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My research supervisor is asking me to fake results, what do I do?
My research supervisor wanted to produce a cost-benefit analysis for an infrastructure project (civil engineering). First he had someone else work on it, then he involved me. When I got involved, I noticed that the benefits were inflated and the costs downplayed to convince the reader of a massive benefit-cost ratio. I do not know if he stands to personally gain from this. I discussed it with him a few times, he pushed back with "I am experienced and I know I am right", and eventually in the final revision of the paper he changed my numbers. The way he changed the numbers is not even smart, he just changed the text, he didn't redo the calculations. Now I fear that if I bend under pressure, these bad numbers will be out there, forever! I am sure he will take the published paper and send it to every politician in the country trying to get this project approved. What can I do? I am still his PhD student so I can't get too confrontational.

Possibly related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/31265/19627

Are you completely sure that your conclusions are correct? Dishonest supervisors certainly exist, but if this is your first project / proposal in this domain, it's also possible that your supervisor's guesstimates are more accurate than your calculations.

What is an "infrastructure project"? Is it about civil engineering? Or something else? Please respond by editing (changing) your question, not here in comments (without "Edit:", "Update:", or similar - the question should appear as if it was written right now).

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

One word answer here -- don't.  Seriously, read some of the other answers, however

Make absolutely sure you understand the numbers correctly before suspecting, or even worse, accusing your advisor of dishonesty.
The following text only applies if you have satisfied yourself that there is no way these numbers could have been reached in an honest way.
If you are absolutely convinced of this, get out of there, under whatever pretext. You do not need to confront your supervisor, for which you have little power at this stage; but get out.
You are not only in danger of damaging your academic reputation. If the study enters policy, you may be indirectly or directly made responsible for wastage of public money and could face potential legal consequences stemming from that.
If your supervisor is really into shady practices, he may even deflect any potential fallout that might transpire to his "dishonest" student coauthor; i.e. you.
Do not accuse him of that. You have no proof and it is almost impossible to establish facts in the constellation you are in. Just get out of the paper, and ideally, out of the PhD relation. Find an excuse.
You have my sympathies for a situation which no one should be ever be in.

+1 for "he may even deflect any potential fallout...to...you". If he is dishonest as it sounds like he is, he almost certainly will do this. Honorable leaders shield their teams. Dishonest ones park the bus on top of them to save themselves.

One does not have to make any explicit accusations of malfeasance to insist one's name be taken off the analysis. Saying that you do not have enough experience to verify the numbers should be enough if everything really is above board (where I am using 'should' in its ethical sense, not as a prediction of the outcome, unfortunately.)

Your first sentence is critical, but "get out of there" should be coupled with (1) "Write a letter to the paper's publisher/journal/sponsor asking to be dropped as author, and expressing concern about academic dishonesty in the fabrication of data and results by remaining author(s)," and (2) "Notify your university's office of research integrity (however it is named) of your professor's academic dishonesty in the fabrication of data and results." If he is intentionally fabricating data, the dude should never publish again. CAVEAT: Only if you are certain he is fabricating.

@Alexis I refrain from suggesting self-sacrificing steps to vulnerable OPs; I feel I do not have the right to demand or even suggest such action from them. If undertaken, I would recommend OP to trigger investigations only after OP has secured their future. And OP should also first check with a third party whether their advisor's handling of the matter really constitutes misconduct or is just a misinterpretation on the OP's side.

@CaptainEmacs I appreciate the perspective. Let me add: this OP is not not only one vulnerable. If their advisor is indeed fabricating, future students and collaborators are also vulnerable, as are those downstream of any policy decisions made based on fraudulent research. 100% agree with third party reality check.

@Alexis Vulnerability: True, but everyone has to balance for themselves whether they are ready to re-enter a burning house to save other souls. And, in all likelihood, OP might end up being burned for good, but the politically adept advisor might survive with only scratches. This has to be factored in in the decision.

First off, I'm sorry you were put in this position. I know you don't want to get confrontational but your supervisor crossed a line. I don't know how far along you are in your PhD but I think it's time to look for another supervisor (could be a different university). Here's what I would do:

Stall this publication to give you some time
Quietly look for another supervisor
Once you have a back-up plan, confront your current supervisor
If he agrees to keep the real numbers, great, go ahead and submit and then change supervisor
If he refuses, demand not to be listed as an author, and then change supervisor. DO NOT ACCEPT TO BE A PART OF THIS

In my opinion, you have to cut your ties with this guy as soon as possible (even if he agrees not to change the numbers). He might already have done the same before and his publications could be a ticking time bomb until someone figures it out and his reputation collapses. He might also already have a shady reputation to begin with.

I've seen transfers before for much more benign reasons, without any fuss. You just have to frame it in a positive light. EDIT: Of course it might mean giving up on some research material that might have been completed yet.

You need to make sure your understanding of cost-benefit analyses is on solid ground before anything else
So this is this is my first time answering a question on Academia, but given this situation is based within my area of expertise as a Professional Civil Engineer, I think it's appropriate to provide input on how difficult it is to 'accurately' put together a cost/benefit analysis.
Costs - From your question, you had indicated that your advisor had utilized the costs of a local contractor while you were depending upon published numbers from similar papers/reports. Consider a few things with the sources you're using, if you're relying upon RSMeans for example, you're going to need to consider that the costs of all work will vary considerably between Oregon, Texas, and New Jersey. Furthermore, you must further break those costs down to consider the cost of material, labor, and overhead/profit. Greater union participation in the northeast results in labor costs being higher than the national average.
In addition, you need to consider the local economic climate. Estimates I prepared prior to Covid are completely worthless today due to massive supply chain disruptions which have invalidated my previously reliable material costs.
What I can tell you from my work experience handling asset management planning for municipalities is that I don't rely upon published numbers for asset valuation and maintenance if I can help it. I'd much rather get my information from the people that work in the area and adjusting for CPI because when it comes time for that maintenance to be done, they'll be the ones performing it.
Additionally, you should be aware that there are definitely some costs which are very difficult to account for and it's not unreasonable for a civil engineer to just throw a dollar amount and justify it with 'professional judgement'. I don't think I've ever issued a formal estimate that I didn't slap an additional 20% onto the back-end for 'contingency', because the amount of times we open the ground and it's not identical to the survey is just about 100%.
Benefits - So this is where things get a little bit hazy. You have to consider who the audience is. From your question it doesn't sound like the target audience is another engineer, rather it's political in nature and to that end they may've hired your advisor to put together an analysis which depicts this project in an extremely favorable way. I want to make clear that this is not automatically unethical, there are a lot of gray areas in civil engineering and if you elect to pursue this as a career you will find yourself in them often.
ESPECIALLY for infrastructure projects. They are costly to perform, they result in traffic, they often require tax increases, and a bunch of other politically unpopular things. But the reality is, very often municipalities aren't setting money aside to maintain infrastructure because otherwise that political victory might happen in a different administration and the current politician loses their re-election bid because they're 'wasting' money on infrastructure projects and maintenance that 'definitely isn't needed'.
As for accounting for benefits due to increased economic activity not being 'actual dollars related to the project', are you sure? Would that increased activity have occurred without it? If you are trying to justify installing a new tide gate to mitigate flooding issues caused by worsening climate change, you may need to include in the benefits all the flood damage you don't have to account for. As a whole, the general public doesn't appreciate money that wasn't spent on things that didn't happen, so your advisor might be trying to show this ratio to help them see that benefit in a different way.
Recommendations

Ensure you understand the goals of the client on this. Bear in mind that as a civil engineer, you will occasionally be in ethically ambiguous situations, but you do have an ethical obligation to represent your client's interest. This doesn't mean that you lie, but there are lots of ways to present technical information that makes something look more appealing. If you're unsure if you're going too far, consider the key tenets from ASCE's Code of Ethics, which require you to hold paramount the health and safety of the public. As a reminder, the public often won't understand why they need to pay more in taxes, so it can sometimes be your job to present data in a way to persuade them.
Have a discussion with a colleague (not your advisor) about the ethics of the situation. Ethics is always hazy and having another person to discuss things with can help a great deal. If your colleague considers the matter to be unethical, or bordering along there, then request a meeting with your advisor and ask for their input on the ethical implications. It may be that the paper should have some kind of disclosure included; this is akin to a City Engineer disclosing to the City Council about some kind of conflict of interest they may have relating to a project they're responsible for inspecting. The Council can elect to replace the engineer for that project or acknowledge the conflict and elect to allow things to proceed based on their trust of the engineer.
Document everything. Hopefully your advisor's word-of-mouth cost estimate is backed up in writing in some fashion, because that's going to need to be an appendix. For most projects, it's very common a ratio on the order of a 20 page narrative and 200 pages of appendices, so don't be shy on providing them.

UPDATE
Practical Engineering released a video specifically on engineer estimates. I'd encourage you to watch it to provide further context on this answer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOe_6vuaR_s

I think this is a great perspective.

