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Dealing with Delayed Recommendation Submissions from Thesis Advisor
I'm in the process of applying to graduate schools and had secured a commitment from my thesis advisor for a recommendation letter. However, I've noticed delays in their submissions, with a few instances where deadlines have passed without the recommendation being sent.
While I understand professors are busy, and it's not critical if the deadline hasn't lapsed, this delay has caused some anxiety, especially when nearing the deadline. I value my advisor's recommendation given their significant role in my academic journey, and I believe it would bolster my applications compared to others.
I've had to send multiple reminders on the last date, and I'm contemplating whether it would be appropriate to reach out to them to kindly request submitting the recommendation at least a day before the deadline for future applications. I'm considering this approach to alleviate any last-minute worries and ensure smoother application processes.
Is it advisable to ask for an earlier submission deadline for recommendation letters from a thesis advisor, considering their busy schedule and its importance for my applications?

You seem to be discussing different cases here. Has this professor been late for you or is it just their reputation? Have you had to send multiple reminders to this person on the deadline date or is that your experience with others?

I think that asking them "could you please send the letter by XYZ date", maybe a week before the deadline, instead of telling them the deadline is not a problem. For many modern systems, the applicant can check the status, and it's reasonable to ask that people have things in earlier so that you can verify that everything has been received and processed. That's even an acceptable reason to give if they ask why you told them a date different from the deadline.
Don't give a date that's going to be an inconvenience, but it can be earlier than the deadline. And don't lie about what you're doing, but you don't have to advertise it.
At least then when it takes multiple requests, you won't be as stressed out about it.


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Should I add my affiliation as an Intern in a paper?
I am a MS student in Physics, and doing a full-time internship in research lab of a company. Recently, I worked on a paper with some of my collaborators -- unrelated to the project that I'm doing with people in this company. Should/Can I also add this companies name as affiliation?
I found several somewhat related question but they doesn't directly answer this.

Who are your 'collaborators' - if the company than use the company as the affiliation (although I'm presuming the full-time internship is paid?).

@JonCuster The collaborators in this work are not from the company. Yes, the internship is paid.

OK, where are those collaborators from, and who funded the work? When did you perform the work relative to your internship?

@JonCuster The collaborators are from different universities, and funded by various grants. The work started before I joined the internship but extended up to now (I joined the internship more than a month ago).

Since you are doing a paid internship, you are an employee of the company. If it has a research lab, it probably has a policy on publications and might have a policy on outside work. Ask your supervisor at the company about this situation.
Where I work, the relevant policies are:

Any paper I publish using my workplace as my affiliation must be approved
for publication by my boss and uploaded to our manuscript management
system before I submit it.
Any outside work that I do -- even in my own time -- must be approved by my boss in advance. This is particularly important for research work.

The upshot is that if I want to work on and publish a paper while working here, my boss needs to approve it one way or the other (either as outside work without my corporate affiliation or as a publication with my corporate affiliation).

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Is it Appropriate to Request a Seminar Invitation from a University Department as a research Student?
As a PhD student traveling to a city with a university that has a department in your field of research, is it appropriate or ethical to reach out to the department to inquire about the possibility of giving a research talk during your visit?

I hope you are not after getting your travel costs covered. Probably everybody is assuming so, too. Just to make it explicit.

I would expect these communications to go through a professor at the institution who is formally or informally "sponsoring" your visit.
If you're just in the city for other things, I suppose you could reach out to someone at the institution whose interests align with yours and discuss meeting and possibly presenting your work, but I think I would start with just proposing to meet and work out whether presenting makes sense from there.

Your question title and body paragraphs have slightly different questions.

Is it Appropriate to Request a Seminar Invitation from a University Department as a research Student?

No. Requesting a seminar or requesting anything else would be rude.

As a PhD student traveling to a city with a university that has a department in your field of research, is it appropriate or ethical to reach out to the department to inquire about the possibility of giving a research talk during your visit?

Bryan's answer covers this situation nicely.
I would just add that dropping an email to someone with overlapping interests and saying you are in town and would like to chat seems reasonable.
They may not respond simply because they are busy or your email slips through the cracks or they may invite you to an informally meet with people in their program.
Or, they might even invite you to give a seminar or guest lecture.
A guest lecture might be possible if you are reaching out to a primary teaching university and your research overlaps with a class.
A lot of your response or lack of response will be chance.

In my field (physics) this is completely reasonable, as there is usually a culture of weekly seminars in each subfield. Already as a postdoc I have done this a bunch of times, usually when I am invited some place to give a talk and there are other universities I'd like to visit in nearby cities. But also sometimes when I'm visiting some place for vacation I think it's fun to meet the local physicists.
It works better if you contact them further in advance so there is a higher chance of a free slot in their schedule. It works better if you have some pre-existing contact in the department, even if that's a grad student you know or a professor who's a friend of your adviser. But even if not, you can email a postdoc or professor in your area of research and ask about it.
Of course it also works better if you've been writing papers that people have found interesting. If they really want to hear what you have to say, you might be invited to stay for a couple days to chat with everyone and to give a talk and taken to dinner. And they might offer to pay for your hotel and train tickets and local expenses. This is more likely later in your career though.

It all depends on field and country. In some places and fields, seminars are prestigious and asking to be invited to such a seminar, especially as a student, comes across as presumptuous. This could be a career limiting event. In others, seminars are held in order to exchange ideas in research groups and are informal. And in many places, both forms of seminars exist. Sometimes, departments like to invite speakers to a colloquy in order to expose their students to a variety of ideas, and you coming by would help them fill up their schedule.
If you seek contact:

Have it come from your advisor, who is also supposed to guide you in scientific etiquette
Ask them for a chance to meet them and see what they propose. This can result in a chatting with an important person or it can result in giving a seminar to the graduate students, etc. But it will be their decision and you cannot do anything wrong.

Certainly a faux pas, but I am surprised that this could anywhere be a "career-limiting event"!

Known to not know academic customs or having the reputation to think to highly of oneself are career-limiting.

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Same motivation letter for the same project but in two different places?
Let us assume that I have applied for a post doc position in place X on a project Y in collaboration with university Z, and they asked for a personal statement.
A week later, another post doc position appeared in place Z on the same project Y and in collaboration with university X.
Since I am very interested in the project, I'd like to maximize my opportunity to obtain the position on the project and I'd like to apply to this second position as well.
Do you think I should say this to the prof. related to my first application (since it might be that they are in contact and exchanging information)?
And a second question regards the personal statement: in the second post-doc position, they ask o a letter of motivation. How bad is if I just copy and paste the previous letter (just changing the properly the name of the institution inside)? I mean, I wrote the letter for the same project, my motivation are there, but I was wondered that they might exchange information and this might look bad.
Since these are my first post-doc application I don't really know how they used to manage these things..

Please only ask one question per post

@Sursula-they- should I ask the two questions with the same story in two different post?

You can assume that they will talk to each other, since they are hiring for the same project.
When applying to the second position, you should mention that you have already applied for the first position. Thus, duplication of the motivation part is understood and anything else would in fact raise eyebrows.
It could be that there is in fact only one position, and hiring can be done either through X or through Z, but both will have to comply with their own internal procedures, which makes it appear as if there are two positions.


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Potential downsides to requesting an extension
I am curently working on my final year project which has a deadline in 3 weeks. This deadline has already been extended by 1 month from the previous deadline (which would have just passed) for everyone as a mitigation measure for the COVID situation. This was applied automatically and was not something that we had to request.
Now, in addition to this, we have been told that we can individually request 7 day extensions (this applies to all pieces of coursework from all courses, not just final-year projects) and that we should expect these to be granted. Again, due to the current situation, we have been told we won't have to give a reason or proof for requesting them.
My situation is that I still have a considerable amount of work to do on this project (I have written up about half of the number of pages we are recommended to do) and one extra week would definitely help to some extent, but maybe not by much. If I wanted to, I would be able to complete the project by the deadline without having to ask for this extension (by working extra hard for these 3 weeks), so the only help the extension would give me would be to be able to produce slightly better quality work and therefore maybe get a slightly higher mark. I have never asked for an extension in my four years at university so I'm a bit discouraged to have to do so now right at the end.
My question is if the professors who mark my project (which are 2 of them) may have an unconscious bias against "late" submissions (even with a valid extension) and this could result in me losing out in a few marks in the more subjective marking criteria. Of course, this could only happen if the markers know about it in the first place, which would be if either

They start marking the projects submitted by the normal deadline before the extended deadline has passed, or
They wait until all extension-included deadlines have passed before marking any project, but they can see the submission date/time when marking them.

One of the two markers is my project advisor, so he will probably know if I have requested this extra extension because we talk quite regularly about how my project is going (so when the normal deadline approaches, he will ask whether I'm (nearly) finished already).
To be clear, I know that in theory I shouldn't be penalised for requesting and using an extension since that is the purpose of them. I am just curious if the markers will assume that students who request extensions (especially in this case after everyone having already been given one) are weaker students and therefore expect my project to be slightly lower quality.

Do you have any other projects that you need to complete after you complete this one?

