text:
What does it mean if a professor asks you to draft his reference letter for you?
This question is, honestly speaking, probably somewhat opinion-based, but I still want to give a shot.
A professor acceded to my invitation of writing a reference letter for me. Nevertheless, unlike the other professors who also acceded to write a reference letter for me, he asked me to draft it on my own. Originally I did not feel anything "wrong", and I just felt embarrassed to recommend myself. But yesterday a friend told me that a professor would ask you to write her reference letter for you when she does not actually think that you are "worthy" enough for her to write you one on her own.
What is the probability that such viewpoint is true? Any opinion is greatly appreciated!

possible duplicate of Is it acceptable to write a reference letter for yourself?

@JukkaSuomela: Thanks for your information :) I have taken a quick overview on the question with finding almost nothing solving my problem here. Therefore, I am afraid I will insist on soliciting opinions!

@JukkaSuomela that question is asking "is it ethical", this question is asking "what does it mean". I think they are related, but not duplicate.

With all due respect to your friend, I think they're very wrong and I highly recommend that you don't take their advice/point of view on the mater. By saying what they said, your friend sound like that child in primary school who ran around and told us that you can get pregnant by kissing somebody. Personally, I'd think less of somebody (intellectually) if they believe such things.

@Adnan That's uncalled for (and starting with "with all due respect) does not make your comment less insulting.

@Adnan: It is fine :) Thank you for your encouragement! I totally understand your point, and I won't in any sense take it personal.

@Comeseeconquer: Back in the day I asked a particular professor for a letter of recommendation. I know the professor liked me personally and also that I was one of their best, if not the very best, students. He asked me to draft it on my own "because your English is probably better than mine" -- a silly-sounding reason if there ever was one. My point: don't worry. :-)

When I finished up a multi-year run as a contractor many years ago, the firm I was with insisted I ask the client for a letter of recommendation. When I approached the client manager he said, "Write your own letter and I'll sign it", which I did, but upon reading it he said, "This is all you can say about yourself?!? Give me five minutes", took my draft, and converted it from my "Bob is a competent professional" to "Bob is the most totally effing amazing developer EVER!". (I was, frankly, embarrassed). Translation: the prof is inviting you to make you look good. Go for it.

@BobJarvis: Your story does not take place in an academic context.  This OP is speaking about letters for graduate school.  In this context leaving the student to write their own letter is doing them no favors.

To risk an analogy: it is as if you want to start a modelling career, you go to a professional photographer for a headshot, and he says: "Why don't you take the picture yourself, give me the film, and I'll touch it up in the darkroom if that turns out to be necessary.  I want you to make yourself look good!" Simply writing that the OP is really effing good is not what is called for.  Professional familiarity with academia and letter writing skills are called for.

It means your professor is shirking their duties.

For me, it means two things:

I am really busy
I don't know anything about the job you're applying to and what you want to emphasize about yourself

If the first draft you write is something I can't sign, I'll edit it or I won't sign it. If it's not braggy enough, I might add some emphasis. But metaphorically handing me a piece of blank paper and asking me to recommend you is actually asking me to put in quite a lot of work. Do these people you're applying to value initiative? Creativity? Willingness to work long hard hours? Cheerfullness? A driven nature? A gentle spirit? Is the fact you write great software relevant to them? How about your careful bench work? For all I know you want to do less of one thing and more of another. So now I need to ask you a zillion questions about what you want to emphasize, and maybe go research the job too, and then ask you if what I've written is ok - frankly, it's way easier to ask you to write the first draft. And some days, I take the easy route.
It does not mean:

I intend to sign words I didn't write. I will write the final draft
It's ok for you to make up strengths you don't have
You'll know what I send in the end
I can't write a simple letter without help from a student.

Your first draft doesn't even have to be a letter, it can be point form. But tell me you're choosing me as a reference so I can confirm your amazing Xness, Yabilty and Zation. If I can, I will.
By the way, I wish I could find the idiot who started the theory that it means I don't think well of you and want you to retract your request. Several students have retracted their requests after I asked for a first draft, and that's a shame, because I would have cheerfully signed a glowing recommendation for them. I just didn't have time to write it all from scratch myself.

Hurrah!  While I don't ask students to write draft letters, I do ask them to send me an email detailing why they're particularly qualified for the school or position for which I'm writing a recommendation.  Almost half of them never "get around" to doing that.  Rather than being disappointed, I consider that I've just learned something about the student that might have influenced my recommendation.  For those who may care, here is what I tell students: http://bbrown.spsu.edu/recommendations/index.html

+1 for "what you want to emphasize about yourself" for the particular position you're applying for.

@BobBrown very nice!

-1 for suggesting that there is nothing wrong with asking the student to write the first draft.

@KateGregory:  Thanks!  Everyone should feel free to borrow any part of that, or all of it, that may look useful.

@TobiasKildetoft there is nothing wrong with asking the student to write the first draft - and it's just as okay to simply refuse to write any letter because you don't have the time for it. Unless you have a close collaboration relationship, you don't owe a letter-writing service to everyone who happened to be in a class you taught.

To me, Bob's approach seems much more ethical than actually asking the student to write a draft of the letter, while still accomplishing the goal of the referrer knowing what the student is applying for (and, thus, what relevant information should be included.)

@Peteris That depends on several factors. In most of academia, letters of recommendation are supposed to be confidential and never sen by the student at all, let alone let the student themselves choose the overall structure of the letter.

@TobiasKildetoft Those things aren't in conflict. You can ask the student to draft the letter, but that doesn't mean they get to see what you eventually send in.

@djechlin The answer by Pete Clark at http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16529/is-it-acceptable-to-write-a-reference-letter-for-yourself already expresses this way better than I could.

It seems you've missed that the OP is asking about letters of recommendation for PhD programs.  Someone who does not understand the specific format and requirements of such a letter far better than any undergraduate applicant would be a bad choice as a letter writer.  The "cheerful signing" you endorse could be viewed as an instance of academic dishonesty on at many American universities.  It may be that you do not view it that way yourself, but it could jeopardize the student's future nevertheless.  Since this is the accepted answer, I wanted to inform the OP about this.

I find in your answer a great deal of equivocation on the key issue of whether and how much the student's "first draft" will appear in the letter you write.  You seem to know better than to fully admit that you will do this but strongly hint that you do so in certain cases.  "Your first draft doesn't even have to be a letter, it can be point form."  As others have said, it would be so much better if you solicited information rather than a draft of a letter.  If you would actually be equally happy with this, please consider revising your answer.

Students vary. Some write clearly and some don't. When I am asked for a favor, and I'm busy, I may ask the asker to do some of the work, which they will do to varying degrees. The concept that this is somehow plagiarism is ridiculous and I am not going to discuss that any further. It's a letter, not a paper or a book. I sign it because it is from me and the contents accurately represent my opinion.

Placing students in PhD programs is not a "favor"; it is part of what professors get paid to do.  Moreover it is not a matter of clear writing: if you have not seen such letters before, you simply cannot write them so as to be competitive with letters written by those who have this experience and expertise.  A draft written by a student would be no help to an appropriate letter.  At least, this is my experience after spending four years on graduate admissions in the math PhD program at UGA.  If you have specific contrary experience, I would be very interested to hear it.

By that theory nobody could ever write a first such letter. The student isn't drafting it because I don't know how to recommend people, but to let me know what skills they believe are important for this position they want to be recommended for. You believe a full time prof will know that better than the student, and you might be right (depending on what the student is applying to.) But you might also be wrong, and some profs are not full time or are new.

Also, If US PhD programs have some secret scheme where perfect wording on recommendation letters by members of the club who know the trick are the key to getting in, well fine. But that does not mean the entire world of recommendation letters fits that pattern, or that non-US non-full-time profs are somehow cheating or unethical because they don't take your example into account when doing someone a favour.

