seems to be somewhat different, removing more or less all the mistakes. That's very tough indeed.

I think it would be very useful if you explained where this assignment comes from. Papers aren't collections of random formulas, but one generally follows from the previous one(s), and so one can usually follow the argument -- and if one can't, then there might be a mistake. The point is that checking formulas is not like checking sentences -- each of which might independently have grammar and/or spelling mistakes unrelated to possible mistakes in the previous sentence.

@WolfgangBangerth : I'm working in the development of scientific software, and I'm doing documentation review myself, and trying to come up with a process such that more people can do this properly.

For consideration: Even math textbooks on edition 10+, one or two decades of time on market, and readership in the tens of thousands still have some errors that need fixing.

If the texts that you have to check are papers written for publication in respected academic journals, then you have a problem that is very difficult to solve unless you are an expert in the subject of each of the papers. The reason for that is that published papers are often highly compressed, with quite important intermediate steps left out. I recently spent several weeks studying a paper, trying to reproduce its results. I eventually realised that there was a mistake in one equation. A little later I found what I thought was another mistake. I contacted the author (who had been very gracious about the first mistake) but he showed me that I was wrong: the second equation was correct. All this in a field that is my speciality.
You might possibly spot obvious typographical errors, but the variety of notations used by authors is so great that things that look obviously wrong turn out to be right - in some special notation.


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How do professors learn how to write letters of recommendation?
Writing letters of recommendation must be a fine art. Culture across fields and countries vary wildly in almost any respect, and this is likely to the case for LoR.
How/when do professors learn how to appropriately convey the value of the person they recommend?

As they write them, by trial and error seeing which students land the position. But this would require a large number of trials, given so many factors come into play (including circumstances that have nothing to do with letter writing)
As they read them, while sitting on admission committee. I am then almost completely oblivious to the procedures, but as above, many observation might be required before one can be confident on its ability to write a proper letter.

"Writing letters of recommendation must be a fine art." Bad assumption. Writing letters of recommendation has close to no priority, incentive, or time for exploration on the part of the letter-writer, IME.

@Daniel: IME, I somewhat disagree with that.  Not all LoRs are created equal.  For instance, grad school letters are easy to write: basically they can say "Yes, the student is strong enough to succeed in a program like yours, as I know because..." When it comes to LoRs for faculty jobs for my own students or affiliates, I often spend several hours per sitting over several sittings to try to get something that will stand out from the pack.  I also read a lot of these letters, so I know that while mine are at high end of time spent / length, there are many other such letters being written.

While there is an art to it, it is also sad but true that many professors never learn how to write an appropriate letter.

Culture across countries varies so wildly in this respect that in many European countries LoRs are ignored, or have almost no weight in an application.

@MassimoOrtolano this is very interesting and I had no idea. I am sure, though, that this must also vary inside EU. For example, in economics, being a somewhat "americanized" field, I believe LoR to be often able to make-or-break an application (or this would be my prior, but I might be wrong)

And then I believe I meant to ask if you can expand your observation in this sense, that is, are there field you know where this is more or less the case?

Note that professors are not the only people who write letters of recommendation. I've written more than one, simply as a tutor - although not for anything more serious than undergraduate admissions. I'd like to think that anyone who has actually earned the title of "professor" has a good grasp of the language in which they primarily work, as well as the letter-writing process. Perhaps some purposes require sophisticated rhetoric, but coherently and professionally communicating, "I recommend this student" should be easy for a professor.

I'd like to think that as well, but as you can see from the highest rated answer so far, this doesn't look like its the case. It is of course the case that the professor knows wheter to recommend or not. Whether he knows how to communicate this effectively (wrt to his field, and target's country and department culture) is a different story.

@ThreeDiag Professors are (or at least used to be) civil servants in many European countries. People tend to prefer "objective" criteria when hiring civil servants, as letters of reference can easily be seen as a form of nepotism and corruption.

Ideally, you'll discuss the first few letters you write with a mentor, who can offer feedback and keep you from writing an ineffective letter (getting advice certainly helped me tremendously).  The same situation can come up again later in your career, for example the first time you write a letter for a liberal arts college if you are used to recommending people for jobs at research universities.  If you aren't confident that you can write an effective letter in certain circumstances, then you should seek advice from someone with more experience, even if you are used to writing other sorts of letters.
Serving on hiring and admissions committees is extremely valuable, both in figuring out what people reading letters want to know, and in calibrating how strong the competition is and how much enthusiasm one should express in any given case.
Trial and error does not seem useful, at least in my experience.  There's just too much randomness in the decision-making progress and too many unknown factors that differ between students.
Writing good letters also gets easier with age, as you develop more experience and have a broader basis for comparison.  As an incoming faculty member, you haven't seen how careers progress over time, and you've never had the experience of finding out which of the smart young people you know will live up to or exceed their early promise and which will not.  Of course you'll never be able to predict this with certainty, but over time you'll start to see patterns, and you'll be able to make more nuanced and illuminating comparisons in letters.

Mentors are important. Even if you have a pretty good idea of what it ought to sound like they have experience. I lucky in that my place has an official mentor and I have the informal support of several additional senior members of the faculty.

I agree that trial and error will not work. The channel is just too noisy to get any feedback, you could spend years writing crappy letters and never know it.

@TomChurch I assure you, "could" is too hypothetical for this situation. I wouldn't want to feed the academics who can't write an adequate letter of recommendation.

I believe this to be the best answer, providing information on how they DO learn. The answer with most votes is probably a good preamble to this and very informative.

As with most professorial duties, it's a sink-or-swim process.  There is no formal or official training they receive for this task.  They're just thrown into the situation with no experience and are expected to perform well at it immediately.  If they've seen other recommendations during their other duties (that they likely also weren't trained for) they can use that, otherwise they can try asking colleagues or do google searches.  So for the most part it's a bunch of untrained people relying on other untrained people and crossing their fingers that the other guys were able to figure out a good approach.

This is by far the most accurate answer at this time.

I pity anyone who tries to use what they find through google searches (I did about two weeks back, and quickly realized that the examples ranged from merely passable to absolutely atrocious).  And the advice accompanying the examples was very superficial.

Are letters of recomendation often a lot more about who sent them and less about the exact content? Almost any unambigiously positive text from someone whose opinion I respect would carry a lot of weight with me in deciding between candidates. Sophisticated rhetoric would perhaps be the icing on the cake, but I wouldn't necessarily expect an expert in any field other than English Composition to be able to impress me with prose. If I got a letter from Stephen Hawking that said merely, "this kid's a genius", I'd put a lot of weight behind that.

@ToddWilcox  Certainly the name of some professors carries tremendous weight.  But very, very few people are talented and lucky enough to have world-renown talents in their references.  In large part because very, very, very few people are world-renown talents.  Most people are going to have references from people who are at best well-known by the few handfuls of people who work in their particular specialty.  That'll be very helpful for getting post-docs with these people, but faculty job searches are likely to take you outside of places with these few people.

If you're a professor, odds are you've had someone write some good letters for you. With any luck, they'll have read at least one of them, and know what a good one looks like.

I'm not sure it's really "sink or swim", since there aren't really any negative consequences of being a bad letter-writer. Well, not for the writer, anyway.

@DavidRicherby Directly, no.  But when it comes to promotion and tenure considerations, then how well your students have fared comes into play, and if you've been really bad at writing these letters then your students may not fare as well as they could have.  You may also be taking the "sink or swim" metaphor a bit too literally.  I'm referring more to how most of a Professor's tasks are something you'd expect a person to be trained and groomed for in other professions, but very few of them actually get any formal instruction and guidance and yet are still expected to perform well.

Before I entered academia, I had the benefit of having served on the review board for a major graduate fellowship program. The result of this was that I had the ability to review a number of applications, and the attached letters of recommendation. Mostly they were reasonably strong, but some were definitely better than others. Reviewing what these reference letters (some 250 over 3 years) gave me a lot of insight into how to write good letters of recommendation, and I've been putting that into practice ever since.
(It has also taught me that good letter of recommendation writing is not a skill commonly encountered in most countries other than the US and Canada.)

For what concerns other countries, the issue is not the skill, but how much the writer believes in LoRs. Speaking with a few colleagues of mine, from various European countries, the common sentiment is that we really don't believe in the utility of LoRs, and we wouldn't be interested in reading long LoRs. Moreover, writing LoRs for many people in Europe is seen as a favour to the candidate, not as a duty of the profession, and thus one is not willing to spend too much time on it.