@nick012000 no, this would be the last thing I would need to do in the semester (I do have 2 exams in May but have plenty of time to study for them in April/May).

How can we possibly evaluate the possible "unconscious bias" of someone else?

@Buffy I'm not saying we can know for sure whether this happens or not. I just want people's opinions as to whether getting an extension might do more harm than good.

In these pandemic times, professors know that students are struggling. If anything, an average professors will be slightly more lenient than normal when grading.

I suggest that if the university has set a rule that they will follow it properly. To make another assumption or guess is a fool's game.
The downside of not requesting the extension is clear; you don't do as good or complete a job. If you want to game that, then fine, but I wouldn't recommend it.
It is a mistake to guess or assume that people are trying to trick you so that they can, for some conscious or unconscious reason, punish you.

I'll note that they could have set a rule that, for example, you can have an extra week for a 5% grade penalty. But it would have been unethical to not say the last part if that was the intention.

The thing is that the extension policy is offered by the university as a whole, and the university of course does not intend to penalise a student in any way for utilising such a resource. The markers though, are professors from my department who had no say in the university's decision to grant extensions and may be (very slightly) stricter when marking a piece of work that they know was submitted after the original deadline (which is also much more subjective in nature than regular assignments/exams). For example, if they are deciding between 2 grade descriptors for a given marking criterion.

So, game it then. And good luck. But you are assuming an unwritten, unspoken, meta-rule. A Gotcha. And maybe monsters under the bed.

What are monsters under the bed?

Google knows all. Google tells all.

I knew about its literal meaning, just hadn't heard it being used before as a metaphor for a threat or a trap

The monsters are imaginary. Take note.


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How is publishing in PLoS One perceived by peers and hiring committees?
I am a final year doctoral candidate and have three other publications in decent field-specific journals. Will an addition of a first authored plos one article make my cv or publication record thus far look worse, especially to peers and hiring committees (for academic/non-academic jobs)?

Welcome to academia.se! As it stands, this question seems hard to answer, since it is both very specific (most of the people on this site aren't familiar with PLoS One) and lacks detail (e.g. what country and field you are in). You are likely to get better answers by describing what makes PLoS One special and then asking a broader question about how this type of publication is viewed.

Plose one is not a good journal. They refuse a good paper as they do not understand the topic. Also, they accept very low quality papers. (Based on experience as an editor).


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PhD first-year transfer including credits
I'm currently in graduate school A as a first-year student. However, due to some personal reasons, I really want to go to another graduate school B, also as a PhD student.
I have been accepted by B now. The application portal I used is not specifically for transfer students though. So, is it possible for me to transfer my credits earned at A to B? And how should I begin this discussion with my current advisor that I'm leaving for non-academic reasons? Thank you in advance.

Are you sure that "credits" are needed? Often the coursework in a doctoral program is just preparation for comps. The requirements of many programs are just "pass comps and write an acceptable dissertation". It would be moot in such a program.

Yes, transferring credits can reduce the number of courses I need to take at B. Thus, I can focus more on my research. That's why I want to transfer credits. Could you please elaborate it a little bit? Thanks.

I can add to this a bit more about credits if needed (as per my comment), but for your advisor, I'd just open with the fact that you need to change programs for non academic reasons and that you would be happy to discuss it with them. If they need more information then they will follow up. Otherwise there isn't really a need.
But it would be good to leave on good terms with them. As a first year student you probably don't have a deep relationship yet, so it may not matter, but anyone and everyone who has a good opinion of you can be an asset going forward in your career.


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Should I buy a printer or an iPad pro for reading articles?
I assume everybody on this site needs to read articles frequently, which is why I consider this silly question relevant. Due to covid and home-office, I've lost consistent access to a printer, so I contemplate buying one for printing articles, book chapters, etc. Decent laser printers can be bought from €150 where I live. However, large tablets, especially the iPad pro with a 12.9-inch screen, are becoming affordable. Used ones can be bought for €400. I'm not considering e-paper readers, because I do not like the slow page turnaround. Also, smaller tablets are out of the question.
Can anyone comment on using a large tablet vs. printing the articles? What is your experience and what device do you use for your reading needs?

I agree that this may be largely determined by personal preference. But I also recall some studies about improved comprehension scores when comparing a text on paper versus on a screen. So that might be part of an answer here.

I've given up on paper several years ago. Reading electronic versions of papers allows me to highlight and annotate the papers I read. When I review papers, I can also send these annotated copies to the authors.


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Can I submit a previously published paper in a journal to an international conference
I'm currently a Phd student in mathematics and one of the requirements for me get my diplomat is to give a talk in an international conference. I have one previously published paper and I submitted that same paper to an international conference. I've been noticed that the paper has been accepted for "publication" by the conference reviewers. This made me wonder if i'm not doing something wrong here. Because I didn't submit the final published version of the paper (with the journal logo and reference) to the conference, but only an old arxiv version of it. I let the conference organizers know about this in a message. So my question is the following:
Is it fine for me to submit a previously published paper to an international conference?
Thank you in advance.

If the conference organizers know that the paper was previously published and still accepted it, then you have successfully overcome the first hurdle. However, if you gave up copyright to the paper when the journal published it, then it is no longer yours to re-published since you no longer hold copyright.
If it is merely a matter of presenting the paper (not republishing it) at the conference then there won't be any issues, but you would be  afoul of the (civil) law in many places if you try to yield rights that you don't hold.
Normally journals and conferences frown on this sort of thing, but it depends on who holds rights and what will happen to the submitted paper. Make sure that everyone, including the journal, is aware of all the details.
One additional detail is that if you gave up copyright when the journal published it, then you may have gotten back a license for some, perhaps many, future uses of the paper. With a broad license you would be fine.

Caveat: Don't take this as legal advice as IANAL, but as a suggestion to make sure everyone is informed.
And, I've assumed that the conference is reputable and not predatory. Predatory publishers will publish most things, but you don't want to deal with them.


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Pursuing a Master's remotely while working in industry?
I'm currently approaching the end of my undergrad, and I'm faced with a dilemma (my field is computer science). On the one hand, I have  a professor that I've been working very closely with on some promising research, and he's pushing very hard for me to go into grad school. On the other, I have the (extremely lucrative) world of industry beckoning. I don't really have a chance to get into grad school anywhere but with this professor, because my grades are terrible (I'm a better researcher/programmer than student), and I would very likely do it if I wasn't trying to get away from the town I'm going to school in (which is also my hometown).
Being in CS, I know that productive long-distance collaboration and research is possible. My question is, what are the potential pitfalls of essentially doing a Master's "on the side", while working a full-time (or possibly part-time) industry job in a different location?

Have you talked with that professor about this?

Having terrible grades may preclude "the (extremely lucrative) world of industry beckoning" (emphasis added), since industry relies on grades during recruitment. Can grad school help your CV?

"he's pushing very hard for me to go into grad school" Never enroll in graduate school because someone else wants you to do it.  Do what is good for yourself.

I think what you're forgetting is that a master's involves a lot of coursework, not just research.
Your idea is only likely to work if the courses are designed to be taken remotely.  Take into account that even when you are attending the classes in person, you had some trouble.  It wouldn't be fair to put you in suboptimal conditions and suddenly expect a strong academic performance.  One might be able to get by in an undergraduate program with C's, but that wouldn't fly in a graduate program.
You're considering a binary choice right now, work full time or work full time and pursue a master's at the same time.  There is a third option -- get started in industry now, and go back to school later on at some point.
By the way, there is no rule that you must be enrolled in a degree program, or even that you get academic credit for doing research.  If you are interested in a research project for its own sake, you can always work on it for the satisfaction itself.
However, it might be wise to wait to get started with such a project until after you see how much time and energy you really have to spare.  In other words, allow yourself to get in the swing of the new job before committing.  Perhaps you could leave things open with the professor you have in mind working with.

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Been working towards undergrad degree on and off, now finally found my passion and want to go for a PhD. What should I do?
I went to college right out of high school not really knowing what I wanted to study. I ended up with medical issues about two and a half years into my degree, lost motivation, and dropped out. After taking the occasional class at a community college, I helped open a math tutoring business with my parents. I've always been good at math, but I have absolutely fallen in love with it now, often spending most of my free time going through early graduate level textbooks and staying up all night reading proofs. I now hope to pursue a PhD. in Mathematics. I have been accepted as a transfer student to finish up my bachelors degree in mathematics, which is quite different than my original intended major of theology. I graduated from high school in 2007 and will likely finish my undergraduate degree around 2018.
**QUESTION: ** as a result of being unmotivated in my years right after high school, I have some F's which have resulted in around a 2.5 GPA, although I do not know if that will be shown on my transcript, since it came from a different institution. If I show motivation and a passion for constantly striving to push my knowledge in mathematics and receive over a 3.7 in my 300-400 level math courses, can that overcome my failures in the past?

