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How is the mathematics academic job market outside of North America?
Most of the information online concerns academic positions in math at research-oriented US universities?  In summary, it is extremely competitive.
I'm just wondering, what's the situation at teaching-oriented institutions in the US, and other institutions around the world in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, East Asian countries etc.
Thanks,

That's an excessively broad question. There are 194 "other" countries...

But are all university-level math jobs posted on mathjobs.org?  My general question is if the job market is so tough in North America, why not go elsewhere?

May I ask why this is marked as off-topic? It is a question about the job market.

You're likely to get better answers to such a question at the Meta site than in the comments to a closed question. That said, I think the StackExchange sites use a rather misleading definition for "off-topic". As you say, the academic job market is generally a good topic for the site - but there are additional restrictions on what makes a question good and useful or disallowed. Personally, I voted to close because I think the question is too broad. Others considered it a shopping question.

It's very dependent on where you are. I'm from Europe and here it's extremely competitive. In some developing countries though, it's less competitive because there is a great need for university-level teachers, but research is far from the priority in these jobs (according to some of my friends who took them). It all depends on what you're looking for. If you want a research-intensive job in a developed country, expect as much competition as you would in the US: you're not the first one who has the idea to move to get a job.

But are all university-level math jobs posted on mathjobs.org

No. Outside the US, posting job ads on mathjobs.org is the exception rather than the rule.

Is it competitive in Western as well as Eastern Europe and the Balkans?

These questions don't really make sense. Some jobs are competitive, some aren't. You're asking for generalisations of huge areas of the world, when the area of the world isn't the main covariate anyway. A professor level post at Oxford University: hugely competitive. A postdoc down the road at Oxford Brookes... not so much.


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How secure is it to receive an offer of post-doc position in email?
I received an unofficial offer for a post-doctoral researcher position a few days ago from a well-known and respected professor in the field, and the institution is very well-ranked. At the same time, I already have an official offer from a different place, but not comparable in value. So, I need to know how certain the unofficial offer is to justify declining the official one.
Actually, after I received the first offer officially, I contacted the other places to which I had applied, and asked them to decide on my application, and set a deadline for them by when I had to decide about my already-issued offer. I received the second offer right before the deadline as an email in clear and strong words ('I am pleased to offer you ...') similar to what you see in an official offer letter. I quickly accepted the offer.
I think that since he knew I would have to decide about the other offer, he tried to be clear in the email, encouraging me to decline the other one. However, I'm not sure whether it would be wise to do so. More specifically, does such an email work as a legally binding document (e.g., capable to be held up at a court)? I'd say the difference between the values of the positions actually justifies 1%  risk. What do you suggest?

An unofficial offer is typically a notification of intent to make a formal offer, and I believe not legally binding.  This is not to say that an offer in email is not official and cannot be legally binding---but according to you the offer is unofficial.  Even if it is legally binding, having to take a university to court to secure a position does not sound like a productive way to start a postdoc.
Assuming the postdoc is completely funded from a grant on which this professor is the PI, in all likelihood the only way this would not turn into a formal offer is if the professor changes his mind or is somehow incapacitated.  Also, formality standards of offers can vary.  Anyway, if you are worried about it, I suggest you ask about the terms (if you have not received them) and when you can expect a formal offer.

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Is there a canonical paper to cite the benefits of active learning in post secondary education?
I would like to reference the benefits of active learning in my teaching philosophy. I have been to a variety of talks discussing the researched benefits (eg. increased class averages) of active learning but I do not know if there is a specific paper people are referencing. Is there a canonical paper that is usually referenced or is it more common to reference any paper on the subject. If it makes a difference, I am in Mathematics.

Do any of the papers you have read reference the same article or paper? That would be the one to go for...

That's a great idea- thank you!

A Very widely cited meta-analysis of studies on this topic is:
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.

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How to include experiments vs state-of-the-art papers with no code
I am working a paper which offers an algorithmic improvement, which is measured in both the quality of the results, and the time it took to achieve them.
There are 3 recent (relatively) papers which deal with the exact same problem. One of them i am building upon, and my improvement (while can be used in other fields as well) is geared for it. The improvement is significant, and I have all the required tools in order to reproduce its exact results and prove it.
However, the 2 other Papers, which both (claim) to be better than the first, lack the required code in order to reproduce the results.
I have tried contacting the authors, in more then one way, but no reply.
Also, according to paper #3 (which is the most recent one), paper #1 actually performs better than paper #2, A thing which contradicts paper #2.
I have an implementation of paper #2 (Not my own, or the original) which exhibits very poor results.
I am not sure how I can move on from here - Doing my own implementations for #2 and #3 is both very time consuming, and I could easily have a bug or two. And a reviewer can claim it was biased against them.
And obviously, If I wont benchmark against them, I could not claim to be The state-of-the-art solution for the problem (even if the improvement I show vs #paper 1 is bigger than they does).
Any advise would be great!

In this situation we always just say "we attempted to compare our result against XYX et al, but could not access a working implementation."
If a reviewer were to complain, we might say (to the reviewer, not in the paper) "in what way does #3 move the field forward if it cannot be used by anyone".

+1 Your results should stand on their own, not just in relation to others.

I would even add that, if there's no way to implement their code (either through replication or by contacting them), I question how much emphasis you place on their work, other than to mention that other attempts have been made but could not be replicated.  (Yes, it may be a bit of a dig to say that you couldn't replicate their work, but that is the price of non-open science.)  [Unless there is a compelling reason keep an algorithm proprietary, I have a very dim view of scientific publishings that withhold data / algorithms.]

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Is it okay to explore other grad school options while deferring admission due to COVID-19?
I’m from the West Coast, and I accepted my admissions offer into a master's program on the East Coast before COVID-19.
I would like to defer my admissions, but still apply to local universities just in case the current situation gets worse.
Note: I'm not getting scholarships. Also, I don't have family or friends living in the East Coast, so moving there right now sounds crazy to me.

If the program will be online, why do you have to move?

The answer depends on what agreements you have made with the university.  You should not trust an answer from someone who has not read those agreements.

So I assume that you are from Mauritania (West Coast of Africa) and want to move to Mozambique (East Coast of Africa). Bottom line, this is an international forum: don't assume that everybody knows you are from Africa (or the USA).

@MaartenBuis: When I first read your comment, I was happy for a quick moment that there is some user who does believe everybody knows their country and is not from the US (but from Africa). Then I read it again and understood it and got sad again.