@KateGregory: I heartily agree that the entire world of recommendation letters is a vast one.  The OP is applying to STEM PhD programs in the US.  You will not learn what skills are relevant for that by reading a student's draft letter.  Your talk of "secret schemes" seems unhelpful: I have both placed and admitted students in exactly the type of PhD programs he is applying for.  I am trying to provide advice which is specifically targeted to him.  As I said, if you have relevant experience I would be very interested to hear it.

I intend to sign words I didn't write. — In my experience, this is exactly what such a request means.

I have had professors ask for a specific "brag list" (in bullet-point form), or a personal statement, or a transcript. The first of these can provide the benefits of the "you write this" approach without the significant aforementioned drawbacks.

@shane But how is editing a draft of a student not taking these letters seriously? Of course an undergrad can't do it competently which means the editing will not be minor. Draft or not, the final result is going to be pretty much the same but with a draft it's simply more efficient not necessarily more effective

Kate Gregory, help please? Assuming ethical, how do SOLICITED recommendation letter drafts work if the forms are released only after the rest of the application?

@KateGregory: I don't mean to be rude, but are you writing this from prior experience as a manager, or as a professor? I've read countless excellent responses from you on Workplace.SE based on your experiences as a manager, but this is the first one I've seen on Academia.SE, and the contrast I'm seeing with the responses of other professors made me wonder whether this is what you have actually previously done yourself as a professor. This is important as my understanding of the situation is that the consensus is that those who have not been in this position do not really know what it like.

Yes, I was an adjunct for many years and was asked to write reference letters for students in that capacity. Things are one way at large technical universities that are providing, say, grad students to other important technical universities, and another way at small universities where people are applying for jobs or scholarships. I am aware some other answers disagree, but that doesn't make this answer wrong for the scenarios I was in.

At this point I feel I should leave an answer which records a differing opinion.
First, let me provide context.  My advice is for students applying the STEM PhD programs in the United States (like the OP).  I was admitted to the top three math PhD programs in the United States and graduated from one of them in 2003.  Since 2006 I have been tenured-track at UGA; I am now a tenured associate professor.  I spent four years on the Graduate Committee reading applications, and though I am now on a different committee, because I am co-PI on a large NSF grant I read a stack of applications last year and will probably continue to do so for several years to come.  I have also read thousands of academic recommendation letters for faculty positions.  (This is, unfortunately for me, not an exaggeration.)
The accepted answer gives what I think is not good advice for the OP's situation.  I think it might be good advice for non-academic recommendation letters, and I suspect that it was in fact not written to be targeted at PhD applications.  Going over the entire answer point-by-point feels unnecessarily confrontational, but let me differ in some key points, all of which I think could lead a student astray.

Most of the best recommendation letters for STEM PhD programs in the US are written by those who have substantial experience in this area.  In my field of mathematics, a letter written by someone who does not have a PhD in mathematics or a closely related field is likely to be simply skipped over.  (I have learned on this site that in some other STEM fields, good letters can be written by those who have substantial industrial experience.  But such people still have to have a lot of experience with PhDs in the relevant fields.)  The best letters are written by those who have faculty experience as well, have seen many academic recommendation letters, and who are known by the faculty doing admissions, at least by reputation.

Is this description somewhat elitist and exclusionary of younger, non-tenure track and liberal arts faculty?  Yes, it is.  But it is also honest.  If we get a letter from a small liberal arts college that says "Ms. X is the best student I have ever seen" and then doesn't display a familiarity with the type of students that succeed in programs like ours, it's hard to know what to make of it.  If the recommender is not an active researcher: well, that's just not as good as someone whose name we all know and trust.  How could it be?
In a comment it was suggested that the above situation is impossible because everyone starts out with less experience than the above.  Most letters we get are not written by people who are just starting out.  If you spend a few years in a faculty position you'll see a deluge of academic recommendation letters and absorb the format.  If you are a very junior person who is nevertheless a good choice to write a letter (which certainly does happen), you should get help and advice from someone more experienced.  You should not rely on someone who is much less experienced, and still less on an undergraduate, and yet less on that undergraduate for whom you are writing.

Any reasonably good letter contains components that almost no student could write. For instance such letters should include information about the credentials and experience of the writer, enough to explain why their endorsement of the student is to be relied upon.  Such letters should compare the student generally to other students in the recommender's program, to the generic student in the target PhD program, and ideally to past specific students that the writer and the reader will both know.  Even the one in a million student who has preternatural access to this information cannot give it: it has to come from writer, in the writer's voice.

There is plenty of room in such an application for a student to provide information about her strengths, goals and interests.  A good faculty letter makes contact with that student information and reinforces it, but such information does not form nearly enough of a letter for it to make sense for a student to write it up as though it could be the basis of the faculty letter: at best, doing this would waste everyone's time, not save it.

Writing academic letters is not a "favor": it is part of what faculty are paid to do.  More precisely, it is part of what permanent, full-time faculty are paid to do.  I've spent about eight hours over the last few days writing letters for current and former UGA math department personnel, and I will spend at least that much time on the task in the next few weeks.  I spend so much time on these tasks because (i) it's important -- the difference between an effective letter and ineffective one may play out as a difference in some young person's life; and (ii) I have a stake in it as well: when one of our undergraduates goes to a top ten PhD program or one of our PhD students gets an NSF postdoc, my entire department benefits and in so doing I benefit.   If I were a temporary, adjunct or part-time faculty member, I strongly suspect that I would not feel the same way, and I certainly would not expect such a faculty member to devote such time and effort.  Someone who thinks of recommendation letters as a favor is someone you don't want to write for you and, I feel, someone who shouldn't have to. Also, no one is required to write a letter for any given student: if you feel like you can't write an effective letter, say so and don't do it.
A letter which is written first by a student and then touched up by the faculty signee is a potentially serious academic honesty situation.  I have spoken about this at length elsewhere on this site.  I respect that some others do not feel this way and that in many situations there is nothing immoral or suboptimal going on here.  However you need to know that many -- I suspect most -- American academics share my qualms.  Even the fact that the student must not see the letter is regarded as sacrosanct by many.  I am very dismayed when people try to say that they are not really just signing their students' letters -- or only if they "actually endorse everything that is written"!! -- but are just getting this writing sample as step one of a final product that is not in any way problematic.  To that I say: if you know how to write a reasonable specimen of an academic letter you will know that a "student draft" is at best helpful only as a source of information about the student, so what is being gained by not just asking for the information outside of a letter format?  By soliciting a student draft you are inviting the student to be complicit in a possible academic dishonesty whose final outcome is unknown to them.  If later in their graduate career it comes up that they think they wrote their own letter it could still go or at least look very badly for them, even if it turns out that nothing so terrible actually transpired.  Then there are the deceptive habits you are implicitly conveying to the student as being part of normal academic business.  If you don't think you are teaching the student to be deceptive, ask yourself this: would you be willing to submit a letter that was signed jointly by you and the student, or even in which it is explicitly mentioned that it was written based on an early draft of the student?  If you are not willing to put that in the letter, then yes, you are being unethically deceptive and encouraging the student to do the same.  If on the other hand you are willing to put that in the letter: please try it, and see what happens.  I think you'll get some interesting feedback.

Thank you for writing this answer. I was considering writing something along these lines, but I was hoping you would come along and do it instead, as you are better positioned to write it (and to write it better than I could have).

While I agree with everything in your post I don't believe the effectiveness of the letter and the ethics of this practice were part of OPs question. He asked whether being asked to draft his own recommendation letter meant that the professor cared less or didn't want him to succeed. Which is why I said it probably wasn't the case because they have more direct ways to get in your way than ask you to draft your own letter. The accepted answer agrees with my statement, but goes on further to say that they engage in that practice. Now if you believe that is unethical, I agree, but it's off topic.