@MassimoOrtolano This also seems to be a matter of field. In math, I can see that most postdoc positions require at least 2 (often 3) LoRs and they are send directly from the writer similarly to how it is done in the US (and these certainly seem to be given high weight). On the other hand from reading some guidelines for some grants, this is not the case elsewhere, as for example one such stated to include at most 2 LoRs and they had to be included by the applicant themselves (and even being allowed to include LoRs felt "tagged on" in some way).

Well, on the other side of the coin US-style letters are sometimes viewed as excessively adulatory and I have heard of committees that "normalize" for excessive praise.

I've seen a few good ones that were written about me. I use similar thoughts and structures without copying and by supplying my own knowledge about the subject of the letter. In time as a professor, you will see letters written about others during your service on hiring, student selection, and tenure committees. You can borrow (without plagiarising) ideas and structures from the ones that make strong impressions on you.

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How to get others to understand that my first name consists of two words?
I live in the UK and I have a foreign name of the form
Abcd Efghjk
where both words and the space are part of my first name. Due to common UK standard everyone usually assumes either that Efghjkl is my surname or, more often, that Efghjkl is my middle name and proceeds to omit it.
I am fine when people omit it in speech, as Abcd is an acceptable shortening of my name, but I really detest it when I receive emails starting with

Dear Abcd,

instead of the appropriate

Dear Abcd Efghjkl,

I usually let it slide whenever I know this is a one off interaction and point it out at some point otherwise.
Lately I have been at times adding a remark at the end of my emails:

Just to let you know, my first name is Abcd Efghjkl, with the space. I know, it's crazy!

I would like suggestions on how to deal with this very common occurrence. I see two options, but feel free to add more.

Keep such a message on a need-to basis, in which case I am looking for suggestions to make it more pleasant. Especially, I am not trying to make the other party feel guilty for the misspelling. I am not mad, this is a minor mistake and it's comprehensible given the running convention in the UK. Ideally, if there was a graphical/non-confrontational way to silently point this out, I would resort to that.
Add a fixed message in my signature either with the same tone of the above or a little more formal. I am a little concerned that this might look odd and somewhat aggressive though.

Any suggestions?
PS: I write here as most of my daily contacts where this interaction happens are academics.
Edit: I am referring to my first name in the above, I do have a family name or surname as well, which in our notation and taking some suggestions from the answers, would be: MNOPQR.

In addition to your options: I have a similar problem, but culturally for me, it's also acceptable to omit the space and join the two names, which is what I do. I've also seen people add a dash in between to physically bind the names. I understand if neither of these are real solutions though.

I considered that and Abcdefghjkl is a legitimate name in my language, but it is not mine. I actually enjoy the fact that it is a somewhat rare spelling and I want to keep it as it is.

Some people change their name when they can't change the way others use it. Probably putting a dash between them is the least invasive response. Unless you want to do the Gell-Mann thing who did tell everybody how to pronounce his name (and also how to pronounce their own, for good measure :-). I am afraid, there are many people under the sun, you cannot educate them all. Making it easier for them to do what you think is right is your best bet. You might get away with a non-standard "underscore" sign between the names instead of the dash, in the hope they get the hint, or surround them by '.'

One possibility is to have your email signature with the surname in all capitals: Abcd Efghjkl YYYYY.

@MassimoOrtolano that was my first thought, but there is no standard convention to distinguish first and middle name from a two-name first name, which is the issue here. (Should you address John Paul SMITH as John, Paul, or John Paul?)

Would you be willing to compromise and use a hyphen instead of a space between the parts of your first name? English speakers would find that less confusing, I think.

@MassimoOrtolano I don't think that would make things any clearer. It would (for those familiar with that convention, such as those who have worked with people from France) make it clear that YYYYY is the surname, but not that Efghjkl is not a middle name.

@Significance but it does make things clearer then. Perhaps not clear yet, but there is progress to be achieved in this way.

@quid I don't think most English speakers are familiar with the convention of caps for surnames.

I have seen people put notes clarifying their first or last names on their webpages.  This probably helps a bit, but I think you'll still need to tell a bunch of people individually.  (Maybe without the "I know, it's crazy.")

The I know, it's crazy is to try make the message more casual and less admonishing. If I don't put it I fear the remark will sound angry. I am open to any formulation that achieves the same goal.

@Significance then maybe one could use a form of "Lastname, Firstname" (for the signature block) Yet in the end it does not really matter if the recipient understands the exact intended meaning, what I think everybody could take away is the grouping of the components of the name. If it says Name1 Name2 NAME3 then I feel irrespective  to any prior knowledge about conventions one ought to be able to infer that Name1 Name2 have a function relatively more similar than NAME3.

Do you mind letting us know your culture and name (or a bunch of similarly constructed names) so that we may be able to spot this situation when communicating with people with similar names?

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's not about academia.

Sorry you name is your problem as you have a option to change it to somethink that works better.   Remember “when in Rome do as the Romans”.

@CapeCode I understand this might be somewhat to hugely off topic depending on how strict one wants to be. All I can offer is:

Academia is a heavily international work environment, this kind of things will happen more often than in most other working environment.

I can imagine this being more important than just the preference of how one would want to be called, e.g., when names are to be associated with articles.

It seems spelling and etiquette is a somewhat common topic on this SE.

Important point that is not mentioned in the question: do you have a last/family name at all? Or is "Abcd Efghjkl" your full legal name?

@FedericoPoloni I do have a family name, I added an edit to clarify.

@CapeCode we have several questions on this site that discuss issues related to having two first names or two last names (e.g. 1, 2). Many of them are perhaps relevant also outside of academia. However, research is an environment where personal reputation and authorship are particularly important. I voted to reopen.

You could modify your P.S. slightly, to make it easier for native English speakers to relate to.  For example,

P.S. My name is spelled as two words that go together to make one name, similar to "Mary Ann" or "John Paul".

Even worded as nicely as possible, I wouldn't make this part of a permanent signature, though if your mail client allows you to choose a sig it would be a reasonable option to have on the list.

@ChrisH - Agreed, this should only be used when the other person is starting to get into a bad habit of writing your name wrong.  You could put it in your clipboard manager, though.  Three diag, Chris got me thinking about how to soften it -- you could insert "By the way" at the beginning.

I would make a point of signing my emails Abcd Efghjkl. If they don't catch on after recieving your reply, add a friendly PS just as you have been doing. It's your name and you are completely justified in wanting it said properly.

Ah thanks, this is essentially what I am doing but no one seems to pick it up. I guess people might sign their emails with second names too.

@ThreeDiag indeed this is a likely cause. Doing what this answer recommends in addition to doing what Massimo suggests in a comment for your prefabricated signature block could hep though.  If I receive an email signed "Best regards, John Paul" and in the signature block it says "John Paul SMITH, Department of etc" this would strongly suggest to me that the person prefers to be addressed as John Paul.

@quid Maybe I'm not typical, but I would only look at how they sign their emails, and not read anything into a capitalization of a surname.  I suspect the main problem is too many people don't pay attention to either signature.

@Kimball more people might pay attention to it in cases of doubt. If I get an email signed John Smith, I'll assume this is somebody with first name John and last name Smith and won't think twice about it. However, if I get one signed John Paul, I'll double check if this is a Mr. Paul known to his friends as John or rather John Paul SomeLastName.

The downside of this is that it's not uncommon to sign an email as "firstname surname".  Even if the names in question are common in English, there are always cases like "Paul Simon" whe the surname looks like a first name.  @quid's suggestion is probably best in terms of making the point but not asserting it too strongly.

The simplest solution is to add a hyphen between the two words: John-Paul. The hyphen indicates that your first name (or the meaning of the word in general) comes from the combined words, not from separate components. Modifying your name (yourself, your identity, etc) might be a wise choice to adapt to the environment. This will save you a lot of time and energy to educate people, not in email context, but also in paper.
However, if you really want to use the blank space instead of hyphen, in email context I would say that adding the PS automatically is a little bit redundancy for familiar contacts. I suggest you to have a text expanding program to mitigate the typing time.

A hyphen is suggested in the comments, and it sounds like the OP doesn't want to change their name, which I think is reasonable.  If someone has a non-standard spelling of a name, and it commonly gets misspelt, we don't tell them they should change the way they spell their name.

@Kimball I know people who are hurt when their name is spelt wrongly, but who exhibit no particular attention in getting other people's name right. People get my name quite often got wrong; I find it easier (and actually more pleasant, and probably better manners) to overlook it. I went so far as to change the way it is represented, to make it easier for people without embarrassing them. Having an exotic name helps in standing out on paper, on papers, on talks, but in spoken or near-spoken (i.e. quick email) conversations, insisting on it, while being right in principle, complicates things.

