text:
recommendations for increasing the visibility and ranking of a faculty?
I was wondering what it really matters for a university to climb in the university rankings, for example in Science fields such as Mathematics, Physics or Computer Science?
I found that there are the following different services to let people know about lecturer's research in a Faculty:

Google Scholar, I believe that one can put here even articles not peer-reviewed
Scopus, the service indexed by Elsevier
WebofScience, I have not used directly, but I believe is somewhat like Scopus

But I believe that services like Google Scholar are like arXiv, in the way that one can put a link to any research paper that one has made irrelevant if it was a good conference or not.
It is not better to aim to conferences that would be indexed in Scopus, DBLP, or that will use Scimago to raise the score of an institucion?
So what is the recommendation in these cases, to try that the papers are indexed in well known sites or a new faculty should only aim to have web presence?

Are you asking about how to increase a program's ranking in a report like U.S. News, QS, and the like? This is not the same question as how to increase the visibility of the research.

you are right I would like to increase the ranking of a program

This entire text of this post seems to assume that a program's ranking is a direct result of how well publicized its faculty's research is, which is not at all the case.

Get yourself a Nobel Prize awardee, rankings love a Nobel Prize awardee.

As ff254 correctly mentions, you are asking two different questions. "Climbing the rankings" is sort of a science of its own, and making your research be more visible to the outside is only a very minor part of it. I am not an expert on ranking optimization (I am happy to say that university rankings are not particularly relevant where I work), but if you really want to noticeably improve the ranking of your faculty, serious money and management commitment will be required (and better consulting than is available in an Internet forum).
Now, assuming that you are really more interested in making your faculty internationally more well-known. I sort of disagree with Simmy that ResearchGate is a good vehicle to achieve this goal. At least in my community, ResearchGate is not considered a "serious" source at all. Nobody goes to ResearchGate to discover new researchers (and the technical Q&A forum there is a joke). People go to conferences to meet up and coming as well as established researchers. That is, if you as a new faculty want to improve your international visibility, you should:

Produce excellent research. This should be obvious, but having a bunch of mediocre papers listed in Scopus or DBLP will not make you stand out. One top paper will.
Go to as many reasonable conferences as you can. Skip on the spam ones (no interesting people will be there and publishing there will not help you in any way), but even smaller conferences usually have a lot of interesting professors in attendance. Definitely go to whatever the big conference in your field is, even if you do not have a paper to present.
Socialise. Don't be the person that just works all day in a silent corner of the conference room. Your task at the conference is not to write the next paper, but to get in touch with other researchers.
Have a nice-looking web page. Publish all your papers as preprints there. Plus points if you do  nice write-ups of your published or ongoing research in a recurring blog.
(In some communities) have a Twitter account, and follow the big wigs and engage in discussions if appropriate.

My point about researchgate was as somewhere Layla could list papers and conference proceedings, since the question included suggestions of using google scholar or scopus.  I did not mean for this to replace real life networking, in terms of going to conferences...that was not what the question seemed (to me) to be about.  I thought Layla was asking about crediting works to the author and tracking citations/h-index--which in terms of promotion etc. are often important.

In terms of trying to increase ranking, there are ways to do it, but they're somewhat tangental to research visibility.
Informally, from talking to the people who worry about things like that, the easiest way to increase your ranking, like the easiest way to increase your journal's impact factor, is to realize that all rankings are algorithms that can be gamed. Pick an aspect of the ranking and maximize that.
For rankings based on peer surveys, this is somewhat more difficult, and is going to be a rather long slog.

My field is fairly new and is still quite small (specialized Criminology/Criminal Justice PhD programs started springing up in the 1960's, and there are prob only about 40 some odd programs that would be considered in any ranking). The programs that shot up the rankings fairly quickly were places that hired well known, senior faculty. So this suggests another (kind of gaming) option not listed so far; hire some very well known scholars in your field to increase the overall reputation of the department. This prob. has other benefits as well, such as improving recruitment of students.


text:
Is it disrespectful to invite a renowned lecturer if I know that he will be travelling through my city?
Actually I am working in an Information Systems Faculty in the main capital of my country. A few days ago I receive an email in which a university located in other city of my country; will have a renowned lecturer to make a small conference for the students in that university. I would like to invite that lecturer for a very brief speak with the faculty and some students, because I know that this professor will arrive first to the capital before moving to the other city.
The question that I have is how can I make him an invitation so that it does not sound disrespectful, because I think it will be a great opportunity for us to have this type of academic contacts. Should I write him directly to his email to see if he will available? or should I travel to the other university to see if I can catch him up after his lecture? The problem with the last option can be that he could be on a rush to return to his country and it will be a missed opportunity.
Any advice?
Thanks

I believe that the answer will depend a lot on when this is all happening. Do you have a few hours, days or weeks to arrange a meeting?

Well for what I know the event is scheduled for the first week of March.

I am fairly sure if you don't let this lecturer plan this in advance to be prepared for the brief talk and also not interrupted in his general travel plans they won't do it. Asking via email should not sound disrespectful if you, well... don't make it sound disrespectful. And I would do that better sooner than later.

This is a completely fair request, and you can ask her/him without any worries. That said, there are some aspects that you may want to take into account to increase the chance of the speaker actually saying yes:

Please do not just show up at the lecture and ask there. Almost certainly (s)he will have made other plans at this point. Ask in advance, and as soon as possible. This also has the advantage that you are not putting her/him on the spot directly, but give time to ponder the issue.
If possible, use a joint acquaintance to put you in contact rather than cold-mailing her/him. The probability of the speaker actually taking time out of her/his day to speak to your faculty will be so much higher this way than if you are just a random stranger who sent her/him a mail.
Frame the meeting as starting point for collaboration, not just an informal chat. Prominent people tend to not be keen on wasting their time on meetings with unclear outcome, so make sure that you and (s)he knows what to expect.
Relatedly, have a clear agenda in mind and make sure in advance that, should the speaker decide to visit you, the key people that you want her/him to meet are actually available. It apparently happens quite frequently that a motivated individual invites a prominent professor over, and then all the other faculty / students are actually not particularly interested in talking to the guest. As you can imagine, this tends to be embarrasing, for both, the guest and the host.

And arrange transportation for your guest from/to the airport or train station.  Treat your guest to appropriate meals.  In other words, make sure the person you invite does not end up paying anything, however small, to accept your invitation.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Should I hold the same writing standards for international students as I do for domestic students?
I teach courses in physics, astronomy and planetary science.
Often, but certainly not always, international students (and even some domestic students, for whom English is not their primary language), write worse than their domestic peers who have grown up with English.
For most assignments, I take up to a couple points off for negligence of spelling and grammar, depending on how bad their writing was. The point is to remind students that their writing should be professional. I never nit-pick about a typo here or there, but if there is a whole slew of them, I'll make a note and take off what would amount to be a few percentage points of the assignment's total score.
I'd like to give grace to those for whom English is not their primary language. At the same time, I need to be fair and grade equally. As it stands, I grade equally for everyone, but I try to give more feedback to those who need it.
Does anyone have any better ideas about how to do this?

Should the a in I take a up to a couple points off  be "an"? Should I downvote this question because of this minor thing? No, I would never do that.

@scaaahu Actually, it should be "take up to a couple of points off" (not "take an up to a couple points off")... but, good point :)

Can you clarify which discipline you are talking about? From your profile it seems like you're in physics, in which case I would say you should be grading the work primarily for its scientific accuracy and its ability to put the point across in an easily understandable way (which correlates with, but does not equate with, grammatical correctness and proper spelling) and much less for other things. For other disciplines the answer would be very different.

"how badly the writing was"?  People who live in glass houses...

It's like a comma shotgun went off in our living room.

Related:http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/19756/8494 -- http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/44260/8494 (in fact this second question is arguably a duplicate).

A few years ago I was in a position where I had to grade programming assignments that also contained documentation in German or English (the students could choose). When there were grammar mistakes that hurt my eyes (e.g. das-dass in German) I marked them. I only withdrew points when it was not clear anymore what the sentence meant (and that also happened to German natives who wrote their homework in German). I also withdrew points when there were so many typos that I had the impression that the student didn't take care much (everyone should be able to use a spelling correction program).

@DanRomik: Physics, astronomy. The content does not emphasize writing, so I don't emphasize it when grading. That said, sometimes it's really bad!

@VerenaHaunschmid That's almost exactly what I do, too.

A couple of years ago I attended a Professional Writing Class at a top American university . Even at that class grammar and spelling was corrected but not influenced the grading system, as it was not the focus of the class. Considering that, I feel your grading practice rather ridiculous.