Every cost benefit analysis includes assumptions. There will always be pieces that are a bit ambiguous and can be done several ways. Based on your edit, the items you are disagreeing about would not be a case of fraud, but of judgement (and the supervisor’s judgment does not seem unreasonable on the face of it here).
The correct thing to do is to be very clear about the assumptions and where the numbers you are using are coming from. Ideally, you would also be transparent about the other options you did not choose and how they would affect your results in the paper, but that does not always happen.
At this stage, I would suggest you do two things. First, add text around assumptions made to the paper. This may be an appendix. This will not change the overall cost-benefit “answer”, but will at least allow a careful reader to ascertain what is being included and left out. It should also be okay with the supervisor since it is not affecting the paper’s takeaway “sound bite.”
Second, if there is really no justifiable way to defend some of the calculations, suggest an alternative with the justification that “readers may find this number to be a problem” or “people will attack our overall conclusion as being biased if we include this number.” The key is to put your objections “in the mouths of the reviewers” and therefore not make it about your inexperience vs. your supervisor’s experience. If the supervisor won’t budge, just continue to document heavily in the appendix.

If I want to get a new roof next week, which cost is more relevant?
A) A published average for roof replacement, or
B) The estimate a local contractor gives me to do the work next week.
Surely, you can find pros and cons to each: published numbers aren't for my roof, so they're biased if my roof isn't a typical one. Published numbers might be based on costs for materials and labor when the previous study was done, possibly a year or decade ago, and not apply to next week (even straightforward adjustments like accounting for inflation may not be representative, since inflation doesn't affect prices of everything equally).
On the other hand, the contractor I got an estimate for may be cheaper or more expensive than average. Their estimate may not include cost overruns that are typical for a project like this.
Neither A nor B is fake, and probably most people would be offended and insulted if they used either estimate A or estimate B and you called them a fraud, or told other people they were a fraud. It seems your advisor is leaning towards using an estimate like B, and they feel their expertise gives them a better judgment than you in that decision. Maybe they're right, maybe not; we don't have enough information here to know.
It's fine for you to argue for the benefits of (A) over (B), but I would keep out any accusations of serious misconduct until you have strong evidence of them. The most important thing for your paper is to be clear in your methodology. If your cost estimate is based on an estimate given by a local contractor, you need to write that in your paper and explain how that estimate was reached.
If your benefits estimate includes secondary economic benefits, then explain clearly what those secondary economic benefits are: what are they based on, how does the methodology used to reach those numbers compare to other literature, etc.
You certainly should not be basing your final judgment of the estimate on whether the number "seems reasonable". Sure, it's a bit of a red flag to investigate if your numbers are far from what you expect, but ultimately the best answer is the answer you get with the methodology you justify. If that number is cost:benefit of 20:1, then that's the answer. It doesn't matter if 20:1 is "reasonable" itself or not, if all your assumptions to get there are reasonable then the answer is, too.
I'd also echo a comment by @a.t. - when there are multiple ways to answer an estimation problem, one solution is to provide a range of answers. If you can demonstrate how different assumptions lead to different answers, your reader can be better informed, can better understand the levels of uncertainty, and can possibly use their own judgment of what circumstances are most likely closest to the truth.

+100 for "be clear in your methodology" - excellent answer.

I do not understand why none of the other answers may consider the case that there is no ulterior motives here. Especially in the case of engineering, academic calculations are based on ideal situations (none of which are in the real world) modeled after conditions which are not well understood. Actual estimates from industrial sources (the alleged source of the professor) are closer to reality when looking good data to use. The professor is presumably more experienced in the field than a PhD student and likely has a better idea than a PhD student on the reliability of sources iif information in the real world.
In addition, the subject matter is a cost/benefit scenario, a question of economics; riddled with assumptions based on an economic model that doesn't fit reality that requires predictions of the future (something which is somewhat of an art) so I wouldn't even take a subject matter expert's likely facetious statement like "Just trust me I'm right" offensively as their best guess (a core engineering skill) is likely better than a student's just ftom experience.
Just to offer a different perspective, if the proffesor says his information is more reliable, just try to understand the underlying reason for determining the reliability of the data. That said, you should absolutely point out that the calculations are inaccurate if they aren't rerun with the new data presented.

"I do not understand why none of the other answers may consider the case that there is no ulterior motives here." - actually several of the other answers/comments insist that OP should verify that there is explicit malicious intent. They specifically base their answer strictly on the condition that malicious intent has been unambiguously established. It's ok for you to give a detailed alternate perspective, but not good form to diss them for failing to include something you miss. Especially as they answered the OPs question rather than posing a frame challenge. Not downvoted yours though.

Cost Benefit Analysis is not an exact science and all benefits cannot be accurately quantified. The key is to understand if the revised calculations are transparent and defendable. Let your supervisor know you still don't understand how he has come up with his numbers and what his assumptions are. Also ask him who the audience for the analysis and what he expects they are looking for.
It's likely your supervisor has one foot in industry and one foot in academia. Large infrastructure programs, where CBA is used, generally do not show strong returns when initially calculated on base assumptions. Some of the benefits need to be padded a little, and this is where your supervisor will be relying on his experience. His padding will need to be supported by his assumptions.
Politics are also heavily intertwined with infrastructure in the public space. Politicians will expect, because they think something is a good idea, that it will be supported regardless of the result of the analysis. There are surely cases where the benefits will never stack up, such as a monorail, and others that, although the benefit can never be shown on paper are generally considered good ideas with significant public benefit.

I am not a civil engineer, so it's totally impossible for me to judge what you are saying based on the merits. So, this is some general advice.
I think, as others have said, a cost-benefit analysis is not something that has a right answer. I think the main requirement should be that the numbers are justifiable and source-able, and there is a reproducible way to get from your assumptions to the results of your analysis.
The differences of opinion in the "Note" part of your answer, to me, are difficult to parse for correctness. For example:

he wants to rely on word-of-mouth cost estimates by a local contractor instead of my idea which is to use published numbers in similar papers/reports.

The details really matter here. How "similar" are the papers and reports to the actual costs the project will incur? How reliable are the local contractors? Based only on what you have written, the truth could really be on either side... it could be that you are estimating costs for some very specialized task that local contractors don't have experience with, and that you found some papers/reports covering essentially the same project that are very reliable. Or, it could be that the papers/reports are similar but different in some crucial aspects and include some extra elements that are not necessary for the project you are working on, and the contractors can give a better estimate for the specific tasks you need.
Given the murkiness, I would generally advise against thinking of this situation in black and white ethical terms. If you were very experienced in this field and could prove your advisor's estimates were going to miss the mark by a factor of 20, then it might be a different situation, but I suspect this isn't the case as you are a research student and were pulled onto this project at the last minute.
Instead, I would focus on trying to understand what assumptions your advisor is making and how they derives their results from their assumptions.  Unless your advisor is totally incompetent or a fraud, both of which are unlikely, there is some path that you can follow to derive the results. Even if you don't agree with the assumptions, if the assumptions are clearly stated and the main results can be reproduced, then I would classify this as a difference of opinion, and not an ethical dilemma. You may indeed learn something from understanding your advisor's reasoning or why they trust their source of information over the sources you are using. Again, you might learn something, even if you don't agree with the methods in the end. And it won't ruin your career to be associated with this analysis. You will gain experience, have a paper, and as you progress you'll have more opportunities to do things your way.
In the event that you are 100% sure there really is no way to justify the analysis, either because the assumptions are objectively wrong or the analysis is bogus, and after discussing your concerns with your advisor they aren't willing to correct demonstrably false statements, then I agree you need to get out. To be clear, I think being 100% sure is a pretty high bar here, because a cost-benefit analysis is going to be murky and you are not an expert with a lot of experience. But if you are really sure that this is what is happening, talk to someone senior in your department that you trust (like a grad chair), explain the situation, and try to get away from this advisor.


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How to find a full scholarship with accomodation?
I'm trying to immigrate outside my country and found that all employers require degree certificates before work permit sponsorship.
I've dropped out of college and have been studying at home online. I don't have any college certificates apart from a recent ESL teachers course diploma certification that I got earlier this year.
So, I don't have money for education and accomodation abroad.
My Question: Are there any scholarship websites where I can post my resume and desired course and they could probably grant me a full scholarship for my studies?
I have about 3-4 open source projects that include a barcode app, a file browser app, whatsapp app and an iTunes playlist converter app...
Could anyone suggest me how to study without any initial finance? Co-op courses or full scholarships are what I'm hoping to find online..
Thanks!

Can you say which country are you from? it will help a lot.
Regarding your goal moving to the US: get in touch with foundations and the like. Private money are the way to go for the US. Otherwise, try to look into European countries as well, or South Africa, or even Australia, they may have scolarships for Bachelor students.

I'm from India. I cannot opt for a graduation degree course due to my age (36y). Hopefully any diploma or certification that could get me a placement could be much better. I've studied on udemy, coursera, YouTube, and api documentations. I only need a university certification for a placement. If not, then hopefully a scholarship to study for a short term course.

What would you mean by private money?

Foundations, rich families and companies "helping the word in getting better" and things like that.
However, I wonder if it would not be easier for you to start your own company, looking for clients all over the world, since you have the knowledge and you can perform some work. When you save enough money, then you think about supporting yourself abroad.

