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How should I direct readers to a reference work that is riddled with errors?
I am using a somewhat obscure mathematical technique in one of my papers, and there is only one reference text (so far as I am aware) that collects all the important examples of the technique that I need.  However, I am leery of pointing my readers to this book without a warning, because the reference book has numerous problems.
The book was clearly compiled from a number of earlier sources, including the original research literature.  These were put together without much care.  Notation for the various functions involved changes from one table to the next.  (The same object may be referred to an upper case U, lower case u, or a cursive letter.)  Even more seriously, there are many misprints, some of which are more obvious than others.
I feel like when I reference this text, I should put some caveat lector—something like, "Details about the transformation and all the important examples that will be needed in this paper may be found in [1]; however, the reader should be advised that [1] contains multiple typographical errors."  But that sounds somehow unprofessional to me.
Is that kind of statement unprofessional sounding?  If so, how can I convey the information that this is a poor quality source—it just unfortunately happens to be the only comprehensive source in existence.

As per the other comment, the solution is evident : go to the originals...

If the errors are generally typographical and the publisher has posted an errata page, you could also point there.

You might phrase it with a kind of balancing statement like this: "despite numerous typographical errors, [1] contains valuable details and examples...". if relevant, you could also use "notation inconsistencies" instead of "typographical errors".

If you you use that book to point to specific facts/examples I wouldn't care. If you mention it in an introduction then I would had to ask SE myself.

Have you considered writing a flawless reference book yourself?

Citing the original sources (as suggested in Comments by @MorganRodgers and @SolarMike) would generally be preferable even if the flawed book were perfect. By doing so, you credit the discoverers directly and give a sense of the timeline of various advances in the field.
However, I think it would be a mistake for you to ignore the flawed book entirely. It may be of some use to your readers in spite of its errors. Also, you wouldn't want to appear to be ignorant of the existence of that book.
As the occasion arises to point to the work of others, credit the original sources. However, if the original sources may be difficult to obtain, you could also mention the later book (along with a brief comment in
passing about any mistakes on the specific topic under discussion).
You might also mention the later book if it has any value added:
translations from other languages, explanatory figures, discussions
of connections with other results, historical perspectives, and so on).
If the later book is in your bibliography and you mention it a few
times, you have at least given it due credit and shown you are aware of its existence. If you gently point out
a couple of specific relevant errors, your alert readers will get the idea that
the book has some flaws.
It is always best to point out errors in gentle, non-judgmental, matter-or-fact language. In spite of your best efforts and those of referees and editors, your own paper will likely have some mistakes. You will see some of them immediately upon publication, even though they stealthily avoided earlier detection.

-1: Crediting original sources is not the question here. Citing the earlier work would be irrelevant to readers who just want reliable results, if the book in question was itself reliable.

Just saying that [1] contains errors is not terribly helpful: it would be better to be more specific. For example your article could have an appendix where you would list the errors that you found, ideally with some justification. (Such as: "inconsistent with equation X or reference Y".)
On the other hand, it would be unprofessional for the authors of [1] to take offense of justified criticism, or for you to mislead your readers about [1] out of fear of being offensive.


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Masters or 2nd Bachelors?
Should I attend a likely lesser university, PSU in Pittsburg, Kansas, for a graduate degree in history, or should I attend the University of Minnesota for a second bachelors degree in psychology? All of this is aimed at eventual graduate work in philosophical counseling and the history of philosophy. I want to take the time to read and study ancient philosophy in depth so that I can teach it, but I'm also pretty sure that I have the ability to become a decent philosophical counselor and have spent a good deal of my time thinking and reading about it. The U is a stretch financially at the moment, but I might be able to make it work. Financial aid is sparse for a second bachelors degree. This is why there is even a question. I can definitely afford to live in Pittsburg, KS and I do like it there and I can go to PSU and sort of revive my rusty study habits (3.5 yrs since graduation) in a slightly less rigorous setting, most likely, that I should be able to receive adequate loans for. If I can manage to pay for 13 credits at the U, the rest are free. That is one semester, with tuition around 18k. Living in Minneapolis is very expensive too, all the amenities are higher and rent averages 600 just for a room. I have a lot of history there and friends, but haven't lived there in some time. I also have friends and history in Pittsburg whom I've seen more recently. I have no idea what to do at this point. Looking at both acceptance letters, reading them back to back, over and over, and feeling paralyzed. School starts in January.

I would probably look into contacting some graduate programs for Philosophical Counseling that you are desiring to get into and ask them what would be better for you.
But for my personal opinion, the second Bachelors does not seem like a good idea.

This really depends on your personal factors; there's no one-size-fits all answer to your question. Thus, your question is likely to be closed. Still, I'll take a stab at it.
Disclaimer: my background is physics and CS, so I'm completely unqualified to answer your question. Feel free to disregard everything I say.
Nonetheless...
I don't think a master's degree in history from Pittsburg State (not to be confused with the University of Pittsburgh) will get you very far on the academic job market. Of course, good work speaks for itself, and PSU may be better regarded if you want to stay in/near Kansas long term. But jobs teaching history (particularly at the college level) are very competitive and not terribly well paying. $18K per semester seems very high given that reality.
But, I don't like your other option much better. Minnesota is a well-regarded school, but this is even more expensive and gives you a lower degree in another field with high supply and low demand. I do not know what the job market for "philosophical counseling" may be, but I suspect that it's also competitive and not very well paying. You could well end up spending $100K (or, worse, taking out $100K in student loans) to get this bachelor's and then a master's, only to end up with the same job you have now.
My advice is to calculate the full cost between now and graduation for both of these options, and weigh that against the (realistic) job prospects that these will open for you. You may well want to consider other options altogether. It is admirable that you want to go back to school, but I would really hate to see you invest so much time/money and end up without a viable path to a job.

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Professional website --- Personal *and* Institutional?
Inspired by discussions that happened here for other questions asked, and perhaps close to another question.
Question: Is it good for an academic to maintain two websites --- personal and institutional?
Note that the question is regarding putting material on the web that is primarily connected with one's academic work.
It is true that for those of us in the early part of their career or late into their career(!) the institutional option may not exist as they may not be sufficiently closely associated with an institution to merit a web page under the institutional banner.
However, most people who are regularly employed in academia have the possibility of an institutional website.
Pros for Institutional Website:

Likely to have a professional website designer who is paid (a) to make it work well for visitors, (b) to have an automated procedure for making updates. (c) to be optimised for search engines, (d) to be secure from "hacking" when unattended.
People who know your affiliation will easily get to your page. (Not the same point as above, but related.)

Pros for Personal Website:

Greater control over design and contents. This means that one is (a) not constrained by someone else's views on a good website (b) free to add material as and when one wants without waiting for an approved update process (c) able to change institutions without having to "inform the world" of a changed web page.
One can also develop/demonstrate some basic expertise (on website management) which is potentially useful anyway.

The "pros" in each case can, in principle, be converted to "cons" for the other case. Thus, one could argue, that to get the best of both worlds, one should maintain two websites. This is what the question asks!
However, this does mean that there is likely to be duplication of effort, or neglect of one or the other website.
It is possible that many people on Academia Stackexchange anyway have multiple websites, but what would be your advice?

That depends on individual circumstances. What are the conditions for an institutional website, what is the kind of material you want to share on that website, etc. In short, there is no answer to that question.

For Pros(1) - the institution likely contracted for a nice-looking template and gave some tips on how to fill in information. Unlikely to be ongoing institutional support to keep anything up to date.

I am not sure how much I agree with the institutional pros. I have the feeling that the professional for 1. will likely be the lowest bidder, who will have to implement a website layout decided on by a committee of bureaucrats. And that also reflects on 2. In most university webpages I browsed, finding the page of any specific person was highly non-trivial without knowing which highly specific organisational sub-unit to look in. So most of the time throwing the name into a search engine is faster and thus no different to a private website.

This question is likely to get closed because it depends on your exact circumstances, but I think it's possible to list some parameters that may help answer it. The list below is not comprehensive.

How strongly associated are you with the university?
How likely are you to move to another university?
How good are the websites provided by the university?
Would your personal website have anything on it that your university would not allow?
How good are you at website design (or, how willing are you to pay someone to do it for you?)