@Greg: This may be a little off-topic, but I think it's commendable for a school to encourage professional writing skills in all aspects of their curriculum. If a student can calculate something advanced, but can't communicate their results to somebody else, what good is their calculation to anyone but themselves? This is how professional science works, so it doesn't seem wrong to include this in the curriculum.

@jvriesem Professional writing skills are something that most academics never taught or learn. It is admirable if you teach or at least remarks on it, but I am not sure yourself have these skills if your main focus is spelling and grammar.

@Greg: Science is what I teach; spelling and grammar is a side remark in comparison. I certainly do not let spelling and grammar become a main focus! I'm not sure I follow your last sentence.

@jvriesem I refereed to spelling and grammar's role in professional communication. Read: if grammar and spelling is your main focus in professional communication (vs actual rhetoric etc) you may be not as good as you think. My other remark is about only grading (without any teaching) is a very poor way of education, if your goal is "encouraging professional writing skills".

@Greg: Thanks. I agree with those things. Thanks for clarifying!

There are two different types of value judgement that you are discussing here---communication goals and grading---and I think it's important to carefully separate them.

Communication Goals: I think that it is unfair to a person who isn't a native English speaker to not expect them to aim for the same goals of clear and lucid communication.  When giving feedback, don't brush over the language and grammar errors just because a person is not a native speaker.  They should have the same chance to learn and improve as anyone else.
Grading: Unless the class is about English grammar, making English quality a significant part of the grade is generally a bad way to evaluate a person's work.  If the language is bad enough that it interferes with your ability to understand the class-relevant content, then yes, that's a problem and should receive proportional demerits.  If the class-relevant content is clear, however, it's questionable to me whether any points should be taken off at all.

In short: grade very generously on language issues, but point out the mistakes so the student can continue to learn and improve.

"grade very generously on language issues" - Just to be clear, do you mean to grade more generously if the student speaks English as a second language, or to grade equally generously for both primary and second language English speakers.

@ff524 Honestly, I wouldn't recommend taking off points for language, per se, from anybody, no matter their native language (unless it's a language class).  In any non-language-centric class, I think language issues should only affect grade if they affect the comprehensibility of content.

@jakebeal: That mentality must be what leads to all the manuals and documentation written by technical people that leave no doubts about what was actually meant, yet give me a headache for all the language and stylistic issues found therein. No, I wouldn't usually subtract points for single mistakes in a STEM subject, but if an overall diligence in the handling of the language is absent, I think there must still be some consequence, also in a non-language-centric class. The goal is not just that students somehow get across what they want to say, but that they do so in a professional way.

@O.R.Mapper jakebeal's get-out clause -- "I think language issues should only affect grade if they affect the comprehensibility of content" -- is subjective, of course, but my take is that comprehensibility is rapidly affected as writing quality falls.  In the past I've also found that the more formal English taught as a second language works well in student writing compare to the sloppy naturally-absorbed English spoken by many natives.  There are of course foreign students who seem to have had a miracle to get through the English test.

@ChrisH: Granted, I see this situation from the point of view of a German native speaker, and I feel a lot can be done to make a German text awfully incorrectly written, yet still entirely comprehensible. (Or maybe that is the effect of reading so many such texts? :) ) Of course, things also extend to stylistic issues - statements such as "We now come to the next topic, which is quite a cool tool for managing the database access, that I have often used at the university." do not hinder my comprehension in the least, yet they are a total stylistic failure in a (text looking like a) paper.

@O.R.Mapper I find that the typical faults a German introduces to English are exactly those which make the text odd-but comprehensible.  Run-on sentences are a problem for native speakers and Germans speaking English (though the latter are more likely to put a verb at the end to make you backtrack).  I have a little familiarity with German and have seen how English is taught in the schools there  which may help.  I know if I try to write in German I get hung up in cases and conjugations.

@ChrisH: My comment was rather referring to texts written in German, but from "the typical faults a German introduces to English are exactly those which make the text odd-but comprehensible", it seems your experience in English precisely matches my impression, as well.

@O.R.Mapper Perhaps I am just more tolerant in my reading, but I tend to distinguish strongly between "technically correct, but an American would never do that" and "breaks the sentence."  The first I tend to hear as essentially an accent, and it can apply just as strongly to colleagues from places like England or India.  To judge that seem to me pure cultural chauvinism; to provide information that can allow a person to sound more American if they wish (which does have advantages) is a very different thing.

@jakebeal: Most examples I can think of are beyond the "technically correct" or "regionally correct" threshold, but even so - would you consider texts that use a dialect rather than the standard language or colloquial language to be professional?

@O.R.Mapper Really hard to evaluate without a specific example, so I will provide an anonymized one, from a paper I have recently read: "Clearly, such possibility must be considered since the [PHASE] of the [WORK]."  If I were writing it, I would say: "Clearly, such a possibility must be considered from the [PHASE] of the [WORK]."  The original would probably never be written by an American, but the usage is quite clear. I can see why the article is omitted and the reason I would make a different prepositional choice is quite subtle.  I would consider this to be quite professional.

@O.R.Mapper: That's exactly it: we need to encourage professionalism.

@jakebeal: Good example. I would mark that or insert the article, but wouldn't take off points for that, unless nearly every sentence had something like that.

@jvriesem It is very important to be careful not to confuse professionalism with linguistic prestige, particularly if one wants to support an open academic culture.

@jakebeal: I provided an example above (which was a combination of several different actual texts). Note that my experience in this respect comes mostly from German texts, though, where there is essentially one (well, kind of one per country) acceptable standard language, vocabulary, grammar, style, etc., and a normative entity that more or less clearly defines what is or isn't official or colloquial style. Possibly, things are less clearly defined in English.

@O.R.Mapper English is much less clearly defined.  In your example, by the way, I see problems not with the grammar but with the subjectivity of the statement: why should we care the the author thinks something is "cool" or that they have used it at university?  In short, the problem is not style but content.

@jakebeal: I consider the issues to be stylistic; for instance, papers routinely state that the authors consider something cool - it's just conveyed with a different style of speech, by using a more concrete description such as "versatile" or "flexible", or by using an equally nondescript, but less flashy word such as "interesting" or "helpful". Likewise, "that I have often used at the university" is very questionable in style; rather, the same content could be conveyed as "we have had some positive experience with this software in the past". In any case, this is slowly going off-topic ;)

How would you deal with students who had a learning disability (thinking primarily of dyslexia)? Is it productive to point out something, of which the student is most likely already aware, and possibly somewhat ashamed of?

@Jekowl If the goal is education, then ask the student whether it will be more supportive to note or to not note non-essential spelling/grammar issues.

I've had many international students in my courses with different English-language abilities.
I believe the answer can depend on your discipline as I teach business courses and English courses could be held to higher standards in terms to language abilities.
I am often forgiving with things such as plurals,conjugation, and misuse of grammar with no overall impact (for example using a semicolon instead of a comma). However, I can generally tell how much effort was put into the paper. If the paper seems rushed and thrown together then the points will start to drop. The student may not be well versed in advanced English word usage but if they can get the overall point across and the work is readable I often dismiss the broken-English.
I do remind all students that he have tutors in our student center that can review papers. While this will vary from institution to institution I try and be as fair as I can given student circumstances and help all students succeed without handholding

No. You should definitively just ignore the fact that you are teaching to someone who can barely conjugate verbs, set tenses, create adequately descriptive phraseology, and who has a massive deficit of knowledge as to homonyms, synonyms, colloquialism and when it is and isn't appropriate to use them. Just ignore all of that and do your best to understand what they meant to say... or what you think they meant to say. You could use a fuzzy logic routine to see if the words they have cobbled together fall into a subset of words that may have been used to correctly respond to a query of their understanding. They are probably very smart and since most modern professionals currently entering their field in the United States are most likely from one of their countries then the fact that they barely have a grasp on the native language of the country from which they are seeking their degree should only serve to make degrees from our country more valuable in the eyes of the world. Lastly, a large majority of these students will simply be taking their expensive degree back to their own country so, as long as the university is getting their check... why should it matter. (tongue firmly in cheek... but not smiling)