What matters most to be accepted into and succeed in a PhD program is an advisor who values you and your work and will vouch for you.  Grades only matter if you're applying through the front door in a pile of 1000 applications, which you want to avoid.
During your remaining years in undergrad, look up and seek out the Mathematics professors at the college or university you want to attend.  Read their research, journal publications, conference presentation, research agenda, etc. and figure out how you can contribute to that and build upon it.  Then reach out to a select couple of them and have coffee with them, discuss your plans, volunteer to join one of their research projects as an undergraduate research assistant (sometimes it's even paid), and so on.  If you demonstrate aptitude, particularly when it comes to novel research and deep understanding of the subject material AND you have found the right advisor who wants to work with you, that person will help you with the application process and take you on as their graduate student.
Good luck!

I'd also recommend smashing the GRE math subject test.

This comment might make a lot of sense in other fields, but there are many aspects that don't apply to mathematics. (For example: advisors don't admit students to work with them, there aren't undergrad research assistants, professors' publications are not readable by undergrads, etc.) Plus picking one university that you "want to attend" for grad school is a terrible idea.
However, the basic advice here is good; you should just apply it to faculty at your insitution. You need to find a faculty member at your institution who will advocate very strongly for you in their letter.

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What should be the contents of the "describe your undergraduate program" while applying for grad schools?
I've come across a university where I'm required to give details about my undergraduate program (including course transcripts). Nothing else has been mentioned about this  submission. What should I include in this and how should I go about writing this part?

My undergrad program was unique because I got field placements and collected original data. I presented in the student papers session at conference. We had a small campus and professors lived among us. We went to their houses for meals and knew their kids. In addition to being a top ranked, blah blah blah, we had this. Most undergrads are just taking classes and seeing TA's alot. My professors taught all classes and no TA's. No class was above 20 students in my major. No lecture hall except the 101 course, 60 students. What is unique and why is it better? My school had essay on every exam no matter the field. Multiple choice for quiz only. What beyond a textbook and the title of the course did you actually get for the money you paid for the class. Tell them that.

The basic problem that a section of this type is attempting to address is that there is a vast diversity of undergraduate educations out there, and the faculty evaluating your application may not be familiar with your particular university or program.  Even a transcript is not sufficient, as the "same" course at two different universities may have radically different content and level of educational quality.
Thus, faculty are likely to find value in knowing things like:

What textbooks did you use?
Was there lots of laboratory or project work, or was it all theory?
How big did the classes tend to be, and how much interaction did you have with faculty?
How well ranked is the university?
Where do the students tend to come from, and where do they tend to go afterwards?


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To publish or not to publish
There are two parts to this question.

As a student interested in pursuing a doctoral degree; how important is it to publish an article or "something" before one applies? Will it help your chances? I plan on writing a MA thesis but whether it is publishable or not, remains to be seen.
What are the main steps to go about publishing?

discuss this with your advisor.  It depends greatly on your field.  I imagine 1. also depends greatly on your field.  (To enter a doctoral program in French history, you need not have published previously.)

http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/60456/44978

Also see Is there any field in which applicants to PhD programs (in any part of the world) usually have publications?

As for "What are the main steps to go about publishing?" - this is hopelessly broad, entire books have been written on this subject. See the [help/dont-ask].

Also see How much research experience or publications are required to get into a good PhD program in USA, Is it possible to get into a top-10 engineering graduate program without publications?, For a master-degree student, how influential a role do publications play in his phd applications?

It would certainly help your application if you have previous publications. It probably won't tip the scales too much.
On (2), ask your advisor. To show you the ropes on this, a part of what research is all about, is part of their job.

Yes, having a peer-reviewed publication will definitely help your application for a PhD program.
The steps, roughly, are:

Do some publishable research, which adds some small new piece of knowledge to the literature.
Work out what "story" you want to tell about the research. Often, it could be:

There was a problem, which was important for these reasons
This was our hypothesis
We used these methods to test the hypothesis
This is what we learned
This is what our findings will change

Work out where you want to publish it. Find a reputable journal for which it is in scope. The easiest way to do this is to find out where people you respect in your field are publishing their own work. Other considerations may be whether it is open access, whether it charges publication fees (and if so, whether you have funding to pay those fees), what its ISI impact factor is and whether academics that you are working with think it is a good journal.
Write up your research in the format required by the journal. For most journals, this will be:

Abstract (a brief (perhaps 500 word) summary of what you did and your conclusions)
Introduction (sets the context of your work: what else has been done on the topic, what were you trying to add to it, and why the question matters)
Methods (precisely what you did). If you used standard methods, you can cite the published sources for the details.
Results (what you found). This should include your analyses, but not your interpretation or speculations.
Discussion (what it all means, how it is different from or complementary to other work and why your results matter)
Conclusion (a brief statement of what you have concluded that is important).

Writing your first paper can be difficult. Some tips:

Always know what your story is. Take your reader on a journey.
It often helps to prepare an outline, work out what your key references will be, and sketch out your key figures before you begin writing.
It may help to take a similar, and excellent, already published paper, as a template. Don't copy their words or findings, but it's fine to copy the way they have structured their paper, and use it for guidance on things like how much previous literature to cite, when to state your purpose and when to introduce new arguments.

Make sure that you have considered who should be a co-author (almost always, your supervisor will be a co-author and will be able to help you work out whether any other contributors should be included as co-authors). Make sure that your co-authors have had the opportunity to contribute to the paper during its preparation and review the final version before it is submitted. Also make sure you acknowledge any funding or other help in the acknowledgements.
Submit your paper to the journal through their online author interface.
Wait for a response. This is likely to take months. You can put on your CV that you have submitted it.
If the editor asks for revisions (almost certain, if it is not rejected), revise the paper and respond to the reviewer comments (positively and politely, since they will likely review your revision and response).
Wait for a response. Make new revisions if necessary.
Make any final changes requested by the editor.
Receive the proofs and check for any typos, etc.
Sign off the copyright transfer agreement (check with your supervisor whether you should do this yourself, or whether someone else at your institution needs to take care of this).

Online publication will usually be very soon after this last step.


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Asking admission committee to confirm if they received my application and letters
I'm applying to a PhD program and the application isn't centralized or anything. I don't upload the required documents to a server, I just send them as emails attachments. Is it kosher to ask them to confirm if they have correctly received my documents as well as the recommendation letters my references have sent them?

Don't bother the committee, just email or call one of the department administrators/program coordinators.

You could definitely ask for an acknowledgement. I must add, it is wise to ask for an acknowledgement along with the application and not after it.

Yes, but you should ask whomever it is that you emailed the documents to. You can either ask them to respond in the email with the attachments, or follow up later asking if they received everything. A polite way of doing so might be something like:

Hi Prof. Dexter,
I wanted check that you received my transcript and personal statement which I sent on Feb 30. You should have also received three letters of recommendation for me from Profs Dyer, Ellery, and Freeborn. Please let me know if any of these have not arrived and if there are any other documents you needed from me. I'm very excited to be applying to Miskatonic U.
Thank you for your time,
Ululu

Students should absolutely contact someone in the departments to which they apply to see if all materials have been received.  A departmental secretary is the appropriate point of contact for this.  The reason is that parts of applications are misplaced just by virtue of the amount of paper being shuffled and incomplete applications may not be evaluated.


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What is the name of the interviewing/research technique where one sample generates questions for the next?
I'm aware of imagining there is a technique in qualitative research where responses made in one interview are explicitly used to provide prompts/new questions in subsequent interviews.
Does this have a name? It's a bit like snowball sampling, except to identify new questions rather than new samples.

It sounds like grounded theory:

A study based on grounded theory is likely to begin with a question, or even just with the collection of qualitative data. As researchers review the data collected, ideas or concepts become apparent to the researchers. These ideas/concepts are said to "emerge" from the data.

Data are collected so as to let concepts emerge, and these emerging concepts are then used in the further collection of data. The concepts that emerge thus 'update' or 'feed back' into the next step in the empirical approach.

Many thanks... that was what I had in mind.


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What should a technical thesis' conclusion entail of?
I can't speak for other CS students but I personally don't have much imagination regarding what to write sometimes. I have nearly finished finalizing my thesis regarding a Rubik's Cube Solver I have developed.
I'm having trouble writing the overall conclusions of the paper. The chapter is titled "Conclusions and Future Work". I had no issues writing a plethora of ideas for the Future Work but am struggling to think of good things to write in the conclusions section...
Any recommendations would be brilliant. THANK YOU!
p.s. Supervisor is busy marking work, thus does not reply as fast as the stack-exchange. I have emailed him regardless.

Discuss your main conclusion(s) in a few sentences. Discuss the approach to the solution; the general structure of the technique. If you specialize a known technique, name the one you specialize (or generalize, perhaps). Discuss any comparisons with earlier work. You can point to various sections of the paper for details if you like.

There's the thing, I have 5 solutions for solving the Rubik's Cube. I've discussed the approaches and results for all of them in previous sections. I could compare with previous work as I did a literature review earlier on... I'll see what I can do with what you've currently described :)

Just a quick summary. For five solutions, maybe they fall into fewer classifications. But you don't need to say a lot. Think of it as if you were writing an abstract or describing your work to someone during a ride in an elevator.


text:
Would a LaTeX glossary contain program function/method purposes/definitions?
I'm writing my dissertation/thesis and it revolves around a program I have made. The program is a Rubik's cube solver that uses pre-existing solving methods, so nothing that exciting. I'm writing out my methodology section which I am assuming needs to contain explanations of the methods I used to produce the solving methods.
When referencing functions I have used in my program, would it be more conventional to write out a description of what that function does or would I make an internal hyperlink to the glossary with a description of what that function does.
Cheers!

