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Do Taylor & Francis publications have article numbers that are hidden but can be found?
[[This post has been retitled once and edited twice. This is the second edit. The original post had a sample reference that was faulty for purposes of having the question answered. For this edit, I added a "good" example of a reference and explained the difference between the examples. I felt this would be helpful to sustain context for the entire thread.]]
Per APA 7, if an article has an article number, you should use that instead of a page range. The university insists on compliance with APA 7. If an article number is not self-evident in the PDF, on the article's web landing page, or in the citation download, you are expected to dig a bit further.
I have discovered several indicators that an article number is likely (not always, but likely) to exist:

a page range that starts with "1", or
a single page number of any value instead of a page range, or
a paper by a popular seminal author.

I have also found some publishers who make it easier than others to find the article number, if one exists. The easiest ones are published on the web page below or near the article title. Some are more elusive and can only be found such as by

comparing a page "range" with only one value to the DOI;
inspecting the URL before and after clicking on a DOI;
downloading the recommended citation (not to be confused with an APA 7 compliant citation, even if tagged that way);
clicking on various links on the DOI landing page, and sometimes following a link; and
inspecting manuscript headers, footers, and margin notes.

There are, no doubt, other ways to find elusive article numbers. The fact that an article number cannot be immediately or easily found does not mean the article number does not exist.
Again, the question is: Do Taylor & Francis publications have article numbers that are hidden but can be found if one only knows where to look?
At Taylor & Francis, I am hampered because I do not have access to the full articles. Might article numbers be lurking in the PDFs? If the answer is typically "Yes, and here's where to look for it," then that is helpful. Or maybe article numbers lurk behind a little-noticed button or link on the DOI landing page?
For those who have read this far and want a crack at it, here are two examples of citations in the student paper (the paper has mostly T&F sources). The citations seem to be candidates for a hidden article number for different reasons as noted.
Example 1: This is a reference provided by the student. The page range starts with the number 1 and the article is fairly recent. In my experience, either or both of those factors are often (not always, but often) a clue that the paper has an article number.
=== Bédard-Thom, C., Guay, F., & Trottier, C. (2020). Mental toughness in sport: The Goal Expectancy-Self-Control (GES) model. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 7(3), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2020.1808736  ===
Example 2: This is a reference provided by the student. Although the article is very old, the author is seminal and popular. Given that publishers have a backlog of articles that are being encoded for online access, then this seems a good candidate for having an associated article number.
=== Bandura, A. (1990). Perceived self-efficacy in the exercise of personal agency. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 2(3),128-163. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413209008406426 ===
Comment: Note that I am editing a paper and not its author. I strive for accuracy and to decrease the possibility a paper will be returned for noncompliance.

The full bibliographic information for this article is not available yet.  This journal's most recent issue includes only articles from 2019.  Papers "online" in 2020 will get their full information around 2022.

Wow. Who knew it could take so long to have an article officially published in a journal. Thank you. Am wondering if I should rewrite the post without any examples at all. It does seem to be diverting people from the essence of the question.

@RJo, it's a common way to game the JCR impact factor. Articles accumulate citations while they're online, and have more citations when they enter the 2 year period used by the impact factor calculations.

As others have mentioned, that particular article is an advance publication, so does not yet have such a number. However, I do have access to the PDFs, so I did a bit of digging. I looked at some older papers, and it appears that on publication, they do (or at least did) acquire page ranges, not article numbers - the page ranges are listed in the journal table of contents, and the PDFs and webpages contain no hint that I can see of any kind of article number.

Sam - Thank you for the extra effort. Based on your answer, my crib sheet now notes that "As of June 2021, T&F does not assign article numbers or if it does, the numbers cannot be found. Check again in 6 months." Your answer inspired another edit to the original post where I have provided a second example. It's a good contrast to the first example.

Sam, I accepted your reply because it answered the question. The comments from others were very helpful, but were focused only the Bédard  example rather than the broader question.

The article you gave appears to be an example of advance online publication, prior to the article being assigned a volume and article number. According to this link (you may have a more authoritative source), such articles should be cited in APA 7 as
Canon, C., Effoe, V., Shetty, V., & Shetty, A.K. (2016). Knowledge and attitudes towards human papillomavirus (HPV) among academic and community physicians in Mangalore, India. Journal of Cancer Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-0999-0

Bobgom - Thank you for using the term "advance online publication." Strange as it might be, this is the first time I have encountered such a beast. I have a well-used APA 7 manual, but (until) now, no need to refer to Section 8.5, or to 10.8 examples 7 and 8. ~ Your mention, "prior to ... being assigned a volume and article number" led to me to further scrutinize the Bédard-Thom entry the student provided (Example 1 in my post). The entry had a volume and issue number! (but not at the web page or as part of the downloadable citation).

I looked at the citation information available for that article and others in the journal, and there are apparently no volume, issue, or article numbers.  They want you to cite it by using the DOI as its unique identifier.  This is explicit at the bottom of the linking page for downloading citation information:

To cite this article:
Christiana Bédard Thom, Frédéric Guay & Christiane Trottier (2020) Mental toughness in sport: The Goal-Expectancy-Self-Control (GES) model, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/10413200.2020.1808736

The way T&F wants it cited is of no matter. The university wants it cited per APA 7. Therefore, if there is an article number, then use the article number in lieu of a page range.

and others - The question is about DOIs that resolve to a T&F page and deciphering article numbers from that DOI. The Bédard example is just that: an example, nothing more. Tangentially related, a few moments ago I found an article number for something else in a URL (the DOI resolved to a URL that showed an article number. The point being that if there is a way to discover article numbers at T&F sans reading the article, then what is the secret? I will edit the title and the text in an attempt to clarify.

"and others in the journal" look further back

Anonymous Physicist ~ The student provided (in error) a volume and issue number. I was focused on finding an article number, not on verifying article and issue number. It was only upon reading Bobgom's comment (above) and Sam's comment (below) that I "connected the dots" regarding the Bédard example and why it would hard for anyone to answer the question. ~ The comments from Buzz and all of you have truly led to an improved post, an answer to the specific question, and unexpected tips about clues for spotting errors.


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FERPA: Can I anonymously quote a student?
Every once in a while, my students write something outrageously funny in their homework, either on purpose or by accident, and I'd love to share these short quotes with a colleague/friend for mutual enjoyment (and maybe catharsis!).
I know FERPA bars me from revealing student grades, statuses, etc., but I don't know what the rules are about 1) revealing what students have written to a third party, or 2) anonymizing students. I also don't know if it matters if I mention what class or semester this happened in.
Can I share a brief, anonymous, quote from one of my students to colleagues or friends?

Can you: YES
Should you: NO
Imagine if the quote/anecdote got back to your student. While no one else would know who said it, the student who said it would know. Even if it never makes it back to that student, other students will know you are making fun of students. That is not good for your reputation or for student learning.

You know, like many other things in life, it's a trade-off between fun and risk :-)

I personally wouldn't share it with students — just trusted friends. Also, the point wouldn't be to "make fun of" them as much as it is to appreciate the silliness of an intentional joke or to laugh over a typo in just the right place. (I suppose as FERPA is blind to intent, perhaps your point stands.)

@MassimoOrtolano I agree. Was thinking of adding something about the fact that it is quite common. I often do it and frequently laugh about the comments others share. That doesn't make it right or advisable. I try and share my stupid teaching moments when conversations go down that road. They are almost always funnier.

@jvriesem I don't think it has anything to do with FERPA. It is precisely the fact that you (nor I) would not share these with students that makes me question wether they would see it as being made fun of.

@StrongBad: Actually, I would share it with them, too. I wouldn't do something behind their backs that I wouldn't do to their face. In fact, I sometimes write "LOL" or put a smiley face on their pages if/when/where appropriate, just to show them that I appreciate their humor or the humor in a typo. I do this very judiciously and rarely because I don't want to offend students. As I said before, I don't want to make sport of these students. These decisions ought to be made on a case-by-case basis.

There's a right way and many wrong ways to share an anecdote about somebody's mistake, but whether or not we ought to do so is a different question that may be highly situational. I'm curious about the legality of it, which is why I brought up FERPA. If it's illegal under FERPA, then it's highly relevant.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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Make Up Tests: Should I alter the questions?
I'm teaching a unit this semester that involves an in-class test. The students will be required to conduct a textual analyse of a video using the themes/unit literature etc to help formulate their responses. This is for a sociology unit.
It is a large unit and there will undoubtedly be students that will need to sit a make-up test at a later date (as long as they have appropriate documentation).
I will change the video for the second test, but I was wondering, should I also change the questions on the make-up test? Or should I leave the test questions? They are not straight correct/incorrect answers but rather, questions that ask students to use critical thinking and analysis skills to analyse the video contents in relation to the unit themes (short essay style).
There are no policies or procedures at my university that highlight what a make-up test should entail, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what might be the best way to go about this to ensure fairness to both students who take the test on-time, and those who sit a make-up.

Closely related: Are Identical Make-up Exams Fair? (possible duplicate?)