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


text:
How to handle a possibly biased editor?
Suppose a journal editor rejects a manuscript with only one reviewer’s feedback, but the few comments the reviewer and editor made were almost entirely minor comments (e.g. “use these units for this figure axis”, or “this section heading is misleading”).
Suppose one author shows the feedback to several trusted faculty members at their institution who are familiar with the work, and they say it looks like the reviewer, the editor, or both are feeling threatened by the paper and may be trying to make sure it doesn’t get published quickly, if at all.
A similar question has been asked here (How to deal with an unethical editor?), except that question was asking about an editor who was making up comments for a reviewer. Suppose the authors have no reason to believe that the editor is making up comments for a reviewer, as in that question, but do have reason to think the editor may have too quickly dismissed the paper (after only one reviewer’s comments rather than waiting for the second reviewer, and based on very minor details that should have prompted minor revision). Suppose, for the sake of the question, that the editor and perhaps the first reviewer indeed appear to be acting in bad faith, which of course would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove. In other words, what if several experienced researchers suspected real foul play, rather than a grad student feeling miffed about a rejection?
What options are available to the authors in such a situation? (This is not a “what should I do?” question.)
Background
This question is most useful to the community when it is asked generally, so I originally omitted details. Several have asked, so I am including vague details here, but my question is not about my colleague's situation — it's intended to be general.
I read the feedback. In my colleague's case, the editor rejected the paper based on the feedback from a single reviewer and their own reading of the manuscript — without waiting for the feedback from the second reviewer. Most of the comments were easily addressed (add a sentence here, change units on this figure, rephrase this confusing sentence there, etc.). A comment about some inconsistency in their approach seemed legitimate, and a section title was confusing. The first author, a grad student, sent the feedback to me and the faculty they talked with to see what we thought. There was absolutely nothing about the feedback that indicated it should have been rejected rather than sent back for revision. I'm also a grad student, so I do think much of my own opinion, plus it's not my field. Instead, I trust that the senior faculty who reviewed the feedback and called it highly unusual know what they are talking about. The editor was in a different (tangentially-related) field than that of the paper.

If the first response of 'trusted' faculty members is that those handling the manuscript feel 'threatened by the paper', it is likely time to reevaluate your trust in them.

@JonCuster: I’m afraid the trustworthiness, experience, and judgment of these faculty members is something you’ll have to take by fiat for the purposes of this question, along with the suspiciousness of the review and any other relevant information.

It is not clear on which bases the paper has been rejected. Once the editor sent it out, then he/she has to adhere to the referee recommendations. How is the paper rejected on the basis of units and section titles?

Think about it this way: the set of biased journal editors in your field, even if it is non-empty is certainly a proper subset and likely a very small subset of the set of all editors. Therefore,....

Well sometimes it's better to take insider review 100 times before going public, opinion diversity is a very strong stream that we can controll, be introspectional about your thoughts, i'm not putting anyone's skills in question or trying to overcredit the reviewer but these people might have gone through phases you haven't done, to make enough experience that allows you to sort out this behavior in that way.

@Alchimista: That's part of the problem I'm getting at, and I do not feel comfortable sharing too many details of somebody else's issue here. Additionally, I believe the question is more useful to the SX community if it is broadly applicable.

I am not saying you should not ask  I an asking how they reject the paper because according to your report one could have easily fix those minor issues and other similar ones if any.

I disagree with the @Alchimista's comment that "Once the editor sent it out, then he/she has to adhere to the referee recommendations." At least in my field (mathematics), referees' reports are merely advice to the editor, who is free to overrule the recommendations in the reports.

@JonCuster Also, the lack of trust you accuse the trusted faculty members of is the same lack of trust you show towards the faculty members in your comment. I for one think it’s reasonable to expect that they would be able to recognize something unusual after decades of researching and publishing experience.

@Andreas Blass. I would like to know how often it happened that an editor reject a paper after it is not closed rejected by the referee (s). Of course an editor has the last word. BUT an editor rejecting a paper with reports suggesting to him "publish" (either as it is or after minor / major revision) does not behave correctly. Both respect the authors and the referees. I would decline reviewing for an editor like that. Rejection can be done at "received at desk - with editor" stage.

After your editing, I am afraid we should accept the answer by Vincent. Actually there is even no reason to suspect anything. The rejection should have been motivated clearly.  If not,  the editor misbehaved. By intention or not.

@Alchimista I remember two cases where the editor overruled the recommendation of the referees. This happens only rarely, for the reason you mention: People don't want to referee papers for an editor who overrules referees too often. My point is not that such behavior by an editor is frequent but rather that it is entirely within the editor's rights and is not any sort of misbehavior.

IT IS misbehaving. It is up to him, he might have the formal right. ..but in the moment that he is for rejection either he does at reception or he goes for at least two referees. If he has in mind that his own report is more appropriate a priori he should not go to seek advice. And especially he MUST motivate. If the situation is as reported, this is a sad situation.

@jvriesem - it seems that the belief that you can divine intent from action is strong in your neck of the woods.

Possible duplicate of Paper rejected. Should I appeal against biased reviews?

@DmitryGrigoryev Thanks for the link, but the questions are not duplicates. That question asks about problems with three biased reviewers and asks what to do. My colleague’s situation differs because the editor only based their judgment on only one reviewer and comments suggesting relatively minor revision. More importantly, my question asks for a list of possible options rather than what to do.

@JonCuster What makes you say that? I’m not saying anything about intent in my comment to you or in my question. Your comment suggested you doubted the faculty members’ trustworthiness. At the time of your comment, you had no basis to evaluate whether they had enough experience to be trustworthy and you have not read the feedback. For all you know, you’d have thought the same thing in their situation! I’m 100% certain these faculty members would not treat all rejections as conspiracies. In fact, the most senior faculty member said he’d never seen anything like it in his decades-long career.

@jvriesem Indeed, every rejection is different, but the options available to you don't change.

As far as as I know, your options are:

Appeal the decision.  Many publishers have an official appeal process; typically this will bring the decision to the attention of the editor-in-chief.
Submit the paper elsewhere.
Abandon the paper.  Not a good option if you think the real problem is the editor rather than the paper.

It is very rarely a good idea to appeal a paper rejection.  Here's why:

Appeals are very rarely successful.  There typically needs to be a very objective set of evidence in your favor.  But rejection decisions are often based largely on subjective measures.
Since journal editors tend to be senior researchers, the editor who rejected a paper often has more experience than the author of the paper.  Furthermore, the author's opinion is always colored by personal involvement.  It is thus more often the case that the author's opinion of a rejection is mistaken.  This is a statistical point, and of course you will believe that it does not reflect your particular case.
An appeal may negatively impact your relation with the editor(s) of the journal, particularly if they feel it is not warranted or if your emotional attachment to the process leads you to be unkind.
Appeals are often handled very slowly; after all, the editors (who are typically volunteers) don't want to encourage the use of the appeal process.

Thus, even if you are right and the editor is really wrong, you are usually better served by submitting the manuscript to another journal.  This is especially true if you believe that the editor is truly acting in a malicious way, since then you have even lower odds of success.
For reference, here is Springer's policy and advice on appeals.  See also this question and answers to it.
Bottom line: as @Vincent suggests, you're almost always better off submitting to a different journal.

I also think this is not the case for appeal as one editor is involved. I did successfully appealed as you say by dismantling each adverse referee comment, but the editor was, until the appeal phase, not involved.

Unfortunately, brushing off such behaviors is the reason why unscrupulous people continue their acts. I am speaking about academia and in general life. At least, us in academia, with tenure and all, should speak up freely against such malicious acts.

Probably not what you want to hear, but... There's the option of submitting it somewhere else?

This is the correct answer.  If the journal rejects your paper, then submit elsewhere.  If, in fact, it is a great paper, then this is a great loss to the journal.  Little or no loss to you.  Arguing or appealing the rejection is rarely successful, and causes those involved to think negatively of you.

@GEdgar: Perhaps, but an answer with no background or justification is rarely the best answer, especially when competing against others that say something similar.

@Vincent: Consider editing this to say "Ignore him LIKE A BOSS."

@jvriesem I think the answer while good is overly verbose.  Will be putting up my own competing answer - https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/105452/3849.  Since when is this a competition?

@jvriesem OP asked for other options so I gave one, but I think you're right: reasons for choosing that option would be better. It's a bit of a shame that somehow this answer is listed so high; I would encourage you to accept this one that provides proper motivation: https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/105400/53401

So, this is one option. It is likely the best option. I’m looking for a list of options.

@jvriesem A list which consists of the only option is still a list of options.

@jwg It is hardly the only option. See other answers.

I have had this situation before (an editor that given 2 positive reviews, continued to get more and more and more reviews until someone gave a negative one, then rejected it). We contacted the editor-in-chief with our concerns about how our review process was being handled, as the editor's conduct against us appeared to go against the policy of the journal.
The editor was removed from the process, the paper was 'unrejected' and we were given a new editor. The paper was published soon afterwards.

