text:
Informal vs. formal journal acceptance letter
I got a letter from a journal editor telling me that they 'would be happy to accept my paper'; the editor asked me to take care of some minor citation issues (I carelessly misspelled one author's last name and I misplaced the publication year of a cited work.) and then upload the final version of the manuscript to the submission system. Although this letter sounds very certain/positive to me. I am still a bit wary and anxious (after all, this is still not a formal acceptance letter). I quickly resubmitted the final version of the paper to the submission system in the same day. It has been two weeks since I heard from the editor and resubmitted the final file. I know that it's impossible to expect a speedy response. But, in my scenario, how long should I wait to write back to the editor and ask for a formal acceptance letter (or is it even okay/appropriate to do this?) At this stage, should I be worried (about any possible hiccups that may stand on the way of getting the paper published)? Thanks very much for your insights and experience sharing.

Not an answer to your question, but: is there any evidence that a referee looked at your paper?  Otherwise, what you describe sounds rather sketchy.  This isn't one of those low-quality pay-to-publish journals, is it?

sorry that I did not make it clear that I have to 'fix' the citation issue because I carelessly misspelled one author's last name and I misplaced the publication year of a cited work. No, the journal is one of the best journals in my field, indexed in SSCI. Also, I know that it was not sent back to the reviewers (as shown by the submission system: with the editor).

I agree that you have nothing to worry about, but I slightly disagree with the premises of Anonymous Mathematician's answer. Basically, I don't think there is such a thing as an "informal acceptance letter". Or, to be a bit more precise, I don't consider a distinction between formal and informal acceptance letters to be a helpful or a particularly meaningful one. Rather, the distinction that may be worth making in connection with your situation is between simple acceptance and "conditional acceptance". Another distinction that may be relevant here is between a well-written letter and a poorly phrased letter.
Let me explain: a conditional acceptance is one where the editor indicates willingness to accept a paper conditioned on the author making certain revisions to the manuscript that are deemed to be satisfactory. It may be reasonable to characterize the letter you got as a conditional acceptance letter from a purely logical point of view, but honestly, given the fact that you were only asked to make a couple of changes of a purely cosmetic nature, I would view this as semantic nitpicking. If, as Anonymous Mathematician said, the "informality" of the acceptance means that the journal still has a theoretical option to reject your paper, then I would argue that by the same logic they could do that even with a more formal, or less conditional-sounding, acceptance. After all, it would be no less ridiculous for them to argue that they are now rejecting the paper because you failed to satisfy the "condition" of correcting a couple of typos, than it would be for them to retract a completely formal, unconditional acceptance. If you look around on Academia.SE you will find examples even of such crazy things happening on very rare occasions.
Personally, given the "I would be happy to accept" wording and the modest nature of the corrections you were asked to make, your letter just sounds like a simple acceptance letter to me, which brings me to my second point about the distinction between a well-written and poorly phrased letter: some people -- in fact, rather a lot of people -- use language in a careless or sloppy manner and/or are not sensitive to nuances of the English language such as the difference between a conditional and unconditional verb conjugation. I think it's quite possible that the editor used the conditional tense not as a way to pressure you to submit your revised manuscript faster as Anonymous Mathematician speculated, but simply out of a lack of awareness of how the writing would be perceived by you, the recipient of the letter, and without realizing that the lack of clarity on what would happen after you submit your revised manuscript would result in needless worrying on your part, you posting a question here, us writing an answer to your question, etc.
To summarize: congratulations on your paper being (in)formally and (un)conditionally accepted to one of the top journals of your field! You have nothing to worry about, but to once again differentiate myself from Anonymous Mathematician, I won't tell you that you "shouldn't worry"; it is human and reasonable to worry, and it is human and reasonable to be annoyed at an editor who uses needlessly ambiguous language in an acceptance letter. What I would probably do in your situation is to wait a few more days and, if I still don't hear anything, send an email to the editor politely asking for an acknowledgement that my revised manuscript was accepted and for confirmation that the acceptance is "formal". You may in fact need to do this for your peace of mind, since my guess is that without contacting the editor yourself you may not get any more "formal" acceptance notification than the one you already got. (You will probably get some correspondence from the publisher at some point about galley proofs of your paper, copyright transfer forms etc., which would be an implicit confirmation of the acceptance, but this could not happen for many months.)

Thank you so much for taking your time to respond to my inquiry, which not only addresses my question but also turns my question into a learning opportunity to me and other (junior) scholars in the field. I agree with you that 'simple' acceptance seems to be more applied to my case. Thank you also for the suggestion regarding what I should proceed. Thank you once again for your information and experience sharing. I really appreciate it.

@NYC10027 no problem, you're very welcome. By the way, I've been frustrated by poor email communication myself many times, including from journal editors, and still often find myself baffled about such things, so this is by no means an issue only junior people are frustrated about.

You shouldn't worry much.  It's extremely unlikely that an informal acceptance will turn into a rejection, although I suppose it is theoretically possible.  In my experience, this is something editors do to get leverage over authors: authors are faster and more diligent about making revisions when acceptance has not yet been guaranteed, even when they know it is almost certain.
I wouldn't worry about the two week delay or get in touch with the editor yet.  For example, if the editor is in the U.S. the Thanksgiving holiday intervened, and the end of the semester is always a busy time.  It's also possible that the editor is checking with a referee (although this may not be necessary for such minor revisions).  It can't hurt to ask whether the revised paper was received, but I'd recommend waiting another week or two.
Incidentally, asking you to add citations sounds a little odd.  Are these from a referee report, and do they look like important references that you missed?  One unethical thing editors are occasionally tempted to do is to pressure authors to add citations to manipulate citation rates.  (For example, adding citations to their journal or their friend's journal.)  That's not necessarily going on here, but if it is then it's an inappropriate use of informal acceptance to get leverage over authors.

Thank you very much for your information. I totally forgot about the fact that it is now the thanksgiving holiday in the States. This could take some some time. Sorry that I did not make it clear that I have to 'fix' the citation issue because I carelessly misspelled one author's last name and I misplaced the publication year of a cited work.


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How can I pay for medical school in the US?
So I have a bachelor's degree and am planning on applying to medical school this year (in the US). I've previously used federal student aid to cover the cost of my undergraduate degree.
My question is, what types of sources of funding are available to cover the cost of medical school?  From what I'm reading, it seems like you can no longer get federal student aid after you have already attained a degree.
Note: I am not asking ("shopping") for specific sources, I am just wondering what types of sources (e.g., loans, stipends, savings) medical students in the US typically use to fund their studies.

Have you checked with them? You may be reading it wrong, or right... and they may also know who you could contact...

I don't think this should have been closed.  It's a question about how to finance postgraduate education (of a particular kind), and we have lots of questions and answers about teaching assistantships, research assistantships, etc.  Of course each institution may make specific offers, but someone could certainly write an answer about what sorts of funding sources are generally available for medical students in the US.

Note that "FAFSA" refers to a single form which is used to apply for need-based financial aid through many different programs (Pell grants, work-study, subsidized and unsubsidized loans, etc, etc), each having their own criteria.  Some may be available for postgraduate studies and others may not.  So conflating them all as "FAFSA aid" is likely to lead to confusion.

I made some edits which I hope will make the question more clear to readers.  Please feel free to edit further if you don't agree with the revised wording.

This is clearly on-topic.

Voting to reopen...I can see how this might have been closed for "shopping" (I edited to avoid this), but no idea why it was closed as "out of scope".

I don't feel like this is sufficient for an answer but...Most medical students in the US pay for medical school from their own funds (including loans). Unlike other countries, the US does not subsidize medical education. The assumption is that upon completion of a degree and obtaining a professional position you will be compensated sufficiently to pay off any loans etc necessary to get there. I think there is a lot of room to debate that structure but SE is not a great format for debate.

By far, for professional medical education in the US, it is most common to pay for education with loans (or personal funds, if available). Even low-cost schools are expensive relative to undergraduate education. The median educational debt for graduating students is >$190k in the USA. Debts are worse if you consider earning potential in other fields.
It is simply uncommon for medical study in the US to be paid for government or other funds - these funds are limited to programs for underprivileged minorities and for those pursuing joint degrees in the sciences (and even then, loans predominate).
Being a medical doctor in the USA is lucrative, but becoming one entails major risk. Further discussion is probably beyond this stack but these discussions are constant in academic journals.

Not in medicine, but since no one else is answering, and I do know a bit about paying for grad school....

My question is, what types of sources of funding are available to cover the cost of medical school?

There is a good discussion of this here. In brief, you pay with:

Your own money (that you already have)
Scholarships and grants (which don't need paid back)
Loans

There are also service programs (e.g., in the military), in which they subsidize your education in exchange for a commitment to take a particular job for a few years after you're a doctor.