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Remove author identifying information and resubmit. Is it too much time 2 weeks later?
I submitted a manuscript to a Taylor & Francis journal. Three days later they asked me to remove author identifying information from the anonymous manuscript before they could send it for review, I think they were referring to a self-citation. I resubmitted the manuscript 2 weeks later, and this time I didn't receive a confirmation e-mail. The status of "submitted to journal" hasn't changed for six days. Is there something wrong resumitting the manuscript 2 weeks later just to remove author identifying information? Is it too much time for "submitted to journal" status?

Is there something wrong resumitting the manuscript 2 weeks later just to remove author identifying information?

No, I don't see anything wrong with that.  It's not an unusual amount of time for any academic to take to do anything, and it's not like anybody would have been inconvenienced by the time taken.  They just wouldn't do anything with the manuscript in the meantime.  And it would be really stupid of a journal to reject a potentially valuable paper just because the author took some time to complete an administrative chore.

Is [six days] too much time for "submitted to journal" status?

See above: it's not unusual for any academic to take more than six days to respond to anything.  It's possible that they just haven't gotten to it yet, or that they are working on the paper but haven't updated the status in the system.  (See also What does the typical workflow of a journal look like?)
I would say that if you have not seen any updates after another 1-2 weeks, it would be reasonable to contact the editor and ask if they successfully received your revised manuscript.

Thank you, your answer was very helpful!


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how do you make the final decision when choosing what journal to publish in?
I have finished some research work. Now I need to decide where to publish. I have narrowed down my search to a handful of journals, but I am struggling to pick one.
I'd like to know other people's experiences when picking that one journal to publish in. What do you take into account once you have narrowed down your search to a handful of journals?
Edit 1: I am ending my second year PhD in electrical engineering. More specifically, the topic is unsupervised anomaly detection. This would be my second submission (the first one got rejected justifiably so). For now I don't care about citations much, but I think the work I did has reasonable value to it, so I don't just want to go to the lowest tier journal. I am the only author with my advisor.

Responding to edit: If you are working with your advisor, then they should have a good idea of where to send it. See what they think you should do and what their reasoning is.

Yes, he gave me some suggestions. But I'd like to have more inputs :).

He's a subject matter expert, and has actually read the paper in question. People here will by nature not be as much subject matter experts and not have read the paper. You should almost certainly listen to his advice over anything anyone here has to say about something that specific.

Thanks for your help!

This is going to depend a lot on your field, and where you are in your career and who the other authors are. If you are going to be on market soon or up for tenure review, then a journal with a quick turnaround may make sense.  If you are not on market soon, then aiming at the strongest journal you can makes sense. One rule I've heard is "if papers aren't sometimes rejected then you aren't aiming high enough."
More specific than that really requires field specific stuff. For example, in pure math, the best generalist journals are mostly considered better than most subject specific journals. Also, something can be in some fields a warning sign but not in others. For example, in many subfields, "International" in a title of a journal is major warning sign. But the International Journal of Number Theory is considered one of the better number theory journals. (I've had one paper published there and multiple which got rejected with them specifically saying to go to a different journal.) In math, one thing that matters a lot is if a journal is reviewed by Mathscinet. If the journal is only indexed, or worst, not even indexed, the set of people who will see your work is going to be a lot smaller. Also, there are official ranking systems but a lot of them are awful. For example, apparently some fields pay attention to "Scimago" rankings but the rankings are not great for pure math (with some journals not even really being in the categories they are listed in) to the point where I don't think anyone pays attention to them in math.

Thanks for your answer. I edited the question with some extra information about my specific case.


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How do I articulate my grade dispute in a letter of complaint (student grievance)?
I'm filing a formal letter of complaint (for a grade litigation request) over a grade dispute in an English literature course. I've got 90/100 (an A) in each of the 3 exams in this course. These exams make up 85% of the course grade. The other 15% is based on daily work (worksheets and responses). I was surprised when viewing my final grades that the grade in this course ended up being a B+. In the duration of this course, we were given three worksheets/response prompts that were optional. I did all of them and they were recognized with a '+' sign (but not actually graded).
After emailing my professor about this (and him ignoring me until I emailed the associate chair), he said that he added my exam grades (so he got a total of 76.5/85) and with the daily work he was able to bump it up to a B+ (a B+ is an 83-86). So I respectfully pointed out that the 76.5 is over 85 and not over 100 and that the daily work is a 15% that should be properly counted in, he replied saying that this daily work grade was based in comparison with my classmates (which is nonsense as (1) the daily work activities were not graded and (2) I was one of the few students who actually did them), I replied and argued but he didn't reply back. For me to get a B+, I would have been given 53/100 on the daily work grade.
I moved further with the dispute with the chair and was told to file a formal letter of complaint to which a committee will be formed and where the decision issued would be non-negotiable.
I don't know how to articulate my complaint. I feel like the administration doesn't get the issue (this was obvious in the correspondence between me and the chair). Also, I'll lose my scholarship and ultimately my place in university if the grade doesn't change, do I include that?
I feel like it's really obvious that I was done wrong by my professor but still afraid this won't be resolved. Sorry for the long post.
P.S. Several people assumed an A starts above 86 but actually an A is 90+. (An A- is 86-90)

"Also, I'll lose my scholarship and ultimately my place in university if the grade doesn't change, do I include that?"  No, that's not relevant to the dispute.

I cannot tell how you think the grade should have been calculated, so I do not see how we can help you.

Your scholarship doesn't allow you to get any grades lower than A?

@cag51 My understanding from talking to some US-based colleagues is that in some elite universities and SLACs anything below A- is effectively considered a "bad grade" - so it seems plausible that an excellence-based scholarship could stipulate that the recipient needs to have all As.

@cag51 I have an honors scholarship that requires a 3.91 cgpa.

@xLeitix It is indeed such a scholarship. Although that really is very high and hard to attain standard.

Your maths seems off to me. If a B+ is 83-86/100 then you need > 86 to achieve an A. You have 76.5 out of 85 from the exams. To reach the high end of B+ you need a further 86 - 76.5 = 9.5 out of 15 which is 63.4 (rounded to 1 dp) out of 100. Therefore you need greater than 63.4 out of 100 in the daily work to get to an A overall, not 53 as you've calculated.

In which country is this?

@JBentley An A is 90+, not 86+. I've clarified the grade ranges of the A and A- letter grades at the end of the post body.

@BasileStarynkevitch Lebanon (but an American university)

I think you should clarify where the supposed total came from. I think what you're saying is that the instructor computed an exam component of 90 * 85% = 76.5. (Writing that as "he got a total of 76.5/85" is confusing and should be edited.)

The scholarship criterion is relevant to the dispute. If they wave you off, because it is only a "minor inconvenience", that statement makes clear that their sloppiness (do not use the word with them) can ruin your career.