What stands out to me in your story is that there was very clear evidence of wrongdoing on the editor's part. If all someone has are suspicious or evidence that can be interpreted in different lights, unfortunately, their best bet is probably to find another journal to submit to.

This likely won't resolve the problem, but should put you in a better position to try and do whatever it is you choose to do:
Contact the editor, and ask him/her for the reason for rejection. Say what you've told us, i.e. that the comments s/he and the reviewer(s) had given are stylistic or inconsequential, and that given those comments you were expecting an acceptance.
S/he could then:

claim those comments are the grounds for rejection - which would make him look quite unprofessional.
give you an alternative reason for rejection - with which you may or may not be able to do something, but at least it'll be a concrete reason.
stall or not answer - so you can at least claim you tried clearing things up with him/her.

There is no appeal possibility for most journals. So the answer is that there is pretty much nothing you can do. If the editor is really and consistently acting in bad faith, then that will eventually be widely known, influence who submits what kind of papers, the quality will gradually decline, and the journal will decline with that. But you will hopefully have tenure by the time that has happened.
Your best course of action now is to just submit the paper somewhere else.

Expanding on Vincent's excellent answer, the options in this situation are:

Submit to another journal, incorporating the feedback received.
Submit to another journal, ignoring the feedback received.
Appeal the decision, recognizing that this is very unlikely to gain anything.

It appears to be a common misconception, held among those submitting manuscripts to scientific journals, that the comments behind a rejection hold some sort of monumental significance.  The editors of a journal can reject a manuscript on a whim -- it's their journal, and they have editorial control.  If they want to only publish recipes for chocolate chip cookies from now on, that is their prerogative (although the journal's reputation will suffer, and those editors may be replaced by the publisher). The explanation is given to the author as a courtesy, to help the author with any subsequent resubmission of the work.  It is not meant to be the first round of a debate.
Sometimes it is very difficult to give a satisfying explanation -- the true answer is "this manuscript is a bad copy of its first draft, which was found written in blood on the walls of an insane asylum" -- but one needs to phrase this somewhat differently to avoid giving offense.

Just submit it somewhere else.

This does not answer the question as asked. See my clarification.


text:
How does your institution credit a department's support of, and participation in, interdisciplinary programs?
In these lean economic times, traditional majors are in danger of being cut if they cannot keep up their numbers (at least in many small liberal arts colleges). Simultaneously, interdisciplinary programs and majors requiring the substantial support of traditional disciplines may be a way to diversify an institution's student base.
Assuming that departments are generally not healthiest as purely "service departments", it behooves us to find ways to support the traditional majors while encouraging vigorous participation in the development of interdisciplinary programs.
My question is this:

How does your institution handle the "major count" problem for departments contributing substantially to interdisciplinary programs and yet want to retain their traditional major? A bit more specifically, if major X is interdisciplinary, but requires substantial contribution from several upper-level (content near the level of major) courses from traditional department Y, at your institution how is Y credited its support of X in a way that preserves the major of department Y? I am interested in specific policies regarding everything from faculty load to administrative assessment of the health of a department.

Broadly, I am asking about administrative resource allocation policies that maximize diversity in the sense of preserving the identities of traditional disciplines while encouraging truly interdisciplinary efforts.
Apologies if this question is rough. I am certainly willing to sharpen it, if needed.

This is a genuine problem, budget-wise, and is not often dealt with sanely, unfortunately... Typically I see "winner takes all" scenarios, meaning that the more influential or favored department gets the credit (and, thus, the money, space, ...)

Indeed why I asked the question, Paul, thanks for the comment!

Though this is not a full answer I did find one case documented in this paper[1] that may be of interest and that (I think) is worth quoting at length. It discusses the implementation of a 'Medical Biology' major at the University of South Dakota, which seems to essentially be a pre-Med degree. From what I gather, both the biology department as well as the medical school are actively involved in the major.
With regard to funding, the authors write:

One other concern expressed regarding enrollments was that under the new RCM funding model adopted by the University, budget income from offered courses is distributed mainly to the college or school whose faculty members are teaching the course (100% if the major is in the same college or school), with a lesser amount (20%) being distributed to the college or school in which the major is housed, if that is different than the college or school offering the course. In the case of the Medical Biology major, which is housed in the Department of Biology, an increase in the number of required and elective courses offered by Medical School faculty members relative to a typical Biology major means that the College of Arts and Sciences receives less income from a Medical Biology major than from a typical Biology major. This concern was ameliorated somewhat by projections that the Medical Biology major would increase the overall number of majors in the Department of Biology, which it has, in fact, accomplished (see above), although administrative discussions about the most equitable distribution of funds from these courses is ongoing. (73)

The RCM model referenced is one in "which individual schools and colleges receive income based on student enrollments in their courses and must pay for other services provided by the university (mostly traditional administrative support centers)" (67).
So, in short, it does not seem that USD has found an extraordinarily innovative way to simultaneously support the two majors. However, the already-high demand for biology lessens the severity of this problem.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any other papers that documented other cases of interdisciplinary major development.
[1] Goodman, Koster, Swanson. "The development and implementation of a new medical biology major including physiology," Advances in Physiology Education 39 (2015).

Thank you very much for digging for this. It is really surprising to me that it is so difficult to find more information!


text:
Advice for postdoc application
As part of applying to a postdoc fellowship, I need to write the following:
"Please describe your planned research activities for your postdoctoral studies (up to 650 words)".
I'm not sure whether the intentions are to describe my future research plan (as in what research questions I'm going to tackle) or what research activities I plan to have (e.g., conducting simulations, reviewing papers, collaborations or organizing workshops).
I suspect that the answer is trivial, yet I'm not familiar with this academic terminology. Any help?
Edit: following Nathan's answer, I add the other questions:

Please provide a summary of your dissertation (up to 450 words).
Please provide a summary of your present research, if different from your dissertation (up to 400 words).
Please describe your planned research activities for your postdoctoral studies (up to 650 words).
Explain, in some detail, the reasons for your choice of country, institution and academic supervisor abroad, and the connection, if any, with your present and planned future work (up to 130 words).
Please describe in one paragraph (10-12 lines) what you hope to have achieved at the conclusion of your post-doctoral studies.

The best answer may depend on what other questions are asked on the application form. These types of questions are usually used to assess whether you have a clear research line moving forward, but it is also helpful to know how you are going to break your research line into smaller goals. This is typical for grant applications -- high level research questions followed by measurable research activities.
So, if the 650 words gives you space, I would suggest providing both answers. The high-level research questions you want to answer and the first few research activities that will support this.
I wouldn't spend too much time talking about general service activities such as reviewing papers, but organizing a workshop to support those working in your research area would be worth mentioning, as this demonstrates broader impact.

After the edit:
As I suspected, the other questions are related to the first question you asked about. So, my overall advice doesn't change, but you can spread the answers across your questions as appropriate.
For instance, what you hope to achieve is related to the planned activities, but is looking for a broader answer - here is where you can talk about the expected impact of your work on the field.
In your dissertation or present research summary you can introduce some of the higher-level questions being answered, leaving more space to talk about specific activities in the response to that question.

Thanks for the answer. I added the other questions too, would be greatful if you could address it. Thanks!

My interpretation:

What results will you obtain?
How will they be published?
Why are the results important?

What you do and how you will do it should be stated only to support the answers to those questions.

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


text:
How to cite an article from a magazine (no date, published quarterly) in MLA7?
I’m writing a comparative research analysis for my freshman writing requirement class on the school-to-prison pipeline, and I’m trying to cite this article by John DiIulio. The site doesn’t give a date of publication, and I can’t find any dates online for the print publication date; all I know is that it was the spring edition of 1996.
How do I cite this in the MLA7 style?

The relevant citation is provided in the site itself.
 My Black Crime Problem, and Ours by John J. DiIulio, Jr.
 City Journal, Spring 1996, pp. 14-28

To cite in MLA7:

DiIulio, John J., Jr. “My Black Crime Problem, and Ours.” City Journal, Spring 1996: 14-28. Print.

Hope this answers your quesion.


text:
The manuscript status suddenly changed to “Draft Status” in ScholarOne
About two weeks ago, we submitted a paper to a Taylor & Francis journal that uses the ScholarOne manuscript-submission system. We also received an e-mail confirming that the submission process is complete and that the editor is considering the paper for publication.
Today, I checked the status and it has now changed to Draft Status. I have never seen something like this in my previous submissions. I would be very grateful if someone could possibly tell me if I need to contact the editor or do something specific.