Ok. Thanks! I'll try and work on projects or study online for placement abroad. Thanks again!

Full scholarships for undergraduate study in US are quite rare. They are sometimes give for extreme hardship, but mostly to US citizens. They are sometimes given for truly exceptional merit. They are also given to fairly exceptional athletes in some sports.
For an international student, I'd think that some funding originating in your own country would be a better possibility. Perhaps a company could sponsor you. Perhaps some organization that sees a need for more people educated in a certain field could help.
Doctoral study is different and most students work as a TA to finance their education and living expenses. But these are not normally available to undergraduates or even masters students.

Have a look at how can you enroll in german universities, or scandinavian universities.
Some of them offer (relatively speaking) not so expensive bachelor and master courses.
If you are looking into US universities, we are talking about tuition fees being 10/20 times lower, with similar or cheaper costs of life (ok, this is a  gross assumption, Stockholm , Swedem will be more expensive than Urbana, Illinois)

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How important is it to note, in a citation, where a book/paper was published?
Citation systems often specify writing down the location (e.g. London) that a book/paper was published, how important is this, and if it is important, then why is writing down the publisher/journal name not enough?

Are you asking why the location is usually required, or are you asking whether it's okay to omit the location?

@henning both questions, I think they are closely connected so I think it's reasonable to ask both questions simultaneously?

I'm asking because whether it's okay really depends on the particular citation style sheet you have to comply with. APA and MLA are unambiguous in that they require the location. Whether MLA and APA should get their act together and get rid of this arguably outdated convention is a different question.

@henning personally I don't have to comply with a particular syntax, I don't think, it just has to be consistent. JeremyC's answer is interesting on the same item being published by the same publisher in different locations potentially being different?

The idea is that when you cite someone else's work then you make it reasonably easy for any reader of your work to verify your sources. That means that you need to cite precisely the work that you used. It sometimes happens that "Smith on XYZ" went through several editions, some of them published in different places. It is unlikely that you will always know all the places in which a work you cite has been published, or whether there were any changes in the editions published in all those places. So traditionally you just quote, precisely, where the work you used says it was published.
All the above is still true, but it has to be admitted that the world of electronic publishing has made matters less straightforward. In the early centuries of printed books, printers sometimes wanted to boast, and sometimes were legally required to state, where the printing press was that produced the work in question. Nowadays, however, there might never have been any kind of printing involved other than the reader's own computer printer. The guiding principle nevertheless, remains: cite your references with sufficient precision to enable an interested reader locate them. For example, one often sees references to websites. It is good practice to include some such statement as "accessed on [date]" but even then website references can often prevent a reader following up your work.

I've generally omitted the locations of publishers in the bibliographies that I prepare. (When co-authors assemble the bibliography, I go along with whatever they want, as long as it's consistent.) I haven't (yet) gotten any complaints from editors or publishers about the missing locations.
Looking at the situation as a reader of other people's papers, I don't recall ever being hindered from finding a publication because the publisher's location wasn't given, nor do I remember being helped by the location when it was given.

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Do I have to acknowledge my dissertation supervisor when they never even replied to any of my emails?
My dissertation is just for an undergraduate degree, but acknowledgements are required. I have sent two direct emails to the internal supervisor who was assigned to me, one introducing myself and one asking for advice. There have also been several emails where they have been copied into, just to keep them up to date with my progress.
I plan to acknowledge and thank other staff members (academics and counsellor), my external supervisor and a friend.
I have never received a reply from this internal supervisor. Do I have to acknowledge them if they've never bothered to respond to a single email let alone help in any way? Alternatively, or perhaps additionally, I'm considering excluding them altogether from the title page and cover sheet where I'm required to name my supervisors.
EDIT: Just wanted to thank everyone for their insight and suggestions. I'm still considering which path to take and in the meantime I have mentioned the lack of response to my course leader again, just in case there's still an alternative route at this point.

You could also thank them for their help, which has been “of incalculable value” in blah, blah, blah. I did this in my dissertation and got a free trip to see the Dean. Nothing happened as a consequence, but probably best to heed the good advice by @Buffy.

Are you sure this is abnormal (in your context)? I have seen instances where day to day supervision of undergraduate theses were delegated to PhD students, and the main supervisor only took part in the formal evaluation (defense, grading, etc.). In any case, it is probably not up to you to decide whom to include in the title page and cover sheet, you'd most likely have to follow the format prescribed by the university.

@EdV at least you said incalculable, not of imaginary value!

Have you contacted whoever "assigned" this supervisor to let them know that you did not receive the supervision you expected from them?

@EarlGrey I thought of using “inestimable” in place of “incalculable” and I also considered the sharper “it would be hard to calculate the value of”, but no sense pushing it. It did not hurt that the Dean was transitioning to becoming a post-career poet. Always good to know how to read the room.

I think this is normal unfortunately.  When I did my MSc thesis, one of the supervisors responded to emails so infrequently it seemed they had no interest in the success of the project.  I still thanked them as a formality in the acknowledgments, sometimes you just have to do these things.  It would serve no purpose to make an enemy, especially so early in your career.

Requirements don't have to make sense, unfortunately. A lot of things in academia are more akin to jumping through hoops than solving problems. That's part of the territory, unfortunately.

@EdV it is not true.  It seems easy enough to calculate that their help was of no value.  It is possible for help to have negative value.

I was in a position very similar to yours. I learned a few things in college, and one of those things is "small fish don't get to make waves without consequences". I learned that lesson by doing what you are considering. I would advise against it, but it did feel good.

@emory Not only is it possible for help to have a negative value, but we had lots of that, including some very deep negatives. Some PIs simply should not go into their own labs. Looking back, some of these episodes are now funny, but they were not at the time. I could write a book, that only a couple of people would believe, about all the stuff that happened in our lab. Like the time all of us grad students in the group resigned while the PI was out of the country for multiple months, leaving us with negative funding, and ham radio was our only contact option (none of us were ham operators).

If someone provided no value as if they don't even exist, I wouldn't acknowledge them, however toxic the "respect & don't burn bridges" culture may be.

Don't do things that will come back to haunt you. Name them on the title page as required, certainly.
As to the other, I won't advise, but it is possible that the advisor saw no need to give you feedback if they felt that you were making appropriate progress otherwise. If you sent an email and specifically asked for a reply then they should have done so, but if it read as "informational" then a reply might not be considered necessary.
If they are required to approves/sign your work for credit and graduation then it is better to go along even if it seems unfair. First, protect yourself. Don't bite the big dogs.

"Don't bite the big dogs" is a very good advice. A PhD student in my department refused to include their main supervisor in their acknowledgement (but did add the name where it was required by bureaucracy) as the prof. had been anything but helpful through the years (constantly absent, often changing things last minute, scolding for not managing to change things last minute, etc). The end result was that the PhD student got a bad word in every university where the prof. had contacts (many!) and that no one in the dept. could publish anything w/o the prof. accepting the acknowledgements first.

@Mrkvička I would say that the PhD student had the privilege and the luck of not stepping into the network of the professor. If he/she was a smart person, he/she would find an opportunity outside of that world. Most likely a rewarding one (as always is, when you find a path on your own). On the other hand, If he/she could get in that network, he/she would think how bad conditions are imposed by that professor to other PhDs ... or even worse, he/she would impose such conditions because those conditions are boundary conditions imposed by the big dogs.

@EarlGrey I don't think it would have been that bad if the PhD student had managed to get into the network (when not angering their prof. first), there are ample of reasonable professors available but the problem is that they often rather listen to the word of another professor than of a PhD; it's hard to argue that the prof. was the bad person when they only show their nice side to other professors. My point with the anecdote, however, was that not only did the PhD get a tougher time, but so did all students who remained in the department as well.

@Mrkvička "but so did all students who remained in the department as well." so the first student was a trigger of change, and the change will go through all these students, in two possible forms: either the professor realize how he/she is faring, or some of the students will miracolously go somewhere else in the professor network, bringing with them the truth about said professor ... which will slowly see his/her relevance vanish.
Plus, the students had hastly to realize they needed another reference than their advisor: short term pain, but a good thing, in the long term!

I think Buffy gives wise advise.  Moreover, OP should give serious consideration to the possibility that no one will ever actually read the dissertation - so maybe in 10 years OP will have forgotten about the acknowledgement section and the unhelpful advisor.

No news is good news.

@Mrkvička: The reason such bad advisers remain is because people who know their mistreatment of students do not speak up about it. Of course, everyone needs to weigh the cost of speaking up against the benefits, but it is really ridiculous that many people who can effect change instead hide the misdoings.

A story from ancient Greece:

Diogenes was knee deep in a stream washing vegetables. Coming up to him, Plato said, "My good Diogenes, if you knew how to pay court to kings, you wouldn't have to wash vegetables."
"And," replied Diogenes, "If you knew how to wash vegetables, you wouldn't have to pay court to kings."