"I achieved 90% of my exam mark and received a + on all worksheets; I cannot reconstruct how I ended up with only a B+ after - as the prof said - even "bumping up". I would request clarification in which way I failed to achieve the required marks. [or similar]

Can you clarify how you know that 90 is the cutoff for an A? Is there a chance that that’s an assumption you’re making that’s not actually based on anything the professor actually committed to?

@DanRomik All courses follow the university's grading system and it's included in every course syllabus.

It wouldn't describe the worksheets & responses as optional if they are worth 15% of your course grade!

If the professor is really this arithmetically challenged, I wonder if you were the only student affected.

So the overall grade is split into two portions: Z=0,85×X+0,15×Y. Assume that the final grade Z is supposed to be 0,9, just as the grade X already is. From the resulting equation 0,9=0,85×0,9+0,15×Y it is pretty obvious that also Y has to be 0,9: 0,9=0,85×0,9+0,15×0,9=(0,85+0,15)×0,9=1×0,9=0,9 so you need to have 90/100 on your homework. The professor actually gave you something between 40/100 and 65/100.

Dear Committee,
This grade dispute seems like a simple math error. As shown on the
attached syllabus, the grade is 85% exams and 15% worksheets and
responses.

On the exams, I scored 76.5/85, which is a 90% (A)
On the worksheets/responses, there were three worksheets and I received a check mark on each of them. To my knowledge, no other
factors counted toward this part of the grade. Further, my class
participation was exemplary, so if there were other factors, they
should have been in my favor.

When I asked the professor about my grade, he said that 76.5 was a B
and he had used the worksheets and responses to "bump me up" to a B+.
But this is not mathematically consistent; 76.5/85 is an A, and the
professor admitted the worksheets/responses would "bump me up," not
down. I never received any evidence or justification for why my grade
would be lower than 90%.
Regards,
Name

As a sidenote, arguing for mathematical inconsistencies (if present) is by far the best argument you can have. In my university, these are pretty much the only grievances that consistently find success. There is virtually no line of defense against "you summed my points up wrong" that would stand in front of an independent commitee.

I think this answer is wrong, mathematically. The way I understand the question, the 76.5/85 means the OP got an A in the exams only, but the overall course is graded out of 100, not 85, with the remaining 15 coming from daily work. 76.5/85 being an A does not mean that 76.5/100 is an A, so it is wrong to suggest it is being "bumped up" from an A. To be an A, the sum of 76.5 and the daily work mark must exceed 86 (the threshold for B+). If you submit a letter with incorrect maths, it is likely to be instantly dismissed and any legitimate objections may not even be spotted.

@JBentley "Bump it up" came from OPs professor, who suggested their exam score was only a B despite being 90%.

JBentley's confusion is a good point. The first bullet obscures the raw scores. It appears as if the letter writer scored an actual 76.5% on something, which isn't the case, and probably what was confusing the instructor. How about merely "I received 90/100 on each of the 3 exams." Then a 3rd bullet, "that appears to give a weighted sum of 90%*0.85+15%*1.00% = 76.5 + 15 = 91.5". Then I'd delete the 2nd sentence below the bullets as redundant ("but this is not math... "), since we've now demonstrated the correct math.

@BryanKrause No, OP does not anywhere say that the professor suggested that the exam score was a B. Rather, the professor bumped up the grade for the course to a B+. It's important to distinguish the exam (which is just a subset of the course) from the course.

@JBentley "with the daily work he was able to bump it up to a B+"; you can't "bump up" a grade from an A to a B+. That sentence (if it's conveyed correctly) implies the grade was less than a B+ considering only the exam, and then rose to a B+ once including other work. What seems to have actually happened is that either the exam grade was an A, and the other work dropped the grade to a B+, or a mistake occurred.

@BryanKrause Again, you're conflating the score in the exam with the score in the course. An exam score of 76.5/85 is an A for the exam. For the course, it is 76.5/100, which is not an A. That is then "bumped up" to a B+ by adding the remaining x/15 for the daily work.

@JBentley It seems you're taking an odd cumulative view of the course grade rather than a weighted average. Thinking of it as a weighted average, which at least in my experience is far far more common, the daily work is definitely dragging their grade down, not boosting it up. The only way to get a B+ from a combination of an A grade on the tests is for a daily work grade in the neighborhood of 50%: effectively a failing grade on the daily work. I'd say a failing grade on daily work without missing assignments or negative feedback is quite ridiculous.

@BryanKrause Rather than one way being odd and the other not, they are actually mathematically equivalent. But anyway, setting that aside, the OP's maths is also wrong on the 53% for the daily work. The threshold for A that OP quotes (> 86/100) actually requires 63.3%+ for the daily work, rather than ~50%.

@JBentley The question states "For me to get a B, I would have been given 53/100 on the daily work grade.". The 53/100 would get the OP to 84.5, squarely in the middle of the B+ grade they received - I would guess this is what they intended.

@Klaycon Nonetheless, Bryan's suggestion that "the only way to get a B+" is to score around 50%, and the conclusion that this is ridiculous, is inaccurate. You can score up to 63% and still get a B.

@Klaycon Which is really what this issue boils down to. Everyone is assuming that there must be some mathematical error by the professor, but it seems far more likely to me that the professor simply assigned <=63.3% to the daily work, and the dispute should really be about whether or not that was a fair score. Or at the very least the dispute should be argued on both points. Otherwise if the professor's maths was correct, and he assigned 63%, OP won't have even disputed the score with the committee, and his case is lost.

@JBentley Yes, I agree with that entirely. Perhaps the student didn't participate much in class discussions and this was factored into the daily work. It's impossible to say from the outside perspective, but to be fair the question isn't asking whether it was a mathematical error, but instead how to articulate the student's argument in a formal letter of complaint. I do agree the argument shouldn't be made entirely about the mathematical error though, so perhaps the other answer should get some more recognition.

@Klaycon Thank you for your comment. I am a Biology major and I'm taking this course as an elective. When I said "For me to get a B,", I meant a B+. I've fixed it now. Also, I did actually participate and was one of the few students who did so.

Recommend highly against writing 76.5/85 (as I commented on OP's question). That's confusing.

I moved to chat the (honestly avoidable) discussion about the letter writing service. If you wish to continue it there, please be nice. For the moment, I left here the comments discussing the calculation of the grade.

Can't he simply state what he got on the exams (A's), and then that he successfully completed all required course work (received check marks) and now doesn't understand how he ended up with less than an A?

@CGCampbell Good point. Focus on the relevant stuff. Do you want to make it an answer?