It all boils down to this: Would you consider publishing the questions before the first exam?
If knowing the questions in advance help them in any way provides an unfair advantage, the make up should be changed. Otherwise, they can remain the same.

Careful, though: by changing the questions, you could inadvertently give an unfair disadvantage to the students taking the makeup exam, if the revised questions turn out to be more difficult than the original ones.  (You may say "make the revised questions exactly as difficult as the original ones" but that is much easier to say than to do.)  This could be an unavoidable risk, but it's a risk that should be taken into account.

@NateEldredge If the make-up questions are generated according to the same procedure as the questions for the first exam (e.g. if 2n many questions are written and then divided randomly into n many for the first exam and n many for the make-up exam) then, although the make-up exam questions might end up being harder or easier, one could argue that this would not constitute an unfair disadvantage or advantage.

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


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Add author to existing arXiv paper?
I had a student write an excellent Master's thesis which is not publishable as novel research but which I think would serve as a great introduction to the topic. Although the student is happy to have it posted to the arXiv, more needs to be done to connect the thesis to the existing literature. The student has graduated and is busy, I'd like to make the necessary adjustments myself, but I don't want to take credit for the bulk of the thesis which is the student's work.
Is it possible to upload an initial version (the original) to the arXiv with just the student's name, followed later by an updated version with me added as 2nd author? Will the arXiv correctly show that the first version was just the work of the student?
Also, are there are ethical issues I should be aware of? Assume that the student has been given the opportunity to make the changes themself, has declined, and endorses the above plan.

I have just checked that changing authors when replacing a paper is technically enabled. I am pretty sure I have seen this happen: those with more searching savvy than I will surely turn up with actual examples.  And yes, the arxiv maintains all previous postings and their authorship.
I don't see any ethical problems with what you propose.  But I'm not sure I understand the message that you're seeking to convey: are you saying that you attach some meaning to an initial posting by your student only followed by a replacement jointly authored with you?  To me that does not have a clear meaning (and by the way, some people will look at the first posting and many won't).  If anything, that would look to me like you realized that what your student uploaded was not satisfactory, so you stepped in to salvage the situation.  If that's not what you're going for, maybe don't do this.  Why not just upload a jointly authored posting the first time around?

Here's an example: http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/0701.5339v1 and http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/0701.5339v2

Hmm, yea I sorta see what you're saying. Certainly in this case there's nothing wrong with the current version at all for its intended purpose. (It got high marks from the evaluation committee.) But if it is to be useful to researchers, it needs a bit more perspective than a first-year graduate student could reasonably give. Deeper connection with existing results and that sort of thing. Agree that people often don't look at earlier versions, but we could include a comment on the resubmission to this effect.

Thanks very much for your insight. If you happen to find an arxiv paper where authors were added, please post a link.

To avoid misunderstandings of the sort that @PeteL.Clark described, you could include a brief explanation of the situation in a comment on the arXiv and in the introductory section of the paper itself.

Yep, that sounds like a good idea Andreas.


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What is the reason that some departments do not allow PhD students to be instructors of record?
It is common that PhD students have teaching duties as TA. In this case, the person ultimately for the course (the instructor of record) is a faculty member. I should note that I am talking only about enrolled PhD students at the same university as where the undergraduate course is taught.
In some places, it seems that PhD students can serve as the instructor of record, but at many other places they are not.
What are the reasons why PhD students are not permitted to be  instructors of record at some universities in the USA and Europe?

In Italy a PhD student can't officially have the responsibility of a course, and there are also limitations (which depend on the university) on the number of teaching hours he or she can do as a TA.

In the Netherlands, this is actually pretty common. One of the reasons is that here, PhD candidates are not considered students, but employees (that's changing right now, and a big issue).

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because answers to your question depends on the country and/or department in which a PhD student is studying.

It is different in different systems as is evident from the comments. In Sweden, a student could not be officially responsible but could of course still do most of the work. This comes from the fact that the university system is run by the government and examination is an official task which requires a certain position. Someone other than the student will have to stand officially responsible for the course in the end.

I agree with the close vote. Of course it is possible in some places, including, for instance, Austria. I am not sure what productive conclusions one could take from this information, though.

I reworded it to try to get closer to the intent of the OP and to make it less braod.

@RoboKaren I don't necessarily think the OP's intent was to ask for reasons - I think the OP wanted to poll the community to find out how common this is (which is not what this site is for, per the [help/dont-ask]). However, the old question didn't seem salvageable and the new one is reasonable, so even though I don't think it's what the OP intended, I reopened it.

Are there ranking systems which take into account "percent of classes taught by faculty with terminal degrees"? I kind of thought this was a thing, which would suggest one reason why some universities might not allow graduate students to be instructors of record, but it looks like US News at least does not consider this.

@NateEldredge US News does count "Percent faculty with terminal degree in their field" and also "Percent faculty that is full time" (see their ranking criteria and weights). That is indeed a reason why some departments try to avoid grad student instructors.

@ff254: I see, and a grad student teaching their own class would presumably be counted as "faculty" for that term. Makes sense.

In Australia, PhD students are sessional teachers, and in some cases, do have full responsibility for a unit. They are not considered faculty and would probably be akin to Adjunct professors in the US system as it is a per course/subject. I was a sessional lecturer/Chief examiner for a unit two years running, and then was offered a one year contract as a full-time faculty member. Despite running the units, as a sessional I was not considered faculty.

The most probable reason is that as a PhD student, you are not employed to have the responsibility of a course. It's also a way to protect PhD students from being held responsible for things that they are not supposed to handle.

At my university, you need a PhD to be able to assign a grade. A student can grade assignments in pass/fail  (or actually, pass/repeat).

I'll give you a small historic flashback. Back in the 1910s and 1920s, women were already allowed to study, but mostly were not yet allowed to teach. So when Emmy Noether wanted to do some teaching, her supervisor, David Hilbert had to be the instructor on the record™ for some of her lectures, until the faculty finally caved in and gave her a somewhat reasonable position (but not really equal and appropriate to what she would have got if she were male). So, you at least seem to be in a good company.

Corrected "on record" to "of record."  Feel free to revert if this wasn't just a typo.

My institution (which is a highly ranked R1 private university) tries to differentiate itself from other universities by advertising that all of our professors teach  and that the undergraduates -- if they choose to come here -- will learn directly at the feet of the greatest scholars in the world (blah blah blah..).
My cynical quip aside, we try very hard at least nominally to ensure this. All professors in the arts and sciences teach their own classes (research staff at the medical school are of course exempt), although some teach less than others.
Very few graduate students are permitted to be instructors of record -- only just a handful of 6th and 7th years are given this right, and only in very focused seminars.
For us, it's a bit of a matter of pride -- what differentiates us from some of the other R1s. But like most things in the neoliberal academy, there has been talk of bringing in adjunct faculty and other changes that will certainly dilute the claim made in the opening paragraph above.

My graduate institution, another highly ranked R1 private university (we may both be selling our schools short here), also advertises the fact that no courses are taught by graduate students. Yet according to my CV, I was instructor of record for 6 courses while I was a Ph.D. student there. How can this be? Well, they made sure to give all the grad students a Master's before we started teaching, so they can argue that we were hired as Lecturers -- and if we happened to be in the Ph.D. program at the same time, what a coincidence!

The "masters" trick is also important for other things, like the percentage of classes taught by someone with a higher degree which some accreditation agencies care about.  (Though I think it doesn't work for gaming US News, who counts only people with the highest degree in their field.)

This will obviously vary among countries, institutions and also departments.
At my department (a Norwegian University (magic fairyland where "PhD student" is a regular, well-paid job), CS dept.) I did my first lecturing as a PhD student (a Master-level, seminar-style course) and was also the official "instructor" (together with another PhD student). The year after, while still working on my PhD, I was employed to teach a major undergrad course, also as the official (and solely responsible) instructor; I had no supervision or follow-up: no one pre-approved my lession plan, checked on my lectures, looked at the exercises I made or even checked the exam and the grading. Fortunately, it went well, and I was given the course again the next years (as a post doc), and I'm still teaching it now (as associate professor).
On the other hand, at our neighbouring department, they don't even let PhD students and post docs be officially responsible for small stuff like supervising bachelor students.
In general, good teaching requires both skill, knowledge and motivation. If you're lucky, your personality and previous experiences will be enough to do good or even great teaching, even if you're an inexperienced PhD student (or perhaps not even that – I've had 2nd year Bachelor students deliver awesome lectures!). It's quite a gamble, though, and an inexperienced lecturer can just as easily be a disaster (then again, the same goes for an unmotivated experienced one).
So, it makes sense to provide fresh lecturers (whether they're PhD students or newly hired staff) with guidance and supervision until both they and the department are comfortable with them taking full responsibility. Educating and training people is part of a University's mission, and that also applies to training lecturers – a department shouldn't just pick random PhD students to lecture courses and hope they eventually hit on a rare, talented "great teacher".
So who should be the "instructor on record"? The person(s) who's actually responsible for the teaching, no matter the title. Having a rule that says "a PhD student can't be ultimately responsible for a course" is probably meant to avoid having courses taught by underqualified lecturers and sort of makes sense from a bureaucratic perspective (could even be that my own University has more-or-less this rule). Doesn't really help, though, if the department appoints a nominal "official instructor" and gives the actual job to a PhD student anyway.


