text:
Dividing paper after Reject & Resubmit decision
In a recent manuscript, we used a first principles calculation A and used it to explain experimental results B. A and B are based on existing methods, the novelty primarily lies in combining them and going from theory to real world application.
The reviewer gave several comments (fair & helpful), one of them being to divide the work into A and B. The decision was Reject & Resubmit. We (the authors) are divided on:

Submitting A as a letter (short communication) and B as a full paper to the same journal, together, explaining the changes to the editor and attaching response to reviewer.
Submitting A as a letter to a new journal and B as a full paper to the original journal, giving response to reviewer only to the original journal.
Submitting an edited but undivided paper to a lower impact journal.

Which of these is the optimal option?
*Additional information:
The original journal has perhaps 10% acceptance ratio, the lower impact journal closer to 40% (anecdotal numbers only).
Besides the division, reviewer comments are significant and there is some chance that we may not be able to satisfy all the suggestions.
In this field, A and B are generally treated as separate domains, though this is changing now.*
EDIT: Clarification about letter and full paper:
For the journals in question, a full paper reports new, original results, typically without stringent page limits (but conventionally 5000-8000 words). A letter on the other hand reports brief results of immediate interest. These often describe a breakthrough that may not be fully developed, but which opens up avenues for further work. These letters are strictly limited to 2000 words and have a cap on figures etc (typically 3 max.).

How did you get the acceptance ratio for both journals? Have they mentioned it in their website or publisher has mentioned it? Usually, they don't consider desk rejects, so be careful with these numbers while making your decision.

Those are anectodal, crowdsourced numbers, not particularly accurate. Just indicative. Edited question accordingly, thanks!

I suggest that you write to the editor asking in which form they want you to resubmit the paper. You may ask whether it is OK to resubmit two separate papers to this journal.

I've mentioned it in a similar question before. In case you submit two papers: make sure to submit both to arXiv beforehand (if it's feasible in your research area) or at least supply the other paper within the submission. This way the reviewers of the theory part know, there is an application. And reviewers of the application know where to read-up in-depth theory.

@Oleg Lobachev- thanks, that's good advice. arXiv won't be feasible, but the paper can certainly be supplied. Still, the question stands about whether to submit both to one journal or to different journals.

Is there only one journal in your field and the rest are all (low impact factor)?

@TheGuy- there are other journals, but not with comparable scope, reputation and history. If this does not work out, certainly we will try the other set, but they are certainly second preference.

Based on the information you provided, I would definitely and gladly divide the paper into two shorter manuscripts to be submitted at the same time to the same journal. In such fashion as in:
On the application of theory (I): Demonstrating A;
On the application of theory (II): Explaining B.
I think such papers are elegant, easier to read, more attractive, and potentially more organised than a heavier, lengthy treatise going through A into presenting and explaining B.
However make sure the manuscripts are independently readable, so that someone could find paper (II) and find all he seeks whether or not there's also interest in part (I) which probably requires a different background. Organising these serial publications in the proper way depends on considerable skill and chance. You may have hit a good opportunity.
An example of series papers given below:
Re-investigation of venom chemistry of Solenopsis fire ants. I. Identification of novel alkaloids in S. richteri.
10.1016/j.toxicon.2008.12.019
Re-investigation of venom chemistry of Solenopsis fire ants. II. Identification of novel alkaloids in S. invicta.
10.1016/j.toxicon.2009.01.016
(Not exactly the best papers ever, but the format is neat.)

Thank you! I'd appreciate if you could clarify a few things (in the answer itself, so its helpful to more people) :
(1) Are you suggesting division into 2 regular articles of roughly equal length, as opposed to 1 letter and 1 full-length? If so, is there any advantage to the former over the latter?
(2) It would be nice if you could provide a link to such a manuscript, so that I can see how they two are connected. Field is immaterial here.

@user153812 Regarding your question (1) I decided to answer here, as I find it less technical. I cannot tell how long each paper would be. I think they ought to be self-sufficient and complete regardless of format specifications or length. However the irrational funding and CV metrics of many places may have different views on different paper formats, e.g. short communication vs. letter to editor, etc. I believe any format is OK if easy to read and understand. Your funders may have a different opinion from a scientist.

@Scientist-Thanks for the references!  I've edited the question to highlight some relevant differences between letter and full paper. I'd love to hear your opinion with those differences in mind; funder preferences may be ignored in this case.

@user153812 Sorry for a delay as I have been traveling. In your position I'd push to the full paper format as it sounds like both discussions are technically self-sufficient. However this is hard to state as I haven't seen the contents and I am no expert. In the end the focus should be in keeping the records clear in terms of reproducibility and advancing the field -- I am sure you will see the best choices in between these formats.

This is common for very novel, high impact findings, particularly when the issues are complex and have both theory and application. What I’ve seen work is a shorter theoretical work submitted to a high impact journal that touches on application (often, the work references this ‘submitted’ or ‘in preparation’ work). The longer work is then submitted to a lower impact journal, sometimes just because the page limitations are more forgiving.
This of course works best when you can tell two separate but related stories that feel complete on their own. If you and your coauthors feel like such separation is forced, it may weaken rather than strengthen the effort.
I’d say your #1 might be unlikely unless you get buy-in through discussion with the journal. #3 may not do your work justice. I’d lobby for #2 based on the limited information available.

Thanks! This is good advice, but in the present case, the theory may be less novel/impactful than the applications building off it; which means the short theory paper would be less likely to be accepted in the high impact journal. Given this, would your answer be different? Also, page limitation may not be an issue because we are confident we can tailor the length if needed.

Sometimes an "LPU" (Least Publishable Unit) is easier to get accepted and to digest.

Hi guest! It looks like you may have gotten your first down-vote. Not sure if that's because defense of the LPU is unpopular or because they'd prefer your answer had a little more substance. You may want to take a look at this guide on writing good answers for Academia SE; the culture here is different than I've seen on some other sites.

@guest- Sorry, I am not familiar with LPU, though I'm getting a general contextual sense. Could you please expand on that and indicate how it works with respect to the present question?

@user153812 I will intrude here to explain that "Least Publishable Unit" is a term created some 15 years ago for any small amount of data and narrative which would suffice for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. That means, someone makes a couple of quick experiments over a not-so-brilliant hypothesis and wraps it up in some innocuous paper in a mainstream journal. Many institutions in fact encourage this kind of practice to ensure maximal "output" per minimum effort/time/resources... while modern science grows as a historical facade.

@Scientist- Thank you, its good to know this. I see why it is unpopular.


text:
Inclusive language: alternatives to 'parent/daughter' for inanimate objects
My work deals with transformations in matter, wherein one physical form (a 'phase') changes to another. The initial form has often traditionally been called the 'parent phase' and the transformed form has been called the 'daughter phase'. I think this borrows from nuclear physics, where a 'parent' nucleus transmutes into a 'daughter' nucleus; which may further transmute, becoming a 'parent' in turn.
Off late, it has been pointed out (in private conversation) that 'parent-daughter' is not in the spirit of inclusive language. I'm taking this at face value, and would like suitable alternatives.
**It has been pointed out that criticism of this premise should be allowed space- I welcome this too, though the primary interest is in alternative terminology.
**Several commenters have suggested replacing 'daughter' with the gender-neutral 'child'. This is already a great improvement, but there could be another apprehension; the 'parent' and 'child' often don't co-exist, since one replaces the other (to various degrees). It is not uncommon to describe the transformation as one phase 'consuming' the other. I speculate that this aspect may lead to some discomfort (it should apply equally to nuclides then). This caveat somewhat distinguishes this case from data structures example, where the child (class for eg.) inherits from the parent, but both continue to exist.
'Precursor-product' is one possibility, but this (possibly) carries different connotations in chemistry (in my limited understanding, precursors are secondary to the product in value terms- although this could be my ignorance). 'Pre-transformation' /'post-transformation' could work, but they sound clumsy. 'Initial/final' is not accurate nor properly descriptive. 'Phase 1/Phase 2' could also work, but they are tedious because the reader has to refer to what 1 and 2 mean.
Are there any suitable alternatives, either new, or existing elsewhere that could fit the requirement?

Is the issue with the "daughter" part of the phrasing (as it isn't a genderless expression) or with the whole phrase? because if it is the former, something along the lines of parent-offspring might solve the problem.

"precursors are thought of as intermediate and less important": Are you sure about that? I (a chemist) disagree, precursors are extremely important and interesting. Also, take a look at this: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04805

I’m taking this at face value. You’re asking everyone here not to challenge your premise that “inclusive language” means science needs to be dehumanized as much as possible and cleansed of any terms that “you speculate may cause discomfort” to someone, without any objectively justifiable reason. But if no one challenges that premise, we’ll be left with a permanent webpage that reinforces those flawed beliefs and causes even more people to adopt them (or to cower in fear that others have adopted them). So, I think it’s unreasonable to expect others not to challenge your premise.