If you have a website or online profiles that people ever look at, you can put this information there in the section about you. This is a nice way to put the information out there without having to distract from conversations.
I did this to describe the pronunciation of my last name.

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Claiming papers with ORCID, as a co-author
I am setting up my ORCHID iD and account and am prompted to claim my published papers. For my first authored papers it is straightforward. However I am wondering: am I also supposed to claim papers where I am a co-author? In other words, can every co-author claim a paper through ORCID or is this only reserved for first authors? I tried it out on my NASA-ADS account and it allowed me to claim non-first author papers.

Yes: if you are a co-author you can claim the work on Orcid

or is this only reserved for first authors --- FYI, if this were correct then I would wonder how most every multi-authored (pure) mathematics paper is be handled, since authors are listed alphabetically and the idea of a "first author" doesn't exist!

All papers that you have authored or co-authored can be indexed in orcid.

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Submitted abstract accepted as Poster. How can I change it to an oral presentation?
I've sent an abstract to a prestigious conference in my field, which has been accepted as a poster presentation. How should I ask them to reconsider my poster as a talk?

Related questions:

Talks vs. poster presentations: Which is better for advertising your research and building research networks?
How important are poster sessions in conferences?
Two abstracts accepted for oral and poster presentation, but I prefer they are swapped

UPDATE: Based on the comments, I emailed them, but unfortunately they said that they were unable to change it to a talk. My other paper got accepted as a oral presentation elsewhere.

Why should they reconsider? Is there new information that they didn't have when they made their initial decision?

I've given several poster presentations, but I really want to perform a talk. Also, it will give me better chances on funding for travel as well as research.

"Nothing has changed, but I wish you had made a different decision in the first place" is generally not a convincing reason to ask someone to change that decision.

If the program committee decided your abstract only warrants a poster, then take that chance and read the papers submitted to see what your abstract was missing. The choice of talks and papers is to organize a coherent conference, not give you what personally want.

Maybe you find that to be below your station, but I'd try and submit the next abstract to some less prestigious conference. Maybe a small one that has a closer focus on your actual subject? Where you get to talk to the guys who can later push you on the speakers list of the bigger conferences?

This may be obvious, but since it hasn't been explicitly said yet, I'll say it: Do a really good job with your poster presentation, meaning both the preparation of the poster itself and the preparation of what you'll say to people who stop by to discuss your poster. Since the conference is prestigious, this may be an opportunity to impress some big shots, maybe even members of the program committee for next year's prestigious conference.

@DeboraWeber-Wulff My abstract was missing an author with a looong publication record.

@Karl Based on discussion with my adviser/peers, I think my submission is on topic. But it won't hurt to ask, no?

Yeah, deciding that what you were missing is a coauthor with a better record of publication is going to be a really productive way to go forward.

@salahgeek, no. Papers and abstracts are judged on the value of the contents, not the names of the authors. At least in my field.

@salehgeek: My general answer would be that you shouldn't try, but it's also worth pointing out that in some fields it's an even worse idea than others. In my field (computer vision), for example, there are conferences where peer-reviewers explicitly evaluate your paper for either poster or oral presentation. If they recommend poster, that's what you get - asking them to upgrade it to an oral presentation just because you want the perks that go with a better-received paper is likely to make them view you rather negatively.

Although the answer is you cannot, I don't think this question deserves the downvotes that it gets.  It's a real question with a real answer.

This happened to me during ICRA2013. The organizers refused to change the result, plus they were very rude. In fact, they didn't tell us it is a poster presentation until we have already registered the conference. ICRA2013 is the worst.

The choice among different presentations often depends on the program and planning of the congress and is in hands of the organising commitee. I don't consider fair to request this change. Take into account that you will have future opportunities to present your work on different ways. In addition, there are many conventions devoted mainly to poster sessions and these are very fruitful. Finally, the acceptance as a poster could have an other meaning (and I have such experience): "your work has little value, but, please, come in and discuss your paster with us!"

Regardless of whether the organizers will change the poster to a oral talk or not, asking why will help towards improving the quality, presentation and releventness of the work. But to improve your chances, do not ask nor submit abstracts near the deadline.
Anyways, a poster presentation is a valuable experience in itself. Just as @decenzio said,

Finally, the acceptance as a poster could have an other meaning (and I have such experience): "your work has little value, but, please, come in and discuss your poster with us!"


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How do you hide your past online identity when you enter Academia?
I worked before as a freelancer writer where I would review some tech products (phones, websites, online services... etc) and post them on YouTube (channels which I do not control), and both my voice and picture were appearing in these videos.
Now that I graduated from my Masters program, I want to pursue my PhD and teach in the university. I would like to start publishing some papers as well in my field.
However, my past online identity is haunting me; Anyone can search my name and instead of finding my Google Scholar page as the first result, they would see me talking about the features of iPhone 7 in a YouTube video, and it is embarrassing for me. Some political articles that I published online are also embarrassing for me as I enter the academic world.
Do most people in academia suffer from the same thing? How can one get rid of this past online identity before entering the professional academic life? And how can I be sure no one uses parts of this old identity against me in the future?

Does this answer your question? Googling my name reveals silly things from when I was younger. I am embarassed. How will this affect me in my future academic career?

@GoodDeeds Thanks but no, the "right to be forgotten" thing does not apply to me since the content I produced is so viral and famous, and removing Google queries won't help me (I published huge content on YouTube and many other platforms). And I am not in the EU,

If the right to be forgotten does not apply to you, then there does not seem much you can do. I would just leave it be, and if someone confronts you, just tell them that that was you than, and you are now a different person. Don't lie, just tell them you have grown and changed, as most people do.

Why would anyone care about you reviewing an old iPhone? The political articles, I can see, if they had harmful or offensive content.

Again, my issue is not with search results, even without search results, content about me is still famous and wide-spread. Simply because it is published on famous websites and platforms which thousands view each day.

@AzorAhai-him- That's just an example, I have other more embarrsing content.

@Madno "I reviewed iPhones on YouTube" and "I explained how Jews control the media on YouTube" are very different.

Sadly, in the modern world, you are probably stuck with what you have posted in the past. Some people are even stuck with lies told about them online and it affects various aspects of their lives as well.
Sorry that it isn't a solution to go back ten years or so and publish the stuff you might not want associated with you in future under a pseudonym. But for young folks with online personas, consider this early on. History made it work for me, since my real persona was established and I could decide, when the time came, to only interact online under pseudonyms. Hence "Buffy".
But, there is no requirement that you publish academic papers under your True Name. You can establish a pseudonym and publish all of your academic work under that name instead. You just want to be consistent, and it is useful to use a somewhat uncommon name. Then, searches on your "academic name" will only turn up your academic work.
See, for example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pseudonyms
It isn't a perfect solution, of course, if someone finds the relationship and decides to "out" you.
And, for purposes of changing jobs and such, your real name will get associated with your academic name. But that is in a situation under which you have some control and usually the opportunity to explain to individuals that you now disavow the sins of your youth.
But the world is now very "sticky". Hard to avoid it.

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Changing due date for a student suddenly
Today I had two students never working on their assignment but looking at their phones the whole class. I did not warn them that I will collect their work but I told them to put their phones away. After that I told the students to turn their work in even though it wasn't the due date. I am planning to put their grade into the gradebook. Am I allowed to do this?

Did you warn them at the start or during the class?

Yes I warned them to put their phones away but I didnt warn that I will collect their work before due date

Why would you do that?

Let's not down vote this question, even if we think it implies an outrageous abuse of power.

It's unlikely you can do this.
Unless you have a statement in your class syllabus that:

explicitly bans the use of cell phones in class and
specifies that you can make students turn work in early,

this is probably going too far beyond your actual authority and in principle could be overturned were the students to appeal.
If you're going to have students working on homework assignments in-class then it is probably best to institute a "participation" component to the grade, which you would then be certainly entitled to lower on account of their lack of participation during class. But unless that's already built in, there's not much you can really do here.