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Can I use a commercial font in a thesis?
Let's say that while browsing the Internet, I come across a font that I genuinely like and decide to use it in my thesis or my academic research article that will be published. Should I care about if it would be correctly licensed or not?
For instance, it might be a licensed font that I'm unaware of that I discovered while browsing a random website. What if the font's name and all other meta data are altered such that I am unable to determine its true identity, creator, etc.?

I don't understand the question. What do you mean by "what if"? And, if you can't determine the identity of the owner, how is this an issue? That is, how do you know it is "commercial"?

Well, the research article in a journal will be published using the journal's fonts of choice.

@JonCuster Similarly, the university's thesis formatting requirements may specify the allowed font(s).

@Anyon - indeed, but the seem much friendlier these days with all the various software packages. Back in the day of a human 'thesis secretary' who went over the entire thing double checking margins and whatnot it depended some on just how they were feeling that day...

@user574859 - it was very important to get a copy of the Word/TeX document that was accepted by the powers that be, and keep all the formatting intact...

@JonCuster You guys have the template the powers that be actually agree on?! Our offices can contradict themselves when it comes to things like margins, lists and so on if you don't submit corrections really quickly, before they forget what they've requested the last time...

"I come across a font that I genuinely like" ... In many cases: if found like that, it turns out to be too fancy, so that it is distracting if used for long passages.  Most people (not professional layout editors) have poor judgment on this.

Yes, you should care for other people's rights, including other people's intellectual property. In particular, you should not ignore license agreements  when you download and install software, including computer fonts.
There are many ways to go around the copyright / software IP protection, and your question mentions some of them. This is technically possible, and depending on your luck and attitude of people around you, you may or may not get away with it on one or several occasions. However, violating other people's rights is wrong, even if you do not face consequences instantly. Please do not expect us to approve of or support such decisions.

"violating other people's rights is wrong" That only applies to moral rights.  Some legal rights are not moral rights.

Mary created a font, which took her a few weeks/months of work. She protects it with a license with intent to sell it online. She wants to get some £££ for her time and effort. Does she have a legal right for this? Is it moral or not?  Now, Soner wants to download this font for free using "I didn't see the license" excuse. Do they have a legal right for this? Is this moral or not?   So much to discuss here.

It might not be the same for you, but for me, worrying about fonts for the dissertation was a classic sign of self-distraction!
Your university probably has strict formatting requirements for dissertations, which may rule out choosing your own font. Certainly, any publisher will require your article to use their journal's font.
Ultimately, in most academic settings, you can only control the fonts you use to write privately, or the fonts you use if you put anything up on a personal website. Whether you steal the fonts you use to write privately is, I suppose up to you, but I recommend against it.
Stealing fonts to display your work publically is a really bad idea, for the reasons the other answers go into. Also (as a thought experiment) because you'd be rightly annoyed if a font designer grabbed pages of your dissertation to use as the sample text advertising their typography without crediting you, and so fair is fair.
To answer your question about trying to identify a font found in the wild, this page has some good resources:
https://www.creativebloq.com/typography/best-font-identifiers
Good luck with the diss!

"Certainly, any publisher will require your article to use their journal's font" Yes, almost. In figures, you can use a different font most of the time. Even if journals have guidelines about fonts in figures, it is unlikely that they enforce them, at least in my experience and as long the fonts are not overly fancy.

"Stealing" is a harsh word. "Copyright violation" is better.

"Copyright violation" is a wet euthamism for stealing.

It's a really bad idea to do anything that can be seen as dishonesty or misconduct in your thesis.
If you want to use a commercial font, buy a license. If you like your thesis to look good, it may be worth the money. Otherwise use fonts that can be used free of charge.

And, really, between what already comes with Word or TeX/LaTeX, you have ready legal access to more fonts than you could possibly want. Buying fonts was a thing like 20 years ago, not so much now. (I remember having to buy various spin-writer wheels waaaay back in the day to accommodate various format requirements.)

I think "It's a really bad idea to do anything that can be seen as dishonesty or misconduct in your thesis" is key here. The minutiae are irrelevant: Just don't go there at all. This is true for anything you do in an academic setting; but because the thesis is an important milestone it's all the more important there.

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


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License for research projects
What is a good way to license your research projects?
Diving into the details of most licences, a lot of their wording and concerns seem centered around 'redistribution', and are not so much driven by the concerns of the spirit of academia.
Personally, I have been active in diverse fields; from fields with great standards in terms of code dissemination, to fields with abysmal or almost complete absence of any standards of code dissemination.
When it comes to making code available for academic use, I am somewhat opposed to 'permissive' licenses, and id prefer to release under the absolute most aggressive 'copyleft' principles. I resent the idea of other so called 'scientists' cranking out non reproducible papers that make use of my carefully packaged and documented work, in any way whatsoever. Yet going over for instance the AGPL, considered one of the most 'copyleft' licenses, it seems to be barking up all the wrong trees.
For instance, technical details concerning 'distribution' like static versus dynamic linking are completely unimportant to me. In fact that whole debate about what constitutes 'redistribution' is rather moot when it comes to research I think. Claiming you did something using some piece of software is arguably always fine under any license that seeks to restrict redistribution; since none is involved.
All I care about is that if you seek to build on my work in any way, that you are bound by the same standards of dissemination. That is, not just some passive duty to make code available upon request (I know how that pans out in practice); but a proactive duty to have your code available on a publicly accessible service, and to have it contain runable examples that I can get going with minimal effort on at least one major platform. That is, without spending days to reverse-engineer your development environment. I suppose that could be formalized by requiring use of some CI service; if you can run some tests automatically, everything needed to run your software must be available as code.
For the specific library I have in mind, I am actually quite happy if people adopt it for commercial use free of charge, and redistribute it in whatever way. Id prefer if they contribute back but whatever. But I am absolutely not fine with perpetuating some of the abysmal code dissemination standards going on in some fields of academia.
Is there any license that covers such an intent? Or is it about time one gets written?

You might find more relevant expertise on http://opensource.stackexchange.com.

I considered that; the question is about 50/50 academia/licensing id say... but I feared that I would get only responses about how an academic license of this kind would not be 'real open source', since it references a specific usage, which is considered taboo in the open source community.

I resent the idea of other so called 'scientists' cranking out non reproducible papers that make use of my carefully packaged and documented work Are you looking for a license that only allows people to do good science with your work?

Good science would be too broad and ingraspable a term. But I don't think you should be able to publish any result deriving from code in any form, without also publishing that exact code in a reproducible manner. That is, not in any outlet that takes the notion of reproducibility seriously. And not using the software I carefully put together to aid the spread of reproducible ideas.

The short and to the point answer is that no currently existing licence does what you want. If you wanted to do as you say, you'd need to write a new licence. That would probably mean employing lawyers.
The long answer is that I doubt whether any such licence would be enforceable in practice. Further, in general scientific software that is released under restrictive or unusal licences is generally not well used by the community. See Lior's Pachter experience. Important here is not that this was about for-profit vs not-for-profit use, but that when people are unsure about a licence, they just won't use your work.
If you don't care that people won't use your work you must ask why you are releasing it in the first place. One hopes that you are releasing it because you wish to further the horizon of human knowledge and believe that your library has a role to play in doing that. If nobody uses your library, you are not meeting your goal any better than if people used the software in non-reproducible science. I you do not want people to use your library then you are not doing science, anymore than those that refuse to release their data or methods are.
Putting all that effort and cost into inventing a new licence, which in the end might lead to people not using your software is a poor use of resources to achieve your ends. Much better to expend that effort convincing journals not to accept non-reproducible things, reviewers to actually review the reproducible of the code and into creating infrastructure that makes it easy to do.

I suspect that one can also license a work individually to those you approve of. But as you say here (a) it probably won't be used, and (b) you'd better talk to a lawyer so that the terms legally say what you think they say.

If you want to prevent somebody from incorporating your code in further work without also making their code available, then AIUI the GPL (not LGPL) does that.
But you seem to be saying "any scientist who makes advances based on the work I have done must do what I say". And that isn't your choice to make. If you publish your research, then (short of patents and the like) you are implicitly giving the rest of the world permission to use your conclusions to make further discoveries in the future. That's sort of the point of it all. You don't get to specify who can use the knowledge you provide, or in what manner. If you don't want other people to build upon it, don't publish it.

No, I don't intend to make statements in such a license about things being 'based off', or 'using conclusions', any more than the GPL does; I just don't want them to run my code in any sort of way if they do not proactively make theirs runnable for others. Much like the GPL in that respect; but the GPL does not accomplish my goals at all, since a so called scientist who does not intend to make available their code in any form, does not incur any obligations under even the AGPL either, since all obligations are tied to 'redistribution' in the first place.