As the chair of the committee that reviews these appeals at my university, we rarely see appeal letters that give this clearcut a reason to revise the grade.  Unless the instructor contested the accuracy of your actual numbers, we would probably approve this practically without discussion.

@cag51 has a good suggested response, but the math formula could be written in a clearer way. I would suggest on that point:

Observing that you had a 90% average on the exams.
To your knowledge, you scored the highest possible result on all homeworks, presumably 100%.
Therefore, the weighted total should be, per the syllabus formula: 85% exams + 15% homework = 0.85(90) + 0.15(100) = 76.5 + 15 = 91.5, which should be an "A" grade.

I think that this latter expression most closely matches the natural-language expression on the syllabus, and is also more concise and easier to check.

This is the better answer.  OP has no obligation to include arguments against himself in his complaint letter.  Based on the information he currently has, it is reasonable for him to conclude he received a 100% score on the daily work portion of his grade.  If the professor's position is that he received a lower score, let him argue that - don't argue it for him.  OP should flatly assert that the available documentation results in a score of 91.5.

My concern is that if OP claims to have gotten 100% on the daily work, the professor can say "actually, you only got 50%" -- and then it's game over, since there is no chance to argue the point or appeal the verdict (according to what OP tells us about the dispute process). Given this format, I think it's stronger to stick to arguments that are completely airtight, such as the three check marks.

@cag51: There's no difference in that regard in any case. My main point is that writing "76.5/85 is an A" is so unclear that it's likely to be rejected on its face as incoherent. Better to make a very clear and understandable mathematical statement in the complaint (e.g., the most reasonable inference from available information).

@DanielR.Collins I don't understand how 76.5/85=90% is unclear, much less incoherent.

@Kat: Neither the OP, nor the last paragraph of cag51's answer, include the "= 90%" part.
(Even if they did it's in the wrong order, and missing the other term of the formula.)

You have two grievances, not one, and they must be filed separately.
Your first is a professorial conduct complaint: your professor will not tell you how the grade contribution from the worksheets and responses was calculated. What is the numerical value of a "+"? How, numerically, do the worksheets and responses contribute to a student's grade?
Only after this first complaint is adjudicated can you file your second, which -- assuming your professor's calculations are wrong -- is a procedural error complaint: your grade was calculated incorrectly. The arithmetic is wrong on its face.
By filing these questions separately you force the grievance committee to consider both questions, in their proper order.
If you file a single complaint containing both issues, the committee may fail to get the issue as badly as the chair did, and they may rule against you simply because you haven't provided enough facts to carry your argument.
It is unfortunate that your chosen field is literature. If you were reading law, you could hope to encounter a chair or a committee that could handle a two-part complaint like this before breakfast. And if you were reading mathematics, the problem would not have arisen in the first place.

A bit harsh on the chosen field of literature. But I agree, one could expect a professor to be able to solve such a simple problem accurately.

It may help to ask the professor for an example of the scoring that would result in an A, or examples of how any student got enough points for an A.  If it's the three assignments, specifically ask for numeric scores on them with justification if they're not 5 each.  Giving less than full credit with no feedback other than "+" seems sketchy.

You currently have incomplete information; your letter should politely request the scores for the worksheets (EDIT: and the calculations that led to the final grade). Without these it is impossible to determine if your grade has been calculated correctly or not.

The required mark for an A is >90/100
You currently know you have 76.5/85 from the exams
You therefore require >13.5/15 from the worksheets.

If the grades from the worksheet are >13.5 or they can't be provided then you can follow up with a specific question regarding the marking of that work.
EDIT: updated for consistency based on edit to grade boundaries in the question. Given there is some confusion in how they are presented, asking for them to be clarified seems to be important.

Since the worksheets were only given a + mark, and not graded, they're probably a "free" 15%. Maybe the instructor had detailed notes about class participation, but that seems unlikely. Maybe the OP never saw the 2 other worksheets. The OP's note about the 15% part being "based in comparison with my classmates" makes me wonder if the process was non-numerical

@OwenReynolds if that's the case then great, you have a mark: 15/15 - you can then follow-up with "I scored 91.5/100 total; why is that not an A-grade?". Currently OP is questioning their grade, but does not have a breakdown of all the marks, and they (or the prof) seem to have some confusion about how the total marks are calculated. I would suggest starting by gathering all the available information.

-1. (76.5/85) + (9.5/15) does not sum to 86. This answer misunderstands arithmetic possibly worse than the professor in the original question.

@David258 The required mark for an A is 90-100 not >86 (86-89 is an A-). I don't have a breakdown of the daily work grade because there are no grades. As I said in the post the worksheets were optional and marked with a "+" sign.

@OwenReynolds I've thought about this and wondered if the process was non-numerical. But then I said, even if it was, I'm among the few students who participated in class and I did the optional daily work activities (which were marked with a '+' with a "bravo" sometimes). So it really doesn't make sense that I am graded 53/100 on the daily work activities grade. When a component of the course grade is made up of optional assignments, you'd expect them to benefit you not drag you down.

@AlexM The math is correct, but phrased oddly. 76.5 is (270/300)*0.85. It's the tests' contribution (3 tests with 90/100 on each) to the overall score. Many people including the OP are writing 76.5/85 as a confusing shorthand for that. Likewise, 9.5/15 is an odd way of saying "you need 9.5% out of the worksheets' weighted contribution". RE: getting the scores: I reread the question -- there appears to have been quite enough back and forth. Scores would have been provided if the instructor wanted to. It seems to be a committee matter now, thus the request for a letter.

@AlexM
The grade boundaries and marks have been clarified in the OP since I originally wrote my answer. I've now updated to include the correct numbers

Agree with @OwenReynolds: 76.5/85 is not a clarifying thing to write. Better to write: the exam component is 85% * 90 = 76.5 (plus other terms).

@Adam my guess is the worksheet scores were never entered, since: 1) they were described as optional (even though they weren't) and 2) entering a "checked-off" item into software is tricky (you make them worth 1 point). The instructor probably saw your partial 76.5, which felt like a C and "generously" raised you 1.33 grades.

@OwenReynolds Do you think I should mention this or talk about it in the letter?

@Adam Gosh no. Stick to the #'s, which are 90/100, 90/100, 90/100 and 3/3 on worksheets. My point is the instructor's actions may be justified from their point-of-view: some kid gets a C (not really, but it seems that way), which they bump way up, then this kid has the nerve to demand an A!

Asking for the numeric grade of the worksheets would be unwise. He states that he received a "+". Presumably in a 3-state grading range where "+" is the top. Never ask a question that only has the potential to weaken your case.

