text:
How are letters of recommendation handled when they come from a member of the admissions committee?
I've asked three professors from the school I did my undergraduate studies at to write letters of recommendation for me.  However, one of the schools I'm applying to is that same school.
In other words, lets say I went to Harvard as an undergraduate, asked three Harvard professors for letters, and then applied to Harvard's graduate program.
It seems kind of weird to me that my letter writers will review the letters they wrote for me as part of the committee review of my application.  And I know at least two of them are for sure on the committee, the third I'm not sure about.
Undoubtedly, this is something that happens all the time, but I was curious how this situation is handled by the committee.
Of course, there are more committee members than the three who wrote recommendation letters for me who don't know me as a student as well, so it gives them a chance to learn about me.
I'm just wondering how this influences their decision, or, rather, how they can prevent it from influencing them too much.  I know being accepted won't be a guaranteed thing, but how can you not accept someone that you yourself have recommended?

If there is a conflict of interest, those professors who wrote your letters may abstain from judging you or influencing the other members on the committee.

Coincedentally, my three letter writers make up the entirety of the department's faculty of my chosen subfield.  So if accepted, one of them would have to be my adviser.  I'm guessing one of them would have to make a determination at some point.

Technically, if everyone has the conflict of interest, no one has a conflict of interest. :P No idea what would happen in that case. It's an edge case that the entire department will probably have to look at as a unique case.

Related: Is it ok for one of your letters of recommendation to come from someone in the department/program to which you are applying?

Because of the closely related question, I edited this one to focus on the new aspect (the professor being on the admissions committee)

Some departments have a policy that they never admit their own undergraduates into their PhD program.  Check for this before you go to the trouble of applying.

At least at the school I went to, I knew a PhD candidate in the department who did her undergrad there too.  She told me, however, that its not the ideal route to go, so I'm applying to other schools as well of course.

I've seen this situation.  In our department all faculty vote on admission decisions (we don't have a separate committee that is delegated to make these decisions.)  The faculty who have written recommendations have typically argued in favor of admitting the students they've written recommendation letters for, but it would also not be surprising if a faculty member who recommended a student felt that other candidates were better qualified when it came time to make final decisions.
It's one thing to say "I think student A is well qualified for our graduate program and a TA." This is not inconsistent with "After reviewing all of the candidates, I feel that students B and C (with BS degrees from elsewhere) are the most deserving of the two available TA slots." or even "After discussion with other faculty members, and reading all of the recommendation letters, I've agreed that student A should not be admitted to the program."
It's important to understand that these are group decisions, and that faculty committees often operate by discussion and consensus rather than by simple vote counting- a lot can happen during such a discussion.
As an applicant, there really isn't anything that you can do about this- the faculty in the department will deal with it as they choose.

I like this answer.  Especially that letters should be viewed as "this applicant could do well in graduate school, but other candidates might be better", rather than "this student would be the best candidate".

I don't see that there necessarily is a conflict of interest here. As a letter writer, the faculty member's job is to describe you and your qualifications. As a committee member, they are trying to evaluate your qualifications. Why are these two in conflict? I've been on a few such committees, and if there is a committee member who knows a particular applicant through a course or some other means, we have always listened to what that member has to say in order to augment our understanding of who the candidate is. (I gather that in some situations there are stricter rules about what criteria may be used to evaluate candidates.)


text:
Citing multiple authors that do not have all statements in their publication
Let´s say I wrote the following statement in my thesis:
"A substantial shift to cycling can reduce health risks, noise and air pollution and space and energy consumption."
After that, I am citing the name of the authors that I am referring to (each of them has published a different paper), let´s say Author A, Author B and Author C. However, while Author A and B include  all benefits, Author C did only state in his paper, that cycling can reduce health risks.
Is it okay to use all authors at the end of the statement?
"A substantial shift to cycling can reduce health risks, noise and air pollution and space and energy consumption (Author A, Author B, Author C)."
or should I put the authors' names right after the corresponding words:
"A substantial shift to cycling can reduce health risks (Author C), noise and air pollution and space and energy consumption (Author A, Author B)."

Are you using the quote marks you show here in the thesis or are you writing it as a paraphrase without quote marks?

With Buffy's comment, consider using quote formatting for the proposed phrasings

Assuming these papers actually provide convincing evidence for the claims and aren't just "stating" things (i.e. they're good sources for the claims), I would prefer a third option:
"A substantial shift to cycling can reduce health risks (Author A, Author B, Author C), noise and air pollution and space and energy consumption (Author A, Author B)."
That way the citations are as specific and as close to the claims as possible. As for your two options, they have some implications for readers. Keep in mind that the "Golden Rule" of technical writing is to always consider the audience.

"A substantial shift to cycling can reduce health risks, noise and air pollution and space and energy consumption (Author A, Author B, Author C)."

This option has less specific citations, and is thus somewhat less helpful to your readers. For example, if a reader wants to find out more about the noise claim, which paper do they pick first? Maybe it is the one by Author C because it happens to be the only one not behind a paywall... That's some time wasted right there. Note that this option also maximizes the distance between the health risk claim and the citation to Author C, which is generally the opposite of what you should strive for.

"A substantial shift to cycling can reduce health risks (Author C), noise and air pollution and space and energy consumption (Author A, Author B)."

This option only uses Author C to support the health claim, and Authors A,B would likely be understood as providing support only for the following claims. Depending on the works in question, that may or may not be what you want to communicate.

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text:
How do I decline a PhD offer by my master's thesis supervisor?
So I'm currently finishing up my master's thesis and my supervisor seems to be happy with my work. The subject of PhD came up a couple of times during meetings and while I did say that I think it would be nice to do a PhD, I also said that I'm still thinking about it and considering other career options (not necessarily in academia). Then the last meeting she suddenly announced that the PhD registrations are now open and that I'm able to register. This caught me off-guard so for the next meeting I want to talk about that. In the meantime, I made up my mind and decided not to do a PhD after all, at least not for a year as I'm having another project running outside of academia.
How do I tell this to my supervisor? I'm afraid that she will be disappointed and that the remaining months of my master's thesis won't be as enjoyable. I have no reason to think this as she has always been friendly and praising my work. But you never know if she just was nice to get me to do a PhD. Probably overthinking this last part though.

"But you never know if she just was nice to get me to do a PhD." This seems highly unlikely. People can be nice with no ulterior motive!

Let me note that you can apply to this program (and others) without making an early commitment. You can use the intervening time to explore the outside project. It would be an advantage to you to have several options in a few months.
You can then thank her for her advice, say you will apply, but that you also need to explore other options both in and outside academia. Ethical people would understand that.
Make a final decision when you must, but keep all options open, and even seek new ones, in the short term.

I do not think that saying registrations are open means she wants you as a Ph.D. student.  I would not think in this way unless my supervisor has said that explicitly. This can be just a gentle reminder.
Your supervisor may be disappointed but would not consider this personally because this is your life and your own career plan.

Without knowing their personality it can be difficult to say for sure. My experience is that being honest early (unless you have reason to already believe they are a particularly manipulative person or similar) is best. You can just say something like,
"Thanks for suggesting signing up for a PhD and supporting my work thus far. I have weighed up some options and decided my next step will be to spend a year focusing on a non-academic project I have running, and can't do concurrently."
If you think you would like to work with them on a PhD after that you can say so. If you are not sure, be honest with that too.
The hard truth is that students aren't that hard to find - good students take time to find though. While she might be disappointed you aren't continuing, she would be more disappointed by being 'led on' and not having time to find a good match for their project and funding available.

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What are "BS" and "BA" degrees?
Simply put: what does "BS" and "BA" stand for in relation to degrees? I think they are both some sort of bachelor degree? And what is the difference between them? Where I'm from I've only heard about "Bachelor's degree" and haven't heard of different versions of it.
Take for instance these physics study programs in Norway:

NTNU

UiB

They only say "Bachelors degree" and not if it is a "BS" or "BA". I don't think we have these two concepts in Norway.
I first encountered this here:
What do "minor" and "major" mean (in relation to degrees)?

To my inderstanding, a "BS" degree is more "thorough" (just requires more credits in your area of study), while a "BA" is more "relaxed" and requires less credits in your area of study (so it's easier to get two BA's than two BS')?
Also (as a side note), another thing I don't quite understand: why was there a need to introduce two versions of a bachelor's degree in the first place? I can see why you would want to differentiate between them when you already have two versions of a degree (so employer can see which you took etc.), but why was there a need for stricter/ more relaxed requirements in the first place? Why not just have one common standard for a bachelors degree?

I'm fairly certain this has been asked/answered here before.

To comment on why there is not a single standard, it is easiest to say that the US just does not do things that way. Colleges and universities were started by different people and organizations for different purposes and there was no regulation by outsiders. The differences between a BA and  BS are determined separately by each college or university.

Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/19520/what-is-the-difference-of-a-ba-bs-in-computer-science-for-obtaining-a-ph-d

See: https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4471/academia-varies-more-than-you-think-it-does-the-movie#4477

@DavidSmith nails it. For example my degree was technically a Baccalaureus in Artibus (at least that's what they called it in the ceremony). That is what pretty much everyone got, whether studying maths, natural science or english. Usage varies.

@DavidSmith why is the US relevant here? There are institurions offering either BS or BSc or BA degrees all over the place, some of which predate the independence of the USA so I doubt this was something primarily influenced by the US norms. Was it?

BS is a bachelors of Science, BA is a bachelors of arts.  In most places which you get will depend on what you major in.  I say most, as some old universities, like the University of Oxford in the UK will give a BA to almost all undergraduates, even those that study a science subject.
These are the two most common types of bachelors degrees, but other types do exist too in some places.

Not understanding the downvote here. In my math major in a US liberal arts college, I had the option of either a BS or a BA. The requirements overlapped and I qualified for both. I chose the BA. Later at a large State university I had the same option, MS or MA. I have the MA. I never regretted my choice.

@Buffy I didn't downvote, but this isn't a very comprehensive answer.

@AzorAhai-him-, it is, however, correct.

BSE - Bachelors in Science and Engineering. At schools I know of, the differentiator is the accreditation for the different programs. https://www.abet.org/accreditation/ does not do literature programs, for example. Buffy’s BA vs BS choices had different requirements because of different accreditations.

@Buffy My experience was similar. At OSU, I was able to choose BS or BA for my degree in mathematics. There were some differences in the requirements, but they were minor. I got the BS, but I'm not sure going the other way would have made any difference at all in my life.

@TimothyAWiseman, nor do I think it made any difference in mine. It was just consistent with how I thought of myself then (and now).

It's important to specify which country you are talking about.. In the UK a Bachelors in science is a BSc, and a BS is one of the abbreviations used for a Bachelor of Surgery (the others being BCh, and ChB).  My degrees are MB, BCh, BSC.

@JonCuster I guess that's US? The UK has either BSc (science) or BEng (engineering), and a more cross-disciplinary course could be either. The initials BSE in the UK would mainly be recognised as mad cow disease. :)

To add to this answer - Some schools have the Math & Physics depts within the College of Arts & Sciences - so a physics or math degree can be either “bachelor of arts” BA or “bachelor of sciences” BS: https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/academics/undergraduate/majors

I didn't downvote but I feel like it would improve this answer to add that there are plenty of programs where you can choose between different types of Bachelor's. Where I am right now (in the US), the math department awards either BA or BS depending on the coursework you take. The music department has options for BA or BM (Bachelor of Music). A lot of graduate music programs I've looked at have MM or MA and I've seen at least one MS. It anecdotally seems like an oversimplification to say, "In most places which you get will depend on what you major in"

Like David Smith mentions in a comment, there is no central guidelines for what a "Bachelor of Arts" (BA) vs. "of Science" is (BS or BSc).
Some schools may only award one or the other in a given program, e.g., all degrees from the English department are BAs and all from the chemistry department are BSes. Engineering departments may award Bachelors of Engineering (BEng) degrees; and performing arts programs award Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFAs). (Not an exhaustive list of all Bachelor's of _.) Or, a school may award only BAs or only BSes.
In general, there is no way to compare a BA from School A to a BS in School B, School A may call them "BAs" for historical reason, or maybe they are very different after all.
In some cases, a "BS" might meet accreditation requirements that a "BA" does not in the STEM fields.
Sometimes, departments may award both. Degree requirements would vary in this case, but again, next to impossible to compare between schools. Some examples I am aware of:

A BA in math for high school teachers; but a BS for anyone else.

A BS in psychology for research psychologists, but a BA for counselors, graduate study in fields besides psychology (e.g., law, med school).

Broadly speaking the "BA" terminology is tied to the US' history of "liberal arts education," i.e., broader requirements than is common in Europe, such as requiring foreign languages for science students, etc. BSes in general require more science courses, but unless you know the university/program, you can't tell how rigorous someone's science BA was.
The same is somewhat true of master's degrees, an MA vs. an MS is not very informative.

Sometimes at least the distinction is what organizations accredit the degree.

Actually, my BA in math wasn't because I was headed to be a HS teacher (never was). It was because I was also interested in things other than math (my major) such as Philosophy, and took some advanced courses. I chose BA because I thought at the time that it indicated I was a "widely educated" person rather than a narrowly educated one. There was a list of requirements for each degree and I met all requirements for both. Only one degree would be awarded, however. It wasn't a double major, just a choice of designations on my part.

@Buffy Ah yes, I didn't mean to suggest that was the only way programs may divide their degrees. May edit later along with Jon's suggestions.

Re: "A BA in math ...", note that I got a BMath (Bachelor of Mathematics) degree in 1987 from the University of Waterloo (in Ontario, Canada), since it has a Math faculty instead of math being just a department in a different faculty (e.g., Science or Arts). Somewhat interestingly, at the time, computer science was a department within the Math faculty, so computer science students also usually got BMath degrees. This shows there are additional Bachelor designations apart from those you listed, though I don't offhand know of any additional ones.

The BS in math may have required a chemistry class (or similar) that the BA did not. Just tick-the-box requirements of various accreditation orgs.

@JonCuster Whose regulation would that be? I'll add it to the answer, but this was a friend's program, not mine.

There are a number of accreditation organizations. Some are more anal than others about specific requirements. But, my observation is that a BS vs a BA in math would have more hard science (with lab) requirements for example if they were both offered. Otherwise it comes down to which part of the university the department fell under - School of Arts vs School of Sciences.

@JonCuster This program was in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Yeah, just making it more difficult to untangle… who accredited it, one organization?

@JonCuster I dunno, I'm not in math and you're the one bringing up accreditation agencies, haha. Added a note - let me know if you have more specific details to add.

Fair enough. Seems to be a morass of many potentially overlapping assumptions for different institutions.

“only BSes would be odder, but may be out there.” The service academies award everyone a BS.

@cpast Learning something every day

Let me note that the methodologies of pure math and most other sciences, physics, chemistry, etc. are very different. Both are different from the methodologies of the humanities; history, philosophy, and the like. Math "seems" scientific to many, but it isn't. I'll also note that a math department might, in the US, be situated within the "School of liberal arts" or the engineering "School" or others. The "schools" answer to different deans within a university. And, yes, applied math has lots of overlap with the sciences in its methodology.

@Buffy I’m not sure what you are suggesting changing in my answer

I'm just adding context, actually, not suggesting changes.

@buffy gotcha. That is why I said STEM not the sciences

"In general, there is no way to compare a BA from School A to a BS in School B" - my experience is the course catalogs and transcripts are how one could compare, at least one a surface level. Obviously it doesn't help if, say, "Advanced Linear Algebra" at one school covers very different topics from "Linear Algebra II" at another school (hypothetical examples). Still, the programs I have direct experience with have objectively different course catalogs (e.g., Math BS has more calculus than Math BA, Music BM has more aural skills and conducting than Music BA).

@ToddWilcox Yes, I meant "by title alone."

Oh yeah, that's fair. Hopefully, accreditation is keeping things from being wildly different, but the granularity of re-accreditation processes isn't very fine, from what I've seen.

From the question:

They only say "Bachelors degree" and not if it is "BS" or "BA". I don't think we have these two concepts in Norway.

Perhaps not. Still, I suspect Norwegian universities take these concepts into account when translating their degrees. (There might even be more types, like BEng for engineering.) This might be more likely to be spelled out in a central location than under specific programmes of study. Indeed, NTNU's website provides the following information:

Bachelor’s degrees
The bachelor's degree is the lower Norwegian university degree. The English name of a bachelor's degree in the arts, social sciences, music and fine arts is Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated BA). In the natural sciences the equivalent degree is Bachelor of Science (abbreviated BSc) in English. These bachelor's degrees comprise 180 credits and are normally completed in 3 years of full-time study. However, there is also a 4-year bachelor's degree in music performance studies which is worth 240 credits.

I did not find a similar statement on UiB's website, but did find this programme plan document for the physics programme, which spells out that the degree is "Bachelor i naturvitskap" in Norwegian, and "Bachelor of Science" in English. If it's important to you, you can probably get more information by contacting the university directly.

Vitskap is quite correct – it’s the Nynorsk word for ‘science’ equivalent to Bokmål vitenskap.

Here in Australia, a BSc is a Bachelor of Science, a three year degree in a STEM subject. A BA is a Bachelor of Arts, a three year degree in a humanities subject. Longer Bachelor’s degrees, including those that result in accreditation for particular professions such as Engineering or Law are called something else (BEng — Bachelor of Engineering and LLB — Bachelor of Laws in those two examples).

It is Important to note that 3 year degree In Australia is (like many others) equivalent to a 4 year degree in the US. We (or the target cohort) are generally a year behind in age as the the final year of school is generally year 18, rather than year 16.