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Choosing research topic/area
Observation. After reading bios of many successful scholars I have come to the conclusion that bs/ms/phd students, who eventually succeed in their research, work on the same problems as their supervisors (usually continuing older works of the supervisors). Which makes me think that the adviser plays the crucial role of the success of a beginner researcher.
Background. During last two years of studies I tried to do some research. I approached a prof who I considered among the most active researches on the faculty, not very young / not old, who's research was in the field (some branch of cs|applied mathematics) which I was and still am interested in. He proposed me several topics and I picked one. I tried to produce the result and failed. The difficulty was that: first, I lacked some necessary knowledge, there was no actual "problem", rather "try to get some theoretical result, connected to a certain algorithm". It was very frustrating experience because neither I understood why the topic is important (so I had no real passion) nor the prof had anything particular in mind and was not researching that topic so I was unable to get any research skill from collaboration.
Next year I have chosen another topic with same prof (I thought that the topic was to blame) with almost the same result.
So I don't have any successful research experience yet. For this reason instead of applying to a PhD program directly I have decided to do a Research Masters (in Europe). No that I am in the first year of masters I want to do some research.
The question. I am not sure if the problem lies with me or I am just having a bad luck with advisers. I believe that there are geniuses who can do self-motived research on their own and who do not actually need an adviser. Is it the case for other students too? How can I actually have a research experience which fits my level?

I voted to close this question as being not applicable in the general sense. However, I also find that there is a good question somewhere in there and suggest trying to edit it to include less "what should I do with my career" and focus more on the adviser-student topic.

I tried to produce the result and failed.

As I see it, the issue here is that you were expecting the result to be some solution to the problem. Unfortunately, research tends to fail to produce results we expect quite often.
First, there is probably some result. Whether it is publishable is debatable, but I would consider the advance of the research skill a very positive result. As with all skills, it takes practice and you shouldn't expect to get it right (i.e. groundbreaking publishable results) the first (few) time(s).
Second, if you were stuck for a year without adjustment, that is a problem, not with research per se, but probably with a combination of supervision and communication. You need to set smaller milestones and adjust the course of your work accordingly. In order to do that, you must communicate with your adviser about the problems you are facing. His experience and knowledge should be able to nudge you in the right direction. However, do keep in mind that this is research, and a vital part of it is getting moving again after you've been stuck by yourself. Your adviser may help you, but can't and shouldn't do your work for you.


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Going to study PhD abroad with weak economic backing?
I really desire to go study Ph.D. in the United States and my resume is good enough to secure a scholarship in the designated university, which it will grant full tuition and fees and will give me a small stipend.
But my economic situation is a mess and I'm currently living in a third world country which highest salaries here are equal to $200. I'm also married.
I'm horrified right now and I have no Idea what to do. Can we live there without any self-funding?

This is highly field-dependent. What field are you in?

There is actually a large variation in livability of PhD stipends by University, region, and field. In low cost of living areas of the US with a stipend of 20k, a couple could have a nice stable (humble) living on one income; in other areas you'd need 4-6 room mates or have multi-hour commutes to barely scrape by. The size of "small" does matter a lot, as does whether or not there is help available from the University for moving costs.

I am not sure what your concern is. Bluntly, why does it matter what salaries in your home country are? (Is that weekly, monthly, yearly?) Are you asking if US PhD stipends are enough to survive on? Will you be wanting to support your spouse?

My field is Geography with a minor in Urban planning. I mentioned the salary to show how fragile my economic support is my friend. Let's assume the university is the Ohio State University or Minnesota University (Twin Cities).

Many (most?) doctoral students in the US work as Teaching or Research assistants. The stipend, while small by the standards of regular employment is enough to live on nearly everywhere. There isn't money for extras but a couple can get by. When I studied, the stipend was about 1/3 to 1/4 of the starting faculty salary. I think that it is similar now. Explore this with any US doctoral institution.
There may be visa restrictions for some students and in some situations US citizenship may be required. But I think the visa problem would be especially severe for anyone from Iran now, due to geopolitical considerations. Hopefully these will ease but probably not for a few years, at least.

There isn't money for extras but a couple can get by. I would be hesitant to say this. In most large metropolises, universities have lagged behind the explosion in housing costs has blown up any chance for a couple to survive on a PhD stipend (unless you meant to say a couple can get by on a salary/wages + stipend). I don't keep track of rural/suburban costs.


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Is it common to cite information from a think tank into one's literature review?
As I was researching information on topic X, I found a paper published by a Think Tank. Interesting enough, said paper supports the policy pushed by the Think Tank. So far, all sources used in my paper are from researchers at a University, and I was wondering if I should include the paper in my lit review.
My question is whether I should include the paper or just ignore it, seeing as how the publisher holds a strong bias (possible conflict of interest). With that said, I'm also curious whether it's normal to cite research put out from a Think Tank.

Your literature review should include relevant research around your topic. If the paper is just a policy statement, you can ignore it. But if it is based on research by the think-tank you could include it. However, it would be good to indicate a caveat in some way, perhaps just by having a separate section, perhaps with a clear statement.
Some think-tank research isn't really research at all, of course, but just the gathering of one-sided support for an already decided on position. The caveat given for papers of that sort should be strong IMO. But, since that isn't research in any sense, but just propaganda, you can ignore it with a clear conscience.
But for a direct answer, I doubt that this is very common except in some fields in which think-tanks generally do valid research. Though a thesis based on the analysis of propaganda would probably be an exception to this rule.


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When mentioning a source in my literature review, how much detail should I add?
After reading several literature reviews, I noticed how quick to the point authors were when they mentioned a study. By that I mean they only discussed the results found within that study and didn't spend time going over how the study was conducted, where the data was obtained, etc.
Back to my own literature review, I decided to edit it based on the aforementioned pattern I noticed. My question is which example is more fitting for a literature review. I'm guessing the second one is more appropriate.
Ex. 1
"In addition to Ruist, and Alden and Hammarstedt, Storesletten (2000) further suggest that migrants impose a substantial fiscal burden. Storesletten uses an overlapping generations model, parallel to Alden and Hammarstedt’s framework, to measure the fiscal impact for Sweden. This method allows for a dynamic approach, accounting for changes in government revenues and expenditures. Storesletten makes use of a large sample size containing 52,000 natives and 6,000 immigrants aged 16-64 for the years 1990-1995, thus ensuring replication is possible. Although the analysis suggests young migrants who are 20-30 years old at the time of acceptance into asylum offer large potential gains over the course of a lifetime: more than SEK 200,000 (19,428€) per individual, migrants older than 50 and younger than 10 drastically diminished the possibility for potential gains or just breaking even. With substantial net costs for migrants of these age groups, averaging about SEK 1.1 million (106,857€) per migrant, the net government loss per new immigrant is SEK 175,000 (17,000€)."
Ex. 2
"The economic impact of migration has been extensively studied in Sweden. Storesletten (2003), using a dynamic model, estimates that the average immigrant in Sweden represents a net burden of 175,000 SEK (USD 20,500) for the public sector, although contributions varied significantly across different cohorts. Young immigrants produced a net gain of 200,000 SEK (USD 22,200), whereas immigrants older than 50 and younger than 10 drew in substantial net costs. These findings are attributable to the fact that the pension system, healthcare, and schooling are costly programs."

The answer is that there is no universal answer to this question.
The first key is to have a clearly defined objective to your literature review. In some cases, you might not be interested in the methods used. In other cases, you might be.
Second, your references need to support the point you're making. Again, the level of details will vary.
Reporting every little details of the reference is less frequent, because you're synthesizing literature, not rewriting a mashup of everything you found.


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Is there any ways to document Google search results in a research paper?
I'm about to write a paper that includes extensive searches on google with different queries. Is there any ways for me to show in my paper that this search provided these results at the time being?

Consider also asking this question in other SE communities, such as "Open Data" or "Cross Validated". Ultimately, this is a data technical question.

Consider adding some more details. Google search results are hardly reproducible. They change over time, they change based on the language of the searching machine (even if the query is the same), based on the location of the IP address and possibly depending on the profile google has on the person.

How do other people in your field approach this issue?

Is there any ways for me to show in my paper that this [Google] search provided these results at the time being?

No, this isn't possible: the same search can simultaneously produce different results, because Google considers factors beyond the supplied search term, e.g., location.
That said, solutions are possible if you are willing to consider just the results of a single search. (Perhaps that's what you meant anyhow.) Leading to:
Yes (partly), you just need to record the raw result data (which will be authenticated, hence, cannot be forged*), which you can (probably) do using curl (with option --trace <filename>), for instance.
Ultimately, reproducibility is unattainable, but you can prove your results were derived by your method, as I have explained. (Your work might be useful without such proof.)

*There are some caveats.

user2768 raises a very important point. Google results are not identical for everybody. Not only do they vary geographically, they also depend on your search history and what other pages you visit on the internet, etc. If you want a search engine that does not use such information, duckduckgo.com is an alternative.

@Phil Indeed. I didn't mention personal search history, since this can be avoided, but location cannot (at least, a location cannot, the user's location can)

The same query executed at the same time on similar fresh-installs on the same hardware may produce different results if serviced by different Google data centers that each hold slightly different data at the time.