A glossary is

a list of terms in a special subject, field, or area of usage, with
accompanying definitions.
such a list at the back of a book, explaining or defining difficult
or unusual words and expressions used in the text.

so the wrong place for extended descriptions of what your functions do.
Whether those descriptions belong in the text where the function is used or in a separate section with links from the text depends on more context than you can provide here. Imagine  the readers of your thesis, knowing what they know (but not what you know) and think about what would best help them follow your argument.
LaTeX can easily manage the cross referencing with a custom \newtheorem command.
Ask your advisor for advice.


text:
Is it conventional to provide topic related word definitions in a glossary?
I'm currently writing my dissertation/thesis and am quite new to using glossaries. I'm unsure if I'm going a bit overboard regarding the number of terms I'm including in my glossary. E.g. I talk about the terms Breadth-First Search, Depth First Search, and Iterative Deepening A* Search (All search algorithms) for which I have included glossary definitions so I am able to use their corresponding abbreviations.
Would it be convenient to include definitions in a glossary for terms such as "Rubik's Cube" and "Cubie" and "Facelet" - Rubik's Cube Jargon. My dissertation revolves around a Rubik's Cube Solver. Terms like these are plastered throughout the report and I'm unsure if I should just write a simple description in some form of bullet-pointed format, separate from the glossary, or would I just include terms like these in the glossary. The first mention of these terms is visibly internally hyperlinked.
Any advice, recommendations, and ideas are most welcome
Thanks!

Since your thesis is about  Rubik's cube a section where you establish cube vocabulary, complete with definitions and examples, is entirely appropriate.  You can duplicate some of that material in the glossary, but I suspect your readers won't need to refer to it often. I would not introduce abbreviations or acronyms for "cubie" and "facelet".
The first time you introduce a standard algorithm like depth first search you explain how it works and note that you will abbreviate it as DFS. You put that in the glossary.

Agree, but I'll also note that, like one of the OP's other questions, I'd answer differently for a publication other than a thesis. But a thesis is more of a "stand alone" document than papers for publication where readers might be expected to already know the jargon of the trade.

I'm currently writing a thesis/dissertation so the reader isn't expected to know the jargon... It's difficult to know what I should outline in this really haha. I would ask my supervisor most of this stuff but turns out it is a holiday period. Very unlucky timing haha.

There are two separate concepts here - a glossary (a list of technical terms with explanations) and a list of abbreviations. They are sometimes, but not always, combined (and sometimes aren't present at all - my PhD thesis had neither).
Choosing whether to use one or both is a matter of taste (unless your institution has relevant guidelines for your thesis). You can abbreviate and explain concepts in text if you choose to do so, as long as the abbreviation/explanation is given clearly where the term first appears. If you are concerned that the glossary is too long, you could restrict it to a list of abbreviations.


text:
How should paragraphs be formatted in a thesis?
I'm currently writing my thesis/dissertation and was wondering if there is a preferred convention for the way paragraphs are formatted and spaced in a thesis.
Would they all have indents; would they be spaced or not spaced apart from each other.
I'm doing my best to separate topics but sections / subsections but when a subsection has multiple paragraphs worth of information, I want it to look neat.
Any recommendations, advice or ideas are appreciated and welcome.
Cheers

Unless there are specific prescriptions in your place (that you should have been informed of) there are no rules. You can do whatever you think is best for the reader.

@Lewian you could turn this comment into an answer.

The library at your institution can probably provide you with a thesis or two from your field. You can use those as a source of guidance.
Your advisor probably also keeps copies of the theses of former students. Again, those samples can guide you and you know they were acceptable in the past.
Some universities and some departments separately have style guides that are either suggested or required.
You can also get some feedback from your advisor on early drafts and use that as a guide. You don't have to do it "blind". But a locally accepted solution is probably he best.

Unless there are specific prescriptions in your place (that you should have been informed of) there are no rules. You can do whatever you think is best for the reader.


text:
What should I write under the heading "Significance of Findings" in my dissertation?
I've been writing my dissertation regarding a Rubik's Cube Solver I have developed. I have performed various tests regarding each solving methods' performance and I have created several graphs and such for a "results and analysis" section. I am a bit stuck as I have a chapter called "Discussion" under which is a heading we've been told to cover: "Significance of findings"...
I'm unsure what information I would write here that hasn't been said already?
Any recommendations, thoughts, and ideas are most welcome.
Thank you.

Color limitations if robot has sight

If you don't know what to write there, why do you have that section?

@LouisWaweru I'm not using a robot. It's done through and on the computer.

@Maeher It's a required section provided by a template we were given... I can't lose marks by writing something rather than nothing

Explain the significance of your findings, how your solver adds to our understanding of the Rubik’s cube and of AI/optimization techniques, how the methods you developed could be used more broadly to help cure cancer, land on the moon, search for survivors after an earthquake (they always mention that for some reason...), etc etc. Use your creativity and imagination to convince people your findings are significant.

@DanRomik Your comment should be promoted as an answer since there's not much to add (the heading is self explanatory) other than the OP doesn't (or shouldn't) be too creative, but state what are the implications of the research (choose a faster/better method, find new methods, generalization of the math analysis, etc.). It usually helps to dialogue with the research question here.

Cheers @DanRomik. I don't think I did a great job at that section but what you said definitely helped!


text:
Is it conventional to provide a list of GUI element descriptions in a thesis?
I'm currently writing my dissertation/thesis regarding my Rubik's Cube Solver program (sounds more exciting than it actually is haha). Anyway, I have created a GUI to visualize and animate the cube throughout various processes like solving and scrambling. However, this GUI has more elements such as buttons, sliders, multi-dropdown lists, etc. than I originally thought.
Would it be convenient to provide each specific GUI element with its own description somewhere? E.g. a glossary for the GUI or perhaps bullet-pointed? I had a recent thought of labeling everything via a screenshot?
I get this could be subjective but what would be regarded as a more professional/cleaner route to take?
Any thoughts, ideas, recommendations are more than welcome.
Thanks!

I think you are writing a thesis, not a user manual for a program. Focus on the technical advances. That is what your thesis will be judged on.
I'd suggest leaving the GUI out of it unless you have designed new, and innovative, human-computer interaction elements. Creating such elements has value, certainly, but it doesn't sound like that is the focus of your work.
If you want a user manual, make that a separate project - just for fun.

I find this fascinating. Is this an undergraduate thesis project? What did your advisor recommend? If this is PhD level @Buffy is giving you the best advice in this situation. Crank out an online user guide, keep your software versioned and maintained, point to it in your thesis, but otherwise focus on your intellectual contribution.

Hi there. This is an undergrad thesis. My advisor has chosen this time period to be on holiday so I have been especially active on the stack exchange among other places, lol. I'm not too aware of too much conventionality regarding versions... but I have been keeping my github repo up to date with what I'm doing.


text:
How to prevent Google Scholar from reformatting the name of a consortium to the Last, First format
I am trying to edit entries on my personal Google Scholar page. The process is smooth but Google Scholar automatically reformats any author name I enter to appear in the Last, First format. For example, if I add "Example Consortium" as an author, Google Scholar will list this as "E Consortium". How do I stop this reformatting?

Have you tried reading Google's documentation?

How is that Last, First? Isn't it F. Last?


text:
To what extent should I mention unpleasant undergraduate experience in a graduate school statement of purpose? (pure math)
I have not enjoyed my undergraduate math program, primarily because it is not challenging enough - not enough advanced courses offered, too few research opportunities, classes are just not at the level I feel they should be for junior-senior math majors. I am choosing to apply to grad schools (pure math) which I know have elite and challenging programs. I do not want to spend 5 years repeating this undergraduate experience. In the statement of purpose one is asked to explain why they are applying to the particular program. Should I mention this desire to have a more challenging, competitive environment, as compared to the undergraduate program, as a reason? I do have other substantial things I will write about, but I'm wondering if I should also mention this, as it is one of the main motivations I have for applying to the programs I am applying to.
Thanks.

I think that a lot of applicants to elite programs also went to elite schools for undergraduate, so I don't think they would write that.

The lines you write will be read and “between the lines” will be read as well. Keep your eyes on the prize and best of success in your graduate studies!

It's possible that too much emphasis on not having advanced courses or research opportunities, and desiring "a challenging, competitive environment" will backfire by making it seem as if you can only learn when being supported and pushed externally, which may be taken as evidence of poor future research potential. If I were reading your application, I would wonder why you didn't just work through several advanced texts obtained from the library or something similar, given that you would have had a lot of free time.

Is your record essentially perfect?

I strongly agree with @DaveLRenfro: I find it difficult to imagine how someone who is looking for challenges won't find them while studying mathematics. There's a library, there are other students (some of them are certainly very smart and motivated as well), and there are staff members/course instructors (some of them are certainly quite nice and helpful) - each of these can give you opportunities to learn much more than required for a degree. I'd argue that there is a considerable chance that someone reading your application might have the same impression.