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


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Am I naive to think I can focus on professional programming and still be active in the field of CS as a whole?
I am working full time currently as a programmer in a summer internship.  In the fall I will be continuing school and working part-time as a programmer.
I believe that I want to be a professional programmer and someday a software engineer.
However, I am very interested in all the areas of computer science that I have been studying.  I hear occasionally about how some computer science majors end up being "just programmers" and not "computer scientists."  There seems to be a common thought that becoming a programmer means that you give up the field as a whole and the possibility of contributing to the field.
I would like to be a professional programmer, but also a lifelong learner in the field of computer science.  Am I naive to think this is possible?

Potentially.  The thought I'm getting at is that there seems to be an idea carried by some that you are giving something up if you decide to focus on programming.

I am a professional programmer with a PhD.
I have had a colleague, who was working as a programmer and continued even publishing in his unrelated field (chemical engineering/textiles), so if you are dedicated, it is even easier for you to do, since your area might be related, but still it is not a light undertaking. But if you can find a more research heavy R&D position in the industry, of course that would make it easier.
I am personally planning to teach adjunct classes, to keep me fresh about theoretical basis.
Hope my two cents helps.

I was discussing your question with a software developer and here is what came out:
Software development require some specific skills you will develop in the job, and you will surely not be able to be an expert in development as well as, algorithmic, cryptography, network, AI etc... But if you want to keep working on some other computer science subject, it depends where and which project you decide to work as software developer.
If you develop an authentication server or an anti-virus you will still have to keep up in computer security, if you develop a network layer for a game you will have to know about how a network work etc... of course you should probably avoid to go to a company that design web sites or implement yet another client data base...
And as always: what ever you are interested in you can continue to be interested outside of your work.

I think you meant "surely not" (rather than surly).


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Should I aim at publishing a single-author paper on my PhD?
This is the situation. I'm a 2nd-year PhD student in Computer Science. The research group I belong to is very large, and during my first two years I have worked with many different people from the group, and also gathered a lot of contacts from other universities. In fact, I haven't really met my supervisor, let's name her Alice, for anything besides administrative stuff.
Now, I have been working on something with professor Bob, who works in a different university. Most of the work has been done by me, and since Bob is now out of time he said it was better for me if I continue this work with Alice. The thing is that I've been doing this pretty much on my own from the beginning, and I know I could finish it on my own as well. Also, as I said initially, my group is very relaxed in terms of student-supervisor relation, so I'm thinking of just continuing the project on my own and submit a single-author paper to X conference.
My specific questions, given the above, are the following:

Should I pursue this on my own and just do it without notifying my supervisor? (it's important to say that in my group this happens often, but not for single-authored papers; i.e. a lot of students work with many other professors somewhere else without notifying their supervisors, and that's all fine).
If you think I should talk with my supervisor instead, then how should I approach her? "Do you want to get involved in this" or "Can I work on this on my own"? (maybe it's relevant to say that my supervisor has co-authored some papers with me in which she hasn't really done much, not even the first-core idea, so maybe the same principle should apply here?)

I know this is very much dependent on how things work at my place, but I would love to hear the advice from other researchers as well.

...without notifying my supervisor? — Why on earth would you want to hide your success from the one person whose actual job is to foster your success?

Thanks @JeffE. Yes, you're right, I shouldn't really hide it. The reason why I even considered it here is because as I said, it's very normal for us to work with other people without our supervisors being aware of it, not really for the purpose of hiding but more for simplifying their job I guess. This is because we usually work with other professors who can also lead us through the right path, like my case with Bob. However, since now I'm considering working alone, it's not so clear anymore if it's good to keep my supervisor away from the project. That was the question

@JeffE And I'm not sure I got your second question :) what do you mean?

Professor Bob suggested that you work on the problem with Alice.  But you seem to have dismissed this idea out of hand.  Why?  Maybe you could finish it on your own, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you should.

@JeffE Oh right, it's not because I don't like working with her, of course. In fact, she would have great input on this and the result could be even stronger. However, I am confident I can handle it on my own at this point and I think single-authored papers have an additional weight. (Also, Prof. Bob will leave academia and he said explicitly that it's fine if he's not in the manuscript beyond the acknowledgements)

@JeffE
"Maybe you could finish it on your own, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you should." This is a valid point, and I guess this is precisely the main point of my post! :)

All of the doctoral work I'm most familiar with in CS has been published as single author work. You may want an extensive acknowledgements section if you have worked with others. There may be some corners of CS in which there is some division of labor, such as complicated data gathering v data analysis algorithmics that would be an exception, but I think that is still rare.
Even in cases in which an advisor supplies the initial problem, it is fine in most of CS to publish as a single author. Mathematics is similar. It is in the lab sciences primarily that the standards are different as the very existence of the lab is essential as is collaboration with other lab people.
But yes, speak to your supervisor and lay out your reasoning as here. You might even write up a draft that includes the ack section if you are far enough along. What you want to achieve, however, is a plan that makes everyone happy (enough) and leaves your advisor as a supporter of your work and future.
But if you are in one of those subfields in which such multiple authorship is the norm, then your advisor should be able to convince you of that.
But a rule of thumb might be the distinction between "I built this and you helped" vs "We built this together". There is a fuzzy area between them, of course. In general, though, it is best to know in advance which situation you will fall in to.

Thanks a lot for the answer. You're right, I'm definitely going to ask her about this in a clear manner, arguing as I just did here. I think this is understandable, and if she thinks the problem is interesting then I'm sure she will approve. You're right about the fuzzy line... Most of the projects I have been part of have co-authors who, in my opinion, just "helped" rather than built. This is what makes me feel a bit worried since it may be the case that this is the norm rather than the exception, and thus if I do this with my supervisor help/approval, then she must be in the paper.

However, as you said, if this is the case then as you said she should be able to convince me about that. Thanks again!


text:
ask PI for more acknowledgement of good work / affirmation
Setting: PhD student (5th year) at a US research university. Non-native English speaker.
We have a great boss, however sometimes it seems that good things are not being highlighted enough. For example, recently we have published two papers, and it was barely acknowledged. One of the papers was first for the grad student and another took 6 years to publish (i.e. significant achievements).
I think that our whole lab would benefit from more affirmation of good work and good effort that is being made. On the surface, publications, grants awarded, maybe even papers drafted, should be celebrated and highlighted publicly. Same goes for extracurricular activities around the lab (there are few people who contribute significantly to upkeep of lab). I would like to see our lab's work improved, it is not just personal feeling of indignation (which there is a bit :-) As far as I know, positive reinforcement of good behaviors is a proven method of making things better.
How can I bring this up with my professor, or at least express that I wish to see that change?
My take would be somewhat direct:

I thought that we should celebrate more the achievements around the lab. We talked often about publishing more, so maybe we need to highlight efforts better. It would be especially great to hear from you more often when we do good work.

PS: As I am not native English speaker, I also would like to use some precise language. I have talked to senior colleague, who agreed with my assessment, but haven't given advice on addressing the issue.
PPS: migrated from Workplace@SE based on comments there

Can you clarify your working relationship with the PI? E.g., are you a grad student? Postdoc? Technician?

@MadJack yes, added. 5th year phd student with this PI.

You could also propose to organise something yourself.

This sounds like a matter you may need to take into your own hands. You can't make a person more emotive, affectionate, cheerleader-eque...that may just not be your prof's style. Also, you're sort of asking them to do more "work", even if you don't see it as work. It's one more thing they have to deal with. Why not solve this yourself: be the change you want.
Do you have a pin-board in/near the lab? Cover it in bright paper, call it the achievement board, and start tacking announcements of jobs well done. Alternatively, create an news/achievements email that goes out to everyone once a month that highlights what everyone has accomplished and make sure everyone tells you what they're up to.
Just two of many possibilities, but this way you come across as proactive to your prof, a champion of your peers, rather than needy and demanding of more of their time.

i did think about it and it definitely good proactive stance. However, there is a difference I wanted to address: encouragement/aknowledgement coming from top down, not horizontally. it is quite different, albeit both are important

You might find if you set up an easy way for the top to encourage, they will start encouraging. They might pin things to your board, contribute to your monthly email, or just respond themselves to the increase in collegiality and start saying more nice things. Of course they may not, but if they don't you've still got the positive vibes going, so better than nothing!

This. I've heard it termed being the "lab mom" or "lab dad", but basically there is often one relatively senior member of a lab group that does the socio-emotional uplifting for the team. This can be you! Chances of the PI doing it are pretty low, and in my experience it's always been a post-doc filling the role.


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Is it a good idea to postdocs that are less than a year?
I've noticed that there are a lot of postdocs postings that offer fixed-term contracts for 12 months and sometimes less (I did find 8 months). I'm looking for a postdoc position as my first post-PhD job and I don't know if I should also consider those. For the short-term contract, what's the usual story? do they really expect you to publish in just 8 months?

