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Do I have an obligation to pay publication fee to predatory journal?
Accidentally submitted to predatory journal (very naive and stupid first time researcher here) accepted with no evidence of peer review. Could not pay submission fee so they reduced cost substantially so I submitted an updated manuscript. Then realised it was predatory and they also have already uploaded my article online! Have not paid fee and confronted journal on predatory status. Can I get away with not paying the fee? No copyright transfer signed.

You should have spotted this before posting... https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/123376/72855

Act of submission can be taken as acceptance...

Even if no copyright has been signed, will another journal publish this work as it has already been published elsewhere?

Don't pay them!  Pretty much no matter where you are, they'd have to win a lawsuit in a court that has jurisdiction over you to force you to pay. (If you and the publisher are in the same country, you may need legal advice; otherwise, you're pretty safe.  I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.)
Sadly, the paper's probably a write-off, though, since they've "published" it on the web.

I am not a lawyer but I would think this depends on the contractual laws that govern you where you live and where the journal is based. You may be able to ask them to take down the article but they may try to do so through a retraction rather than simply "deleting" it.
On the other hand, if you have not transferred copyright then they shouldn't technically be  able to publish the article, and you should still have had the right to withdraw the submission.
So this is a bit of a thorny situation and I would try to seek out help from your university (do they have a Legal department in the administration?) to guide you through this process.

This does not answer the question.

If you made a contract with the predatory journal to pay the fee, you must pay.  You probably did not, but we cannot determine this for you.  You cannot make a contract by accident if assent is required in your location.
If you did not make a contract to pay, then in my view you have an ethical obligation to refuse to pay.  If you pay, you are supporting this journal's efforts to scam other authors.

My recommendation is to send a note pulling the paper and not to pay.  This is basically regardless of the state of "publishing" (likely electronic) and regardless of the contract.  You just don't want to be associated with these types of journals.  Just whack the knot with a sword.


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Accidentally submitted to predatory journal, did not pay fee, already online?
I am a first time researcher and naively submitted to an OA predatory journal (on BEALL'S LIST) which requests a publishing fee. Having read the terms and conditions, there was no comment stating that I needed to pay if accepted for publication and did state that i retained copyrights to my work. My work was accepted and they requested the publication fee but I have now found that my work is already on their website without the fee being paid or me signing anything. Is there anyway to retract my work without being penalised?

Did you sign (possibly "electronically") an agreement?

Hi Federico, I only submitted the manuscript and signed the "ICMJE form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest". So not as far as I know.

Sometimes the "act of submission" is taken as "signing" ie acceptance of the conditions...

IANAL
It totally depends on your jurisdiction.
However, as pointed out by Solar Mike, they made an "invitatio ad offerendum" (like at the bakery, where they invite you to make an offer (i.e. want to buy) a bread or similar).
By submitting, you declared to make an offer and they accepted it and published it.
So they fulfilled their part of the contract and your part (payment) is still open.
You can still try to retract your paper by sending an email to the editor and maybe it's worth a gamble to not pay. Your institution should be able to help you with this question

Thanks for that, its a concern. I have told them that i wont pay and want to withdraw my journal but they just keep dropping the price and say it will affect their journal and ranking. My concern about it being on their website means it obviously precludes me from submitting elsewhere. I feel very stupid

Normally, you also need to confirm to its publication (and say goodbye to your copyrights). So I think even though you have submitted it, you hold the right to let it be published or not. Use an affirmative language and make it clear that it is not about the price. Stand firm with your request.
Not exactly same, but I once agreed to be a reviewer and then figured out they are a predatory conference/publisher, I regretted it immediately but thought I had to brace it (while they put my name on their website and I felt like I screwed up my career). Luckily for me they sent totally unrelated papers for me to review and when I said I am not even remotely an expert on this subject, they said well you could still do it and I saw my ticket out and demanded firmly my name to be deleted from their site and in the end they did.
That being said, this depends on their  reputation but if it is not too crappy, a free online access paper has a good chance of more citations.

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Grad applications: mediocre grades from an ivy league (top 10) and outstanding grades from a smaller school; what should I do?
I began my undergrad at an ivy league university but decided to transfer after one year.  It wasn't that the classes were too hard; I went through a bit of a mental health crisis w/ depression, which contributed to a mediocre average (81, if I recall correctly). It doesn't help that I also slept through one exam, earning me a 60 in a course in which I would have otherwise received a high-80.  I began to see a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist; the former prescribed me antidepressants and the latter recommended I switch universities.  The city in which I was studying did not suit my temperament whatever, and my therapist (rightly) thought that my condition would be ameliorated should I switch schools.
I took their advice, and now, two years down the road, after extensive CBT and adjustments to my medications, I am in excellent mental condition.  My grades have improved dramatically (CGPA: 92, and the CGPA of accepted students at the Grad programs I am applying to range from 83-87).   Additionally, I have been doing extensive research, I have been published in some undergrad journals (and am waiting to hear back from a more prestigious open access journal), have attended a few professional conferences, and am currently working on a thesis project with a professor, part of which includes (a) designing a course to be offered next term, and (b) assisting with lectures and workshops in that course (basically I'll be splitting the teaching workload with a full time prof for a second year course).
Soon, I will be applying to grad school.  I am worried that my application will be thrown out because it looks like I failed at a hard school and so I decided to go to an 'easier one.'  I only received 4.0(/20) credits from the first school, but still, I worry this will be a disqualifying factor.  So what should I do?  On the one hand, I would like to somehow indicate that my mental health was a significant contributor to my lacklustre grades and my choice to switch universities.  On the other hand, I do not want to give the impression that I am trying to cover up my own blunders with some sob story.  (Somewhat sadistically, part of me welcomes the possibility of not being accepted because of my earlier mediocre grades; part of me feels as if the fact that I'm the kind of person that CAN be so detrimentally impacted by depression is enough to prove that I'm not cut out for grad school).  Ideally, I would love for the application departments to only consider my current transcript.  That way I don't have to mention mental health nor do I have to worry about my application being thrown out for the reasons above cited.  Is this a possibility? More importantly, is this ethical??  I have my reservations.  Anyway I know mental health services at the undergrad level have dramatically improved in the last few years to the point that if you have a documented mental illness, some poor grades may be stricken from your record.  Is there a similar process for grad applications?
Thanks for reading this.  I haven't yet spoken to anyone about this particular worry, though it's been on my mind for the past few months.  I am happy to have written it down, even if there is no satisfactory solution.  I should mention this: even though grad school is a fundamental goal of mine (often I'll daydream about working on difficult problems at the graduate level), I am OK with the possibility that I just wont get into any grad program whatever.  It's a strange thing to think about, but where I am now, I like my life.  I did not like my life two years ago. Frankly, if I were offered a choice between (a) attending grad school but doing four years at my past university and (b) not attending grad school but getting to be where I am today, I'm pretty sure I'd choose (b).  At any rate, the choice would at least be very, very difficult.

There are a lot of roughly similar questions on this site.  You might like to browse for a while, starting with those that appear in the "related" pane on the right side (if using the desktop site).

I am worried that my application will be thrown out — This is incredibly unlikely, but even if it does happen, there is literally nothing you can do about it.  Just apply.  Save your worry for things you can do something about.

Just apply and see what happens.  You can't change the past.
Typically a graduate application will explicitly say that you must submit transcripts from all universities you have attended (or "earned credits from").  So it is not appropriate to simply pretend that it never happened.
Grad school decisions would, in any case, be based mainly on your more recent work, so the first year of your studies will not carry much weight regardless.  I'd ask the question: considering students at your current institution whose records in their later years are similar to yours, are they successful at getting into grad school?  If yes, then I think you are in good shape.
There is no systematic procedure in graduate admissions for discarding grades that were affected by medical issues.  You can, if you wish, discuss the issue in your statement of purpose (or other similar essay), and it would be up to the admission committee to decide how to take that into account in considering your application.  However, my feeling is that you don't need to say much more than "I started at University X, it wasn't a good fit, I transferred to Y.  Now here are all the fantastic things I've been doing at Y..."
As you get ready to apply to grad school, you will want to have serious conversations with your faculty mentors. This is definitely something you should discuss with them (though you don't necessarily need to go into as much detail as you did in this post), but I suspect they will agree that it isn't a big deal.

Small school is fine.  Some grad programs even prefer it because the mission of liberal arts is more teaching (thus better training, all equal) and the small school students are less disillusioned or aware of the issues at R1 schools.
Nobody will care much about your few credits from somewhere else.  I personally wouldn't even mention it, much.  Think of yourself as a "Littleco" grad now, not an ex Harvard person.  The few credits from somewhere else are kind of irrelevant.  Everyone has differences in their background (took a year to walk the A trail, worked a campaign, enlisted, etc.).
They are mostly just going to look at what you have done in grades, scores (important) and research/essays.
I would avoid bringing up the medical issues.  Like you say they are fixed.  And the time at IvyU was minor.  Don't open something that doesn't need to.