Echoing @DaveLRenfro, why didn't you read books?

(And echoing @JochenGlueck, but can't ping more than one person per comment...)

To respond to many commenters, I have read several graduate books and have participated in research projects and papers. I will be talking about this in my statement. I basically meant I am bored and annoyed in class and sick of being the most capable one in my peer group (sorry, this sounds bad. maybe there are other good students and I just don't know them).  My research history will be the main topic of my statement - should I just not even mention the part about not feeling challenged in class?? Such as @DaveLRenfro said, I don't want it to backfire?

Depending on what you mean by "elite and challenging programs," there are many very strong applicants who do not make it into "elite" programs. Just to pick a number, what if you don't make it into the "top" 10 programs? Would you no longer be interested in pursuing math?

You might want to add the (mathematics) tag to your question. Up to you whether you feel the question is sufficiently specific to mathematics or more general.

I think you'd disserve yourself by making such a "complaint". Colleges have limited resources, and especially these days tend to be squeezed by administration... to offer ever-fewer courses, as ridiculous as that sounds. (Our graduate program at an R1 in the U.S. currently is under even-more-extreme pressure in this direction, for financial reasons that are themselves fairly non-sensical, but nevermind. It's essentially impossible to "argue" with higher administration...)
Read books (or notes, from on-line). Get advice from faculty on books/notes.
Do not be passive. Be eager. Even if the environment wasn't what you'd have wished, that's not really an obstacle, just "less help".
And, as in comments, it would be unwise to give the impression that you "need to be pushed" to do anything. I am aware that there is some notion that this is ok, but it is corruptive to one's thinking to sit and wait... Do not be passive.
EDIT: in response to your comment appended to the original question... I'd recommend that you not feel disappointed that your were "not challenged in class". Things don't have to work as challenge-and-response. Can be opportunities...
I'd agree that a sluggish environment can drag a person down... but, well, don't let your environment determine you, even if it has an effect.
If anything, a person could argue that a not-too-stimulating environment is a nice quiet environment, so that a person is not coerced...

I like this phrase - "not an obstacle, just less help". Yeah, I have seen that some students who are good at "competing" in math often do not turn out to be good researchers in math, without the stimulating environment to motivate them. I have tried to make the most of my situation here, doing research etc. (I probably should have mentioned this in the original post), so I definitely do not want to give the impression that I am such a student who needs a competitive environment to succeed.

So should I just talk about what I have done beyond class, and not explicitly make complaints about classes at all, and just let the admissions committee "read between the lines"?

Overall I like the optimistic attitude which you are describing. I think I will try to convey this in my statement, and rather than complain I will emphasize my inner motivation to learn math (without the competition of peers), and the opportunities and time I had to explore subjects not taught in class. Thanks for your response.

@user138022: What you suggest in your third comment sounds like a very good approach. Do not describe the weaknesses of your school, but instead focus on your personal strengths. The sentences "My classes were very low-level, so I had to learn everything myself - I hope that will be different at your school" and "In addition to my course work, I read books A and B, participated in a reading course about topic C, and got some research experience by doing D" could both be based on the same experience, but it's not hard to guess which sentence will leave a positive impression and which won't.

I think it's great to mention it, but frame it in the way that shows you will be a good candidate for the program. "I realized I can perform at a high level and I'm looking for a place that will challenge me to grow my skills" sounds much better than "School XYZ was not good enough for me and I want an upgrade". I think a good statement of purpose shows the reader about your attitudes and potential to make your school or research team a better place, and that is more important than the bare facts of your history and goals (goals change all the time).

I think phrases like 'looking for a challenging environment' are now considered cliche and could be counterproductive.


text:
LOR from physics professor in a pure math phd application
I am applying to pure math phd programs, and looking to study algebraic geometry. I have one very strong letter from a professor who supervised some algebraic geometry research I did. I am not sure about the other two letters. I think I may be able to get a decent letter from a math professor who taught two courses I did well in. I was not on campus very much during the past year so I do not think there is a third math professor who even knows me well enough to write a good letter.
I worked in a physics lab as an underclassman for several semesters. The PI thought very highly of my work (and said so) and we had a good relationship. (Unfortunately COVID prevented me from doing any further work in his lab.) Would it be wiser to get a third LOR from this person or from a math professor who barely knows me?
I think such a letter would showcase my capability to do research in general, and my willingness to solve problems outside of "my own" field. However, the PI wouldn't be able to comment on my potential in pure math, so I'm concerned his letter might simply be out of place. Also, although I had a good experience working in his lab, I haven't spoken to the PI for a year now, and while I'm sure he would write me a letter, he wouldn't be able to talk about anything I've done recently. Hence the letter may come off as "out-dated". Finally, I don't actually want to pursue research in physics in the future, and I don't want math phd programs to get the wrong idea that I am unsure of my career path.
The other option for my third letter writer is some professor in the math department (I'd basically be picking at random at this point) who doesn't know me personally but taught me one course. I understand neither option is ideal, but is it better to get a letter from a professor who knows me personally but which is out-dated and off-topic, or from a professor who doesn't know me personally but which is current and on-topic?

Was the undergraduate research you did with the physics professor experimental, computational, or theoretical in nature?

To add on to Buffy's answer, it's not uncommon for someone to do research on a different area in undergrad than they do in their graduate studies.  Any research experience will be of benefit for a PhD program, even if it is not directly related to what you want to focus on for your PhD.
Physics and pure mathematics, at least from my undergraduate experience, are very closely related.  I'd get the physics prof's recommendation, especially if they could speak more highly of you than a math prof who doesn't really know you.  You say you haven't spoken to that physics professor in over a year, and that you are concerned about his ability to speak of you as a math researcher.  Before or when you ask them for their recommendation, this is something that I would discuss with the professor.

I'll assume this is for the US. It might possibly be different in other places with a lesser importance given to such letters.
A person who doesn't really know you won't do your application any good. What can they say that is truthful and predicts your future success and knows whether you work hard or coast along.
Even a letter from someone who can only say "this person did well in my course" isn't of much help.
Since the undergraduate program in the US is very general, it isn't uncommon for people outside your major to know things of value, especially if you have worked closely with them.
The letter from a physicist that you have worked with is almost certainly better then from a mathematician who doesn't know you - assuming of course that they praise you honestly.


text:
How to avoid giving honorary authorship to advisor who has not contributed?
I am just about finished with my PhD. During the past year or so, I managed to develop my own little spot of theory. I have done this almost entirely independently. However, my advisor typically adds his own name to the papers before publication as a matter of course, with not much more contribution than adding references. Often, any changes he makes I must correct later, because he has not actually worked on the theory and often has not read the manuscript well enough to even understand the arguments fully, so often adds in incorrect claims. He is generally a nice guy on a personal level, and occasional discussions are often enjoyable and sometimes do develop ideas for research, but I don't believe they meet the guidelines for authorship, and I hate giving authorship to someone who doesn't even read my work. Also, I do not receive his funding or rely on him for material/equipment etc, so it is not a matter of financial dependence.
This next paper will be most likely my final paper before I get my PhD. I managed to obtain results of which I am particularly proud, and I have done so entirely independently of my advisor. So far, all my results are basically finished and I have not required any discussion with him on the work for guidance.
How can I diplomatically, but assertively bring up the possibility of wanting to be the sole author on this publication? The work is entirely my own, and I really want single-authorship on the work I have done to show that I am a completely independent scientist.

Do you mind saying what field you're in? This is sometimes field specific, although the fact you don't get funding from them means that likely sole authorship is appropriate even in those fields.

@JuanSebastianLozano I'm in theoretical physics - I also returned home due to lockdowns and haven't been able to return to campus yet, so contact has also been minimal

it's really hard to imagine the situation when in theoretical physics a supervisor hasn't contributed enough to the (publishable) paper of a PhD student. And the fact about funding is kind of irrelevant, sorry.

@sleepy I'm not asking for people to believe what I say or not, I'm only asking for how the situation could be approached.

See: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/143634/75368


text:
Latin abbreviation for "see there"
I am writing a paper and want to reference another source. In academic Hebrew, this would be said using the abbreviations for, "See (source)" or "as explained in (source), see there". Is there a comparable abbreviation in latin?

Why do you want to write it in Latin? If you don't already know the abbreviation, it's likely unfamiliar to your readers. Are you writing in Hebrew?

@AzorAhai-him- Clearly, the paper is being written in Latin. :)

it is indeed unclear if you are writing a paper "in latin", or if you're writing it in English and simply wonder if there is a latin phrase in common use for this purpose. If it's the latter, the standard is to simply use something like "Most academics think X (see [1-3])".   (but, as one of the answers points out, you use "cf." if your aim is explicitly to compare/contrast, rather than simply point the reader to a source)

We have a Latin language sister site

Two answers already, both of which can be correct, depending on context (as @AppliedAcademic commented on one of them).
As I mentioned in a comment, We have a Latin language sister site.
I think that the best explanation is the accepted answer to this English language & uasge question, (q.v) which I quote here in its entity:

q.v. stands for the phrase   quod vide : "on this (matter) go see"
Cf. is used chiefly to refer to articles proving or documenting one's
point or having authority, not to avoid treating a particular aspect
in the course of the writing.
Compared to cf., most authors restrict the use of q.v. to refer to
another part of the same work (usually a book) where they treat with
the subject matter. This is also used to advise the reader to read
another work they endorse.
In a monograph or a large book there is seldom one perfect way of
serially organizing all content. q.v. is a means for the author to
help readers learn more at their leisure.

without making footnotes
without distracting or boring people already knowledgeable
without repeating part of the material

On critical editions, you will sometimes find q.v. in margin comments
or apostilles as a quick comment for a quote, giving its source.