I will describe the more I can about the conditions of my search, like time, date, city and etc. I just want to make a list of all the websites developed in a particular field in a particular city. And want to use search engines, directories, offline indications and etc.

@PooryaZeynalzadeh I edited to add a few details. Beyond those, you might want to consider building a website that periodically updates that list and write your paper about the website data at the time of writing.

I think copy and pasting the text or making screenshots is enough.
Google search results are out of your control, therefore not deterministic from your perspective.
If you want an additional integrity or certification, I think you are asking for too much. No research that I can think of comes with this kind of attestation. A biological research paper does not have an appendix with a sworn and signed statement saying: "I, cell 4588, hereby solemny swear that I divided 20% faster after being injected with chemical X."
Strictly speaking, nobody believes you until your results have been reproduced by other parties, anyway. Until then your paper is just a claim.
Seeing how Google search results are out of your control, the best you can do is describe what observations and deductions you made and then theorize on the hidden (deterministic?) model behind them. Screenshots or text results would then merely serve to illustrate your observations.
This is why having a detailed methodology section is important. The more details you provide, the better other scientist can approximate the circumstances of your experiments. Details could be your location, time, whether you cleared your cookies, whether you were signed in, operating system, etc.

This was in fact what I had in my mind, using screenshots and describing the exact details and info related to the conditions of my search. The goal is to find specific websites and pages developed for a specific city (which I'm searching from) and make a list of them.

Just my two cents: Manual copy-and-paste/screenshots don't scale, automated screenshots scale a bit (but limits will quickly be hit), automated copy-and-paste scales (albeit, it isn't really copy-and-paste, per se, at that point). That said, if you're automating, then why not authenticate too?


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Free/affordable bibliographic research
I have some medical device ideas and I want some basic bibliographic research to assess feasibility and novelty. Is there a free or affordable service that can do this?

the librarian at the library of a university with a full medical program can probably help you. You may need some association with the institution, however.

You may also need to research patents in the area.

By "bibliographic research", do you mean that you want to find and read relevant papers and books?  Or that you want to do research on bibliometrics?

In the medical (and medical devices) field, pubmed is the place to go and the search is free. In most cases the abstracts should give enough hints on whether a paper might be relevant or not.
You should check patent databases (just ask google about "free patent search") as well.


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Uni group project being used by companies for profit
Our second semester group project is to bid for, develop, and attempt to "sell" a software solution. Local companies are the customer that provide the brief, and that we attempt to "sell" to.
I was under the impression until recently these were dummy projects, something the company already has so that our projects can be compared to their own as an additional method of measuring how well we did.
However, it turns out this is not the case, with one project going as far to say in the brief;

"CompanyX would be interesting in commercialising any suitable finished products, or projects that could easily be finished to industry standards."

So essentially we're required to work for free.
Is this legal (in the UK)?
I've heard a bit about anything created for Uni work being the Uni's IP, does that come into this at all?

Actually, you are "working" for university credit, nothing more. That is the case whether anyone wants it or not. But the ideas you "develop" won't be a "product" though, with additional effort, might become one. Who "owns" the IP and such depends on your local law and regulations. Some universities have patent offices that exploit the work of staff and students. Some help staff and students exploit the work on their own behalf. It is unlikely you will hit "industry standards" in any case. You also get some exposure at those companies. A plus.

@Buffy Myself and another member of our team are older students, that have worked in paid positions, and have built solutions similar to the briefs we have received. I think it is entirely possible that we could take some of these projects and deliver them to standard. We would just like to know where we stand if we did.

This question splits into a few parts.
First, are there malicious arrangements where people abuse students as labor?
Yes, there are. and this fear seems to be motivating what you are writing here.
There can be and have been instances where professors collude with companies to use their students' code or other forms of labor with the only compensation being credits. Chinese graduate students often described such things to me when they were in the US (particularly when they had advisors who also spoke Chinese and threatened their visa status and continued education to get them to cooperate).
Second, is this arrangement (the one you describe in the question). such a malicious arrangement?
That's not completely clear, but the answer is probably no. (1) there's nothing per se wrong with having your projects be used or evaluated by companies. If anything that's a great opportunity for real world exposure. (2) you can ask the professor in charge or speak with the IP office at your university and see if all of this is happening in accordance with UK law. Assuming you're not being forced to abandon your rights to take the class, there's no obvious abuse here. Presumably, you can even refuse to sell / grant rights even if a company is interested.
tl;dr - the mere fact companies will consider what you produce is not  enough to constitute abuse.

Don't automatically assume malice. The statement doesn't say that CompanyX isn't paying for the product. In fact if you own the intellectual property (if you created it, there's a good chance you do; if not then at least your university/professor owns it) then you can reasonably demand CompanyX pay royalties.
Viewed from this perspective, this is not only legal, it's advantageous to both parties. You get to apply what you learned to a real-life scenario, which are usually more complicated than textbook scenarios. If you make something successful, then you're 1) able to state that on your CV, 2) CompanyX might be interested in hiring you, 3) you might derive royalties from it. Meanwhile CompanyX is able to talent scout and potentially find a solution to one of their problems.

I don't know about the UK, but in the US anything created by undergraduate students is generally automatically their intellectual property unless they've signed that away.

@David I've been looking through the Universities IP policy, and all I've found so far is: "The general principle is that Intellectual Property created by a student during the course of their studies belong to the student. There are circumstances where the University will own the Intellectual Property in a student’s work and the University may require a student to assign their Intellectual Property to the University (or a third party)" The 'more information' section is a mess of broken links and out of date references, Going to track down where I need to go to find out in the next few days.

@lightbulbmig Under US law you have certain protections and rights automatically. If you create a piece of software then you automatically have copyright control over your work. The two major exceptions are if you have (1) voluntarily signed away these protections in a contract or (2) you are employed to create the software for someone else. In this second case the work is automatically considered a "Work For Hire." However, this second case only applies when there is an actual bona fide employer/employee relationship, not necessarily if you're a private contractor.


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Comparison of methods in a paper with a table
In my current paper I describe two methods for solving a problem in different ways. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
At the end of the paper I would like to compare the two methodologies with a table. So far it looks something like this:
 -------------------------------------------------
|           |     Method 1     |     Method 2    |
--------------------------------------------------
|Critera 1: |    very good     |       good      |
|Critera 2: | satisfactorily   |     very good   |
|Critera 3: |    very good     |       good      |
--------------------------------------------------

How would you manage that? Is such a table scientifically accepted?

Btw it's criterion (singular) or criteria (plural); and "satisfactorily" is an adverb, you probably mean "satisfactory", the adjective.

Assuming that your paper describes the two methods in details (including the reasons why criterion X with method Y is assigned level Z in the table), I'd say yes, it makes perfect sense to provide this kind of table as a synthesis at the end of the paper. I would suggest adding cross-references in each cell, so that the reader can go see the details in the appropriate section for each case, e.g. "good (see §3.1)".

I see two issues.

You'd need to establish methodology in any case.
Wouldn't you have hard numbers? For example,
             | Crab (1879) | Squarepants et al. (2017) | Squidward et al. (2018) | our method
Criterion 1  | 1.89        | 2.45                      | 2.37                    | 2.5
Criterion 2  | 9.89        | 10.11                     | 5.55                    | 11.02
Criterion 3  | 33.3        | 44.44                     | 20.1                    | 49.8


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Postdoc in China age issue
Ok here's the issue. Normally the Chinese postdocs have to be under 35 years of age plus under 3 years from PhD. However, I am slightly over 3 years from PhD. However, I already will have a one year postdoc experience (currently pursuing) prior to starting a (second) postdoc in China. My age would be around 37 by that time though. So, aren't there any age relaxations for people already having some postdoc experience? By the way, I also have a 2.5 years of University (teaching+research) experience prior to starting my (first) postdoc. This is really an ugly rule if it still doesn't allow any age relaxations provided all the University experience plus a postdoc.

This is an ugly rule because it does not help you - may help others though...

@SolarMike What do you mean by that? Do you think disregarding the research experience is reasonable? Do we have to bullfight during the postdoc or do research?

Perhaps they are trying to prioritise the "younger" field or perhaps they expect the older ones to have moved to relevant positions either in academia or industry...

Sure that's where I agree with them. Ofcourse the younger the better, however, when someone is continuously in research phase, so I believe in that case there should be some relaxation in age (logically). My question was that whether such relaxation exists or not, in case of second postdocs?

Perhaps there is provision in your contract for extensions or continuation?

Actually my current postdoc is not in China, however, I have acceptance by a professor in China for the next postdoc. So it will be a fresh postdoc contract in China.

So, if you have been accepted, then perhaps they are happy with deviating from "normal"...