Have you contacted the editor to ask about the change in status?

Thank you very much for your reply. Actually, no. I am not the corresponding author and therefore thought it would be inappropriate to contact the editor to ask about the current status. Do you think I should?

I guess, the manuscript has been "unsubmitted" because of some reason. Contact the editorial chief or Journal manager.

We were recently informed that the manuscript exceeded the word count set by the journal and therefore was unsubmitted. We were asked to revise and re-submit the paper.

This's a common status for Taylor and Francis publisher. Your manuscript requires some changes in its body style before sending for the peer-reviewing process. Recheck your style and bibliography format to finalize your submission.

In addition to the reason stated in the answer by @Mehrdad:
I had submitted my manuscript (in PDF) to one journal in Wiley using ScholarOne (ManuscriptCentral) on July 8.
Today, on July 10, I received the email from the editorial office saying the same thing and status being changed to "Draft".
Reason: In the submission site, it was asked to submit a single PDF during INITIAL SUBMISSION (Latex file is not required). But, still, they needed the editable source file to be uploaded as "Supplementary File for Review".

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


text:
“Master's” vs. “master”
I have to write a letter about a graduate course abroad. I began it like this:

I am writing this letter to apply for XXX Master in XXXX.

and ended with:

I am absolutely sure that I will complete Master's program in XXX.

So here is my question: Is it okay to use both “Master in” and “Master’s in” in one letter? What is the difference between these two?

Master's is an abbreviated form of master's degree, and it is considered an informal term by several dictionaries (e.g., Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary, MacMillan Dictionary).
Master is just an even more abbreviated form, which is usually not reported in the dictionaries with that meaning (but see note below).
In a formal letter I would use the full form master's degree, but should you choose to use one of the two abbreviated forms, try to be consistent and don't use both forms in the same text. Inconsistencies can be interpreted as a sign of sloppiness, and you don't want to give this impression while applying for a degree or a position.
Thus, I would write:

I am writing this letter to apply for XXX Master's degree in XXXX.

and

I am absolutely sure that I will complete the Master's degree program in XXX.

Check also what is the denomination used in the university documentation: how do they refer to their own programs?
Note: The Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary reports for master also the following meaning (meaning n. 5 in the linked definition):

5 [count] : a person who has received a master's degree

So in my case I changed sentences to:
"I am writing this letter to apply for XXX Master in XXXX." or Master's degree?
and
"I am absolutely sure that I will complete Master's degree in XXX".

@Jacob See the edit.


text:
Why does my Arxiv paper not show my affiliation?
I am a graduate student and have just submitted one pre-print to Arxiv. However, there is no organization name before the author name although
the Arxiv endorsement system automatically accepted my submission due to my .edu email address.
How can I fix this?

By default, the Arxiv does not show affiliations of paper authors on its webpages. You apparently can add them by adding them in parentheses behind your name. See the help pages:

If you wish to include author affiliations, put them in parentheses. Do not put a full mailing address. At most, include a city and country (no zip codes, postal codes, or street addresses). If you have several authors from the same institution, you can use a footnote style for the affiliations. Here is an example (be sure to do it in the form presented here, including all parentheses, and using numbers and not letters):
  Authors: Author One (1), Author Two (1 and 2), Author Three (2)
          ((1) Institution One, (2) Institution Two)

However, this feature is rarely used in my experience.
However, on the actual preprint (i.e., the PDF, PS, or whatever), you can show affiliations as you like (well, they should be correct). These are not automatically added by the Arxiv; you have to do this yourself. The content and layout of the actual preprint is controlled by you (except for a watermark from the Arxiv).

See for example, https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9609089

@YuchiHe: TIL. Please see my edit.


text:
PhD position: got rejected - reapply?
I applied for a PhD position and I was invited to give a talk about my Master thesis, but I didn't get the position, because:

Maybe my talk wasn't as good at it could be- I wasn't ready with my thesis then and I made some mistakes. I guess I could work on that.
My current thesis advisor probably didn't give me good references, although I'm not sure about that. There is nothing I can do about that- try to explain the disagreements I had with him to the committee? No one asked me about that, so I won't get that chance in the future. But I could ask someone else to write a reference letter for me.

My question is:

Should I apply to the institution again (in few months or 1-2 years) when they have another open position? How will it be perceived?

My main concern is that the application will be reviewed by the same people I talked to, the people who took part in my seminar. Will I be allowed to give another talk on the same topic?
Also, the person who wrote to me, didn't suggest that I apply there in the future.
I'm not going to get more experience in research, because I work in a company, but I can have some publicaitons.
Note:

This is not a duplicate of this question, because I didn't withdraw my application- I was rejected.
This is not a duplicate of this question, because I was invited to the university, I had a talk with the group members and I gave a talk there. My experience isn't a problem, its the general impression, my knowledge (?).
This is not a duplicate of this question - see my explanation for the second question.

In which country is this?

If it is true that you did not get a good reference letter by your former adviser, it's going to be hard to be accepted anywhere - be that fair or not. So in order to understand better where you might be lacking, and how successful other attempts to land a Ph.D. position might be, I'd talk to them first. Even if there were some disagreements, I'd think they'd be willing to give you some feedback - if only to maybe tell you that they believe you should focus on industry, which would likely mean that the recommendation is, in fact, poor.

@Niko, I can't tell you - I'd hate it if I got recognized by my advisor or someone from the university. But it's in Europe, if it helps.

@gnometorule, I think I know what my advisor would tell me-  I wasn't efficient (and there were some problems related to that). But he didn't give me clear instructions and I had to keep bugging him to answer my questions. For a reason I can't discuss, it was really hard. Also, I'm aware I didn't do as good job as I could if I could work on a topic I liked (in short).

If I were in your position, instead of submitting a 'cold' re-application, I would first contact the committee and ask them for advice about what I could do to improve my prospects of being accepted as a PhD student. I have seen people do this a few times, and the strategy receives positive responses from faculty; but of course you will then have to do the work and actually improve on the things they suggest.
Re-applying with exactly the same material will probably not get you anywhere. However, if you get advice from the committee and/or from other people who are experienced in the field about what to improve or what skills/experience to acquire, and if you can demonstrate the results well, it will be noticed.

It is, most likely, a waste of your time and that of everyone else as well: If they rejected you once, what do you think would make them reconsider? The reality is that they probably didn't reject you for only one reason (talk, one letter missing), but for a number of reasons. It's unlikely that bringing one more letter would make them forget about the talk, or whatever else it is that they didn't like about your application.
It is true that that may not be fair. But it's just how humans work: Once you've made your decision that someone doesn't meet your expectation, there doesn't just have to be a small amount of extra information to change the outcome. You'd have to be able to demonstrate some extraordinary progress for people to be willing to change their perception of your application.

My take-away from this answer would be: "You'd have to be able to demonstrate some extraordinary progress for people to be willing to change their perception of your application."

Not to mention PhD positions are often done in "rounds", such that OP maybe didn't get the position because there just so happened to be an excellent applicant that year that pushed everyone down in the ranks.

All possible reasons. But the rejected candidate would still have to overcome the issue of (subjective) perception that comes with having been rejected once already.


text:
PhD outside of Germany after a Master's from a German Fachhochschule
Can I go for Phd in USA, Canada, Australia or any other European country with my master's degree from a German Fachhochschule? I am planning to work for two years as a lecturer and researcher in my home country (Pakistan) and look for PhD fundings/admissions from there. I believe the experience gained during these two years will make my application stronger.
Secondly, is there something I should do before leaving Germany (extra courses for more CPs, degree recognition or any such thing)? I'm enrolled in 120 CP Master's degree with following division:

Course work = 60 CP
Mandatory internship = 30 CP
Master Thesis = 30 CP

Do universities from these regions require more CPs? I've heard this is the case for German technical universities.
This question is related but it is about PhD in Germany only.

One remark for clarification: you probably mean "Fachhochschule" (University of Applied Science) and not "Hochschule". The latter is a term for all types of higher education together, including universities.  There are even some universities that use the term "Hochschule" in their names.

As far as I know a "university of applied sciences" is a Fachhochschule. A PhD in the US and UK only requires a BA, so that shouldn't be a problem. I however do not now if your degree is recognized in countries which require a Master's (or equivalent) like France.

I changed Hochschule to Fachhochschule in both the title and the question. As it was before, your question made little sense. Now I understand it :)

I removed the personally specific background information, because this moves the question into a "detailed situation" question that we want to avoid.