Tip: If you forget what c.f. means, read it as if it's short for "see for [example]".

"`The abbreviation cf. (short for the Latin: confer/conferatur, both meaning 'compare') is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that cf. be used only to suggest a comparison, and the word 'see' be used to point to a source of information" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cf.

Quod vide, q.v. in short.
I agree with the other commenters though, its pretty obscure in English writing.

Confer, or conferatur, abbreviated as cf.
Cf. the information here.

A minor difference is that cf. is traditionally used to indicate comparison with the current work, rather than for a parent source of the current work. That's mentioned in your linked article.:)

Don't use Latin abbreviations unless you're writing in Latin, or the journal's style guide says otherwise.
Simply put, most journals' style guide will dictate the use of a particular referencing style, which will include a particular method of in-text references. For instance, in a paper using the APA referencing style, you might write "According to Miller (2019), most foos bar" or "Most foos bar (Miller, 2019)", while in a paper using the IEEE referencing style, you might write "According to [23], most foos bar" or "Most foos bar [23]".
As a result, there shouldn't be any need for Latin abbreviations unless you're writing in Latin, or the journal's style guide requires it.

Does your advise include i.e. and e.g.? Both are Latin abbreviations frequently used in English academic writing, but given that their use isn't restricted to referencing sources, they are very often not covered by style guides.

And, thinking of it, et al. is of course also a Latin abbreviation that is actively promoted by both the APA and the IEEE referencing style for in-text citations. Perhaps a better wording for your answer would be "stick to the referencing style of the journal your submitting to" instead of giving Latin this much room?

@Schmuddi I was primarily talking about in-text citations, where et al. wouldn't be used in IEEE, but sure. If their journal's style guide says to use Latin abbreviations in a particular way, they should use it where appropriate.

The IEEE style guide suggests to use et al. with in-text citations if the authors are mentioned: "Azzarello et al. [3] stated that they were unable to determine why …". What about i.e. and e.g.?

Importing Latin's not necessarily a bad thing when it makes sense, though it'd certainly seem weird when there'd be better terms in English already.  For example, replacing "see X" with "q.v. X" would seem counterproductive.

"i.e." and "e.g." are edge-cases for me.  I kinda got into using them, but seems like there'd be a good argument for dropping "e.g." in favor of "ex." (including that "e.g." can be mistaken for "i.e.", whereas "ex." is generally well-understood).

Others have mentioned putting "q.v." ("which see") after a citation, and mentioned that it's pretty rare. I'll add that after two or more citations you can pluralize it to "qq.v.", which is even rarer.


text:
How to cite a company that gave the data and formulated a problem to be solved in a competition?
So recently there was a data science competition and we learned and made a good algorithm which can be published as a case study. So how can I cite the Data source and the really good score metric that was also given by the company which organiszed the competition? Yes the data has been made public and free to use but the scoring metric that was given was in a document given during the competition has no public document is available for it. Yes the link for the competition also exist.
Thanks this is my first paper and im super confused.

You can include an Acknowledgements section in which you thank the company for the data and the contest as appropriate. You can include, there, a link to the data, etc.
It is probably unnecessary to even mention the scoring metric for purposes of citation. It is possible that the company wants it kept private if they haven't published it.

"It is probably unnecessary to even mention the scoring metric for purposes of citation" - OP's question seems to imply that the scoring metric is pretty important in their results. Presumably their conclusions are based on performance based on that metric or something along those lines. So it'll be pretty important that they work out whether this is meant to be private, because that probably means their entire work is meant to be private, which seems to me like a huge problem but maybe it's a liability you encounter when entering a competition like this.

Yeah the scoring metric they gave is important as it scores/evaluates the model and the algorithm we made, and yes the company said that it is okay sharing it during the competition, Thanks, I'll add the data source and thank the company for the metric in the acknowledgement section.

You can cite websites and documents (even private ones) in the usual way. You should acknowledge the organiser for posing the question that your algorithm addresses (since it isn't a contribution of yours).  The score is valuable when presented with the scoring metric (since readers can presumably only verify the score using the metric). That poses a problem, because the metric is private. Perhaps you can ask the organiser's permission to include the scoring metric.

I agree, I wanted to get them the credit, and yes the mathematical logic behind the metric is really good and simple, so it's a good idea to use it. as a solution stated above, I'll mention about it in the acknowledgement section.

@Sanx I've updated following your comment.


text:
Is it okay to talk to the editor about the topic of paper or whether if our manuscript is suitable for the journal before submitting?
So this is my first research paper, I just wanted to know whether these things are considered unethical or idk creepy way to lure your paper in or its totally okay and people do that.

Do you know the editor? Do you mean like chatting with them in the hallway, or sending a cold email?

Nope I was planning to send a cold mail tbh since the domain of the conference is slightly off than the topic we wrote the paper in

You asked about a journal - but your comment mentions a conference. Which one are you applying to?

To give you some context, out of my 13 journal papers I asked the editor twice. Once it was a regular issue, once it was a special issue. Once the paper in question was accepted afterwards, once it was rejected and landed elsewhere.
I wrote typically something along the lines of:

Dear %editor_name%,
I am considering to submit my paper "On the sepulation in the context of the Mars phase" for possible publication in your "International Journal of Highly Reputable Research". In this manuscript I exploit the stigma of sepulation in the context of the planetary movement. Specially, the Mars phases were never before regarded in this context.
The abstract of my paper is: %abstract in full%
My article contains 4123 words (including footnotes, references and figure captions). It contains 5 color figures and 23 references. I have never published this article before nor have I submitted it to any other journal or conference.
Would such an article be of interest for your journal? Please let me know if you feel that my focus on Mars phases would pose a problem for acceptance in your journal.
Thank you very much. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Hope this helps.
I have never perceived such queries as bad or damaging. But in most cases they are not needed, as you can tell the relation of your paper to the journal well enough from the aims and scope.
It's the intersection of the actual journal topic with something else, when you might want to ask the editor beforehand.

It is fine to do this although prior research is usually an implicit first step: if you request is not serious, you may not get an answer.
A good start is by looking at recent back issues to see if material on this general topic has been published in that journal.  Another good sign is that some of the cited literature in your work was published in your target journal.

First, you should check available materials on the scope of the publication. They might answer your question. But, you can ask, and it isn't creepy. But, if the editor is busy, or your email is too detailed, you might not get an answer. I suspect that editors get more of these requests than they'd like, actually. The editors of many (most, perhaps) journals are not paid employees and have other (usually academic) jobs.
But, submitting the paper will get you the same answer using normal practices. If your paper is clearly out of scope, then the editor will reject it rather than finding reviewers and you will learn just about as quickly as any other method.

Thanks @buffy! That was very Helpful

@Roland How necessary it is to format to the journal guidelines appears to vary by field. As a mathematician, I never worry about formatting in my initial submission and have never been pulled up on it.

It's acceptable to ask, but make sure you have a concrete question that doesn't amount to "is our paper going to be accepted" (because answering that question entails the full peer-review process). For example some things you could ask about are whether your paper is within the scope of the journal, or whether the length is appropriate.
Do note that even if the answer is yes, it doesn't mean your paper is going to be accepted.

I recently attended a seminar by an editor opening a new journal in an established (and high-profile) series of journals in my field. She highly encouraged authors to contact the editors of the journal before submission- the goal of the journal is to publish research that fits the scope of their journal- if you're not sure whether your paper is a good fit, it saves time on the part of the editor and the author to ask beforehand.
Instead of taking a lot of time to prepare your article for a specific journal, and the time of the editor to read through the whole paper and try to understand if it is a fit, a short email succinctly describing the paper can save both you and the editor time in the long run. The editor can see whether the content and novelty factor of the research is what they, as an editor, are looking for, and give you an early green or red light.
That being said- do your research. It won't be a good look if your paper is far off the mark for what the journal usually publishes. Where does your research group usually publish? Your colleagues? People working on the same kind of work as you?

Yes, of course. But before asking, make sure to thoroughly check their website to ensure they have not already answered your question; For example in the "Aims and Scope" or a similar section. Most journals have one. If even after reading this section you are not sure, ask them. I have done this several times. It will save you at least a couple of weeks because if you just send your article blindly, it may not be rejected immediately. The editors are always busy!

Absolutely!
The term you are looking for is "presubmission inquiry" and they are fairly common, even encouraged. For example, Current Biology writes:

The editors strongly encourage authors who are interested in submitting
work for potential publication in Current Biology to send a
presubmission inquiry prior to any formal manuscript submission.
Presubmission inquiries should include a clear abstract and a cover
note explaining the significance of the advance and the potential
general interest to the broad readership of Current Biology.