@Salim: When one believes an answer contains inaccurate information, it is reasonable to leave an answer discussing it.  This is true on any SE site.  It seems especially pertinent on advice-type sites like ours.  In this case the gist of my answer -- namely, when someone asks you to write your own letter, whether they think well or ill of you, you would be most unwise to take them up on it -- does not answer the exact question the OP asked, but it is obviously relevant to anyone who is in the OP's situation.  (I have no problem with your answer, by the way. No one does: it stands at +7/-0.)

90% of the faculty in my top institution is unethical because they all asked me to draft the letter for them.

@user10694: Sorry, I don't believe you asked 90% of the faculty at your institution for letters.  But if you want to provide the name of your institution, I can look into the prevalence of the practice there.

This answer is a thing of beauty.  Thank you for demanding excellence and clearly stating what the responsibilities of the folks involved are.

"By soliciting a student draft you are inviting the student to be complicit in a possible academic dishonesty whose final outcome is unknown to them" What precisely is considered a "draft" ? For example if I fill in the parts of the forms for the professors such as university address or my application number is the part of a "draft" ?

Re "I don't know anything about the job you're applying to and what you want to emphasize about yourself". Case 1. it is ethical to give professor info about job or what i want to emphasize about myself: How do I communicate this w/o making a "draft" ? Case 2. Otherwise: Why?

@JackBauer: Something that has the format of a letter and could be signed and sent "if the professor agrees with everything you wrote" is the most problematic kind of draft.  In general you should not send along text that evaluates yourself or argues for admitting yourself.  It is perfectly fine to send along factual information.  Filling out routine factual information in online forms is not inherently unethical, but American admissions officials would still view it with some concern: if you have access to the online form, how do we know you're not filling out other parts of it?

What would you advise a student's course of action when asked to draft his own reference letter by a professor?

I'd argue that asking for bullet points rather than a first draft is much better (1) it reduces any temptation for the faculty member to not use their own voice while still providing them useful info for the letter and (2) even if the faculty member commits academic dishonesty and copy-pastes the bullet points, at least the student cannot reasonably be found to be complicit, because no-one could reasonably interpret a list of bullet points as an attempt to draft the letter.

One reason that often occurs, is that the person is not familiar with your accomplishments and would need a quick refresher by having you draft the letter, since they are usually supposed to illustrate with examples as they list your qualities. Another reason is that certain scholarship and university applications want these letters to have a specific format and include specific details about your potential as a researcher. Your reference may just be too busy to study up on the requirements.
If they didn't think you were worthy of admission for a PhD program they could just write a letter themselves saying "don't accept this guy, he is a terrible incompetent jerk", without you ever finding out about it, rather than ask you to draft it first.

Ah thanks. But is there really possible an adult who acceded to write a reference letter with contents full of derogatory words?

Having been on admissions and search committees, negative letters are thankfully rare but they do exist.

@Comeseeconquer I heard one "story" to this end: a person (computer science), applied to a PhD position and among other people, asked her supervisor to write a letter. The letters were anonymous, but after she got accepted, her new prof / department told her: "We decided to accept you despite your supervisor's letter"

Could it be the professor wants the student to confirm what they already know about them.  It could be the professor is attempting to help the student grow by having them recognize their own achievements.  Perhaps the student is not one to assert themselves and this is an attempt to bring out this trait.
In an academic environment learning includes learning about yourself as well as content.

It is very common for an advisor to ask his student to write the letter. I have seen that several times. The reasons are that the advisor is generally very busy and that you are generally the person that knows best what should be written for the job that you are applying. Moreover, if you ask several recommendation letters (let say from 3 persons), you can decide what each of them will say and avoid redundancy between the letters if you write them. Of course, the advisor will then read what you wrote and if he don't agree he will modify it.

authors: Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні


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Should conference papers be counted as publications?
Is there a consensus as to whether or not conference papers are counted as publications?
I know that if something is a journal paper then that thing is tacitly understood as a publication, but is the converse true?

See Are contributions to conference proceedings considered to be “archival” publications?

I think this is mostly a semantics question.  Assuming the conference paper is published then...yes, it's a publication.  It is not exactly the same kind of publication as a journal publication, and depending on the field it may be viewed as less or more important than a journal publication, but it still counts as a publication.  Most CVs that I've seen list conference papers and journal papers separately.  In fact, refereed versus unrefereed conference papers often get further separated.

I'm not convinced this is a duplicate question, since I see a difference between asking whether something counts as a publication at all and asking whether it's an archival publication.  (However, the questions are certainly closely related.)

To elaborate a little on Pete L. Clark's excellent comment, if your paper appeared in publicly available conference proceedings, then it is a publication.  How valued or respected this form of publication is depends on the customs in your field, whether the paper was refereed, etc.  Computer scientists may be more impressed by prestigious conference papers than journal papers, while mathematicians often view conference proceedings as an inferior publication venue.  Still, the question isn't whether it's a publication in the first place, but rather how significant or worthwhile a publication it is.
On the other hand, some people use the term "conference paper" to refer to a paper they presented at a conference, which may not even have had published proceedings.  If there aren't proceedings or the proceedings don't contain the paper, then it isn't published.
And of course there are borderline cases.  If there were only a few copies of the proceedings, and they are not available in major libraries (even by interlibrary loan) or online, then the paper is at best just barely published.  But this shouldn't occur for a conference sponsored by a reputable organization.

If the conference paper was refereed before been accepted for the conference, that counts as a refereed publication. If it was not, it is a non-refereed publication, and should be counted as such.
Different fields have different rules for how publications are accounted for, specially in how multi-author publications are handled, so you should at least state which field you are talking about.

No problem, thank you. So there is no consensus.

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Placing a paper under review on my website?
I am wondering if it would be fine for me to place my paper that is currently under review on my website? Since I did not see there is any specific instruction on this issue in the journal's website, my main concern is I am not sure if this contradicts any ethical rules.

In many fields it is quite common to circulate papers freely while review is underway, or even before submitting, so there is no inherent ethical problem.  But one possible objection would be if the journal uses double-blind review.

@NateEldredge: Thanks so much. Since this journal implements no double-blind reviewing policy, I guess I am free of "accusation" :)

Check the terms, some journal submission asked if you have released the work in any form. If that includes releasing on the Internet, then I would hold on to it until there is a decision. I doubt you can find that in the website, it's usually done through checking off some questions when submitting the work.

The answer depends critically on your field: you need to talk to your advisor and find out what the general policy is.  Three examples along the spectrum of radically different possibilities:

In mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science, papers under review are circulated publicly long before being published.  This practice is a key motivator behind arXiv.
On the more empirical/applied side of computer science, making a paper under review publicly available wouldn't be a problem except in case of double-blind review, but would generally be considered rather gauche.  Circulating privately in advance, on the other hand, is quite accepted.
Many biology journals aim to tightly control the timing and release of information. In many cases, posting a paper under review could actually be considered prior publication, and result in the paper being disqualified as a submission and automatically rejected.

Find out which are the practices of your field and follow them.

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Statement of purpose: One-for-all or one-to-one?
This question is about statement of purpose (s.o.p).
I am not sure that whether it is advisable to write exactly one s.o.p. for all the schools or to write for each school exactly one s.o.p.? Does this really matter? Would the reviewers of a school judge applicants by their understanding of the school?
I really need judicious suggestions.

I assume you are talking about a document that is part of your application to universities (e.g. for a PhD), which would be called a research statement here in the UK. Then the answer is simple: you want to maximise your chances of each application. So invest the extra effort and make individual documents to maximise your chances.
Different departments have different priorities, so you want to emphasise how your plans fit to the research agenda of each place you are applying to. While it may be convenient to send the same SOP to each place, you can show that you have researched the place you are applying to and at least modify the SOP to fit to the place you are applying to.

If you do things properly, you shouldn't need to write an entirely new essay for each school. It should be sufficient to have a section where you talk about the specific program, which you can then tailor to each school.