@AppliedAcademic could you ask your colleagues what they mean by it not being inclusive? It might be only the gendered aspect, and "parent-child" would be fully acceptable.

@DrakeP Most style guides (AP, Chicago, etc) recommend against using English feminine names/pronouns to describe inanimate objects as has traditionally been done for, e.g., ships at sea. Arguments include that this is akin to treating women as objects/property or that these are feminine names given affectionately by men, and upholding this tradition implies that men (and not women) are the ones that get to name these things.

@BryanKrause I know this and recognize why "parent-daughter" is not preferred; I was questioning whether "parent-child" is actually insufficient like the OP is concerned about, or if it would be satisfactory to their colleagues.

Applied, it doesn't fit well with the SE format to argue with points raised in the answers by continuing to edit the post; it makes it hard for later readers to follow why answers were written the way they were.

@AzorAhai-him- I agree. I think my edits were only made in response to comments on the original question, not to the answers. If the latter has happened, or there is any inconsistency otherwise, please feel free to roll back as suitable. :)

It has been pointed out to you by whom? Your colleges that work in the same field? Or by people from other fields. Because opinions of people not in the field are completely irelevant and shouldn't been taken seriously.

Masculine and feminine have been used, and I guess will continue to be used, for inanimate objects for thousands of years. No-one in France is offended when there are only feminine tables, or masculine euros! Let sleeping dogs lie.

How about "parent" and "child"? By keeping "parent", you are maintaining continuity with the terminology that others are familiar with, which is generally good for scientific communication. By using "child", the relationship is equally clear as "daughter". For those who are not familiar with the parent-daughter convention, parent-child is equally clear. For those who are used to parent-daughter, then it will be fairly clear that you are being explicitly gender-neutral without a significant change in meaning.

Thanks, this is very helpful. There is another apprehension though, which I've added to the question. Would be nice to hear your thoughts on the same.

@AppliedAcademic, I still think the principle of maintaining continuity with established terminology is very important. To invent a new term is completely different from adjusting established terminology. If you were inventing the term yourself, you would have the liberty to use the best terminology you like. But if established terminology already exists, then you should avoid radical changes (in this case, departing from the parent metaphor) except for very good reason; otherwise, you risk confusing readers into thinking that you are talking about something else.

@AppliedAcademic Gender stereotyping and all the baggage that goes with it is something we deal with day to day every day, but parental cannibalism is a thankfully vanishingly rare concern. I am not surprised to hear that some may take objection to the unnecessary use of a gendered term in this context, but I would be genuinely surprised if anyone were concerned about the implication of children replacing parents (in fact, I am surprised it has occurred to you in the first place).

@Carcer "parental cannibalism" - Call them saturn and son molecules?

@Carcer- That made me chuckle, and I'm not sure how seriously you mean it, but surely you see that a lot of this is metaphorical rather than literal. Cannibalism is indeed an extreme, but the idea of the older generation being replaced/displaced by the young is a sensitive issue, particularly in some cultures which accord higher value to seniors.

The good thing about this also is that you're not just making up something completely new.  Parent-child is pretty common terminology in computer science when talking about the relationship between two objects; so, the fact that this is already the preferred way of expressing relationships in other STEM fields should help with adoption.

@AppliedAcademic Asking us for better words than  parent/child is doomed to failure, since you have not told us what these words describe in the first place.

Sorry. I'm sensitive about such things and inclusivity has high value for me, but I don't see any issue in the "traditional" terms. They aren't pejorative. They aren't intended to be sexist. They don't exclude. They don't refer in any way to humans. It is just a metaphor and already well understood.
I see no issue with using "child", though it is a biological metaphor for something non-biological, just as "daughter" is. "Derived" might be accurate if you think you really need to be (and seem) "politically correct".
Using non-traditional terms in new papers should have a high bar for acceptance, since they can confuse people. The old papers on which a field is built suddenly become either less understandable or "suspect". It isn't my field, so not my place to set that bar, but it should be a consideration.
I'll note, for the record that it was progressives/liberals in my daughter's generation, many at women's colleges, that initiated the term "politically correct" for such overly "sensitive" thinking among their own peers. Yes, they understood sexism pretty clearly, but also understood that some things are just ... searching for a non-offensive word here and not coming up with it. Maybe "childish" works.

What does "inclusivity" even mean for transformations of matter?

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-1 for several things really. OP didn't at say given phrase was pejorative or sexist, which appear to be projections / straw men. OP just said it was "not in the spirit of inclusive language" (which while not the most precise language seems to just be a reference to the recent tendency to avoid gendered language). OP is not referencing using terms in a paper. The comment about political correctness seems completely off-topic.

Frame challenge: There is nothing "non-inclusive" about using the word daughter as a metaphor.
Your assumption that the "daughter" terminology is non-inclusive is grounded in an apparent belief that using any gendered word in a metaphorical context is "non-inclusive" to people whose gender was not referenced. This belief reminds me of a joke about a mother who gave a present of two ties to her son-in-law. On his next visit he wore one of them, thinking that would please her. Offended, she asked “What, you don’t like the other one?”
More seriously, I see several problems with this tendency to automatically classify as "non-inclusive" any non-literal mention of some but not all genders. First, you are ignoring the fact that many languages, collectively spoken by billions of people around the world, assign a gender to all nouns. (It may very well be the case that the use of "daughter" in the scientific context you are asking about can be traced back to one of those languages, see below.) Thus, this particular notion of non-inclusiveness strikes me as being very Anglocentric, to an extent that could even reasonably be perceived as offensive by speakers of some of those other languages.
Second, I find it problematic that the belief that something is non-inclusive cannot be argued with, since if you disagree, then by the self-reinforcing beliefs of some of the people who promote these kinds of concepts, you are by definition "against inclusion", a sexist, bigot, etc. Who wants to risk being labeled with such terms? In other words, some of the beliefs around "inclusive language" strike me as being part of "a closed system of logic" (a term that I believe was originally used as part of a set of criteria for recognizing cults, see here). When I see self-justifying logic of this type, I am immediately put on my guard, and would like to ask: forget vague terms like "non-inclusive" that anyone can define in a way that suits their preferred narrative; please explain, what exactly makes this particular use of language bad?
Third, let's consider the specific term "daughter" you are asking about. You've stated that the use of this term in the scientific context of your research area originates in terms like "daughter nucleus" in nuclear physics. The historical origin of that term is discussed here. Meitner and Frisch, the two discoverers of nuclear fission who apparently introduced the "daughter" terminology, were both Austrian-born scientists (i.e., speakers of a language with gendered nouns). You could say they were an "inclusive" team -- one of them was a woman, the other a man. Moreover, it looks like they borrowed their terms from an earlier accepted terminology in biology of referring to cells produced by other cells as "daughter cells" (with the original cell being termed the "mother cell"). That terminology, which is discussed here, seems pretty logical, as it is actually based on a scientifically reasonable metaphor that only "female" things can produce their own offspring.
Given this more historically informed way of looking at things, is it still tenable to argue that "daughter phase" is non-inclusive? It seems to me that if you still support this premise, in order to be consistent you would also have to deem the etymologically related uses of "daughter nucleus" in nuclear physics and "daughter/mother cell" in biology as problematic and in need of complete overhaul. So basically you'd be rejecting much of the accepted terminology of multiple areas of science  (as well as the German language, French, Spanish, etc). Well, perhaps some people would hold such extreme positions. But in my opinion, this way lies nothing but madness.
Summary: we should seek to be inclusive wherever possible, sure. But this issue simply isn't an example where that principle has any relevance.

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As a software engineer, I found myself in need of this metaphor many times when describing data structures and state transitions. I always used "parent" and "child", not because I didn't want to offend anyone, but because if I used "mother" and "daughter" some of my readers might wonder if I was planning to use "father" and "son" for some other relationship, and holding "parent" and "child" in reserve for the more general case.
Software engineers tend to overthink everything. However we needed to be careful and precise with language because from c. 1956 to c. 1984 there was very little common idiom in software. Most of these data structures and state transitions were being described for the first time.

Thanks, this is another useful justification for parent/child.

As @wimi already commented, there is a simple replacement, use the "parent and child" analogy as it is used in the programming world, instead of the "parent and daughter".
Regarding the issue that:

"the 'parent' and 'child' often don't co-exist"

It was already an issue intrinsic in the 'parent' and 'daughter'. As Abrahm Lincoln once said in his blog, make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.
If the parent and child analogy does not work, use initial phase and final phase, or whatever word will work (if you feel describing phase 1 and phase 2 as a burden).

Thanks, this increasingly seems like the optimal solution.

Abrahm Lincolns blog?