So the question is, would you rather be Diogenes or Plato? Perhaps you prefer to be truthful with some cost to your reputation, or perhaps you prefer to be polite with some cost to your sense of personal integrity. It really depends on which you value more highly, and we can't tell you what to value.
That said, we can tell you what the cost to your reputation might result in: a supervisor who may be unwilling to write a reference for you when you graduate, or who may write a less glowing reference than otherwise; who may not think highly of you if you apply for a postgraduate course at the same institution, and may be unwilling to supervise you if you do; and who may be in a bad mood while grading your project. On the other hand, the cost to your integrity is fairly small, and you likely won't even think about simply having written their name in your acknowledgements section after a few months or a year.
Still, if you are Diogenes the Cynic, then I can't say it's wrong to leave their name out. In that case, though, do leave them out entirely; it would be unnecessary and rude to damn them with faint praise or say anything negative about them.

I always consider the cost to my reputation of not being truthful first (as well as the cost to my own self-respect)

@uhoh In many cases, dishonesty can harm your reputation, indeed. In this case, though, I don't think the OP's reputation could plausibly be harmed by thanking their supervisor in their thesis's "acknowledgements" section.

Here's how I solved this problem once. I simply wrote something along the lines of "I thank Prof. X for agreeing to supervise my studies". Looks like an entirely valid acknowledgement - people not aware of Prof. X not having done any supervision at all won't notice how I actually have nothing to thank for except signing an agreement.
This way, I did not have to express fake gratitude but neither had to potentially cause trouble by leaving out an "important" person.

First: their name on the title page and the cover sheet is not an acknowledgment whatsoever, it is just a bureaucratic formality. Sure, it is an implicit acknowledgment, they are in the front page, but it is simply because they officially accepted and (most likely) they did the final review of your submitted thesis. If anyone discover that you plagiarized material for your thesis, they will have some issue as well.
Second: there are two sides to their silence.

the obvious "you did not have such a big relation, they did not care", which is somehow understandable, considering the pandemic and the total lack of empathy that people have in the academia (i.e., they did not understand that even an encouraging "good job, keep on" can be tremendously helpful).
you actually were doing a good job on your own, so among the bazillion things to do, a bachelor student is somehow after the least important thing. I don not share this view, but it is a common view forced by the extreme load imposed on people in the academia.

So, who cares about being polite? since they did not complain, it means you did a good job, they did not help, so do not acknowledge them, stick to the bureaucratic requirements of placing their name on whatever sheet of page required, but simply ignore them in your acknowledgement.

(+1) Sadly, your second bullet point is more often true than we should be comfortable admitting.

Third side to the silence: An overzelaous spam filter ate all the e-mails and they never actually saw them.

Or that they did loads for OP, but it was all behind the scenes

@Valorum, unlikely, but not impossible (albeit statistical significantly at the quantum mechanics level), some of the loads of work always spill out ... and if it part of this work on reviewing the thesis usually it is welcomed as "my advisor brings up tons of corrections at the last minute" ;D

@EarlGrey - for all OP knows, the supervisor may have written every lesson, marked every piece of work submitted and responded on behalf of the professor. It's not unusual for a professor to actually be a team headed up by a single person, in the same way that Santa doesn't actually reply to all those letters personally.

@Valorum Santa does not exist, sorry to bring you the sad news. But you are right, there are TA and PhDs and assistants dummy enough to reply on behalf of the professor without ever asking for acknowledgment. However here we have the case of professor or her/his minions not doing the job, or if they are doing it, they are not comunicating it, which in the age of publish or perish is a terrible attitude.

@Valorum My supervisor is the professor, though not one I've ever been taught by, met or spoken to.
Unfortunately I didn't get a response from them at all, directly or from a disguised minion, which EarlGrey did point out so I'm just stepping all over their comment really.

(+1) I agree in particular with the last sentence. Others seem to assume that the professor wants to be thanked/acknowledged...while this is possible, I think a reasonable person would not expect this if they didn't do any work, and may even be (slightly) taken aback to find themselves being acknowledged for no particular reason.

Perhaps the subject of your dissertation was assigned (possibly in discussion with you) by him/her; if so, already one reason to acknowledge.
As a supervisor, s/he equally is ultimately in charge to let you access his/her research group to use lab space, technical equipment (like computers and glassware), consumables (like chemicals), group specific know-how (directly or/and by fellow co-workers in the group); surely worth an acknowledgment, too.
While interaction of the PI with the day-to-day business may vary (e.g., due to the size of the group, his/her engagement in teaching, organization of the group), his/her work contributes to keep this running e.g., by grant writing, establishing collaborations with other groups.  In addition, preparing publications, reviewing other publications, participation in commissions of uni/professional societies demand attention, too. As an undergrad, many facets of this work may not visible to you (yet).

An external body and supervisor who I'll be acknowledging provided the subject, the internal supervisor had nothing to do with that.
Use of lab space or equipment wasn't required as my project options were limited to literature reviews because of COVID-19.
I understand their existing workload and commitments were likely very demanding however with this in mind, perhaps they shouldn't have agreed to supervise an undergrad who would mostly likely need direction with their dissertation. I wasn't asking for my hand to be held, just some advice, which is what I was told they were there for.


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Is MLA Humanities Commons a valid alternative to Academia.edu etc.?
I've recently discovered MLA's Humanities Commons network and its CORE repository. It seems a viable non-profit alternative for sharing and preserving scholarly work to commercial ventures such as Academia.edu or Researchgate, whose downsides (1, 2) are well known. Does it represent an effective venue for disseminating one's own work?

Your question is a little bit too broad, so I would kindly ask that you narrow to a more specific question. What is your main concern with MLA as a platform? I use it and it is 100% legit. The main difference is that they are far more concerned about legal repercussions. Academia/ResearchGate will let you upload almost anything, no questions asked. MLA will have a staff of students to verify if your upload is really a preprint and that you have the legal right to upload the paper. So it can take a few days to 2 weeks until your upload is public.

Thanks, @djohn, for your comment. I had no specific concern, I was just trying to get some general feedback about how its features. The downsides of commercial products such as Academia.edu are well known [(https://kfitz.info/academia-not-edu/)], so I was looking for a viable non-profit alternative. I'll try to rephrase the question though!

I don't see why this is opinion-based. Asking how Academia.edu is perceived in comparison to the ArXiv wouldn't be considered off topic either.


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How to structure a Research Project
I am starting with an independent research MSc thesis in Computer Science for six months.
I already have a research question, a goal to accomplish, and the dataset.
What tools can help structure, plan, measure and organize their research work?
e.g. Gantt Chart in Excel to overview the tasks;
keeping a daily journal of what I did, and a time tracking software.

Welcome to Academia.SE! Unfortunately, this question is a bit too broad for our community. Check around online; a quick google for "how do I begin doing research for a phd" pulled up this, which you may find useful. I also recommend you talk with your advisor and/or fellow students. Good luck!

hi, thanks for the feedack. I narrowed it down to the tools to use for good research project management.

You probably won't be surprised to learn that this is a common question. Start with this question which is pretty much the same thing, and also just do a general search and peruse the answers. Happy to reopen if you have additional focused questions but I think you'll find some useful thoughts already written.


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Is it a good idea to ask my postdoctoral mentor for a recommendation letter when they have extended my contract yet do not seem impressed by me?
I am a postdoctoral fellow, working in a rather prestigious institute in Asia, for about a year. To be frank, I was rather surprised to get a position here, as many people here have spent at least some time in Ivy league level colleges. I did my PhD in a good university in Asia, but it is not well-known for my field. Moreover, I did my undergraduate degree in my home country, and it is not a very reputable university despite being the best in the country.
Part of the reason I got this position was because my present mentor decided to fund me from her grant, unlike others who are funded by the institute. My mentor is also highly respected in her field, basically a superstar. However, I made some mistakes after coming to the institute. Firstly my mentor had told me earlier that I had research freedom, but after arriving I slowly realized she did not really mean it.
The main mistake was choosing to work on a project with multiple other authors including her, and in a topic that was only related to my previous work in a minor way. It was really out of curiosity and an interest to learn that I took up this project. As the project was going on, she started hinting that we should discuss topics closer to my specialization, but I naively said maybe we could do that after the current project was done, and she just chuckled.
It became confusing when not long after that she said she might be able to extend my contract, so that I would not have to apply for a postdoc during the next round of applications. It sounded great to me but I sensed something was not right, and indeed I eventually realized, when I spoke to her, that she wanted me to work on something closer to my specialization, as she said it was a promising topic.
I started working on the topic, but somehow nothing worked out. To top it off I was subject to a lot of indirect condescension and even racism from colleagues at times, which made me even more anxious. Strange local contract laws, Covid restrictions, loneliness and maladjustment just added to my troubles.
I did ask her about my performance and about whether I contributed enough to the first paper (that did get published), and her answer was that I contributed more than some other coauthors. To make things more confusing, on one occasion she said she felt I was doing well, but on another occasion she said that she felt I was not very competitive. Shortly before this, she had also mentioned to me that it was important to become an expert in one topic if I wanted to get another postdoc.
It is now the season for postdoctoral applications, I have no concrete new results, and to be honest I am full of regret for not just playing it safe after arriving, and working with her on something I knew well. She was kind enough to give me the official contract extension recently, but for various reasons I still feel like applying and hopefully securing another postdoc.
The main reason is I am sort of a persecuted person in my home country, where I have no freedom of religion. I have permanent residency in the country where I did my PhD, but the longer I stay away the more likely it is that I will lose it. I am really hoping to make it to the West and find an academic job there (the country I am in does not take in foreigners easily), or go back to the country where I did my PhD and find a similar job there. But both of these are difficult, as both options seem to require that I have studied/worked in the West myself.
A positive recommendation letter for the postdoc applications from my supervisor, who is very influential, might help. She said she did not mind writing one, but my fear is that it might be negative given my performance and silly choices (although she is aware of the non-academic challenges I faced in the institute). A negative letter from her might irreparably damage my chances of lasting long in my career.
Should I go ahead with getting a recommendation letter from her?