I would think the statement of purpose was closer to the cover letter than to the research statement, though I only have experience with postdoc applications.

Ah thanks. Cover letter, an interesting point.


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Should I give a copy of my thesis to those professors that supported me?
I have just received my master's degree. And I am wondering, is it academically conventional to give a copy of my thesis to those professors that directly or indirectly supported me?

It is nice to do so (especially if you mention their support in the acknowledgement - which may even be the only things they'll read), but it is far from required.

Thanks so much. What if I give one to a professor whom I do not mention in the acknowledgment?

@Chou You can't go wrong by sending a thank-you note and an offer of a copy (a physical copy may not be appreciated, per EnergyNumbers' answer)

@jakebeal: Ah, much appreciated. I see. :)

It can be a nice thing to do: but do ask them first whether they'd prefer to receive an electronic copy, or a bound hard copy, or both.
Not everyone will appreciate a physical copy (seeing it as wasteful or just more clutter): some will prefer a PDF of it; some might prefer both formats.

If the electronic copy is publicly available on the university website, sending the file by e-mail might come across as a bit ... redundant.

Sending a link via email, though, may be a nice personal touch.


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Is it necessary to reply to a solution email by a thank-you email?
If I asked via email someone, say a member of the graduate admission staff of a school I am applying to, some question, and if the staff member replied to my email with a solution to my problem, does the staff member expect to receive a thank-you email from me?
At the present stage I still am not good at evaluating if it is suitable to reply to such an email by a thank-you note.

Related: (or duplicate?) http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/20902/etiquette-on-sending-a-thank-you-e-mail-to-respondents-who-gave-me-helpful-infor?rq=1

It is appropriate? Sure, what is the harm? It is always nice to see one's work recognised and appreciated. Just keep it short, polite, and to the point.
Is it expected? Probably no. The staff is busy, and if your question wasn't anything out of the ordinary, they would probably forget you asked soon.
Edit: mbert adds in the comments some interesting inside information:

I am an assistant at my university and answer a lot of emails through a ticketing system. Our signature says something similar about replying. This is because when I answer an email, the ticket gets closed and marked done. If you answer to this email the ticket gets reopened and somebody needs to close it again. So I would suggest to answer with a short sentence but only if you are not emailing with a team that shares an email ( like staff@... or support@... )

(Emphasis mine).

You can always just say "Thanks!" or "Thank you."

Thanks very much.:) I am just afraid that my message may instead annoy them. For, I once saw such a email said "there is no need to reply to this email if you do not have any further questions".

I would file that experience down as this group/individual doesn't want a response. Unless someone like this has explicitly stated "no response needed" then I would give a short thanks email to acknowledge that I received the information.

It depends on the question and the answer. If the answer is obvious: For example, "Do we have test on friday?" and a simple Yes response is sent then there's no need to respond. However, if it is possible that the person answering might not be sure they are answering your request then it is polite to let them know, "That is what I needed. Thanks!" to let them know they don't need to worry about your request any longer. They gave you what you asked for.

@Chou I am an assistant at my university and answer a lot of emails through a ticketing system. Our signature says something similar about replying. This is because when I answer an email, the ticket gets closed and marked done. If you answer to this email the ticket gets reopened and somebody needs to close it again. So I would suggest to answer with a short sentence but only if you are not emailing with a team that shares an email ( like staff@... or support@... )


text:
How do you acknowledge the useful comments left by the reviewers invited by a journal that rejected your paper?
Sometimes a paper is rejected but you obtain some useful suggestions or remarks on improving your paper, directly or indirectly.
When you improve your paper per the suggestions to a certain degree with the intention to submit the paper to another journal, how do you acknowledge the good opinions from the anonymous reviewers?
In addition, is this academically necessary?

Many (most?) academic papers include a brief acknowledgment section somewhere (the location is not standard).  In this section it is frequent to acknowledge help by the referees.  One can equally well acknowledge comments by referees of previous versions of the paper.  For the sake of clarity it seems best to mention that one is thanking the referee of the previous version.  E.g. if I were refereeing the new version, reading

We are grateful for the help provided by the referee.

is ambiguous: does this refer to a previous referee, or am I being thanked in advance for my help?  (That's not so good.)  Clearer would be something like

This version of the paper takes into account helpful comments provided by the (or "a") referee of a previous version.

If the paper gets accepted in the second journal, one could change to something like

We are grateful for helpful comments from multiple referees on several versions of the paper.

Is it academically necessary?  I'm not sure it's ever strictly necessary to acknowledge an anonymous referee -- it seems to me that a situation in which it's vitally necessary to acknowledge someone is a situation in which an anonymous acknowledgment would be insufficient.  (Moreover, the way I have always understood it is that referee comments are "being given" to the authors of the paper.) If you feel that a referee's contributions merit coauthorship, (take a deep breath first; this opens a can of worms) you should discuss that with the editor.  However, if you got direct intellectual help from the referee and not just helpful remarks -- i.e., if the referee contributed some part of the intellectual content of the paper -- then I would certainly recommend documenting that rather than assuming the credit for yourself.

Thanks for taking the trouble to write a detailed instructive answer.

To avoid the issue of which reviewer you thank (current ones in advance, or ones from a previous submission), you can always omit this sentence from the manuscript you submit the second time around and add it after it go accepted and when you're asked to send in the final version.

@Wolfgang: Sure.  For rather generalized thanks this certainly seems simplest.   I would say that if you're thanking someone specifically for supplying a correct proof of Lemma 3.5 or something like that, it's safer to leave it in at all times.


text:
Is it necessary for a journal submission to include the names of the authors' departments?
I would like to know if it is an unwritten rule to include the names of the departments of the authors' of a journal submission?

Strictly speaking, it is usually a written rule, as journals have written rules governing what they expect from submitting authors, and this usually includes information about their affiliation. It is an unwritten rule in the sense that tere is no rule that all journals should follow the same format, but it is very common to include the authors' affiliation.
Sometimes this information is helpful as different departments belong to different "schools". So knowing the department alone can sometimes help you "place" the article in wider debates. Sometimes, it helps disentangle people with the same last name and the same initials. Regardless, this information only helps when you are an insider to the (sub-(sub-(sub-)))discipline discussed in the journal. However, those insiders are a legitimate audience for a journal, so I don't see a problem here.

You always need to include your primary institutional affiliation, even if that all the affiliation you've got is "Me, Myself & I Consulting, LLC" (and I've seen papers with that sort of affiliation).
Department information, however, is much more optional.  After all, many people who are not in traditional university faculty positions may not have a clear or meaningful department.  Consider, for example, a strong institution like the Santa Fe Institute, which has professors but doesn't appear to have bothered to subdivide itself into departments.  For another example, my department currently has the name "Information and Knowledge Technologies", which I'm fine putting down as a departmental affiliation; before the last re-organization though, it was "Business Unit B", and before that, it was "Department 49", neither of which would have made any sense to write down as a department.
Bottom line: include departmental information if you think it is helpful, or if it is explicitly required.  Otherwise, it is up to you.


text:
Is it wise to resubmit a substantially revised version of my writing sample that has already been submitted for phd applications review?
My applications for doctoral programs have been submitted. But during this period, I have made a major revision of my submitted writing sample.
My question is: Is it fine to resubmit this revised writing sample to the schools I am applying to?

One of three things will happen, depending on how far past the deadline you are and on the application management system used:

The graduate school will reject it without forwarding it to the departmental admissions committee. See Plan B below.
It'll be forwarded as supplementary information rather than replacing the original writing sample. Some faculty will see it, some won't get that far in your file since these are usually last in the packet.
It'll replace your original sample.