@gerrit I am quite sure it is a sentence (mis)attributed to Einstein. https://foxmancommunications.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Lincoln-quote-internet-hoax-fake.jpg

@gerrit It's probably a reference to the joke that goes along the lines of "Abraham Lincoln once said "Don't believe everything you see on the Internet"".

For situations in which I wanted to discuss the transformation of a particle or system from a "parent" (the word I used) state into multiple subsequent states, which were potentially quite different in character, I used (instead of "daughter") the word "progeny."  You might find that useful.

A lot of good suggestions already, here is a simple terminology from chemistry:
educt - product
The educt is a material before a chemical reaction, the product what comes out of it. This seems to hit the nail of what your first paragraph describes. It is short and devoid of biological connotation.

Very nice, I didn't know this term. Thank you!

Given that, if anything, the purpose of using a metaphor is to make the concept more comprehensible, it should be noted that the new metaphor suggested here would hinge on the reader's familiarity with the term "educt".

Root/Trunk, Branch, Leaf
Using a tree analogy takes away any connection to parents and children, etc.  You'd use "Root" (or possibly "Trunk") to refer to the oldest ancestor.  Any children of the root are "Branches", which may have their own Branches, etc.  Children without any Branches are called "Leaves".
This terminology is often used in computer data structures, but can be applied in other circumstances as well.  One thing it also gets around is the issue that the "Parent/Child" analogy is somewhat inaccurate, in that in reality, a child has not 1 but 2 parents (assuming normal sexual reproduction as opposed to mitosis or something), so the analogy breaks down when you consider that.  (Yes, a tree has multiple branching roots as well, but we generally restrict the analogy to the part of the tree that's above ground.)
Only problem with this is applying to the original example of atomic nuclei, as it implies that the elements are all still connected to each other as they would be on an actual tree, but without knowing what specific case you're talking about it's hard to say whether this would be a good or bad thing.

One issue of this alternative metaphor is that it may not be immediately obvious whether roots, branches, and leaves are inherently different or just structurally different. For instance, if a tree consists of just one node, that single node is a root and a leaf at the same time. If a leaf gains a new child, that new child is a leaf, and the previous leaf has transformed into a branch. Depending on prior knowledge of the readers, this can be confusing, and possibly more so than the parent/child metaphor (but it depends very much on what is trying to be conveyed).

@O.R.Mapper Yeah, in all fairness every analogy breaks down on some level.  Without knowing the OP's specific use-case it's hard to say which model best fits it, just figured I'd point out another way of looking at it.

Might "parent"/"offspring" avoid the negative connotations of "child"?
Otherwise, I have a vague feeling that "parent"/"daughter" is used for asexual reproduction, which seems to be the best metaphor here.

How about any of the following pairs?

input, output
source, destination
initial, final
previous, next
old, new

The initial form has often traditionally been called the 'parent phase' and the transformed form has been called the 'daughter phase'.

In my experience, this is not true.  Phases of matter are traditionally given much less helpful names.  Some examples are:

Phases of water ice are named with Roman numerals
Phases of certain crystals are named with lower case Greek letters
Crystal phases are named according to space group symbols, for which there are nine different conventions listed in Wikipedia

They are also names like solid, liquid, supercritical, glass, etc.
"parent/daughter" is rather non-specific, and in my experience, non-traditional.  It would be better to use one of the more traditional names.

This is outside of my own field of expertise, but a quick literature search shows that "parent/daughter phase" are indeed being used, e.g. in crystallography. So I wouldn't just dismiss these as non-traditional.

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text:
Writing homework essay anonymously to avoid controversy
I am attending a course at a neighboring institute purely out of interest. Neither credits, nor grading of any kind are involved.
As part of the course, we are required to work in pairs (assigned, not chosen) and write an essay on a controversial/contentious topic. My partner and I find ourselves on opposite sides of the debate.
On account of the controversial nature of the topic, its connection with my academic work and my own contributions to the field, I am not comfortable diluting my stand. However, compromise is inevitable in pairs/groups, and I realise the point of this exercise might be to reinforce exactly that.
Nevertheless, I don't wish to sign off on something that I don't believe in 100%.
I also don't wish to opt out of the assignment as my partner is being graded on it and it seems unethical to leave him hanging.
So I propose submitting the essay titled:
(Title),(Partner name and affiliation), (Anonymous, independent).
Is there any precedent to do this, or is there a strong reason not to? Do I use a pseudonym instead?
Any advice on alternatives or other points of view would be appreciated.

Is the question about writing and submitting the paper within the class, as an article for the "in-house publication," or both? That probably will affect the answers a bit.

Adversarial collaborations seem to be a new thing -- I wouldn't expect that much precedent. However, one of the better known ones has one anonymous and one real-name author, so there seems nothing wrong about it.

Write an essay where you "argue cooperatively" instead
Rather that attempting to write an essay that is an unsatisfying mish-mashed compromise between two contrary views (giving rise to legitimate concerns about putting your name to it), I would suggest you instead reframe your essay in a way that presents and discusses each of your contrary views without presenting this as an agreed position.  Instead you can argue both positions in your essay and note the disagreement of the authors over the correct position.
As a general guide of how to do this, you could write a fruitful essay that is open about the fact that the authors take contrary positions on the matter, and present both views with some discussion of points of similarity and difference.  By debating points of difference with your co-author, you ought to be able to give some fruitful contribution towards understanding the two contrary views.  Here is an example of a scholarly book in which two authors with contrary views on a subject "argue cooperatively" about the subject matter.  There is no expectation in such a work that a compromised position must be presented with assent from both parties --- instead, the value of the work lies in the fact that it presents opposing views in a controversy and assists the reader to understand the merits and demerits of those positions.

While this isn't precisely what we did, it is quite close. Thanks for sharing the book reference. More importantly, I think this is a generally useful perspective for future visitors to this question. Accepted.

The point of an exercise in dissecting a contentious issue is not that you must agree 100% on the solutions to the issues by the end. The point is to find where you and the other members agree and where you and the others agree either that a) further research is needed or b) fundamentally different approaches are being proposed.
Your desire not to sign off unless you agree 100% with everything in the document essentially defeats the integrity of the exercise. You are allowing your (preconceived) stand to override the goal of finding common ground. Common ground is saying "We agree on these statements, we need more time on these statements, and we disagree on these statements."
So, first compile a document that presents the statements where you both agree, where you both agree that further research is required, and where you both agree that you both disagree.
Then, prepare an addendum. Present your views for the statements where you disagree. Invite your co-author to do the same.
Avoid using the addendum as a way to poke holes in the main document. The addendum should be of the tone "I FULLY agree with the presentations in the main document. I see issues however at the noted points of disagreement. My reasons are as follows: ..." Limit the addendum to a minimum (e.g. one page or even one paragraph).
Submit the document and the two addendum pages.

Interesting answer! I agree with you about the purpose of the exercise. :) Decided to give it in anyway, without the addendum. Worked enough leeway into the contents itself.

I do not know what was in the minds of those who set the exercise that is now causing trouble for you, but I find it hard to imagine any future career for you that will not involve collaborating with other people with whom you do not entirely agree. It certainly makes sense for an educational institution to set exercises to give you experience of that.
I have experienced another version of such an exercise in which you and the other person are given, say, 5 minutes, to state your case. A bell is then rung, and you are both required to present, fairly, for a further 5 minutes what the other side had previously argued.
It is an important life skill to listen to the other person's point of view, to understand it so fully that you could explain it to somebody else, and then, if possible, and it usually is, agree a statement of what you both agree on with clear indication of where you differ.
If I had set the task I would regard separate submissions from you and your colleague as failure to engage properly with the task.

Appreciate your answer, thanks! It is ironical perhaps, that the course in parts was about conflicts.

This is an unusual situation, and I find it a little difficult to understand your reason #2. In any case, I would suggest e-mailing the professor (anonymously, if you like) and asking what they would prefer. If you don't get a response, I see no harm with the "Partner's Name and Anonymous" option for the homework piece.
The only downside I see is that doing this may decrease the chance for publication (the WSJ, for example, does not typically publish anonymous pieces as a matter of policy), which could adversely affect your partner. To get around this, I would recommend just adding a 2-sentence note at the end explaining why you are anonymous and giving permission for your partner to publish the work as single-author.

Thanks! Yes, if it is considered for publication, I'd be happy for partner to publish it alone. I understand the peculiarity of the situation, so your confusion is justified. I work with an upcoming but relatively contentious technology, and am aware of it's shortcomings as well as it's tremendous potential. My partner (and indeed, the institute) work on policy and often take stridently anti-technology stances. I don't want my name to be used as an endorsement of their POV 'by a SME/industry person'.

@user153812 so you want to publish anonymously a point of view that you don't want to support... perhaps you should not publish at all if these are not points you support...