From what I'm reading, it seems like you can no longer get federal student aid after you have already attained a degree.

This is incorrect; federal student aid and federally-guaranteed student loans are available for both graduate and undergraduate students. The Stafford, Perkins, and Grad PLUS are specifically designed for this situation, and can cover up to the full cost of attendance.
In practice, my (anecdotal) understanding is that loans are the most common source of funding, and most doctors graduate with six figures of debt.
Note, the situation may be different for international students, who would not be eligible for federal student aid, including federally guaranteed loans.

By far, for professional medical education in the US, (1) and (3) are most common (really, probably (3)). (2) is incredibly rare, limited to programs for underprivileged minorities and for those pursuing joint degrees in the sciences (and even then, 1 and 3 predominate).

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Expulsion from doctoral program
I was recently expelled from doctoral program in English for plagiarism in qualifying exam. Although it was for the lack of a citation, I attended a major research university with a zero tolerance policy. What are the chances I can reapply to another doctoral program? Specifically, I am in creative writing/poetry and I was in an English PhD program...what if I apply to a PhD in creative writing program? How do I go about addressing the plagiarism of the qualifying exam in past program, but highlight I have had numerous national publications since then in poetry and won a major book award, not publication?

Usually, I would ignore minor typos in the question. The OP wants to study doctoral program in English. So I put the question into my spell checker and found two typos and a question mark missing at the end. No offence intended here. But, a reminder for the OP.

@scaaahu well, the OP wants to study creative writing...

Note to the OP, I edited out the typos.

My experience is in mathematics, rather than creative writing, but I imagine both fields approach this issue similarly.  Issues of academic honesty have come up when I've served on admissions committees, and they're a huge obstacle to admission.  A previous expulsion for plagiarism could turn an otherwise strong case into a quick rejection.  In order to have any chance, you need to do several things:

You have to give a convincing explanation of what happened and why nobody needs to worry about future dishonesty.  This is not easy, and most people fail to write anything convincing.  For example, if you write "I didn't realize this counted as plagiarism, but now that I know, I certainly won't ever do it again", people will wonder what other ethical principles you might be unclear on (and how you made it to the qualifying exam in a doctoral program in English without knowing what's considered plagiarism).  If you write "I was sloppy, but I've learned from the experience and will be much more careful from now on", people will worry that being careful is easier said than done, and that this is too facile an excuse.  And it only gets worse from there: if you knew it was wrong and did it on purpose, then you really have a lot of explaining to do.
You need letters of recommendation from people who know what happened and are nevertheless willing to vouch for you.  A letter that doesn't mention the plagiarism will probably be ignored, since the committee won't know whether the recommender even knows about it or how their opinion might change if they found out.  (And it's a sensitive enough subject that nobody's going to call up the recommender and ask, out of fear that you would complain that the committee was leaking confidential information.)

I'd recommend starting by trying to recruit letter writers.  If you can convince enough people to write strong letters for you, then you can take the explanation you used to convince them and incorporate it into your personal statement.  If you can't secure enough letters or aren't confident in their strength, then it's not worth applying now.

I was recently expelled from doctoral program in English for plagiarism in qualifying exam. Although it was for the lack of a citation, I attended a major research university with a zero tolerance policy.

I should warn you that this sounds like a terrible basis for an explanation.  It comes across like you are saying omitting citations is not so bad and your expulsion was due to an overly strict policy.  Maybe that's not what you meant, but this is a delicate issue and it's important to keep from being misunderstood.

For that matter, I find the logic of the second quoted sentence to be obscure.  I just don't quite understand the intended meaning.  Lack of clear writing when clarity is crucial is another red flag for someone who is coming from a doctoral program in English.

I presume the section after the comma was intended to be a parenthetical. At least, it makes sense when read that way, so I'm inclined to consider this an editing glitch -- a "thinko" rather than typo.

@PeteL.Clark: The logic of the sentence makes sense if we presuppose that "the lack of a citation" is not a big deal: the OP is saying, basically, "Although it was for a minor thing that we can all agree I didn't deserve to be expelled for, I attended a major research university with a zero tolerance policy." (Of course, his/her premise is mistaken, which is why the sentence ends up being confusing.)

@ruakh: I'm starting to feel mean for piling on about it, but: no, I find the writing obscure here and in several other places independent of one's feelings about plagiarism.  For instance the OP has dropped an article in the previous quoted sentence, which makes me wonder whether he is a native speaker of English.  Also he writes "I have had numerous national publications since then in poetry and won a major book award, not publication", and again I don't completely understand that sentence.

So what would happen to someone who truly did "learn from it"? What sort of "convincing" thing could be given?

I did philosophy (and have no history of plagiarism), but I think your odds of admission into a PhD program are going to be extremely low with a record of plagiarism hanging on you.
First off, you're going to need to give a much better explanation than "I didn't know" and it was only a citation miss. Both of these are things that any undergraduate student should know from their first humanities class. It does not take a graduate program to learn these things.
Second, creative works don't compensate for instances of plagiarism. Instead, they generally would compound the severity of the problem. The reason is that plagiarism is about the ability of others to trust that work you submit is your own. Regardless of any factual merit, if I learned that person X lied about what was their work in area A, then I would at a minimum doubt that the work they did in area B was their work. In other words, it raises the spectre that you've been doing this for quite some time (warranted or unwarranted).
Thus, what you need is a very convincing explanation for the university you want to go to should not view what happened at the university where you were at as plagiarism. I could imagine the following as convincing:

A letter from the dean of arts and sciences (assuming you are not related) explaining that they were forced to expel you on a technicality but they believe you did nothing wrong and that the department erred.
A letter from the members of your committee (assuming you are not related) explaining that they passed your exam and don't believe you've committed an academic integrity violation, but that on a technicality they were forced to file a plagiarism charge against you.

That's about it. Otherwise, there's not much you can do that will make you a plausible candidate. Maybe a letter from a psychologist explaining that you were on test pharmaceuticals that temporarily changed your personality during the time in question.

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What is the time and topic etiquette for a first meeting with a professor to discuss research?
I am meeting with a biology professor to discuss opportunities for an undergraduate research assistantship. I initiated the contact by introducing myself via email and sending him my CV and general areas of interest. He agreed to meet with me to discuss research opportunities, but I am wondering what is the expected length of a meeting like this? Also, are there any materials (e.g. printed copy of my CV) that I should bring? Should I come prepared with questions about his research (which would require hours and hours of critical reading, because while his work seems interesting to me, it's also very difficult to fully understand) or simply honestly tell him that I'm not as knowledgeable about his work as I would like to be but it sounds very interesting to me and I want to be involved? Lastly, is casual clothing appropriate?
Any answers are appreciated. Thank you.

For clothing, see http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/51248/i-am-meeting-my-graduate-research-advisor-in-a-few-days-for-the-first-time-in-pe --- Do bring along a notebook in case you want to jot something down.

Typically from personal experience these types of meetings are informal so no need to get overly dressed or prepare a large portfolio. Casual but nice clothing is definitely appropriate. It won't be a job interview but rather just a friendly discussion. If this is your first meeting about research, it will most likely just be a brief overview of what he does and potentially what a student would be doing. If you decide to do research with him then he most likely have future meetings in which he will discuss things more in depth, give papers to read to begin learning area of research and explain what is expected.
A professor is usually more than happy to discuss their research and take on someone whose interested and determined to conduct research if they have room. That being said, often times the professor would like that you have at least a general idea about what he or she does in their research and areas that interest you. You can expect a question such as, "What about the work I do stuck out for you and made you want to pursue this?" as I can recall being asked this more than once. It is also a good idea to have a few questions for them about their research, labs, etc. Again questions don't need to be an in depth inquiry on their research but just some light questions to get to know them and their work.
It's ok to be unknowledgable on the area of research as that's the point of research; to learn about the field and discover new concepts. The important thing is showing the desire to learn. Also you are an undergraduate so it's more expected that you don't have much experience in a research field.
All in all, from my personal experience it's a quick informal discussion with the professor to provide insight to you so you can decide if you want to conduct research with them. I've had nothing but pleasant experiences with this since professors love others interested in their research and I'm sure you will have the same experience! Good luck!

Great answer! I would add that maybe you should try to get a good idea about at least one specific paper that the professor has done. This way, you can show that you put in a fair amount of effort to understand his/her work instead of possibly just skimming. You can even try to remember specific questions that you can bring up when the professor asks you about his/her research.

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Can computer science student do PhD under supervisor in mathematics?
I am masters in information security. I want to do PhD in cloud security. I am currently studying homomorphic encryption. My supervisor knows abstract algebra and has PhD in mathematics(abstract algebra). Can I do PhD under her supervision, seeing that she only knows abstract algebra which is required for homomorphic techniques?
Any guidance will be great help.