Based on the hiring timelines in most countries, you would already need to start your search for the next stop as soon as you started the job. I would consider such a job an emergency solution.

Technically speaking, the post-docs at my institution are 'one-year, renewable', which serves to emphasize that it is a temporary position. Renewal to 3 years is automatic, HR starts questioning me after that, and HR will not renew past 6 years.

Postdocs in my department are three years, but the official offer says something like "one year, renewable for two more years subject to satisfactory teaching." I don't think we've ever not renewed a postdoc appointment, but the official language gives us some leverage in case a postdoc does a terrible job of teaching and makes no effort to improve.

In the UK they mention "The job is fixed term until DD/MM with a possibility of an extension." But the thing is, this means you will get assessed and evaluated after 8-12 months? If the policy is 'no publication then no renewal' this this a bad idea, no?

@AndreasBlass, can you give an example of what helps you evaluate the performance of a postdoc in the first year? What's the minimum requirement that will make consider extending a contract?

@U.User First, our postdocs have a week of training before classes start. That week includes short practice lectures, usually enough to let the trainers identify any problem cases. Second, the classes of new postdocs are visited by course coordinators or program supervisors. And of course student complaints can trigger additional attention. I've never been involved in deciding renewals, but my impression is that a sincere effort to improve one's teaching is probably sufficient. (See next comment, as this one's getting long.)

Our university has a Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, which can send people to observe someone's teaching or have it videotaped for later discussion. A postdoc who takes advantage of these possibilities and cooperates with CRLT's suggestions will probably be OK. Other indications of sincere effort might include discussions with the coordinators of the multi-section courses or getting teaching advice from one's research mentor (unless the mentor has a reputation as a lousy teacher).

Hmmm, interesting. Apparently, I targeted research-oriented post-docs and found that many job postings require 5% of the responsibilities should be devoted to teaching and supervising. So, perhaps they might use other criteria?

An employment contract lasting less than a year is an unfair contract.

Typically very short (<1yr) positions are offered because the PI only has money to pay for a few months' postdoc time. This can arise for a variety of reasons, but the most common is probably that they obtained a grant to pay for (say) a 3-year postdoc, and then hired someone who found a new job after two-and-a-bit years. This is an awkward situation: often funding agencies place strict time limits for money to be spent, so one may be faced with the challenge of getting rid of a substantial pile of cash quickly, and hiring someone is the only realistic way to do this.
Related, but distinct: sometimes PIs will choose to spend the dregs of a grant on employing a graduating PhD student for a few months after they complete their thesis. The length of position offered is usually directly governed by the amount of money left in the bank. In such cases it may be necessary to 'advertise' the job to satisfy employment regulations and/or policies.
Unless you are already involved in a project, it is difficult to achieve much in a postdoc that lasts less than a year. Inevitably you lose time at the start getting settled in (especially if you have to move to a new city), and you will be busy applying for new jobs and attending interviews. PIs' expectations no doubt differ, but I think it is unreasonable to expect much to come out of such a short position.
Often PIs in this situation will be applying for follow-on funding, so there is a chance that the position will ultimately be extended to a decent length. However, you should not count on this happening.
If you see an advert of this sort, I think it is reasonable to contact the PI and ask for an explanation of the circumstances, and how they envisage things working. Personally, I would only apply for such positions if the alternative were unemployment.

That's what I expected really:Some money left that can be only justified through hiring someone for a few months.But, I think you get the 'feeling' from reading the job description and the responsibilities about the current status. I mean, a postdoc in the situation you mentioned earlier will say something like "you will work on some problem". On the contrary here, I found one where they mention that the contract will end in 31 August 2021 and interviews are expected in December. So, we're taking 8 months here,but the profile they're looking for is really detailed with long term objectives!!

Right now, I am not considering such postdocs, it's just that I have seen quite many and I figured perhaps I am missing something. Also, I did try once talking to a PI about the current situation (in order to probe terrain a little bit), but he didn't respond. If you think about it, it's quite tricky for the PI to tell you "I don't have any grants for next year" in this situation as he won't find anyone interested (mostly). On the other hand, he might give you promises about next year, but like you mentioned: nothing is guaranteed.

A detailed advert might be a sign they've just recycled the original one, or that they're trying to make sure that only one person is qualified to take the job.


text:
Length and details of a personal statement in postdoc positions?
I am trying to apply for postdoc position in the UK. During the application process, I found that the personal statement is a required file and cv is an additional document. So, the personal statement is really important and I've never wrote one. There are those who say a personal statement shouldn't be longer than a paragraph with a few lines, and some people say it can longer if it's for a job in university.
When I applied to other positions, I wrote research statements and supporting statements but I think the structure of this one is different. So, how long is a personal statement and what questions should my personal statement answer? For instance, can I talk about my past research? research issues in the project I will be working on?
PS: I am looking for information that are related to postdoc positions. I believe the blogs I read talk about general jobs, grants, etc. But I didn't find a lot of information about research positions.

Is this just a different name for an SoP (Statement of Purpose)?

Honestly I don't know. But a first Google search said this "So, the difference between these two types of essays is that the Personal Statement focuses on your individual background and your own special reasons for pursuing the degree while the Statement of Purpose spotlights your career goals and preparedness for this degree program."

If you have a way to ask, it would be worth doing.

If they only ask for personal statement and CV then you need to find a way to squeeze in the personal statement basically everything. I would start by introducing what your studies were so far and what kind of results you got. Highlight the significance of your research and what are the next steps. Then write about collaborations you had and how you expanded your scientific network. Conclude by saying what your future plans in terms of career are. It is not an easy thing to write so I would start just writing down everything you can think of and then you start ordering things. With this kind of stuff the easiest way to tackle it is to just start writing. Ultimately it is a personal statement so you need to add some personal touch. Let people that knows you well read it and ask them their opinion even if they are not scientist. Good luck with your application!

Actually the CV alone should detail the past. The SoP looks to the future. Don't waste words on "what you did". Speak about what you intend to do in future.

Thank you for your answer. But wouldn't that be a bit lengthy?

I forgot to mention the length. I would keep it maximum one page length which with nice formatting it is not much. By what you did in the past I mean just the first two sentences. It is not detailed of course but the first two sentences should show your passion for science and your passion for what to you have studied/done so far and the reason why you want to go for that specific postdoc position. Plus why is the perfect position and why it is perfect now and not next year for example. I know it's a lot of stuff, but once you have written down everything it is much easier to refine after.

Bare in mind that there is not a right answer or a right way to write this kind of stuff, it is just my opinion.


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Can I ask to start my postdoc remotely during an interview? (Postdoc is in the UK and I live in another country)
So, I was invited for an interview in England, which is currently on a national lockdown at least until January. They send the invitation email when the lockdown was a regional thing, but they confirmed the details during the national lockdown.
Personally, it would be great for me if I start working remotely for a month or two, I need to sort a lot of things in my home country. Since the country is on a lockdown, there's a high chance that they might bring it up. But if they don't, can I mention it? (and how can I do it?) I'm scared that it might play against me.

I would suggest that - unless they bring it up themselves - you don't need to mention this at interview stage. Wait until you've been offered the job, and then discuss it as part of the 'when can you start' conversation.

@avid But of course, the OP will have to bring up the "when can I start" question.  Otherwise, it would seem odd given that (apparently) there was no information available on that.  (I mean, everyone is looking for a position around a specific time, right?)  Then it would seem odd to not voice that they might want to start a bit later and/or remotely.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the university insisted on it, actually: certainly we're all working remotely (albeit at a somewhat shorter distance) anyway.

@user3482749 Yes, I think that the panel will bring the issue. It is like you said, everyone is working remotely, now.

The UK may have just a few more problems with international recruits than a temporary lockdown, some of which I guess even universities still have to get used to.

@Mark can you please explain?

@U.User Related to brexit which just became effective last week; EU citizens need a visa to get to and work in the UK, there are different types of visas, application procedures, and so on

I wouldn't be concerned. This is a common concern these days, so I'm sure they will understand.  It might be that they tell you that it is not possible for legal reasons.  It might however even be that they are happy to know you are willing/interested to work remotely for a while, since under the current circumstances, there might be significant difficulties/delays in getting you into the country in a timely fashion (depending also on your passport, and where you travel from).
Regarding as to how to bring it up, you should do so as a question - like "Would it be possible to work for a month or two remotely, given that it will be difficult to relocate (and other reasons)", but it is certainly good to present it in a way which will make it also look favorable to them, i.e. "give us more time for the relevant paperwork".
Of course, this all also depends when the position is actually meant to start. I assume it is soon, so chances are high that restrictions are still in place at that point.

Thank for your answer. I am aware of the legal reason complications. Actually, I expected that they might cancel the interview due to the current situation there. But, they did go through process regardless of the lockdown, so I don't think it's reasonable to invite international candidates for an interview and expect them to wait until things cool down, right? Keep mind that the daily cases are still increasing even with a national lockdown. Also, there is no information about the starting date.