@SolarMike - In a nutshell, yes. It does seem easiest to simply opt out. Only, I wonder if I'm losing out on the opportunity to balance the discourse a bit. And of course, the bit about leaving partner in the lurch.

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text:
In what order should existing inter-related research be cited in a journal paper?
In a given field, the initial breakthroughs were made by A in 1951. This was developed by B in 1960, further developed by C in 1965. I am, in 2018, using equations from C's 1965 paper. In that paper, C cites A and B as having developed the method.
My question is, should I:
(a) Cite only C,
(b) Cite A,B,C in that order (historical order of finding),
or (c) Cite C,B,A in that order (decreasing relevance to present work)?
Would the answer change if these papers were newer or if there was a greater number of them?
Edit:
This pertains to the text of the body, not the reference list. The purpose is to use results from C, not to extend their work. The sentence would be something like:
'C [] tackled this problem by considering..., based on previous work by A[] and B[].

I think this depends on the context. If the goal of your work is to extend  A/B/C, then it seems natural to introduce each of A, B and C (in that order). If you're just using a result from C for some other goal, then it might suffice to cite C and perhaps mention that it builds upon A & B, e.g., X introduced the following equation [C], which builds upon [A,B]: .

Thanks! I'm just using their result, as mentioned in the edited question. Does the proposed sentence seem alright?

I think you should cite them in the order how they appear in your text and not the year which it was published.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Is there a platform where research from China is aggregated/made available?
I'm looking for a (specific) journal paper originating from (authored in, published in)  China. The abstract  is available on some aggregators (ResearchGate, Semantic Scholar), but author contact information isn't listed. I'm assuming the paper is written in English, but this may not be the case.
The paper itself is behind the paywall of

Wanfang Data, an affiliate of the Chinese Ministry of Science &
Technology

' which

provides access to a wide range of database resources, serving as a
gateway to Chinese culture, medicine, business, science, engineering,
etc.'.

I'm unable to judge the legitimacy of this organisation.
Is there another aggregator, open library or Sci-hub equivalent where Chinese research can be accessed?
As an analogy, an answer to this recent question, contained similar information about accessing Russian research through an open library.
I'm a little surprised by not even finding the authors' contact details by which I may directly contact them. Any related information, including pertinent cultural inputs would also help.
EDIT:
I'm not seeking advice on the general methods to find papers that aren't immediately available. Information specifically about aggregators/libraries is sought, in the hope that academics familiar with research in China are aware of such resources.
If its important, I have contacted libraries around for interlibrary loans, and received generally pessimistic responses.

Have you tried Baidu search engine?

You should ask a research librarian at your university to help you.  Usually they have an ILL request form you can fill out.

Does this answer your question? Should I cite an article that I can't find?

In particular, both questions have the same answer:  go to your librarian.

@AnonymousPhysicist- No, the question you linked is seeking advice, whereas I'm seeking specific information about the existence of a resource. Your librarian suggestion is somewhat heavy-handed in the assumption that its not already been pursued. If you have any pertinent inputs on this specific question, I'm happy to hear them.

@Nobody- yes, that links back to the same places. As I understand baidu is only a general search engine, I'm looking for something more specific.

@AppliedAcademic - to be fair, we get lots of questions here where the answer is to go talk to a good research librarian - too many folks seem to think Google is the acme of searching. And, frankly, this question is one of them - if there is a professional quality database of Chinese research, a research librarian would know of it or find it readily. And you do seem to care about the quality, albeit to a quite limited extent.

@JonCuster- I agree with your general direction, but as mentioned in the edit, I've tried conventional routes. Professionality is not a concern (hence the mention of Sci-hub).

I'll second the suggestion of @AnonymousPhysicist, that a research librarian is probably your best source.

You said "libraries around."  Does that mean you are not affiliated with a university that has a research librarian?

If you are not willing to pay the fee to access the paper and have not told us the name of the journal, I doubt you will be able to get help.  If such a "platform" exists I do not see why it would be free.

@AnonymousPhysicist- I work at a national lab and am affiliated to a university, neither of whose librarians have expressed optimism because they don't have ILS with the country in question. Access charge is not the obstacle, legitimacy of the publisher is. If it were a known publisher/journal, this would not a problem. In the current case, except for the abstract and author names, there is no bibliometric information to go by. This is why I'd be happy even with author information. Finally, would it help to share the journal name here? I thought that would run the risk of becoming shopping.

I am a native Chinese speaker. I live in Taiwan. I checked Wanfang Data. It's legitimate as far as I know. Unless your institute or the government have problems with interfacing with them, I suggest you to send e-mail to Wanfang Data directly to inquire for information. Check with the security personnel of your lab before you do so. Many governments/national labs have "China phobia" in these days. I, for one, don't want to answer your question directly because of some concerns. Good Luck !

Thanks @Nobody, this is very helpful. I wish this could be an accepted answer, but  I'm cognizant of your concerns. Hopefully someday we will all operate in a more trusting world. Good luck to you too!


text:
Which one to choose.... Interests vs Skills?
I am supposed to choose between mathematics and biology for the next stage of my academic career, i.e. college at undergraduate level. This will broadly classify my local career options into engineering (if I pursue math) or medicine/related fields (if I pursue biology). This bifurcation is the prevalent reality in my country, where 'professional courses', I.e. engineering and medicine are the most sought after college courses. Entrance to either course is through competitive exams with a low selection rate.
My interest is in maths, whereas I am confident (after analysing myself and taking many reputed aptitude exams) that my aptitude lies in biology. What should a student do in such a situation...choose their interest or their skill?

Is this undergraduate or postgraduate?

@nick012000 this is for preparing for an entrance exam for undergraduate i.e., NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) or JEE(Joint Entrance Examination)

Is it really necessary to downvote this question so much? The question might leave a slightly naive impression, but I think this shows that OP could actually benefit quite a lot from a few good answers here (as, e.g., the two answers already given).

Talk to an advisor who knows you well.

This is a disturbing question based on a false premise that early stereotyping is inevitable, and that it determines your career. I cannot tell you which is better right now but I encourage you to take the long view: gain the skills you need to pursue your interests.
I cannot believe that doing a session or two of maths will stop you doing biological work in future. Indeed, most (I emphasise not all) of the biologists I have encountered, interviewed, employed or worked with have been weak in maths (even to High School standards) and their biological work would have benefitted from a better grasp of mathematics.

I was facing a similar question when deciding what to study. I went for maths ("aptitude" in my case) and I'm happy with that decision with hindsight, however I wouldn't recommend generally to go for "aptitude" (or "maths" - in fact obviously my choice is aligned in some sense with both of your alternatives).
I think it depends on finding out more precisely what you want and what you can do. If you go for "aptitude", how much interest do you actually have? Can you find a direction in that choice that would also interest you and motivate you? For me it was very central to develop (or partly already have) a passion for math or parts of it, even though "interest" as criterion in isolation would probably have drawn me to history. If you go for "interest", how much less do you think your aptitude is? Ultimately I think it makes sense to make a decision that unifies them both, and I agree with the other answer that you shouldn't think that either decision, made early in the process, determines your future. People change from one field to another or find their niches to bring the two together.
Also generally maths is required almost everywhere, so focusing on that, at least for some time, will hardly ever be a mistake (or course requiring at least a basic aptitude).


text:
I helped friend on exam by writing answers in large font size, and didn't erase it properly. Will I get into trouble?
The answer contained 4 words, I wrote them in a large font size.
I erased them at the last minute, but it's still visible if you see it closely. Can lecturer accuse me of cheating in this case?

Downvoters really need to understand that voting is for the quality of the question itself rather than whether they dislike/disagree with its context or the OP's behavior.

I downvote because this is a terrible question. 'i cheated and tried to destroy potential evidence but didn't do it perfectly, does it still count as evidence of cheating?" You don't need to be studying at university to work out the answer.

This depends on two things. First if you get caught, and then second on the academic misconduct policy of your class/department/school/university/... As for getting caught, eraser marks of large text seems like a pretty obvious example of attempted cheating. I would expect most graders to see these marks and want to follow up. As for academic misconduct policies, most of the policies I have seen include helping another student gain an unfair advantage as academic misconduct. Some policies include additional penalties for trying to cover up academic misconduct (i.e., erasing the large text).

I suspect this will get closed, but you can be accused of anything. Due process will dictate whether the accusation holds water, however. All you can do is wait and see.

This is basically the answer. The OP is guilty of cheating, and I would not hesitate to make an issue of it on a final, but might not go to so much trouble if it's a small quiz.


text:
What to do if my GRE is too low but application deadline close?
I have a GRE score on hand but it is too low for the universities I am applying to and the deadlines are very near.
I am thinking of sending the application now with the current low score and I booked a slot to retake the GRE.  Can I send an email to the university again to consider my new scores?

Generally, application deadlines are hard, and only complete applications are processed. In some cases, GRE or TOEFL scores may be submitted later, but this would be mentioned on the application website. Asking never hurts though.