This is a concept in the school system in "British and British-inspired" systems which I do not know well.
In Europe we have the Bologna system of qualification. It usually creates a 3 years degree (various names, usually derived from the word license), then an extra 2 years degree (Master) and then a 3+ years degree (Doctorate). We also use points for each hour spent on a subject so that you can have equivalences across universities (to some point)
In France, for example, there are schools that try to promote a meaningless "Bachelor" degree (typically business schools).

You should note that the UK and Ireland also signed up to Bologna. In general, countries have paid lip service to the idea of transferability (e.g. by calling a terminal degree a Masters if it takes more than 3 years or counting things in ECTS units), while carrying on doing what they always did to a great extent.

@origimbo I think the PhD track in the UK is shorter, though? A friend of mine got on that track after his BA, while I had 5 years of university + 3 years of PhD (at least that was the plan, it got extended a bit due to unforeseen circumstances)

The most common current STEM path in the UK would be three year undergraduate degree plus 1 year taught Masters(BA/BSc/BEng + MA/MSc) or integrated Masters (a 4 year path, not 5 years, with a whole constellation of titles starting with M), then PhD for at least 3 years. So shorter than most of mainland Europe overall, but as 3+1+3 rather than 3+2+3, not because the actual doctorate is shorter. Having said that, it’s both possible to get a PhD place without a Masters, and possible to sign up for a PhD programme with a one year integrated Masters by Research (MRes)

@origimbo except in Scotland, where bachelor degrees are 4 years

@MJeffryes except when they aren't: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/degree-routes/direct-entry/ There's also a matching recent growth in Foundation years and non-Scottish Universities to sign up more lucrative international students (see e.g. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/international-foundation), but I realise none of those paths are typical.

In the USA, BS is short for Bachelor of Science degree and is granted for undergraduate (post-secondary) studies focused (majoring) in a technical subject, eg STEM, or social sciences. BA is short for Bachelor of Arts and study is similar in structure to that resulting in a BS, but with a different focal area (major) in arts (typically music, dance, plastic or audiovisual arts) and humanities.
Art schools, like most colleges, are typically of the "liberal art" sort, and most colleges in the USA are "liberal art" schools. The label implies that students are required to acquire a liberal education by taking courses in a broad range of different fields including science, social science, languages and humanities, with additional requirements specific to the choice of major.
The amount of study is typically full-time for four years, roughly the equivalent of 240 credits in a European university. US colleges operate on a semester schedule, with courses running an entire semester and ending with final examinations at the end of each semester (twice a year). Students typically enroll in 4-5 courses per semester. Accelerated or concentrated one-credit courses in the style of those typically offered in European institutions can also be taken in the summer. If one course amounts to 1 credit, a completed education typically requires at minimum 32 credits.  A concentration or major, for instance in chemistry, might require 10 credits in that field, with specific courses, typically introductory ones, mandatory, and electives providing the opportunity to specialize in a branch, for instance Physical Chemistry.

IMHO this is incomplete and even misleading. You can earn a BS in music or a BA in mathematics at some institutions.

@ToddWilcox Hmmm, I don't think it is stated anywhere that what you state is not possible. A BS in an art school would likely focus on something highly technical, for instance art conservation (chemistry). A BS in music might focus on the physics of sound generation. In what sense is my answer misleading?

@ToddWilcox the following is the question: "Simply put: what does "BS" and "BA" stand for in relation to degrees? I think they are both some sort of bachelor degree? And what is the difference between them? Where I'm from I've only heard about "Bachelor's degree" and haven't heard of different versions of it." I gave an answer in the context of what is common in the USA.


text:
Which year do I use for an in-text APA citation?

The first year is when the data was collected: 2013
The second year is when the paper was written: 2015
The third year is when the paper was published: 2017

"In total, 121 women and 61 men completed the experiment over the course of several months across 2013." is where I am getting the 2013 from, so if I was to say, in a study conducted in 2013, blah blah blah, very specific to the data itself, and I do an in-text citation in APA format, which year do I use?

It needs to be the year of publication in the in-text citation (same for the reference at the end of the paper). This is backed up by the Purdue OWL:

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html
If the date the survey was conducted is important then you should definitely mention it in the surrounding text like you’re doing.
Due to the fact that writing a paper then going through peer review takes time, it’s not unusual to see some delay between the date the experiment was done and the date the paper was published. Even though this does seem like a bigger gap than usual, I probably wouldn’t even question it if I was reading it.

Thank you! I was wondering if I should say in a paper published in 2017, or in a study conducted in 2013, and then cite in that said year. Saying a study conducted in 2013, and then citing when was published is what I thought was correct, so thank you for the vote of confidence!

I am not sure I am following you. If the data were collected in 2013 and published in 2017 and when the data were collected matters (e.g., prior to or following a major event that could influence the data), you would want to list both.

In total, 121 women and 61 men completed the experiment over the course of several months across 2013 ... (Smith and Jones 2017).

Adding to Laurel's previous answer: The purpose of the in-text author-year citation style is to point your readers to the full citation record of the published work in your bibliography. Consider a situation in which you cite two independent works of the same first author, e. g. Jones et al. (1989) and Jones et al. (1991), then the date is essential in associating the reference to its respective entry in your bibliography.


text:
Research statement: separate bibliographies for your own publications and the rest of the literature?
When writing a research statement, is it a good idea to create two reference lists: one exclusively for your own work and one for the rest of the relevant literature that you may want to cite?
On the one hand, I think it's a good idea to have a cleanly presented list of your own publications without having them "too scattered" across a larger bibliography. On the other hand, I'm worried that the separation may look weird.
Bonus question: in case, what title should I give to the list of my own papers (as opposed to "Bibliography/References" for the rest)?

Example: https://www.wias-berlin.de/people/butkovsky/rs.pdf

I've never seen such a format, is there someplace you saw it? If so, you could consider adding it to the question.

@AppliedAcademic Here for example: https://www.wias-berlin.de/people/butkovsky/rs.pdf

I think two lists can be helpful, in fact some grant submission processes encourage doing it that way. If you are using enumerated rather than harvard style (author, year) then be sure to start the numbering from where you left off after your own list (this is pretty easy to automate if your CV is in latex.) Depending on the dialect of English used where you are applying, you could say something like: "List of Publications" or "Candidate's Publications" and then "Further References". If you don't put the two lists right after each other, put a footnote under "Further References" with the page number to find the citations for your own publications.
If you don't have a strict page limit, it's probably easier just to have a highlighted list of publications and then redundantly include them in your ordinary reference page. And also, you could always just say "see CV for full list of publications."

Thank you. Indeed, my motivation for the question was that it looked easier/clearer to say "In [Myself2022], we blabla... In [1], this result blabla..." where [1] points to a paper by someone else


text:
Does an academic paper need graphics?
I recently received feedback for a university-intern seminar paper where the reviewer implicitly stated, that every academic paper needs graphics.
The paper was in the field of computer science.
I am aware, that graphics can contribute towards understanding an issue, however, for this specific topic I stood before the issue that

Graphics I would have liked to use are copyright-protected, thus no option
I am a bad drawer
There seemed no fitting option to add computer-aided drawings such like diagrams (in terms of content, I do know how to use Latex)

Therefore, I concluded that I would not include any graphics in my work.
I have encountered several papers on the internet, that also included no graphics. Plus, naturally, mathematical papers would often also not need graphics depending on the topic, with computer science being an applied case of mathematics.
Are graphics in academic papers a real requirement or should I consider the feedback as a subjective need?

I would say that it's actually pretty rare that a paper can't benefit from a diagram that illustrates the intuition of a theorem, or a plot that shows the results of an experiment more directly than a table could. Such papers exist but they're quite rare. Most papers without some graphics could probably be improved with them - but page count limits in a journal might not have permitted it. Squeezing in graphics often means squeezing out text.

Few points: 1) there are many open source cliparts.   Also, you are free to redraw diagrams and cite where you adopted a diagram, 2) bad drawer?  It does not have to be at a high level.  Block diagrams, flowcharts, etc.. simple diagrams will do.   3) not sure I understand your third point.  What do you mean by 'to add'?  Unless you are using text based only editors, MS Word and LaTeX allow one to easily include graphics.

It's a different setting, but some of the answers to Referee wants me to add a plot – because the paper has none may be relevant.

I rephrased the sentence. I do know how to add graphics, and I do know how to create diagrams, but there seemed to be no sense in artificially crafting some with low-quality content just to have some.

"I would say that it's actually pretty rare that a paper can't benefit from a diagram" - That's @ObscureOwl not the point: If it were for that, no paper would be ever accepted.  There is always things one can add which profit a paper, at least for part of the readers.

Visualization helps a lot to express your message. It is great for comparison. It catches the eye. Therefore it raises questions if there is none, though it is also topic dependent. I've never heard of such rule, and I've seen papers in electrical engineering without figures (especially in old, mathematical heavy papers).