Chinese living in Taiwan here. I have acceptance by a professor in China for the next postdoc Did the professor know your age when he made the offer? If yes, you're fine. If no, tell the professor your age(birth date) now. Sometimes, the rules can be bent, sometimes not. It all depends.

@scaaahu Actually there isn't an official offer yet, however, he just says "you are welcome to join my group" and he will sort out the details this week, and he just worried about the age issue today, but he said he will check again. So when he said yes the first time, he didn't calculate my age (even though it was explicitly written on my CV) but he found out later perhaps and then I told him that please tell the admin. that this will be my second postdoc, not the first one.

I was over 35 and beyond 6 years since PhD when I took a postdoc in China. As a foreigner. I was offered another one after that (i.e. +2 age) but I refused. Are you quite sure this age rule is strict? I spent 2 years there and never heard of this. Granted: my Chinese postdoc friends were young, and actually quite few -- postdoctoral fellowships are not popular positions in China. Most prefer a more stable position, even if assistant professor.

@Scientist Thanks for the info. When was that? I am not 100% sure, but it is normally the case nowadays. However as scaaahu mentioned, there are exceptions so its maybe not that stringent. My prof. is looking into it, and lets see what he says. Whether he can manage workarounds or not.

My bet is that this is common practice, not a rule. In China there’s a tendency to homogeneity, so whenever somebody attempts anything off the script there’s confusion. I was in south of China 2016-2018 and got another postdoctoral offer at CAS Beijing. No age ever mentioned, so ask again. Off your question: think carefully why you’d like to do a postdoc in China. It’s a mess. I strongly recommend any alternatives.

@Scientist Many thanks for your helpful information. Don't you think CAS was a good option? What were your main concerns with the postdoc experience you had in China? Was it bad, salary wise or other things like not a good group etc? BTW today I was told that the rule is strict, i.e., no > 35 allowed.. so its already out of question for me now.

@AtoZ I will not elongate this on comments. I will direct you to my other posts in SE Academia so you understand the issues I faced. Chinese academia felt rotten, with CAS Beijing at the core. https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/104541/persistent-issues-with-salary-pay-as-a-postdoc-in-china-what-can-i-do?noredirect=1&lq=1 I suggest you answer your own question here with the new rules, to assist someone else. https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/114805/meeting-dishonest-ex-supervisors-at-large-international-conference-should-one


text:
Switching postdoc position (station) in China
I had applied for postdoc in a university in China, all documentation went through and my was successful in that funds were approved @ 120 K RMB (lowest) + 30K and housing etc. I received the work permit from the school, and then the pandemic came, I wasn't able to even apply for the Z visa. This happened around December 2019 - January 2020. The permit expired and as of today I haven't heard anything from the school. In the meantime, I have found another better postdoc offer from Beijing, the documentation hasn't started yet but I am concerned that my information might already be in the system linked to the previous school. How do I get rid of the previous school or do I need to worry at all? Because I never started the first position in the first place, and I prefer to chose this new offer instead of the previous. Anyone who has experience with Chinese postdoc system might be able to help and guide. Thanks.

I suggest you ask the people running the system and also inform the one you don't want - just out of manners if nothing else.

quite right.. I was thinking about it too..

Did you go through the process of registering on chinapostdoctor.org? If so, then you are probably right that you are in a system somewhere. However, this should not affect anything because you never actually started your original position.
Nevertheless, I would proactively explain your situation to your current prospective supervisor so they (or their students) will be prepared to help you in case of any snags.
No matter what, it will not be an issue that derails your appointment. If there is an issue, it will be a clerical one that can be sorted out by the school with a phone call or two.

No I didnt register myself at chinapostdoctor.org, however, the (first) school might have done so for me? I didn't do it by myself though.

unlikely they would have done this without you. but either way it shouldn't matter.


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I found some topographical errors in one of my published papers
i found some topographical errors mainly missing spellings in one of my published papers. However the errors does not alter the meaning or concept of the paper. I contacted the joirnal editor but told me that it remains topographical error. Am just worried about it when readers find these mistakes. what do i do

I'm sure you mean typographical errors rather than topographical?

@henning: That's the first thing I noticed! Possibly one could call this a meta error, where "meta" is roughly used in this sense.

@henning I'm sure they do, but it's too beautiful for me to correct :)

@henning topographical errors seem far more exciting

"I", "typographical", "," "mistaken", ",", "do", "journal", "who"... etc. Get yourself a proof-reader!

... "missing spellings" for "misspellings" etc. (@Strawberry). On a more serious note, writing here may be a little less formal than a paper, but it should still be broadly correct. Aiming for a publishable standard of spelling and grammar whenever writing for public consumption is a good way to minimise these errors in the future. (Comment as this addresses underlying issues rather than the question as asked) [Chris H double-checks comment, probably misses an error]

Oh, I was expecting some river to be named Everest... :(

As you discovered, journals usually don't correct typographical errors if the paper's meaning is unaffected.  Publishing a correction is a lot of trouble, and they don't want to do it unless there is a compelling reason.
So there is nothing you can do.  You will just have to live with those errors being there.
Perhaps it will motivate you to proofread your next paper more carefully before submitting.

Make all papers available on a website and update them if necessary.
I wouldn't update the website for typos, but I might update the offline paper to correct typos and later update the website should more significant changes be made.*
*Corrections, revisions, updates, etc., are time consuming, yet offer little reward; prioritise your time.

I really wouldn't do this. Hosting a copy of your published paper on your personal website: Great.
Making changes to it, where those changes happen after the published version is fixed: Dubious, and potentially a way that a bad actor might try to sneak around peer review. Sure, if they're just typos it doesn't matter, but then again they don't matter, so why bother.

@Flyto How is advancing research dubious? How might such advances allow a bad actor to sneak around peer review? Sure, researchers can correct technical mistakes, but that is surely only ever a good thing? (I'd recommend noting that a revision contains such corrections.) Peer review isn't avoided, the formally published version is authoritative, other versions aren't.

when changes have been made from the published version, it is no longer a self-hosted copy of a peer-reviewed paper - it's a new work, not peer-reviewed, which shares a lot of content with a peer-reviewed paper (which incidentally may be a breach of copyright). I would expect to see such a document very clearly labelled, within the document as well as on the website.


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What is more important in choosing a research advisor?
How would you weight each factor below on choosing an advisor?
1 - My interest in the advisor's research topic.
2 - How well he/she dedicates time and effort to guide me.

This is a Hobson's Choice as stated. In reality you need both.
But in reality each of these ideas is defined by a wide range. Your interest can be a little or a lot. The more interested you are the better. But if your interest is zero it is a big mistake to choose that.
The support provided by a professor can be a little or a lot. Even if it is "low" the needed support may be provided by others, say post-docs or senior lab researchers. But if the support is zero (in time/effort), again, it is a big mistake to choose this. Moreover, the kind of support provided by different advisors can vary widely. They can be the source of a problem that you solve, or they can be a collaborator.
In realistic situations you need a balance. Moreover, the balance is partly determined by yourself. How wide are your interests? How flexible are you? Are you driven to a particular sub-sub-sub-field or are you willing to explore anything "interesting"? How much guidance do you need? Are you a dedicated self studier or do you need a kick to get moving in some given direction?
Think about your own personal situation and make a choice. But zero on either of the two indices you are looking at is probably a bad choice.

However, at the undergraduate level this is a less critical choice since you have a variety of things to do beyond research. As you are just getting started in research, it might be wiser to choose someone who will give you more help rather than less despite a low interest in the specific topic. At the doctoral level, the topic becomes more important.

For an undergraduate student, would say the factor 2 would be at least twice more important than factor 1?

@RenanCunha, probably so, but still a decision made in a broad space. But if it feels that way to you, then it is probably the correct way to choose.


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Main argumentation in introductory chapter of Phd thesis?
I am in my last year of my PhD and start focusing on writing my thesis. In the course of my PhD I had to apply twice for external funding, in which I - thanks God - succeeded.
I believe that part of that success was - aside of the "hot" topic - the way I presented my research. I wrote roughly 10 pages in style of a paper, where I had an abstract (5-6 phrases about my research answering the 5 common w-questions) for those who had just 1 minute to spare. However, instead of presenting my text of 8 pages right away, I added first a text of about 1,5 pages in which I wrote about my research in categories like motivation, research gap, my approach and contribution, research questions, method, time and work schedule in greater detail for those who had about 4 minutes to spare.
Is it good practice, a good idea to do the same for my PhD thesis, presenting the major argumentative path in the first chapter "Introduction" on perhaps max. 5 pages? My idea is that the reader (supervisors) do not need to read the entire dissertation to understand/identify the major arguments (but obviously need to, for him/her to challenge my entire work) and to not get tempted to only read the conclusions of each chapter to prevent that they get a sided idea (just in case).
My idea is basically to allow the reader to follow my entire argumentation easier, not to help them skip pages or save them time (like in the case of the funding application).