(Not meant as a slam but to help you, especially on essays and interactions):

Try to be a little more positive.  Life is hard enough.  It goes better if you go at it, not doubt yourself.
Your question was very long.  Try to tighten up.  People appreciate succinctness, it takes/shows work to be efficient in text).  Even if you have to be so long, make the paragraphs shorter (people find long ones tedious).

[And for 5/6 I admit this is a do as I say, not as I do.]
Net, net:  you'll be fine.  92 > 87 (grades)

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Post-Doc in Germany
I am a newbie and have a question. First of all let me introduce myself and the situation in which I am going through.
I have just got my PhD from the Middle East Technical University (Turkey) from the department Political Science. I was also a research assistant between 2011-2018 during my master and doctorate studies. Actually, living outside Turkey had never been one of my plans, but love changes everything. :) I got married with a German citizen and I am living since 6 months in Germany with my wife. During this time, I worked on a few improvements of my PhD Thesis, finally I defended it in December and have got my degree.
So, before I met my wife, my academic plan had been to continue in the Turkish Academia, however, having decided to marry with her, there had been a decision to make: Staying in Turkey (and waiting her to come to Turkey) vs. going to Germany
Considering the last political and economic instability of Turkey, moving to Germany was surely the clever decision to make. Yet, it was so sudden that I couldn't make any academic preparation in 2 years, since I was writting at the same time my PhD thesis. So my migration to Germany was a bit an unplanned one, considering the Academic world, considering especially the fact that in Turkey PhD's are most generally 6 years long. So, I couldn't waste my previous 4 years.
As a result, I want an advise for my further step in Germany, probably post-doc. Actually, I was also born in Germany and lived 8 years here in my childhood, which means that German was once my mother-language however, I couldn't keep it fluent in 25 years. Yet it is still enough to cope with daily issues and conversations, it keeps improving, I am far away than 6 months before, but it is surely not enough for Academy yet.
What do you think? Is post-doc a clever idea in my situation? If so, what are my chances? I do not have English publications yet, but 5 Turkish ones. Moreover, as an additional information, my research topic has been an attention getting one in the German social science circles. Is it possible to apply to a post-doc with a project aiming for international publications based on my PhD thesis, such as articles or a book? Or do I need to write a new research proposal to apply?
Or would you suggest to skip the post-doc and apply to a position as lecturer (which in my opinion seems not possible to end up with a positive result considering my current state)
Or, finally, would you suggest me to postpone my plans on academy, find another work until I make an international publication?
Sorry, for the very long question.
I will appreciate any of your answers and suggestions.
Thanks in advance.

What exactly is your question?

Hi and welcome to Academia.SE! This is not a forum for recommendations and discussions, but rather a Q&A site. You need to formulate a clear question  as explained in help centre: https://academia.stackexchange.com/help

You have publications, even if only in Turkish, on a subject of current interest. I do not if the number of publications is big or small, or anything about the quality. Presumably you know enough German and English to get by, and will pick up German fast.
Based on this information only, apply for all places where you might have a chance of being accepted. To improve your chances, consider if there are people who are

famous in your field in Germany, or at least have some name recognition
can read Turkish
familiar with your work or willing to get familiar, or at least the journals.

If you can find such a person, ask if they can certify that you have published reasonable papers in reasonable journals.
In your application, be honest about your language skills and potential. If a position asks you to immediately teach in German, you might not be the ideal candidate, but if there is a year to learn to language or something similar, you should be qualified.
In the academic world, it is best to apply early and often; getting a position or funding is partially a matter of luck, so making many attempts pays off.

I don't know how it is in turkey, but working in germany as a scientist is not so easy. the universities or institutions often don't have enough money to financiate their staff.
maybe you should apply to a daad stipenium. There are programs only for foreign people.  http://www.research-in-germany.org/en/jobs-and-careers/info-for-postdocs-and-junior-researchers.html
In any case the biggest problem for a research institute will be the money to pay you. So if you bring your project or stipendium, the start will be much easier.

A postdoc is probably the easiest point of entry (instead of lecturer or "real job").  That said, you seem pretty flexible so I would just apply for everything in parallel.


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What is expected from a post-doc application?
More clearly;
Is it possible to apply with a proposal like "I want to make international publications based on my PhD Thesis during my post-doc"
or
Does someone have to formulate an entirely new research question/proposal in the application?

This is extremely field-dependent, country-dependent, advisor-dependent, trainee-dependent, etc.

Is it possible to apply with a proposal like "I want to make international publications based on my PhD Thesis during my post-doc"

This is appropriate if you want to pursue a post-doc with your PhD advisor, or you want to pursue a post-doc with an advisor that will allow you to do whatever you want. It is inappropriate if the advisor has their own research agenda.

Does someone have to formulate an entirely new research question/proposal in the application?

This is appropriate if the advisor doesn't have their own agenda.

You need to show how your prior research is relevant to the field of research that falls within the scope of the advertised postdoc.  Publishing papers in internationally recognized journals should be a unspoken assumption and you need not state it. Typically the professor will have already have a research agenda, and you need to make sure that it's a good fit for you before applying. If your prior research interest has no intersection with the professor's I would advise you not to apply at all. Conversely, you should highlight how your research interest aligns with the job scope of the postdoc.

Postdoctoral fellowships come in all shapes and sizes.
It is often good to play to your strengths while keeping an eye towards where you want to get to. Some postdoctoral positions are very task oriented e.g. help run a lab doing X for 2 years. Others are more open ended. If you’re going for the former then it would be good to show how you’re the right person for the job. If it’s open ended then you may want to emphasize your capability to expand to new fields, hopefully those that your host is interested in.
It’s important to also focus on more “grownup” skills like managing students and writing grants, which may be expected of you.
Good luck!


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Doing masters in Political Economy
Is it possible to use part of my thesis proposal to help me write another essay on a different assignment ? Or does this amount to "self-plagiarism"? Essentially in the other assignment I want to use parts of my proposal to answer the question, it is in a similar context but takes the material in a different direction. The proposal is not in anyway published and as far as I am aware of I would be the owner of the copyright in both instances. I understand that there might be an issue of claiming credit twice but I can't see why I can't use some previous material I have written before to support a different argument.

We can't answer for you. Ask your instructor.


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Academic Conferences: Are "program committee" members always present at the actual conference?
For example, this conference (https://www.monash.edu/tenor2019/committees) is being held in Melbourne, Australia; but the Program Committee consists of over 40 members from interstate and overseas. Would it be expected for all of these committee members to be present at the conference, or could their roles be carried out without actually attending?

Most will be actually involved but not necessarily all

Program committee members are not expected to be present at conferences. They are responsible for reviewing submissions (before the conference) and helping to select submissions to be presented at the conference. Nonetheless, program committee members may attend, possibly even to present a submission that was selected (by other members of the program committee). Beyond the program committee, other committee members may be present, indeed, some must be present.


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what does "Reject (revise and resubmit)" mean?
I submitted a paper to an IEEE journal. The editor provided the following review:

Based on the enclosed set of reviews this manuscript is not acceptable for publication in its current form, but may be acceptable after being thoroughly reworked. If you choose to resubmit, please send the reworked manuscript no later than 07-Mar-2019, but preferably as soon as possible.  The sooner we receive the resubmission, the better the likelihood that we can utilize the same editor and reviewers.  If an extension is needed for any reason, please contact ... with an expected date for the resubmission.
  Your resubmitted manuscript will require an additional full round of review, but as stated above, we will make every effort to utilize the previous reviewers if possible.  Please be sure to mention the original paper number and include a point-by-point response to the reviewer comments in your cover letter and/or File Upload section.

Does that mean "Reject" or "Major Revision"? What is the difference between this decision and reject?
If I decide to submit the paper to another journal, should I withdraw the paper from the first journal?

"this manuscript is not acceptable for publication in its current form, but may be acceptable after being thoroughly reworked" seems pretty clear, no?

yes, this is clear but I cannot understand why this decision says: revise and resubmit? I think R&R means major revision. So, it does not need to withdraw before submitting to another journal?

The chances are high that any other good journal will also reject it... So, improve it and re-submit - they don't say how many times an article had to re-submit when they publish...