This is entirely dependent on the program you are applying to.
Some programs are flexible with deadlines, particularly so if applicants are domestic students. Others, as pointed out are very strict. There may be some of both types of programs within the same university or even college.
You can always try and the worst that can happen is you're told no.  For example, a few options:

Call or Email the admissions staff or the director of graduate programs and let them know you're taking the exam on DD-MM-YYYY.  Ask if they will consider you for a provisional admission that's conditional on you obtaining a competitive score.
Just apply anyway with what you have. Incomplete applications rarely move into the decision process. Execute #1 as well.

Again, this is very program and personality-dependent so your chances of success will vary greatly depending on the situation.* Some programs consider your best GRE score. Some super score (take best from each category).
* And how far "off the mark" your GRE scores are currently.

Your record is what it is. Hopefully it has some very strong elements. When you make application stress that both your background and your personal elements make you a strong candidate for success. Few people have a perfect record.
Some universities will do cut-off at certain scores. You can't overcome that most likely. But others treat it as just one element among many. Still others ignore GRE altogether. But highly competitive programs need some way to do a quick separation into those likely to succeed and those with shakier prospects. Make the first cut and you have a chance.
But your application has to give a complete and positive picture of your preparation and your prospects. GRE scores are probably one of the least predictive measures.
On the other hand, you can ask to have the old scores replaced by newer ones. The request may be honored or not. But ask. And make sure all the other positive elements are there. If the GRE score is a clear anomaly, then you have a better chance.


text:
TVöD contract E13 (limited contract 2 year) notice period
I am on the 1st year of a TVöD E13 contract (offered for 2 years), and I would like to ask: what is the notice period for resigning from my current job?

@DmitrySavostyanov Public service contracts in Germany usually have very little information, because they refer to the collective agreement (Tarifvertrag) for almost everything. So one usually does have to do some research.

If you are aiming for a fixed date and are still on good terms with your boss, it is quite common to create an "Aufhebungsvertrag", that is a contract in which you both agree to terminate your contract at a certain date, irrespective a of notice period. After all, you want to leave and your boss likely wants to hire someone new on your position.
You will likely get a call from the "Personalrat" though, as they want to check that you weren't somehow forced by your boss to contravene regulations this way.

This. I would even go as far as saying that it's not just quite common, but the norm, for the reasons you mention.

IIRC, if you ask for the Aufhebungsvertrag because you have a better offer somewhere else, you have a right to get the Aufhebungsvertrag (I don't know about notice periods for that, though).

@cbleites This sounds rather unlikely.  I mean, what's the point of having termination deadlines then?

... certainly TVöD does not seem to mention anything like that.

A Aufhebungsvertrag is necessarily a voluntary thing on both sides, because you are basically renegotiating a valid, active contract. Most employers will agree, because what is the point of an unhappy employee messing with your stuff? But there is no right to one.

@user151413: I tried to find that information again, but couldn't. I think now that the notice periods in §30 TVL/TVöD and §30 TVL are the sucessor of that older clause I had in mind (looked that up some years ago). However, it is still the case that by default a fixed term contract in Germany does not have the possibility to give ordinary notice (https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tzbfg/__15.html).

@cbleites Interesting.  I learned that one can make contracts up to five years with no means of terminating them early!

I am also a postdoc in Germany on the same type of contract.
My contract states that within the probationary period, which is the first six months, the notice period is two weeks. Beyond that it says that the rules about notice period are defined in Section 30 paragraph 5 of the TVöD regulations. Googling for this leads me to this website (in German): https://www.der-oeffentliche-sektor.de/infoundrat/infothek/1483
Which, with the help of google translate, leads me to the conclusion that the notice period depends on how long you've been with your employer, counting not only your current contract but the whole continuous employment relationship if you were there before that. If you've been with them for 6 months - 1 year it would be four weeks. If 1-2 years then 6 weeks. 2-3 years -> 3 months. More than 3 years -> 4 months.

Some important details on your translation: Below 2 years, notice can only be given with final date at the end of a month, above that only with final date at the end of a quarter-year. Also the relationship counts as continuous even if there are breaks less than three months, as long as they are due to the employer, not the employee.

+1 With a so-called "Aufhebung", which requires the mutual assent of the employer and employee, one can also terminate a contract later than the notice period.

One condition (that is apparently met by OP's contract: this applies to fixed term contracts longer than 1 year.

Since it is relevant for the OP: It is <=1 year, >1 year to <=2 years, >2 years to <=3 years, etc..  So for the OP the 1-2 years applies.

@cbeleitesunhappywithSX if I read it correctly it says contracts of at least one year. Am I right? (The difference seems subtle, but since 1-year contracts are extremely common, I wonder about it)

@user53923: there is a difference between TVL and TVöD here. TVL apparently has a notice period for < 1a contracts https://www.gesetze-bayern.de/Content/Document/TV_L-30 (some Länder may have differering agreements!), whereas TVöD does not https://www.der-oeffentliche-sektor.de/infoundrat/infothek/1483

If I read correctly both agreements say: "Eine ordentliche Kündigung nach Ablauf der Probezeit ist nur zulässig, wenn die Vertragsdauer mindestens zwölf Monate beträgt."


text:
Can I publish a yellow paper written when I was employed?
I am a developer graduate in Artificial Intelligence. I wrote an interesting draft document seeking feedback from fellow developers, and data scientists.
The paper was about stream reasoning and how I imagined a pattern to help anticipate future business changes on stream data. I was a developer part of a big energy producer in France.
Unfortunately this paper did not get any attention whatsoever; I don’t want to lose my work; As the purpose was to seek feedback and discussion. I mentioned that is copyright of that company as any other work. It is still a theoretical study. No production procedure, business process or a technical solution part of any project when I posted it.
I feel very frustrated and consumed that It had no attention. I want to post It publicly with all the benefit of the open community. My resignation has nothing to do with the paper, and as I said, It was not a mission that I had to do. Even if It consumed some time but that time was part of innovation time anybody can enjoy. Many do not produce anything really useful.

What's a yellow paper?

@DanielHatton Thanks for your guidance I think that's it. I will figure out within these boundaries.

@OlegLobachev It's a draft document, not a final one, known in Academia or the open -source community to present something technical or not, that is open for discussion. Something like the Bitcoin of Satoshi which is a proposition in his case and not under an academic or business entity.


text:
Can't find research area in my master thesis topic
I'm master computer science student. I would like to do my master thesis in a company. I got a topic from a company but the problem is when I show my topic to my professor he said he didn't find research in my topic. He said that this is normal when you take topic from a company.
I really want to do my master thesis with company because it will level up my career.
I read some papers I tell my idea about the research area but my professor tell me you are in root domain there a lot of branches.
How can I find a research area and how can I impress my prof?

It's not absolutely clear to me. Are you saying you can't find any research papers on the topic? Or that your prof won't agree to supervise you on this subject?  By the way, if it is the case there are NO research papers on the topic, it's exciting and scary at the same time. Uncharted territory can contain anything, good, bad, or boring.

No  there lot research things going in my topic. the problem is my topic domain very big. and my professor is tell me if you take this topic will feel like lost in space. my topic is about "how to optimize en50128 using software development process and project management software". how to fulfill agile  methodology.  I can't impressed prof

Companies usually set the topics they offer for Master's thesis students, and you usually cannot come with your own topic. At least in Germany, companies pay Master's Thesis students (even though it is very much below the market rate), so they want to get something useful out of your thesis work. Sometimes (not always), they exaggerate this and make students do mostly implementation work, with very little research.
On the other hand, professors do research so they naturally prefer supervising Master's theses that are research-oriented. Some (again, not all) professors also feel that the student should learn something from the thesis, and see implementation-only theses as "providing cheap labor" to companies without the student actually learning much.
This means that, if you want to do your thesis at a company, you have two options:

Find another topic offered by the same or another company, which involves more research
This should be the preferred option if you are at all interested in doing research afterwards. There are companies that offer more research-oriented Master's theses. You can also consider a government research institution, which is more likely to offer suitable topics.