@TheAlmightyBob since I am assuming that you are talking about combined Master's and PhD program, you are talking about the case where I can exempt the subjects which I have studied in my Master's already and do only the rest?

Just a sidenote: "Any other European country" includes Switzerland and Austria which are likely to apply the same rules as Germany. Thus, they may not generally accept Master graduates from a Fachhochschule into PhD programmes. However, this rule is even less and less enforced in Germany so that it is possible to get accepted if you meet certain additional requirements as a Fachhochschul graduate (e.g. additional theory or methods courses).

@DCTLib Actually the terms have changed a bit and  "Hochschule" can also be correct in this case. Many former german Fachhochschulen have been renamed to Hochschule für Technik/Wirtschaft/etc (University of Applied Science) in the past years because there are no FH degrees any more and they increasingly do more research. You are right that there are some Universities like the RWTH Aachen who also have "Hochschule" in their name - but technically it's a "Technische Universität" and a special case afaik.

In principle, there's no formal obstacle to applying to a US program, since almost all of them require only a bachelor's degree for admission. I similarly don't see a major problem with admissions to Canadian or other European universities, since you would have a master's degree and therefore have an "equivalent" degree, so long as you're staying in the same discipline (electrical engineering to electrical engineering); rules may be different if you're moving between fields (e.g., computer science to materials science).
Where you may run into a problem in admissions is that as a Fachhochschule, your school may not have as strong an international profile as from Hochschule and other schools of equivalent rank in Europe. Consequently, the school you're applying to may not have ever had applicants from your Fachhochschule. Consequently, regardless of how good your profile and application are, you still represent an "unknown" quantity, and therefore there is a greater risk to the department by admitting you instead of someone from a school that is better familiar to the department to which you're applying.
For non-European questions, the number of credit points aren't that important. For European admissions, there may be an issue regarding this, but that's really decided on a university-by-university basis, so you'll need to consult the individual schools you're interested in for guidance. However, taking additional credits beyond what is required for admission won't help you nearly as much as demonstrating research potential.

I missed the specific question about credit points. I have edited my question. Could you please modify your answer and add more details?

Refer to Wikipedia, the FachHochschulen in German - speaking countries play a role of institutes of vocational education. It is difficult to give a direct answer. The situation really depends on which PhD program at which University in the USA or other English - speaking countries to which you are going to submit your application. Basically, the admission committee there will investigate your profile, or they will have a professional third party to provide an objective investigation.
In my humble opinion and experience, given a quite normal situation only in German speaking countries, a student holding MSc. or Diplom(FH) from an FH may be admitted directly in a Master program at a university, who is allowed to award Doctor degree. But that student will definitely required to take the examinations in core lectures in Bachelor program at that university. The universities in USA know this, very probably.
I suggest a solution, that you will take a Master course at an internationally accredited university in your home country before you make a step further.


text:
Can I Publish a Book Based on my Ph.D. Thesis and Other Practical Findings I Found After My Ph.D?
I have a followup question after getting the answer on the following question: Who Owns the Publishing Rights of my Ph.D. Thesis?.
After my Ph.D. I did work both in industry and in academic, and I think I have a reference book in me based on the theory side of my Ph.D. thesis and the practical knowledge I gained developed those theories (using main stream programming languages in my case); and the teaching experience on that matter.
So, is it possible to write a reference book based on theory contributions of my Ph.D. and practical findings based on those theories?

Your PhD thesis is a book.

Aside from what @gerrit said (although I assume that you intend to expand your thesis with your practical experience), I would like to know why would you consider it impossible? I.e. what kind of problems do you see/expect?

There's several issues here.  One is the copyright of existing work, for instance your thesis, work you did for a company that now belongs to them, papers published in journals where you assigned the copyright.  That covers the specific words, figures, code and data you used in those places.  You may or may not have rights to those, depending on the terms of the agreements you made.
Another is confidentiality, for example obligations to your employer, trade secrets, upcoming patent applications, state secrets, etc.  You don't want to reveal things you aren't allowed to reveal, by either contractual obligations or law.
Law may also cover libel, hate-speech and other restrictions on freedom of speech.
Beside that, what's in your head belongs to you.  So if you sit down with an empty piece of paper and just write, all that belongs to you.  And if you want to publish that, nobody can stop you.

How could the copyright of the thesis be an issue (unless it contains journal articles)? The asker is the copyright holder. See also this question.

Even if you assigned the copyright to someone else, ask them about this.  I think they will allow you to use that material in your own book (as long as you include proper reference to the original publication).


text:
Can you apply for a PhD that requires an MSc when only 2/3 of MSc grades will be in by application time?
I am currently pursuing a Master's in CS in USA. This particular program will only be a year long since I did my undergrad at the same university and had some credits transferred over. I was researching Phd programs in Canada and they all require a Master's degree for admission. I wanted to know if I can apply right now as a Master's student for entry in Fall 2016?
My program will be over in Spring 2016. My application will contain only 2/3 of my Master's grades by the time of application. I know that you can apply for a Master's program in your last year of undergrad. Is it the same for Phd?

Yes.  When a degree is required prior to starting a program, that degree is needed in order to enrol, but not to apply.

What if prior to starting the Ph.D. program, one didn't manage to finish the ms degree?


text:
Is it appropriate to ask an editor to have double blind peer review even if journal does not offer such an option?
The journal that I have chosen for submitting my paper doesn't use double-blind review
(double blind review  means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process).
Can I ask editors via email, or make a request for one? Is it difficult for them to organise the editing of the paper afterwards if it is approved or it is appropriate to do that?

Why? And how will this happen, now that you have already send the paper without anonymizing it?

This is not really a question rather a matter of a certain journal's review/publishing policy.

@Alexandros did you understand my question ?

"The journal that I have chosen for submitting my paper", " Is it difficult for them to organise the editing of the paper afterwards". It is as though you have already submitted your paper. If you have not submitted the paper, then why "should they organize the editing of the paper afterwards"? BTW you should not be rude to people trying to help you.

Oh, sorry, I didnt want to be rude @Alexandros. I chosed but I didnt submit. Present Perfect.. I asked if it is appropriate since organisation of processing of a paper could be much more difficult for them than usual

The question doesn't reflect that distinction as easily as you think. I also understood that you had already submitted the article. And, following my comments on other answers, I'm left wondering what possible reason someone would have for requesting double blind reviews of a "single blind" journal...

With the submission management systems of most journals, it will be an incredibly obnoxious hassle for the editors to support a double-blind review if the journal's policy is normally single-blind review.
The reason is that, even if you remove names from the manuscript, most review systems present the reviewers with all of the key meta-data about the paper, including the author identities.  This information is tied to author accounts in the system, the paper production and publication process for accepted papers, and possibly also external systems such as ORCID.  This is configured right into the software, so the only method most editors would have for supporting double-blind would be to have the authors create pseudonymous accounts and then later work with the production staff to manually intervene and change all of the metadata (likely screwing up their records as well) before the paper actually appeared.  Thus, given the degree of hassle and problems involved, I would expect most editors to refuse without some sort of exceedingly unusual extenuating circumstance.
You can always ask politely, of course, but you should expect the answer to be no.

For the double blind review, you need to provide the printed version of the manuscript without the author names and institution, replacing them by the long randomly selected number. That's it. Do not limit your brains along the lines of the feature incomplete software. Downvoting.

@h22 That simply will not work for any single-blind journal that I have ever dealt with: the manuscript would be anonymous, but the reviewer would still be told who the authors are on the online reviewing form---unless, as noted, the editor abuses the manuscript handling system and makes a big hassle for everybody.

Will the editor call the police, will the helicopters with gunners rush to the tracked place from where you are making a mobile phone call asking for this type of review? Where is exactly the danger?

@h22 No, the editor will most likely simply say, "Double blind review would make everybody's life too much of a hassle."

Not following the journal guidelines for submission is one of the easier ways of getting an article quickly rejected...

@h22 The danger is getting your manuscript desk rejected.

To make unnecessary associations with the manuscript, you can ask for this possibility separately, before submitting the paper itself. You can also do this even anonymously (say making the phone call). They will answer. If no, then no.
I think it would be unethical and unprofessional for the editor to judge about your work negatively in advance just because of asking a quite, polite question about the possible reviewing processes.
Journals that used the double blinded review simply required an additional manuscript version from me, without the author and institution headers.

But you better have a really good reason for asking....

Please clarify.