@U.User if you have no information about the starting date, how can you say you want to start 1-2 months later?  This will sound completely pointless!  Ask about the starting date first, and then have an answer ready depending on what they say!

Yes, of course! I am not planning to ask the question like that. I'll mention it when I get more information during the interview.


text:
Which approach is better for publishing in good journals?
I am a second year PhD student. At the end of my first year, we (with my supervisor) have prepared a paper which he advised to submit to a leading journal. I was a little bit skeptical about the matter because I've prepared the paper for a conference and not as an article for a journal, and especially when the idea was not mature enough to be accepted in a journal.
Personally, I was planning to submit the paper to a conference, and then improve the old results and add new results and then submit to another conference, and when we develop a solid contribution, we combine all results and then try a leading journal. I knew at the same, that then downsides of my approach are:

Takes time (conferences take at least 2 to 3 months to notify, and I was planing to try 2 or 3 conferences to improve the results).
Expensive (registration fees, travel cost, etc.).
And probably I might not get the feedback that will improve our paper (it happened to me in my first/previous conference).

My supervisor's approach is different, he said that top leading journals
 give really good feedback and sometimes they give the exact problem in your contribution and recommend solutions. The idea for him is submit not mainly for acceptance, but to get feedback that we could to improve and then choose a suitable journal.
As you can see, we both want the same thing but each had a different method. Of course, I've followed his approach, and the results were this: I've dealt with 7 desk rejections with no detailed remarks. 5 of these were rejected because it's out of scope, and 2 said that the results needs to be improved. Keep in mind, that "top leading journals" take a lot of time to give the first answer, so I've wasted 8 months just looking for journals and preparing templates.
Lucky, I listened a little bit to my guts and started working on some new improvements and suggested to my supervisor to add these improvements and try one last time. He accepted and after more than 1 month of working, we finally submitted the new version to another journal and now I just received an email that says the paper is currently under review :).
But I am curios about whether his approach is right or mine, what are the mistakes that I did during this whole process? Keep in mind I have no publications (*), I really love research and always try my best, but those 7 months were stressful, especially when I know 2nd years with 2 or more publications already.
(*) I did 1 conference because I did some work in my Master and my supervisor (same person) said it's good we should try a conference. But My thesis discusses (a) slightly different problem (s), so I have no publications.

Haha, it's computer security.

I know a lot of PhD students in maths and biology who have experienced the same issue. Ironically, I have colleges who have the exact opposite problem: Their supervisor looks only  for conferences, and our university's policy is that you need articles published in journals to finish your thesis. The problem is that it is not a good view to enter into conflict with your supervisor after preparing a (or each) paper. The only thing I think is reasonable to do is, if the paper is rejected with no good advice, I will follow this experience as an argument and try to convince him with my approach.

Yes, I have read that somewhere too. That is why I have tried to create a web page to have some virtual presence as researcher and highlight the current projects I am working on. But then again, publication is a currency, most likely the desk rejections I got it's because I haven't published before as you said. Of course, it's little controversial because the last journal is currently reviewing the paper even though I have no publications.

I suggest to look at your advisor's record with past students. Did former students finish their Ph.D. with a decent number of publications? If yes, the advisor probably knows very well how things work. If the results are poor or inconsistent, I would seek advice from someone in your field. I cannot comment on the best practice in computer security as it is remote from my field. I do know that in some fields the bar for journal publication is extremely high, and that at least in some parts of computer science conference publications count as journal publications. Best of luck!

The conference approach has multiple advantages. The conference establishes deadlines to force you to stop researching and advance towards a manuscript. The length requirement forces you to be very brutal about condensing the crux of your research. The creation of your presentation/poster requires this 100x more, especially given that how will agonize over how to present your work when you are standing there to be embarrassed by any weaknesses in it. The actual presentation experience produces a great deal of discussion and feedback helping you understand how other researchers see your research. And finally while at the conference you get rapidly exposed to a broad range of related research, which is of immense value to both students and researchers in the field. Note that all of these can be achieved without the work being competitively peer-reviewed. Those reviews are just a bonus (assuming you get accepted in that case).
A drawback of starting with a conference (when your ultimate goal is a journal publication) is that the journal may not accept the results as original anymore. So your journal article would need to add a significant amount of new results and/or analysis.
As for the desk rejections, it sounds like you may not be taking them seriously enough. Consider that, as a student, when you don't understand the value in a paper or text you read, you presume the fault is your own and re-read more carefully. An editor or reviewer doesn't. They quickly skim to decide if there is any value, often starting from the assumption that there probably is not, since they don't actually want to read it anyway. If editors think your paper does not contain results, then you are failing to make the results immediately obvious. If they think your paper does not fit the scope of their journal, then you are failing to make its value within their scope immediately obvious. And the best advice for how to accomplish these things is to read the journal you want to publish in. Read it a lot. Then you will be able to explain clearly how your manuscript fits in with those other papers they publish most often.
And personally I'm not so sure the "top" journals have better reviewers. Even if they do in your field, it appears you would have a lot to gain from any reviews you can get.

Yes the conference approach or concept has a lot of benefits that will improve your research, although it is not always the case. I have been in a lot of international conferences where the audience don't ask questions if the topic is too narrow or simply people just leave because it's the end of the day ad everyone is just tired.  I also agree with you concerning the "top" journals concept.  It is not always guaranteed that you will get detailed remarks even if it's a top journal. Thank you.


text:
Would it be better to drop a class or receive a D?
I have hit a wall.  I will receive a D in a math course (my major), C- but doubtful.  D is passing according to university.  It would drop my gpa from 3.6 to 3.3. Two more courses after this to take, so a lower gpa might follow.  Does gpa matter when applying for jobs in the math/science field?  Let me say, I am not going to grad school, I am an older return student, so being a single mom, I would like to wrap this Bachelor's in Math up.  Will keeping a D negatively impact job prospects in any way, or having the degree is the only thing that matters?

Questions primarily about undergraduate studies are out of scope here.  Questions about employer preferences are doubly so, since people answering questions here are mostly graduate students and professors who don't know well what non-academic jobs demand.  That being said, if you don't do better in those other last math classes, as a potential employer looking at your transcript, I would worry that, while you can stay on task, pay attention to details, and follow complicated directions, you might not have the creative thinking and ability to solve novel problems some jobs require.

Many corporate employers have minimum GPA requirements at numbers like 3.0, 3.25, 3.5, etc.  This D could knock you out of consideration for some positions.  On the other hand, having to stick around for an extra semester will probably cost you a lot of tuition and lost salary.

Take the D and move on.  It is just one course.

This question is highly dependent on personal circumstance (which type of job you plan to pursue, other skills you have that employers might want, how competitive the job market is, which university your degree is from, etc.), but based on the information given I would say it is better to just take the D is most circumstances. The completion of a degree in itself indicates to employers that you had the tenacity to stick with a program for an extended amount of time and is overall (usually) one of the most important factors in getting a job that does not require additional schooling.
Many employers do not check transcripts and are instead looking for other skills. If your schooling has prepared you enough in other ways, one bad mark is not likely to be a make or break when it comes to job hunting. However, I think the best thing would be to consider the specific job you are hoping to get after graduation and decide from there.

Thank you!  I have been working with same employer for 12 years, but I would really love to work for NOAA or another place with similar missions.  I don't think my sisters (both have been in their professions for many years now) have ever looked at their gpa after graduation, let alone remember it.  I am just a bit blindsided and hurt by my inability to solve novel problems like @Alexander Woo mentioned in comment above.  I will carry on and move on, dropping will not help at this point.  Thank you again.

+1 In particular, I think if you are considered a "senior" applicant (i.e., with relevant work experience), no company will care AT ALL about your grades. If you are considered a "straight-from-school" applicant, some employers might care about your transcript, but others will not. Anecdotally, when I interview candidates for my (small US-based R&D) employer, I do not check grades at all, though some applicants for very junior positions might volunteer relevant coursework and grades.


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Finishing incomplete degree after a decade to switch to industry
I'm considering the possibility of completing a degree from which I dropped out almost a decade ago. In part because I feel I should, in part because I think it could be useful for switching to industry.
Context
Started a degree in Engineering in a non-US university with traditional system of long degree programs(five to six years), roughly equivalent to B.Sc.+M.Sc.
I dropped out from the Engineering degree to pursue a career in Physics, which I did to some extent. I'll be finishing a Ph.D. this year with published work, good academic records, TA experience and all the usual academic stuff.
Even though I don't regret having switched from Engineering to Physics, I have decided that I want to pursue a career in the industry and not in the academy. However, I'd like to keep in contact with the academic world through a part time position as a professor.
I'm 29 years old. Almost no real world work experience, apart from a short internship some years ago.
Questions
Is it advisable to finish the degree in Engineering? I still have all the credits previously earned. I'd take me a year and a half studying full time or three years doing it part time.
Asuming I finish the degree in Engineering, how should I present it in a CV? Just the graduation date? The entire time span from starting date to finishing date like "from 2008 to 2020"? The time spans of the two phases like "from 2008 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2020"?
In the event of having a good postdoctoral opportunity with connections to the industry and real world applications, should I take it or should I start working in the private sector as soon as possible?