I really wonder why you ask here and not her. She knows, but we have to guess.

Even assuming you can, that would probably be a bad idea.

The answer is Maybe...
I know quite a lot of person, which are currently involved in a PhD. Since it is about cloud security, it might be useful to have a supervisor knowing algebra, since cryptography is more in the domain of mathematics than of computer science.
Since you seem not to know what you should expect from your supervisor, you might want this person what she thinks about this.
Ask her something related to the following :

What is the role of a supervisor in this PhD ?
What do you expect from me ?
In which area would you think your expertise will help me in this PhD ? Will I not struggle on the computer science's side ?

It might help you understand what you will do, what she will help you with, etc...
Hope it helps.


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What action to take when questions regarding a published paper are ignored by its author?
Recently, our group is trying to reproduce the result reported by a paper whose authors are from an Ivy league university. We are unable to reproduce the results because there are several implementation details are not mentioned in the paper. Hence, we decide to write the first author, who is now already a faculty member in another university, an email.
At first, we asked for the code, which we consider is perfectly fine, as the paper has been published. We feel the code in a published paper is no longer a secret in this transparent research era where reproducibility is highly valued. However, he simply ignored our email (3+ weeks, no response).
Then, we thought, OK, seems that he is reluctant to share the code, so let's just ask him to clarify several implementation details so that we can implement the thing ourselves and hopefully, we can reproduce the result. So, we sent a second email which very clearly asks for clarifications. Again, he ignored the email (1.5 weeks+, no response).
We now feel angry and start suspecting the authenticity of their reported results. However, we cannot accuse them of anything, since we are not able to prove that they cheated, which would be a felony if they really did.
We always feel that upon the publication of a paper, its authors, or at least the correspondence author, hold responsible for any inquiries regarding the paper, especially when the authenticity is being doubted. What they chose to do - ignoring our email - is really irresponsible.
What can we do?
Disclaimer
Thanks for the answers and comments! It is interesting that many start besieging me on my "bad" attitude in the email.
Just to clarify,

I wrote perfectly polite emails to the correspondence author;
I have NOT questioned his results or whatsoever.

... which would be a felony. — Say what?

It might take a new faculty member much more than a month to respond, especially right at the end of term.

Two things: if you asked in the past three months you have to realize that May is extremely busy with the end if the semester, then many academics go on break for at least part of the summer. Second, if you have a bad attitude (judging from your rush to judgment about felonious behavior), people are apt to ignore you.

The authors have no obligation whatsoever to respond to your emails, nor to share their code.

@Jigg Maybe true for the code sharing part. But if they are not obliged to email-clarify the unclear parts in the paper, why is there such a thing called correspondence author?

... to email-clarify the unclear parts. I have never received or send such an email. Usually a paper stands on its own and reading it thoroughly should be enough to answer any conceptual answers on it. On the other hand, no one will clarify engineering details of implementation, because this is not the original purpose of the paper

@Alexandros Not so, if the details are important parameters of the algorithm.

I didn't say you couldn't ask, people occasionally do. I did it once ore twice to request original data to compare it to mine. What I'm saying is that there is no obligation to do so.

@Alexandros You seem to be saying that no academic will ever answer any question about their papers. After all, any question must either be about the central ideas of the paper (and you seem to be saying that such a question is redundant because every paper describes its central ideas in perfect clarity) or not about the central ideas (in which case, you seem to be saying that it should be dismissed as irrelevant and not worthy of an answer). In my experience, academics are usually willing to answer reasonable questions about their papers. Often, this kicks off research collaborations.

Have you tried phoning? Or is it just these two emails?

@FarticlePilter they are definitely not obliged to email-clarify the unclear parts in the paper - most gladly do so, but it would also be perfectly acceptable and ethical to ignore your requests if they want to do so for whatever reasons. Corresponding author is responsible for the correspondence with the journal editor during the acceptance and review process; but there is no duty or obligation to correspond with random readers, unless they want to.

It's not okay to expect people to share code... codes in our research area are regularly licensed for millions of dollars, half of which goes to the university. We would never be permitted by the legal department to distribute any of it.

@FarticlePilter As long as there won't be open science, you'll have to live with it...

@Alexandros As you said, the paper usually stands on its own, but it does happen that some details get omitted, or things are ambiguous. I get that we should't jump to asking authors as soon as we come to a hard spot in the paper, but the whole point of publishing your results is that they should be reproducible and verifiable (if they're not, they're essentially worthless to the scientific community). I'm just wondering, what would you suggest to do if an procedure detail is missing which is important for reproducing the experiment and thus, the results?

@penelope ...results is that they should be reproducible and verifiable. I agree. But how many times have you received an email asking clarification questions about your paper? How many times you have asked for such details? As Jigg says it is not bad to ask, but it is not that common (maybe it is and I am mistaken) nor it is usual practice. Otherwise, the author of a paper with 1000 citations would be a support center.

"We feel the code in a published paper is no longer a secret in this transparent research era where reproducibility is highly valued." - I can think of a lot of code of mine that is neither secret nor in any shape to be shared. If someone asks me for that code, I generally decline, because a non-negligible amount of my time would be required to pack all the necessary files and assemble instructions on how to compile and/or run the respective programs. When in research, I write my code for demonstrating a point, not for redistribution, and that's exactly what it is optimized for.

@Alexandros I'm a PhD student at the beginning of my career. But, in two distinct cases where a) a detail crucial for implementation was missing from the original publication or b) I just couldn't wrap my mind around a concept in the paper, both times my supervisor suggested to contact the authors. Note that these were relatively short and simple questions, but important. I get that there is no obligations from the authors to resolve my b) case, (or the a) case), but I'm still wondering what is the "policy" on case a). I assumed, it is at least somewhat common since adviser suggested it.

@ChrisWhite That gives a rough indication that the school is not bad. Don't nitpick, please.

Please take extended discussion to [chat]. Some superfluous comments (those edited into the question) have been removed.

@MadJack I am not making any accusations, but I feel from the tone of the question that there is a belief that the original authors fabricated their results.  If that is true and their research was federally funded, then there very well may be a felony.  I am also open to the possibility that the OP simply can not reproduce the results because of skills deficiency.

If they are federally funded, then you can FOIA them.  They are obligated by law to respond and they will be hounded until they respond.  I would try more traditional methods first.

Why not just write one of the other authors?

How do you know he ignored the email?
Maybe he never received it because it was filtered before he had a chance to see it. Maybe he hasn't read his email this month because he's on vacation. Maybe that email address was good when the paper was published but not good now, but it's also not bouncing.
If one channel of communication doesn't work, try a different one. Call his office phone or send a letter to him. Write to a different author saying you've been trying to reach the corresponding author without success and you want to check the email address. Don't assume anything when you have no information.

+1 for "call his office phone". A phone calls is a very effective way to make a first contact. Then you can follow up with an e-mail summarizing what you understood from the conversation and asking for clarification of anything you didn't understand.

We always feel that upon the publication of a paper, its authors, or
  at least the correspondence author, hold responsible for any inquiries
  regarding the paper, especially when the authenticity is being
  doubted.

Did you actually state that you do not believe in the results of the paper? If yes, this is disrespectful and plain rude. And most people ignore rude remarks from strangers in the internet. When requesting the help of any other human being, you should be polite and cautious. Also, in Academia you must be very careful when you refer to someone's work. Especially his PUBLISHED work. Because that means that the scientific community has already accepted his claims and you are the one who must prove that his results are wrong and not the other way around (if you ever get published on this subject which be hard to do without his help). So, acknowledge the fact that he has nothing to prove and he will be doing you a favor if he accepts to share his code.
Also, think of the possibility that he does not want to share his code. It is his code after all (and not public domain) and he still has the right to keep it for his personal use. He may also plan to expand on his work and sharing the code prematurely deprives him of the 3 months - 1 year time-advantage over you, since you still have to implement it yourself before expanding on the current state-of-the-art, i.e., his work. In this case, provide him with an alternative. Say that you are willing to send him your datasets and if he agrees to  do the experiments for you and report to you his results, it should be good enough for 90% of the cases and everyone is happy. You have the necessary data to compare against your method and he did not have to share his code, which is a logical compromise.
Also, academia is a place that you need to use your social skills. You need collaborators and not enemies / antagonists. In that sense, ask for help politely and expect that NO is a very possible answer on the other party. Also, if he is an established researcher and you are not (perhaps you are famous too - I do not know) there is the case that he ignored the email, because he simply does not even know who you are, what you do and how you will use his code. Usually, telling little things about yourself in the introductory email, sending a link to your personal homepage and google scholar profile, suffices not to consider you a crank and reply to you.
Also, sometimes the first author is a graduate student and the student might not want to share his code because he feels threatened. So, check all the authors profiles. See who is the most senior in the paper and CC him as well in your emails. In that case, the senior professor might encourage the student to share his code despite his objections. Either way, it cannot do you any harm.
As you see, there are multiple reasons why he did not reply to your email. Also a little flattery works on most of the cases. Note that in a sense you find this work fascinating because otherwise you would not struggle to improve it. It is not bad to say so and usually this kind of politeness opens more doors and is more useful in the long term.