To the Committee on Grade Disputes:
During (course name, semester, etc) under Professor (professor's name) there were 3 exams making up 85% of the total grade. My grade on these exams was 90%.
Additionally, there were 3 worksheet/response prompts which were stated to be optional. And yet, also were to make up the remaining 15% of the grade. There are only two ways this can work, and in both cases my final class percentage would be 90% or higher, resulting in a grade of 'A' or better.
1) Because these worksheets were optional, one could argue that they should not impact the final grade. After all, how is something optional in this context if it is actually important to your grade?
By this logic, total final grade would be 90.0% 'A'.
2) Although optional, I chose to do all three worksheet/prompts, and received the maximum mark of '+'. Therefore, if these worksheets are to be included in final grading, my final grade would be greater than 90%. It is impossible to add in a higher percentage to a set when averaging, and get a lower result than the original.
The math looks like this:
  90% score on exams times 85% of total grade = 76.5% contributed to final grade.
  100% score on worksheets times 15% of total grade = 15% contributed to final grade.
By this logic, total final grade = 91.5% 'A'.
3) Further, a student has the right to know the status of their grade as a class progresses, so the student can adjust their focus and study to maximize learning and grade marks. If there is some hidden math or scoring that is being used to generate a lower grade, it is unfair and unwarranted to use it. Because nothing was ever expressed to me other than that I scored 90% on the exams and top marks on everything else.
In short, there is no mathematically sound and fair path where my grade is less than a 90% 'A'.
Thank you for your consideration.

Others have given good advice (in combination with their respective comment sections).  I would add that you must consider the university rules themselves, and it is difficult for anyone to give you proper phrasing. For example, some answers are suggesting that your letter refers to the grading schema or an error in calculation. However, at my institute, this is unlikely to be contested at a committee.  You are essentially requesting a clarification on your grade, which is not something that can have your grade overturned.
In my department, the one case you can have your grade overturned is for unequal or unfair treatment when compared to others in the class. This means, even if (and from comments it seems it may not be true), there is an error in the original explanation of your grade, as long as this was applied equally to everyone, it would be very difficult to argue for a grade change.


text:
What happens if a manuscript gets rejected for a special issue?
Is it possible to re-submit or re-consider a manuscript for a normal issue of the same journal that has rejected it for a special issue?
I am concerned about it since the subject of my manuscript partially overlaps with the topics of the special issue of the journal.
Would you opt for a normal issue or rather consider a special issue that relatively overlaps with your work?

The ones I have known about have been published in regular issues.

What did the rejection say? it is different if it was rejected for poor fit to the special issue than if it was rejected for reasons of quality, etc.

@Buffy It is not rejected. I have submitted it to the journal for a normal issue but there still is an option for it to be considered for a spacial issue and I am just not sure if I should opt for the available special issue that somewhat has overlap with our work (but not completely) or just ask the journal to consider the manuscript for a normal issue.

Did the publisher give you this option for this paper explicitly?

@Buffy That is correct. But as far as I am concerned the topics overlap like 50%, maybe a bit more.

If you submitted to a normal issue and an editor suggested that the paper might be appropriate for a special issue, then ask them about the consequences of rejection for the special on grounds of scope.
Different journals might have different policies on such things and you should know the policy of this journal before you take any action. Not being included in a special issue says little about the actual quality of the paper, as opposed to its subject matter.
The "issue" with special issues is that they are very limited in number of papers and pages and such. So, the journal will look for best fit by their standards. And there is probably more competition for special issues as they have a bit more prestige (by some measures). So, rejection from the special issue might not imply overall rejection. But it is the editor that will know these things. So ask. The editor will have a lot more scope for a regular issue than the special, provided that your paper passes the reviews.

This is the exact opposite of my general experience with special issues. In my experience, because their scope is so much narrower, they are typically less space constrained than normal issues.

@jakebeal, but there are usually several normal issues, not just one. If there is no room in November, there might be in January. What is true for a single issue isn't for the journal as a whole, assuming it is periodic.

Have you actually had the experience of being squeezed out of a special issue? What I've seen is that the SI is usually overly specific and the organizers really have to hustle to make sure they get enough to fill the issue.

@Buffy Really depends on the field - in mine, special issue articles in some of the major journals are typically weaker. And some journals only have two or maybe four regular issues per year, and about as many special issues.

Submission to a special issue is generally the "best case" scenario for acceptance at a journal.
As long as you are correct that your topic fits within the scope of the special issue (which you can check by communicating with the organizers of the special issue), you are most likely to meet the thresholds for interest and significance and have the best odds of getting reviewers who are sympathetic, interested, and knowledgeable.
Thus, if you fit with a special issue, it is generally a good idea to submit to it, and if you get rejected from a special issue, you should probably plan to either restart the paper from scratch or else take it elsewhere.

Usually, you publish the manuscript in another journal.


text:
Repetitively emailing old lab group about a paper constantly on the backburner
Context
About a year ago, I left a research team that I was involved with as a student for approximately 2 years. During this time, I did a variety of unpaid internships and paid scholarships as well as doing a year long research project for my degree with them. Throughout the 2 years, I was working with them towards writing and submitting a paper about the work I was doing.
After I had finished my degree, I asked to stay on as a member of staff. Whilst they were interested, they unfortunately could not offer me a job so I had to look elsewhere as I couldn't simply work for free forever. I soon after received a job at another institute and made plans to leave. Before I left, the paper we were looking to submit was in its final stages of completion. I had written a fully referenced draft, completed all of the figures and done all of the stats on the data. We were planning to submit within weeks of me leaving.
Note: I had left on excellent terms with them and they were very happy for me that I had managed to find work.
Issue
However, it's now been close to a year and things still have not moved. I've emailed them 4 times in past year (at least 3 months inbetween each email), telling them how things are going in my new lab and to ask if we can have an update about the paper and also asked if there's anything I can do for it such as re-analysing data or re-working any figures. They reply with either "currently a bit bogged down with grants/other papers/etc" or "we're aware of it and we'll get something to you soon".
I've tried not to pester them about it and I'm concerned about crossing a line by contacting them incessantly. I'd like to remain on good terms with them.
How should I approach this situation? Should I let it go and be pleasantly surprised if they contact me? Do I risk annoyance by contacting them further about it? I'm aware that yes I did leave and no it may not be in their highest priority, but it's still a publication for their lab. There is a mutual benefit for us.
I have also considered the fact that perhaps it is not as complete as I had thought and that they need more data. But insofar they haven't communicated anything of the sort to me.
I'd really like to have my work published. Not just for ego reasons, but I will be most likely applying for some pretty competitive PhD scholarships this year so would also like to have at least a first author publication under my belt.