I do not know whether you have to withdraw before submitting elsewhere, but why not just reply to the editor "thank you for letting me know, I will submit elsewhere"? Though if the reviewers' suggestions have merit, I would go through the R&R process; no point in cutting corners this late in the process.

Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/56531/what-does-reject-and-resubmit-mean

Also related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/88017/publication-rejection-with-advising-to-resubmit

@Dawn I think the question about having to withdraw the paper before submitting someplace else make this question unique.

@StrongBad I agree. I did not vote to close. I do think those discussions could help the OP.

Seems a more accurate title would be 'Does a journal have any rights to a paper after sending "reject (revise and resubmit)" to the authors?'

dear @cag51, I am planning to submit my next paper to the first journal. Is it common to send an email to the editor and just thank for their feedback without resubmitting the letter? I think it may have a bad effect and means that I have not to pay attention to their responses. Do you agree?

Well, you can rephrase it to be more polite. Something like: "I have carefully reviewed the feedback and will update the paper accordingly, however, after weighing my options, I think the best option is for me to resubmit this paper elsewhere. Best wishes."

Revise and resubmit means exactly what it says: if you revise the manuscript and resubmit it, we will look at it again (hopefully with the same editor and reviewers, but not necessarily). Typically this means the required revisions are substantial enough that it will go to reviewers again.
Reject means we do not want to see the manuscript again.
More recently reject and resubmit has become a thing. It is like a revise and resubmit, but the journal is going to count the manuscript as a new submission so their rejection rates go up and the time to final decision goes down. Sometimes they try and use the same editor and reviewers and ask for a rebuttal letter, just like a revise and resubmit. Other times it is on you and they treat it like a new submission.
This is clearly a revise and resubmit. If you wish to not revise and resubmit you can just submit it to another journal without telling them anything, but it would be polite to tell them that you are not going to resubmit the manuscript. That way they can close out the paperwork on their end. As for concerns about double submission, once a decision, apart from acceptance, is made, you can do whatever you want.

I agree with most of your points. However, in my experience, it all depends on the actual reviewer comments. I have seen reject and resubmit decisions with actual minor comments from the reviewers that could be very easily adressed but I have also seen the same decision with comments that are very difficult (or nearly impossible) to address.

Thanks, dear @StrongBad. So If I decide to submit my paper to another journal, it is not necessary to withdraw it. Right?

@Atena it is not necessary, but why wuoldn't you just send them a quick email. If you are planning on trying to submit it someplace else and if that goes badly then resubmit it to the first journal, that is fishy.

It means that you are permitted to resubmit rather than forbidden to do so. The only difference is that when you resubmit it will be treated as a new submission and start over at the beginning of the process, likely with new reviewers.
But they are also warning you that only a major reworking will be acceptable. Hopefully the reviewers will point you in the direction that might lead to success.

Note that whether new reviewers are sought is journal dependent. On at least some journals this seems only to artificially minimize published acceptance times, with the rest of the process identical.

From the letter, it seems like they are very specifically not treating it as a new submission, starting the process over from the beginning, or using new reviewers in this case


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Edit a manuscript after submit and approve it
I submitted my manuscript to a Springer journal and after viewing the submission, I approved it. But now I need to edit one of my references, but the Edit button is not available after approving the submission. How can I edit it? Should I submit a new manuscript?

Look for an "upload a revised copy" button. This is generally discouraged, but can be done within a few days after initial submission, without much of an issue. If several days have passed, then seek editor's approval.

I think that submitting a new manuscript will just confuse them. The version you submitted will be checked and reviewed. You will get back a report and, hopefully, a request to update and resubmit changes. Make your changes then.
If that isn't enough to satisfy you, then contact the editor of the journal and ask for advice on how to proceed. But what you have discovered is pretty common.
The journal needs, for now, a stable version that can be sent to reviewers. You are just at the beginning of the process and will have time to fix things.

Submitting a new manuscript won't confuse them - modern editorial management systems have tools precisely to detect duplicate submission. It's an administrative hassle, though, and I agree that the easiest way is just to wait until revisions or copyediting (if the manuscript is immediately accepted) to make a non-essential change like this one.

Therefore, a mistake in referencing is common and does not cause the editor to reject it. right?

Thanks dear @Buffy, you helped me to control my stress.

Probably not worth a worry at this point. It might even be missed by reviewers. But journals for all practical purposes never publish the first version sent to them. You are lucky if you only need to revise once or twice.

Hmmm. Deer Buffy??? No, Dog Buffy. Ha.

Just be sure to inform the editor when at the time of proof editing you'll made whatever little change

Just wait for the revision cycle to complete and incorporate the change at that time.  You are talking about a very small nitpicky change.  No reason to disrupt the cycle now.
Note, if they accept the paper without revision, write in at that time to request the change and with an edited version (or a brief email explaining that you will make the change in camera review, if they have that).


text:
Advice on rejecting job offer from recommender
I worked for this professor last summer for free and am going to ask her to be recommender for PhD application. This year I asked to work with her again, however this time I need salary. So she offered me a job, however there is no salary. Furthermore, there is no other professor involved in this project so I cannot get another recommender as well. I am not really interested in this. What can I do so that I do not piss her off and she still writes me a letter of recommendation?
Thank you all

You can politely reject the offer and ask for her letter. What else do you think you could do?

So how can I reject that? Just say Im not interested?

You can explain (in one or two sentences) that you enjoyed working with her last year, but that you are currently looking for paid offers and a PhD position, and that it would be helpful if she could write you a letter of recommendation.

Say that you really wish you could accept her offer but, unfortunately, lack of money is becoming an issue for you. You need to start earning money (in order to live). With regret you will have to find a funded position even if it is not so desirable.


text:
What MA (MFA?) is needed to become an English / Creative Writing professor at a CC?
all!
So, this might be ridiculous, and you can feel free to laugh me out, but I'm trying to figure out a new life path. I've spent the last decade as a flight attendant for a major airline, and now I'm at a perfect point to go back to school and get a masters degree. (My bachelors is in Criminal Justice, but I'm working through English prerequisites for the MA below.) I also write fiction on the side--I'm agented, have one book getting traditionally published, and two more on submission with the Big 5 in NYC.
I was looking at Western Governors University to get an MA in Teaching English (Secondary), with the hopes that I could wiggle my way into adjunct or something and find full-time from there. But I just spoke with a friend who's a professor at a university in California, and she doesn't think this degree would help me. (Lacking the 18 credit hours in the core subject, for one, I think? But it's hard to tell; WGU doesn't number their classes like the rest of colleges do...)
Now I'm feeling pretty depressed. If this degree won't actually help me, why bother pursuing it? But an MFA seems like a waste of time and money, especially for someone who's already getting published through years of hard work--for free. :(
How should I proceed? I think teaching English sounds AMAZING, and I'm so ready for a career change. But I don't want to waste my time and money pursuing a masters that ultimately won't help me. This is so intimidating... I'd appreciate any insight!
Thank you! <3

Community colleges vary quite a bit from place to place.  If you have a particular place in mind, check the profiles of recently hired faculty.  I think you will find the competition is quite vigorous.  You might find most of the new faculty have PhDs from prominent universities.

Also, you will probably find the pay is terrible.

Secondary is high school, not college (that's tertiary), so your friend is probably right. Would you consider teaching high school, though?

WGU is not academically reputable and no CC would honestly consider a degree from them meaningful.  If they are desperate (and very rarely is a CC desperate for an English instructor these days) they'll consider that it satisfies their on-paper requirements.  @AnonymousPhysicist is basically correct.


text:
One of my profs did his PhD at the University I want to apply for my math PhD. Should I get a recommendation from him?
The prof is quite famous (lots of publications and even a Wiki page). His doctoral advisor is also quite famous (still is part of the faculty of the university that I want to apply to). Would a recommendation letter  have a significant impact on my application?
Alternatively I can get a letter from another prof which will be probably a little  stronger. Which option would be the best for me? Basically would the other prof's letter carry more weight since he got his PhD from the university I am applying to.
I am applying to a top 3 institution, (if that makes any difference).
Thank you all in advance.

Maybe both letters?

As a tiebreaker, it might be nice to have a strong letter from someone who went to the target university, especially if it has a highly specialized or unconventional program.
However, yours is not such a marginal case. You stand to benefit more by getting a letter from a professor who knows you closely and can say positive things about your research ability.

If the professor can truly vouch for your skills, knowledge and motivation then fine.
So if you have attended a course given by that professor then yes. Otherwise I would say no, as you should use referrees that can vouch for your attributes, and not use someone as a referee « just because they went there ».