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How to Proceed: Journal Agreed to Publish, 6 Months Later Reneges
I would like request some advice regarding my situation.  Here is a summary: I submitted an article for review for publication in an upper-tier academic journal.  I have been published in this journal before and thought I had a good relationship with the editor in chief (EIC).  Six months after submission, I received an email from the EIC, telling me that the article was excellent and after I made one small change, they would agree to publish it.  I made the change to the EIC's satisfaction and the EIC agreed to publish the article.
Six months after this, I unexpectedly received an email from the EIC telling me that, upon further review, the journal would not publish the article.  The EIC then listed three "incorrect" words (yes, words) in the article (it is 20+ pages in length) as the reasons for not publishing it.  The EIC stated that publishing the article in its present form would damage my career goals.  The EIC also informed me he would not work with me on the article any longer, as he had "spent enough time on it."  The EIC then stated that I needed to re-do the entire article and work with "experts in the field."  After this was completed, the EIC stated I could resubmit, if I wanted.  Again, all of this is completely out of the blue.
Needless to say, I am stunned.  Also needless to say, this situation is unacceptable.  How would you suggest I proceed at this point?  In my opinion, the EIC made a commitment to publish my article in its present form and the EIC should honor this commitment.  Should I attempt to contact the EIC's superior(s) about this behavior?  It is very strange, and is a huge breach of academic standards.  Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

The EIC is also the journal's expert in my field.

Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/90450/is-it-ethical-to-reject-an-article-after-acceptance?rq=1

Thank you for the link, but my understanding is that the situation in the linked post is one where the editor and author were working on edits toward publication.  My situation was one where the editor told me -specifically-- that 1.) all changes were completed to his satisfaction and 2.) my article was accepted for publication.  Six months later...see above.

What general  field is this in? If that's not too identifying.

One important factor you’ve not addressed: does the EIC’s objection have any arguable scientific merit?  Of course I presume you don’t agree with it, but is it something that reasonably could be seen in good faith as a serious scientific problem with the paper?  (The fact the EIC pointed to three words doesn’t mean it’s not reasonable: three words can be a fatal error in themselves, or can sum up a more general problem in a paper.)  Of course, the brusque treatment you describe is still outrageous, regardless of the validity of the criticism; but the validity matters for how you proceed.

Replying to Obie: Thank you for the reply.  It is a journal in the field of Religious Studies/Theological Studies.  Replying to PLL: Thanks for the reply.  No, the article has already been cited by another researcher, so there is nothing major amiss, but I can understand how one could think that.  I am afraid there are no logical answers with this situation.

This is a very bizarre situation—I must admit that I've never heard of a paper being rejected because three words are incorrect. It seems that the level of response from the journal is not proportional to the level of the problem.
I agree with Nate's answer that you will probably need to publish elsewhere. Since the decision has been made by the editor-in-chief, the only appeal would be to the publisher, who would be reluctant to overrule a scientific decision by the editor-in-chief absent signs of foul play.
However, in addition to submitting to a different journal, I would definitely try to get in contact with the editor-in-chief to understand what's going on. If he's someone you already know, I would try to see if I could talk with the person directly on the phone, rather than just email. You might be able to get a better sense of what's going on with this rejection than just in an email. I would not try to force the editor-in-chief to change his mind; I would use this opportunity to figure out what caused the paper to go from essentially accepted to rejected in one step.
If you don't get any response, then you should escalate to the publisher. Such behavior is highly irregular, and should be brought to their attention. (Just state it as: "This is what happened and this is why I think it's unusual." But again don't expect a reversal.)

Thank you very much for your insightful response.  It is very bizarre and personally upsetting, as I have had positive past dealings with this editor.  I thought I could, at the very least, trust him to uphold an accepted verdict.  Regarding further communication, I don't know that he would even accept my call, as he was very dismissive, not just with his "spent enough time on it" response, but other indications in the email.  Nonetheless, I do agree that more explanation is needed.  Thanks again.

See my edit above—you should make sure that you get some sort of response. If you don't, escalate.

Unfortunately, I think the only practical solution will be to submit to another journal.
I don't agree, in principle, with your argument that the journal has made an iron-clad "commitment" to publish your paper, by having accepted it.  If we give the editor the benefit of the doubt and suppose that he really has come to believe, in good faith, that the paper is seriously flawed, then I would say he has a duty not to publish it.  His responsibility to the journal's readers and the research community takes precedence over any commitment made to you.
Anyway, consider the alternative - even if you could force the journal to publish the paper, there'd be nothing to stop the  EIC from immediately  publishing a retraction.  If he really believes it is seriously flawed, I'd say he would even have an obligation to retract.  That would be much worse for you than simple rejection.
If you strongly believe that the editor is not acting in good faith, but is rejecting your paper from some ulterior motive, and you have evidence to support that belief, then you could take your case to the publisher.  If it's clear, I suppose it could lead to the firing of the EIC - but it still probably wouldn't get your paper automatically accepted.  At best you might be able to resubmit to the new editor.    You could do it as a way to help the journal get better leadership, but I don't think it's likely to be effective as far as actually getting your paper published.

Thank you for the response, Nate.  I have a question: given your response to my predicament, how do you feel about the situation in this link?  It is very similar, but told from the perspective of an editor.  I find the comments interesting.  https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40732/ramifications-of-withdrawing-publication-offer-question-from-student-editor

You can see what I wrote about that situation :-)  The distinction is that in the linked case, the objection is not based on the content of the paper.  In your case, it is, or so the editor claims.  In other words, I think the journal's commitment to you takes priority over economic considerations or commitments to other authors who were accepted later, but not over their obligation to keep the research record clean.

Yes, I did see your response, that is why I wanted to know the distinction.  Thank you for addressing this and also for your time and suggestions.

@Daniel I guess I'm late to this discussion.  But besides what Nate has already said (which I agree), I would suggest against escalating for the reason that you don't want to burn bridges with someone in your field for "just one paper".  There will be other papers later.  And if you said you thought you had a good relationship with the EIC, it doesn't mean that, from this point forward, you cannot make the first move and put this behind you (i.e., submit to another journal) and rebuild it again.  These things happen, unfortunately...

It is then not common for the editor to identify for the author at least the most substantial flaws in the article? I mean, if the article is flawed, then submitting it to another journal would be pointless, wouldn't it?

@Gnudiff: Yes, ideally the editor would explain his concerns.  In this case he hasn't, or at least not in a way that the author is able to understand.  But I don't see that this failure invalidates his decision to reject the paper.  And I don't see any way to make him explain further, especially when he's announced pretty clearly that he doesn't want to.  So there isn't really anything else to do except submit elsewhere.  If the paper isn't actually flawed, it could be accepted.  If it is, then maybe the other journal will give more helpful feedback.

The EIC has rendered two opinions on the submission:

The submission is correct, and should be published.
The submission is incorrect, and should not be published.

Taking these two opinions at face value, one of them must be mistaken in its judgement.  There is no reason to assume that it is the second one.  Indeed, it is more likely to be the first one, as it is more likely that someone gets a more accurate opinion with additional reflection.  What is likely to have happened is that the EIC did not read the submission with sufficient care the first time, and subsequently found errors.
Yes, it is unfortunate that the EIC made that mistake, and issued that acceptance, which had to be withdrawn.  This can be frustrating, particularly if OP has told others about this papers' acceptance in this journal.  It is also unfortunate that the EIC's explanation of rejection is not very satisfying. Neither of these issues would merit overturning an editorial decision, much less one based on correctness of the manuscript.  Absent any reason to suspect this rejection was not based on editorial judgement (e.g. OP slept with EIC's spouse), an appeal is likely hopeless.  Resubmission is the only way forward, however see also the following paragraph.
In a separate matter, the OP's characterization of the explanation as "three incorrect words" is potentially minimizing a very serious error.  Even a single wrong symbol could completely change the character and value of a paper.  Compare "Hence we have proven the Riemann hypothesis for |s|>2." (which is a million-dollar result) with "Hence we have proven the Riemann hypothesis for |s|=2." (which is a trivial, well-known, result).  The OP would do well to reflect carefully on just what is wrong with the manuscript, fix these errors, and submit elsewhere.

@Daniel, sorry, but that's the truth.  I've had papers rejected after acceptance before.  I've also experienced the other side, as an editor, where referees accept a paper and I concur, but then afterward errors are discovered and the paper must be rejected.

Thank you for your response.  In my case, my article has already been utilized and cited in another researcher's work on the same subject, so there are no fundamental problems.  I, too, have reached and searched for simple reasons for this situation.  Unfortunately, there are none.  Let other authors beware: your article is not really "published" until it is "out there," away from any further interference.


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Plagiarism and Authorship in a Translation
My colleague's article was translated by another person and republished in the translated language. My colleague became the first author, and the translator became second author. Did my colleague or the translator thereby plagiarize the original article, as they published the same paper twice?

Publishing a translation of your own article is not plagiarism, or any other kind of misconduct, as long as it is clearly identified as a translation.  Usually this means that the first page of the article says something like "Translation of [original title], published in [journal, volume, date]".  The editors of the new journal should be aware that it is a translation, not a new paper.  The publishers of the first journal should also give permission (this may be legally required if the author has transferred copyright to them).
The author should not try to "count" the translation as a separate paper, or otherwise mislead people into thinking that they are two independent papers.  For instance, his CV should show one paper as a translation of the other, or list them together as a single publication.
However, translators are not normally credited as authors, unless they have made an intellectual contribution to the text of the paper, beyond simply trying to translate it faithfully and idiomatically.  Likewise, the translator should not try to take credit for the translated paper as a publication on a CV, etc (unless as a separate section from papers they authored).