Could you not just ask her if she is willing to write you a strong recommendation letter? If not, why?

I never really knew one could do that, since I thought such letters are confidential. Thank you for the suggestion, I could try asking, but it is hard to say if she would give me a straightforward answer.

The contents of the letter are confidential, but the information whether she would be willing to write you a strong letter isn't.

I'm not sure why you think she doesn't appreciate your work. Every indication you give here suggests otherwise. She thinks you contribute a lot (more than others), she wanted to extend your contract, etc. I think you will get a good letter, but you can ask her about it directly, though that is a bit uncomfortable.
And, in any case, a letter from the supervisor is almost always needed.
Don't worry too much about research results being elusive. If you are doing serious research (as a student or thereafter) that is the nature of it.
Talk to her about your long term goals and ask for her support in getting there. Both in the current research and in finding a more permanent position. I'd guess that she would welcome having you as an external collaborator and you would also benefit greatly by keeping contact and collaborating as much as possible.
I'd also guess that the residency question is causing stress that might be leading to fear of failure that is probably not warranted.

Thank you for your reply. It is really encouraging and helpful. Indeed asking her would help, but to be honest I am not sure whether it would come across as rude according to the local culture. But I guess it is worth a shot.


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Not being paid for work contracted to institution when I am the sole worker
I work in a small, specialised, tech research team in a UK HE institution. I have recently been asked to do some consultancy work involving a separate institution. Although I will be the sole participant from our team, the work has been contracted as consultancy by the team, not myself. I will be working during my normal hours.
I am uncomfortable about this because:

I am currently paid well below the national average salary for my role, and I have little assurance of a substantial pay rise in the next two years - in fact it will likely flatline. The amount that will be paid for this work would actually bring me up to that scale.
It's not clear to me that this money will not go to actually pay (at least in part) for a new, junior member of the team. I have no way of knowing, because I have not been told what will actually happen to the money. But I have some suspicions. I think I have a right to know. It doesn't seem quite right that my labour might be contributing to the costs of hiring someone else.

Right now I'm seriously considering walking away from this post, since I could very likely get a better paid role in industry, where I once worked. But I am in two minds, since the work is fulfilling, to a large extent, and will certainly contribute to my career development. I'm on a fixed-term contract, with the possibility of a few years extension, but only on the same pay.
Do I have any kind of case here? I ask because I really don't know. This might all be entirely legitimate... but it feels fishy.
(Would like to go into more detail, but I'd prefer to leave it at that for anonymity. Thanks).

I am not familiar with UK law; it's also certainly possible something there is something to your contract that would change this answer, but I don't see how you can get that addressed without your contract in hand and a lawyer by your side.

I am currently paid well below the national average salary for my role, and I have little assurance of a substantial pay rise in the next two years

Seems like a good reason to be uncomfortable, but your pay has little to do with this particular project. If you feel you are not properly compensated, you should ask for a raise or leave for another job that you feel will pay you more fairly. Academics are typically paid less than their industry counterparts in my experience, and this is in part because they get to do more interesting stuff, so consider what your role is exactly and whether you're actually comparing yourself to a comparable role in all ways.

The amount that will be paid for this work would actually bring me up to that scale.

It's not clear to me how you've figured this exactly. Have you considered all overheads? If you quit your current job, would the other institution hire you at the contract rate? Presumably some of the money is going to overhead costs and your supervision, as well, have you considered that?
In any event, this isn't how compensation works for anyone. In private industry, companies contract out their employee's work all the time; there is only rough correspondence between what those companies bill for the work and what the employees doing the work are paid. There's even less correspondence when the work is done for an internal project - if you do 10% of the work on a project that brings in $20 million a year, the company doesn't write you a check for $2 million.
Even for private contractors who arrange and are paid for their own work directly, they do not bill based on the specific work performed but on a more general basis to cover all their costs in finding and bidding work, opportunity cost given being on one contract prevents them from taking other work, etc.

It's not clear to me that this money will not go to actually pay (at least in part) for a new, junior member of the team

It's perfectly reasonable for an entity that takes in money to spend it on something, such as staff. Money is fungible. You are being paid to do work, if you are unhappy with that arrangement you can leave and find another job.
Generally in academic work, work done today is used to obtain future funding for future work, directly or indirectly. Everyone is benefitting from work someone else already did before they started, and everyone's work will benefit other people later. I don't think it is fruitful to think of this owned entirely by you. You didn't get the job on your own, you weren't offered this contract as an individual but as part of a team, presumably because the team (and not just you) has shown a competence to get such work done.

the work is fulfilling, to a large extent, and will certainly contribute to my career development

These are good things to consider. The world is full of people with terrible bosses or working meaningless jobs; even if they are getting paid wads of money they can be absolutely miserable. Only you can weigh the salary differences against the other aspects that are harder to quantify.


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Research Proposal for PhD - Rude or Good
I have completed my bachelors and am now nearing the end of my Master's, and I am looking for PhD positions across the globe in the field of Computer Science. While applying/perusing possible application paths for PhDs, I realized that while all universities recommend contacting a prospective advisor beforehand, none explicitly state whether or not I need to write a research proposal (some do enforce it during the application).
Now I am unable to decide if writing a research proposal (during the prospective supervisor search phase) is a good idea or if it is, well rude.
My justification for each are:

Good: The prospective research guide gets to know the academic aspirations of the prospective students, analytic abilities etc.
Rude: He may not be interested in my area of choice at all and think of me as a know-it-all guy, who is not welcome to changes, analytic shortcomings etc.

What is the standard way of handling this dilemma (or is there an academia wide sweet spot on how to approach this)? Are there any major points that I am missing/should be aware of, in order to tackle this problem?
Thanks.
Added Info: I do have a specialization and an area of interest and competence.

The first point to consider is whether you have a prospective research area in mind. Ideally at this stage you should have some specialisation, and a general idea of the field out would like to enter. If this is the case, it makes sense to write a proposal reflecting your interest. Don't make it too specific, but let it show that you have done your homework.
On the other hand, if you are unsure and open to exploring different fields, first select the groups you would like to join, see what work they do. Find a common area of interest and write a proposal based on that. This means you could potentially be writing many different proposals for different universities. The focus would be to ensure that the proposals are relevant to the audience in each case.
Either way, my opinion is that you should have a proposal ready. When you first contact the supervisor, you needn't attach the proposal, just convey your interest to work with him/her, mention some areas of interest and attach a CV.


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TT job ad re-posted after I had a fly out - implications?
I had a second interview for one US college 3 weeks ago and for another 2 weeks ago. The interviewers said they would be getting back to me in 2-4 weeks, depending on how things went internally. I have not received an email from them yet.
Last week, I found that the same job is posted multiple times in various job sites by the college. Does that mean the college is no longer interested in my profile and hence, searching for a better candidate?
In addition, I saw another job re-posted that I had been rejected from after a first-round interview. Can I apply for it again? Is there any remote possibility that the university will give me another chance (should I send them an email regarding this)?
In general, what can be surmised or gleaned from universities that repost jobs on boards after interviews have already started? Actually, I am planning to apply or re-apply for some positions according to that.

Here, is institute = college or university?

Second Round of Interview: Both of them are Colleges. Post edited.

Please ask one question per post.

Will keep in mind. Sorry for this one.  @AnonymousPhysicist

So I think there are many posts on timeline for TT interviews. The piece of this that might be helpful or new is explaining what goes on behind the scenes with job postings…

getting little idea about "what goes on behind the scenes with job postings" in the given context will be very helpful. @Dawn

And about: if I apply for the same position again with in a month, is there any remote chance that my candidacy will be evaluated again? @Dawn

No information can be gleaned.  There is no general answer.  Frequently but far from always reposting is only for bureaucratic or legal reasons.  Unless you need to know for some reason, just forget about it.  If you need to know, ask.

@AlexanderWoo that is an answer

@Dawn: I have previously been told that that is not an answer but rather an argument for voting to close for 'Depends on Individual Factors'

Just wondering what could be the possible reasons to keep the application portal open when the second round of interviews is going on/ended. That's it. @AlexanderWoo

Based on that I am planning to apply or re-apply in some colleges.

There is no way you should reapply. They have your application in the system still.

Thanks. I am also thinking so.