I have done 2 courses with that prof (earned highest grade possible), but the only problem is that I haven't done any research with  him.


text:
Relationship with doctoral advisor?
My question is that do most people keep in touch with their doctoral advisors after they graduate? Do doctoral advisors forget their PhD students after the students get their degree?
I am mainly asking about math/physics if that makes a difference.

Do you mean professionally(which I think you do)? Also, if you can then please specify that what do you mean by 'forget' - are you asking that they abandon collaborating or stop discussing with them, i.e. treat them like ex-colleagues?

For almost everyone it is worth spending a bit of effort to keep the lines of communication open so that you aren't forgotten. An annual update on your career would be welcomed by many. A periodic visit in person, just to chat, is worth doing if it can be managed. You are their academic heir. Most people value that relationship.

Is this about students staying in academia, or about students leaving academia?

I very much doubt any of them "forget" in the sense of "Who are you, and how did you get this number?"
The relationship one has with their former advisor will depend on both the advisor, the graduate, and their relationship - and it will evolve over time. Some are happy to go their separate ways, some continue to be long time collaborators or friends, and the amount of political capital they will spend on their former graduates varies wildly.
Some advisors (wisely IMO) step back a little bit to make sure that their former PhD students develop an independent research agenda and voice, and clearly have a separate career from their advisor.
But it all depends. Personally? I keep in touch with my advisor, see him at conferences (back before COVID-19), and when the opportunity is right, we collaborate, but we don't actively seek out those opportunities.

It depends on your current relationship and on who you & your advisor are as a person in general.
If your current relationship runs smoothly and your research interests continue to coincide you may continue to publish joint papers. I have seen that happening long after a former PhD student graduates - even after they get faculty positions.
However I have also seen former advisors turning competitive and trying to exclude former lab members from the continuation of a project. I would guess in that case one would not want to try to continue to have any kind of friendly relationship with the advisor...


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Is it appropriate to speak to the reader in scientific paper (but without using "you")?
This is similar to the question here, but my question is different because I'm not asking about ever using "you" in my writing.
I quite like using the turn of phrase "Note that...". For example, I'm discussing some feature of data that reflects a physical property. But then I want so say that my data looks a little different because of such-and-such reasons. So, I would like to write something along the lines of: "Note that all experimental data in this manuscript shows just half of the typical shape because we performed only half of the typical sweep."
When I write "Note...", I'm actually speaking to the reader directly. It's kind of like saying, "Hey you! Pay attention here!" Everywhere else in the manuscript the focus is on the experiment and not on the reader. So, would this be frowned upon?

Probable duplicate: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/97334/40589

Oh! I didn't find that thread when I did a search before posting :(

Although, now that I've looked at it, that question poses it from a slightly different perspective. Apparently the concern there is whether or not it sounds condescending, which is not the basis for my question.

I often use imperative constructions like "Note that", "Observe that", "Recall that".  Other imperative constructions, grammatically addressed to the reader  and used by practically all mathematicians, include "Let f be a function" and "See [7]." I don't recall ever getting frowned at for using such language.


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Is a math bachelor the right choice for me?
I am currently a student in high school, who plans on going to university.
As of now, I am planning to pursue my bachelors degree in mathematics in the UK and then go on to do a PhD in computer science in the states.
As long as I have been alive I have always loved doing maths and physics. But during the last couple of years, I have really gotten into computer science and can picture myself working in the field.
However, whenever I think about just doing a bachelor in computer science, I end up feeling like I am betraying my principles and throwing away the chance to acquire a proper mathematical education (Not to mention my disappointment in myself for not pursuing a career in theoretical physics (which just doesn't seem like it will pay the bills)).
As to my question, is it advisable for me to go through a math degree before pursuing a PhD in compsci? Or should I just get a degree in compsci in the first place and take some math classes on the side?
(In the case that it matters, I would also like to someday work outside of academia, perhaps pursuing a research or development job in the industry.)
Thank you for your answers in advance. I am really looking forward to reading them.

Would a double major be an option?

There exists an opinion that if you ask a question such as in the title, then math is not for you.

@Mihail I (somewhat liberally) interpret the opinion in your comment as "university math is harsh and unforgiving, and requires high dedication/passion, so if there is any doubt about whether you can/should pursue math, then you probably already shouldn't." I disagree. That might make sense for someone who has already done a math program and knows what it's like. However, OP hasn't so it's totally natural not to know if math is for OP. Plus, OP is in high school, which means there's probably time to explore even if math doesn't turn out to be right. So why close the door on math prematurely?

@RaynaGrayson of course, I'm not making a rule without exceptions from "If there is a doubt about appying to math, then you won't be happy in math". I just got an impression that in the vast majority of situations, passion towards mathematics starts much earlier than at university. After all, there is a math in school and if you are curious enough, then you start to explore what is more about math out there. Today, everyone has an access to all of the information due to internet. Curiosity is a must, and it suggests you if there a passion for math or not.

@Mihail True, then I interpreted your statement more harshly than you intended. :) Just to play devil's advocate though, math is often taught very differently (and unfortunately, in a way that can kill passion) in grade school vs. university pure math program, so I would argue that there also exists a lot of potential for the opposite - people who thought they wouldn't like university math, but would if they tried it.

"take some math classes on the side" this probably not possible if you do your undergraduate degree in the UK. University courses here tend to be very focused on the subject of choice and you will likely only be able to take modules within your department (i.e. computer science).

This can only be a partial answer and some perspective. Your idea of a math degree in UK followed by a CS doctorate in US is feasible. It is fairly common to enter a doctorate in US from a different field. But expect there to be advanced coursework as part of the doctoral program.
Taking a CS undergraduate degree isn't really essential, though it will give you some necessary topics. But doing that with "picking up" some maths would probably be pretty hard. And maybe not very satisfying if you can't devote enough mental energy to it.
But, you can stay flexible and there is no need to nail everything down at this moment. You will have plenty of chances to change your mind later. If you start in math, you might well decide to continue in that. Likewise CS.
Another point. You say physics "won't pay the bills", but in academia there isn't a tremendous difference in salary between different technical fields. It is harder to get a position in some fields than in others, but seven years from now the market will almost certainly be different and it is hard to predict these things so far in advance.
The best advice you can get is whenever possible, do what you love. Not everyone has an opportunity to do that. If you can manage a set of choices and follow a dream without compromising for money, then your life will probably be happier.

Thank you, for that motivating answer. I guess I shouldn't be that closeminded, feeling like I have to make a choice for a lifetime at this very moment. Hopefully, I'll be able to figure out my passion and be strongwilled enough to pursue it.

There is a large number of mathematics with computer science degrees in the UK. For example, Brunel say

Approximately two-thirds of the course is devoted to mathematical and
statistical areas. The mathematics subjects on this course focus
particularly on aspects of modern algebra that relate to computer
science and also include a considerable amount of numerical analysis
of mathematical problems. You have the opportunity to specialise in
Level 3 so as an example, you may choose modern encryption methods as
used in internet transactions.
This programme will meet the educational requirements of the Chartered
Mathematician designation, awarded by the Institute of Mathematics and
its Applications, when it is followed by subsequent training and
experience in employment to obtain equivalent competences to those
specified by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for taught master's
degrees.

Birmingham say

Depending on how your interests develop, you
could choose to specialise in areas such as statistics, algebra,
robotics and machine learning.
In this Joint Honours programme you will work at exactly the same
level as students taking the Single Honours programme. In your first
year, we will help you to make the step up to university level study.
We will give you a sound mathematical basis in a broad range of
subject areas and you will study the foundations of computer science
together with programme design and programming techniques. The second
year of your BSc Mathematics and Computer Science will introduce you
to more advanced areas allowing you to develop particular interests.
In your third year, you will take project modules and you can choose
to specialise in mathematics or computer science.

Different courses, and different institutions, will have a different balance between Maths and Comp Sci. If you want to do maths, I think you need to do the maths first, then move to/incorporate Comp Sci. A Comp Sci degree, even with added maths, is not going to be the same thing at all.


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My name in publications as an author is different from my name in the passport, how to prove that I'm the same person?
My name in all of my publications is Mohamed Abd El-Ghafour (Abd El-Ghafour, M.) while in passport is Mohamed Abd El-Ghafour Omar, so Abd El-Ghafour is a middle name, is this will be a problem in linking my publications to my passport?
Thank you very much

In all my years, no academic ever looked into my passport. Also, the difference does not seem to be completely understandable - there is just one name more in the passport, no?

Not something to worry about. It is more important that all your papers show the same name, however. If you have some with one name and others are different it will just confuse people.

There have been many similar questions on this site, e.g. https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16333/choosing-my-name-as-an-author-when-publishing-a-scientific-paper-can-i-use-my.  The short answer is that it is not a problem.