You don't have much to lose, so why not send it in and see?
-=-=-=
PLAN B
If the graduate school rejects your submission AND you've already been corresponding with a faculty member who would likely be your advisor AND those interactions have been positive, then you could suggest to that person that you could provide them a revised sample to share with other faculty.
If I were that faculty member AND if I thought your candidacy were strong AND my departmental and university regulations did not forbid out of channel submissions, then I might accept it that way.
A lot of ifs with Plan B.

Thanks. I was just afraid of annoying whom it may concern so as to incur a negative viewpoint.

The only person you will annoy is the administrative assistant in the graduate school. The faculty/admissions committee is well insulated from these issues.

My initial answer assumed submitting through official channels only. Revised.


text:
How to Present an (Essentially) The Same Proof, in a Different, Earlier Working Paper, in a Present Paper?
I was requested to provide a simple proof for a side assertion made in one of my submissions. Regarding feasibility, it can be done; but the simplest proof that I came up with is already present in another
earlier submission under review, and hence, to avoid "self-repetition", I did not give the simplest possible proof in the present one. The situation could be easier if I have the older one time-labeled.
What is a wise way out given the situation? Thanks.

Did you publish a preprint online (arxiv,...)? You could refer to the preprint in the newer submission and, if the older submission got accepted, edit your newer submission with an updated reference. In any case, you should ask the editor.

Presumably you cited the earlier work. If so, I don't really understand the concern. But, if the editor/reviewer/conference would accept it, you could offer to show them the proof separately from your new paper. This would permit them to verify the result if they think it necessary.
But you were correct in not including the result in the new paper. But that also assumes that the earlier paper will actually be published. And it is possible that it won't be.
However, there is an alternative, but it would also require some editor assistance. For purpose of review, you could include the proof but note that it would need to be replaced by a citation if the earlier paper gets accepted. The final, published, version would be a bit different from what was reviewed, but that is normally the case anyway. The easy way to include the proof would be in an appendix.

Hi, thank you for the words. I have some derived query please. Would it be acceptable (with respect to the "common sense" of the society) to include the proof, perhaps an essential sketch version of it, in a footnote and indicates that the proof is already contained in another manuscript?

That is up to the editor. But you need to guard against double publication as you note. But the editor/reviewer may well be able to deal with the temporal issues of another paper under review.

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


text:
To what extent similar remarks from the same author can appear in different papers?
I came across this situation that seems not immediately obvious as regards the "line" for self-plagiarism.
Suppose I have two papers on two related problems such that merging the two papers is not an option. It seems important to draw some remarks, which may just be qualitative descriptions in a novel way but which may be helpful in clarifying concerned things in the nonempty intersection. By nature of the problems the intended remarks would be similar to a certain extent. In this case, do I have to deliberately make them look sufficiently different? Otherwise, do I have to cite the remarks I made? I would love to know the predecessors's wisdom about this matter. Thank you.

Cite the older paper in the newer one, and make it clear that the remark is essentially a carbon copy. "We follow [1] in stating the following basic properties of our concept: ..."

There is no "line" for self-plagiarism. It is a rather vague and murky notion, not just in your situation. Is publishing a result, and then publishing a generalization you missed in your previous research, with a more or less analogous proof, self-plagiarism?

To some extent plagiarism isn't charged when there is essentially only one way to say something. But this rule mostly applies to things that are widely known, not research results. This may be the case here or not.
But it is better to cite the other (first) work in subsequent work (or cross cite if appropriate). One of the purposes of avoiding plagiarism is to allow readers to have access to the complete context of an idea. This might be especially useful in the case at hand, since the "similarity" itself may provide context that would be helpful.
When in doubt, cite it.

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


text:
Is there usually an on-campus interview when hiring a lecturer with a one year contract?
In this case, I am asking about "Lecturer" in the North American sense, which means a faculty member who teaches but is not required to perform research.

I was hired as a lecturer in the United States by a university on the other side of the United States. I had never visited that university in person, as I lived thousands of miles away. I had a Skype interview instead of an in-person interview with the department. I was hired after the Skype interview. So, in my experience, no, an on-campus interview is not always required.

It might depend on circumstances. If the contract is non-renewable then perhaps not provided that the CV and letters of recommendation are strong enough for the hiring department to "take a chance". For a renewable contract, the likelihood of requiring an interview probably increase. Also the kind of institution is a factor.
The institution bears responsibility for the people it puts in front of students so there is pretty strong incentive for interviews. Financial imperatives push the other way.
So, common, yes, but not universal.


text:
Are there ethics concerns when students conduct human subjects research?
It is common for faculty and graduate students to conduct human subjects research on undergraduate students.  Typically precautions are made to ensure that faculty do not use the teacher/student relationship to harm students.  For example, the faculty member may be required to finalise their grades before they find out which students consented to participate in the research.  This prevents the faculty member from incentivising students to participate by changing their grades.
Let's suppose that the researcher is an undergraduate student instead of a faculty member.  Are there risks associated with the student-student relationship?  Let's suppose it is a small university where students often know each other.

In all six studies I partook as an undergrad there have always been some limitations on who can attend. These sometimes would be in the form of "students taking this class from this professor are not elligible". It may be the case that the student researcher is a student / assistant to that course. However, I believe good portion of those student researchers were graduate.

You can find a list of IRB Exemptions online. If the research falls under one of the exceptions then IRB consent won't be needed.
But otherwise, who does the research would be immaterial.
However, I think that special care should be taken here since undergraduate students might not be deeply aware of the ethical principles behind assuring the safety and privacy of human subjects. A naive approach could result in great harm.
So, at a minimum, even if the research falls into one of the exceptions, I would advice that a knowledgeable faculty member oversee any such research, both to educate the student researcher and to assure safety and privacy of subjects.
The other concerns you express are also valid, of course.
But, for the topline question, yes, there are always ethical concerns when humans are the subject of research. The concerns always need to be addressed, even in simple cases where it is clear no harm will result. How formally they need to be addressed is a function of the potential for harm as long as the formal rules are followed.

The first paragraph is completely wrong.  It's called an Exemption, and you do need IRB consent to have an exemption.  The rest of the answer is irrelevant to my question, which was about risks specific to situations where the student is a researcher.  "undergraduate students might not be deeply aware of the ethical principles behind assuring the safety and privacy of human subjects" but this is also true for faculty researchers.

@AnonymousPhysicist Seems like it answers your question to me. “are there ethical risks” “yes, there’s always ethical risks for research involving human subjects”

@nick012000 "are there ethical risks" is not the question.  The question is "Are there risks associated with the student-student relationship?"  when a student is conducting human subjects research.  I do not see how it could be more clearly stated - suggestions are welcome.

Hmmm. The first sentence on the "Exemption" page is: "
The Common Rule allows exemption from the need for IRB review."

"exemption from review" does not imply IRB consent is not needed.  The IRB decides the exemption, not the researcher.  That was the most important thing I learned in human subjects ethics training.

Well, I hope not the "most important" thing.

@Buffy I think "most important" can be appropriate here, because a lot of the other stuff is fairly common sense. The fact that IRB approval is often (or in my experience, always) needed for "exempt" studies is less obvious, and I've corrected many people here at Academia.SE who thought otherwise - that makes it pretty important, because violations can be serious.


text:
What should I do if I am asked to review a paper that should have been reviewed by an ethics committee, but was not?
What should I do if I am asked to review a paper that should have been reviewed by an ethics committee, but was not?  Assuming the paper is missing the statement that it was reviewed, and the paper clearly states that data was collected from human subjects.

Refuse it on the grounds it needs to go before the ethics committee.

Note that the requirement for IRB (in the US) has a few exceptions. And it may also be too late for IRB. Retroactive approval is something that I doubt is possible. Inform the editor, of course.