Any updates on this?  What happened to the position, did someone get hired?  This might be helpful to future readers on the implications of a TT job re-posting.

In the US, especially, you can't really conclude anything definite. The procedures are too variable from university to university. And even more so for private colleges.
The reappearance of an ad could be anything from an administrative error to a desire to fish the pool a bit longer to see if a stronger candidate might appear. It doesn't imply rejection, though it might imply some reluctance.
For the other question on reapplying: yes you can reapply but don't expect a different outcome after a rejection. Lightning might strike, of course. It is possible that their needs have changed somewhat.
But the US has no national system and few constraints on college/university policy other than some restrictions on discrimination in hiring.

The "reappearance" of ads could actually be just the late appearance of ads previously paid for. I don't suggest that is the most likely scenario, but it is possible.

Thank you very much. Very helpful information. The ads are coming from LinkedIn which I think is unpaid one. How can the college then process other applications without rejecting the previous candidates? Because the interview process will take almost a month. I am just wondering about it.

My friends were able to apply for the same position even yesterday. :P


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Is it ethical/legal to publish Master thesis manuscript as a journal paper?
I have submitted my Master thesis manuscript to the university library. It is completely new work (never published before to any journal or conference). Now, I want to submit my Master thesis to a journal (as a paper) without modifying it much/anything. Is it ethical/legal to publish your Master thesis manuscript as a journal paper? Should I mention this to the editor of the journal? Because, in the journal guidelines, it says: we accept the manuscript only if it is not published before to any journal or conference. It does not mention anything about other publication sources (like: Master or PhD thesis submitted to the university library). Will I face any problem in future if I do so?
PS: I am thinking to submit it in IEEE Transactions on Computers journal. I talked with the university librarians. They told me they do not have any problem if it is published elsewhere. They just keep a copy in the university library (including online library - which I can also keep 'private'). I am asking if the journal has any problem or not? For my university, it does not really matter (since I have already given the manuscript to them and they have accepted it). My university is in Republic of Korea.

Welcome! Have you talked with your university librarians about what license is implied by submitting the manuscript to them? If so, please [edit] your question to reflect this, as that might make this more answerable. Knowing what country you (and the journal) are in would also make it more possible to answer the legal question, though ultimately we are not answering as lawyers.

You'll also want to look at the guidelines of the journal that you're submitting to.  Many journals have policies allowing for prior publication as a thesis, but some do not.  In many cases, you'll also need to substantially shorten your thesis to make a paper of appropriate length for journal publication.

@cactus_pardner, I edited my question.

@BrianBorchers, I edited my question. BTW, yes some parts will be deleted. But, still the thesis significantly overlaps with the paper. Which (theoretically) means plagiarism.

For my doctoral thesis I needed permission letters from the dean to publish each paper from it after it was written.

@ASimpleAlgorithm, does the journal need it? Or university need it? My university or professor don't have any problem with that (only I have to put her/his name in the paper and acknowledge that I have used university facilities). Which I am okay with.

@Arpssss the university required it. I've never dealt with a journal that didn't allow prior (or subsequent) publication in a thesis.

@ASimpleAlgorithm, thanks. It's indeed helpful.

It is perfectly Okay to make a paper out of a master's thesis. Many aspiring PhD candidates do.
However, an MSc thesis is typically 50-100 pages long. A paper is (in a dense journal format) typically 8-12 pages long. Let's make a generous estimate for 20 pages in the thesis layout.
So either your thesis is very thin, or the journal is very generous, both of which seems unlikely.
Next issue is that you write a thesis in a very different manner than a research paper.

Hence, you would definitely need to rewrite the paper. And you have one issue less to worry about. The copyright might still be a concern for figures, for example, but from your comments I recon that this is not a problem. (It should not have been one, but it was proper to check before.)

Thank you very much for your answer. Just want to make it clear again. My thesis paper is around 40 pages (we have page restriction in MSc thesis). But, it contains many unnecessary process descriptions, explanation of how a well-known algorithm/method works blah blah. which obviously I cannot put it in a journal paper. If I delete them then my thesis essentially become 16 page paper. So, all the figures, algorithms, mathematical definitions, results will be the same. My university/professor don't have any problem. Can the journal guys reject the paper later by stating "it is plagiarized"?

Another question, should I mention this to the editor? Just to be safe or just leave it?

You might mention this in the letter to editor, but probably the safest bet is to cite the MSc thesis in the paper.


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I've finished my master's program. How can I improve my credentials so I can do a PhD?
I have read a few posts here about the matter, but I don't think other posts fully address the situation I'm in. I apologize if this thread is redundant.
I would like to do research in the future, I think getting a Ph.D might be a reasonable step to take (if I were to be capable of doing research, at some point). Fields of interest: Neuroscience, neuropsychology. University I would like to apply: Yet unknown but somewhere in France would be ideal (current location: Argentina); would rather not pursuing higher education here if possible. Some background will be useful to give a proper assesment of my situation
(1) I'm fairly old at 28, and likely will not apply until 30. I believe this might be a problem when applying to some universities, since they receive brilliant people still in their early 20s.
(2) As you might have guessed, my undergrad grades are very much below average. I have three undergrad degrees and two masters in which I did good enough (not GREAT unfortunately).
(3) My grades report gives a full account of my activity, which is very unfortunate considering how bad I did stuyding mathematics: even if I passed the last courses with the highest possible grade, it will always how many courses and exams I failed before the last three semesters before graduating (and it goes up to 10). I don't think our grades here work like in the US. It's not possible to make your "GPA" go up after you failed. Taking extra-curricular courses and getting a good grade will make the final grade higher, but it will still show how many I've failed. I also graduated late when an undergrad.
(4) I am certainly not aiming at a top university, not even top 200 due to the fact of being a failure. But the fact that I am quite old and with a broken academic record makes me question if even the lower tier would take me in.
I'm very much in need of advice. If I were to apply when two years from now, there are several things I should do and it would take much time and effort, and it is unlikely I will go through those matters if the chances of going into research are way to slim to bother. Is there something I can do to make a future application "decent"? What should I consider when sending an application to a university?
Would it be better if I apply for a master X university before applying for a PhD in the same university?
What general advice could you give me? I would consider dropping the PhD plans if it is too unlikely.

I don't think your age makes a difference (in fact, it probably works to your advantage because you have likely put more thought into your decision to do a PhD than someone going to PhD straight out of undergrad just "because"). I would also guesstimate the average age of the PhD students in my department is about 27, so at 30 you would definitely not stand out.

A weak transcript doesn’t necessarily disqualify you for life, it just puts you at a disadvantage at the time of application. If your successive transcripts show ongoing improvement, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone gave you a shot.

This isn't a "bad grades" thread. The real question is your next-to-last one. The last question is answered here.

I had a student who was, if not exactly in your shoes, certainly "disadvantaged" in being able to make it into grad school. Normally, I would just not respond and file away a cold call like that, but reading his email, which was asking for a chance to do research (not even paid—just work doing something related to research), and had a strong vision of what he wanted to do in the future, that it resonated with me. It also just happened that around the same time, I had some ideas I wanted to try out, and a small bit of funding available. So I offered him an internship that would be able to pay his living expenses, and gave him a shot. Today, he's thriving as a  PhD student in an aerospace engineering program in Europe.
So there's always a chance. The best thing to do is to get research experience. Once you can get some people who can comment "don't worry so much about user92705's grades, because user92705 has done really well working in my lab, and I know will become a good researcher," it will go a long way in getting you into a graduate program.

Welcome to Academia SE! I hope that other answers will address logistics, but I wanted to address an important element of this: why are you pursuing a PhD?
My reading of your question, and my answer, may not be accurate for you, but Stack Exchange tries to have answers that will help other people, as well.
Perhaps some of this was lost in translation, but when you say "due to the fact of being a failure" and having "a broken academic record" (even though you have TWO master's degrees with good grades), I am worried that you might be judging yourself too much based on your academic record. That is, from what you've presented here, I would not consider you "a failure," and I hope that you do not think of yourself in those harsh terms.
Part of the reason I'm worried is that academic careers, almost by design, involve a lot of judgment and failure. Much of graduate school, and then seeking and holding academic jobs, applying for grants, submitting research for publication, etc., is the experience of repeatedly applying for things, being judged by someone mysterious with power, and often being rejected before applying for the next thing (cf. a recent question about academic failure.). For those of us who struggle with getting a sense of worth from external sources, academia can provide tangible markers of success that feel great, but those are unpredictable and often feel temporary.
The other parts of "why" are important too. You've gotten two master's degrees. Based on what you've seen so far, what parts of academia are most interesting to you? Do you want to pursue biostatistics research within neuroscience? Or do you want to do more wetlab work? Do you want to do more behavioral research? Getting a job as an assistant in whatever area of research you want to pursue may be one of the best paths forward. Good luck!