Brilliant. The only quibble I have is that journal acceptance doesn't mean that the scientific community has accepted the data and conclusions as accepted, merely that they have passed the initial scrutiny of peer review (thus likely to be true). Replication and the test of time is still necessary.

Thanks @RoboKaren. You are also right for "replication and the test of time is still necessary".

+1 and thanks a lot for the suggestions. "CCing the senior professor" is an action worth trying.

I just want to address one minor point:

At first, we asked for the code, which we consider is perfectly fine, as the paper has been published. We feel the code in a published paper is no longer a secret in this transparent research era where reproducibility is highly valued.

It does not matter what your feelings are but rather what is the policy of the journal the article was published. Some journals require disclosure of data or source code but others do not. Also if the research was funded by the NSF there maybe mandatory disclosures policy. I suggest you to see if this is the case.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Does working for a prestigious company help in a PhD application?
Does working for a prestigious company help in a PhD application? For example, suppose one does interesting work while at a prestigious company. Would this help an application?

What is a "prestigious" company?

This almost certainly depends on your field.  What department(s) are you thinking of applying to?

@ravi-paul Since you have some responses below that seem to answer your question, please consider marking one of them as ‘Accepted’ by clicking on the tickmark below their vote count. This shows which answer helped you most, and it assigns reputation points to the author of the answer (and to you!).

The short answer is "probably." The long answer is "it depends."
Admission to a graduate program is almost solely dependent on how well you impress that department's graduate admissions committee (assuming you meet any minimum admissions standards: grades, GRE, etc). If they attach value to your work in industry, it'll help you out immensely. If they don't, it probably won't hurt you.
This Kaplan page outlines the general process.

If your work at the prestigious company involved a demonstration of your intellectual and/or research prowess, then yes, it'll probably help. If your work was mostly grunt work, then it's unlikely to make a large impact.

Except if you are in a recognized inner lab of a big company, it will probably not help, and not hurt. Working may help if you do something that proves that you have skills useful to research work, that's all.


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What is proper acknowledgment for figure authorship in a book chapter?
A senior researcher, with whom I worked a few years ago, is writing a book chapter. He contacted me to ask what was the latest work of our group on the topic of his chapter. I gave him a few links to recent articles and the preprint of an article soon to be published. He followed up by asking if “[you] would have a figure to illustrate [topic of the preprint]… preferably something that does not require copyright authorization paperwork”.
At first, I thought that was a bit much to ask… I had never asked for figures from anybody who was not an author on the paper. But the situation may be different for a book chapter, and obviously I'm glad to share the news of our most recent results. So, I took an hour tonight to make a nice illustrative figure, and am about to send it. However, I'd like to make certain in my mail that I ask for some sort of acknowledgment. So, my question is: if someone designed a figure for a book chapter, how would that person be acknowledged? in the figure caption, e.g. “figure courtesy of X”? in another way?

In the acknowledgements sections, the authors could write:
"The authors would like to thank F'x for providing us with Figure X".
Alternatively, in the caption of the figure they could write "Figure courtesy of F'x."
Both are acceptable, as long as you are happy. I don't think they are obliged to thank you in the paper at all.

Many graduate textbooks contain a list of references, either at the end of each chapter or at the end of a book broken down by chapter. I would imagine the citation would be there.
To the best of my (admittedly terrible) memory, I have never seen a textbook include an inline reference for a specific publication.


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What should I do when my supervisor wants to delay my graduation?
I am MASc (two year program with a thesis) student in a Canadian university. Right now, I've finished my course requirements and I want to graduate in five academic terms. I have two supervisors. One of my supervisors has said my research accomplishment is good enough to start working on my thesis. But my other supervisor isn't willing to let me work on writing my thesis. He doesn't give any specific reason why my accomplishment is not good enough or what I can do to get his approval. He said he wants me to stay for six terms and then he will approve my graduation. He is also pushing me to do PhD under his supervision. Whenever I want to discuss my masters graduation, he diverts the whole discussion into doing PhD with him. Sometimes he ends up threatening he won't approve my masters. So discussing this issue has become pointless. Anyway, I've contacted two other faculties; they said my research accomplishment is already good enough for research milestone set by university. What should I do?
Relevant question: My MS thesis advisor wants me to delay my graduation for one semester. What should I do?
My situation is different because it's not the issue of time or my supervisor is careless. My supervisor wants to delay my masters for his own benefit.

Have you actually written a complete thesis?  Has the advisor given you specific tasks to complete the thesis or fix problems?

@BrianBorchers: No, I haven't written an actual thesis. I have two publications, one as a first author, another as second author. My other supervisor and two other faculties agreed it's good enough for research milestone that is required by the university. I've mentioned in post, he doesn't give me any specific reason why he won't approve it or what can be done to get his approval. He isn't saying directly but he is implying I have to complete six terms no matter what I've accomplished. So the actual written thesis doesn't matter here, I guess.

Is it a funded masters program?  It could give a clue to why he is doing this.  If it is funded, it could be that he spent money on you (he is invested in you), and expects to get a full 6 terms of contribution out of you.  If it is not funded, there may be other reasons, or he doesnt believe it is good to have students graduate early, a topic that has been discussed on this site, usually for PHD's

Yes, it's a funded program.

Do you need to have a second supervisor?  Professor B sounds like he's simply not on the same page as you and Professor A.  So maybe simply eliminate him from the equation.  Also, what does Professor A say about this?

If you haven't actually written your thesis, then you're not ready to graduate- this is more than a formality.

@Brian: That's true, but the OP seems to be saying that Professor B will not allow him to graduate at a certain time under any circumstances.  (Also: the task of writing a master's thesis, while always nontrivial, seems to be significantly aided by already having the publications that form the material for the thesis.)

@Pete if a student came to me and told me that he wanted to graduate this semester (within the next 7 weeks) and that he hadn't started to write his thesis, I'd tell him that it wasn't possible.  I've had students in similar situations who though that I was treating them unfairly when in fact I was simply being realistic about how long it would take to produce an acceptable thesis.  I don't have any way of knowing whether something like this is going on here, or whether the advisor wants to keep the student around for another semester as a grad student slave...

@BrianBorchers: I've already mentioned it twice, he won't let me graduate before six terms no matter what. I asked him about his specific requirement or objection that I can fix; he avoids these question and keeps pushing me for PhD. I really don't know any other way to explain my issue.

@Brian: Well, we don't know what the deadline for submitting the thesis "this term" might be.  Also, in many circumstances, if you've published two papers, then you can write your master's thesis by stapling them together and adding an introduction and conclusion.  This can be done in seven weeks.  Still, I agree that there is something a bit fuzzy about the question: what does it mean for Professor A to approve a thesis and Professor B not to approve it when there is no thesis?!?  It's puzzling.

@PeteL.Clark: My apologies. I've edited the question. The gist is: I want to work on my thesis writing as I want to graduate in five academic terms (I have done an internship related to my research). But my other supervisor simply said I shouldn't start writing my thesis now. He doesn't give me any good reason, avoids my questions and start questioning me why I am not interested into doing PhD under his supervision. Only thing he said, he will approve my thesis at sixth academic term because that's the duration of the program set by the university.

Maybe a stupid idea (it may well depend on your country, field, etc.): Vaguely promise you are willing to start a PhD but then step away from it? Of course, it can be considered a non-ethical thing to do, so from me now, it's only an idea, not a recommendation.

Based on your description, one of your supervisors is behaving in an unethical manner.  A faculty member must not delay a student's graduation purely for personal benefit.  Nor should they coerce a student into beginning a PhD under their supervision.  Most programs have a procedure for removing or replacing a supervisor.  I recommend you use it if your supervisor is behaving unethically.
You might get a better answer if you said why you have this supervisor or what your goals are.

When I chose him, he was very nice and cordial to me. But when I've started my masters, he has been very rude, no respect for his students. Right now, I just wanna finish my masters if things don't get uglier than right now, be done with him forever. If things get uglier which is very probable, I really don't know whether I will have the courage to drop off my masters.

@user the courage to drop off my masters -- Do not do that! It sounds to me almost like suicidal thoughts, but you are certainly not in that stage. You can surely prolong your masters, it's much better than dropping it.


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PowerPoint presentations including Latex both under Windows and Mac OS

Possible Duplicate:
How to make a presentation that includes math symbols?