Nitpicking: Even an unmarked translation of your own work is not plagiarism. It is double-publication of a paper, and as such still is academic misconduct though.

@Arno: It is not misconduct if both journals and all of the authors are aware and give permission.

@aeismail Maybe you have misunderstood my comment? Permission of all involved journals and authors certainly would not allow to republish an article without making it abundantly clear that this is a republication, whatever languages these are written in.

BTW, German copyright by default treats a human-made translation as an adaption that required sufficient intellectual contribution by the translator to become a work in its own right. I.e. the translator does become (co)author in the legal sense. From an academic point of view: a) as the coauthors did not all contribute the same (i.e. to all aspects of the translation), their specific contributions anyways need be made clear and that would naturally lead to the translator being named as translator. And the translation would need to refer to the original paper as highly relevant existing work.


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Should I mention undergraduate research history when writing a resarch statement for a faculty position?
I am a PhD student applying to academic faculty positions in mid-sized institutions in the United States. I am writing research statements for ecological/environmental positions with a major focus on my current (graduate) research and my plans for extending my research in the future. However, I had almost 5 years of research experience prior to coming to grad school (4 of the 5 were while I was an undergraduate).
My question is, should I mention or incorporate in any way the research I was involved with as prior to graduate school? I am especially curious about work done as an undergraduate.
Also, does the quality of work matter? for example, I researched and published an undergraduate thesis but also worked as research assistant on a number of projects.

"Also, does the quality of work matter?" Um, yes.

@PeteL.Clark I guess I should clarify that point. I don't really mean the quality of the work produce, but rather the quality of my involvement/input. For example, as I mention, designing/publishing my own undergrad thesis vs. being significantly involved in a project as a research assistant

Do you feel that your undergrad research is a significant part of your research profile, or tied in with your current research interests?  If so, then yes.  If not, then I don't see it adding much value to your research statement.  For research schools, you want your research statement to be impressive, not watered down with minor results.  I was involved in 1-2 (unpublished---1 became a paper, which got accepted, but I decided not to publish) research projects as an undergrad, but I did not even think to mention them in my research statement.
Note any papers you published will appear on your CV, so the committee will already see these.
However, one place you might mention it is in connection with the prospect of supervising undergrad research.  You can say what a good experience it was for you, and how you would like to be involved in it on the other side now.  This could come up either your teaching statement and/or your research statement, depending on your application.  (I might put it in my research statement if the projects I was already discussing lead to good projects for undergrads.)  This could be a boon, depending on how much the departments you're applying to value undergrad research.

You should mention it (You still feel proud of it, don't you? Also, "full disclosure" is key, don't try to hide good/bad aspects of your career, they will come out and bite you in the worst way.), but emphasize your later performance. They are interested in your future research performance, of which presumably your recent performance is a better predictor than what came long before. Sure, seeing that the candidate has long be involved in research is a bonus, but I'd not consider it tipping the scales.
No, only tangentially involved in search committees, don't just take my word for it.

With respect, I disagree thoroughly with this.  The point of a research statement is not to mention every research that you feel "proud" of, it's to display whatever research best makes the case that your research strength and research velocity (and research acceleration...) are extremely high.  Nor does the principle of "full disclosure" at all apply to selecting what to talk about in a research statement!  Surely all of the OP's academic publications will appear on their CV, so there is simply no issue of disclosure here.  Overall: not good advice, I'm afraid.


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What challenges to expect for admission to Masters/PhD in computer science and engineering after chemical engineering undergrad?
I am a Chemical Engineering undergrad, and interested in pursuing a Masters in Artificial Intelligence and/or Machine Learning. I have taken a few courses in the CSE department as a part of my minor curriculum plus a few other courses, and also doing some projects in the same side-by-side. Now in the past I have faced some difficulties while taking some courses in the CSE department, and not really sure if it is going to be easy (if at all possible) to switch my majors.
What challenges am I going to face in terms of application/selection, and how can I get by them?

I assume that CSE = computer science engineering?
Like Kitty said, pursuing a Master's degree in a different area/field might be easier than a PhD, at least in terms of admissions. Many PhD programs like to see applicants with background in the subject so they can tackle the more advanced courses immediately. As such, they might be more reluctant to take a chance admitting a Chemical Engineering major for a PhD in AI compared to admitting one for the Master's degree. In addition, PhD cohorts tend to be much smaller than Master's level cohorts, which means Master's level admissions might be (relatively) less competitive compared to PhD level admissions. You might also want to check out the discussion here (slightly different, but still relevant).
Personally, I switched fields from undergraduate to graduate school, and I got admitted to most programs to which I applied. I think the biggest challenge is explaining why you want to make the switch. A question that came up during my interviews was why I was trying to switch fields at the graduate level instead of the undergraduate level (i.e., answering the "if you are interested in this field so much, why did you get a Bachelor's degree in something else" question). If you have a good answer to this, I think you'll be at least moderately successful.
Reviewers of your application might also want to see that you have the necessary intellectual skills for the degree, but if you did well in your chemical engineering major, you should be fine because the math, science, and writing skills should all be transferable. You mention that you had "difficulties" in the CSE classes, which you may need to explain, depending on what exactly those difficulties were.
Other than these, I think you'll just face the same challenges as everyone else applying in terms of making sure your recommendation letters are strong, standardized test scores (if applicable) are good, et cetera.

I was in a similar situation, coming from a chemical engineering background and moving into CSE. I second the advice to do a master's degree first, even if it adds a year to your timeline. I am more in applied maths than computer science but I think it is probably not too different.
I went the master's route, and it really gives you a chance to see what life is like in maths/CS department. This does not need to be a top 10 program as you may not be competitive for admission to such a program from the wrong undergraduate major. I would recommend finding a masters program in your target field that you can afford/ be funded for, and that has a lot of coursework options. In my case, I am doing a 2-year masters in Europe. I won't lie, it is not easy, as suddenly your classmates have 3 years of area-specific knowledge over you - that can make you feel lost and unintelligent. However, after a few months and some hard work you will find that it is not so bad. I think getting some specific technical training (i.e. courses at grad level) in your target area really strengthens your applications going forward. Doubly so if you can spin a paper in your new field out of your master's.
I managed this, and even if it is not the most spectacular work ever done, it shows that you have provable commitment to your new field. There are lots of eng undergrads who say "I want to go into maths/CS/finance" etc, and having some actual experience in a relevant department helps show that you are serious. When it came time for PhD applications I got in everywhere I wanted to go and I will be attending a top five US CSE PhD program in September.
One more thing, talk to the people you would like to work with, both at a master's and PhD level. Everyone I met was super helpful and understanding of the difficulties that come with changing fields. For example, my master's program helped make a sensible curriculum that covered, more or less, what I was missing. I was surprised at the number of math grad students (and even Professors) with engineering backgrounds.

Great Answer. I had a specific doubt though. I am working towards getting a paper or two published by the end of my undergrads. I wanted to ask how much does your CGPA matter as far as the selections are concerned? As you mentioned, I have done three PG level courses in CS and a few UG level ones as well, but not extraordinary grades in them.

@AdityaKumarPraharaj Since I have no experience from the point of view of the admissions committee, I can't really say. Hopefully some academics  on the site can give a better answer. I think an admissions committee would give you some leeway as getting an excellent grade in Functional Analysis is a lot tougher for someone who has not done analysis 1 and 2 (trust me!). That said, you obviously want to have a nice transcript. Ultimately, the only way to know is to apply.

I think pursuing a master in the major that you are interested in would be much easier than doing a PHD in similar area. To be selected and become a PHD student, applicants always got to have very good CGPA results in their Bachelor's degrees. Some of my former classmates who were doing their PHDs all graduated with CGPA higher than 3.6 something.
Hope this help!

kitty, you are not pointing out any challenges (which was the question) just one prerequisite, the CGPA.