If you want to be in industry, go to industry.  Stop taking new degrees.  At least stop for a while.  Go work.
If you are in the US, take the FE/EIT, now.  Start racking up time to get your PE.
"Engineering" is awfully vague.  Mechanical, electrical or what?

Note, I am in the US, so my experience in both university and industry may be different than yours.

Is it advisable to finish the degree in Engineering? I still have all the credits previously earned. I'd take me a year and a half studying full time or three years doing it part time.

Definitely, absolutely not.
Only the highest degree matters. Having an additional bachelor's or master's does absolutely nothing for you in terms of qualifications. This is for a good reason: undergraduate degrees teach you "enough to be useful" in a professional scientific setting; a PhD teaches you how to perform research without supervision. The actual subject matter within STEM is largely irrelevant (perhaps modulo life science vs. physical science), since your actual job will require specific skills that you'll have to learn on the job.
Consider your opportunity cost. Even if this degree were useful, you would be sacrificing a lot of time and possibly money to pursue this. There are more useful things you could do, like throwing yourself full-force into your job.
Learn more about your 'real job' first. After you have a couple years of work experience and have settled on a particular career path / industry, you'll be better suited to judge if any particular classes or certifications would be useful.

Assuming I finish the degree in Engineering, how should I present it in a CV? Just the graduation date? The entire time span from starting date to finishing date like "from 2008 to 2020"? The time spans of the two phases like "from 2008 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2020"?

I would list just the year of completion. But this will raise eyebrows (people will wonder why in the world you have an undergraduate degree after a closely-related graduate one).

In the event of having a good postdoctoral opportunity with connections to the industry and real world applications, should I take it or should I start working in the private sector as soon as possible?

Don't do a post-doc if you're not aiming for a faculty job.
You may think a post-doc in academia is useful and fun. But eventually, you will start your 'real career', and you'll (eventually) find something that you also think is useful and fun. The earlier you start your real career, the more time you'll have to progress further and further.
Also consider your opportunity cost: doing a post-doc gives you zero additional qualifications relative to someone who didn't do a post-doc, outside of the particular niche area in which you did your post-doc. In contrast, a post-doc is a temporary position with a lot of uncertainty, very high expectations, and uncompetitive salaries.
The only reason you should even consider a post-doc is if you want a faculty job. Even if you do want a faculty job, most post-docs do not convert, so you need to have an honest assessment of what your odds are and whether it is worth it.
In short: the transition from university to industry is really jarring, especially given that all our role models are successful professors. It can be tempting to take temporary positions in academia rather than taking the leap. But it's better to get this over with so you can land on the other side. It might be bumpy to get established on a career trajectory you like, but once you do it, it is very rewarding to have a permanent position, a clear trajectory, and enough certainty about your career to start moving forward on other aspects of your life.


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What to do when you don't agree with an advisor's comment in your paper
What should I do when I disagree with my advisor's recommendations for revision of my manuscripts? The suggested changes are major revisions that will change the concept and message of the paper; for example, changes to the structure, the central idea of the paper, and the metrics I use in my simulations. I believe that the metrics I have used are logical and they have already been used to evaluate the performance of my proposed technique in my field. Every time, I spend more than 6 months between the first draft than the last one because of the advisor's comments. What should I do?
Thank you.

Communicate more with your advisor? Discuss why you want to use the metrics you chose, and listen to your advisor's reasoning for a different choice....

I do, but he explain in a way that is not correct, I read a lot of papers and I know exactly that what i wrote is correct, but for him, he does not have time to read papers about what i am doing so he come with comments that are confusing me and when i try to explain he won't let me even talk, for the metrics he said all the other authors are wrong why do you wanna follow them and do the same error, which is a little bit worried, i read only papers from IEEE transactions...

he won't let me even talk -- This is a much more significant problem than your disagreements over a paper.

There are a few responses to this but we need a little more context. Presumably this is not for a peer reviewed publication [I only ask this because you use the term 'major revisions']. At the end of the day your advisor is just that, your advisor, and it's up to you to decide how to, or if you should, implement the proposed changes. You don't have to implement all of them, you can defend your paper on those you feel strongly about, but remember that your advisor has a lot more experience than you and it's worth taking into account what they say, and that they may cause you to 'think outside the box' and revise your argument in ways you hadn't originally considered.
6 months sounds like an awfully long time to me between revisions. If you don't agree then say so, but justify your position. But remember that 'major revisions' are exactly that - major - and there must be a good reason why your advisor thinks that your paper[s] need changing to such a degree. I would sit down and talk things through, or if you're doing things over email, state which parts are most important to you and which you do/don't want to change and why.
Don't be too precious about your work. It's a learning experience and good research is generally the work of more than one person. I'm sure your advisor wants the best for you, and the field, so if you detach yourself from your product a little, you may have a better perspective.

Thank you for your response, these very nice words gave me more hope. In fact, we spend a lot of time revising the paper, every time because of the advisor comments, sometimes, the sentence is correct (grammar and logic) but i need to re-write it as the advisor wants, line by line, a lot of work and a lot of stress. sOMETIMES ASLO, i do the same simulations many many times and sometimes we drop work that is already done and i was expecting to publish it because my advisor changed his mind.....


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GRE Expiration Date
How long is the expiration date of GRE? For example, if I am going to sit for the GRE in January 2015, how long can I use the score for my graduate application?

Your GRE score is valid for (approximately) 5 years since the taking of the test.

How long are GRE scores valid?
For tests taken on or after July 1, 2016, scores are reportable for five years following your test date. For example, scores for a test taken on July 3, 2018, are reportable through July 2, 2023.
For tests taken prior to July 1, 2016, scores are reportable for five years following the testing year in which you tested (July 1–June 30). For example, scores for a test taken on May 15, 2016, are reportable through June 30, 2021.

I heard that the new system changed few years ago, so the validity period also changed. From some seniors, they said the validity period is only 2 years. But I can't find any information online to verify the period. That's why I feel very confusing.

They did change a few things like the number of sections in the exam and the scoring scale, but the validity period is the same. The only reliable information on this can be found on ETS's website, and according to them it's still 5 years.

Slight correction: they count their years July-to-June, so if taken in January 2015 it will be valid until June 30, 2020 (ref here)

Don't some departments require scores that are within the last two years? Or some other length?

It's valid for 5 years, as stated on their official website.

I'm sorry but can you show me the site which states the validity period? Thanks.

https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/faq/
Under Scoring and reporting.

See also https://www.ets.org/gre/subject/scores/.


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How to ensure proper peer-review for a self-published book?
In this day and age, with more and more people going the self-publishing route, I'd be interested in experiences from/opinions about how to go about having your self-published book properly peer-reviewed.

Who self-publishes?  Can you point to some examples?

I am not aware of any examples. Perhaps I should have been clearer in my question. I'm not asking about papers but about books. I'll rephrase my question.

@DavidKetcheson Thanks for that. What I meant with example was a book that was self-published as well as peer-reviewed.

@David There is certainly discussion of publishing using various more open models (e.g., author retaining copyright; creative commons licences; making pdf available online) where the cost of greater openness (and thus less revenue) is reduced publisher resources. Thus, I think this question also relates to similar discussions about making a book freely available online: http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/1628/62

What exactly do you mean by peer-review?  That someone writes a public review of the book, or that it is refereed like a journal article would be?

@DavidKetcheson I mean that the book gets a proper critical review like a journal article would be. Publising with a publisher may mean that they organise independent critical peer reviewers. With self-publishing this is more difficult as the writer (1) would have to contact the reviewers directly, or (2) would have to ask somebody else to arrange the reviewers. Neither case is ideal because it involves somebody that was contacted by the writer.

@MarcvanDongen Could you rephrase the question. SE is not for "sharing your experiences, insights, and opinions" but for answerable questions. (I.e. please put the actual question also in the content.)

@PiotrMigdal Many questions in this form are ``howtos:'' what to wear for interview, how much time shouold I spent on essay marking, .... In that sense, this question is no exception. To be honest, I find it difficult to rephrase it.

@PiotrMigdal Just FYI, I just noticed I misspelt the word forum.

Publishers actually pay reviewers to review textbooks.  I think what OP wants to know is how to get a book reviewed in that way when it will be self-published, i.e. when there is no money, and no publisher, to pay reviewers.

Doron Zeilberger self-published a result that was rather modular and asked lots of people he knew to each verify one aspect of it, in lieu of ordinary refereeing. However, you have to know a bunch of well-respected people who would be willing to play along for this to work.