Every dissertation or thesis should have an introduction.
When I receive a student's thesis to read, I usually do not have numerous hours to pick out the details of every page. Having a 4-8 page introduction is extremely helpful in allowing me to learn what is most important in the overall arguments of the thesis. An introduction allows readers to see the major theme of the work.
When I wrote my own dissertation, I treated the introduction chapter much like an extended abstract. It highlighted what the reader needed to watch for and established the overall theme of my work.
The introduction can also serve a useful purpose of providing a place to take care of some of the administrative aspects of the thesis such as acknowledgements and holistic citations ("This thesis was written using LaTeX; all code was written in C++). These things are given their own pages at times, but I found it useful to be able to just place them in a paragraph in the introduction.

Thank you very much, DC 541, for input! This cleared things up.

First thing to do: check if it is common in your field to write conclusions.
Next, there is a German academic saying that roughly translates to "Introduction is called so, because it's written last."* Really do so.
Next, when it's time, fly over the thesis with your mental eye. What is this actually about? What are you doing? What is your hypothesis? (You should actually know that a bit earlier, but I digress.) What is the starting point?

The art of sepulation has been studied for over 70 years [1,2,3]. Tihiy presented the key questions of sepulka sciencies in his seminal work [4]. This thesis focuses on sepulation phase B (in the standard denotion [5]) where we found ...

A bit of historic lookback is also nice, but it's not the major focus of an introduction, just a further gimmick.

The first algorithm that is known to us was reported by Euclid [1], though modern historians tend to believe that is it was not his own creation [2-4]. Further well-known personalities, such as Eratosthenes of Cyrene, Plato, and Archimedes of Syracuse have contributed to the Ancient Greek notion of ...

The main ingredients are:

You may gently introduce the subject with a motivation or a historical review.
You should present your research topic, your hypothesis.
You should show the contributions of your work. You can do this somewhat at length, 3-5 pages are Ok in my opinion. There is a whole thesis for the gory details. Basically, you rewrite the contributions / conclusions of separate chapters in other words.
You may list the chapters and their role for the whole thesis.
You may thank your supervisor and your friends in the introduction, but this can be done elsewhere.
You may put a dedication somewhere around the introduction.

The questions, the introduction text needs to answer are:

What is she/he doing? / What did she/he do?
Where does she/he stand in the field?
Why does it matter?

Now, for the conclusions. It's the "should" parts, you need to address here. If you do conclusions at all, you really, really need to pick up your hypothesis and tell what you know now about it. Does it hold? Why not? What parts did fail? Then I'd write basically the same thing, but in a more affirmative way:
Introduction:

We aim to inspect the B-stage of cooperative sepulation in order to ...

Conclusions:

From the careful inspection of the B-stage of cooperative and competitive sepulations (Chapters 17 and 23) we deduced a general theory of B-sepulations (Part 3) that allowed us to ...

If you don't do conclusions, you may formulate the introduction more offensively:

We inspect B-stage of speulations in Part 2 and deduce a general theory of it in Part 3.

Hope, it helps.

*: Vorwort heißt Vorwort, weil's zuletzt geschrieben wird.

Thank you very much, Oleg, for this great answer. :)


text:
Is this a useful pagination style for a PhD thesis?
I write my PhD thesis in LaTeX and I am unsure about one aspect of the pagination.
Usually books have three different page numerations: the frontmatter counts in Roman letters, the main matter with Arabic numbers, and the backmatter in a combination of letters and Arabic numbers, like A 1, A 2, B 1 etc.
The general layout of my thesis follows a book style, where the number of the pages are on the top left corner on even pages and on the top right corner on odd pages. So far, so common.
As I would like to design the thesis so that it gives readers steady feedback for orientation wherever they are in the thesis (this is why I added chapter-wise table of contents and a list of references cited in the corresponding chapter), I have the following question:
Is it good practice to give a feedback to the reader where he/she is in the main matter by adding the total sum of pages to the actual page number, i. e. adding something like Page 13 of 200 or 13/200 to the top left/right corners?
Or may it be considered unnecessary, redundant, distracting or demotivating ("What? Page 13 of this mess and 187 to go?")?

Are you planning to put the chapter and/or section the reader is in at the top of (some of) the pages (or indicating this some other way - thumbs for example)?That would probably give the reader enough info

This seems like it would be better answered by the Manual of Style written by the university for the thesis than online.

@user53923, yes, this is what I indeed do, too. On the top left is the chapter name, on the top right the current section title.

Is it good practice to give [feedback on the reader's relative position in a manuscript by including the] sum of pages[, e.g.,] Page 13 of 200 or 13/200...? Or [is it] unnecessary, redundant, distracting or demotivating...?

Giving feedback on the relative position can be useful, but you needn't explicitly provide additional information (e.g., page 13 of 200), since this information is already implicitly known, e.g., from the physical stack of paper or from the PDF reader.
Pro-tip: Make sure the page numbers match the PDF page numbers.

In addition to the valid general advice, make sure to follow the style sheet of your department, if it exists.


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Talking about accepted offer in job interview
I accepted an offer and after that got an iterview opportunity from my dream company. In the interview they had asked me if I have deadlines coming up. I informed them that I had to accept another offer since the deadline was before they invited me to the interview.
Will this create a negative opinion with interviewer or HR? Will the decision of considering me for next rounds be affected?
Thanks in advance

If you are interviewing at companies, why are you asking this on Academia.SE?

Is this company an academic entity? I am not sure why it's posted here and not in Workplace.

If you accept an offer you should immediately withdraw from consideration from all other potential employers. This is simply to preserve your own credibility for the future. Failing to do this will, perhaps, cause them to expend resources wastefully and it can come back on you in the future.
They won't want to talk to you in the future if they think you might do this again in the middle of negotiations.
Alternatively, you can back out of your earlier acceptance if possible so that you are really available. This is risky, of course. But this is a situation that if you try to play games, you will probably lose.

Surely by saying you have accepted another offer somewhere else, you have simply told them you don't want their offer.

I also mentioned that I am very much interested in their company. The interview invitation was sent after the offer deadline.  Won't this be considered?

The interview invitation was sent after the offer deadline. --- This is not the problem that others here are having with your actions. You said "In the interview they had asked me ...", which means you went through with the interview AFTER having accepted an offer elsewhere. Doing this without telling the company you have already accepted another offer (when you were arranging an interview with them) is the problem that others here are having with your actions. The time to tell them that you have accepted another offer, but are very interested in them, is when they made the invitation.


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MS program in Canada with bad undergraduate result
I am not sure if this the appropriate place to ask such question. I have very bad undergraduate record with a CGPA of 2.40 which took nearly 6 years to complete. I have never thought to study again after my bachelor. But recently I am kind of desperate to do higher study. I attended for GRE, and  my score was 305 and my IELTS score is 7. I have 5 years of job experience as a software engineer. Is there any chance that I can get admission for MS in any Canadian university? I am kind of desperate to change my career path, I want to be an AI researcher. Is there any hope for me to pursue a masters degree in Canada or any north American country?

I'll be blunt, you have no chance. AI is probably the most competitive field in the world right now, and most applicants have exceptionally strong profiles and still get rejected. At the University of Toronto, most people who get accepted have 3.8+ GPAs, and have at least one publication at NIPS or ICML, on top of extensive research experience.
If you're really deadset on grad school, I'd the following:
1) Apply to course based masters instead of research based masters. These are significantly easier to get into. However, you get no funding usually and are expected to pay your tuition fees and living costs yourself.
2) Apply to a field other than AI, something fairly obscure with little competition. You have 0% of getting into AI.
3) Apply to low tier schools. You're not getting into U of T or UBC in Canada for instance. Maybe try Laurier and schools in that league.
4) Your GRE score is exceptionally poor, fix it. You need to redeem your low GPA somehow. Aim for atleast 164 Quant.


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Scholarships and the PhD thesis in the Scandinavian system?
I'm totally confused about how you have to write your desired thesis in the Scandinavian higher education system when you've got their scholarship. By reading the articles about how it works I feel that I have become more disoriented.
When you read promotions about hiring new Ph.D. students in the universities' websites or places such as Scholarshipdb.net it's often said that you have to do research on a particular field. Is this research counts as your dissertation or you have to do your own thesis aside from that?

From what I have seen (a whole bunch of PhD students, though I have done my PhD elsewhere) is that the research PhD students do is going to be the content of the thesis. The thesis contains two parts, the manuscripts/articles published, and a coherent story based on the work.
So the thesis is a product of the research the students are doing during their PhD.
Now, this might be different for some fields, or funding situations, and quite likely, for industrial PhD positions.