A search will turn up more, but here is an example: https://www.eandireview.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=184&Itemid=138

@Roland That could be an answer ;-)

I think it's quite a leap to jump from the fact that there is no such statement to the conclusion that it has not been reviewed. You should ask for clarification on that point in your review, rather than outright rejecting it.
Also, there are different rules in different countries, and the notion of an IRB might not exist, or the procedure may go by a different name. In our department, for instance, a formal process of ethical approval was only implemented a couple of years ago.
So, short answer: ask what ethical procedure was followed, and how that relates to the obligations in the country and/or university the researchers and the participants are based.

"the notion of an IRB might not exist" This is wrong.  All legitimate journals require ethical review of human subjects research, even if the country does not.

Your first step should be to contact the editor with your concerns. It may be that the research falls under one of the exceptions for which IRB approval is not needed. See, www.eandireview.com, for example, though there are others. Both NHS and NIH list some exceptions.
However, even if an exception applies but you think that the research was, in fact, unethically conducted, then you may refuse to review. It is your duty, actually, but you should't do so silently. In fact, it might be best to point out your ethical concerns in a review.
I'll also note that retroactive approval is generally against the rules: explicitly disallowed. So, sending the paper back to get a review that isn't already in place is not an option if it were required in the first place. The purpose of the IRB is to protect human subjects, not to check a box. So approval needs to come first.
But the problem may simply be one of presentation in the paper as noted by Roland, and a simple edit would correct it. But it is up to the editor to communicate that to the authors.

Rejecting a paper because it lacks an IRB certification is, in some form, also a kind of review :-)

@WolfgangBangerth, yes, of course, but refusing to review is a bit different. And it is up to the editor, not the reviewer to actually reject. But if you think something is unethical, then a reject recommendation is certainly appropriate.

I recall that I and other users on this site previously explained to you that you didn't understand what an "exemption" is.

@AnonymousPhysicist, sorry, I don't think that happened.

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/138646/are-there-ethics-concerns-when-students-conduct-human-subjects-research Maybe it was just me and not any other users.

@AnonymousPhysicist, can you give any citation for the need for IRB permission? I can't find it. Or is that something that is imposed by some institutions that go beyond the law itself? Institutions are allowed to do such things, I gather.

I'd review it as  normal, but add a note (to the comitee, perhaps also the author) stating concerns about the need to involve the ethics comitee, with a short but clear explanation as to why I think it is required.
Rationale: I might be mistaken, perhaps it is being reviewed by said comitee in parallel, ...


text:
How do I get my paper sent to the right editor?
Suppose I have found the perfect journal for my manuscript.  That journal has 50 editors.  Editor A is an expert in the subject of my manuscript.  What can I do to get my paper handled by Editor A, instead of one of the other editors?

Try emailing that editor and see if you can make arrangements - don’t include the paper with the first email.

This is going to depend on how the journal is set up, but two suggestions:

Suggest in the cover letter that Editor A handle your manuscript.
When asked to classify your manuscript choose keywords that closely match Editor A's expertise. (You probably are doing this already anyway.)

Note that it's not a guarantee that Editor A handles your manuscript even if he/she is perfect for the role - it's conceivable Editor A is too busy, is on holiday, etc.

1a. Suggest in the cover letter that Editor A would be a good reviewer for the manuscript (and hope the editorial assistant takes the hint).

For some journals you are even explicitly asked to suggest handling editors.

@Allure Please recently I submitted a paper to a math springer journal without a cover letter. Is this can make a problem?

@Student it potentially can but probably won't.

@Allure Thank you. I don't find where I attached it. In the future should I attach it as an attachment to the manuscript? The problem when I try to add it as an attachment to the manuscript, I find the cover letter in the last page of the manuscript.

@Student Conventions about cover letters seem to differ from one field to another. My cover "letters" in recent years have been email messages of the form "Dear [editor's name], I would like to submit the attached paper, [title of paper], for publication in [title of journal]. Sincerely yours, Andreas Blass" (where "Sincerely yours" may become "Best regards" and my last name may be omitted,  depending on how well I know the editor). The only attachment is a pdf file of the paper.

@AndreasBlass Thank you very much. Can I also suggest the name of some reviewers?

@Student Yes, you can suggest reviewers, but of course it's entirely up to the editor whether to pay any attention to your suggestions.


text:
What should the instructor do about a student who is not aware of their disability?
A student has obvious symptoms of a disability which is relevant to the instructor's class.  The student does not appear to be aware of the disability.  The disability does make it harder for the student to succeed in their education.  What should the instructor do to help the student?

Country? And does your university have specialists for disabilities?

And how can you tell?

@user114084 This question is about student-teacher interactions, not teacher-disability specialist interactions, and I've deliberately left it general.

Depending on the nature of the disability, I'd suggest first talking to the relevant disabilities/accommodation office. First, they may have some paperwork or data about the student which hasn't been given to you; I've had students with accommodations before who were simply uncomfortable or unable to present them to the instructor. Second, even if they don't, they'll have more guidance on what to do here which may be very school specific.

Won't they say, "We are not permitted to discuss particular students without their permission?"  What if the student has never been there?

@AnonymousPhysicist good point, but... I can see 3 possible outcomes: 1. They can't discuss it, but they might be able to act upon the instructor's report and speak to the student; 2. They can't discuss it, but they can advise the instructor; 3. Actually they are authorised to discuss it. Can't hurt to try!

Discussion with student services is usually a good trigger for disability support to speak to the student. What the student does with the contact is a separate issue.

My questions was, "How to help the student" and I take it your answer is "Don't, consult experts instead."  I guess what I wanted to was to become an expert.

@AnonymousPhysicist, Becoming an expert here may take years of experience and specialized training. And one of the things you'll get from that is probably realize that given the liability issues involved, you'll still want to talk to the official people before doing anything else to make sure all proper protocols are followed. But, by taking this step, one is helping the student. It is maybe possible to give more specific advice, but without more knowledge of the symptoms or specific disability you think the student has, giving more detailed advice isn't really an option.


text:
How to start writing my statement of purpose?
I completed my undergraduate studies(B. Tech in Computer Science and Engineering) in 2012, and have been working in a tech start-up since then. I am planning to go for MS in Computer for fall 2015, I wanted to know what all material should I collect, before I start jolting down the initial draft(s) for my statement of purpose,

While this will depend partly on the formal requirements of the course for which you are applying, here are some general things that I look for in reading these statements as admissions tutor for our department:

Demonstrated enthusiasm for the subject.  Your CV and transcript will provide basic factual information about your technical skills and ability to succeed in an academic environment, but the statement of purpose lets you round out that profile with memorable detail.  Be specific.  If you've worked at a tech start-up, how did that inform your decision to pursue further study?  What new skills did you learn, new challenges faced and overcome, etc?
Demonstrated awareness of the programme.  I've read essays that clearly had no understanding of what our programme covered and how we taught it.  Be familiar with the prospectus and don't be afraid to contact the admissions tutors to clarify anything.  How does the style of teaching at your target university relate to your interests?
Ability to write coherently.  Regardless of the subject, you will need to be able to communicate clearly.  A poorly structured essay, full of grammar and spelling mistakes, is a sure-fire way to end up on the 'no' pile.

Good luck!


text:
Teaching two different subjects?
I am a 2nd year Math Major, and I am aiming to recieve a PhD in Mathematics. I love mathematics, but I also have a longing for African American studies. I want to be a college professor, so I was wondering is there any feasible way I would be able to teach both subjects? If so, would it involve me double majoring now or am I allowed to start two PhD tracks in different fields. Thank you.

Would it be possible to pick up a minor in African American studies?

Possible duplicate of Is doing two PHDs a good path?

It's possible for me to have a minor in African American Studies.