Block diagrams in particular, as @Prof.SantaClaus mentions take next to no skill, and add a lot to technical works, more than many fancy graphics in fact. A few minutes of introductory Inkscape tutorials and you'll be good to go. Inkscape is a free, open source, cross platform, vector graphics editor so is a good choice

In terms of block diagrams and flowcharts, have a look at https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/

Like I said, I see nothing that could be visualized by diagrams, and if there were I would know to make them, so no point in referring to tutorials and tools as this was not the question.

In (sufficiently) theoretical fields, such as theoretical computer science, parts of theoretical physics, or mathematics, it is completely fine to publish a paper without graphics.
Whether in the case of your specific paper, topic, or field graphics would have helped is a different question, and essentially impossible to answer here with the information given. On the other hand, if it is a field where papers with no graphics are reasonably common, there should be not a big issue in convincing the editor that graphics are unnecessary.
Note that similar arguments could be applied to other things, like examples, applications, etc.: Nice to have, they likely don't hurt, but not needed in sufficiently abstract fields of research.

If you want to be a scientist (and I suspect this applies to Computer Science) then you must learn to do some graphic design, or have enough money to pay someone to do it for you.
Admittedly there are some fields of research where nobody uses graphics.  But in the fields where I work, >90% of papers have 3+ graphics.  One of the reasons for the graphics is that many of your casual readers are not willing to read your entire paper, but they are willing to look at nice-looking graphics.  If you can make graphics convey the point of your paper, then you will communicate with those casual readers.

Graphics I would have liked to use are copyright-protected, thus no option

It is customary to create your own graphics, even if you have a right to use other people's graphics.

No option to add computer-aided drawings like diagrams

That is an option.  For diagrams, I suggest you learn TikZ.
https://texample.net/tikz/examples/tag/flowcharts/

I have already used TikZ and yEd for diagrams. I am aware, that own graphics are preferred. But for the recent topic it simply makes no sense to draw diagrams. All I picture someone could do would be to redraw images of the described hardware, however, when enumerating multiple of them it seems not possible to add a graphic for each of them due to space limitations and it seems totally arbitrary and unprofessional to add graphics for only some of them. And these pictures would have no value at all.
I do not think that for the topic I chose, any graphic could convey the point of my paper...

Ask your supervisor.

Of course. But in addition to the context-related answer, I also want to have the global answer, thus the question here.

"readers are not willing to read your entire paper, but they are willing to look at nice-looking graphics" - Every paper gets the readers it deserves.

Similar to Anonymous Physicist, I think graphics are important, although I think "casual reader" is not the right viewpoint.
Academics have to read lots of papers. But there are many more papers than you really have time to read. You have to learn a method for evaluating whether a given paper is really worth spending serious time to read. A good example is given here by Andrew Ng. As he says, just reading a paper from first word to last is a bad way to do it. Rather, you read in multiple passes, and you can decide halfway through whether it's worth continuing. What do you read in the first pass? The title, abstract, and you look at the figures. (And other "how to read an academic paper" lectures tend to make the same points.)
So this isn't really a case of readers being shallow. Rather, of readers having time that they could be spending reading a different paper, if they can't quickly see whether your paper is valuable to them.
You can do without graphics, but you'd better have an amazing abstract.

Thanks for the answer. I think, I have a good point why people should read the paper, that is clearly visible when skimming the paper (due to formatting choices), plus the topic rare enough, that interested researchers are likely required to read all applicable papers they come across, anyway, as long as they seem to provide new insights. I do get your point with images, though and appreciate your explanation.

I think the reviewer was overstating the need. They are often helpful and sometimes essential, but not in every paper as you have seen.
But you might want to explore drawing programs more fully. And most composing systems from MS Word on up permit you to add graphics, sometimes by just cut and paste. Most graphics programs will create standard file format outputs such as png and jpg files that are acceptable in a lot of work.
For a school project, however, you need to do what is required, even if it is more restricted than normal.
Graphics are needed when they are needed, but not otherwise.

I rephrased the question. I do know how to use Latex and I am able to draw diagrams and create plots etc with R. Its just, there is no use case for that in this paper.

Good. I'll leave it as is for the possible benefit of future readers.

Please don't use raster formats for diagrams, graphs etc., especially lossily compressed ones like JPG.  Use vector formats like SVG or PDF, and save raster formats for photographs and similar


text:
Submitted PhD thesis but not allowed to proceed to viva until change supervisor contrary to quality manual
I am a PhD student from a small and relatively-new private university that was set up overseas.  The main home campus might be quite well known.  My supervisor 'left' the university 4 months ago, but he has been helping me all the way until I submitted my PhD thesis.  I submitted my PhD thesis 2 months ago, but my Graduate School insists that I should find new supervisor or they will not arrange my viva.  They also do not make things clear in writing, but wish to meet me instead. I did not agree to meet as  I am concerned about threats to me and behaviours that breach policy and standard and conditions that they do not want to put into writing so I cannot use as legal evidences.  Instead, I have discussed everything in writing.
I cannot agree to find new supervisor for the following reasons.
1) I already finished all my PhD work and submitted the thesis and therefore would not expect the need for any new supervisor who does not know about me or my work.  It is like I submitted my exam paper, and expect it to be marked, no matter if any problems occurred in the school.
2) I have done a lot of novel and important research and technical work so far which I would like to exploit further commercially and academically and do not want the involvement of others newly coming into the scene to stifle, limit or conflict with me.
3)   The supervisors that were proposed or allocated to me are not in the area of my work (although the School insists that they are).
I would like to pursue job opportunities that require my graduation certificate as quickly as possible.  However, I feels that the Graduate School is collaborating with the Faculty to coerce me into compromising my interests that could have been supported according to the Quality manual.
I am now very emotionally distressed.  I see no logic in the School authorities bullying me into conditions that are against my interests, and are holding hostage my viva opportunity.  I already had several email exchanges with the School authorities but they still have refused to allow me to proceed to viva without agreeing to a change of supervisor.
On the side, the Graduate School had also forwarded my thesis to some faculty members even when they have not sent it to my examiners, despite my application for thesis confidentiality.
The faculty representative for postgraduate students had also accused me of allegations of the Head of School who they want to allocate as my supervisor but I refused and explained the reasons why (he said these reasons are allegations). He cc'd his email to me to the Head of School and other School authorities, even when the school said that we can discuss with this representative confidentiality.  His breach of confidentiality also makes me concerned about retaliation from the school authorities.
I did have a co-supervisor who should be able to deal with being my supervisor, but it seems that the co-supervisor withdrew from being available after the Head of School discussed with the co-supervisor.  Now I am asked to find a new supervisor which is a problem created by the School for me.
What can I do?  I am self funding while they are holiding up my viva.  I am also trying to do some jobs to make ends me for me and my family.  I am really struggling to defend my rights and interests in this university, and I appreciate any comments you may have.  I have been writing to the home campus to ask for help, but they keep pushing back the school's problems to my campus.
Update
Dear all, thank you for the comments. I have attended a video meeting.  Instead of resolving the problems the faculty representative criticised me for poor communication with the second supervisor. Instead of accepting responsibility they tried to push the responsibility to me.  It was like a heated conversation.  They also called me on the phone to ask me to change supervision team and later when they wrote email to me to follow up they deliberately did not state this.  Instead they wrote in email not consistent with the phone call that my viva will be arranged with the examiners selected and if there is any conflict of interest with the examiners I should submit evidences.  However, that was two weeks ago and now there is still no news about the examiner arrangement!  I wonder as the English is not their native language they will claim misunderstanding.

At many if not all Universities I know the supervisor must be a member of the department. People from outside can be co-supervisors but the main supervisor needs to be someone from the department. If the Uni has any rule in this regard, your supervisor leaving means that someone else has to become your supervisor, even if you completed your work, but not your viva.. Sometimes rules and birocracy can create a headache.

Thank you for your comment.  I actually has a co-supervisor who can work as the supervisor in my Uni.  However, it seems the Head of School talked her into being not involved or available any more.  And because of this I need to accept the Head of School as the supervisor instead, which I do not want to for reasons I which I do not wish to write here.  This looks like the School creates the problems for me that I need to compromise to proceed which I feel is unfair.

In many universities, the first (formal) step towards attaining a PhD is a faculty member endorsing the thesis, recommending that it be considered for the award of a PhD. In the anglo-saxon system this person is usually referred to as the thesis supervisor. In some countries (especially in Europe) it may even be a (legal) requirement  that this person is a full professor. Hence without a formal advisor it may simply be impossible for the university to grant you a PhD.

In all that, I didn't understand precisely what's the problem with accepting any supervisor just formally, until the viva's done? The thesis is submitted, so it could just be a formal act? At this stage, the supervisor is just a figurehead, (unless you get major corrections). Can you make it clear what your concerns are? Perhaps it might be just better to just go through the process and leave everything behind as quickly as you can.

I don't understand the issue, here. You've already finished your research and finished and submitted your thesis. You don't need any more supervision. The janitor could give you all the supervision you need (because that is none at all). So what's wrong with accepting a supervisor -- any supervisor? It makes zero difference to your work, and it allows you to graduate. I see no down-sides.