The editor's response is not binding---how could it be, without seeing the whole paper---but can help avoid editorial rejections because the topic is a bad fit for the journal, or the result isn't glitzy enough for their "broad" readership. Occasionally, one even gets actual suggestions about how to frame the proposed manuscript. For example, one editor told me that he was a) generally interested in the topic but b) skeptical about it, and would therefore be expecting rigorous controls. This influenced how we structured the manuscript.
For a typical primary research article, presubmission inquiries are usually optional. If you feel confident that your manuscript is a good match, you can submit it directly. However, inquiries are more commonly expected for "exotic" manuscript formats. For example, Brain requires them for their Review and Update formats, but not for regular research reports.
Note that some journals have an established procedure for making one. Nature and Cell Reports have online submission systems. Other journals take them via email, but have specific requirements. Check the Author Guide carefully!
These posts from editors at PLOS Biology and Cell may be helpful for understanding them from an editor's perspective.


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Can we include a class or mathematical representation of a class coded in Python on a research paper/case study in field of energy
I'm writing a paper based on energy optimisation by creating discharge profile based on demand. So i wrote an algo which (not the most efficient) but works great. The problem is the algorithm is based on a class based function and has variables which needs to be updated and one of which is used as the output.
Am i supposed to show the mathematical representation of the algorithm? and if i can, how am i supposed to show loops and iterations? sorry but this is my first paper.

Use pseodocode I guess would fit your problem. Pseodocode is not language dependent.

What a journal will publish is up to them. Ask them if you have a target.

@buffy we are aiming for ICAIES

@user8469759 Okay, and just for the info, the class contains some functions which keep operating until the target is achieved

Check their author information and some of the papers they publish. If in doubt ask an editor.


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Google Scholar Public Access new feature and lost citations
Google's new "Public Access" feature invites you to upload preprints of some of your papers. These preprints are stored in Google Drive.
Today I used this feature and uploaded two preprints. Then, I realized that my total citation count decreased exactly by an amount corresponding to the citations by those two papers.
If I add up all the citations individually I still can recover my old total citation count but the right panel has a lower citation count.
Is this a bug of the new feature? has anybody experienced this?

I did what you did and lost citations as a result.  No idea what happened.  It is new, and hence, probably buggy or the additional data led to a correction.

I did the same yesterday, with exactly the same effect.
The good news: One day later, the lost citations are back.


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Can a professor ask students to upload a picture ID?
This week I had a midterm exam which wasn’t mandatory, but the professor provided it so we could improve our grades. Along with the instructions that was listed, there was a line which says have your photo ID ready. So when the exam came, I logged into the zoom channel and I had my ID with me in case the professor wants to verify it through the Cam. The professor wasn’t there and I found myself answering the questions as it’s a maths exam and it has a time limit. Later on, I received an email from the professor saying that my submission cannot be accepted because I didn’t scan my picture ID and upload it with the exam. I told him I don’t feel comfortable uploading my ID, he insisted that I can blackout sensitive information. Is this normal ? Why would the professor ask for a picture ID to be scanned and uploaded with the exam ? I have reached out to the chairman and I am afraid that the professor would target me more.

What country is this in?  In my experience, being asked to show an ID during an exam is standard practice in larger classes.  Especially if what they're asking for is your student ID, which they issued to you.

The reason for wanting it scanned is so that it can be checked later, rather than in real time. Whether that is reasonable or not, is a decision for the department or university to make. It might be improper to ask that a non-university ID be scanned, but the use of university documents, such as a student ID, is probably within their proper authority.
I think your position is reasonable, but not necessarily the best option. But it might also be that you didn't read the instructions completely.
However, if it wasn't clear that it should be scanned and they just assumed that you would, then you have cause for complaint.
I hope you can work out something satisfactory and that it was just a correctable misunderstanding.

Thank you buffy for your answer. What triggered me is first this is an online class. So if he wants to verify the person taking the exam, probably he would use the camera and the person behind it if it matches the I’d or not. Secondly, I think this might cause racial profiling and things of this nature. I have taken a few exams prior to this, but had never been asked to scan my iD


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How to write a reminder mail to a Professor asking about the application?
I have applied to a advertised post for a Postdoctoral position in U.S.A. It's been a month and a half since I have sent the application documents via e-mail to the professor. I haven't received any reply yet. How should I from my reminding e-mail, without offending the professor?

Professors forget to reply to emails all the time. (I think they get trained in email forgetfulness as part of the tenure process) As long as you aren't demanding or insulting, you should be fine. I'd suggest sending something like this:

Dear Prof. Awesome,
I haven't heard from you since I sent in my Postdoc application on January 3rd. I wanted check on the status of the application and see if there were any other documents you need.
Thank you for your time,
Kunal R Shah


text:
Should I do my Ph.D. with a supervisor who rarely responds to my emails?
I have recently been offered a place on a Ph.D. program at a certain university abroad. However, before, during, and after my application, my potential supervisor has generally been unresponsive to my emails. For example, when he expressed his interest in supervising me, it took him about four months to give me the go-signal to submit my application to the program. His excuse for his late reply was that he had been on leave for personal reasons. After I submitted my application, I sent him several emails about the Ph.D. program and my research proposal, but he has yet to respond to any. When I received an offer of admission from the University, two months after I submitted my application, I informed him about this offer through email. I also sent him another email asking him if he wanted to meet with me online regarding my research proposal. Again, he has not responded to my new emails. I do not know what to do next, because we have not had any formal meetings yet.
My question is: Is it advisable to pursue my Ph.D. study at this university with him as my supervisor?

How long have you waited for the most recent emails? Not responding to e-mails in a reasonable amount of time, provided that your e-mails are short and quick to respond to, would be a red flag for me. If your e-mails are paragraphs long, you might not get a response.

Have you been able to (informally) talk with his other (former) PhD students about their experiences?

In my case I had to wait quite long between preliminary mails. Than my PhD was almost perfect as well the supervisor was. They can be selecting candidates or securing money or just thinking a bit.

You need more information.  Ask former students.

supervisors are human beings. Perhaps yours have personal problems (e.g. a dying mother, a sick child...). This could explain lack of response to e-mails

This depends on you and how you prefer to work and how able you are to carry on alone. Some people thrive on that. Others find it impossible.
Of course, the delays might just be explained by the fact that there has been on commitment yet on either side. They may respond differently once you get a formal relationship.
In some cases it is possible to correspond with other graduate students working under this professor to see if you could expect anything different from what you've seen so far. Do that if you can find a channel to do so. A former student might give you a more accurate assessment, actually.
But there are some warning signs. Don't ignore them unless you are capable of carrying on alone.

+1 for your second ¶; I am much less responsive/responsible about communicating with students who I haven't accepted yet than about dealing with my actual students. But caution is warranted.

As another person responded long response times by a potential supervisor are a red flag . However, in my experience as a supervisor your comment about your potential supervisor using the 'excuse' of being on leave for personal reasons is equally a red flag; about you! Staff are entitled to leave and are not required to check emails etc. At my uni (Australia) personal leave is for medical or compassionate reasons. So here, this person would have been sick or caring for a sick person. That's not an 'excuse' that's a reason. My advice is you should assess communication timeframes objectively, while also reflecting on how you are constructing this situation.


text:
Do professors actively seek postdoctoral students for projects?
Recently a colleague hired a postdoc from a pool of several candidates who applied. This candidate had the most suitable skills for the job but failed to acquire some other relevant skills, and the project is going nowhere fast. I think these stories are not rare at all.
Given the specificity of skills needed to complete certain projects, the importance of delivering results and the scarcity of funds, I wonder whether some faculty actively seek the right people instead of waiting for them to apply.
To make it clear, I don't mean universities hunting superstar faculty.

Probably varies by field and other things.

Did your colleague or colleague's group have all the skills when they started the project or were they relying totally on the postdoc to acquire all the necessary skills? In the latter case, I'd say that your colleague got the strategy wrong. When you start a project, as a group, you should already have the skills or you should know how to acquire them, so that if a newly hired person fails to acquire certain skills, someone else can back them up for that part.

Some software development skills are not as good as they could be, Massimo Ortolano. She can do it but in this specific case the tasks are very time consuming.

To me, when I hire postdocs, I expect them to learn new things - that is part of the postdoc experience, showing they can keep learning. But, you set them up for success. If excellent software development skills were required and you do not use that to screen candidates, that’s on you.

Postdocs aren't students.

I disagree with the "scarcity of funds" point: There is a scarcity of good postdocs much more than there is a scarcity of funds.

Of course they do

In comparing my experience at several places, and my wife's (in a different field), I think there are two radically different models.

Department has X postdoc (or equivalent, under a different name) positions. Open search to fill based on generic criteria, some degree of importance to "this person will have good research fit here". Faculty encouragement limited to encouraging promising new researchers in one's network to apply, speaking up that they are a good fit, and then making the new hire feel "welcome".
As @Buffy wrote, making potential applicants aware, encouraging them to apply is fine, but nothing can be promised, and there is no obligation of the hire to work on any project in particular.