Joint appointments across different departments at a university are not that unusual, and at many schools are in fact quite common. However, such cross-appointments tend to be within "branches": a scientist might be cross-appointed in multiple science and engineering departments, but not likely in both a science department and a humanities department.
So it's unlikely that you'd get an appointment in both mathematics and African-American studies.
However, that doesn't mean that you wouldn't be able to teach both those subjects. You might be able to convince a university to let you offer an elective seminar course in addition to your "primary" teaching in mathematics. However, this is by no means guaranteed.


text:
Colleague erroneously got a grade that is too high
I know that for a certain project a colleague with whom I have worked on the project erroneously got a grade that is higher than he should have gotten (the administration made a mistake is my guess). He told me about this himself, but also told me that he is not planning on changing it. The course is a 12 ects course, so has quite an impact on someone's gpa.
Now I have two thoughts:

It is not fair to 'betray' a colleague who trusted me with this story
I also worked on this project and I got the correct grade, it feels unfair. And I also simply feel that it is simply not just in a way.

What do you think? And should I take action or not?

Should I take action or not? No. It is not your grade, nor your mistake to fix.

@Alexandros I think the way you put it is too easy. It is my paper that I worked as hard for as that other person. And in real life knowing of a crime and not reporting it can also be punishable.

@Alexandros your argument can be extended to academic dishonesty or misconduct, e.g. plagiarism, fake experiments, biased statistical sets, etc.

I think that if you report this, you will lose a friend... but not a true friend. If he implicates you in his dishonesty, and then gets mad at you when you ask around and try to do the right thing, are we really talking about losing a friend at all?

Did you actually see his grade? Or just heard him saying that? If you report him, how do you answer the question "How do you know that?"?

I voted to close as "Unclear what you're asking" because the OP has not told us how he knew about his friend's grade.

Too much speculation, I have seen projects where people got different grade because the graders got feedback about members' participation and contribution. Don't assume that his higher grade is incorrect or too high.

@randoma It was emailed to us both what our grade should be (both the same).

@student1232 Uh ohh, so your grade is the same in the email but his isn't. You can complain to have his grade pulled down, but I myself wouldn't do that at all. In all cases, if he knows, then he has more responsibility to do that than you. He is the one to make the choice, you don't have to do anything.

After reading the question and all the comments I still don't understand how do you know that there was a mistake. Did you talk with the teacher/grader and they admitted the error? Otherwise I'd classify your question as a he got a mark higher than me but it's not fair question.

Lowering his grade does absolutely nothing for you. This is all about you not wanting him to have it. Realize that.

Have you reported this yet? im quite curious about the outcome of the said event, please let me know what happens after. But for me, this matter would just looked like crab mentality, of you being jealous,

Before doing something you should really think about who is suffering from the wrong now? Will someone not get a job because of this or is there some other big negative impact, does the teacher only give out 3 good grades a year and he stole one of them? And second you should think of who would benefit if you tell -if it comes around he will be sad and angry, you will have a bad feeling of betrayal and most students will stop trusting their fellow students because snitching is apparently a good thing, and who will benefit apart from your ego ?

How about looking at this not from the perspective that the friend received too high a grade, but rather that the OP received too low a grade. If the OP insists that both of them did essentially the same work, and if the original thought for a grade (the email) was low bu the same, then if the partner received a higher grade, wouldn't the OP have a case for an incorrectly marked lower grade?

Answering from an ethical perspective. The grade was entered in error, if the other student was unaware of a mistake they would have been morally fine, it is not their job to double check the grader's work.
But since they are aware of the mistake it is their obligation to inform the grader. By intentionally keeping that information from the grader they are deliberately breaking ethical rules. In addition, by telling you about it they are compounding the original wrong by making you a party to their original transgression.
Unfortunately your classmate has made you responsible for their behavior because now you have to choose between doing the right thing (reporting them since they will not step forward) or being silent.
I can't tell you the consequences of that choice, but possible consequences of turning them in are social rejection and possible consequences of staying silent include academic sanctions against you if it comes out that you knew and did nothing. Just remember, they chose to put you in this mess, and for that you owe them nothing.

Thank you for your answer. I feel the same way. In case I decide on telling I think I'll do it anonymously.

That is probably the best bet. Be aware anonymity is not a sure thing, but you are protecting yourself as much as possible by keeping as low a profile as possible. I get the feeling that the student told more than one person (just based off of me reading them as proud of their "accomplishment").

If you decide to tell, you should assume they'll know it's you, that it will come out eventually, or that they will guess correctly.

My saying for this, and it starts applying once you're about 5 years old, is "if he gets in trouble, it's not because of what you said, it's because of what he did." In this case, fail to report a known error.

Amazing how applicable the lessons we teach 5 year olds about morality are to adult life, and how many people forget them.

I think anonymity is a terrible idea here.

@JeffE: Indeed, what the questioner can do instead, is rely on the university not to identify the accuser in the case that the accusation amounts to nothing and isn't further investigated (for example there might be some good reason unknown the the questioner or his friend why the adjustment was made). Anonymity is not required for that, only confidentiality of the initial report. If it comes to the point of bearing witness that the friend knew about the error and did nothing, then generally speaking we expect those who bear witness against us to do so publicly.

Be aware that if you do so anonymously, and your colleague later finds out (or even suspects) what you did, he will be even more annoyed than had you told him up front.

Most universities in the US and UK do not have honor codes anymore. Not coming forward about academic misconduct is no longer academic misconduct.

@student1232: Note that you can report without pointing any fingers. "Dear examinations office, there seems to be some confusion about the grades received for course X. Can you please re-check them?"

@JeffE Care to elaborate?

@StrongBad I don't know how many schools have or do not have honor codes, the one I am attending now does but does not have a non-toleration clause, which would require the student to step forward or face sanctions. Most likely this would not ever get near this point, this honestly seems very minor. However in cases of actual cheating the university implements a one strike policy, and will rescind diplomas post-graduation if necessary.

To elaborate: As Benjamin says, your collegue is likely to guess that you divulged what he considered privileged information. Far better to be up-front from the beginning. "Dude, I'm not comfortable with you getting a higher grade than me on the same paper. I think we should fix this."

Most of the time life is not fair, and it look like your friend just got a break. Good for him. Now, I suggest you ask yourself the question: is this likely to have a real negative impact on you? If so, then you may want to talk to your friend about the situation, hoping he will ask for the correction himself (if he refuses, you have a more solid ground for reporting it yourself). But if your friend's lucky mark is unlikely to affect you in a negative way, I'd say good for him, maybe next time it will be your turn. Be happy for your friend, live and let live.

If you really want to became successful in your field you should erase the word 'fair' from your vocabulary.
Nothing seems fair from all perspectives and the sooner you realize this the better.
From the way you describe it, there are 2 possible scenarios:
a) the professor made a mistake
b) the professor personally knows your friend and helped him
By lowering your friends grade you won't improve your grade. If for example you go and get his grade lowered this guy will hate you and you will honest seem like a pretty jealous person.
To sum up: Let your friend do what he wants to do, it's not your grade and you should not try to convenience him you are not worthy of that grade. Even professor mistakes are part of life, be realistic and don't seek fairness.
You should try to improve yourself and not lower you friends grades.

C is not true. As I mentioned, it is a project that we worked on with the TWO of us. And I got the grade that we were supposed to get, and he did not.

@student1232: okay, sorry about this, I edited the post

I strongly disagree with your first sentence. Worrying about fairness is a matter of personal ethics and is not inversely correlated with success (if it were, I'd question that it implies causation).

The biggest concern (other than the OP's conscience) is the possible honor code violation. While unlikely... okay very unlikely, that any action be taken against the other student let alone the OP, it is possible.

@Jigg: In this case you can try to force fairness. But in most cases in life you simply can't and you know this. Also, what is fair from your point of view is not fair from another guys point of view. What is ethical and what is not is unclear in many situations like this one. If a friend told you 'I got hired with double salary' and you know you are both equal, what would you do to force fairness?