Find another professor that is willing to supervise your less-research-oriented topic
There are professors that are happy to supervise more implementation-oriented theses. You might want to look at other departments in your university that work on similar topics. This should be your preferred option if you do not want to do research afterwards or if you like the topic of the implementation-oriented thesis very much.


text:
Advisor and co-advisor withholding information, should I leave the lab?
I am a second-year PhD student in Biomedicine and I was assigned to my current advisor and co-advisor since day one. My advisor is very busy. So, most of the meetings and discussions about my PhD project is done only with my co-advisor. My advisor knows about my research plans, but since we only have meetings like 3 times so far, my co-advisor is the one who understands most about my project. However, I just discovered yesterday (by accident) that my co-advisor published a study, with my advisor as the last author, about something related to my project that would make my project pointless. They never told me about their analysis and never updated me about their results. I don't feel like I need to know everything that they are doing, but isn't it their job to let me know things related to my project?
My project is making prediction based on data that is expensive and time consuming to generate. What they published was that they made a prediction model for the same outcome based on the same dataset, but using a more cost-effective method. In the paper, they claimed that this grouping predicts 100% the outcome in our data. I do not understand why they would give me the green light to do this project and say nothing about this better method. Also, I learned about this paper not from them directly, but because I happen to subscribe to the journal they published in. I was so surprised reading the title.
I feel lost and would appreciate your advice. Is this thing common? I never met such behavior during my undergraduate and Master's, but this is my first time studying in Europe. My previous advisors (in Asia and in the US) always lets everyone in the lab/team know what everyone is doing (eg through lab meetings or proofread each others publications). Also, does this warrant changing advisors? I feel tricked and so stupid for trusting them. It seems that they do not have my best interest in mind, there is a lack of good communication, and makes me question why they accepted me in the lab in the first place.

You should discuss this with your supervisors before drawing any conclusions.  Presumably they know something about this situation which we don't know.

I don't understand the details of your project, but the methods in your project and in the study by your advisors seem to differ not just in detail. Therefore, you should probably bring up the paper in a meeting, and if you do not see "the point" of your project any more in the light of the other outcomes, and ask/discuss with your advisors the added value of your project, given the findings of their other study.
I doubt that anyone has the money and time to support a PhD student working on a project that they do not see any value in.


text:
Is UK QTS a global status or is it per-subject?
I am considering taking a PGCE course to get myself QTS.
The only PGCE offered in the area, however, is Mathematics.
While I am sure I can teach Maths, I'd rather eventually teach softer subjects.
Upon attaining my QTS, will I only hold that status for teaching Maths, or for teaching in general?

Sorry, this question appears to be about qualifications for a non-academic career, which is out of the scope of this site.

@ff524 Apologies. I thought "Is this direction of study appropriate for my goals" type questions were on topic.

This is what the Target Jobs website (first result on Google, I'm sure there are other sources) has to say:

Once you have achieved QTS, it's legal for you to teach any age range, although it's not easy to move from one to another.

They also say that if you specialise in primary school teaching (ages 5-11) you would be expected to teach every part of the National Curriculum (i.e. everything from Maths to Modern Languages, Physical Education and Art).
If you specialise in secondary school teaching (ages 11 upwards), here what Target Jobs says:

Initial teacher training in secondary teaching entails a specialist subject, but once you've gained QTS, you're legally qualified to teach any subject. It's common to find teachers in schools teaching subjects other than those they specialised in during their teacher training.

So it seems that if you qualify as a maths teacher in secondary teaching you can easily change subjects. However, it's much harder to change age ranges once you have specialised.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Proper name for a new method
We developed a new method to calculate a characteristic value from measurement data. In my thesis I call the existing method 'Original Method'. However, I am not sure how to name our new method. 'Current Method'? 'Present Method'?
Is there an established standard for this?

"Proposed"? "Our"? Perhaps asking at ELU might also make some headway.

I suspect the answer is no, but if you tell us the field you're working in then it might increase the chances of getting an answer.

'Algorithm 1.1' is also a good choice --- using the label you put next to the pseudocode or explicit formulation of the method. There is no explicit formulation you can refer to? Well, fix that. :)

Thanks everyone for your contributions. I went with  @Federico's suggestion and used the terms "Method 1" and "Method 2".

The following terms may help.

Proposed method
Suggested method
Our technique
Algorithm devised
Intended design
New procedure

It's not an exhaustive list, but are considered acceptable.


text:
Citing contributors to open source project when publishing to Zenodo
appleseed, our open source (MIT) physically-based rendering software, is used in various circles, one of them being academia.
We have been asked to obtain a DOI so that our software could be cited. We're planning to publish our releases to Zenodo.
GitHub currently lists 69 contributors on our main repository. Should we consider all of them as authors of the software, or would it be more appropriate to somehow select a subset of the contributors?
If the latter, how should we define such a subset? We have all kinds of contributors: one-time contributors, occasional contributors, regular contributors, core contributors, project owners, Google Summer of Code students, mentors... Who should we include or exclude?
Edit 1: here is a paper that seems relevant:
Smith AM, Katz DS, Niemeyer KE, FORCE11 Software Citation Working Group. 2016. Software citation principles. PeerJ Computer Science 2:e86
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.86
Edit 2: here is a tentative publication of our latest official release to Zenodo:
https://zenodo.org/record/3384658

Are you planning on getting a DOI for every release? That's quite different from the usual approach I see for academic software, where one writes a paper announcing and describing the software, and only write a replacement paper in case of major updates.

@Anyon The standard process at Zenodo with the Github integration is to get a DOI pointing to the entire project (always referencing the latest release), and additionally a DOI for every release. This allows both abstract references to the entire project, and precise references to specific software versions. https://guides.github.com/activities/citable-code/

@malexmave Interesting! Thanks for the information.


text:
Can I find a fully-funded PhD position in europe at 39 or more?
I'm 37 now and hold a master degree. I got my degree 3 years ago. For some personal reasons I plan on applying for a phd position next year or later.( I cannot do that now.)
I love my field and doing research. But I'm extremly worried about that if it is possible to find a fully-funded phd position in europe at 38 or over. I know it's possible in the US or Canada. But I'm not sure about europe. I'll appreciate any advice.

My question became closed because of being strongly depending on individual factors. After closure I edited my question. However it's still closed. I appriciate the only answer I got before closure. But I need more people to give me advice. People with experience similar to me.

When I did my PhD, there were several more mature PhD candidates (I would guess end 40s or 50s). All of them (as far as I know) finished their PhD successfully. So, it is doable. The good thing in academia is that age rarely matters. If you really want to do a PhD, then go for it.
Finding a paid PhD place is a tricky bit. It really depends on the area of research. Engineering and Physics are usually working with industry and have the funding to pay PhD candidates.
I would recommend looking at webpages like: https://www.findaphd.com/
Many universities in the UK (at least) offer studentships; however, you need to apply before you start your PhD (usually you apply for both funding and the PhD spot). You won't have the option to apply for funding after you started.
In other countries like Austria and Germany, PhD positions often come with a multi-year long contract and you are getting a salary; however, finding those is not always easy as they are often given to previous students. Again, online research might help.
Personally, I would recommend you do the following:

Look online, at what areas in your field interest you.
Then, look at who is doing research in this field/on those topics.
Then, pick the research groups that are most interesting to you. (Keep an open mind to non-elite universities too. Not every expert sits at the ETH Zurich or Imperial College London).
(hardest bit) Think of things that interest you within this topic (specifics) and maybe what idea you have that could be researched.
Finally, contact the head of the research team and ask if they have a project coming up or just express your interest in becoming their PhD student. The lecturers and head of labs have a lot of say in who gets funding.
(Also, check if the uni of that team offers studentships or vacancies)

Regarding: "is it worth to get a PhD at 45?"
Financially, a PhD is rarely worth it. You won't get a significantly higher salary because of it; however, it will be easier to get a job as you are an expert in whatever you researched. In most cases, a PhD is important to stay in the academia. Anything outside the academia, you can achieve without a PhD.
I know a person, who did a PhD in their 40s and years later ended up becoming a full professor. If you are in it for money, don't do it. It is very demanding. If you in it because you love your field and want to stay in the academia, then go for it.

I know the application process. I was just worried about my age condition. I found some contradictory information about age limit in european universities. Especially for finding funded positions. I appreciate your encouraging answer.


text:
Where do I place citations
I'm writing a math paper using TexShop that is almost entirely original but I got help with a trig proof; I found a formula in a book that I improved upon, and then got help finding a number series that completed my improvement. I would like to cite the help I got and at least one book but I don't know the proper place to put citations, inline or at the end of the paper. Do I do
1) statement....
citation
more statements
or
2)Topic
statements....statements
topic
statements
last statement of paper
all citations

The formatting of such things depends where you want to publish it. Check out examples in that journal to see how other authors have done it and the journal has accepted it.

I found a formula in a book that I improved upon

When you introduce the formula, cite the book, e.g., the following formula is proposed by Author X [1]:

and then got help finding a number series

Presumably you got help from someone. You can acknowledge that help at the end of your main body in an acknowledgements section. (Use \section*{Acknowledgements}.)

The help I got here and there was from https://math.stackexchange.com in the form of answers to questions I posted. Supposedly the format is in an answer I received here

@poetasis You can cite or acknowledge stackexchange, see https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/84965/how-to-cite-an-answer-in-stackexchange and https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/8212/citing-stackexchange-postings, for instance. Whether a citation or acknowledge is more appropriate depends on your precise scenario.