@ayisha It sounds like there may be some bitterness among the other people in your story. I wonder if your dear supervisor has even said some negative things to you about the remaining faculty to make you regard them suspiciously. Regardless, I encourage you to remember that hard feelings are usually blown out of proportion around the time of an argument. Unless somebody was assaulted, just ignore it. Focus on making your own scholarship the very best it can be. Do what needs to be done to finish — even if it means interacting with and taking the advice of someone you don't like.

Confidentiality means that they won't share what you say with other people. It doesn't mean that they won't share what they say with other people, unless what they say involves things that are confidential in themselves. And "allegation" just means "claim". And accusing someone of allegations means that you are asserting those allegations. You seem to be saying that they are accusing of making allegations.

I think you are trying to pick a fight based on the assumption (2)... Yes, it is possible that this was forced on the co-supervisor, and that this is a conspiracy against you, but it is also possible that you see a conspiracy where there is none and trying to pick a fight over this...

The first thing you should do in this situation is to get a copy of the rules for your PhD program, and read the rules for supervision and for the viva voce.  Usually these rules will stipulate a requirement that the student must be supervised by a member of the faculty, and this would generally include the entire period of the candidature up until the degree requirements have been met.  (Even if the thesis is submitted, it has not yet been approved by the examiners, so it would be usual for you to have a supervisor, in case changes to your thesis are required.)  The fact that you do not want a new supervisor is really beside the point --- it is most likely a requirement of the degree program.  If this is a requirement under the rules of your university, it would not be unreasonable for the Department to take actions to satisfy this requirement.  This might also explain why your thesis has been passed around to various members of the faculty (i.e., they are looking for someone willing to supervise you in this area of research).
With regard to the viva voce, the degree rules should set out the requirements for being able to sit.  This might be something that you are able to undertake at your own discretion, or it may be something that requires the consent of your supervisor (in which case you will need to have a supervisor to proceed).  If the Graduate School is requiring you to find a new supervisor before arranging this examination, then you should check that this is a requirement.  If it is, then you are going to need a supervisor, but based on the concerns you express in your question, I would recommend looking for one with a "light touch".
Finally, with regard to meetings, you mention being afraid of "threats" or other breaches of required conditions, but it is not clear why you are expecting this.  Unless there is some good reason to the contrary, I would recommend that you try to resolve this matter cordially and professionally, by meeting with the relevant staff and discussing the requirements of your degree, and your plan to meet these requirements.  Make sure you make a file note directly after each meeting, so that you have a record of what happened.  If you like, you can also circulate your file note to other participants (make sure it is accurate and neutral), to ensure that there is no dispute as to what was agreed in the meeting.
Nothing you have described in your question sounds to me like bullying (although I was unable to make sense of your description of allegations from the postgraduate representative).  Nevertheless, it does appear that you are in conflict with your Department over your degree requirements, and you will need to establish exactly what these requirements are.  At worst, the university staff are imposing requirements that may not be in the rules, and you should check to see if this is the case.

In bureaucratic struggles of this sort, the best outcomes often go to the person who has familiarised themselves with the applicable rules, and who is diligent in proceeding according to those rules and documenting all relevant communications.  I would therefore recommend you undertake the following actions (in order):

Read the relevant university rules for your PhD program.  In particular, find out if it is a requirement for you to have a supervisor, and find out the requirements for the viva voce.  Determine whether or not you meet these requirements.
Based on this information, and assuming you meet the requirements for the viva voce, email the Graduate Coordinator for your Department (cc. to the Head of Department) and ask them to arrange this examination, citing the relevant rules, and the fact that you meet these requirements.  On the other hand, if you do not meet the requirements for the viva voce (e.g., if it requires supervisor approval), then you will need to proceed with whatever is required to meet those requirements.
If the Department staff want to meet with you, I would recommend meeting with them, and be professional and cordial.  If the rules require you to have a supervisor then you are going to need to bite the bullet and cooperate with this.

Dear Ben, thank you for your comments.  I actually has a co-supervisor who can work as the supervisor in my Uni. However, it seems the Head of School talked her into being not involved or available any more. And because of this I need to accept the Head of School as the supervisor instead, which I do not want to for reasons I which I do not wish to write here. This looks like the School creates the problems for me that I need to compromise to proceed which I feel is unfair. They are trying to 'allocate' the Head of School to be my supervisor.

@ayisha You keep saying two things, first that the Head talked your co-supervisor out of being your supervisor and second that you cannot accept the Head as your supervisor. Until you can present this case to an authority above your department Head and have it resolved, you will be left stranded.

That is correct.  He is asking the rep to allocate him as my supervisor.   I suspect malice of this Head.  He may want to sabotage me because he considers my supervisor as an enemy.

@ayisha - your (ex) supervisor is now gone. Unless you have a factual basis, suspecting 'malice' and 'sabotage' is taking you in the wrong direction. Read the rules. Consult with appropriate authorities. The Head could just be taking this on to not burden other professors with this bureaucratic detail.

Based on your description I am not convinced that there is as much malice involved as you think there is. This just sounds like bureaucratic rules at work. In that case this is a fight you cannot win.
Alternatively, you could try to transfer to the new institution of your old advisor. But then you have to deal with all the bureaucratic problems involved with that.

It may also be worth mentioning that, if this is indeed the case, a "relatively new" University would probably be compeled more than an older University to follow the rules to the letter.

I have a small sample size (3ish) but every university I've ever attended had cultural in jokes about how the place goes out of its way to prevent students from finishing their degrees. My own theory is that it just always seems that way to students as their own main goal in life is just to finish that degree, in much the same way that every athlete is convinced every referee is trying to help their opponent.

Don't panic, take a few deep breaths :)
First let's back up a little bit: what did your supervisor plan for you before leaving? Normally it was his responsibility to arrange something with the administration with respect to your PhD. Even if there was no plan you say that he has been rather helpful, so maybe you can contact him and ask him for advice? he's certainly the best person to tell you what's best for you and your PhD.
If you trust him to protect your interests, it would be ideal if he could recommend somebody from the department as a supervisor. It's very common in this kind of circumstances to have a supervisor just for administrative purposes: they would just sign the paperwork and probably not even look seriously at the content of your work, so they don't even need to be from the same field.
It's important that you understand that the requirement to have an official supervisor must be met for you to pass the PhD. It would be the same anywhere, your school is not doing anything special by enforcing this requirement. Even if you had the best reasons in the world, it's a standard rule in academia: you can get any supervisor you want, but if you don't get any you won't be allowed to pass the viva anywhere. So sorry to say that being stubborn about that is not going to get you anywhere, currently it seems to me you are your own worst enemy: by refusing this you entered into a conflict with the school administration, and that's not ideal when you are hoping to pass the viva soon.
Apparently you were not aware of this requirement and it's not your fault, it's your supervisor who apparently wasn't very careful and didn't plan things properly. You should contact him and you should also talk to this co-supervisor: normally the co-supervisor is the natural choice when the main supervisor has to be replaced, so there needs to be a clear discussion: if they refuse to supervise you, and it's only on paper for only a few months so it's not a big responsibility, they owe you at least an explanation.

PS: "It is like I submitted my exam paper, and expect it to be marked, no matter if any problems occurred in the school." Actually a viva is not really like a regular exam. In principle the supervisor is the one asking the committee to consider giving you the PhD diploma, so they kind of vouch for you. This is why the supervisor's approval is required before passing the viva and their presence is required at the viva. You can see it like this: your application to the PhD doctors' club will only be reviewed if it is supported by an existing member of the club ;)

One detail in your question that popped out to me was this:

They also do not make things clear in writing, but wish to meet me instead. I did not agree to meet as I am concerned about threats to me and behaviours that breach policy and standard and conditions that they do not want to put into writing so I cannot use as legal evidences. Instead, I have discussed everything in writing.

Unfortunately, written communication can often be a lot slower and less expressive than speaking face to face, so your school might have a perfectly legitimate reason to wish to arrange a discussion in person.  If you're concerned about inappropriate things being said "off the record" in such a meeting, I would suggest you agree to the meeting but bring a voice recorder.*
Note that the legality of recording spoken conversations (and the admissibility of such recordings as evidence of wrongdoing) varies between different jurisdictions (and also depending on the circumstances where the conversation occurs).  As you have not specified where you live, you will have to check your local laws on this (and/or consult a local lawyer), but generally speaking the rules are likely to fall more or less into one of the following three broad cases:

You're free to record any conversation you participate in, even secretly.
You're allowed to record the conversation, but must inform the other participants of the fact that you're doing so.  After being so informed, they can either speak on record or not speak at all.
You will need everyone's consent to record the conversation.  If they do not consent, you may choose to turn around and leave.