My opinion is similar to @jakebeal 's answer (which I read after writing this).  I think it is pretty weird to ask this of a journal. Most likely, by accepting such request, the editor would 'break' the usual processing chain of articles (for instance, most of the web systems show the name of the authors). I'm not saying it can't be done, but you really should have a good reason for asking for such potentially disruptive change.... And, tbh, I can't think of one atm...

I don't think "If you're going to make my day harder, you should have a decent justification for doing so" is something that needs much clarification.


text:
How to respond when rejected with encouragement to apply again, when hiring committee says position is always open?
I received notification that I wasn't select for the final round, but they encourage me to apply next time when the application is open.
So I of course, out of curiosity ask when will be the next time.
I got the following reply

Thanks for your reply,

This position is always open.
Best regards,

I m in shock, what this implicate and how should I respond?
Should I immediately resubmit the application? Or ask on how to proceed?
what would you do? What is appropriate to reply? Why would they have always open position? Isn't that weird?

Perhaps they mean it is open each year?

@Dawn so what should I ask? Is it always open? or each year? why would it be open each year? it is tenure track, it is easy to feel in. I m suprised. I dont understand intention of such a email?

Is there anything unusual about the institution?  For a traditional four-year college or university, this response would make no sense, and I would simply ignore it.  You can apply again if you see a new opening posted, not otherwise.  Encouragement to reapply is just a courtesy and should also be ignored; it doesn't imply anything about how seriously they would consider your application.

Hmmm.. if this is tenure track then it is a very unusual email. I would recommend ignoring it for now, as @NateEldredge says.

I guess it's possible that their policy is: applications are always open, if they have an opening they'll consider the application for the current opening, and if they get a really exceptional application they'll consider creating a position.  But since they've rejected you once then presumably they do not consider you to be in that last category.

How much does it cost to apply? (if you have to mail in an application, then each application costs at least the printing fees plus postage, but if it is all online then it costs your time to press some buttons, etc).  if it is cheap enough, then just keep applying.  maybe one application per week or some such.

I wouldn't reapply until there is a substantial change to your CV--completion of a degree, published paper, award, etc.

@mkennedy I think you are right, can you add this as an answer.

@NateEldredge according to Wikipedia, they are public graduate reaserch institution

@Dawn 3 years contract with possiblity to convert in tenure after 3 years if performance is satisfying

@NateEldredge why they cannot tell me that directly?

Bluntly, once you've been rejected, the university has no particular incentive to spend any more time communicating with you.  So you get curt responses like this, if any.  At this point, it's not really a high priority for anyone to write you a detailed explanation of their search procedures.

@NateEldredge is it appropriate to use Thanks in US email correspondence? the person in senior researcher.

This is indeed unusual.  For tenure-track positions at traditional universities in the US, a normal search proceeds on a specific timeline, from application deadline through interviews and leading up to the new hire's start date, usually the beginning of an academic year.  Once a position is filled, no further applications are accepted until there is a new opening and a sufficiently high administrator has given permission to begin a new search.
So in this normal situation, if you have been rejected, there is no point in reapplying until a new opening is posted, and typically that would be the next year at earliest.  (And there's no particular guarantee that the same department will have any openings at all the next year.)  So if you still want to apply to this employer, you have to wait a year; otherwise, consider it a loss and focus on other opportunities.
Given all this, the only way that this reply makes sense to me is if the university has a policy that applications will technically always be accepted.  That way if an extremely strong candidate decides to apply out of the blue, even if no opening currently exists, the university can consider creating a brand-new position just for them.  (For a major research university, "extremely strong" probably means something like "Nobel laureate".)  If you were such a candidate, you'd probably know.  But otherwise, this is of no practical value, and I suggest you continue to follow my previous advice and consider it a loss.  (And if you've already been rejected in one search, without even reaching the final round, then it seems clear they don't consider you "extremely strong", sorry to say.)
It's also possible that whoever replied to you is just confused.  In that case, too, I think you should fall back to the above and consider it a loss.
In either case there is not much point in responding to the message at all.
Also note that any phrase like "we encourage you to apply next time the position is open" should not be taken literally.  It's a mere courtesy which they surely write to everybody who is rejected.  It does not necessarily indicate that they really want to hire you.
Emory's suggestion of "apply once a week" is unwise, in my view.  This would be very annoying to the search committee, and make you look rather crazy.  It  would probably torpedo all hope of ever getting hired by that department.

thank you for the reply, I need to apologize for confusing you, the position was not offered by the department, rather intra-institutional body. Due to interdisciplinary nature, it can be described as a graduate school research institute, 80% research duty 20% teaching. Is it possible that they don't have any candidate in the final decision? call was referring to highly interdisciplinary field.

While it's possible someone could re-apply to the same position and get an offer, that is unlikely without a major change by either the employer/department or the candidate.
A major change by the candidate could include an award, more published papers, completion of a degree, grant procurement, or a much better reference.
A major change by the employer could include a revision of the requirements possibly due to finding no one appropriate with the earlier requirements, or the loss of different employee that puts more pressure to hire, or a change to available funding.

is it possible that they didn't chose anyone for final round?


text:
Swiss cheese holes in my education. Do I go back and fill them?
In this recent blog post the author lists several interesting concepts he has discovered pertaining to learning. One thing he mentions is the following:

Mastery is more important than passing grades. You will reach limits
  in learning when you have a "Swiss cheese" foundation full of
  misconception holes. Master each concept before building on top.
  ~Salman Khan

(This is actually from Salman's TED talk which you can view here.) My questions is as follows: I graduated about a year ago with a Master's in Applied Physics from a reputable university. I've been a B student throughout my academic career and I feel like I started building on un-mastered concepts somewhere towards the end of high school. Despite obtaining a relatively tough engineering degree, I cut corners whenever possible. If I could pass an exam by being able to do all the exercises, I would get to that level and stop there. I would rarely - if ever - go for complete mastery. As a result I feel like I have Swiss cheese holes in my understanding that date back to high school.
If Albert Einstein's quote is anything to go by:

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

I'm afraid I can't simply explain a whole lot. For instance I would not be able to explain simply:

What is the proof of Euler's identity?
Why can you express a wave as an imaginary exponential?
How does a photon have momentum, but not mass?
What is the intuitive understanding of eigenfunctions, eigenvalues and their physical manifestations?

With the wealth of knowledge available today on the internet, I could look up any one of my knowledge gaps, and with some effort I feel confident I would be able to fill them. My question is, would that be worth it?

What do you mean by "would that be worth it"? For a career in academia? In any case, it seems like it bothers you, so why not try to fill the gaps? Just don't be too critical of yourself - some concepts can take a long time to digest and really understand deeply.

During my PhD I always felt I was learning new things at a much lower rate that I was forgetting what I learned during my undergraduate studies. Upon questioning, everyone around in the office seemed to be going through different versions of the same process. So I guess the message to convey here is that your Swiss cheese holes will keep growing at the "expense" of hardening the interstitial matter that, in the end, is what keeps it all together...

Focus on your strong sides. And find teammates who fill out the holes with their strong sides.

First, for context, I'd disagree strongly with a too strict notion that "mastery" is required before "moving forward", for several reasons. It is easier to understand the purpose of something after one sees how it is used. It is all too easy to acquire a fake mastery that is not functional, but only refers to some artificial tasks created for a textbook, and, all the worse, may be wastes of time. And, finally, the kind of "mastery" we are often led to think we should attain is basically unattainable... That is, unless one keeps ones list of things-to-master really short, very elementary, and uncomplicated, this "mastery" is just unreachable on the terms a novice or even journeyman conceives.
So... don't over-interpret "mastery".
On the other hand, _of_course_ it is good to go back and fill in. And one will find oneself doing this many times, as one discovers, upon "stressing" one's knowledge, that what one thought one knew "well enough" was not quite good enough.
For that matter, even with an excellent memory, things slip out of a person's head.
My bottom line recommendation is to maintain (at least) two "threads", one to review and backfill, the other to move forward.
The latter is surprisingly useful at helping review make more sense! :)

The ancient Hebrew wisdom of Solomon applies here: "Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh." (Ecclesiastes 12:12b) There is no end of making books, so we can never completely master anything. Mastery is an ideal that no one ever really reaches; it is more like a compass to steer by. So if those holes are bothering you, why not fill them in as you run into them? You'll never reach a place where there are no holes left, as paul garret implied in his answer. This fact should not stop us from trying, though. Enjoy the journey....

When you have collected discouraging quotes from authorities, it is a good idea to find other authorities who have held the opposite point of view. I suggest that the arch-experimentalist Oliver Heaviside would be a good match for you.