While the details are dependent on the venue where you are publishing, most mathematical papers will put the full citations at the end but reference them in the midst of the text (e.g., via a citation number).
You can format these automatically if you use LaTeX, and the AMS provides widely used packages for formatting.

Consult the style guide of the journal in question.
Different style guides have different requirements on how different types of citations are to be performed. Harvard is different to IEEE which is in turn different to APA.


text:
What are the steps and resources I can use to publish a math paper?
I've spent years writing a math paper I call "A study of Pythagorean Triples" and I would like to publish. I've written and re-written for accuracy and clarity and I ported it from Word to TexShop after having found that most publications require that format.  My paper is currently 14 pages long including 8 [ small ] graphic Exhibits in .png format.
How do I begin to get peer review as a total amateur and how do I proceed from there?
Update: My work was original to me but comments have led me to links showing that some of it has been done by others. The only distinction my work still has is in showing how this or that function was developed and how it works. I should rename my paper something along those lines and reflect that in my abstract.

This is a duplicate of https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/3010/75368. Basically, anyone can publish simply be submitting to a journal and having it accepted.

The answer is the same regardless of whether you’re an amateur or professional. You submit it to a peer-reviewed journal.

I appreciate the answers so far but the question is not whether or not I can publish as and amateur. The question is how do  I begin? How do I decide where to submit?  etc.

I’ve worked on this topic, if you email me a pdf of the paper I can have a look and let you know what I think.

@Dan Romik How do I find your email in your profile? I've never been able to figure that out, even with a google search.

My email is easily obtained with a google search.

To find a suitable journal, you can google a few related keywords to find papers. Consider the journals that published those.

FYI, there's an enormous amount of literature on this topic that is widely scattered throughout books and non-research journals (e.g. this), and you'll want to apply due diligence in your literature review to avoid claims of novelty for things that are fairly well known to connoisseurs of the subject. For example, make sure you're familiar with Sierpinski's book (Polish original 1954, English translation 1962 that was reprinted in 2003) and easily googleable items that cite it.

Frankly, this is a topic that I would be scared to death of working on without a collaborator who is very familiar with the area.  There's about 400 years worth of literature on the topic, and chances are very high that whatever I would come up with is somewhere in there.

For references a little more recent than Sierpinski's book, see William L. Schaaf's 4-volume A Bibliography of Recreational Mathematics --- pp. 89-99 in Volume 1, pp. 108-113 in Volume 2, pp. 62-66 in Volume 3, pp. 75-79 in Volume 4. (I couldn't locate a digital copy of Volume 4 with a quick internet search.)

@Dave L Renfro I've ordered the book. I've also gotten feedback on my abstract and one theorem elsewhere. Now I'm trying to figure out a niche that this paper might fit in because it's not profound but it shows how primitives are members of distinct sets and how you can find triples for given sides, perimeters, areas, and area/perimeter ratios, etc. using the new and the old formulas. Could it fit under Recreational Mathematics?

Would publishing it as a small book about it be an acceptable alternative? That's easier than writing a paper when it comes to publishing and has less caveats.

It almost certainly falls under the topic of what one would call "recreational mathematics" (unless highly sophisticated ideas from analytic or algebraic number theory are involved, which is why I said "almost certainly"). I would seek out advice from those who have some background in the topic and see what they suggest, such as the person behind this web page or the author of this book.

I don't see how this can possibly be a duplicate - the other question has a yes/no answer, and this one doesn't come close. Voting to reopen.

@Dave L Renfro The web page you offered is the first source I've found that shows anything like the work I've done. I guess the only difference is that my paper shows how to find triples given sides, areas, perimeters, etc. Thanks. The book is not not related but perhaps I should change the title to something about how to find things related to Pythagorean triples.

@Mast I'm just a forklift mechanic and math is my hobby so this is all new to me. I don't think any publisher would risk money on a subject with such a small readership and I've never thought about self-publishing. On the other hand, maybe it could be a booklet for college students. I'm overwhelmed at this point with things I know I must do but thanks for the suggestion.

A partial answer: Every piece of scientific work builds on other people's publications (remember Newton's "standing on the shoulder of giants" quote), and so one can surmise that your paper also cites other publications -- and if it doesn't, it probably should.
So let me assume that you are already doing that, then a good approach is to see where these other references were published. Look up these journals: Every journal has a charter on their website that explains (i) what kinds of papers they publish, and (ii) how one can submit a paper to them.

One problem is that I got none of this from other publications. I did get a reference to Euclid's formula after I had invented my own different formula to generate distinct sets of triples. I did get help on MSE figuring out the combinatorics for counting primitives vs multiples. I did get help on MSE in the trigonometry I used to prove that 6 dissimilar triangles I found using my functions made a perfect Isosceles triangle. I will have to look hard to find where the work has been done. In the mean time, I'm rewriting to reflect the critiques I've received so far.

Then at the very least you ought to cite the MSE sources. But the reality is -- and I don't want to sound dismissive, just realistic -- that it is really very very unlikely that nothing of what you've invented has been done before. I mean, it's possible, but statistically it just never happens in math that anyone comes up with something that's not at least informed and builds on other things. You really should spend time reading the literature of the area, or you will find the publication process rather frustrating.

Thank you and everyone else for the feedback. It has shown me that I need a major re-write in my abstract and modification of the body to reflect those changes. I know that it's rare that something hasn't been done before but in all my spare time searches and queries online, I haven't yet found anything resembling my Formula which generates only and all Pythagorean triples where GCD(A,B,C) is an odd square. I also haven't found prior work, for example, of 'how to' find triples given a side, perimeter, area, or area/perimeter ratio. I'm learning. Thanks again.


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Repository which allows anonymous authorship
This question concerns a problem related to a paper submission in the field of psychological methods. As part of the review process, I was asked by the journal's editor to provide my appendices as online documents at an author-controlled site, and not in the main text (simply to shorten the paper). Since these documents will be reviewed as part of the journal's blinded peer-review process, the authorship of these documents should be blinded as well until the publication of the paper.
My question is which research-related sites allow this kind of submission (i.e., a document which is made available by an URL, with anonymous authors)? As far as I know, sites like arXiv or Zenodo do not allow anonymous submissions.
I am thankful in advance for any advise on this issue.
Edit: I am aware that a similar question addressed the anonymous storage of research data for a paper submission. However, the responses listed there (Dropbox, supplementary material in the submission) are not useful in my case. Dropbox is only a last resort, and I am not allowed to submit these documents as supplements.

@NajibIdrissi but if they can, then this community can either?

Why does it need to be a research related site? Isn't the point just to make the files available to the reviewers at this point? Once it's accepted, you could use a non-anonymous site.

@JessicaB: It does not have to be a research-related site, but it would be preferable. I just want to make a professional impression.

This may not be the most helpful remark for you, but: why can't you just, um, append your appendices to the end of your document while it gets reviewed, and then if/when it gets accepted you can do with them what the editors want?  It will then be obvious how long the article will be both with and without this material.  What they suggest seems much more complicated all around, with no benefit to anyone.

@PeteL.Clark: Thank you for your suggestion, but this was exactly what I did in my first submission, and which I was asked to change. I think the overall length of the submission became too long.

Suggesting an author-controlled site for this purpose seems bad practice, to me. What prevents you from slapping Google Analytics on it and finding out who your referees are (or, at least, where they are) from the logs? (I am blaming the editor for suggesting it, though, not you.)

@Llarian: Right; in case it was not clear, I am criticizing the journal for sticking to a page-length policy without any good reason.  What could you do about it?  Well, one thing to consider is resubmitting to a different journal.  If this journal is the unique most appropriate one for your submission -- okay, probably don't do this.  Otherwise -- why not?  Editorial addle-patedness should not be rewarded.

Thank you for all your suggestions. After researching possible options online, I found a web service similar to Dropbox which is available to researchers at my (Swiss) university (https://www.switch.ch/de/drive/). I think this will do, since it allows the anonymous sharing of files via links. Probably similar services are available to researchers in other countries as well.
As a last resort, Dropbox could also be used for this purpose.

The referees will know that the author is Swiss, if you use them. Isn't it an issue for the double-blind review process?

@FedericoPoloni: I am not sure, but I will ask about it. Technically, the use of this service only shows that the person who uploaded these documents works in Switzerland, and does not reveal the authorship of the documents. I will consider the attachments for the Latex documents as a possible alternative.

Not a repository, but if you use Latex, you can attach arbitrary files to a pdf document.