Thank you. But what about when you have a genuine idea for your thesis that is so important for your field of study? Could you write that instead and get funded?

If you can find someone who gives you money, and someone else who wants to supervise you, sure.


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What is the most important aspects of Ph.D. application other than previous university and GPA?
I'm just curious to know what are the most important requirements for filling up Ph.D. application, generally. is job resumes important if available? Or for example GRE, Publications or Research interest? What is more important?

Acceptance into a doctoral program isn't a matter of accounting and counting chits. Someone, or a group, needs to make the assessment that you are highly likely to be successful. To that end your GPA is relevant, but so is everything you write or say as part of the process. If you are considered to be a serious candidate with a fairly easily predictable good future, you will be considered.
After that, it can be a matter of competition. There will be a lot of other candidates that have excellent records and they are also being "weighed".
But certainly, anything that shows past success in the kinds of things that doctoral students actually do (pubs, research) is a big plus. But don't neglect your SOP, where you talk about your envisioned future.

Recommendation Letters and Research Experience
The PhD admissions committee wants to know if an applicant will be a successful researcher. That is a nebulous quality. GPA, GRE, and other numerical scores only give a partial picture, since coursework and exam-taking are very different from open-ended research.
The best indicator of research ability is prior research experience and how well that went. How well your prior research went is best indicated by the recommendation letters of the people who worked with you.

The ability to conduct high-quality independent research is probably one of the most important aspects most advisors (PIs) look for in potential candidates. Of course, there are several ways to gauge that aspect; for example, prior research experience, publications, the ability to formulate research problems, etc. After all, your PhD success will depend on how good you are as a researcher.
I should also add that the answer will probably be field-dependent.

Or for example GRE, Publications or Research interest?  What is more important?

Previous publications can be a very strong indicator of ability to do well in a PhD program, particularly if they are well written and in reasonable journals.  When a student applies for a PhD program with published papers already under their belt, this can be a strong factor.

Taking a graduate student is a big investment for a PI. That person will consume financial resources, affect lab culture, and will be responsible for forwarding the PIs own agenda and reputation. And, grad students stick around a long time, so personality/fit is important.
Aside from test scores, most PIs want someone who

Has demonstrated interest and capability in the field (demonstrated through publications, manuscripts, or personal conversations)
An understanding of what they’re getting themselves into (demonstrated through undergrad research, conference attendance, etc)
Passion to work hard and grow intellectually and professionally (demonstrated through personal conversations and letters of recommendation)

I would say these points weigh equally if not more than raw test scores. I have no shortage of examples of highly successful students with less than stellar test scores (though institutions also have their own bar for that).
Most important is that you pursue a personal approach. Call the PI personally and express your limitless interest and excitement.


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What is the equivalent degree of MPhil in the American education system?
I am applying to some universities for a Ph.D. degree, and I have to list all the degrees I have earned or am expected to earn. One of such degrees is Mphil. However, it is not listed in the drop-down menu of options.
There are three options that I think could fit--'Other Doctoral(not Phd)', 'Other Doctorate', and 'Other Master'. Which one would be the correct option? 'Other Master'? Since Mphil stands for master of philosophy?

I would think other Master, since a DPhil is equivalent to a PhD.

Contacting the relevant Admissions dept. would be sensible, both for this and your other question, if of course you have left yourself enough time ... See : https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/120863/72855

Let me get this straight, you have a master's degree from a UK school that doesn't have a straight equivalent in the US and you need our help to decide between "Other Doctoral(not Phd)', 'Other Doctorate', and 'Other Master"?

Masters in the USA are (traditionally) taught.  The concept of a master in research/Mphil is an alien concept.  There might be some programmes but I'm not aware of any.
For your application purposes just say Other Master and explain in your application letter that it was a research degree.

There are plenty of research (thesis) based masters programs.

@JonCuster  Most masters have a thesis but that doesn't make it a research degree.     A Mphil/Mres is 90-100% research.  A typical Master of Science would be mostly taught courses and a capstone project that leads to a thesis.

Who defined "typical" here?

@JonCuster is correct. Also, this is field and program specific. Some fields and programs only give maters degrees for people who fail out of PhD programs. Others, require a masters degree to enter a PhD program.

@SolarMike this is was my experience while looking for degrees in the USA:  Columbia, MIT, etc.  Do you have a different experience?

@KoenigLear So did you check if that is relevant to Europe? Or is "typical" meant to only apply to US?

@SolarMike by typical I only meant applicable to the US.  This is the context of the question.   He/She has an Mphil, which in the UK is a fulltime research degree.  It might also be the result of an incompleted Dphil/Phd.   In the US, The closest equivalent is another Master.


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I have to enter term type of universities I attended, but my country doesn't follow credit hour system
I'm applying to Ph.D. programs, and the online application asks me to enter the college's term system. They write that "Term system refers to the type of hours your credits are worth, not the length of the term or how many terms a year your college offered", but the problem is that I did not have this credit-hour system in the universities I have attended, and I do not know what to fill as it is a required field. Even if I take it to mean the number of terms per year, the problem is that one college had only one term per year--which doesn't match any of the listed options (trimester, semester, quarter).
I have emailed the concerned university, but I did not receive a reply. Can someone please help me as to what I should do as I am not very aware of the American education system.

Is your country listed in this Wiki page?

@scaaahu: Those all seem to have to do with the length of a term, which the application says it's not about.

I myself am extremely aware of the American education system, having spent 19 years as student / postdoc / faculty, and I don't have any idea what that sentence means either.  Is there any more context?  If not, I think you'll just have to wait for a reply, or if the deadline is approaching, enter something like "0" or "not applicable" and include an explanation somewhere else in the application.

The deadline is tomorrow, I was counting on the concerned university to reply. There's no option to enter anything apart from semester/ trimester/ quarter.

@NateEldredge this is the help document where the term type is defined: https://help.liaisonedu.com/BU_Graduate_School_of_Arts_and_Sciences_Applicant_Help_Center/Filling_Out_Your_BU_Graduate_School_of_Arts_and_Sciences_Application/BU_Graduate_School_of_Arts_and_Sciences_Academic_History/2_Colleges_Attended#Uploading_Transcripts

The context seems to be that you say semester if the courses on the transcript correspond to Fall/Spring semester courses - even if there's technically a summer term too. If you only have full year long courses... I'd wait it out to see if they respond, and otherwise go 'semester' as the closest thing. As they write, they will verify things later.

That sentence hardly makes sense, don't feel too bad

@AzorAhai is right: don't feel bad. The people who design forms do not know about every possible contingency. When I applied for my current PhD research position I was asked for an academic transcript. I answered I don't have one. And for two academic referees. I answered I don't have any. What mattered was not what I put, or did not put, in the form but what the decision-maker considered important. And, believe it or not, some decision-makers are both intelligent and reasonable.


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I'm applying to transfer, and am filling out the Common App. Should I put Yes to disciplinary action?
I am currently applying to transfer colleges, and one of the questions the Common App asks is:

Have you ever been found responsible for a disciplinary violation at any educational institution you have attended from the 9th grade (or the international equivalent) forward, whether related to academic misconduct or behavioral misconduct, that resulted in a disciplinary action? These actions could include, but are not limited to: probation, suspension, removal, dismissal, or expulsion from the institution.

Last April, I attended a dormroom party at which there was alcohol. This party was broken up by the RA. A lot of people fled, although I remained and cooperated. I was not drunk at the time.
The consequences were that I (along with a few others who remained) had to help plan a study session. At the time the hall coordinator told me that I was being placed on a probationary period of 3 months, and that if I wasn't caught attending another party within that 3 month period, the incident would be expunged from my record. There have been no other incidents since then, so I assume it was removed from my record.
Should I provide the details of this event to the Common App? Will this affect my chances of admission to another college?

Common App is an undergraduate college admission application that applicants may use to apply to any of more than 700 member colleges and universities ....

Pay attention to what they write "These actions could include, but are not limited to: probation …". You were placed on a probationary period of 3 months. Of course, you should mention the event. "Will this affect my chances of admission to another college?", that's up to the school you apply to.

This is likely to be closed, as we do not discuss undergraduate admissions here. Still, I'll take a stab at it.
My understanding is that the whole point of "expungement" is to allow you to answer no to questions like this (unless the question specifically says to include expunged matters, as is sometimes the case, e.g., with law students). That's certainly the case when  legal matters are expunged; I assume it is the same for in-house educational matters.
Still, I would recommend doing two things:

Don't just "assume it was removed from my record" -- verify. Ask specifically whether other colleges who request your records will learn about this. Note, this is the kind of thing where it's easy for someone incompetent to just say "nope, it won't show up" to get you off the phone -- so keep asking questions until you're really satisfied. Getting an in-person meeting with a career employee (not a student worker) or the associate dean might be better than just calling on the phone and asking the receptionist.
Contact the college you want to transfer to (anonymously, if you like) and ask whether they require you to disclose expunged matters on the common application.