I guess the OP is asking the question for immigration-related questions. The name discrepancy might invite suspicion of identity theft from custom officers. Note that "Mohammed abd-el-X" is a widespread name pattern in the Arabic world, so homonyms are frequent.

I would not be worried about the passport having a different name. However, if you want to claim the publications as your own, I would setup an ORCID. That would link them to you and each other. On your ORCID account, list your full name. ORCID also lets you list other names as well.


text:
With editor status changes to Submitted to Journal After 5 weeks
May I please ask what does this mean. I submitted a manuscript to an Elsevier journal, for 5 weeks it had "with editor" status, now it has changed to "Submitted to Journal". What does this mean?

Does this answer your question? What does the typical workflow of a journal look like?

Elsevier has a page where they explain the submission status [1]. I would assume that "submitted to journal" is equivalent to the status "with journal" on that page. My guess would be that this means that the editor handling your manuscript is being changed. More detailed information if and why this is happening can probably only come from the journal itself, so you would have to contact them directly.
[1] https://service.elsevier.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12237/supporthub/publishing/~/what-does-the-status-of-my-submission-mean-in-evise%3F/

This would probably be a nice addition to the canonical answer mentioned in the comments.


text:
Overly long review process (>2 years) without feedback
We submitted a paper to a journal more than 2 years ago. After 1 year had passed without any news, I asked the editors for an update on the status of our paper, and they mentioned they were still waiting for referee reports. After the second year of waiting, I wrote another email about a status update, without getting any response from the editors. The long process is a real nuisance for all authors involved, in particular for the junior ones who need publications on their track record. This is why I would like to see a decision (positive or negative) soon, but on the other hand I would like to not offend the editors. What would you advise us to do in this situation?

What field? ,,,

I'm pretty sure there was a similar question that was given the following advice for no response from editors: contact the managing editor or call the journal.

Perhaps the time for being polite is past.
Ask them for a realistic projection about a decision. Perhaps even mention the impact of the delay on the careers of junior members.
There might be reasons for a long delay, but not for a long time between communications. Don't ask for an immediate decision unless you want to risk the inevitable rejection.
But it is their responsibility to choose reliable reviewers.
But if your paper is especially esoteric, making it hard to find suitable reviewers, then starting over will also lead to long delays. If that happens, keep a tighter rein on the process.


text:
Using .tex files from arXiv as a template for new papers
It is well known that anyone can download the LaTeX source code of the papers on arXiv. My question is regarding the use of that source code.
Say you are working on a paper that is a follow-up to an existing one. You like the format of that paper (both structurally and graphically), and you want to keep the notation used.
Would it be reasonable/legitimate to download the source of the original paper, keep the preamble (i. e., everything before \begin{document}), and then write your own paper? Or is it downright unethical, and akin to plagiarism? Could this be softened by giving credit to the authors of the original paper in the source code (assuming that the new paper is also to be submitted to arXiv)? I am assuming that all of the content of the new paper is original. It is just part of the (not rendered) LaTeX source that is reused with minimal (or no) editing.

Wow that is possible??

Use an official journal template like everyone else.

"Use an official journal template" is missing the point of the question entirely.  The questioner wants to use the collection of macros in a paper.  This is independent of whether a journal template is used.

@AnonymousPhysicist I’m sure I’m not alone in not using a journal template - without repercussions.

I would suggest to ask the authors if you have doubt. There is a good chance that they license the preamble as public domain to you (by saying "Just use it").

In my opinion (as a senior academic, frequent poster on arXiv, and non-lawyer), it is reasonable and legitimate to make use of the source code in the way that you describe except that "giving credit to the authors of the original paper in the source code" is not enough.  You must give credit in the body of the paper itself.  If you do this, I believe that you would be satisfying any of the Creative Commons licenses used by arXiv.  (In the case of one of the enhanced license choices of ShareAlike or Noncommercial-ShareAlike, you should adhere to the additional conditions.)
If you give credit only in the source code, putting legality aside, you would be trying to avoid publicly acknowledging the way in which you have used the work of the original authors.  That is unethical, in my opinion.  (I expect you would agree that well under 0.001% of arXiv downloads are of source files.  Please do not look for the least possible defensible acknowledgment of the original authors.)
If I were in your field and your action led to increased notational and typographic consistency, I would be happy about that.  It would make papers easier to understand.
[Addition to respond to Nate Eldredge:  You make an interesting point that we do not acknowledge Knuth or Lamport or the authors of various standard LaTeX packages.  It does soften my view.  However, I maintain that there is a difference between the `obviously intended use' when someone publishes a LaTeX package and the rather surprising use of someone accessing source code to use macros.  I still recommend that the original questioner acknowledge the use of source code in a way that is visible in the compiled version of the document.]

On the other hand, one normally doesn't acknowledge the authors of LaTeX itself, nor of the many packages that a typical paper may use.  In some sense maybe we should, but it's not the practice.  Do you think there is a distinction between that and this?

OP doesn't actually mention anything about macros, so it's possible they just want to find out which packages are used to achieve some notation. The appropriateness of an acknowledgement probably depends on how non-trivial the copied lines are.

@Anyon when I referred to "notation" I had custom macros in mind also. Apologies for the ambiguity. In some cases, these custom notation macros can be very non-trivial. I think this constitutes an interesting particular case. Do you think, even if other scientists from the same field are able to recognize where those symbols came from, that their origin should be acknowledged?

@user1790813 No worries, I just considered it a possibility worth pointing out. Especially since I'd be quite bemused if I found myself acknowledged for having written e.g. "\usepackage{simpler-wick}" - if anyone should be acknowledged there it's the package creator. I agree it makes sense to acknowledge authors of non-trivial custom macros. But one-liner "\newcommand" ones that are used as short-hand to avoid typing out straight-forward but tedious math syntax? Probably not. As I said previously, I think it depends on the degree of non-triviality.


text:
How can a working professional getting into a new field
I have EE major and CS minor in my bachelor degree (overseas, GPA ~3.7) and a CS master degree (US, rank about 30 in CS, GPA ~3.5). I've worked in tech industry for 9 years as a technical staff, but I don't have any publication or patten. I got a green card and have sufficient saving.
I'm thinking about getting into pure math. Although in my undergraduate years, I learned calculus, linear algebra, some engineering math, complex analysis, but the strengths are not comparable.
I see little chance of getting into a good math Phd program due to my thin and outdated profile. Redoing the whole bachelor degree seems impossible in terms of time and finance. Is there a way to strengthen my profile? Is there an "intermediate" program to learn just the mathematical knowledge and bridge me? I see some "Post-Baccalaureate Program" but they're not for mathematics. I'm willing to go abroad if the school is good and I'm accepted.

I don't see any reason why you wouldn't just apply for a PhD program and see if you succeed.

Your math background isn't outdated, but it is very thin. If you are near some university, or even a liberal arts college, see if you can take individual courses for credit. Talk to a department head, for example.

Getting a second masters in the related field that allows you to count work you’ve already could be an option.


text:
Is there a portal that will let me find historical PhD candidates who worked under a given supervisor?
I am a freelance writer doing some reporting on the 120th birthday of a scientist who died in the 90s. I've already talked with one of his colleagues and have plans to talk with more of them, but I'm hoping to find a person or two who worked on their PhD research with him as their advisor.
Is there a systematic way I can do this? Or do I just need to follow my current approach of Googling dozens of variations on the phrase "advised by John Smith"? (I'm also currently asking existing contacts for any students they might remember working under the guy.)

If the scientist was (even in broad terms) a mathematician, there is the math genealogy project, at https://www.mathgenealogy.org/

https://academictree.org/ is an option. It's not going to be comprehensive, though, it's based on crowdsourced contributions, and I'd expect it to be especially sparse as you go back in time unless you're looking at someone particularly famous.
Otherwise, I'd look at coauthors on their papers.

Coauthors are the way to go…

Here's a few possibilities.
Ask his department.
Ask a librarian from his university. My graduate school's library does list thesis/dissertation adviser[sic] in the bibliographic record but I haven't figured out how to reliably search the correct fields.
Maybe contact the university archive if there is one.


text:
Do other EU countries have an equivalent of Germany's portal for foreign students?
The German government runs a portal, https://myguide.de, that allows prospective foreign university students to search for undergraduate and graduate degree programs offered by German universities. It allows filtering by several categories -- full-time vs. part-time, location, language of instruction, cost, etc.,.
Does any other European country have a government-run portal of this type? I know of a couple general, commercially run portals, but they tend to focus on overpriced degrees at private (or even for-profit) universities which, I assume, pay to have their incredibly spammy names listed, whereas I'm mostly interested in established public institutions with credible names and physical ties to their communities of origin.