It's naturally to everyone's benefit to get the paper published. However, it may also be the case that your former PI and co-workers may not have the time and focus to work on it themselves.
Perhaps the best way to get things moving again is to change your question. Instead of asking a variant of

Will the paper be submitted soon?

try asking them what will help them:

I know you're very busy. What can I do to help get the paper submitted?

As I mentioned, I offered to help out where possible. I should clarify that I when I say 'inquired about movement on the paper' I mean 'how is the current situation and can I help?' I'll update the question.

It seems unlikely that significant work is going to get done on this paper in the near future. If you have all the necessary files, it might be best for you to request to take care of the submission process yourself.
You'll need to be the driver here, since you have the most interest in getting this paper published. Figure out what venue you would like to submit to, and then say something along the lines of "You're so busy, let me take this off your plate. How about we submit this to X? If you have no objections, I'll get started setting up a submission on their platform." Send them a PDF of the draft, and give them a deadline by which to give you requests for modifications.
Most likely, whatever vague improvements they keep considering will turn out not that critical, but either way this should finally get you some concrete feedback on the draft.

I feel like this is, fundamentally, the best way to handle this. We had already named a journal we wanted to submit to and the paper is formatted for that journal as it stands. Unfortunately, I've since long lost access to the files and only have my draft with me. I'm going to have a conversation with my current boss tomorrow about how I might make this a reality.

If you're missing specific files, try asking a current student of the lab to forward them to you - they're less likely to be busy than the PI. But figure out exactly what you need (if possible down to the file name/location) first, to make the request as straightforward to answer as possible.

Instead of trying to solve it through email, you could try to arrange a meeting with them (can be via telephone/skype) to discuss how to continue/finish the paper. That way they will have booked half an hour or an hour, and might have more time for you.
In that meeting, make a plan on things that are need to be done, who is going to do what, and by when. Also decide who is going to submit the paper, and where.

I've suggested conference/skype calling in emails, to no avail sadly. I would always prefer to do these things outside of emails, but I really don't want to straight up cold call them.

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


text:
Cite submitted paper in my master's thesis
Some time ago, I and another person submitted a paper to a conference. It has not yet been accepted. In my master's I want to express that the results of my algorithm (included in my thesis) have been compared to those of another algorithm in the submitted paper. In other words the derivation and results of my algorithm are included both in the thesis and the paper.
How do I cite the paper?
I know this question has been asked many times but I were not able to find previous answers entirely reflecting my situation. Most importantly, the review process of the conference is double-blind and I am afraid that by specifying the name of the conference in my master's thesis, I am jeopardizing the anonymity.
But if I cannot mention to which conference it is submitted, very little of the actual bibtex entry remains. I suspect that because of this it best to simply cite it as @unpublished with a note specifying the status.
I hope someone can confirm this for me or provide a better alternative. I simply do not want to make a fool of myself.
Update:
I eventually got around to speaking to my supervisor and we agreed that a citation of the form

Author A, Author B (Me), ... Title Of Paper, Submitted, 2020

was appropriate. I reference this citation in the overview of my thesis and mention that parts of my work have been submitted to an international conference. As Buffy points out, some form of citation is absolutely required to avoid self-plagiarism. By citing myself I clearly indicate that I revisit material that is also submitted in a paper.
I included the title of the submitted paper in the citation. Necessarily this puts anonymity at risk. The theses submitted to my university will be published. As its review process is shorter, we expect the thesis to be available before the paper is accepted. Therefore it is theoretically possible that the reviewers could find my thesis and cross-reference the title of the paper I cite to the paper submitted to the conference. However, we concluded that this is quite an unrealistic scenario.
Note that the name of the conference submitted to is left out. This is done primarily as the actual conference is, for me, unimportant (until it is potentially accepted). What matters is that I have contributed material to a paper, which reflects well on my thesis.
If you are more profiled than I, perhaps you must take further steps to anonymize the citation such that it cannot be cross-referenced to the paper. If so I would suggest you confer with your supervisor.

This might depend on how public the thesis will be in the short term.

Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/12101/68109

How you cite it is probably less important than that you do cite it to avoid possible self-plagiarism charges.

Perhaps you can use time to your advantage here and update a citation as you learn more. But submitted, not yet published is a better description than simply unpublished which can give the impression that it won't be published.
But if the thesis itself will only be seen internally at the university until the decision is made by the conference, then it might be safe enough to just give the full citation. And, if it is accepted you would probably want to update it in any case to indicate that fact.
I think you understand already that citation isn't optional and must be done, but only the form of citation is being addressed here. Above all else, avoid self plagiarism.

On the question of avoiding self-plagiarism: Would something of the form "The results of algorithm X (my algorithm) along with competing algorithm Y are submitted to a large international conference" be accurate?. In this way I explicitly state that the algorithm and results in the thesis and paper are one and the same.

"""I think you understand already that citation isn't an option, but only the form of citation is being addressed here. Above all else, avoid self plagiarism. """
I'm not sure I follow

Your statements imply that you already know that you need to cite it somehow. It was a message to others, actually, that avoiding the citation altogether would be an ethical issue. Questions and answers here live on for a long time and, in the best case, are useful to future readers as well as the the OP (original poster). That was my only intent. Your formulation is pretty good, but should include that the submission was by yourself. But the title of the work would be better if you can include it. Again, the visibility of the thesis might be an issue.

I suspect the OP interpreted "isn't an option" to mean "isn't allowed".  Perhaps "isn't optional" would have been clearer.

@AndreasBlass, Thanks. I see it now. Fixed


text:
Going into a PhD expecting to take longer
I'm in the following situation: currently I'm finishing my Master's in (mathematical) Logic in Amsterdam. I'm interested in doing a PhD (preferably in the US), either in something more applied or in continuation of my current research (set theory/proof theory). I've understood this logic department has excellent placement for PhDs (many go on to places like CMU, Oxbridge, Berkeley, Stanford) and the study program is considered fairly intensive. However, I have significant chronic health issues preventing me to study much beyond 70% of what is considered ordinary full time studies here, without it affecting my mental health (although I should add that in this program around 25-40% of the people don't fully reach the 100% rate). The illness does not affect my ability to do mathematics, just how much I can do effectively of it in a day. Therefore, in all likelihood I would need more time, or at least the possibility of more time, to finish a PhD successfully. Say the average time of some PhD program X to finish is 5 years, I might need 6.5-7 years. I've read many questions on this site related to my situation, but I get very mixed signals in the answers.
So:

Given the situation is it even reasonable to attempt a PhD?

Suppose I were to apply for a PhD in (say) the US, and I am honest and upfront about the  situation to my potential supervisor, would such extensions be possible? Or would it just mean an instant rejection?