Mathematics is of two kinds, Rigorous and Physical. The former is
  Narrow: the latter Bold and Broad. To have to stop to formulate
  rigorous demonstrations would put a stop to most physico-mathematical
  inquiries. Am I to refuse to eat because I do not fully understand the
  mechanism of digestion?

Or:

The prevalent idea of mathematical works is that you must
  understand the reason why first, before you proceed to practice.
  That is fudg e and fiddlesticks. I know mathematical processes
  that I have used with success for a very long time, of which
  neither I nor any one else understands the scholastic logic. I have
  grown into them, and so understand them that way .


text:
When is it right to send an email when a conference misses its deadline?
I have sent an article for a conference in Computer Science and in the Important Dates of the call for papers, it says the notification to the authors is April 20. Now we are at April 22 and the status of my paper still appears as Under Review. I was wondering how many days should I wait for sending a remainder email to see what has happened with my submission?

It's fairly frequent, particularly for smaller or less tightly run computer science conferences, for the response to authors to slip back by a few days.  Often, this is because some reviewers may not have sent their reviews in on time, and if the program committee isn't proactive about scheduling for slippage and having backups available, it may take them a few extra days to get enough reviews to decide on those papers.  This then is likely to delay responses for all of the papers, because both the organizers and the conference software wants to sent all of the notifications at once.
So, to your question of what to do:

If you know anybody else who sent in a paper, compare notes with them.  If they haven't heard yet either, no worries.  If they have heard, then you can email immediately.
If you don't know somebody else, give it a week, and then ask.

As an abstract management system, we work with a lot of academic conferences. Quite often, the organisers don't even communicate the deadline for author notification officially.
Just like a high number of conferences will extend the submission deadline because authors submit at the last minute, more often than not, the peer review process will last a bit longer than anticipated because reviewers haven't completed their reviews yet. Besides, picking which submission to accept and which to reject might also take more time and push back the final decision.
I agree that waiting for a week before contacting anybody is reasonable.
Then you can email the Chair or the programme chair to ask if they could give you an idea of when the results will be published.


text:
Thank you note after interview
I just had a job interview for a tenure-track position where I interviewed with several people from the department. As far as I know, I'm supposed to send a thank you note after the interview. Should I send one to each person I've interviewed with or would this be perceived as excessive?

"As far as I know, I'm supposed to send a thank you note after the interview." Really? I have never sent nor received a thank-you note so far, but I am willing to believe that this is customary in other places.

If you are planning on sending the notes because you think that it will improve your chances of being hired, don't waste your time. If two candidates were equally good in terms of their CVs, and equally collegial during the interviews, which they never are, then maybe, and only maybe, would the thank you not matter. As soon as one candidate is even a hair better than another, then the thank you note is not going to matter.
If you want to send thank you notes because you appreciate the time they took out of their schedule and you enjoyed talking about their research, and would like to potentially collaborate with them, ask them for feedback in the future, etc, then send them a thank you note. Job interviews, even if you do not get the job, are a great opportunity to network. A thank you note is a way to continue the conversations that were started during the interview. They are not an effective way of increasing your chances of being hired.

Not all of these decisions are made on the conscious level.  It's quite possible that very minor things can create a positive or negative impression that will unconsciously bleed over into consideration of the rest of someone's file.  I wouldn't argue it's essential to send thank you notes (I never have), but I think it's harder to rule out it making a positive effect than you make it sound.

If you feel that you want to thank members of the panel for their time and consideration, go on and send them a brief note. In my experience, it is usually impossible to exclude one or two people from the list without irritating someone, so I would say — write to all of them or none. It is natural to feel that a communication like this is "meaningless", "time-stealing" and "unnecessary" — long story short, it is not.  A senior academic receives a ton of spam and unrelated correspondence, which they delete with a grunt. Make your message short and positive, and they will delete it with a smile.

Have you really seen search committees compare who they got notes from?

@StrongBad You are right, it is quite unlikely. But in general, it may be a good habit not to exclude anyone when appreciating a group's work.

@StrongBad: All it takes is one committee member saying to another, "I got the nicest note from Dr. ..."

I think the only way it would be excessive would be if you thanked people whom you had no reason to thank.
Considering the phrase "thank you for ___":
If you can fill in the blank with something reasonable like "inviting me for an interview" (to the person who actually sent the invitation,) "taking the time to meet with me," or "showing me around the campus," then it would be nice to send a brief note to the person saying as much.  These days I think e-mail would be perfectly appropriate.
On the other hand, if all you have to thank someone for is considering your application, then there would probably not be much of a point in sending a thank-you note to that person.

A thank-you note can be useful if you're trying to gauge the department's excitement about your interview.  An effusive and excited response might indicate a sincere interest in the candidate, whereas a terse, closely-guarded response could indicate a tighter competition for the position (or a lack of interest ... or an antisocial professor ... or a bad hair day).
I'd chasten against reading too much into the response - it's easier to ask directly from someone in the department with whom you have made some contact.  In fact, this is much better than a "thank you" note, as it does not suggest an unduly attempt to influence a decision.


text:
Is it possible to overcome poor undergrad performance with a masters at a much lower ranked institution?
I have browsed extensively on academia.se and generally understand from similar questions (e.g. Doing bad in undergraduate but good in a masters program and How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in the US, particularly for weak or borderline students?) that Ph.D. admissions committees care most about an applicant's most recent performance.
Is this still true even if the poor undergraduate grades were at a highly ranked university, and the good masters grades were at a much less competitive program?
I am interested in applying to top statistics PhD programs, but I have very poor undergraduate grades (2.8 GPA, 3.3 major GPA in math/stats) from a top 15 department. My grades in the masters program are good (>3.9 GPA), but at a state university that is not so highly ranked.
If the grades from the less competitive masters aren't enough to overcome the poor undergraduate grades, is the quality of my masters thesis likely to help me secure admissions to a top PhD program? What about a strong but not top 10-15? There are faculty doing high quality research here that may be able to supervise my thesis.
Edit:  This is not a duplicate of the linked question, while that question has great answers it does not specifically address my situation, namely I am working on a master's thesis and have a particular pattern of grades. Also difference between quality of undergrad and current institution.

StackExchange is really not built for individualized help. It's designed for and works best when questions are general enough that they can hopefully help future readers as well. I think your question is probably better suited for a forum environment.

@grayQuant: Stack Exchange sites are not intended for "personalized discussion." It is not a forum site, but a curated Q-and-A site. Having a separate question for every student's individual case would make the site unworkable.

@aeismail any suggestion for such sites? there is no chat here correct?

@grayQuant: We do have a chat room for extended discussions.

The programs you target are extremely small and selective. I'm familiar with one of the three you mention where I took almost all the stats coursework as a non-stats Ph.D.; and - from memory - they had maybe a dozen students/year. I don't see how your current background will allow you to join them. If you really want to go there, I'd target a second M.Sc. at one of them and try to shine enough to be considered for a Ph.D. (stats or a close field like fin. mathematics as I see "quant" in your user name - stats professors tend to cross-teach).

@gnometorule I don't understand the difference, the M.Sc does not appear any less competitive in admissions at Berkeley for example, is this true generally or just at a few select schools?

M.Sc. == money-maker for university; as the Ph.D. will be fully funded, it's offered for entirely different reasons. And a Ph.D. at a good university is considerably more selective - but there should be numbers online I didn't check. A math. finance master is probably also harder to get into, but only because more will apply as it is (or used to be) seen as a step into Wall Street. In my Ph.D. (Not stats) we then accepted a bit more than 5%, and as far as I know it's now on the order of maybe 3%.

@gnometorule I almost never think that a second masters in the same field is a good idea. If you aren't able to get into a tip-top program, then go to a program that you do get into and excel there.

I think that the quality of your recommendation letters is much more important that your masters thesis (unless you can get it accepted at a reputable journal by the time admissions are due, which is unlikely given the timeframes involved). Stellar recommendation letters from known researchers can go a long way and make up for a lot of faults.

As Roger Fan says in the comments, great recommendation letters would probably get you into a top program.  People at any decent research school will know people at top schools, so their letters can be trusted, and most of your faculty should be experienced enough to compare you with grad students at top schools.  (This is assuming you're at a reputable research-oriented state university, such as the main campus of a state university---there are some branches of state schools where I would not put much trust in the letters of recommendation).
As for you question about a great thesis, yes that help get you into a top school, but the most likely way this would happen is because a great thesis will generate great letters.