If you can get it in writing that you don't have to (and save this
reply in permanent storage), that should be sufficient to protect you
if you are accused of anything later.
If you discuss this over the
phone and are told not to report it, but can't get it in writing,
send admissions an e-mail, in which you say "This is just to confirm
what I discussed on the phone with Name at 8:00 AM on 12/1. As we
discussed, expunged disciplinary matters need not be reported on the
common application for transfer students. Please let me know if this
is incorrect." Then retain this e-mail and their reply, if they send one.

As to the second part of your question, yes, if reported this could certainly adversely affect your changes of admission (and improperly concealing it could lead to your degree being revoked).


text:
Professor wrote to me saying he supports my fellowship application to the committee
A professor I want to work with (at the university I applied to) informed that he is awaiting some funding news (for a project I had expressed interest in working with him on) and he also stated that he has highlighted my name to the fellowship committee.
Any idea what that means? Is that a positive development with regards to me getting an admit/fellowship?

This is all university/field specific. Is this a university fellowship, a teaching assistanship? Is the professor waiting to hear back on whether a grant was funded under which you will be supported? This is not clear in OP.

It is for a university fellowship and I get a priority consideration since I attended their recruitment event.
Yes. Going by my in-person communication with him, that would likely be a project I can be funded under. He mentioned that if all goes well we may get the funding and that it is definitely a positive news.
I am trying to make sense of his sentiment from the email. Is he being optimistic of my chances?

If it's a university-level competitive fellowship I doubt he has much say, other than the letter he could have submitted. I wouldn't get your hopes up just yet.

It is positive certainly, but not definitive. It is just a progress report sent as a courtesy. He is being encouraging, but not making any commitments.
Of course, you need to go through the normal admissions process. This isn't a substitute for any formal procedures that are required. In US institutions admissions is handled by the university, not the individual professor. Funding may be under his control, however.

Yes, I understand that. Thanks for the clarification. Hopefully my decent grades (3.6 CGPA) in masters (from a top school in my field), 3y of work experience and good projects will tilt the scale in my favor.
although I have no publications yet.. will that hurt my chances?


text:
How do I apologize to my teacher for cheating?
In my Chemistry class, we had a quiz and I helped another student cheat by showing him the answers on my paper but the teacher caught us. I know what I did is wrong and I know I deserve punishment, but I really respect my teacher and I don't want her to think less of me for this. Obviously that's already happened and there's not much I can do, but does anyone have any advice about how I can approach her and apologize for my actions in a way that doesn't seem like I'm trying to make excuses?

To your credit, I think you've already arrived at a good way to respond:
"I know what I did is wrong and I know I deserve punishment. I really respect you as a teacher and I don't want you to think less of me for this. Obviously that's already happened. I just want to apologize and not make any excuses."
Many schools have a centralized system for reporting academic misconduct, so that a student who accrues infractions in multiple courses will be held accountable. Just be prepared to accept that fact, along with whatever penalty is specified in the class.
Apart from that, if you remain enrolled in the course, be a good student. Answer questions, turn in your work on time, and be punctual.

+1, however, I would add: wait until after the punishment has been decided (or at least, follow up again after this happens). I've caught cheaters and I pretty much ignored their apologies (you're sorry because you got caught!); however, one student did apologize again after the punishment was worked out and the grades were closed; I've always thought better of her for it.

And don’t cheat again - either directly or helping someone else.


text:
Professor Title in Application?
On my grad school applications for an American Statistics MS, the application asks for the Professor title. I've always referred to my professors with the "Professor" title, but I'm wondering if title on a grad school application is concerning their official position / ranking in the department?
For example, one of my professors has a PhD from my Alma Mater but on the department website, it indicates she is a Lecturer. Should I indicate she is a Lecturer on the application? Or is it still appropriate to list her as a Professor?
Another one is indicated as "Professor & Graduate Vice Chair". Is it relevant to include the Graduate Vice Chair part or should I only include Professor?
Please point me in the right direction or provide some clarity if you can. I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks!

Not sure I understand...does it just want the salutation (e.g., so the automated form that asks them to upload a letter will address them correctly)? Or does it want the person's academic rank? Or is that what you're asking (in this case, maybe describe what it says, or include a screenshot)?

In the US, Professor is probably fine for any situation, since it can be interpreted as a position rather than the explicit title. Dr. works as well, assuming he/she has a doctorate. You don't need to be overly formal in the US, unlike some other countries. No one is likely to be offended by any academic title. Mr. and Ms. are probably less fine.

My main worry would be diminishing the credentials of my letter writers by indicating that some are Lecturers, implying that they might not necessarily have a PhD.

Refer to the official departmental website and use the official title. If the departmental website itself is inconsistent (sometimes happens), pick any designation.

Fortunately my department website has indicated the title of each professor in the department (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Distinguished Professor, etc.). My main worry would be diminishing the credentials of my letter writers by indicating that some are Lecturers, implying that they might not necessarily have a PhD and may be less qualified to assess my potential. However, I don't want to lie in my application.

I don't think that is a problem. First of all, most lecturers actually have PhDs. Also, they could always Google that person's name to find out.


text:
Is it okay to write a cover letter with one more page
I have written a cover letter for faculty positions. I read that it need to be one page. However, mine is one page and half since i have many experience including industry and research. Is that okay?

Yes, you can go over one page. In fact, most cover letters for faculty searches are 2 pages. Some people go over two pages, but I don’t think it is usually necessary.


text:
How many papers accepted in Special issue call For paper?
I have a paper that I am working on . I found a special issue on the area I am working on.
My advisor told me special section have a good chance for acceptance.
What is good about special issue call for paper on journals ?
How many papers are usually accepted?

This may depend on your field of research and the specific venue. In my field, it is often considered easier to publish in special issues, because in general

all contributions are submitted to review en bloc, so there is a chance for weaker contributions to be 'kept afloat' by stronger ones

special issue editors have incentives to be lenient with rather negative reviews on individual papers, because they want their special issue to be published and therefore need a sufficient number of papers to survive

the competition for slots in a special issue may be lower than for slots in a regular issue, due to the narrower topic

papers whose general contribution may be questionable can still work in the context of a special issue with a more narrowly defined topic.

It is not possible to give a reliable estimate for acceptance rates, as this depends on many factors; however, it is likely higher for special issues compared to regular issues of a given journal.
As for the call for papers, the chance of your paper being accepted depends on whether the special issue editors seek to fill an empty slot in the proceedings of an earlier workshop, panel, etc., or whether this is an open call (and then of course on the quality and fit of your abstract/paper).

In a special issue, the journal focuses on one topic. That's helpful in the sense that if you work on that topic, you can find lots of papers on the same topic easily.
About the number of papers accepted: it varies. On the low end, it's usually at least enough to fill one issue (i.e. at least ~5 papers or ~100 pages), but I've also seen 15+ papers in an issue, similar to the number published in a conference.


text:
How to cite this booklet/manual?
I am not sure how should I cite this concrete thing -
https://www.credit-suisse.com/media/assets/corporate/docs/news-and-expertise/articles/2016/07/global-investor-2-15-en.pdf
I am using bibtex, but could not figure out type nor fields in it.
Thank you for your help

Why not use the standard article entry type?

An article from a journal or magazine. Required fields: author, title, journal, year. Optional fields: volume, number, pages, month, note.

Seems like a magazine with articles from different authors to me. If you would want to cite from one of the articles in the magazine, e.g. the first one, it could simply be:
@article{Farronato2015,
 author = {Farronato, C. and Levin, J.},
 journal = {Global Investor},
 number = {2},
 pages = {06--13},
 title = {{The rise of peer-to-peer businesses}},
 volume = {15},
 year = {2015}
}

Please make sure the citation info is correct before using it though. Quick googling seems to report more than one magazine called 'Global Investor'. Please note that I am also not familiar with this field at all.


text:
Does this tool exist: Literature search citation filter?
I'm wondering if a tool/website to do a specific task exists:
Suppose I have a set of papers (which we'll say for simplicity are hosted on the arxiv), S. I want to keep track of all the papers that are posted on the Arxiv that cite any element of S. Ideally I could then see the papers in chronological order such that I make sure I don't miss anything.
The idea is that S contains the seminal/landmark papers in my field, which are almost always cited by new papers in this field. The hope is that I'll be able to more easily surf the arxiv and not let new paper slip past me.
Before I decide whether or not I want to devote some energy to building such a tool, I'm wondering if it already exists, or if even a hacky solution exists.