I have been using TeX4PPT for PowerPoint under Windows for a few years to include matematical formulas in PP presentations. Recently, I got a Mac notebook and I would like to use my PP presentations both under Windows as well as under Mac OS X. However, I cannot find a program that would allow me to use LaTeX generating formulas in PP under both operating systems (so I could use my  presentations freely on both OS). Any ideas?

You should try beamer, it is an awesome tool for presentation. Furthermore there are so many available resources online.

Another possible solution is to work directly in tex (that is, via Beamer) and get a cross-platform presentations. Although, if you want to do presentation animations and sophisticated tricks, this is inferior to PPT/Keynote.

[citation needed]


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The title postgraduate researcher
I have seen the title postgraduate researcher in a couple of peoples Linkedin profiles for roles in the UK. The people listed only had masters degree before showing. What is this position formally, is it just someone who has not completed a PhD? Or are these official positions in subjects like astronomy?

It might be a title granted by some institution, but it might also, perhaps, be intended as nothing more than a descriptive phrase.


text:
Caught plagiarizing
First off, thank you for taking the time to read this and possibly help me.
I'm a freshman in high school. I go to a tech and aggie school so I have a week for academics then it switches off to shop. I have been struggling in my English class. I try very hard, but don't ask for help often. The course is over my head- the pace is far to fast. My teacher is more of a philosopher. He is very intimidating for me, always feeling put on the spot and embarrassed in front of the class. I'm scared to ask for help. His teaching assistant, tries to help me, I guess. She is for certain kids though and cant give me the attention I need. Originally I was put in a high class, but was taken out the next day. To be sadly with the same guy- just his next level down. I still find it over my head. I cannot complete things on time and its beyond stressful.
SO there is this essay due in a very short period of time. I have a hard time reading what we are reading and understanding what is happening. I figured I could copy and paste parts of someone else's off of an answer site, and just change the words. I've done this all the time for other classes, but I always cited my source. But this time was different, I couldn't cite what I was using. I was super stressed out for time and work that I didn't think of it, I copied from the same cite but different answers and tried to combine them while changing some words around. I Handed in the essay only halfway done.. I received a zero and a failing grade in his class. His grades close almost 2 weeks after mine did, so when he put the zero in my grade dropped out of control. I backed myself into a very small corner with dangerous things my way. I'm so scared. My parents and the school admins know. I'm so scared. I'm already getting punished at home, I cant have school do the same. This was a fresh school to a fresh start (Again.. bulling issues and school disabilities).
Please help me. Thank you.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because high school is not academia.

This is a problem that could happen to a graduate student, and the answer would be the same except for dropping the reassurance about the low cost of failing one first year class in high school.

Agreed, this is off-topic and a duplicate of any number of other questions.  That's not to be a jerk; this is simply not the appropriate forum to help a high-school freshman.  He should be talking to his guidance counselor, teacher, parents and/or principal and not a bunch of strangers on the internet...which is what got him into this mess in the first place.

I've done this all the time for other classes — I think I know why you're struggling.

You mentioned bullying and disabilities.  Those are fair topics for questions here....  I suggest that you start to consider your education your own responsibility, and not worry about how your family and your school are going to react to your actions.  Figure out what you are interested in learning more about, and focus on that -- and let everything and everyone else go to hell.  Do not allow yourself to be in a situation where you might feel tempted to cheat -- not because of the prospect of possibly getting in trouble, but because cheating does you no good in the long term.

Cheating on an assignment means you have nothing invested in it.  If that's the case, then don't turn it in, don't put any effort into it at all.  There's a saying: if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well.  We could also say, if something is not worth doing well, then I guess it wasn't worth doing in the first place.

Not everyone can benefit from education and you seem to be wasting everyone's time (including your own).

First of all, this is your freshman year of high school. Realize that failing one class your first year is not going to make or break the rest of your time in high school.
Second of all, learn from this experience. It is incredibly easy for a teacher to determine if a student is plagiarizing. Whatever happens next, you should seek guidance on when and how to cite sources. I guarantee you that you are probably unaware of mistakes you have been making.
Finally, you should reach out to this teacher and whoever is disciplining you for your actions. Own up to your mistake without making excuses ("I was rushed", "I was overwhelmed"). Even though these things may be true, focusing on all the reasons why you made your mistake, and how they are not your fault, and how horrible your life will now be, is not going to score you any brownie points. Instead, simply say that you want guidance on how to avoid similar situations in the future. Also discuss options for extra academic support, be this a tutor or finding a different level class to take next year.
You probably can't save your grade, but you can show maturity and be proactive about improving your grades in the future. Good luck!


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Are tuition subsidies taxables for research staff?
I have two Bachelor degrees and an MMath, not looking for any more degrees at this time, but I might be interested in taking some Japanese and Chinese language courses.
I'm working as a research programmer for a university in the US (IU), and they offer the option of

a subsidy toward the tuition costs, under Section 117 of the Internal Revenue Code.

What does this mean for me?

Would such subsidy be included in my income, and would I have to cover for the taxes as if I have received all such subsidies as real money in income?
What happens to the in-state / out-of-state tuition differential?  I've moved from a different state for this job mid-summer, and might start taking courses right away in autumn.

I am not a Lawyer or Accountant, and if you really worry, you should ask one of those or at the very least talk to human resources at your university.
But, based on my reading of the relevant law, part (d) [usually referred to, I guess, as Section 117-4] specifically states that if you are an employee of a university, then tuition reduction for you to take classes at said university should not count toward your gross income when calculating taxes.
The US code does not distinguish between in-state / out-of-state tuition.
Caveat: your local state laws may have different interpretation of "gross income".

Section (d) (2) mentions below the graduate level.  Does it mean that only undergrad tuition waiver is not included in gross income?  E.g. it's only if, after all, I do decide to take grad CS courses, too, then any such benefit will be included in gross income?

@cnst: like I said, I am not a lawyer or accountant. I can tell you what the words say and what I think they mean, but if you want to check if your interpretation of the law is correct, you have to consult a specialist.

Again, not a lawyer, but from seminars I've taken and heard about from different people at different universities, the general rule is that things are taxable when you get a notification of a direct benefit from the university. In other words, if they send you a  declaration that "we have paid X dollars as a tuition benefit," that may very well be taxable income. On the other hand, if it's handled internally as a bookkeeping issue—you get charged less, and some internal "fund" covers the "difference"—then there's no actual taxable benefit to be received.
However, it is not normally the case that tuition benefits are taxable. This is particularly important for graduate fellowships, because otherwise the fellows receiving the fellowship would be "receiving" tens of thousands of dollars in "gross income" and be responsible for taxes on that, even though they never actually get the money in the first place!


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What is the minimum one should expect from the day-to-day supervisor?
What minimal responsibilities can a student expect from their day-to-day supervisor?
In my institute, we usually have the head of the institute as the formal supervisor, followed by another day-to-day supervisor.  In fact, the head of the institute does nothing, and the day-to-day supervisor is the one who is supposed to do the PhD supervision.
A few institutions do codify the responsibilities of advisors and supervisors.  See, for example, the "Code of Practice for Supervisors, Advisors and Research Degree Candidates" from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, and the "Policies and Guidelines on Graduate Student Advising and Supervision" from McGill University in Canada.  Are these guidelines universal?

Are you asking about a supervisor or an advisor?  It's unclear in your post and what's expected is going to be different between the two.  In addition, in your last sentence you ask about the real world, which would seem to indicate that you're looking for descriptions of what makes a good boss/manager?

I've deleted any reference to advisor, only left the ones from the links. The reference for the real world experience is just because usually people say that the real world is much worse, therefore the "ave a good idea what happens in the real world". Most of the PhD students go from the Master directly to a PhD.

What is the difference between a "(principal) supervisor" and an "advisor"?  I've never heard the former as an official title.

I heavily edited the question to remove irrelevant and/or personal details.  (I seriously considered deleting the second paragraph as well.)  Please verify that I haven't changed the intended meaning of your question.

Are you asking for the responsibilities of the "Main/Principle" or the one who is doing the actual supervision?

The one that is doing the actual supervision

I changed the question to avoid the double use of "Main/Principal". I used "formal" vs "day-to-day". Please revert if you do not like it, or if I've changed the meaning.

No problem, it is ok for me.

I don't think that there is a universal answer that hold for all / most of the countries and different educational institutes. Many highly regarded research-focused universities generally tend to go with "it is the students problem if he/she fails" approach.

I think it is reasonable to expect two things from a day-to-day PhD advisor. The first is a willingness to meet in a timely manner and discuss expectations and the second is a willingness to deliver on agreements in a timely manner. If there is something you need/want from your day-to-day PhD advisor, then ask him/her about it. If you are concerned that your request is unreasonable, then ask colleagues or here.
The problem with answering the question in general is summed up in the
UTS link you provided:

At the outset it is important to acknowledge that the nature of the
  student-supervisor relationship cannot be mandated, largely because it
  needs to be flexible and take into account the particular
  circumstances of the research project, the student and the supervisor.