Sweden has Studera.nu, which provides an introduction to Swedish higher education. Its Swedish version has such a search function, but I was only able to find the corresponding search function in English at the application site Universityadmissions.se. The corresponding application site in Swedish is Antagning.se. There are indeed search filters for language, study pace etc. The search results include information about the tuition fee (only applicable to non-EU/EEA citizens), but I don't think you can use cost as a filtering criterion. Note that you would generally apply to a university through one of these central portals, rather than through some system managed by the individual universities. The sites are run by The Swedish Council for Higher Education (Universitets- och högskolerådet), which is a government agency.


text:
How to mention that we are applying as a couple?
My wife and I are applying to US universities for master's and PhD programmes. We both have a electrical engg. degree and are applying to the same department. However we would like to get into the same university.
Is it possible to mention this in the application? Do universities take this into consideration when making admission decisions?

Do you mean you will both be seeking a doctorate or one of you a masters and the other a doctorate?

both doctorate at some unis, and both masters at some unis.

Different universities will have different rules. At some you will be strictly considered as individuals. At others some accommodation might be made, but only at the margins. You can just state in your cover material that you are seeking positions together for personal reasons.
But it is worth mentioning, so that the admissions committee is aware that you have some constraints. But if you are both marginally qualified, by their rules, it would be more a reason to reject both than to admit both.
But is is unlikely that one would be admitted if unqualified even if the other is highly qualified. Being married is probably better than just being "together".
Another possibility for you, however, if you are willing to live in a large city, is to make applications to several universities in some city, like NYC or San Francisco. Then it would be feasible to attend different universities, though such places tend to be expensive to live in.
And the application would be for the doctorate. It is unnecessary to mention a masters in such an application. A masters is normally earned "along the way" to the doctorate, sometimes just by asking and sometimes with some fairly minor additional requirement.

Is it possible to mention this in the application?

Yes it is possible to mention it, but it is unlikely to help and unwise.

Do universities take this into consideration when making admission
decisions?

Possibly, if one of you is admitted and the other is not, mentioning you need a second offer to enrol might result in a second offer.  If you have a credible alternative (another university that admitted both of you) this might be more effective.
Some cities have more than one good PhD program.

but it is unlikely to help and unwise. - Can you explain why?  I often hear this about for job applications, but grad school applications are rather different from tenure-track applications, especially in the US---e.g., there's typically no interview and very little negotiation.  And even for job applications I don't think this statement is always true, even though it seems to be the standard advice.


text:
Proper way of including pictures into the Master's thesis
I'm doing mathematics and my thesis consists mainly of understanding and elaborating couple of articles, writing clearly everything down, and possibly including a little of my own original work at the end. Of course, I am citing everything, and also I am not copypasting, rather writing known stuff with my own words and trying to be more detailed.
But I am not sure what to do with the pictures(there are about 20 of them which are relatively difficult to draw, next to the 30-35 pages of plain text). I have an access to the tex files of these articles and could easily copy paste the code for pictures. On the other hand, I could write down(rather draw) everything by myself, and anyway I would properly cite the source because many of these pictures represent ideas behind which are not mine.
So what should I do? On the one hand, straight copypasting is not good. On the other hand, this is not a piece of text where I could write more details, although if I wouldn't have seen those pictures but I would been explained the ideas, then I would have drawn slightly differently. Should I draw everything by myself, while trying to be visually different then authors(while properly citing them of course).

Does this answer your question? I'd like to use a figure from a paper; what's the best way to do this?

@GoodDeeds That link will be helpful, thanks. But I am not just asking how to cite. I am asking if it is alright to cite 20 of them. Will it be comparable to the case of plainly copypasting 5 pages of text from another course? I know that in my thesis I should more sort of paraphrase and add more details, given a work which is not mine, rather than copypaste.

I am asking if it is alright to cite 20 of them Please read the answers of the linked question about getting permissions.


text:
Semester Break in Germany during PhD
I wanted to apply for an official semester break during my PhD; I am enrolled in a German University; my concern is that could I show the paper published during the semester break in the dissertation?

What does it mean to "apply for a semester break"? Every semester ends just like every week does, without any need for an application.

@henning I assume this is an odd translation of "Freisemester", which basically means suspending ones studies for a term. It is a bit unclear to me though what the point of doing this as a PhD student would be.

I assume with "semester break" you mean taking a Freisemester, although it is unclear to me what the point of that as a PhD student would be. The general idea of a Freisemester is that the student is busy with something other than their studies; and they'll usually not be able to progress via e.g. sitting exams.
To figure out how your university handles Freisemester, and what is and what is not possible during them, you will need to consult the Prüfungsordnung, and in your case, also the Promotionsordnung. After you have done that, discuss the idea with your PhD supervisor and query them regarding whatever is unclear in the official rules.

Traditionally, doing a PhD is detached from being enrolled as a student in Germany.
More recently, it has become customary to be enrolled as a PhD student and/or be part of a graduate school for a certain minimal amount of time (e.g. 2 years). Nevertheless, it does not mean you cannot use results obtained outside that time for your PhD.
So there shouldn't be a problem, unless there is a requirement that you have to be enrolled or part of the graduate school for a certain consecutive period of time. But, again, this will not be a problem for the material you include in your thesis.

I don't think that should be a worry, though I'm not from Germany. Doctoral students do a lot of productive things when they aren't "on the clock".
And, how would they know, unless you make an issue of it? It is pretty likely that you worked on the paper during "official time" anyway.
But you might also have a quiet word with your supervisor. "Hey, I had a weird thought..."

okay, thanks for your suggestion, glad that you replied to it.


text:
How to state incomplete Ph.D in CV (not defended yet)?
I have read few tags and i could not find appropriate answers. So, here i am writing again.
I have completed my Ph.D research work, and completed all the credits required and published a paper. but i have not yet defended. one of my project doesn't have sufficient results to published. other than this there are other complications with supervisor, personal issues. but i was recommend to Licentiate degree (need to rethink about Licentiate).
My question is how do i present in my CV that I have not defended or it may be a licentiate degree. Or should i state in cover letter reason for not completing in time? I am applying jobs that has masters degree as requirement. in academics, companies mainly as Research engineer, laboratory assistant etc.
could someone help with right words that has to be put in CV? Thank you

It might be helpful to specify which country you're located in as part of the question, since answers will vary depending on where you are. I'm also not familiar with the Licentiate Degree; I'm not sure if this is a common degree or if it's a location-specific term.

Is the OP asking how to formally write in a CV that they are ABD?

"Licentiate" sounds to me like the difference in China between 毕业证 and 学位证, one verifies that you have met the coursework and academic requirements for a PhD, one is that you have fulfilled all of the university obligations, including successfully defending your thesis. Is this what you mean?


text:
Graduate coursework for graduate admissions
I’m a rising senior in a mathematics program, and I’m planning to apply to top US schools in maths in the fall. I’ve completed most of my undergrad coursework requirements, and I’m looking into what I should take for the fall.
I have a choice between Graduate Analysis I or Undergraduate Complex Analysis. Now, I find both of these to be very interesting, but what do graduate schools think when they look at my transcript? Will it be more advantageous to have the graduate course listed on there?
If I take the graduate course, it’ll also open up the sequel Graduate Analysis II in the winter.

not directly related but complex analysis is very important especially if you are planning to study analysis.

The answer strongly depends on the programs you apply for. As a very general statement, I would say that getting a good grade on a more advanced/challenging graduate class is better than getting a good grade on an undergraduate class.
Grad classes carry several benefits in terms of the signal they send to prospective admission committees. First of all, they show that you are ready to handle independent studies and the advanced material that is given in these classes. Moreover, graduate classes tend to be smaller and offer more intimate interaction with the lecturer on a topic that they care deeply about (they probably involve their own research papers in the class) - this means you get the opportunity to receive a good reference letter from someone who can personally attest to your capability to handle graduate level material.
All of this is premised on the assumption that you can get a similar grade on both - failing (or barely passing) a graduate class sends a very bad signal to admission committees, as opposed to doing well on an undergraduate class.
So - be sure that you are indeed ready for the class, and the types of materials covered there. Good luck!

This will vary based on the field, however, research does tend to be more important than taking a graduate level class.  However, taking the graduate class may be of benefit if you have not gained much exposure from the field and it is something you may be looking to focus on if you go to graduate school.


text:
Should I send an apology email if I misentered a professor's academic rank in an application?
I'm in the process of doing my PhD applications. A few weeks ago, I filled out the Letter of Recommendation section, which sent out emails to all of my referees asking them to upload their letters via an external link.
They have since submitted their letters. Today, as I was submitting an application, I browsed through the LOR tab one more time just for good measure, and lo and behold, one of the boxes that I filled changed from "Assistant Professor" to "Associate Professor". In a panic, I went through the other applications and it looks like I made the same error everywhere, and this professor silently fixed everything (wherever possible) before submitting.