@kleineg: I believe reporting them is wrong because is not OPs grade. Horror Code is important but being a good person is more important and reporting him will hurt him if the grade was wrongly awarded. From my point of view, it's okay to accept luck when it hit's your door. Also, if he reports his friend he won't be friend anymore. In this world many things are not fair and if you really care about this, you should be the example for others and not force your fairness on other people's lives.

Considering other factors at play, such as friendship, is not the same thing as 'erasing the word 'fair' from your vocabulary'. My point is that you can't state that caring for fairness will detriment your career, that is not a fact. The rest is bartender's philosophy and off-topic on this site.

Also, while the OP will not improve his grade, the gpa bump could, for example, make the difference for a grant or a job offer that they are both competing for.

@Davidmh: Great point, but really thinking this way is too competitive...

@DragonSlayer my point is, we strive to have a fair system for a reason, and most people rely on it being mostly accurate. If this were a common happening, the people that report themselves would be putting themselves in a disadvantage; and academia and the high level jobs are both very competitive world.

I see three levels of possible 'formalisation' of your question:  purely personal ethics academic ethics  code of conduct of your University The first is really for you to decide; you may go for advice to someone you know well and trust their opinion. The last one is straightforward: simply read the code and see whether or not it has something related to your question. Regarding the second one: from my point of view, the situation is similar to spotting an error in a published work — academic ethics assumes that you should take reasonable actions to share your concerns with the world (starting with the author and the editor). This is not an easy or popular route, however, and in some countries it contradicts "normal" morale of people outside academia, as you acknowledge in your question.

So what would your personal advice be?

Personal advice is beyond the academia.SE scope, since the answer is not useful for anyone but you.

"It is not fair to 'betray' a colleague who trusted me with this story"
It's also not fair that he got given a higher grade by mistake in the first place. The sooner it is fixed, the less chance there is of ugly flow-on problems popping up.
What if the grade affects the class of honours granted to his degree, and the degree is later revoked and downgraded upon discovery of the error? That could look a little dubious on a university transcript.
The "right" thing to do is for your colleague to report the error himself. But as he has made it clear that he will not, your situation is a little more ambiguous. But sometimes you have to do the right thing on behalf of others. A discreet email to the professor or lecturer who ran the course would likely lead to the grade being corrected. If you did this, you could disclose your intentions to your colleague beforehand, to give him the chance to correct the error himself.

Thanks for your answer. Your answer actually confirms what I also had in mind myself. I will give it some consideration and then decide what I'll do.

Your friend trusted you with the truth.
I think it is only fair that you trust your friend and tell him beforehand what you plan to do.
It is better that he comes out with it than you, and you don't lose a friend.
If he doesn't want to be honest and "fair" at least ask him not to involve you if he gets in trouble for it.
This means that he will not trust you anymore but most likely he will still be friends with you.
Friendship has more value to me than some moral that no one really cares about (except you because you know the truth).

Sometimes a professor will bump up a student's grade because of things like creativity, improvement, or demonstrated hard work. So neither you nor your classmate actually know that a mistake was made.
In addition, there's a trust issue. Your classmate trusted you with their doubts about their grade. Now, sometimes violating such trust is the right thing to do (as in the case of outright cheating), but you need to have a very good reason.
Finally, there's the question of impact. If grading in this class was not competitive, your classmate's grade has very little effect on anybody else. The only effect it could have is in competition for internships or jobs, but in many fields, GPA is not particularly important for such things. (I don't know about engineering.) Even if the class was graded competitively (some percent A's, some percent B's, and so on), it's rather unlikely that the professor will recompute everybody's grades after changing one.
Edit: Also, what will the instructor think of you? I guarantee they will not think, "Wow, this person is really honest and conscientious". More likely, they'll think you're grade-obsessed and willing to hurt somebody else to get ahead, even if that's not your motivation. At best, they'll shake their head and go, "Kids and grades these days...". If you have this instructor again, or if they tell their colleagues, this could come back to bite you.
Putting these considerations together, it seems to me that you should not report the suspected error. (If your classmate is feeling courageous, they may want to ask.) Focus on your own grades (and, more importantly, learning), not other people's.

I don't know that this is a popular opinion but if I was in this position I would feel cheated. Would I try to change that? NO!
How is your life going to change if you report this? Will you see any benefit? I don't think that you will. Will your colleague see any benefit? I don't think so.
To recap: if you do something your life won't improve, the life of your colleague will most likely be worse than it was prior to your action. Essentially any action can only cause harm. Nobody will benefit from you speaking up.
TL;DR nothing good can come from you speaking up, at best nothing will happen, most likely something negative will happen to your colleague.

You say he got a grade that is too high because you saw a "mass" email with the grade and then the student showed, presumably, the grade on the piece of work or on his transcript. You came to the conclusion that the email with the lower mark was correct and that the transcript is incorrect. There doesn't seem to be an obvious reason, apart from personal bias, that the transcript should be assumed to be wrong instead of the email. Given you do not really know what grade he should have gotten, there is no reason to say anything, especially if you do not want to. If you want to alert the Professor that you think someone else's mark is wrong you can do that, but remember you really do not have any proof.

I would consider your situation from two perspectives:

From an ethical/moral standpoint: grades are by nature unfair, and mistakes in grading are common. Welcome to real life and live with it. Do you think Student X  who got an A just because he was going to every TA office hour deserves it better? Do you think Student Y who got an A just because he used homework solutions from last year to optimize his homework grades deserves it better? What percentage of college students do you think cheat?.
From a personal gain maximization standpoint, you need to consider two points: 1) Will denouncing your colleague improve your GPA, change your rank or bring your some award? 2) Will denouncing your colleague negatively impact your network and/or perturb your learning experience?

In school, there are several goals:

focus on GPA/ranking/award/etc.
focus on learning.
focus on networking.
focus on partying.

Take action according to what your focus(es) is/are.

grades are by nature unfair — [citation needed]

The fact that a system cannot be perfect doesn't mean we have to enforce or swallow any unfairness. Democracy has its flaws, but still, corrupt politicians should be bring to justice.

@Davidmh To me, mistakes in grading are part of the GPA game, just like referee mistakes are in football. I don't consider it as being corruption, unless you paid the TA or the referee. I would further add that in France where I grew up, I can't remember of any teacher who asked to notify them in case of a grading mistake had been made in favor of the student. In fact, many jokingly used to say that if a student submit a homework/exam for re-grading, the student should make  sure that here doesn't lose point (i.e. that no mistake had been made in his favor). I guess they were been realistic.

@JeffE Without entering into the debate around the grading system, let's constrain the statement by just saying that grades are noisy because in most situations graders are humans. Grading mistakes are part of the noise, from my perspective.

@FranckDernoncourt the fact that they exist, and as any human factor, are not perfect, is not enough for me to justify to just throw my hands up and accept any error. Plus, in this case the clerk's error just adds on top of any human uncertainty of the grader.

Does your university have a procedure for appealing a grade? If so, look at what it says. I would be surprised if it allowed for appealing someone else's grade.

I don't think such a procedure would be necessary. This was nothing more than a typo I assume so it is obvious that a mistake was made. So I think an e-mail would do.

@djechilin You're not getting my point. This answer focusses on whether it is feasible to appeal someone else's grade. I am only saying that it is feasible. That doesn't answer my question of whether I should do it or not.

I know that my school has a policy that forbids any grade (even a grade entered in error) from being revised to be lower after it's finalized.

Besides the social and ethical issues raised by others, I might take a different, more diplomatic approach.
Personally, I'd tell the instructors about this mistake, and how I felt about it, but not give them specifics about who received the incorrect grade. There may also be a neutral party to help navigate this, such as an ombudsman, if that feels more comfortable
They may not care enough to find and fix the mistake, or if they do, you won't have directly betrayed your friend, and perhaps other mistakes will be corrected, to your credit. If you can earn the instructors appreciation, you may argue for some bonus points, or form a valuable relationship for the future.