Research lab (Centre, Unit, one professor...) hires postdocs funded by own research funds. While there are generally obligations to evaluate all applicants for the position equitably, a lot more flexibility and expectation for the lab/group to source suitable applicants, and the position criteria may well end up much more targeted to a specific applicant.

By the way, the postdoc transition is -- arguably -- even more of a difficult one that completing a Ph.D., since it is during that period that a researcher becomes truly independent. So the situation that a postdoc has some of the crucial skills for success and not others, and may or may not succeed in developing them, is pretty typical.

I think that in many places, though I don't know if it's most places, that might be illegal. Normally university hiring needs to come after an open search, though it would depend on how the status of a post-doc is treated. Clerical staff may not be covered, but "faculty" probably is. Some low level "adjunct" instructors might also be exempt.
The rules avoid all sorts of issues, including nepotism and other varieties of favoritism based on things other than job requirements.
On the other hand, one can encourage an individual to apply for an open position and might even have a hand in the final selection. But I know of at least one case in which a description was written to favor a particular individual and some other applicant was at least as good as the "favored" one.

Really, postdoc hires must come after an open search? (I'm not saying that there won't be a formal step where the position is openly advertised.)


text:
Permanent positions in academia: Switzerland and Austria vs Germany
I just finished my PhD in physics in Germany. I've seen that there it is difficult to find a fixed position. These are mostly only professorships which are obtained normally at the age of 40-50. That panorama is very discouraging for me, as I would like to settle down.
I would like to know how academia is in Switzerland and in Austria. Concretely:

Are there another type of fixed positions in academia other than professorships? Is there a significant number of them in offer?
For whichever kind of fixed position, at what age/career stage are they typically awarded?

You will not find a significant number of permanent positions anywhere.

In academia, quite true…

Sometimes there exist research group leaders, but they are rare. Also, they may have to be subordinate to a professor, so depending on the prof, you might not have as much independence. Switzerland and Austria are very small, and while I do not know Austria that well, Switzerland has very competitive academia. ETH is regularly in the top 10 in the world. You probably have better chances in high-quality US universities, because there are more.

Frame challenge: job security is not great worldwide right now. I have worked for 10 years on a temporary contract and felt less financially threatened than right now in a permanent position. You are always welcome to work, but the pay may not be to your taste, and barring a golden parachute or other source of financial independence there is just nothing in the world guaranteeing a long-term stability. Tenure is a good approximation, but those positions are ultra-competitive. Still, many who do not attain them are able to settle down and work productively for years and decades.

Talk to your supervisor and everyone in your old department about what academic careers look like around the world. They will have a lot of information!

It is a bit depending on the field you got your PhD in, but generally speaking (as already pointed out in the comments), it is quite impossible to find a permanent position in academia right after your PhD, especially anywhere in and around Germany. This is the reason why so many people are forced to end their careers.
I guess, since you mention settling down, you mean "fixed" in terms of locally fixed. There are few cases where people switch universities or institutes only once and then become permanent there after a while, but there are usually good reasons for that. The best person to ask, if something like this is possible and within reach for you, is your PhD advisor.


text:
Post-doc for two (two-body problem): How to search, apply, and improve our chances?
My significant other and I are doing our PhDs in physics, and we both want to continue in academia and to stay together.
He did his masters in a first-world country and I did mine in a third-world country (but in one of the best institutes of the region), on the same topic. We both had very high qualifications and we are young. We are now doing our PhDs at the same university (the first-world country one), continuing on the same topic. I will probably end up with considerably more peer-reviewed publications than him, but he will probably complete his PhD in a shorter time. He also did some teaching and, so far, I have not. He will also finish ~1 year before me, as he started earlier, and it's very likely that he will get a 1-year post-doc at the university where we are now (bridging the gap until I finish). By that moment we will both have to apply to postdocs.
These are my questions:

Improve our chances: In general, is there something we can do now to give us higher chances of both getting post-docs in the same institute/city? In particular, can we do something to have more similar chances? Do you have a rough idea of how many positions we should apply to in order to have a fair chance of finding something together?
Search: How should we look for postdocs that allow us to live together? I imagine looking for institutes that offer 2 or more positions on the same topic (I have not seen many!), or cities with many institutes (although we are not fans of big cities...). Do you know other or better ways?
Different topics?: We are both very open regarding the topic and country of our postdocs. I would be particularly eager to change to another branch of physics. Would this give us more chances to find positions at the same institute/city? Is it even realistic to try to apply to to a topic that is not tightly related to what I did? Would it be a bad move on the long-term if we split to different branches of physics?
Application: Is not being yet married a disadvantage at the moment of applying? Is there any way to apply as a couple or do we just have to apply independently?

Thank you very much in advance.

Being legally married will make it easier to get visas if you move to certain countries.  Chances are very slim as postdocs are both specialized and competitive.  You could try CERN or some of the larger US national labs.  You can try very large cities.  If you both publish really a lot of papers, that would help too.

Does this answer your question? two body problem - tenure track and PhD

@CrimsonDark I think the differences in career levels and geographical scope makes this a distinct, non-duplicate question.

One idea is to specifically apply to universities in cities that have multiple universities. For example, off the top of my head:

There are several universities in the Glasgow-Edinburgh area (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Edinburgh, Herriot-Watt)
Boston is a hub with many top institutions (MIT, Northeastern, Harvard, etc.)
The entire Netherlands is pretty easy to get around by Train, so it's not impossible for one of you to go be in Amsterdam and another to be at Utrecht, Leiden, Delft, etc.
Toronto had UofT and York
Ottawa has UofO and Carleton
Vancouver has UBC and SFU

The other idea is to apply for funding that gives you freedom for where you take it. For example, the Canadian NSERC Postdoctoral fellowship is independent of university, though you need to list 3 choices. Other countries may have similar awards. So then if one of you got funding you could use it to follow the other.
Finally, use your current supervisors' networks and your own to put out informal feelers. It doesn't hurt to be honest with researchers about your situation. You may find someone who is looking for multiple postdocs, or who knows of two of the right kind of opening. Don't underestimate the value of just talking to people.
As for topics, it's not uncommon to do something different for your postdoc, since this shows your breadth as a researcher and that you're capable of doing more than just what your PhD supervisor had you do. But it still needs to be an area of expertise for you, e.g. you should require less guidance than a new PhD student does.

Toronto is also reasonably close to some other cities with strong institutions, e.g. McMaster, UWaterloo, Perimeter.

The North of England also has Leeds, Manchester,  Sheffield, York, perhaps Nottingham within commuting distance. London has many universities,  and both oxford/Cambridge are less than an hour from London (but not each other).

As Joey Eremondi rightly said, apply to "hubs".
My life-long friends, Nataly and Leon, married when Nataly was finishing her PhD at Oxford, Leon at the Technion. They were applying using the "hub strategy": Boston, SF, LA, also NY-Rutgers-Princeton-Philly. One of these tries brought them success: Nataly got a postdoc at UPenn, Leon at Drexel (within a strolling distance from UPenn). On the part of Leon, it was a bit of a sacrifice: moving from the Technion to Drexel was a step down, in terms of prestige. A hard-worker, he however got his second postdoc at UPenn a year down the road.  They eventually settled down in that area, with permanent research jobs.
Good luck with your life and applications!


text:
boss asked me to draft them a letter of rec?
A while ago I asked my boss to write me a letter for a specific school, and he responded asking me if I could draft it, and he showed me the edits and final draft before sending it out.
Now I asked him to send me letters for some other schools too and he agreed, I'm assuming he'll just use the same letter. But I just now realized that one of the schools explicitly states that I am to not be involved in the letter in any way. What should I do? Is this a common thing?
Should I just let it slide? How seriously do schools take this situation anyways? and from what I've seen from the letter I drafted it doesn't look like any sentences overlap with anything in my personal statement. I would also feel bad asking him to rewrite a letter thats already perfectly well written.
At the same time I just feel, well, kinda bad. Idk, not saying anything to my boss about the school letter guidelines doesn't sit right with me.

Sounds like your boss took your input and made their own letter out of it.

It’s best to behave honestly and ethically. It seems clear to me that you’ve been acting in good faith so far and cannot be faulted for the oversight of not noticing this one guideline among the many confusing hoops the grad schools tell you to jump through. And the transgression, such that it is, seems very minor to me — after all your boss took an active role in writing the final letter, presumably fully believes in its contents, and only showed it to you because he didn’t know it was forbidden.
Now, the key to handling the current situation is to keep the ethical bar high and not spoil things now with any shady or underhanded behavior. My suggestion is therefore that you send the guidelines to your boss and apologize for the oversight of not noticing this specific guideline before. Add that he should feel free to edit his letter again before submitting it and not show you the edits if he so desires. If you do that, you will be morally in the clear in my opinion, and would not have to worry about your boss developing a poor opinion of you if he were to discover these guidelines himself at some later point.
In theory you could also inform the school of what happened. If you do I am sure they will find the explanation satisfactory. And if so you will be going above and beyond what I’m guessing 95% of grad school applicants would go to the trouble of doing if they were in a similar situation.
Good luck!