I am sorry, but I had tried my best to help. ^_^

It was helpful though :)


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How to deal with Educational Testing Service (ETS) inefficiency and awful post-exam service?
I took the TOEFL test more than three months ago (outside US). Well before my deadlines. But I haven't received the paper scores yet and I shall mail them to the admission committees as an obligatory in my application package. Now, I'm running against the clock. Although I contacted customer support at ETS, the only thing I got is copy-pasted information of mailing time (allow 4-6 weeks abroad...) with a we-can-do-nothing-else statement.
This is totally upsetting. I don't want to lose my applications (and the money I have spent to get all my document translated, legalized, etc.) because of such kafkian situation. Also, it doesn't make sense to order extra reports; probably, they will get lost again.
Has anybody else passed throughout this predicament with ETS? What did you do? What should I do?

Can you call them? Is there a twitter account? Tweet about it. And, contact the places that you applied to about the problem. Some may be able to give you extra time.

I called them, same answer. I don't have Twitter or Facebook (I suppose there isn't going to be too much difference to using e-mail). I contacted the administrators of the program I'm applying and they say that some extra time may be allotted, but sonner or later I have to show them the report. They don't have institutional code.

Don't stress. Telephone the admissions office and let them know the situation. They will likely allow you to send the TOEFL scores slightly late via fax or e-mail, with hardcopy to follow by postal mail.

I faced similar problem during my undergrad application process. The admission officer told me to fax them a print of my score report from my online account. You can try asking the admission office at the institute that you are applying to and see if there is any way you can self-report the score before the official report arrives.
Good luck!

There is a probable cause for the mail delay - weather.
I am a retiree from the US and I currently live in Taiwan. In the past month or so, I have experienced mail delays between the US and my current residency. Usually the first class air mail (US Postal Service) between the US and Taiwan is about 2 weeks ( sometimes 3 weeks at most). But, recently the time is about a month. And I haven't received couple of mails from US that were supposed to be delivered in the last week of December last year.
I mailed something to the US the week before X'mas. The receiving ends said they have not got it. I had to check with the local post office, their response was that this was due to the bad weather in December and January in the US.
My advice is: contact the admission offices to see if there is another way to send in the official transcript. Even if you receive the score report today, please consider using express mail to send to the universities because it could take another month or so for delivery. (I do know express delivery is expensive, bit it's worth it if you have good chance to get to a good university). Good luck!


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Get a second master to have better references?
I obtained my M. Sc. in mathematics from a decent European university about a year ago (when I was 27). Due to various reasons of personal nature, my marks were the equivalent of a 3.0 GPA, or something like that, and it took me quite a while to finish. I wanted to drop out at some point, also because of the same issues, which led to a change in my thesis' topic, arguments and a not-so-good relationship with my advisor, who agreed to keep me until graduation anyway.
Right after obtaining the degree, my problems gradually subsided and I got a reasonably good job in the consulting industry, which of course I am not interested in, but I accepted because I had to. However, my interest for math and physics recently rekindled, to the point that in the little time I can spare from my job I find myself picking up my old books, and reading new ones and it's getting harder and harder to do something I dislike on a daily basis.
I realized I wasted a good chance and now I wish to apply to a Phd program (anywhere, really, with the condition that it be a reasonably good one) as I feel I am a bit too young to accept how things have played out, but all I have right now is a mediocre GPA and no way to obtain strong recommendation letters to compensate. Therefore I think my chances to get into a good program are very slim (feel free to correct me though, if you think otherwise).
I feel my only chance would be to get into another (1 or 2 years long) M. Sc., perhaps in applied math this time and enter an environment where I can:

improve my record
get in contact with people who could help me with recommendation letters in the future.

Here come my questions: is this plan sensible? Does a candidate with 2 M. Sc. in similar subjects raise eyebrows?
Feel free to offer further advice on what my options are if you have any.

Seems like an expensive way to get another letter of reference. I'd be surprised if it was helpful to a PhD admissions package.

I wouldn't attend a very expensive Master, but of course I would have to depend on my parents to support myself for a year or two. That's expensive, but being stuck - basically forever - with jobs like mine feels way more expensive, though not in terms of money. However you are saying that it wouldn't even do any good to my application, and I'm interested in knowing why, as my hypothetical application is very weak right now. I wouldn't even know what range of departments to aim at.

Of course I would have to depend on my parents to support myself for a year or two -- But Karl, how is it possible that you have not built up a nest egg to finance this new academic venture from your reasonably good job in the consulting industry?

Because I've had it for about a year. And I had to live in the meantime. The job is reasonably good but entry level, of course.

The first masters will likely help you get into your program of choice. Two masters would mKe peoe wonder why you stopped st masters--was there a problem that prevented you from continuing to your PhD?

I wouldn't if I were you. Of course grades and reference letters matter but to spend another year or two putting yourself in debt just for reference letters seems like a lot. You will also be two years older, and with no guarantee to get the position you want. I would try to apply for PhD's anyways, or if needed, try to find a project for a few months in the group/area you are interested for the PhD. In Europe there is funding for exchange students/projects. I spent a year in Sweden after finishing my MSc. back in the Netherlands. This was paid for by a stipend from my supervisor in Sweden.
Doing a project will allow you to see if this is the topic you want to do a PhD in, and also if this is the right group. If you do a good job and the supervisor has money for a PhD student, you can apply. If not, you can apply elsewhere using this supervisor as a reference.
Good luck.

Looks like a possibility. I assume the only way to find such opportunities would be to scour the webpages of random departments around the world. Do you happen to know of any website where such opportunities would be gathered/listed? By the way, do you reckon I wouldn't have application weakness issues similar to those I'm facing now, in applying for such positions?

@Karl, I wouldn't look at random. I would make targeted searches based on prior collaborations, papers you've cited, etc. Your MS advisor is bound to know someone.

@BillBarth Thanks for answering. Things did not go well with my advisor. We didn't part on the best of terms and now I am in no position to use him or his network. My thesis wasn't really original work, it was basically a translation / review or a couple of really difficult and recent papers in analysis. Papers I cited are from top notch, world-renowned mathematicians who would probably laugh in my face if I contacted them going over my advisor's head. Hell they would probably laugh off my advisor, too. I cannot use him or his network, that's why I thought about a change of environment.

As for prior collaboration, there's not really much of it. European universities (in mathematics at least) aren't really big on making undergrads and master students publish original papers, unless they are really brilliant and their research is genuinely worth publishing in serious journals. You basically do your coursework and keep quiet until thesis time comes around, at which point it's still quite unlikely that you achieve something impressive (still talking exclusively about my field). I could talk to my Bachelor thesis advisor, but that was 5 years ago now...

Enroll as a non-degree-seeking student in one course per semester either at an institution in your area, or at an institution that offers online study.  Use these courses to satisfy your intellectual itch and to build up an excellent new GPA.  Use the remaining time in your job to build up savings to ensure financial independence, and to perfect the art of being a good employee, even when you might not find every task you are assigned deeply fulfilling.
-- Edit -- (If there are no suitable courses offered in your area) Online education is really taking off now.  Here is a randomly selected example of online offerings:

I wish this was feasible, but I work ~10 hours per day, sometimes more, and often far from home, so this would take a really long time to accomplish. This solution would end up being a placebo.

You could garner a couple of good grades and strong letters of recommendation in two semesters.  The idea is to use the little time you can spare from your job in a structured learning environment (i.e. online math courses) where you will be intellectually stimulated, and your efforts will serve to strengthen your grad school application.  By the way, does your contract call for you to work 10 hours a day?

Forgive my lack of faith, but do online universities offer that kind of prestige? Are there really people who get phd scholarships in decent departments with recommendation letters obtained this way?
About the contract: no, it doesn't, but you are de facto expected to.

Once you're enrolled in a course, you'll have an excuse for keeping to a reasonable work schedule.  //  See edit of my answer.

Online learning does not lend itself to strong recommendation letters. Online classes typically offer few opportunities to have the kind of meaningful interactions with professors that can make for good letters.

Thanks for the clarification @ff524 though it confirms my suspicion not to go down this path. Thanks anyway aparente.


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Too long review process due to editor: withdraw and re-upload?
I have submitted my paper to Elsevier journal, got confirmation, ID and status: under review. As months passed by, I have written several emails to: editorial manager, editor-in-chief and handling manager. Understandingly, despite frustration the emails were polite and not pressing. There has been no answer from a human (editorial manager sends automatic answers, not responding to questions).
Now it has been 8 months, no response, still under review. I still want to publish to this journal, since my manuscript is from niche area (engineering ... not math fortunately).
Can I withdraw the manuscript, possibly add slight adjustments, re-upload and ask for different handling editor, explaining by "personal" issues with the previous one?

Doesn't Elsevier have some other way to nudge people? Of course, in polite, non-disruptive way.

That will only delay it even more. The best thing you can do is just forget that that article exists until you get an answer. Once you sent it to a journal there is nothing you can do. So instead of wasting your precious time writing emails that are going to achieve exactly nothing, you are much better of doing something productive like write your next article. I would say that 8 month is somewhat longish but not unusual.