If I'm open to pursue more applied avenues (logic in computer science perhaps) would this change the answer to the above two questions? The reason I ask is that I've gotten the strong impression that such programs are in general somewhat less intensive than those in pure mathematics. But this can also just be a symptom of superiority feeling that floats around in many pure math departments ;)

The median time to complete a PhD in math in the US is 5.7 years.  7 years would not be unusual. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf20301/assets/data-tables/tables/nsf20301-tab031.pdf

I think you need to be honest and upfront about your intended working schedule.  I'm not sure I can answer the rest of the question, though.  I think the real question is, how would you survive on 70% of a PhD stipend?  Can you have another job 30% of the time or do you need to use that time exclusively to take care of yourself?

@AnonymousPhysicist Thanks for your comment!  Well, that of course depends on the situation and the size of the PhD stipend. But in first instance my question would be whether such an arrangement is possible. I might be able to get some external support. Are PhD stipends in the US absolutely bare minimal for survival?

@Buffy Yes (anywhere), and I have a green card, if that matters.

Stipends vary.  You won't find many above $35,000 USD, and most will be much lower.  High stipends are only found in very expensive locations.

@AnonymousPhysicist, "stipend" is a misnomer. Few come with no duties.

I do not think that the answers you will get to this question will reliably predict if you can earn a PhD.  The only way to find out is to try it.  Of course, there are many reasons not to get a PhD even if you are able.

Are you able to self-fund most of your studies or at least supplement it? That would be a serious consideration in whether a supervisor or an institution are able to flex around your situation?

My advice, for the US, is to share your medical condition as narrowly as possible. Most US universities will have an office for student support in such things and they may need to know so that they can provide some services that will help you. But I, personally, probably wouldn't share it even with an advisor unless and until it proves to be an actual issue. I don't know whether this is a purely US view, but there are rules about discrimination for medical conditions here.
I also wouldn't try to work out in advance some "part time" degree. Just take as long as you need to take (caveat below).
I'm guessing a bit here, but also suggest that you are better off in pure math than applied math here, since the former seldom has deadlines to worry about. Research takes as long as it takes. And you are probably better off in a subfield that you already know pretty well to help you get through any coursework and comprehensive exams.
Don't worry about or suggest "partial stipends". Most doctoral students in the US serve as TAs, working with students in elementary classes, grading or running study sessions. Stipends without duties, as such, are pretty rare, though you seem to be writing about a pretty high level place where they may be a bit less rare. But they are likely funded by grants, even then.  If you can put in the time for that, then it doesn't need to end since you are providing a service that the university vitally needs.
Caveat: Some universities have a quite firm maximum number of years of study. Make sure you know about that before you begin, but also that you know what accommodation can be made in your case. And many students take seven years to complete for other reasons. You don't have to hit the median to be successful.
Again, the student support office can be your friend.

This answer isn't very relevant to the situation in the question.

"Don't worry about or suggest "partial stipends". Most doctoral students in the US serve as TAs, "  Complete nonsense.  Usually post-candidature TAs spend 50% of their time on teaching duties and 50% on research.  OP wants to work 70% of the time.  If they have full TA support, then they will be loosing 60% of their research time, which is a huge problem.  Reduced teaching responsibilities, which very probably lead to reduced pay, are going to be necessary to make progress.

@AnonymousPhysicist, there are variables here neither of us can measure. But going in assuming a priori that 70 percent will be an absolute requirement is suboptimal. What the OP "wants" with little knowledge of the US system and what is best may not align well. I'm suggesting maximum flexibility. And in math "spending" 50% on teaching and 50% on research is unmeasurable. I wonder if you are in the US. Grad students don't punch a clock here - most especially math students. Physics may be different if you are in a lab.

@AnonymousPhysicist: Actually it is the OP's job to judge this. And, for the record, I can read. I can also think. If you have better advice, by all means, give it.

I'd like to point out that I should not have used the word "wants" in my second comment.

I do not know the answer to this question, and I doubt it can be answered by any method other than experimentation by the asker.  Not knowing the answer will never stop me from calling out other people's answers that are not consistent with logic, and potentially harmful.

@AnonymousPhysicist and Buffy: I just don't want to be in a situation where the workload is too much for me to handle, and ideally have some guarantee that I won't be immediately kicked from the program if a throttle back a bit. I can work 40 hours a week, but pulling all-nighters or working 50-60 hours a week, this I cannot manage sustainably with my health for a long period of time. The question is then: knowing this, is a PhD realistic, assuming I won't mind spending one or two year extra?

I don't think anyone would be concerned if you took, say, seven years to complete. It is actually fairly common and for lots of reasons. But I still suggest not making making decisions early (money especially) that you may regret. Making big decisions as late as possible can be an advantage. If people already have a chance to measure your worth it will be easier to make accommodations than if they don't know you at all. First, get accepted. And the only times I pulled all nighters I failed the exam. Not worth it even for the healthy.

"ideally have some guarantee that I won't be immediately kicked from the program if a throttle back a bit."  You should only join a PhD program that has a good completion rate.  This advice applies to all prospective PhD students.  A good program will not kick you out for anything except serious misconduct.  At top universities kicking a student out is considered a very bad thing that needs to be avoided.

@AnonymousPhysicist & Buffy: well I think seven years should be sufficient, especially since I already have a Master's from a program with a good placement record. However, I've always understood PhDs work ~60 hours a week and this I really cannot do. With respect to kicking you out, the programs I've looked at in the US all specify a minimum number of credits you should take (especially in the Master's phase). In addition they require excellence in grades: more than one failure already leads to withdrawal. So you can neither take less credits nor focus on less courses (and maybe fail one).

Here in the Netherlands it is very common to fail multiple exams in the course of your Master's (and every exam comes with a re-exam). Also, there is no minimum amount of credits to take. So it appears then to me that US programs are extremely rigid. What could the student support office do in such a case as mine? Unfortunately, my illness is not physically noticeable and it isn't the case that it can be alleviated with some simple accomodation.

You need to pass comprehensives. Often (usually?) you get two tries only. You may have most of the knowledge (from your MS) to do that already as the early coursework in US is intended to enable that. Afterwards, in math, your proposed 40 hour schedule should e fine. Especially if your research doesn't have to be closely coordinated with that of others as it might in a lab science. And the 60 hours per week is partly (mostly?) driven by students desire to finish quickly. But working longer hours is different from working smart. Don't push through frustration with longer hours.

If you have a Masters you should not need to take any courses at all.  Comprehensive exams do not exist in every department, and rules vary.

"So it appears then to me that US programs are extremely rigid."  This is not the case in general.