In cases 2 and 3, you will need to start the conversation by stating that you will be recording it, and possibly asking if anyone present objects to it.  If so, try to do this in a way that will not come across as unnecessarily confrontational.  Useful phrases to work into your statement may include e.g. "to avoid any later misunderstanding", "for my peace of mind" and/or "just in case I forget anything".  Don't say anything that implies you don't trust the other people present (even if you really don't).  You may also want to explicitly state that you don't object to anyone else present also recording the conversation, either.
If you like, you could also ask for permission to bring a third-party observer to the meeting.  Of course, unless there's some specific rule saying that you're allowed to bring anyone you like to such a meeting (which there might be, but it may be buried in your university by-laws), this probably requires you to find someone sufficiently trustworthy and impartial to be acceptable to both sides.  If the level of trust breakdown evident in your question is mutual, this might be tricky, but your university may have some kind of an ombudsperson whose job is to mediate such conflicts and to whose presence the staff may find it hard to object.  Of course, you'd presumably need to discuss the situation with the ombudsperson first (which may be a good idea anyway).
Anyway, as other answerers have already noted, your department head and the other people involved may have perfectly valid reasons for requiring you to find a new supervisor for your viva, as your former supervisor is no longer a member of the faculty.  Of course, that doesn't prove that they couldn't also be insisting on it for some nefarious purpose, although, as you noted yourself, it's not obvious what they would have to gain by doing so.  In any case, in situations like this, it's usually a good idea to at least consider the possibility that everyone (or at least most people) involved might just be trying to resolve an awkward bureaucratic situation in good faith.  Sure, don't trust anyone blindly or sign anything without reading it, but also try not to needlessly dig your heels in and create unnecessary confrontation just because you suspect someone must be out to get you in some way.

*) Your cell phone probably has a voice recording app preinstalled on it, or you can download one.

If I were you, I would just choose a new supervisor and graduate as soon as possible, rather than messing up with the HR (or whatever they are called).

1) I already finished all my PhD work and submitted the thesis and
  therefore would not expect the need for any new supervisor who does
  not know about me or my work. It is like I submitted my exam paper,
  and expect it to be marked, no matter if any problems occurred in the
  school.

You only work with the new advisor to complete the viva, and do not produce any research result. Unless you tell everybody you meet, nobody outside your school will know (s)he is your supervisor. It is unlikely that they will put you on your CV as their student for some paperwork. Even if they do, why is it a big deal?
In industry, nobody cares who your supervisor is. In academia, people also rarely mention their supervisor (unless the supervisor is a big shot in the field :-)  ).

2) I have done a lot of novel and important research and technical
  work so far which I would like to exploit further commercially and
  academically and do not want the involvement of others newly coming
  into the scene to stifle, limit or conflict with me.

After you graduate, you are free to do whatever you want, e.g. cutting all connections with the current department. About the authorship, it is extremely unlikely that they will try to claim any work you did with your former advisor.

3) The supervisors that were proposed or allocated to me are not in
  the area of my work (although the School insists that they are).

This makes any risks in 2) even less likely. Those supervisors may be as annoyed as you are about the process.


text:
Completed Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical need advise to take Master in Chemical Engineering
This is behalf of my sister posting here. she has completed her Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical and ready for Masters in Chemical. My question is whether any other available category under chemicals like bio or pure chemical, thermal etc. Which one is good in scope out of India.
She needs to take (Environmental engineering) in chemical, but my friends are advising not to take any core related chemical engineering because in India 90% of the company refused to take women employees to work in any chemical companies.
Doing Masters in Canada, Germany which one is good? How much cost per year? Which College/university will be good? How long the course duration? What are the basic requirement like IELTS etc need to consider before applying?
Regards,

What does she want to do? That seems the more important consideration.

She needs to take (Environmental engineering) in chemical, but my friends are advising not to take any core related chemical engineering because in India 90% of the company refused to take women employees to work in any chemical companies

It seems very hard to continue in a field in which you have no real future. I can't offer alternative fields, not being well versed in any sort of engineering, but I can offer two thoughts.
Some people are willing to study something purely for the love of it and not for employment. That may well be impossible in your sister's case. But if employment isn't necessary then it might be an option to just continue. But only if the true love of the field is there.
The second idea is that if she becomes the very best person in the field - first in class - and can offer more than any other candidate then those normally discriminatory companies may take notice. But this is a hard path. In fact, many successful women outshine the males at the same "level" of employment. Still sadly a fact.
As a bonus idea. If she truly loves the field, then academia might offer a career path with somewhat lower levels of discrimination. One hopes anyway. But again, this is a longer path with its own difficulties.
Good luck to her.
Your recent edit suggests study outside India. That might be possible provided that she is willing and able to immigrate to some other country permanently. But in a difficult situation, the costs might mean less than the opportunity.

If chemical engineering is a regulated industry in India, a career in government might be an option.


text:
Which date (received, accepted, published) is relevant when citing a paper?
I want to cite this article in my thesis. Which date should I to use in my bibliography? At the beginning of the article, there are three dates

Received 28 April 2021
Accepted: 5 November 2021
Published online: 17 January 2022

I would use the "accepted" date, because I guess it was proofread.

Most articles will tell you how to cite them, in this case if you go to the webpage for the paper, and click "cite this article" it will take you to the citation - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11139-021-00536-2#citeas - which you may need to reformat to the preferred style of your university but should have the same list of authors, date, issue number, etc.

Back when I was a grad student, it was easy.  After you spent forever looking through issues of some journal and finding something interesting, you'd read it, then close the cover and look at the publication date.

@Flydog57: Today it is a total mess. You have the preprint date, the early access date, all sort of confusing stuff. A few months ago I randomly noticed that a publisher changed the date of one of my papers, because it switched from "early access" to "in press". Of course, nobody notified me. So that paper changed date twice in its life: preprint, early access, now in press. I think this is confusing, but I guess things happen that way now.

It's kind of funny to me that we have more information now, yet we're discarding it in the end anyway. There are three dates that describe a more detailed history, but instead of using a meta tag type of labeling system to clarify what the dates mean and disambiguate, more ambiguity is being introduced merely to satisfy university preference. It's not good from a data science perspective.

The received/accepted dates are interesting from an author's perspective to see how quickly/effectively the journal performs, but they are not part of telling a potential reader where to look for the publication. Extreme case: Accepted publication gets delayed for a year for whatever reason. You wouldn't use the accept date to make someone look in vain for an unpublished publication (you'd cite it as unpublished or "to appear ..." or whatever).

The other answers are correct, but let me offer a different angle.
Stop thinking, and start using the Bibtex entries from Zbmath; in this case, click on the Bibtex button before the references on https://zbmath.org/7576459 . Life is too short to worry about references and insert them by hand.
EDIT: Note that this piece of advice is specific for mathematics. Bibtex entries offered by most generalist sites, such as the publishers' sites and Google Scholar, often have poor quality and get capitals and diacritics wrong. However, for mathematics, there are two literature databases that produce very high-quality Bibtex entries that can be used without double-checking them: Zbmath (100% free, offered by the European Mathematical Society), and Mathscinet (good if your university is a subscriber but severely limited in its free version, by the American Mathematical Society).

Auto-generated BibTeX entries are a great time-saver, but one should always check them, they are often enough wrong.

@StephanKolassa This is true for the ones by the publishers and Google Scholar, but in my experience Zbmath and Mathscinet have much higher quality.

The date you're interested is in the very first line of the paper you link to

The Ramanujan Journal (2022) 59:181–198

2022 is the only date you need.

The publication date - as others have already said - denotes the date in which the article has been released/published. A quick search in Google Scholar will always confirm the correct date (year), and that is the date to follow (for purposes of consistency). The year will be updated once the journal issue is published, assuming it is not the same year, so it is a good idea to always follow the journal's model (cross-reference this information with the journal in question), and again, no matter what, remain consistent.


text:
Asking a professor for materials before the course
Next semester I will be at another university taking several subjects. I want to ask the professors there for the materials they use in class before my arrival, so that I can study them before the start of the course, or at least have a general idea of everything they are going to give.
Is it appropriate to ask them about their entire course's materials? Might it come across as pretentious or irritating? (Especially considering they don't know me or even have ever seen me at that university.)
Is there a concrete way to do it politely? Am I just exaggerating and there is nothing to fear?
For example, I wonder what to do if they don't answer and whether it's appropriate to ask them again.

Are you enrolled in the course and will you be sending from an email address affiliated with that university?  Both of these will help.

Have you looked for the courses' web pages? Or any trouble finding whether there is one?

I hope you are not one of those who gets the notes and then rarely attends the lectures.

I am enrolled as an exchange student, so yes, I sent the mails through the university email.

I have looked to the courses web pages, but they just have a description and some points. I study mathematics, so I would like to get a bit ahead to fully enjoy lectures and be able to comprehend them in a deeper level than just going "to see what happens".

So, the thing is that I normally need to have seen a bit of the materials in advance cause following professors directly in the classroom without something already prepared in mind of what I should expect makes me doubt everything they do as I have unfortunately had too many professors who didn't prepare their lectures or just because I am very suspicious of everything. So in order to be able to go out of the hall with something in mind that wasn't cataloged in my mind as "possible garbage that you have to correct in a thousand places" I like to have the materials before for a prelecture.