+1 to Maarten. also depending on what area of engineering, uploading on arxiv is a possibility, so at least the paper is "out there" while you go through the long review process.

8 months is not considered long by Elsevier standard.   I would wait a bit longer.  Personally, that's one of the reasons why I never send my work to Elsevier.

Is the journal "alive" in the sense that it is still publishing papers? If yes, how long are the times from submission to publication for other papers?

You definitely can withdraw the manuscript, but it's unlikely to speed the things up.

@Prof.SantaClaus I wonder, Elsevier is publisher that advertise itself with statistics on review times (e.g. IEEE doesnt provide these statistics). My previous experience with the same journal was 2 months for the 1st round review.

@MartinG In my experience, it is very slow.  I'm also an editor for one of their journals; very slow.

In my area of math, we often have to wait a year before even the first referee report. It's not wise to antagonize editors by emailing them after 8 months. We normally wait till around the one-year mark. But, after the one-year mark, it's normal to ping editors every couple of months. Lastly, I would not advise disclosing "personal" issues with a previous editor when coorsponding with a future editor. It just won't go well.


text:
How do you study a PhD without a supervisor and other PhDs?
The situation is as follows:
1) I and supervisor dont understand each other
2) supervisor keeps the PhD group fractured

What it means ?
The supervisor is way off from my research area. But I know that happens. Unfortunately, he is the one speaking the most during meetings. To me it seems he want to prove himself as knowledgeable. This led me to ignore his advice, as it is usually inapplicable, since he doesnt understand my research. (I want point out, that I know this happens, that the supervisor may not be able to provide a profound advice, due to the differences in research interests. But what I consider a bit odd, is a lack of interest in listenening, as he needs to be the one that talks.) Therefore, I dont have a supervisor that would give a hand in research.
The other thing really bothers me though. We have never held a full PhD group meeting (there is about 5 other PhDs I barely know). Furthermore, there are "secret" projects among the PhDs managed by the supervisor, which fracture the relations and communication even more. This actually happens in very exclusive way. They just switch into their native language, right in front of me (including the supervisor), when such topic is discussed (I am international student).
For me this is both personal and professional problem.
On personal level, there is loneliness and the feeling of being different, as explained by the language exclusivity.
From professional/academic level, I have no ground under my feet. I need to progress on my own, without the feedback from supervisor or other PhDs.

Questions:
How do I progress on my own ?
Do I search advice from other professors ? Do I try to connect with other PhD groups on my own ? Is this practically manageable, to force myself into other groups ?
Is it sustainable to manage PhD stress AND to put quite an amount of energy to "join" other people just to sustain myself from psychological point of view (this situation is very heavy on mental state) ?
And maybe on more personal level, is this a very bad situation to continue the PhD ? Does the academia really look like this ?
Lets say I would change supervisor/university/etc. What could I expect from regular similar supervisor, BUT that can manage and keep the PhDs in touch ? How much does this helps in PhD ?

P.S. This is a long term situation, lasting more than a year and half.

I agree with Roland. Get out as quickly as possible! Change advisor ASAP

I am a bit surprised but I take it as a your suggestion. Can you share with me your experience when you have a meeting with supervisor and meet other PhDs ? Do you share experience/progress/etc., what do you find useful, etc ... post it as an answer

Why are you studying with an advisor who is too far from your research area to provide advice you are willing to take?

How did you get into this situation? Why did you agree to be advised someone who doesn’t share your research interests? And why did they agree to advise someone who doesn’t share their research interests?

Speaking generally, this does not seem like a workable situation for you. Your PhD supervisor seems to neither match your topic nor your personality, and it seems unlikely that they will support you through to the end of your PhD. Even if you did manage to produce a passable PhD without your supervisor's support, they don't seem to be someone who would be going out of their way to help you network into a position or write recommendations for post docs, etc. This does not sound like where you should be.
Step one would be to tell the administrative/departmental powers that be that you are considering leaving your programme. Don't make it personal, say that you do not believe that there is a research topic and research culture fit between you and your supervisor. They may be willing to discuss new supervision for you at that point (my UK Uni would, losing students messes up our stats).
Meanwhile, where SHOULD you be? Whose research out there influences your own? It might be worth getting in touch with scholars who more match your profile. In some circumstances, Unis can secure external supervision for a PhD student by, well, just paying that person to do it. This is far from a guarantee, but we secured an external supervisor for one of my PhDs (edit, I mean one of my PhD students, I'm the supervisor) during my year of parental leave because we felt no one else had the specialty she needed.
Caveat, I'm in SocSci/Humanities so this might not fly in your discipline, but it really is rare to get through a PhD with no support and much antagonism.

Can you please edit your answer to share some insights on how you personally benefit from your supervisor meetings ? And how does meeting other PhDs help you ?

I don't have meetings with a supervisor, Martin, I'm the supervisor in this equation. My students benefit from them by, well, getting Master's degrees and PhDs.

There seems to be a mismatch between you and your advisor. You could change that by supplementing your current advisor with another co-advisor, changing your advisor within your current department, or change your university (basically apply elsewhere and when you get a new position resign from your old one). The first step is to start talking to maybe the head of the department, maybe there is an ombudsperson for PhD students at your university, maybe someone else. That depends on the exact structure of your department and university.
Apart from that, also consider your own expectations: you moved to another country and expect to be informed about everything and integrate socially without learning the language. That is not going to work. When they talk to one another in their native language, they are probably not trying to exclude you, or keep things secret from you. They are just effectively communicating with each other about things that don't involve you. If you spoke the language and understood what they were talking about, you would probably loose interest after the first couple of words. It probably does make you feel excluded, but think about it the other way around: why should they always speak a foreign language when they are not talking to you? The obvious solution is to learn the language. Even if you are not good at it, the fact that you are trying will get you a lot of good will and make it easier to integrate socially.

Let us dissect your complaint a bit.

We have never held a full PhD group meeting (there is about 5 other PhDs I barely know).

But is there an official "group" as such here? Just because these "5 other PhDs" have the same supervisor does not mean that you are supposed to be one big "group". And, even if there were one big "group", that does not make whole-group meetings expedient nor necessary (maybe your supervisor thinks that whole-group meetings would be an inefficient use of everyone's time — "too many pointless meetings" is a very common complaint in many institutions).

Furthermore, there are "secret" projects among the PhDs managed by the supervisor, which fracture the relations and communication even more.

Nothing irregular or wrong here. An important facet of doing a PhD is developing research independence as an individual. This means that each student should be doing his/her own individual project, even if he/she were working under the auspices of a larger network/"group". As for collaborative projects, there is nothing wrong with a given project involving only a subset of a network/"group". In fact, modern publication ethics require that people not making an intellectual contribution to a project should not be given authorship credit.

This actually happens in very exclusive way. They just switch into their native language, right in front of me (including the supervisor), when such topic is discussed (I am international student).

Assuming the "native language" is also an official language spoken in the territory where the university is located, you have no cause for complaint. As another answer has already said, the onus is upon you (as the "international student") to learn the local language.

On personal level, there is loneliness and the feeling of being different, as explained by the language exclusivity.

Well, that comes with the territory of being an international student, to be honest. It is challenging, but, with a bit of effort, you should be able to find plenty of formal and informal avenues for support (many universities have non-academic staff employed specifically to assist international students with things like learning the local language, finding accommodation, cultural excursions, &c.).

From professional/academic level, I have no ground under my feet. I need to progress on my own, without the feedback from supervisor or other PhDs.

To some extent, you are expected to develop independence as a researcher and take the initiative. Have you done this? If so, you are certainly entitled to expect feedback from your supervisor (in general, there is no contractual obligation on other PhD students to help you, although some collegiality in academia is expected, but this goes both ways). Having said that, it is unfortunately true that some supervisors give little/no feedback. If, after having done some serious work and made serious good-faith attempts to get your supervisor to engage with it, you may want to consider changing supervisor (it is difficult to make any generalisations about this process, since systems vary even within a country; besides, since I am fortunate in having excellent supervisors, I have never felt any desire to change supervisor).

Quite refreshing point of view. I will take your answer as a balanced counterpart to the others, but I will take some time to consider which answer I chose as final one. I would be curious where do you study, country-wise and what field.


text:
How can I protect open research from being plagiarised?
Since open research is about publishing data which are accessible to all, what kind of actions should I take to prevent open research from unauthorised copying or its data being plagiarised without referring to its sources?
What kind of policy, terms or copyright statements should the open project have to make it clear in order to prevent any abuse?