Would Google Scholar citation alerts work, or is it too limited for your usecase? (E.g. Google Scholar sometimes misses citations, and is somewhat slow to pick them up in my experience.)

This seems to do what I want. It seems I can only create notifications for one paper at a time (as opposed to a set of papers), but that's probably okay.
Thanks!


text:
How to respond the reviewer who reject my paper but editor ask to revise
The editor asked me to revise my paper and answer the reviewers' questions. Two of three reviewers asked me to revise some parts and agree that it is quite new and can improve it but one of them reject my paper in all parts e.g., contributions, research model. How can I response to the reviewer who rejected my paper? Do I need to email to editor to consult him?
Thank you very much

The same way you respond to the reviewers who didn't reject your article: you take the reviewer's criticism and argue why it's irrelevant, inappropriate, unfair, has been fixed in the revision, and so on. If the reviewer rejected your article without giving reasons, then you can safely ignore the reviewer (since the editor decided on revise, he/she clearly already disregards the reviewer's report).
There's no need to email the editor.

Valuable comment

Please consider spending more time arguing how the reviewers criticisms have been fixed in the revision or are irrelevant, than spending time arguing why the reviewers criticisms are inappropriate or unfair.

You probably can argue that one or two of the criticisms are unfair but more than that makes you look bad - and it's best to not say that at all.  Treat each criticism seriously and professionally, and explain what you've done to improve the manuscript in response to each.


text:
On-campus interview: Faculty exit interview
I am going to do an on-campus interview and one of the items (the last one on my last day) is "Exit interview" for one hour with 4 faculty members (search committee chair, co-chair, ...). I was wondering what this interview is?

The country is the US

Could you post the answer?

@AnonymousPhysicist: It was an interview with all committee members, asking extra questions, my interview experience and also a time for me to ask my questions if I have any. For example, they asked how do you think about our department after your visit, ...

Sounds like a panel.  Probably pretty important.  If you looked good during the day, they will want to confirm.  If questionable, gives them a chance to probe specifics.  If meeting is cancelled or senior members don't show, you can guess it's a ding.

This can also be an interview where the candidate is expected to ask any questions they have and the committee members or department chair explain what will happen next in the search process.  If you've already had scheduled interviews with the whole search committee or individually with each search committee member, then this is probably meant to be your chance to ask questions of the committee.

Agreed.  Standard stuff on a closeout.

Based on the agenda, I already should have met three of the members before and only one of them is new. I think they will ask me some extra questions because they are using "Exit INTERVIEW", not "Exit MEETING". Is this interview will be something like a Skype interview with questions about teaching, research, future plans, ...?


text:
Request for additional documents for faculty position
I applied for a faculty position about two months ago through an online system for a university. For some reason, I did not receive any email on a request (apparently from the search committee) to upload additional documents. In fact, I had not been asked to upload these documents (teaching evaluation, unofficial transcripts and two more publications) during the initial submission but they just asked for a cover letter, research stat, teaching stat, CV and two publications.
My question is that does it mean I have been shortlisted? I should note that the recommendation letters were (and have not been) asked (yet). They have indicated in the ad that the letters will be asked for the semi-finalists.

I know it's hard to resist reading into this, but don't.

Why don't you call them to ask?

@louic: already ask them if I should ask my references to prepare the letters, but they did not give me a clear answer. They said "Thank you for your email. Sorry for any confusion. At this time we don't need any additional documents from you." I think they meant the recommendation letters, not those they had asked for (teaching evaluation, unofficial transcripts and two more publications).

They indicated that they would request reference letters for semi-finalists.
They have not requested your recommendation letters (yet).
Therefore, you are not a semi-finalist (yet).

What should I now consider myself? I think they will not ask everyone for additional documents (just want to be optimistic that I have passed initial filtering).

@sam it means you are not out of the running yet.

It could simply mean that they made a mistake in writing the advertisement and didn't ask for all of the materials that they actually wanted.  They could be going back to ask all of the applicants for this additional information.

@BrianBorchers: Yes, this is another possibility!

@BrianBorchers: Is this very common? Because they actually have updated the ad (after the deadline!) and flagged those documents as - required (in front) and Optional at the end!! So confusing !!

I've been in the position (as a search committee chair) of requesting additional materials from applicants that were left out of the original advertisement, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if this happened.

@sam The key word here is "yet".  You are still an applicant under consideration.

@BrianBorchers: I agree with you, Brian. I appreciate if you can put your comment for this question too: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/122459/letter-of-recommendation-before-skype-interview


text:
Faculty transition between two universities
I am moving to another university (US-Engineering) and have a few active proposals in my current institution. It seems I cannot move a part of these proposals. I was wondering if I still can use the money toward, let's say summer salary and conference if I keep an adjunct position with my current university? I have seen many people in our university who have held adjunct positions for a few years when they left the university but I have no information about the detailes and what they can do both academically and financially.

This is a question for the finder.  We can’t give you permission.

@Buffy: I am just asking for your experience and opinion.

Sorry, but both are irrelevant to your situation.

Depends up on your specific university and their policies as well as local politics.

This is fairly common, and universities have incentive to help, as they get overhead on the grants that stay at their institution.
My experience: I received a grant right when I switched universities that couldn't come with me. I kept an adjunct position at the old university while spending out the funds in the grant (for a graduate student that continued there). You just have to maintain good communication lines with the old school to ensure they can help you with spending/reimbursement.
But, I it could be very difficult to spend these funds if you don't have a good collaborator or students remaining at the university.

Thank you for sharing your experience with me. Were there any limitations on, for example, which items the fund can be used? Can it be used for travel and summer salary as defined in the proposal?

This would depend on the grant and the situation. I took travel but no salary.


text:
Academic cover letter: My communications with department chair
I am going to apply for a university-wide position and have already communicated with my target department. The department chair liked my CV and research a lot and strongly suggested I should apply for the position. But since the position is for the entire university, it is not clear if they have someone from the department in the search committee or can make any recommendation. So, I want to include this conversation in my letter. How can I possibly do this (professionally)?

There are at least two options. The first is to just let that chairperson know you are applying so that they can make an informal background recommendation if they wish. I would guess that they will if the place isn't so huge as to make this impossible. Some places, of course, have strict rules about these things, but they will know what is appropriate.
But the second is just to write something like: "I initially explored this position with Professor X, head of the Y department, who encouraged me to apply".
Note that the tone implies that you initiated the contact, rather than just "Professor X suggested I apply" which is less proactive.
And, it is possible that both approaches can be taken.

Let the department chair know you've applied and thank them for their encouragement.  They may/may not decide to  reach out to the search committee to say, "Look at this person, I like them."  Either way, leave it up to them.
I would not mention this previous contact in your cover letter to your application; I'd be concerned it might seem like name-dropping and a request for special treatment.


text:
Apply to the same University after a rejection
I applied for a faculty position last year and did a video interview, but got rejected (for some unknown reason because they asked some routine questions). However, they did not hire anyone eventually and have opened the position with a bit difference and description this year.
Do you think that I should apply again given that they reviewed my case last year and did not give me a virtual campus interview (the campus interview, based on what I heard, was conducted virtually due to COVID-19)?
Or, do you think that I should approach the search committee chair and ask if they recommend me to apply again? What I am saying is that it will be a waste of time on both sides if their concern about my application was serious last year.
P.S. One of my friends applied to the same place twice, got an interview twice, and got rejected twice!

I know one faculty member who was hired on the third try at the same institution.

Michael Foale was accepted to NASA as an astronaut on his third try after being turned down the first two times he applied.

I would suggest that it would be worth re-applying only if something substantial and important has changed. The change could be with you, or it could be with the university.
You say that the job description is not the same as previously. That is a change, but I can't say that it is a sufficient change. Presumably the place has pretty high standards and a lot of applications.
It could also be that the recent emphasis in online education has made you a better fit. Or a possible drop in the number of likely applicants for the new position relative to the previous announcement.
But the change could also be with you. Have you improved your CV since the previous application? Have you gotten an important new advocate to write letters for you?
Maybe both things have changed enough for you to be a better fit now. But if not, it is unlikely to be any more successful in this cycle.

Well, I have published more papers and got a few more proposals accepted. But, I think the main concern was about my PhD institution (just my impression). Otherwise, I am sure I was in their top 1% candidates in terms of publications and fundings, ... This is so pitty that they are such picky about my PhD institution given that I got it 10 years ago and attended a few of the top 5 universities for a postdoc and have a few years of experience as a tenure-track faculty

This seems like a positive change.

The only changes I see are that they have assigned a different committee chair (he himself was a member of the search committee last year, but not the chair) and also they have expanded the expertise.