I'm not saying that classes are always bad (some of them are wonderful), but my head usually acts that way when faced with something new if it hasn't understood it in depth: with distrust. So in order to enjoy them I like to have the materials already read.

I would treat such a request as appropriate and might be able to send you or point you to some things. Others might not respond at all, so don't be disappointed.
Make your note short, less than a page, with a brief explanation, a request for anything available, and a thanks for any response.
A follow up could start to be irritating, and it might take a while to respond, depending on too many things to list here. So, be patient, at least.
And, this is a situation in which it might be deemed more appropriate not to share things, depending on the course and how it is to be managed. And, such things might not be available for distribution and might not even exist early on.

As mentioned in the comments OP should start by checking what is already available online on the professor or the course website. If the material is there, emailing the professor will be seen as irritating.

A good rule to keep in mind is that you can ask for these materials, but you are (most likely) not entitled to them. Make sure never to imply that the teacher has an obligation to send you anything ahead of time. Or even to answer promptly, since they likely have to do many urgent things that students are entitled to.

Before the semester, I would send you (1) the syllabus and (2) the name of the textbook. R1NaNo's answer prompted me to say that I've mostly taught major classes on the smaller side, so my answer is about those, not large lectures, and I agree you'd be more likely to get them in that context.
I would not send you my presentations, which it sounds like what you're asking for. Why?

They're not done (I'm early career, and your mileage may vary with other instructors).
I want the ability to modify them without confusing/upsetting you.
When I teach a course, the materials are designed to go together. My slides are not designed to be learned from without me talking and without asking questions, so that is not a product I necessarily want to "publish" or share.
They build on one another in an intentional way. If you're really excited about Unit 4, I don't necessarily want you skipping Units 1-3.

Furthermore, many professors do not supply their slide decks at all (for various reasons, including pedagogical ones that I'm not sure I disagree with). In short, I would find a request for all of my materials entitled and a little inappropriate.
Start with the syllabus - although if it's only a few days before the semester starts, I wouldn't bother.

No dispute here, but I would probably be willing to share slides, if available, even with a caveat they weren't finalized and were not for redistribution. As I noted, people differ in such things, with valid reasons.

It wasn't the question asked, but sending out slides to everyone a couple of days before they are to be used (end of previous class period, say) can be useful. Among other things, they can ease note taking.

@Buffy No, it's not, but I am worried they ease note-taking too far

I think that printing out the slides before class and then writing notes on them as the class progresses can be a good habit. It avoids the issue of trying to copy what you see and also capture what you hear simultaneously.

@Buffy Yeah, I understand the arguments for. But I don't want to derail the comments so I'll just leave it at that :)

Presentations are designed to be presented, not to be studied on their own. \

I'm very curious what it means. The ultimate point of the class is to give students knowledge in any way possible, and not just to make attendance.

@Mihail When I teach a course, the materials are designed to go together. Have you ever heard the advice to put bullet points on a slide and to not just read off your slides? This means that my slides are not designed to be learned from without me talking and without asking questions, so that is not a product I necessarily want to "publish" or share. I also find that the more you enable people to skip class, the worse they tend to do. So, on average, I don't find a lot of benefits to the student to do this (after all, the course is designed to work without reading all the material first ...)

... and some possible downsides.

"I would not send you my presentations [because] I want the ability to modify them without confusing/upsetting you." - you can host them online and share the link instead of sending a copy which will quickly get outdated.

@TrangOul I could, but I don’t think that’s less confusing or good for the students.

Anecdotally, in one of my senior/elective grad courses, I had opted to not provide slides two out of 7 times I have taught it in its current style/format. Those two years, the class average was 7 and 9% higher. I provided simple summary slides after the class to help with studying, but structured the course to motivate attendance, engagement and note taking. Maybe I'm just showing my age, but I learned mostly from profs writing on the board and taking notes.... thing is, it actually stuck!

@R1NaNo Yeah, I decided if I teach a class frequently, I will make two slide decks or a deck and outlines. It's not feasible when standing a class up for the first time.

The slides can often serve as a kind of detailed syllabus, at least that's what I sometimes used them for when learning. So no, it's nothing like a text book, but very useful for learning: Either you know what all the bullet points mean and how they go together in context (because of overlap with previous lectures or because you are studying the slides after having taken the lecture or other previous knowledge), or you don't so you know exactly what you have to look up online/in textbooks/look for examples in exercises or old exams.

@Nobody Nothing you've said is wrong, but also doesn't support sending a student an entire slide deck before class.

Dear Prof. X,
[introduce yourself briefly.]
I was wondering if you had any materials related to the course (such
as slides or notes) that you might be willing to share before the
course starts. This would be very helpful to me in getting a head start, but of course I fully understand that you might not be able to share course materials in advance.
Thank you, IAG

I do not recommend asking for "their entire course materials", this indeed sounds a bit entitled to me.
Whether they "have seen you at that university", on the other hand, is most likely going to be entirely irrelevant to the professor, as is your concern about sounding "pretentious".

I think it's fair enough to ask.
Depending on which class, my response would vary.
General service class I have to teach every few semesters? Sure knock yourself out. I'll even given you the suggested reading and problem sets. It's a class of 400 and historically 250 show up at best anyway (ironically that's not far off from the typical pass rate).
Advanced or graduate class? The answer is no. The slides are subject to change up to 10 minutes before the class. Why? Because I am actively thinking about it, constantly updating it, and responding to prior performance on quizzes. What I can offer you is some suggested general reading.

Most colleges and universities in the US use Learning Management Systems (LMSes—these are systems like Moodle, Canvas, BlackBoard, etc.).  When I teach a class, I upload any course materials intended for students to whatever LMS my institution uses.  If your institution uses an LMS, I would suggest that your first stop should be there—log into the the LMS, and see if your instructor has posted anything.
After you have checked the LMS, then it is reasonable and appropriate to email the instructor if there is some material which you think might be missing.  Send the email from an institutional email address—many universities and colleges have pretty aggressive spam filtering, and messages sent from outside of the institution might be "quarantined" or never delivered.  Keep it short, don't make demands, leave out irrelevant details, and be specific:

Dr Henderson,
I am enrolled in [Course Number and Section].  I have checked the LMS and see that you have posted [a syllabus | notes | whatever] and that the text book for the class is [whatever].  Are there any other materials that I need or that you can provide to me before the semester starts, such as lecture slides or homework assignments?
Thanks much,  [Student Name]

Note that the response is very likely to be "It is all on the LMS" or "It will be on the LMS shortly".  Note also that some instructors will be happy to share additional materials with you, and others will not.  Some instructors have slide-decks or written notes that are prepped and ready to go long before the semester begins; while other instructors (like myself) tend to leave preparation until not long before the class actually meets, in order make changes in response to class performance and needs.
I would also be slow to follow up.  The beginning of the semester is often a rough time—classes are being moved around and reassigned to different instructors in order to meet student demand, instructors are prepping for the first day of class and are very likely overwhelmed with requests from students, administrators, advisors, and other parties.  My own institution has a policy of requiring that emails be answered within two business days, so following up on the third day is not unreasonable, but it is also worth it to give your instructors grace and understanding—they are probably almost as stressed out as you are right now.

I'm going to be honest, I very much disagree. If you check the LMS, and it looks fleshed out, then that's all there is.

@AzorAhai-him- I don't necessarily disagree, but I do think that one of the things that students can do to be successful in their classes is to learn how to communicate with their instructors.  Politely asking if there are any additional materials is not inappropriate.  Though I suppose that some instructors will react differently.

In any event, the main point is that students should start by checking the LMS (and the syllabus), but that they should be comfortable reaching out to an instructor with additional queries.  I've made a small edit which, I think, addresses this better.

The only potential faux pas here is acting entitled to the course materials in advance. The exact rules will vary from institution to institution but generally speaking you should expect to receive the course syllabus on the first day of class, the assignment details on the day they are assigned, and the course notes/slides (if offered at all) after the corresponding lecture.
Some professors may have materials on hand in advance and be happy to share them with you, so it doesn't hurt to ask politely. You should not expect such materials to be available for the same reason I do not expect students to turn in their homework weeks in advance.


text:
Further study with bad scores after psychology undergraduate (Australia)
I recently finished my Bachelor of Psychology degree with bad scores. I know honours is off the table for me but now I’m thinking that the Graduate Diploma of Psychology (Advanced) might be unavailable too.
My scores are entirely Cs and Ds. What are my options? I'm currently redoing one unit (intermediate psychology research methods).