In mathematics, traditionally, and I think currently, very few books are reviewed at all in any serious sense. One possible sense would be "critical appraisal", and this is rare: a handful of books is given serious reviews in the Amer. Math. Soc.'s "Bulletin". The other possible sense of "peer review" is in a sense adding something to one's CV for jobs, tenure, promotion, grants. Almost by definition, this never happens. That is, "refereeing" is done for the conventional journals, whether paper or electronic, and referees are solicited by the editors, for papers submitted to that journal. The "valuation" of books is typically done not via "reviews", but by the status of the publishing house, and the status gain from publishing a book is probably less than a small paper in a medium-status journal. Thus, in particular, self-publication confers none of that cachet. And I'd wager that self-publication would compromise "review" in the sense of appraisal, as well, because other publications would have higher priority for the reason of status.
(I do hope things improve, but I do think this is the current state, in mathematics.)
Edit: As examples of "self-publication", disregarding the "peer review" idea entirely, a certain number of relatively senior (and not only!) people put book-like items on-line at their web-sites, often at universities. I heartily endorse this (and have been doing it myself for quite a while!) However (?), this appears to confer even less status than "books" published in physical hard-cover, I presume because there has been no hurdle of sufficiently-impressing publishers (who do ask opinions before "consenting" to publish).
The more legitimate issue of "(peer?) review" to ascertain correctness, or helpfulness, etc., I think has so few precedents that little is happening. First, Math Reviews has no procedure in place to review such things, and it doesn't happen. Second, there appears to be considerable reticence to cite such things, even in stable situations, for a variety of (not entirely sensible) reasons. Third, while one might imagine that on-line, thus, dynamic, documents could be more reliable, by virtue of being correctible (indefinitely!), this actually disturbs/perturbs many people... Further, third(b), disappointingly to me, very, very few people have ever given me any feeback/corrections about my on-line stuff, or even asked for clarification (in some cases leading to correction or, anyway, better writing). I can imagine that some of this is politeness, or respect, which is understandable.
But, I might claim, the real "problem" is lack of precedent. The "refereed journal" model is 150+ years old, and itself depended upon evolution beyond the "reading before the Academy" 200+ years ago when printing itself was a non-trivial matter, etc.
Thus, rethinking the action-oriented sense of the original question: since "self-published" ought mean nothing, really, in today's context, apart from the fact that it doesn't have a "prior" approval from status-conferring entities... to "get an expert opinion" one ("gosh, let's just try to think clearly for a sec!" :) would send th'thing to (web-obtained?) experts, asking very politely whether they'd be so kind as to offer critical remarks... and as a very polite secondary question, whether they'd be willing to be quoted in such remarks.
(This has led me to thinking that the difficulty in quantifying "civility" and "politness", especially between different generations (if only in convention and usage), potentially causes substantial difficulties in on-line forums, and/or "stack-exchanges", and or . Not that I think high-status entities have a "moral" superiority, which is the stereotypical exaggeration-to-disqualify, and which is a popular (mis-) interpretation of that elite, but that experience can be worth something, and that something is not easily acquired by any other means.)

In mathematics... very few books are reviewed at all in any serious sense. — Really?  I wish somebody had told me that before I wrote that detailed book review.  (I'm joking.  I think.)

:) Still, there are too few useful book reviews. Mostly books are not reviewed at all in "Math Reviews", because they are "not refereed", so, in the traditional mythology, may be incorrect and/or do not confer status on the author(s). Are not "research", "by definition". Crazy, obsolete conceits.

@JeffE: Perhaps yours is an exception, but I think generally book reviews in mathematics are an opportunity for the reviewer (usually a well-known expert) to write a survey of the subject.  Then there is a token paragraph at the end to the effect of "This book is very nice".  One doesn't usually expect to find a critical judgement on the book's importance or correctness in the same way as one would for a paper under peer review.

I was asked to review a mathematics book by its publisher; my review wasn't (and won't be) published.

Many books are edited volumes and the editor "reviews" all of the chapters. The editor is often a leading expert. This is a (minor) form of peer review that happens often in the world of book publishing.

@Behacad, the conference volumes you mention are not self-published, and the contributors are usually by-invitation. A different thing than the question was about, I think.

Yes it is somewhat different, but I am not referring to conference volumes. Also, some edited books are self-published. It is simply a book written by several different people with one editor.

Just saw JeffE's followup comment.  I also recently reviewed a mathematics book.  I was given 2 weeks to review about 250 pages.  This is a couple orders of magnitude less time per page than I would need to "properly" review a paper for importance, correctness and novelty.  On the other hand, that wasn't what the publisher wanted: they were more interested in my opinion on its organization, selection of topics, appropriateness for its audience, and most importantly, whether it would sell.  So this is quite different from "peer review" as it is applied to papers.


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How do I, or should I, bring up research that I did under someone who was fired for another reason?
I worked under a professor whose research was funded by a non-profit organization. They were released from the university for some inappropriate behavior. The research that they have been publishing has been solid so, were it not for this incident, I would happily put it on a resume or application. The incident does not involve plagiarism or really anything that would make someone suspicious of the validity of their findings or published works. I understand that this is vague, but it is intentionally so for privacy and security reasons.
Until now, I have been putting down the name of the research program that the professor led that I was a part of. However, I am worried that employers may research the program, the professor, and the incident that resulted in their termination and make judgments about my character and work.
I am trying to finish the work that I started either alone, or with a professor at another university. I plan on acknowledging the university that I am enrolled at and the non-profit for providing the equipment and grant money, respectively.  If I am able to continue the work with another professor at another university or simply publish on my own, then I may just discuss that aspect of the process in applications and interviews, but until the work is completed, any advice on how I should proceed?

Also see: How to list past position under someone who has been arrested

From the tags, it seems you are an undergraduate. Therefore, I am assuming you don’t have a lot of other research experience to list. You also specify that the misconduct was not research-related.
Based on these factors, I would suggest keeping this work on your resume/CV. I would stress the topic and content of the work rather than the person/group. Perhaps where you would normally list the faculty you worked under, you could list the university and department. Or you could perhaps list a post-doc who was a more direct supervisor, if applicable.
You are concerned about negative consequences of being affiliated with the professor in question. People don’t generally hold undergraduates responsible for professors’ conduct, so I think anyone who really considers the issue will not blame you. Personally, I would be more inclined to pity an undergrad in such a situation.

Exactly this—and it wouldn't just apply to the UG's. Group members are rarely held accountable if their advisors do something bad that isn't associated with academic misconduct. There was a major incident in my field a few years ago that led to a faculty member to resign. One of his research staff ended up taking over his group.


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Can I use my master's degree thesis as a Research Project Proposal for a phd application?
Can I use my master's degree thesis (a pilot study not published) as a Research Project Proposal for a PhD application?

If you are asking whether you can repeat your MS work to get a doctorate, then the answer is no. If you are asking whether you can work to resolve still-open research questions that you already worked on earlier then the answer is a qualified yes.
But it depends on where you are and also on your advisor. In the US, for example, you don't normally need to make such a proposal to apply for doctoral study. Other places you do, and in those places the advisor will need to ok the proposal.
It's acceptance also depends on whether the advisor would consider the proposal to have sufficient depth to be suitable as a doctoral research project. So, again, if you are looking for an easy way through the doctorate, the answer would be a likely no.
But in the right place, with the right advisor, and the right problem, it can all come together for a yes, and your prior work might be considered a plus.


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Can I have holidays during a von Humboldt research fellowship?
I am reading the Guidelines and Information of the Research Fellowships of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation:
https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/fileadmin/Bewerben/Foerderung_waehrend_Aufenthalt/Forschungsstipendien_in_Deutschland/research_fellowships_guidelines.pdf
It is written (Section A.1.10)

On principle, research fellows are not entitled to receive monthly fellowship payments if they are absent from the German host institute for a total of more than 14 days (continuous or accumulative) during the sponsorship period

Does it mean that, if my research period is 24 months long, that I cannot have more than 14 days (continuous or cumulative) as holidays, for example, to return home and visit family?
EDIT: Has someone a direct experience? Perhaps they reduce the salary, but is still possible to have a little of free time? 14 days in 2 years seem really very little
Thank you for any help and clarification!

If you ask the responsible officer (who is the only person able to give an authoritative answer), please come back and report the outcome.

It seems pretty clear. You can take no more than 14 days total and still get paid. The definition of "holiday" might need to be clarified, however. There are legal, national, or "bank" holidays some places that might not count.

It looks to me like a pretty clear statement that you get fourteen normal working days of vacation for a two-year fellowship (or five days for a six-month fellowship).  Absences for work are not counted: "Attendance  at  conferences  and  research trips  as  well as  visits  to  archives  and libraries  etc.,  that  are  essential  for carrying  out  the  proposed  research,  do  not  count  as  absences...."  Is there some possible subtlety beyond this that you are concerned about?

Under normal German working law, you are entitled to at least 20 days of vacation a year. This doesn't seem to apply for stipends (like the Humboldt-Fellowship), as mentioned e.g. here: https://studium.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/de/informationen-fuer-stipendiatinnen-und-stipendiaten (only in German), so it seems to be correct that you have only 14 days in total.

Yeah, you're right. Only 14 days off are allowed. If you need more days, but don't need to leave Germany, you can discuss the opportunity of arranging holidays with your academic partner.