I agree with Astronat - age won't work against you. (case in point: I started at my PhD program at 31), and also with J.R. re: your transcript not disqualifying you completely.
So your transcript records don't read the way you'd like them to. You still have other application materials that you can focus on that'll help admissions committees see your potential as a PhD student. I'm not sure what application materials you need to submit since I'm not familiar with your field or with admission requirements in French universities, but I would focus on making those other pieces shine as much as possible. If you're writing a personal statement, for example, maybe acknowledge your grades but also point out your dedication to continuing with your studies and determination to improve.
At the end of the day, committees do want students with a demonstrated track record of academic excellence. But they're also looking for students who are focused, have clear academic/career goals, and potentially a good fit in their department in terms of research interests. Ultimately, you need to show them that you're a good investment. Having a stellar transcript certainly helps, but it's not the only way to go about in it.

Do you think applying for a m.sc in the same university would be a better way to go? I believe universities accept more master students than ph.d, and having a degree from their university may help in the selection process.

Not sure. If the degrees you already have are close enough to your potential PhD, I'd say apply directly into the PhD programs.

Being accepted into a PhD programme is highly dependent on how you present yourself. You have two different masters? Great! This is an advantage. You chose intentionally not to immediately run down one path, instead you chose to explore options, you show you are flexible and capable of thinking in general, not just good at one particular thing.
It is about getting to know people, talking to them and showing what you can do. My master's thesis was bad, really bad. And yet I am accepted into a PhD programme, because I was able to present myself to the relevant people, show them that I have a broad horizon and aimed for a complete understanding of my field. It did help that the project was an almost exact match for my qualifications, I have to admit that.
If possible, have a look if the universities you are interested in have open research projects. That way you could have an option go get to know the people in that department and demonstrate you are good at what you are doing, even if your grades might not be stellar.
I don't think doing a masters at that particular university would help. I think that for two reasons:
1) As a Master's student you are still in education, while a PhD should grow into an independent researcher. It can happen that the "apprentice-master" relationship between you and your potential supervisor carries over to the PhD, giving you much less freedom.
2) People coming in from outside the University are even sometimes preferred to giving positions to students from the same University. While a professor knows what kind of student he/she will get when hiring a 'local' student, someone outside the institute has had a different education and hopefully brings a new perspective to the project, thereby stimulating the whole research environment


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How to deal with exam performances that do not reflect my abilities?
I'm a mathematics undergrad student.
I failed two classes I took on the first semester so I had to repeat them. unfortunately, I failed again. I got 48 on one exam as you need to get 55 to pass, which is at the moment fairly enough for me.
How do I deal with repetitive failure like this, as I know these grades do not reflect my knowledge and my abilities?
I'm not interested in changing my major as I love what I'm studying and I know that I could be good at that, but I need to overcome this obstacles and I don't know what else I could be doing.

You have two very different questions here which will make getting food answers more difficult. The appeal question hasn’t been answered yet, so I would recommend editing this question to focus on the second question about not being reflective of performance and ask a separate question about the appeal.

I don't know how appeals work in your academic system, but usually a successful appeal requires you to show that something in the professor's grading was objectively incorrect - e.g. you got something right and it was marked as wrong.  If it was a judgment call, e.g. you got the question wrong but you disagree as to the amount of partial credit you received, that is much less likely to be changed on appeal.

You say 'as I know these grades do not reflect my knowledge and my abilities'. How do you know that is true? Do you have other ways to show that you master the material? If you do, why do you fail on these exams? Is something wrong with the exams?

Something seems to be going on that you need to change. I don't have any idea what it is, but it isn't the grade or the "argument" that you need. You say your performance (repeated) isn't representative of your knowledge and abilities. That may be true or not, but something is getting in your way.
Is it the inability to study properly because you have too many obligations elsewhere? Do you have particularly bad study habits, say assuming you "learn" something by reading it? Do you have particularly bad teachers (also assuming you learn by hearing something once or reading it)? Is it that you had poor teaching in your past and so were never taught the basics? (I learned/memorized my multiplication tables, finally, after finishing a doctorate in mathematics.) Or are exams so stress inducing that you freeze up and can't think normally?
I'm not one to dismiss any student as not being able to learn mathematics so I won't insult you, but something is blocking you, whether internal or external. You need to find it and change it. It could be as "simple" as you are at the wrong school and they have no way to help you, or no desire to. (Yes, not so simple.) I've had some students who's background was so poor that it was impossible to figure out what I could do for them in the time available. Fortunately, math wasn't their main pursuit so they could be successful elsewhere, but it was very frustrating.
Each of the possibilities I've mentioned and others, has some way to overcome it. But first you need to self-diagnose the problem. Only then can you attack it.

@Jneven I agree with this answer except for "self-diagnose". If there's someone else who knows you well enough to give you honest help with the diagnosis, then get that help. Other people may have a more objective (and thus more useful) view of your situation than you do.

@AndreasBlass, I agree, but self reflection is a good thing.

I hope this turned out to be useful.


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What are the most efficient steps I can take to be accepted into a great PH.D Psychology Program?
I want to get a PhD in psychology. I have a computer Science /minor in math with a 2.9. I worked two jobs while in school (as a software technician and a Calculus tutor) and I have one year experience as a SW engineer outside of school. I am currently 25 years old.
This question is not the same as being a weak student and getting in to a great program. Rather this is a complete shift from major and discipline; while also being semi-borderline.

Get some research experience in psychology.

How would this be possible?


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How should I quote a translation that includes brackets from the translator?
I would like to use a quotation of a translation. However the translation contains bracketed material inserted by the translator (a gloss?). What should I do with the bracketed material since brackets in quotes generally indicates I have altered the original?
For instance, this is the exact original of one section I would like to quote (the brackets are in the original)-

[This do] in the assurance that all these have not run in vain, but in faith and righteousness, and that they are [now] in their due place in the presence of the Lord, with whom also they suffered.

But I would like to change "they" to something else for clarity (my addition is in double brackets) -

[This do] in the assurance that all these have not run in vain, but in faith and righteousness, and that [[Ignatius, Rufus, and other dead saints]] are [now] in their due place in the presence of the Lord, with whom also they suffered.

How do I correctly insert changes to the quotation while also indicating the originally bracketed material is in fact original? Do I drop the brackets? Use double brackets as here? Use "(sic)" to indicate original brackets? Something else entirely?

Whatever you decide to do, explain it  to the reader. For example: Singly-bracketed material is from the translator; doubly-bracketed material is added here.

I was able to rework my material around the quote so that I didn't need to include my own brackets and just noted in my footnote that the brackets are in the original. But I would still like to know if there is an "official" way to deal with these types of situations; I've run into them before. The 8th edition of Turabian's Handbook doesn't include anything about it.


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How to prepare for the Quals in Math early on?
I'll be starting graduate school in mathematics this fall. Obviously what worries me are the qualifying exams. What is the best way for me to prepare myself in these subjects from now on? I'm kind of undecided whether to do all the solutions of past qualifiers from my institution (and other institutions) so early on, or whether to save them for later and practice them as a mock. Do you think that rehearsing with past exams in mock form (i.e., as in exam conditions) is better than just going for a long time to solve all the problems from all the exams? I understand that this should be accompanied by solving other book exercises or understanding the important theorems well. I am mainly talking about algebra, topology, and real analysis.
So in my situation would you start doing those exams while starting classes or do something else?
I just want different perspectives.
Thanks in advance.

My experience is old, but it is that there are specific advanced courses intended to prepare you for them. Take those courses, or, in any case, an advanced course in the subject of each exam shortly prior to the exam if possible. Ask a lot of questions. Do a lot of exercises.
Many places will provide old exams for you to study from. Do that if possible and create (not read) adequate answers for the questions. If you can't then get some help in improving your insight.
It isn't rare to have much better insight in some fields than in others. Deal with that.
An, for 24 hours before any exam, do something different and get a lot of sleep that night. Aerobics is good the day before. Cramming is terrible.

Everyone studies differently, but for whatever it's worth:

Save your practice problems until after you've finished the corresponding courses. You probably won't have the background to answer the questions before then anyway.
If you only have old exams, I'd choose some percentage between 50-80% of them. Use that percentage for "slow practice", simply working through the problems until you're extremely certain that you've written up good responses. Then use the remaining exams as mocks.
You may also include a list of major theorems and definitions in your study rotation and make sure you can write those down pretty much from memory.


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Applying to academic positions in UK without teaching experience
I'm originally from the UK and did my PhD there. After that I left the UK and have over 10 years experience in academia, but my positions have all been research-only. I have never given lectures (aside from a couple of guest lectures at summer schools) and never supervised a student.
Now I desperately want to move back to the UK, and ideally, to get a permanent academic position there. However, it seems that all(?) such positions in the UK have a substantial teaching component. Applying for them is depressing, because although I probably score reasonably well on the research side of the requirements I have absolutely zero experience or qualifications for the teaching side of a UK academic post, and I probably wouldn't be able to carry out the teaching duties without some fairly substantial support.
(This is not to say I'm unwilling to teach - it's actually something I've always wanted to do - I just don't have any experience or knowledge about it.)
So my question is, what can I do about this situation? How does one go about getting into academic teaching, especially in the UK, if one only has research experience? Is it realistic to apply for lecturer positions, and if so, how can I write an effective job application despite my complete lack of experience for a key part of the position?
Or alternatively, are there other kinds of position I could be applying for besides lecturer, which would make use of my research skills while preparing me for a teaching position in the future? If it's necessary I don't mind dropping back an academic rank or two, or even accepting a non-permanent position, but I would imagine most postdoc positions wouldn't be suitable, and because of being outside the UK system for so long I don't have much idea what else is available.
Since this is likely to be field-dependent: I'm pretty interdisciplinary, but I'm aiming mostly at computer science departments.