Should I send them an apology email for misentering their academic rank? I don't want to send them more spam about my applications when they've gotten so many emails from me already in the past week.
Will it affect my admission chances if the admissions committee sees that I entered a professor's academic rank wrongly?

I don‘t think that any professor will actually care deeply about the wrong academic rank in an email. The amount of emails one gets with a wrong academic rank (at least from my perspective as a PhD student) is so vast that one might eventually get desensitized.

As for your first question: I wouldn't send a standalone apology email. You're right, it's too bothersome. Instead, I would wait until you have another reason to email that professor -- maybe a thank you email once all your applications are done, or an update email when you get accepted/rejected. In that email, you can casually apologize for that mistake.
As for your second question: no. Avoid "applicant's hypochondria", don't worry about this.

No, you're fine. Your instinct to not spam their mailbox is correct, and it is doubtful anyone can see that you entered it wrong to begin with.


text:
Updating an already submitted graduate school application
I submitted a graduate school application last week for a Math PhD program at a well-known university in the US. They asked me to submit a PDF list of all the courses that I have taken. I uploaded a list with all the information they asked for, except for the description of each course I simply provided a link to a page on the university's website which gives a detailed syllabus for that course.
In hindsight, I realized that my application might be printed out and hence the links would be useless. But the admissions committee can still get a  sense of what the courses are about from the course name and textbooks used (I provided these).
Should I go back and re-upload my document to include more explicit descriptions? Their application seems to allow post-submission uploads for Fall semester grades and miscellaneous documents (which this PDF list of courses falls under).
There are two reasons why I'm hesitant about doing this.

They never explicit said that we can submit anything after the deadline. So I suspect that if upload a document past the deadline, they might hold it against me.
I come from a pretty well-known undergraduate institution, so I don't think a PDF list of courses will change the admissions outcome. I.e. it is not worth the effort.

I could email them, but I'm quite certain they will simply reply with a generic response such as "You cannot change your submission after the deadline."
This might be another case of the so-called "applicant's hypochondria", so I apologize if this is not a good question. I would appreciate hearing someone else's perspective.

If you don't ask them, you don't learn anything useful. We have no say in what they do.

Thanks, this was the comment I needed to hear

First, in this day and age, I think it is EXTREMELY unlikely that professors are printing out candidate files to read them. Every position from PhD to postdoc to professor has hundreds of applicants and thousands of pages.
Second, I echo Buffy's advice that there is really no harm in asking the chair of the search committee if that was an acceptable way to provide the course descriptions. The OP wrote:

I could email them, but I'm quite certain they will simply reply with a generic response such as "You cannot change your submission after the deadline."

I don't think that's justified. If it will make their lives easier they probably would allow such a change. Anyway, there's no harm in asking and it might even help you as it shows you are very serious about the application rather than submitting it unthinkingly to a zillion places.


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Is it possible to create a bachelors programme that focuses on being able to read any/most scientific article?
I was thinking about whether it would be possible to create a 3/4 year bachelors programme which goal is to teach the student to be able to read any/most scientific article? If so, do you think this programme would be valuable? What would you think the prime courses should be? I myself would believe high level mathematics would definetly be a must.

If you include mathematics - the average mathematics journal article can be read by maybe 100 people.  There are on the order of 1000 people in the world who understand all the details of Wiles's proof of Fermat's last theorem.

Probably not in the US, but where are you asking about?

Maybe I should have rephrased my question to being able to read scientific papers that allow one to understand all scientific articles for which only undergraduate/graduate knowledge is needed for.

@Alexander Woo: There are on the order of 1000 people in the world who understand all the details of Wiles's proof --- This seems too high by perhaps factor of 10 to me. Maybe you mean "who have the background and ability to understand all the details of Wiles's proof"?

What would be the goal of a programme like this? 'Reading' an article itself is not really a valuable skill. Understanding the content and being able to contextualize it within the bigger scope of the field would be. Is that the goal?

It would not be a real bachelors program.  A bachelors program should not be focused on a single skill (reading) and it should not be focused on solely on consumption skills to the neglect of creation skills.

There are several impediments here. In the US such a program would be outside the very philosophy of a bachelor's program. Elsewhere the program may be more technical.
But, since it takes a doctoral student several years after earning other degrees to be able to read "all" of the papers in some small specialized subfield of a larger field.
But even if you just consider the bulk of the problem note that it would probably take several years just to read definitions of all of the technical jargon of all of the world's research fields just one, never mind learning it so that it actually hangs together.
Can you read and understand all of the technical articles across fields just in Wikipedia?
A bachelors degree whether specialized as in UK or general as in US is enough to get you to the point where you can "begin" to understand the papers in a given field. But even then, a recent paper is probably based on several other earlier papers that also need to be understood to some extent so that the current one makes any sense at all.
This is partly why there are popularizers of many scientific fields such as Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson, so that people can "get a sense" of a deep topic while not completely understanding it.


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AMS Citation Style - No date
When including a reference in your bibliography, and the source has no publication date, how should this be indicated in the AMS (American Mathematical Society) citation style? Is it "n.d." or should the date simply be omitted?

I would say, yes, n.d. is correct.
Background: The AMS Style Guide is based on the Chicago Manual of Style (see the Preface at p. ix), so let's take a look there (at chapter 17.119):

When the publication date of a printed work cannot be
ascertained, the abbreviation n.d. takes the place of the
year in the publication details. A guessed-at date may
either be substituted (in brackets) or added. [...]

For the "guessed-at date", the Chicago manual provides the example of (Author [1750?]).


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Identifying a bad advisor (before applying)
Earlier this year, I contacted this Professor (Applied Math) from a top Canadian university and we talked twice this year. He earned his PhD from an Ivy League school and must be around 60 years old. He seems to be a really nice guy, happy to have me as his student, and the university is in a city that I like a lot. However, there is something that concerns me.
He has only had four students over more than 20 years. Three of them stayed in academia in American universities, but only one of them (the youngest) is actively engaged in research in a tier 3 university (the other two are lecturers in tier 2 universities). His other student got a post-doc in a top university in the US, but returned to his home country afterwards (a developing one).
Are my concerns justified?

Hard to tell. Maybe, not necessarily. I'd suggest a polite e-mail to the youngest ex-student to ask how their experience with the professor was.

Excepting UofT and UBC, these are roughly average outcomes for a PhD in math from one of the better Canadian universities.  (For UofT and UBC, this set of outcomes is well within the range of possibilities given the sample size.)

I don't think you can really judge whether a Prof is bad based solely on his/her past students who completed their degree.  First, in your example, all his/her students graduated; a good sign.  Second, he/she may not have many students due to funding or his/her areas of interest.  Third, he/she may be very picky.   Fourth, where his/her students ended up may be due to personal reasons.  Having said that, I would worry more about personality clashes.  Also, you do not see the number of students who have quit; this is probably a better indicator but it not public knowledge.

I agree with @AlexanderWoo that those job outcomes are actually reasonably strong.  Four students is a little on the low end, but it's not unusual for people to wait for tenure to start advising and then only advise one student at a time, so it's not unreasonably few students.

Could you say what the problem with those outcomes are? Isn't it good if somebody helps their developing country? Isn't it good if people go where they want to go (presumably) instead of going to the best universities?

I do not know whether the low number of former PhD students per se is a good sign or bad. A high number of dropouts and former students consistently ending up at very mediocre jobs in academia would definitely be a ground for concern. In what follows, I address a slightly broader question.
You might find it helpful to change your perspective from the good/bad dimension to something like suitable/unsuitable for you personally.
Looking at your potential advisor's CV, you may ask yourself if they seem to be successful due to their original high-quality research or thanks to their soft skills and social initiative? Do they hold posts of authority within the university or as editors and conference organisers? Do they appear to follow their own research strategy or do they tend to jump on the bandwagon from time to time? Do they apply one method to many problems or work on one problem using many methods? Do they take a student to start working on a new challenging problem together or do all their students travel essentially the same path (presumably being spoon-fed in the process)?
By looking at their recent or current students' CVs, you can see what sort of opportunities they were able to take advantage of. Publications, conference presentations - how many and how good? Summer school attendance, teaching (in what capacity: TA or tutor), helping to organise events and public outreach - chores for some, but joy for others - do you want this? Did the student get a chance to visit other groups/labs during their PhD? Did they co-author with various people from other places? Did they publish a couple of papers as the first and corresponding author or did they exchange their technical skills (i.e., coding) for a few middle-author publications?
One can often find the first-hand account of the PhD life in the Acknowledgement section of a thesis/dissertation. Some people share a lot of personal information there. It is worth checking out, especially if you are considering politely contacting a former student, as someone suggested.
While the above guesses and extrapolations can be unreliable and even unwarranted, I find them more useful than merely checking how many of former PhD students got employed and where.