Use a license.
Different open science journals/repositories/etc. allow you to license your publication(s)/data/etc. Some allow you to choose a license; others do not. Others may have different repositories.
For example, arXiv gives submitters a licensing choice:

arXiv does not ask that copyright be transferred. However, we require sufficient rights to allow us to distribute submitted articles in perpetuity. In order to submit an article to arXiv, the submitter must either:

grant arXiv.org a  non-exclusive and irrevocable license to distribute the article, and certify that he/she has the right to grant this license;
certify that the work is available under one of the following Creative Commons licenses and that he/she has the right to assign this license:

Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY 4.0)
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0);

or dedicate the work to the public domain by associating the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0 1.0) with the submission.

The Royal Society Open Science journal has a different policy:

All papers are made freely available under an open access model immediately on publication at the Royal Society Open Science website and are deposited in PubMed Central on behalf of the author. Under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), authors retain copyright for their article but allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles provided the original authors and source are cited.

Once a license is chosen, all that remains is to enforce the license, which is simple enough. License enforcement is up to the holder of the license. If you choose the first of arXiv's options, then the responsibility is arXiv's; if you license the work under one of the Creative Commons licenses, then the responsibility is yours.
The enforcer of the license general is not required to enforce it if he/she/it so desires (see Are you obliged to enforce your license? on Open Source for more information, although that covers the GPL license, which is not applicable here). It's typically in the best interests of the license holder to enforce the license, but there is no requirement. If you want to make sure that the license is enforced, then you would be best off keeping the license yourself.

Post it fast, publicly (obviously; it's open, right?), and with clear and obvious timestamps. Make sure the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine crawls it (you can add a page from its homepage), so that you have a third-party witness to the date of posting.
If a plagiarism dispute arises, you then have evidence of priority. Smart plagiarists will see the timestamps and run away, making a dispute less likely to begin with.


text:
What is the difference between "Green" and "Gold" Open Access?
What is the difference between Green Open Access and Gold Open Access?  Are there other "flavors" of Open Access?

you might also wanna have a look at: http://f1000research.com/articles/5-632/

The term "Open Access" has been used in numerous ways (see How Open Is It?), but in this context, Gold stands for publications available directly from the publisher, where as Green means that a version is available somewhere else (e.g. on an author's institutional website, or in a repository), a practice commonly referred to as "self-archiving". Note that neither of these two terms imply anything about reuse rights or about who shoulders the costs of publishing.
That colour spectrum has been expanded a bit to include Platinum, Titanium, White and Copper as well as Diamond, but these terms are used neither widely nor consistently. For instance, both platinum and diamond have been used to describe models where OA is provided by the journal and neither readers nor authors have to pay.

Don't forget Diamond OA (Gold OA without fees for authors). :-)

There's also the term black open access which has been used for Sci-hub and the like.

Expanding a bit Daniel's answer.
Gold and Green are traditional terms used by the OA community, focused on the how open access is implemented, how the research is provided to the final users.
It's a single dimension of OA, and these terms do not say anything about others dimensions.
PLOS How open is it? leaflet does a great job in splitting the term "open" in several dimensions:

reader rights (there is an embargo?)
reuse rights (what is the license of the research? CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, or CC-BY-NC-ND?)
copyrights (does the author retain copyright, or it's the publisher?)
author posting rights (can the author archive the research in other repositories or websites?)
machine readability (is it a PDF or a structure XML file with research data attached in proper formats?)

Moreover, you could add

costs of publishing (who pays for publishing the article? the author or the institution?)
peer review (is the article peer reviewed or not?)

The peer review factor has been probably the single biggest difference between Green and Gold OA, there are many exceptions.
Traditionally, if you uploaded a pre-print on an institutional or disciplinary archive, that was green OA; but if you wanted published in a proper journal (thus, with peer review), that was called gold OA.
But very often you are allowed to take the published article and upload that on an repository: that it's still green OA, but the article is peer reviewed.
So, in the end: open access is complex, because there are many dimensions in how research is written, published, payed, accessed. Gold and green are traditional terms that focus on peer review and where the research is published.

We have a section on the 'types' of open access in the Open Research Glossary. Daniel's answer is how I think most in the open access community (a much better term than 'activists') would describe green and gold OA. However, they have been largely 'hi-jacked' by publishers to mean different things. Gold OA is often equated with an 'author pays' model of access, whereby an article-processing charge (APC) is levied to conform to the definition provided by Daniel. Green OA, on the other hand, is often used to describe an item in a repository subject to an embargo period, enforced by the publisher (this can all be checked on a journal-by-journal basis using the Sherpa/Romeo tool).

I changed "activists" with "community".


text:
Msc in popular field in less reputed university or not so popular field but in well recognized school
Suppose someone can decide between:

doing a Master in a university that has low rank but has one very active Prof in Machine Learning for example where there are good number of PhD positions to apply for.

or

Attending a good rank school with multiple Profs doing research in almost all fields of Computer Architecture where there are not so many PhD positions available for.

If the goal is to apply for PhD in a good school after finishing Msc (in US or Canada), which one of these choices can help applicant's application better.
Just to make a question more general, for applying PhD in computer science which factor is more important, reputation of the previously attended university Or research done (quality and number of published papers) not considering the school?

A Master's should demonstrate a broad understanding, which goes beyond Machine Learning / Computer Vision. You need multiple Profs, not just one.
Rankings are subjective, but a well-ranked university is likely better than a low-ranked one.
So, (2) is better than (1), IMO.
That said, these surely aren't your only options: Perhaps look for a leading institute with excellent professors.


text:
Master's degree in science is generally not free in US, CANADA, UK, OZ, NZ? (Tuition)
I had the impression that in general, PhD programs are the only really "free" ones in higher education in those typically high cost English-speaking countries that they charge no tuition, pay you to do research, teach, do scut work etc., give stipend, maybe free housing.  On the other hand, masters degree program would charge big tuition, less assistantship opportunities, likely no stipend? Even in Science. Is that right?

Which country are you talking about? Tution differers a lot between countries.

There is a big difference between the academic culture and norms in those countries, so that doesn't really help.

In Scotland, all university courses are free for Scottish and EU citizens where  university is free.

Personal anecdote: in the department I got my degree from, they played with the system a bit, and basically everyone admitted into their graduate program was treated as Ph.D. track.  Even if they were explicitly or implicitly expected to only be able to complete a Master's.  My department didn't have an excess of graduate students, though.  If the one you apply to has more than enough "true" Ph.D. students to cover their teaching needs, or other sources of funding, then you may find a Master's program alone to cost you.  UCLA is like that, for example.

In the US, PhD students typically have their tuition paid by the federal grant that also pays them a salary or waived by their universities. It is not exactly free, but it may be paid on your behalf.
My understanding is that also typically any student paid on a grant as a graduate research assistant has their tuition paid. This covers master's and PhD students. I don't recall if this is my institution's policy or NSF's, but it is pretty common.
These are both common situations, but neither is guaranteed. The vast majority PhD students in STEM have their tuition covered somehow and also get work as GRAs or TAs or have some sort of fellowship or stipend. There are lots of models. Universities don't want to take on a long-term (4-6+ years) commitment to get a PhD student through to their dissertation while running the risk they might have to leave or work an unrelated job to cover costs. Master's students are less commitment (2ish years), but there are opportunities for them, too.
The vast majority of GRA seekers that cold email me looking for positions are master's students without a job looking to get their tuition covered and make a half-time salary. PhD students mostly don't have to do this because they get some sort of package when they are admitted.

Not really the focus of the question, but to the best of my knowledge, tuition waivers, and scholarship funds that are used to pay tuition, are not taxable income to the student.  Stipends are, however.

@NateEldredge, perhaps, it's been awhile. I think if it's paid directly as part of a GRA or TA you're gonna get a 1099-T about it. I certainly did. If it comes from a scholarship, maybe not. My university doesn't do waivers, so I don't quite have that experience.

I think you mean 1098-T.  It shows the amount of tuition waived, but that doesn't mean it's taxable income.  Typically, if there is a taxable part, it would show up on a W-2.

@NateEldredge, Yep, I think you're right on. I've edited it to remove that spurious junk.

In the UK, competitive scholarships and bursaries are sometimes available. Unlike PhD funding, masters bursaries do not typically cover living costs.
UK: http://www.findamasters.com/funding/guides/masters-funding-guide.aspx
  France: http://www.findamasters.com/funding/guides/masters-funding-france.aspx
USA: http://www.findamasters.com/funding/guides/masters-funding-usa.aspx
This site is useful for those looking for masters degrees and the links are useful for information on general funding.