As far as the universality of formal guidelines about expected behavior in regards to advising students, all universities provide a faculty handbook that has some minimal guidelines, but generally it is not as long or formal as the links you provided.

I never received anything. "willingness to meet in a timely manner" is zero. "discuss expectations" results in a one-way conversation, I am only there to take notes, his decision is the good one, never listens to me, and changes in each meeting. The meetings happen once a year (maximum twice a year) and require toons of effort. before trying to move out, I just wanted to be sure I am not exaggerating on these communication "problems".

@MaybeAnotherPhD Run, Don't Walk! Sounds like a bad advisor, but nothing so bad that you are going to find it violates any rules. It is time to find a new advisor.

you are right @DanielE.Shub, I just need to plan very well how to do this

Based on my experiences...
Based on those I know, the guidelines you link to are not general.
The day-to-day supervisor approach is typically implemented passively because the main supervisor (i.e., the guy in absentia most of the time) is too busy to actually manage the students. For this approach to be practical, the day-to-day supervisor must have expertise in your research and must be aware of the general research path of the group (i.e., can provide not only advice but direction).
For what it's worth, most labs with a day-to-day supervisor in addition to the main one will be more difficult to work in as a graduate student. The only case where this can be a benefit is where the formal advisor is some ridiculously well-known figure in the field, and your just being in their lab will lead to opportunities down the road. For the majority of labs with this setup, though, it's simply because the formal advisor is too busy to deal with (or otherwise disintereted) the graduate students, and has set up someone else to deal with them. This typically leads to communication issues, lack of guidance, long delays in your advisor reviewing your work & publications, and frustration. I would approach these setups cautiously.

Edit based on comments: The main reason these setups tend to fail is that the supervisor's unspoken job description is one that will never be filled; replicate the domain expertise and research experience of the advisor while essentially being a graduate student counselor. Anyone who can do that will be running their own lab, not helping you manage your students.
This means that those who do take the job either don't have the relevant domain expertise to adequately answer student questions, or relevant research experience to design, run, and analyze data from a complete research project. Any lacking expertise translates into "lets just wait until your next advisor meeting", which adds long delays to everything.

Do you mean that the responsibilities described in the linked guidelines are not expected in general, or only that they are not followed in general?

@JeffE I had intended it as not expected, but I would venture that they are not followed either. So, both, I guess.

Maybe my question was unclear.  It's clear that the guidelines aren't followed in general.  The question is whether this is because many supervisors don't do their damn jobs, or because the guidelines are unreasonable.

i think supervisors don't do their job, we have the pressure they trust on this pressure and desire to have the PhD. Something will be done good or bad, we will arrive to something, if is bad than we were bad students, if good we are heroes.

@JeffE - Ha! Text updated to address your comment.

I'll add that Guidelines, Codes, and the like are almost meaningless in academia, simply because it is easier to herd cats that to get a bunch of independent, highly-intelligent group of people to follow some set protocol or rules. Try attending a faculty meeting and you'll see what it's like. An institution may have guidelines, but there is probably very little chance of enforcing them.
You'll find supervisors/advisors on both ends of the spectrum. Some will want to be in the day-to-day operations, micro-managing all the details. Some will meet with you, then say "Come back in a few weeks when you have progress". The most common method seems to have weekly meetings to discuss progress and provide insight/expectations on advancing the project.
This is the interesting part about academia. You aren't really taught how to supervise others, or people skills in general. Most academics seem to just go with their instinctive, personality inclinations, or they simply do what their previous supervisors/advisors did.
I'll add that if you're not getting along with your supervisor, either you need to discuss the problems, or plan a move.

it is really a nightmare, sometimes i go there, and there is so much tension and frustation in the air. samething they do to students they do to their colleagues, however only after being inside you can "see"the real person behind your supervisor. Thanks for your advise @che_kid


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How is an online article referenced if there is no obvious author?
The referencing style I am using for online newspaper articles is thus:
Karlsen, T.-K. (2013) For scouts, the South American youth tournament is hard slog, not high life. Guardian [Online] 28 January. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/mar/28/scout-south-american-youth-championship-football [Accessed on 28/03/2013]
But how do I reference an article with no obvious author? For example, this is posted on the news website Balkan Insight, but has no author. So far I've been including Balkan Insight where the author name is, but also where the publication name is - i.e. where 'Karlsen' and 'Guardian' are in the previous example. And putting the in-text reference as Balkan Insight (2013).

There are probably several answers depending on the situation and on the standards in your field.
First there are papers published in journals with no authors that are referenced as:

Anonymous, yyyy. Paper title ...

In some cases an organization can be the author. this is true for, for example, governmental organizations, NGO's etc. In these cases the publications are offically published. References would be listed under the organization (often abbreviated) such as:

WMO (World Meteorological Organization), yyyy. Publication title ...

To reference online material is always a bit more complicated but I guess the anonymous author can be used and the source organization listed as the "Publisher" such as the The Guardian in your example. The point is that the source is known but not the author. If you have a lot of these sources there will of course be many "anomymous" floating around in th etext and reference list which may be awkward. In such a case you may consider using the organization as author.

Strangely 114000 papers with "Anonymous" as Author in Google Scholar. I learned something today.

@Zenon Wow, that was far more than I would have ever thought. Productive person!

I concur with the opinion of the others that Balkan Insight should be the author based on the information you gave us.
In general, for practical purposes, there is almost always a responsible person or an organisation unless they give their very best to stay anonymous.  Usually, I try to find the most applicable one in the following order:

The author(s) as on the paper or the website if they were printed.
The author(s) of the collection of works if the work belongs to a collection such as a book.
The meta information of the document, e.g., from the meta tags of the HTML Web-page or from the PDF meta data.
The organisation or person responsible for the Web site containing the document.
The organisation or person responsible for the IP address assuming it is static.

If all of the above fails, you have to resort to "Anonymous". However, then you might be doing research on anonymity in the Internet, and you should find a difference representation of your sources than the Bibliography, which would be a bad match for your purposes in this case.

Citing online articles without a clear author depends on the citation format. The format you use should have clear guidelines.
For example, in Harvard Referencing (the most common in my field) if there is a publisher but no clear author then the publisher is considered the author. In your case, Balkin Insight would be the author. Following this, you are doing it properly (according to Harvard Referencing).


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How necessary is a List of Figures and a List of Tables in a dissertation?
I am writing my dissertation (word-limit 10,000 words) and am wondering if I should include a separate List of Figures and List of Tables Section after my Table of Contents? The university guidelines do not specify whether they're required or not.
I will have about 3 figures and 4 tables when I'm finished.

Then do whatever you like (after asking your supervisor/advisor of course).

To be honest, with a short dissertation with only a few figures and tables, it probably doesn't really matter one way or the other.
If your institution's dissertation guidelines say anything about it, follow them.  If not, I'd say just include the lists, unless you feel you have some good reason not to.  In which case, don't.  Your advisor should let you know if they believe such lists should be added or removed, anyway.
Or you could just ask your advisor about it to begin with.

You should definitely ask your advisor but normally you only need a list of tables or a list of figures if there will be more than 5 items in the list. For three or four items, I would not include a list.
However, in the schools I am familiar with, there are clear dissertation guidelines so it is understood what is expected. If it is unspecified then I would go with what I said above.


text:
Funding for Belgian student to do a PhD in UK?
I am currently applying for PhD fundings in UK, but as the competition is rude, I am not sure to be accepted, even if I have very good grades and qualifications.
So, I want to look at other PhD fundings opportunities, that may be less obvious. For instance, I know that the European Commission proposed some PhD fundings (Marie Curie scheme or something like that), but I think it is no longer active.
If you could give me some advice, I would greatly appreciate.
Field of study : Theoretical Physics
Country of origin : Belgium, EU.
I'm not wealthy enough to fund myself for my PhD, even for one year.

Is there a specific reason you're looking at the UK, and not other countries? In my opinion, conditions for PhD students are better in other countries (NL, BE, DE, Nordic countries...), as they are employed.

The top universities often have a lot of reasonably obscure funding options.
For example with the University of Cambridge - if you go through the steps at this website they list all their funding options, you'll see for Physics there are fully-funded scholarships such as these that might be of interest to you:

Leslie Wilson Research Scholarship (£17,427 per year)
Winton Scholarship(s) in the Physics of Sustainability
Thalmann Bequest (covers EU fees only)
Schiff Fund (upto £20,000 per year)
Gulbenkian Studentship (specifically for non-UK nationals)
Gates Cambridge Scholarships

The equivalent website for the University of Oxford is here
and it reckons

35 Scholarships were found for a new student from Belgium studying
  Theoretical Physics (DPhil)

so I'm not going to list them all here!!!
Best of luck!