There is probably no issue here and the careers of his students are determined primarily by their actions, not his. It might be a function of the popularity of the subfield in which they work.
But if the professor is listed in the Mathematics Genealogy Project you can find the titles of the dissertations of the students and check for yourself whether their work was significant as students. You can also find out whether they "produced" any mathematical heirs.

"and" -> "any" in last sentence (too small for me to edit)

@BenBolker, fixed. Thanks.

The best way to identify a good advisor before applying for a PhD position is to examine the professor's publication record.  You can examine a lot of professors' publication records quickly.  Detailed investigation of how that professor relates to their students can wait until you have an offer.  It's a more labor intensive process where you should contact previous students and ask them for advice.
You should be very concerned if a professor with a long career has only placed one student into industry employment.  This might indicate a professor who does not understand the realities of the job market.  The vast majority of PhD students will not work in academia, and those that work outside academia will be paid more.
If you are seeking a career in academia, then a 75% placement rate into low ranked academic jobs is a very good record.

This might make sense in areas of engineering and biomedicine that are relevant to industry, but it's nonsense in the humanities (including pure math) where, with a very few very specific exceptions, people who go into industry end up in the kind of job I had before grad school where a PhD is irrelevant (though it can make up for an undistinguished BA).

@AlexanderWoo The fact that some industry jobs don't require a PhD does not imply a good advisor will not help a student prepare for such an industry job.  Which part are you claiming is "nonsense"?

What preparation is there to do?  The student is already prepared for the job.  I consistently advise someone who wants such a job to start looking for one and leave the PhD as soon as they get it - because they might as well make more money now.  In fact, if you are taking an industry job, it's better to NOT graduate even if you have finished a dissertation.  The industry job won't care if you've graduated, and in case you change your mind and want to go back into academia, a more recent degree makes you more competitive.


text:
Paper excluded from conference proceedings
Last year I submitted a paper to a IEEE conference that was going to be held in the US. I got funding from my university and registered to attend the conference. Unfortunately, my visa was rejected, which was unexpected for me because I had been in the US before for another conference.
Since conference presentation was mandatory for publication of my paper in the proceedings, I contacted the organizers to let them know about this issue and if there was something I could do like sending a video presentation. I didn't get any response and assumed that they were going to publish it anyways. However, a couple of months later I found that they didn't do so.
I tried to contact the organizers again to see if I could get a refund, but was ignored again.
Is this common? Is there something I could do to get the money back?

The answers so far just tell you to do what you already did.  If you're sure that's not working, you could file a payment dispute with your financial institution.  However, your university probably does not consider a payment dispute for a small sum to be worthwhile.

Is this common?

Not getting a visa to enter the country where a conference is held, is quite common. It is not common for someone to ask for their money back months after a conference though: while people do occasionally get delayed in asking for their money back, usually this is done immediately after finding out that you won't be able to attend the conference. Not months after the conference is over.
I've highlighted two words in what you wrote:

Since conference presentation was mandatory for publication of my paper in the proceedings, I contacted the organizers to let them know about this issue and if there was something I could do like sending a video presentation. I didn't get any response and assumed that they were going to publish it anyways.

If doing X is "mandatory" to get Y, I would recommend not to "assume" you will get Y without doing X. If this happens again in the future, I would perhaps send a polite reminder about my inquiry for presenting the work through video conference (not just one email and then "assume" that the paper will be published even though they never replied to your email), and perhaps make it clear that you would like your money back if there is no way to get the paper published. You might also consider getting a colleague or friend to present the work for you, if you know anyone else going to the conference who you trust with that type of thing (I have had people present my work for me at conferences before, and I've even seen invited speakers gets their post-docs to present their talk for them if they are too busy to attend).

Is there something I could do to get the money back?

You can ask again politely and include a summary of the timeline of events, perhaps with copies underneath of your old email inquiries which were ignored, but I do not recommend to have very high expectations here.
A friend of mine has this motto: "Low expectations, High hopes"

Your only recourse is to contact the conference chairs. If you had a paper accepted to the proceedings (as opposed to an abstract/poster) then this sounds like a case where most reasonable conference chairs would either include your paper or refund you.
However, the conference does have terms for registration and inclusion in the proceedings, and it sounds like by not attending you may have violated them. Try to get your institution’s higher ups involved, but there may be little they can do to help.
Finally, though hindsight is always 2020 (pun intended), dealing with this matter immediately would have saved you a lot of trouble. Now the conference is over, the chairs have stepped down, and have much less incentive to deal with you.

All you an do is ask. It may be possible or not. But the more important thing to resolve is your copyright on the paper. If you signed it over and they didn't publish it, I'd see a problem that should be resolved.
If IEEE sponsored the conference, you may want to discuss all issues with them.

"I'd see a problem that should be resolved."  Every publishing agreement I have read clearly says that there is not a problem to be resolved:  If the paper is not published, all rights are returned to the author.

I agree with Anonymous Physicist: the user does not need to be mislead to resolve a problem like that.

@user1271772, well, I've lived a long time and I've learned that when you make assumptions about things that could be easily checked you sometimes wind up getting burned. Checking may be as simple as reading anything you signed or sending a note to the conference chair. It seems foolish to take advice from strangers on the internet of the form "don't worry about it." Check and be sure.

Maybe you haven't lived long enough to be able to judge what things are worth the time and what things are not :)  Sure, in this case the user can just email the conference chair to check if they have permission to publish the paper elsewhere, but the chair doesn't seem to be replying to their emails anyway. I'd be much more concerned about getting the money back than about tilting at the copyright windmill.


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Applying to graduate school after the deadline
I was about to submit my application to one of my top choices for graduate school (PhD) and realized that the deadline was Dec 15.
Somehow I confused the PhD deadline (Dec 15) with the MS deadline (Jan 15).
Should I still submit my application?

You should contact someone at the school in question and ask them.  The default answer would be "no", but just in case they would be willing to accept it for some reason, they are the only ones from whom you could find that out.

I missed a deadline and asked to submit a few days late and it was fine since they hadn't even sent the applications to the professors yet (hence the reviewers didn't even know my app was late).  I agree with @NateEldredge just ask and see if you can still send it in.

You will probably be rejected, but if it costs nothing but effort, then you may as well. I doubt there would be any lasting effect if you want to re-apply in the next cycle.


text:
Inline Citations and Abbreviation/Acronym locations
The question I have is two-fold, but it's basically the same question for citations and abbreviations.
Let's say that I'm writing a thesis and I want to briefly mention a term which I hope to define later and which after defining, I'd like to refer to using an abbreviation/acronym. (Whether this is a good idea is a separate concern...I understand it usually is not)
Should I place the abbreviation in parenthesis after I first mention the term, or after I define it (Also the last time I plan on using the term un-abbreviated)?
I'm also wondering about the same exact question, but for inline citations.

It depends on the norms you are willing to follow. According to the APA manual, if you want to abbreviate a term in the text, you have to present both the full version and the abbreviation the first time you use the term.


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Licence in a reproduced figure caption
I am writing a thesis at a university. In my thesis, I directly copy a figure from an article published on Sciencedirect. I have obtained permission to use this figure over Rightslink. I now would like to add a caption to the figure that looks like this:
Figure reproduced with permission from Author (Year); copyright Year Copyright.
However, I have no idea which Copyright I should mention. Since I had to obtain permission, I assume it is not a CC license.
Thank you!
EDIT:
I am using the following guideline to write the caption:
Guideline

Since you mention ScienceDirect, I guess the publisher (and owner of any copyright claims) is Elsevier.
If you follow the guideline in the caption you linked to, you could therefore write:

Figure reproduced with permission from Author (YYYY); copyright YYYY Elsevier.

As regards a possible Creative Commons license (as is visible in the caption you linked to as CC BY-SA 4.0), this will likely depend on the journal and/or article. I would recommend you to fetch the DOI of that article and insert it into CrossRef's API at https://api.crossref.org/works/THE-DOI-HERE. Then take a look at the license field. An Elsevier Open Access article I randomly looked at, for instance, carries the license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 according to the API.
However, if the article you take the Figure from is not an Open Access one, then probably you do not have to list any particular license at all.