What Field are you in?

@IanSudbery I'm pretty interdisciplinary, but aiming at computer science departments.

Answers to this are going to be very field dependent. In my field (Molecular Biology/Computational Biology), very few people have much in the way of teaching experience when they are appointed to lectureship positions, even though the jobs have a large amount of teaching associated with them.
At research intensive institutions your research record, and how confident the hiring panel is that you have fundable ideas for a research program will be far more important than any teaching experience. Hiring committees tend to assume that because they managed when dumped in front of a class of a 100 undergrads with no experience, then anyone can. Has the risk of ending up with a lot of unhappy undergrads and an academic who spends a lot of there time doing something they have no training in (welcome to having a faculty job - 50% teaching with out teacher training, 50% managing the research of others without any management training). Actually, this isn't quite true. Most instructions will require new hires to do a Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning.
If you want to avoid teaching, then you need to be looking at one of the small number of research institutions that are semi or fully independent of universities. But competition for jobs at these is even more fierce.
In other fields - notably the arts and humanities, I think teaching experience is genuinely required in order to be hired at this level, but I'll let others comment on that.

Can confirm that in the fields I have knowledge of (theoretical physics and developmental biology), an academic's first permanent post is often the first time they have to teach (in most cases, the teaching load goes from 0 to very substantial - make sure you're ready for this). Mention any supervising, seminar series, vaguely teaching-related expertise in your CV and you should be fine.

Most UK permanent lectureships will require teaching.
An option you could consider is applying for an independent research fellowship. These can be very prestigious (and competitive) and are hosted at a UK institution. You don't need to be currently employed at the host institution, but do need to seek their support for your application (it's often in their interest to do so - effectively a free experienced researcher to boost their profile).
Once you hold a fellowship at a UK institution you could potentially gain teaching experience with the aim of applying for a permanent position in the future (unlikely a department will refuse teaching help!). It is very common for holders of such research fellowships to move to a permanent position either at their host institution or another during/after the fellowship tenure. Of course there are no guarantees, but many/most elite universities in the UK are far more interested in your research than teaching experience.
For example (from STEM):

The Royal Society Research Professorship targets 'world-class' researchers who wish to relocate to the UK.
The EPSRC Open Fellowship has no residence restrictions (>4 years research experience in your field)
Wellcome Trust Career Development Award for mid-career researchers.


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Summary of contributions for reference letters
Pretty much all the profs I'm asking for a letter from I've done a fair amount of research under. However, I haven't spoken to a couple of these profs for a few of months and considering how busy they are I wouldn't be surprised if they've mostly forgotten about the specifics of what I did. So I thought it might be a good idea to attach a document summarizing my work with them when I ask for a letter, and I found a couple of other sites that suggested doing the same thing.
For this document, I was wondering if it would be a better idea to give a detailed page or so long description of everything I did or 5-6 bullet points summarizing my main contributions. The obvious benefit of the former is that I get to remind them of the details of everything I did, but it comes at the risk of them not wanting to read so much and pretty much ignoring the document.
For people who have done this in the past/planning on doing this now, what does your summary's format look like and how long/detailed is it?

There is no reason, actually, not to do both. What you suggest is very likely a good thing and will save the writers a bit of time. But you can have a bullet pointed introduction followed by a longer description of the work. Make sure the second part is labelled as such. If the prof's memory is jogged by the first part they have no need to keep reading. Otherwise they may appreciate it.
You could even use wording that they might want to copy into a recommending letter. Make their life easy.


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Is an ungraded pass going to affect my PhD applications?
Currently my MA gpa is a 70/100 and I'm studying in the UK. I just received the grade of my latest assignment, that is a 68. That means that my gpa is now bellow 70. However, the university is giving me the option of an ungraded pass for this assignment, so that my gpa will not be affected. If I select to apply for an ungraded pass, instead of a 68 in that assignment, are my future PhD applications going to be affected? I am concerned that an ungraded pass might not look good on my final record and in my PhD applications. Additionaly, I am still working on my dissertation, so if I achieve a high grade for it I can still improve my gpa. What do you think is the best course of action? Thank you!

Country? And what do those numbers mean? Aee they out of 100? And what is the best GPA?

Thank you for your comment. I edited in the information. I'm studying in the UK.

I have doubts that it will matter. The reasons for taking a pass might be obvious to a reader. Letting the numbers fall where they may might seem more honest.
But also consider that few (if any) programs will automatically exclude you for GPA alone. People are admitted into doctoral programs based on many things, none of which (other than dishonesty, perhaps) are determinative alone. People on an admissions committee will want to make a prediction about your likely success in the program and thereafter as well as your readiness to do research.
I also suspect that most committees will be a bit generous in the age of coronavirus, though that doesn't lessen the competition that every student faces. Make your best case for admission no matter which way you choose to jump on this (minor) issue.


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PhD project that I cannot do on my own - what happens then?
I am considering applying for a PhD in Design and my idea for a Phd project is creating an innovative app. What concerns me is that I do not know how to develop apps, I am not a developer but a UX/UI designer.
So my role would be to research, build the structure and architecture of the app, design the features, the visual appearance, etc., but I do need it developed for the purposes of the research and user testing (to see if my seemingly innovative idea even works) and that's not something I can do on my own.
What should I do in this situation? Is it a bad idea for a project since I cannot do it on my own?  Or do I just go and hire a developer to help me with creating it? Do I then fund it from my own pocket or is it something that the university can potentially help me with?
Thank you!

If you register for the site interactions will be easier. But what country is this? Edit or add a country tag, please. You might look at the following for ideas on graduate admissions various places: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/176908/75368

ow sorry, first time posting here. I'd be applying to the University of Lisbon, so that's Portugal (I am Ukrainian but I live in PT).

Can you get a PhD for writing an app? If it's about some feature of the UI then maybe you don't need a working app but a test bench of some kind. A university department that does this sort of thing will be able to guide you as to what is available. For example, a test bench that records things like where a user clicks, what they type then erase, etc.

@Dan, getting a doctorate for an app would be very unlikely, but needing an app to do some research is common enough.

You should read some PhD theses in your area of study to get a good idea of what is expected.  They should say what help was received.

Usually a PhD program requires you to do some novel and substantive research that will advance scholarly knowledge.  Often there is an expectation that this will manifest in publication of work in scholarly journals, but in design programs they may allow your main output to be a novel object or system.  Even in this latter case, your output from the program should contribute something novel and substantive in the discipline.  Producing an app could potentially meet this requirement if it is sufficiently innovative from a design perspective, but you should seek advice on this from some academics in your field.
In principle, there is no bar to you having your app programmed by someone else, so long as your own contribution (in terms of design, etc.) is sufficient to meet the requirements of a PhD --- i.e., some aspect of your proposed design advances knowledge in your field of design.  Everyone doing a PhD uses resources and facilities created by others --- e.g., I did not design the word processor I used to write my dissertation or the printer I used to print it.  Your PhD proposal should set out clearly what is your own role and what part you intend to give to a programmer.  Since the focus of the program is on design, it is not unreasonable that your own contribution would be in that area, and the programming work need not necessarily be part of your role in the project.  This should be clear in your proposal in order to allow the university to assess whether your work will be sufficient for a PhD program.
As to the mechanics and costs of having it programmed for you, it would be worthwhile to undertake some preliminary enquiries about the costs for this, and include this information in your PhD proposal.  PhD programs usually have some budget for students for research related costs, though there is a modest limit to this.  If the cost of programming is above what the Department will fund then you could seek alternative sources of money/labour.  It might be worth seeing if there are researchers in computer science who would provide programming work in exchange for partial authorship credit on the app, co-authorship of publications relating to the app, etc.  Alternatively, you could seek outside funding (e.g., from investors), or you could self-fund the difference.  If your app can be monetised then you might be willing to find investors willing to contribute money or programming work in exchange for partial ownership.  You will need to check that this is compatible with the university policy on ownership of products coming out of PhD programs to ensure all proposed ownership stakes are non-contradictory.

I don't know how graduate admissions work in Portugal, but you would probably need an advisor's permission for the following, which I think might be feasible.
The professors at the university teach undergraduates in CS and they often give large projects to their students (US experience). If that is the same, then, with your advisor's permission, you might approach the instructor of some programming projects course and give them your ideas for an app as a possible project. You would probably have to stay involved, of course. But that seems natural for a UI/UX designer.
Alternatively, if there is grant money available through the university or the professor, a programmer might be hired for this task.
But, independent of any app, your research idea has to be interesting to an advisor. If you need to work with a potential advisor as part of the application process then you might bring up this need then.