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Is it ethical to share the knowledge for free that I've learned at the university?
I can see an enormous amount of videos on Youtube about helping to learn high-level knowledge that is usually taught at universities. Even though I'm only at the beginning of the time I'm going to take at the university before graduating, I have a desire to teach what I've learnt to others - for free, through the internet.
I believe that knowledge is global and free; however, I think sharing my knowledge wouldn't be fair for my teachers, or any other university teachers and professors.
Is sharing this knowledge fair  - or ethical?

Depending on the subject matter, you may want to make it clear that what you are presenting is for informational purposes only and that you are not affiliated with an accredited institution.

Knowledge is free, education is expensive.  Where do you think your university teachers and professors got their knowledge?  (Hint:  very little should have been original to them.)  Unless you put some effort into your videos, they will probably be useless to would be learners.

@emory I don't want to teach professionally. I just want to explain things that seems to be difficult, but not that hard to understand. (for example, the basics of microeconomics, or the explaination of special algorithms like A* or the work of a raycasting engine)

I personally think that if you have the knowledge be it any programming language or be it anything else...Spreading it will not drain your knowledge instead you will become more powerful at your concepts. But when it comes to earning money, I will resist you. And you should act smartly that time.

A "dumbed-down" Youtube video on A* was what I needed before any of the equations in college on that topic started making sense.  I say, go for it.

@ZoltánSchmidt I understand and agree.  Put as much or as little effort into the videos as you feel like.  You don't have to ask permission.

You want to make sure 1) you understand what you are teaching, and 2) what you are teaching is factual. Also, as others mentioned, is it sensitive? If so, it may not yet be factual in that case.

Copyright material is clearly off limits. In answer to your question of sharing your knowledge... Whether you share what you learned via a forum such as the one we are using or you use your information for your employer; you have in reality shared information you learned while obtaining your education. Also, what my professors taught me is not the knowledge I walked away with. Education in a university setting is intended for you to think and expand upon what is taught making what you learn, your knowledge and not necessarily belonging to the institution or the professor who instructed you.

I feel the urge to replace "university knowledge" in the question with "grandma's cookie recipe". Would you spend more than three seconds debating whether or not to write it down in a blog post? (Then there's also the fact that I seem to recall hearing that recipes are a poster child for how copyright works. The idea itself can't be protected, a given expression can. This expression would be, say, the body of a textbook. You're asking about ethics, not about the law of this, but still it's a thing to consider.)

Also, isn't applying your knowledge in your career the same as "sharing" (bits and pieces of) it, as well as your experience and your time with your employer? In exchange for money, no less. Extending this line of reasoning it would also be unethical to ever switch jobs because you'd apply experience gained from the previous workplace at the new one. I'd say your premise that sharing knowledge is unethical is flawed from the start.

Just an approach: I don't know about your country's education system but in mine (Turkey) , I have paid for my education. So I would say "I bought this knowledge". It's mine, I do whatever I want with it.

Knowledge should be free, and you should be free to spread your knowledge as much and you want... and education should be free as well, but that's another topic, or is it not?

Of course you can. You've spent so much money in learning stuff from your college. That knowledge belongs to you, it's your choice to share it with others. Each one teach one.

Should of been asked on http://philosophy.stackexchange.com/

If teachers lose their work due to free dispersal of knowledge through Internet - they should retire. It's a free market, not a church.

@Meysam I didn't know where to ask first. As I see the number of upvotes and comments, I didn't choose wrong. =)

@Meysam it's on topic here. A related question, focusing on the philosophical aspects, could be probably be asked on Philosophy.SE, but that doesn't mean the question doesn't belong here

I do not see that sharing your knowledge would in any way be a problem per se. What could become a problem is if you also share copyright-protected materials. It is virtually impossible to list what might or might not be such materials but to take other persons presentations, images, data and then sharing it would be clearly illegal (and unethical) unless they are provided with a "license" stating they are free. If you take the knowledge you gather and then put it together somehow (including making your own presentations on your own material), it should not be such a problem. In any circumstance where you want to use other peoples materials, it is always best to ask for permission. Not only does it save you possible future problems, you may find friends in the process. Watch out for materials published by commercial interests and use open source material (but do give credit to those who made it - attribution is required by licenses like CC-BY-SA and it is also a nice gesture to acknowledge the work and time by the original authors). Much material is given out for public (but not commercial) use.
A final advise, attach an open source license to your materials. I am not fully aware what licenses may apply but am sure many has good suggestions for you (check Academia.sx or ask another question on that).
So to sum up. I think it is a nice idea and perfectly fine, but be aware that you must be 100% sure you do not publish materials so that you break copyrights or abuse licenses (protect the open source practises).

Nice answer, but note that properly citing open materials is not only a question of "..a nice gesture for their work and time..", but is a necessary condition of e.g. the ordinary Creative Commons licence (CC-BY). Not giving attribution to the original author will (most of the time) be a copyright violation, even if the material is shared with an open licence. Putting works in the Public domain or using the CC0 licence allow reuse without attribution.

Good point. This is why looking at the different licenses is required.

Your main recommendations are great, but the summary seems a bit selfish by comparison — the goal of observing these good practice is not only to safeguard yourself, but also (perhaps even more importantly) to be fair to others.

@PLL yes, that did not come out right. I made a change. Feel free to edit it if you will.

TL;DR: Sharing knowledge - Yes. Sharing material - No, unless licensed.

By the way: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12910/is-it-ethical-to-share-the-knowledge-for-free-that-ive-learnt-at-the-university?noredirect=1#comment23888_12910

+1, but in addition to copyright (a legal concern), you should also avoid plagiarism (a moral one). Many materials are not eligible for copyright (because they're very old, or were created by a government employee as part of their job, or whatnot), but it's still wrong to pass them off as though they were your own.

@fileunderwater - I edited question to mention it.

@Bulwersator Great, but I read your addition as saying the opposite to my comment. I edited your addition to clarify.

I believe that knowledge is global and free

That is essentially academia in a nutshell. ;-)
I believe – strongly – that anything that runs counter this freedom also fundamentally runs counter academia, and humanity’s best interest (or, economically, the country’s best interest).
From a more legal perspective, (University) teachers are paid for teaching, not for the knowledge they posses. So you are fine, as long as you don’t disseminate copyrighted material.
This used to be different, when much knowledge was coveted, closely guarded and only handed down from teachers to their apprentices, under an agreement of privacy (see for instance the Hippocratic Oath, which regulates this, among other things).
Nowadays, knowledge cannot generally be privatised. Instead, we have the concepts of copyright and patents, but neither prevents the dissemination of knowledge. Exceptions only exist in certain circumstances, e.g. for a method that is currently being developed, where you may be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement; for classified governmental documents, dissemination of which may make you liable to prosecution, and the publication of know-how that falls under weapons regulations.

I think there is a place for NDAs in academia.

@Daniel Oh, true, my answer should mention that. But that isn’t relevant for things you are taught in normal courses.

NDAs in academia are what wolves use after they steal an idea, unless they are human, and in which case they will give (a little) credit to their indentured servant.. err, I mean graduate student

Please stop propagating the myth that disseminating classified material is treason. The law is quite clear that this is not the case, including the case law of various people who have been prosecuted for leaking classified materials.

@jwg I’m not propagating that. I’m merely pointing out what prosecution you may face. I agree with you, but practice shows that disseminating classified information can be incredibly dangerous. I’m changing the wording though.

I think I understand the point: you spent $50,000 (or whatever) on college, and you worry that if you teach others for free, you are depriving someone else of income.
Simply put, it doesn't matter. People don't go to college to learn things. They go to college to get a piece of paper that says they learned things so that they can get a job in their chosen career.
Anyone can learn libraries, the Internet, and their own research. When I went to college to get my Computer Science degree, a good 90% of what I was taught was stuff I already knew. So why did I go to college? To get the paper that says I know how to do what I already knew how to do.
Yes, it's true that people actually do learn things in college. However, people pay for college because a degree makes them more employable. That's not something you can deliver through YouTube, and so your free education efforts will not replace the college system and will not put college professors out of work.

True, it is a peculiar, happy irony that the two reasons for "college" are not actually in conflict. Of course there's scant obstacle to learn stuff from books-and-internet, but certification (and hoop-jumping) is the "portable/communicable" version of "knowledge". And, on the good days, one does learn something from older, more experienced people, whether or not they're "smarter" or "more talented". Experience can be worth something.

Good point, Paul.
Don't think I'm discounting the value of college, because I'm not. College is essential in today's world, and in technical careers, you basically can't make a living without it.