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Using first name only for university email alias
I’m an incoming grad student at a US university and I’ve been asked to set up my email alias. The university doesn’t have an explicit policy on what the aliases should look like, but I’ve noticed most faculty and grad students have gone with either of the following:

firstname.lastname@acme.edu
  lastname@acme.edu

However, my first name is shorter, available, and easier to spell.
It’s an unusual name in the US (which helped me secure firstname.com), but it’s four characters and hard to get wrong.
Therefore, I’m thinking of going with:

firstname@acme.edu

Could that be interpreted as inappropriate/unprofessional/overly casual by some, or would it be fine? It’s one of the top-five programs in economics in the US – everyone seemed friendly on my fly-out and they’re probably among the less formal departments I’ve visited.

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"Could that be interpreted as inappropriate / unprofessional / overly casual by some"

I'd say yes, there is no way in general to completely prevent that. But ...

... "or would it be fine"

Basically yes to that, too. If the university has no explicit policy, I don't think anyone would take it too seriously.
To somewhat qualify this answer, I know some high-status academic professionals who signed up with a silly user name when they enrolled as basic students, just because they could (and the local custom encourages this) and are now stuck with it.
If you gain a position where you are important enough that it matters, you can probably get another alias if your schmuck@acme.edu (or whatever) turns out to be harder to live with than you imagined when you originally created it.
The ultimate decision also depends on your role. If you are senior faculty, I'd say having e.g. joey@acme.edu actually looks like a friendly and inviting, rather than an unprofessional email address.  If you are not in a position where you are expected to represent the university regularly anyway, I don't think anybody will particularly care enough that this would be an issue.  On the other hand, if you work in a formal role (legal? accounting?) maybe be more strict.

You’re overthinking this issue. Nobody cares. Enjoy your cool email, and have fun in grad school.

I have always been in exactly the same boat. (Short, uncommon but hard to get wrong first name, versus long and foreignese-complicated surname.) I went with first name. Since I have not been able to live out my life in a parallel universe that is identical up to a longer email handle, I have no control experiment that would allow me to assert with certainty that it made no difference. However, I will go out on a limb and say that several other bad decisions have played a bigger role in fouling up my life.


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What are the chances of getting into a PHD program even if your graduate research is completely different?
I have decided to apply for PhD in cybersecurity even though my research during my graduate time period is totally of a different topic, which is neuroscience. My CV is majorly focused on research in neuroscience and data science and it doesn't contain any previous experience even though I have been learning a lot in cybersecurity and getting trained in the area.
What are my chances of getting into the program(in US, Sweden, UK) even thought I don't have a research experience in Cyber security nor have worked on a project?

Where do you hope to study - the country? The answer is probably dependent on that.

Completely possible!
You only need to argument your research as multi-field with an holistic approach, base your methods or the relation on technology and how it impacts the new field, or propose some innovative way to apply or relate computational sciences to biological systems (neural networks or Ai to learn how X works are always a good hit.)
As as example, my first career was in 'environmental improvement and diagnostics', then I went into 'informatique sciences' , specialization MBA into 'economy', then MBA into ' Computational Systems' but PHD in 'Organizations direction/Management'. It all comes down on how you relate everything.
As for how easy it would be to enter, well, you need to see which universities you want, go into their website's  and see their requirements for candidates. You can then tailor your proposal to them and contact the admissions department to say what they want. Even within the same country there are variants among the universities, more so between public and private ones.

Thank you so much, I appreciate your help.

@arjunv No need to thank. It could also help to check on the published works on the university you want and perhaps tailor some possible paper/essay to their style and try to send an article or just publish something more on cyber security + data science elsewhere to start widening your background. Good luck.

In the US this might be possible. Probably more so than the other countries you name because the educational systems differ. In the US, one can enter a doctoral program with only a bachelors degree and little, if any, research experience. So, in the US, your research background would be neither much of an advantage or any disadvantage.
However, you would need quite a lot of things in your background to make it possible. These would be things drawn primarily from maths and CS. You need some programming skills, but also the deeper ideas of CS such as data structures and algorithms (and more). If you have that, along with appropriate grades and good letters of recommendation you would likely be considered.
Your doctoral education would almost certainly begin with a lot of coursework, where the advanced courses prepare you for comprehensive exams (qualifiers).
In many other countries, however, a starting doctoral student is expected to begin with much more in the specific background.


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Dropping Out And Applying Somewhere Else
I am a student in a top 10 engineering Ph.D program. After arriving at my current program a month ago, All of my professors of interest were not willing to take me in and I was given the option to work with someone else whose research area does not interest me. Right now I am the only PhD student in the program without an advisor and feeling left-out which is really depressing and demotivating. Given the bad introductory and the self-dought I had before starting the program, I am thinking about switching to a thesis-based masters program and see if Ph.D is really for me. I have talked to the department chair about my situation and he offered me to switch to the non-thesis master's program. However I feel this could be detrimental for me if I decided to apply for PhD programs in the future. Therefore, I was wondering if I quit right now and apply to a thesis masters program somewhere else will having quitted a PhD program hurt my chances into getting in a Masters program? My undergrad GPA is solid (>3.8 )and I have done undergraduate research (though a second recommendation from UG research advisor is not likely). My transcript in the current program will indicate that I have withdrawn from the program but will only show 0 credits.

Why not a PhD at a different university? Seems like a better path.

I feel it is better for me to switch to a masters to have a better grasp on the research area since the field is different from my undergraduate degree. Plus, I don't think the fact that I quit my Ph.D will help in a PhD application anyway.

OTOH, I think your reasons for leaving are sound. If you are in the US, a period of adaptation is normal for a new PhD student. There is time to move to the new field. Less possible other places, of course, where the undergrad degree is more specialized.

I am honestly still debating leaving the program since I feel this will reflect badly when applying to other schools.But staying seems to be a bad idea too since I think I already burned bridges with the people in the department when I told them about my intentions and LOR will not be likely. So being honest or not will still ruin you in Academia I guess.

Since the identical question was closed for "depending on individual factors," I will close this one for the same reason. Still, I am sorry this didn't get any answers. For my part, I don't understand why you would consider doing a master's somewhere else when you already have a path to do a master's at a top-10 program. There are other factors like funding that a good answer would have to consider too.


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Is it considered cheating if you post assignment questions on a site but no one answered it?
If you post an assignment question on a 3rd party site and get no answers about the subject matter, is it still considered cheating?

This is called “unsuccessful cheating”.

Most cheating policies specify "attempting to cheat", so if you had received answers you would have used them...

Asking for help (i.e. showing your work and where the issue lies) I feel is totally acceptable. Asking for the solution is unacceptable (and more forums will generally not help someone who just wants answers). I would never have passed my advanced physics courses without Physics StackExchange.

Just to be sure we're not in some kind of endless loop here, is this an assignment question in an ethics class you're taking?

If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

At my university, the answer is definitely yes. The rules here clearly state that even the attempt to cheat is misconduct (e.g. bringing a device that is capable of cheating to an exam is considered cheating even if it not used/touched).
(However, if asking a question about your assignment in some forum is cheating, depends on the rules for your course/institution. In my courses, this would not be forbidden for homework assignments, for example.)

Yes. As one example of a formal policy, here is the opening definition in the CUNY (City University of New York) Academic Integrity Policy:

1.1 Cheating is the unauthorized use or attempted use of material, information, notes, study aids, devices or communication during an
academic exercise.

Exact penalties will, of course, vary by institution, department, instructor, etc. In my courses, such a case on a homework assignment would result in a zero on the assignment, and a report to the school's Academic Integrity officer (who may lay out further penalties for repeat offenders). On an exam in one of my courses, this would now be an immediate failure of the course for the semester.

Yes, attempted-but-failed cheating is still unethical/immoral, though perhaps less so (?!?) than successful cheating.
Attempted-but-failed (bad thing) X is bad, but not as bad as succesful X?
Certainly attempted murder (even if unsuccessful) is a serious crime most places.
Really, how much "moral currency" do you get back by trying but failing? Sympathy points?

Someone on another question was trying to argue that attempted cheating was not as bad as successful cheating in the same way that an attempted crime was not as bad as a successful crime. I think this is the wrong analogy. The problem with a crime is the damage that results from it, and potential damage is less serious than actual damage. In the case of cheating, the "damage" isn't the outcome of the cheating, it's the dishonest intention because it creates a culture of dishonesty. It's pretty much irrelevant whether or not the cheating succeeded in the goal of getting a better grade.

@ElizabethHenning, I wouldn't argue with you at all... I guess I should have made the point more explicitly that (in my opinion) intent to engage in unethical/immoral behavior is still unequivocally a bad thing (whether or not one fails...) and whether or not one thinks that intent and so on are real or not... Probably my real issue is with the world-view/mindset of the person asking such a question. "I tried to embezzle money, but I failed, and maybe got caught... Did I really do such a bad thing?"

... and, yes, the whole worldview/mindset in which contemplating (for other than recreational/venting purposes) doing anti-social things, hoping not to "get caught", etc., is a problem in itself. So, yes, a worldview in which it somehow makes sense to ask the question is already morally/ethically failing/flawed.