You say nothing about what your overall goals are, only that you have considered two different paths to gaining one more year of undergraduate education in psychology. From your choice of units in 3rd-year, it looks as if you might have entertained the idea of pursuing a career in clinical psychology or health psychology. The typical path in Australia would of course be to do an honours degree, followed by a Master of Psychology (Clinical), a PhD in clinical psychology, or a D.Psych ... and all those paths are likely to be currently blocked.
Most useful, I suspect, would be to devote some time to considering why your grades are not as good as you have hoped, and then to consider whether there are any obvious things you might do to correct the problem. Simple lack of smarts is not easy to overcome. On the other hand, if you were an ATAR entry student into university, your fundamental problem might simply be that you are still growing up, and that whatever is involved in that (independent structuring of your time and study, earning an income, supporting yourself at university, socialisation, or whatever) has taken more of a toll than you expected.
In that case, the solution might be to leave university studies, learn more about yourself and what you want to do, and then consider returning in three or four years time as a mature-aged student ... meaning, of course, older than the grand age of 22!


text:
Is a "PhD by prior publication" recognized the same as a conventional one?
A "PhD by (prior) publication" is an alternative way of pursuing a doctoral degree, where the degree is awarded based on a portfolio/collection of (related) papers that the candidate has published in peer-reviewed journals. This approach seems to be more common in Australia and the UK, but even then it still is not very widespread (according to Times Higher Education, only 1 out of 3 UK universities offered such opportunities). Is a degree obtained in this way just as legitimate, and does it hold the same value and recognition in other countries (I am mainly interested in the EU and Canada, but not only) as a conventional PhD?

Legal: Would it pass the "recognition of a degree obtained abroad" procedures?
Perception: Does it hold the same perceived value for the people who will be evaluating the CV later on?

Would someone looking over the CV have any way to know that it was a PhD by prior publication? If the person has publications in non-predatory peer-reviewed journals, does that not indicate that they know how to perform research?

Recognized where, exactly?

" 1 out of 3 UK universities offered such opportunities" I strongly suspect that is not true.  Usually such things are decided by the thesis examiners, not the university.

@AnonymousPhysicist ... "Usually such things are decided by the thesis examiners, not the university"  The university decides whether such a thing is possible at all.  If it is allowed, next the advisor would have to agree.  And only then the thesis examiners would be involved.

@GEdgar I think that's mostly false.  "The university" does not read the thesis or regulate its contents in detail.  I really doubt there is a university that forbids, university-wide, a thesis that is a portfolio of published work.

Perhaps there's some ambiguity in the question: "PhD by prior whatever" might mean not doing the usual coursework requirements, preliminary exams, etc. In the U.S., in my experience, most universities like to have lots of control over credit hours (even at the graduate level), tuition being paid, etc., and would not permit a dept to aware a PhD without doing all those things. I think that's @GEdgar's point. On the opposite hand, sure, the stuff for_the_thesis could have had its origins prior to enrollment, sure. :)

Nobody will care in which way you obtained your PhD, as long as you obtained your PhD. There is no legal difference, and in all likelihood, very few people will ever look up your PhD thesis to actually find out. All that matters is that you have the three letters; nothing else is of importance.

What matters for "acceptance" of a degree is not how it was achieved, but the fact that it was awarded by an accredited (for doctoral education) institution. If they call it a PhD and are certified by appropriate agencies to award PhDs then it "is" a PhD and it would be extremely rare for anyone to question it.
It is possible, in fact, for an independent researcher without a doctorate to do seminal work, perhaps in a new field, and only then apply for a degree. If the university judges the work as "equivalent" to a dissertation then they might award the degree, depending on their rules.
So, people in general with few exceptions, will defer to the university and the judgement of its faculty. The precise nature of the doctoral work and any dissertation is secondary.
Note, however, that the system isn't perfect. Some dissertations are garbage, even fraudulent. Even Einstein's doctoral dissertation was a very minor work compared to Special Relativity, though they occurred in the same year.
The exception, of course, is "honorary" doctorates, but those are marked as such and usually given for things other than doctoral level research. But you don't seem to be asking about such things.

From a legal perspective, I see no reason that legal recognition of a degree would distinguish between a PhD that included a dissertation and one that was done by publication.  In both cases there is an award of the same degree, and the distinction is purely internal to the university.  To the extent that a legal process would inquire into this, it would be solely at the accreditation level --- i.e., there may be processes by which the State reviews and awards accreditation to universities that recognise their degree programs.
As to the perceived value, there are two things to bear in mind.  Firstly, people will typically not even know which you did; perceived value of a PhD degree in academia is usually a superficial assessment made based on the institution that awarded it (perhaps also the supervisor) and people would hardly ever bother making any inquiry into the content of your PhD program, dissertation, etc.  In your CV you will state that you have a PhD degree in field X from university Y awarded in year Z.  That is all the information that people will have and I have never heard of any member of a selection panel, etc., ever asking for more information on content.  Secondly, even if a person were to inquire about the content of your program, the primary purpose of a PhD program is to teach a person to do scholarly research, and a PhD by publication demonstrates this at least as well as a PhD by dissertation.  Most people who scrutinise your academic CV will care more about your publications than your PhD degree, precisely because the publications are the best evidence of your ability to do scholarly research.  Ceteris paribus (particularly with the same publication record), it is unlikely that one option would be perceived as better or worse than the other.

why the downvotes?  This seems like a perfectly acceptable answer.

"Sandwich theses" are quite common in some domains, usually ones where students are expected to publish during their PhD. They hold exactly the same value as classic theses in institutions that allow them (most places that I know) and are only distinguishable by looking at the content.
One remark: personally, they annoy me. As an external, it is difficult to do anything with a sandwich thesis.. I have quite a few times found stuff that I was not quite happy with in a proof or numerical work. However, if the work is a published paper, then I don't feel comfortable criticizing something that has made it through peer review unless there is a major mistake. I am an external twice a year on average and most of my recent evaluations have been of sandwich theses. I understand the appeal to students (and by extension to supervisors), but I wish I saw more of the classic theses, where I really feel that my role as external can make a difference.

A "sandwich thesis" isn't a "PhD by publication".

@BryanKrause I think that rather depends on the context. I've heard both "sandwich thesis" and "PhD by publication" to refer to same thing: graduating based on a thesis which is just a collection of published work, as-is, with an addition of intro+conclusion chapters. The answer doesn't, however, address "PhD by prior publication" (which, to my understanding, would mean you are awarded a PhD based on research done outside of formal PhD studies).

@penelope I disagree, they're quite distinct. A PhD by publication suggests you've not been officially enrolled in a program during your studies and are getting the degree for what you publish. A stapler thesis is just a thesis format. No matter what you aren't getting a PhD for your thesis document, you're getting it for the research it contains whatever the format.

At least in the circles I'm in, I've heard the terms "sandwich thesis" and "PhD by publication" used interchangeably; in both cases the person was enrolled into a PhD programme while the research was being conducted. On the other hand, "PhD by prior publication" is different, and suggests, as you say, that the research has been conducted outside of a PhD programme.


text:
Is it good idea to divide a paper in pure mathematics?
I have written an almost 30-page paper in mathematics (in number theory).
The paper contains two parts.
The first part is an independent study, which is a generalisation of previous work by other mathematicians, while the second part of the paper depends on the first part. To be precise, I have used one result from the first part in the second part. Each part is written in different sections.
The second part is a generalisation of a previous publication in a Q3 quartile and an international peer-reviewed journal, published by Pleiades Publishing and distributed by Springer. To give some idea, by generalisation, I mean I have generalised the previous results in a higher-dimensional case.
The reason I am giving details about the journal is because, recently, I got a rejection of the current paper, which consists of two parts mentioned above.
The referee report says:

Since the first part of the paper is a strict generalisation of the previous work and since the second part is a generalisation of the previous published paper (which was published in an ordinary journal) of the authors, I don't recommend publication in this journal. The author can submit it to another journal. The referee gave some minor suggestion.

I am not sure if it is reasonable to judge the work of a paper by looking at its parent paper's journal. Interestingly, both journals (the journal where the previous paper was published and the journal that rejected the current paper) are in Q3 quartile.
Anyway, I have a plan to divide the paper into two separate parts. This is because, for the first part, I have found one nice application that will make it more appealing. I want to divide because I am worried that the second part might dilute the overall optics of the combined-paper, especially after the referee report. If I divide, then I don't have to cite the published paper (which I cited in the second part of the paper) for the first part (to be a single paper).
The second part (to be another single paper) can be sent to an ordinary journal, as hinted by the referee, while the first paper (due to its new-found) application) can find a good journal.
But the problem is that, the whole paper is in arXiv database, so for the second paper, I have to cite the arXiv paper. That seems awkward.
Should I divide the paper? Should I also upload separate parts to Arxiv while the combined-paper is already in Arxiv?

Regarding the Arxiv version, that is precisely one of the things the comment field is for. I.e. once both are published you can simply update this to say something like "Sections 1-N appeared as ... and sections N+1 - M as ...".

SCNR: Of course you can divide the paper, just not by zero.

The general (headline) question's answer is "it depends". It depends on the paper and on the journal. However, it is a good idea to follow the advice of reviewers and editors.
So, in this case, it might be best to separate the paper into two and make independent submission decisions. After separation, you might be able to expand on the second part and have something more substantial.
Don't worry about the ArXiv issue. It is what it is. Papers there are not usually assumed to be in their final form. Cite, of course.