You are paying the university for instruction and access to materials and facilities not available to the general public, not knowledge. As long as you are not violating any confidentiality agreements, copyrights, etc., you are not doing anything wrong from a legal standpoint. From an ethical standpoint, I think you would better support an educational institution's mission to make the world better by sharing your knowledge than by keeping it to yourself.

I'm a university professor who puts lots and lots of time into developing course materials and trying to figure out better ways to explain ideas to my students.  Other answers seem to cover the point that you should be careful about redistributing the materials from a course.
I would like to recommend that you contact the professor who taught you the course and tell him/her of your plans.  I would be very glad to hear that my course motivated one of my students to want to teach the material to others.  In fact, if the student does a very good job, I might want to see about using the videos/explanations/examples in my own course or at least pointing future students towards the videos.

What you have learned in the Academia is your knowledge, and you can do whatever is pleases you.
The material that you had access in the academia is copyright of the producer, except for those that were blessed with some form of copyleft. So, unless you have some authorization, you cannot use it, in some countries. (For example, in some countries you can reproduce part of some material, for learning purposes, given that all credits are given to the proper authors, and so on. Example: reproduce some piece of some article to analyze it and study it with some students).
In some countries it's possible to have a patent on a idea, and so some ideas might be patented, and that patent might or might not be valid in your country.
And, finally, it's possible that you signed some non-disclosure agreement, and then what you learned that's covered by that contract might not be transmissible to someone else.

I disagree with some of the answers, only when asserting that you are primarily paying for instruction and materials. Typically, you are paying for a document that states you understand a specific subject, often with the intent of proving to a future employer that you understand said subject. Your school is responsible for helping you to pass the required exams to demonstrate this understanding, which in part involves access to instructors and materials to help you learn. A school that consistently fails to produce document holding students will not be a strong school for long.
Watching YouTube videos will not give you a document, so while you may have gained the instruction and materials for free, you still lack the main reason people attend higher education -- paperwork. Producing a list of your recently watched videos will also do little to entice future employers.
Unless you're directly releasing information that was obtained as part of a research project through the facility itself or (as stated previously) copyright materials, without permission, it's doubtful you are conflicting with the interests of the school. In fact you may encourage people who get interested in a subject to sign up at your institution, and be good for business. (MIT did quite a bit online for free)
When in doubt, get permission. This IS your future at stake.
Not to discount self learning, you could learn the equivalent of a doctor as far as I'm concerned, if you were driven enough, and bright enough, by simply reading publicly available information. However I won't know if you were driven or bright enough, so I'll stick to people that proved it on an exam -- for now.

Of course self-learning not equals to get an actual document that you are professional at something. I don't even attempt to do against it. I just want to share some things I've learnt with a wider audience.

It does continue to be striking to me that most people seem not to feel any added value to contact with experts on a subject.

@paulgarrett Of course people see the value, if they didn't they would get the document WITHOUT paying for an instructor; this would clearly be cheaper, but not near as valuable.

No @AnthonyHiscox. The document without the instruction is not generally available for sale. If people saw the value of instruction by experts perhaps they would pay for this on its own without paying more to have the piece of paper?

@jwg, True, but many exams can be challenged, yet people still rely on expert guidance, and materials. The paperwork might be the end game, but you still have to pass the exams to get there. About your suggestion; how are we to know it's an actual expert that is teaching us?


text:
Publication issue of a journal article in Elsevier
Recently, an article of mine got accepted in an Elsevier Journal. Since it was my first publication, I was not very much aware of the whole publication procedure. After acceptance of the paper, I got a link sent for gallery proof. At this stage, I found many grammatical mistakes in the paper, which I should have corrected during the revision stage. I have to agree that I was late regarding this matter. Yet, I incorporated all the extensive corrections and sent back the proof. The journal manager was helpful. He sent me a pdf file with all the corrections incorporated and asked me to approve the revised proof, which I did. Recently, I contacted Elsevier's customer support, whereby I got to know that the paper is in type-setting. It made me a bit confused because the pdf file I got from the journal manager was already corrected and type-setted.
So my question is how could be the paper in the typesetting stage if I have got a prepared pdf file of the revised proof for approval from the journal manager!! If anyone of you is familiar with this scenario, I would appreciate your feedback.

Nothing unusual is happening.

And it is quite normal to find typos in revised proof as well. At least is why you have received one. Take it as a final check opportunity.

Thank you for your feedback.

If Elsevier customer support is the same person as the journal manager, this would be weird. But there's a very good chance that they aren't the same person. Elsevier customer support is likely looking at a high-level overview of what the status is, and doesn't know the details. The journal manager would know it's the 2nd typesetting stage, but presumably the status is still reported as "typesetting" (which is, after all, what it is) and therefore also what Elsevier customer service tells you.
If you're already in contact with the journal manager, ask him/her for the status, not customer support.

Thank you for your reply.


text:
Choosing among graduate schools
I am an undergraduate student who has been admitted to three universities with full funding it is almost two weeks that I am stressing over my choices, therefore I decided to post my situation here to have your thoughts as well. I have been admitted to:

A high-rank Canadian University in Chemical Engineering MSc and my research will be related to Oil&Gas related fluid mechanics and simulation

A low-rank US University in Chemical Engineering MSc and my research will be about Oil&Gas related Molecular Dynamics and CFD simulations

A high-rank French graduate school in Renewable Energy Master

I am just left undecided between going to the US where a lot of opportunities are, or going to one of the top schools in my field in Canada or going to France but specialize in a rapidly growing Renewable Energy sector.
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts!

What are your post-masters goals?  This is key to answering your question.

My post-graduation plan is to work on industrial R&D in tackling energy-related challenges of the future.

First of all, congrats! I don't have a full understanding of your situation, and my field of study isn't the same, but these might be some questions which might help you rank your options:

What's your post-graduation plan? Do you plan to get a PhD or start working after you finish your MSc? Knowing what you want to do with the degree will certainly help you see joining which university/lab will take you closer to your goal.
It's a research-based MSc: how much do you know about the lab you are going to be working with? Have you talked to the PIs of those labs personally? Can you request a brief online meeting with the lab members? Are they happy with the lab culture? What are former students from those labs doing now?
In my opinion, the alignment of your research interests' and the lab's, and the lab culture are the most important.

My post-graduation plan is to work on industrial R&D in tackling energy-related challenges of the future.

I am not sure if your field is different but currently I don't see any job opportunities in the States. I am also unsure if you are living in the US or not but with COVID related visa issues, it gets complicated to get even a student visa. I have university experience both in Canada and in the US (social sciences), and without any reservation, I would pick Canada (in Canada - US comparison). However, many factors play a role in a decision like this one (e.g., language barrier, further collaborations, daily life, support system etc). But imho US lacked many of these things for me.


text:
Citations: What do I do when the article writer's name is the same as mine?
What should I do to give credit to an author whose first name is the same as mine and last name is not provided anywhere? I don't want it to look like I wrote the article which I am citing in any way, shape, or form, but I also don't want to make a big deal out of that one citation. I am using MLA formatting.

did you mean to write the last name is the same as yours and the first name is not provided?

Is your name particularly unusual?  If not, people are used to there being more than one Smith, Durand, or Zhao.

@henning No, I wrote it correctly. My first name is the same.
@ jakebeal It's kind of in the middle. Generic but not the MOST popular.

Edit x2 actually now that I look at it, more popular than I thought.

I'm not sure I understand the situation.  Where did you find an article whose author doesn't have a last name listed?  (I'm assuming it's not someone with only one name.)  I've never seen such a thing.  If it's from an unusual source, such as a collection of pseudonymous essays, then it may be worth commenting on this when you cite it.  If you give a first-name-only citation with no comment, it will look really weird and people may assume it's a mistake.

@AnonymousMathematician Yeah, the author just has their last name listed. I think for privacy reasons because it's on a hot topic (this is an argumentative essay). As for where I found it, that would kinda give my name out online which I prefer not to do. For siting, I was a bit worried about that - thanks

I'm confused, but perhaps you could call the author you're citing "Harry X."  When it's the same last name, I've seen "(no relation)".

@aparente001 Thanks, I'm all set though

If it's just the first name, cite the work as being authored by a mononymic person.  Author names in text are virtually always (a) full name, (b) initials + last name, or (c) just last name.
The consistent use of a first name only, along with an entry in the works cited whose author has that name and that name alone, will make it clear that you are a different person (especially if you actually do quote yourself and have a separate entry, in Last, First format with your works).
If you still feel that there is the possibility for confusion, upon first mention of the author, insert a footnote or parenthetical statement to clarify the distinction.

Ok, thanks for the help. I don't have any of my own "quotes" that I put in this essay, but I did use my full name at the top for demonstration purposes.