I think a PhD is possible, but I am not sure whether you have maximised your opportunities.
Your main focus is understandably on health restrictions, but from the supervisors and institutions point of view, funding, ability for you to support yourself, ability for you to access appropriate health care etc etc would be the major considerations, before the usual issues of competency, skill etc. I think a green card does help with the application and visa process.  But I do not think that the usual and even the more expensive stipends would be enough unfortunately Ibrahim, sad to say, despite your interest, competence and skill.
Even with all that lined up, bigger issues would need to be considered. All the various visas and checks, would you fail those due to the health condition? Are there more health checks required after obtaining a Green card? Australia demands that its international students are able to obtain appropriate health insurance before any offers can be made, for example. Many students can not come here due to inadequate health insurance coverage unfortunately. It is likely that your health issues would be covered by the university insurance, but details that like that, you would need to deep dive and clarify due to your condition(s).
Once you have your head around all that, then approaching supervisors and networking is key. Hopefully people from your Masters can help, and you can find a great team that is understanding and flexible enough for your needs.

You can consider applying for fellowships instead of PhD programs. There are accommodations for people with medical conditions in applications for fellowships. I know for instance UCLA fellowship programs have such accommodations. Try to reach out to Office of Research in the target university and let them know about your condition.
Some fellowship applications require you to find a professor who can sponsor you beforehand and some do not. Your research plan (proposal) can be as short as two pages as one of the application materials. The whole process can take up to one year and you can apply for multiple fellowships to increase your chances.

It sounds like what you need (subject to consideration of some issues that I will discuss soon) is to seek a part-time PhD candidature.  It is not impossible to get this, but some universities are reluctant to grant entry to the program because of the long period it takes, and the risk of non-completion.  Some candidates enrol in a part-time candidature because they have a full-time job (one of my past PhD candidates was a part-timer and graduated successfully) but there is no inherent reason you could not seek a part-time workload for other reasons, including health issues.

Given the situation is it even reasonable to attempt a PhD?

This is a matter of opportunity cost and it depends on many factors (e.g., how old you are, your ultimate career goal, etc.).  Don't kid yourself --- seven years is a long investment of your time and is a substantial opportunity cost.  You will also need to consider how you will sustain yourself financially for this time.  Nevertheless, if you really want to develop further in this research field, and you are still pretty young, you might find that seven years of study is a worthwhile investment of your time.

Suppose I were to apply for a PhD in (say) the US, and I am honest and upfront about the situation to my potential supervisor, would such extensions be possible?  Or would it just mean an instant rejection?

I can't really say whether being open about your circumstance will hurt your chances of entry.  That really depends on the views of the particular academics that scrutinise your application.  All I can say is that if I were the potential supervisor looking at your application, I would appreciate knowing up-front that you want to do the program part-time, and it would not bother me to have a student do this.  So long as the other aspects of an application are good (i.e., strong skills, good previous education, etc.) there would be no issue for me in accepting a PhD candidate on a part-time basis.  Probably the only issue would be interviewing the student to make sure they are confident that they can sustain interest in the topic for such a long period of time.  Other academics may have a different view, but that is my own view.
The other important thing to bear in mind here is that there is an existence after acceptance in the program that you want to think about.  It is best to get accepted under an explicit agreement that you will work part-time, and with work expectations diminished accordingly.  A PhD candidature can be quite stressful, and it will compound that stress if you put yourself in a position where your supervisors expect a higher workload from you than you are able to give.  Contrarily, if you have this conversation up-front, and you are accepted, you will be able to start on the right foot, knowing that the work expectation of your supervisors accords with what you are able to give.

If I'm open to pursue more applied avenues (logic in computer science perhaps) would this change the answer to the above two questions?  The reason I ask is that I've gotten the strong impression that such programs are in general somewhat less intensive than those in pure mathematics.  But this can also just be a symptom of superiority feeling that floats around in many pure math departments ;)

The entry requirements may indeed be different for different programs, but I do not think it changes any of the previous advice.

Thanks for your answer! Would 70% be considered part time? Where does this limit lie? Does part time status mean you won't get any funding/tuition waiver? Because part time status sounds interesting: I could test the waters and adjust my speed accordingly. The main thing I'm trying to avoid is a situation in which my potential supervisor expects a work rate that I cannot durably maintain and this in turn further reducing work output.

I'm 24, by the way.

RE part-time rules: that will depend on individual university policy, but I would think that anything less than a 100% load is part-time.  If you are 24 now then you will only be 31 in seven years, so there is plenty of time post-PhD.  That fact militates in favour of the feasibility of the candidature.

Is this an Australian perspective? I question a lot of it for the US.

It is really just my own perspective, but yes, I am Australian, so perhaps you can consider it as 4e-6% of the Australian perspective.

Yeah, I agree with Buffy, part-time US PhDs are not as common as here in Australia. In Australia, many people work and self-fund their PhDs or have a university position and do their PhDs part-time. That seems much less common in the US.


text:
Dealing with a slow moving project as a professional researcher
I have an undergraduate degree and I'm working as a medical researcher in a research lab, affiliated with a University. I've done very little since being employed, due to problems such as:

lack of usable samples for projects
equipment being broken down for long periods of time
issues getting trained on equipment & techniques
waiting on reagents with an otherwise unspecified delivery date

Sadly, roughly the first 6 months or so into work I was given very little to do so had to try and self direct as much work as possible, which I filled by teaching myself software programming and data analysis automation. There were several attempts to get me trained on things that would support my project but due to people being too busy or not wanting to give up time for their own work, every attempt failed and the training would get forgotten about. This was a difficult situation as the people training me were not actually a part of my group (I don't actually do any work with my team), but collaborators/colleagues/students from other labs in the institute.
Programming worked very well for a good 4-5 months but now I'm back into another rut with all of my equipment being out of order with an unspecified ETA on repair as well still waiting on reagents. Whilst I know this happens in science all the time, when it comes on the back of nearly half a years worth of not a whole lot it's hard to keep spirits high.
This has caused a severe reduction in morale and 'excitedness' about work and I often come in day to day feeling depressed and unhappy because all I can do at the moment is busywork (lab stocklists, cleaning, etc). How do people go about dealing with a slow moving or otherwise stagnant project for long periods of time?
I should mention that I love the environment I work in, including my boss and the people I work with. I got the opportunity to move to an entirely new state and experience a different way of living, which has been very nice. My boss is happy with my work (I was re-contracted) and says I have very good ideas and is sympathetic to my current situation but has little to offer in terms of solution, granted he's not able to speed up repairs or make my reagents come in faster!

Clarification
I thought this warranted a clarification. I have done some work which has contributed to the project and provided some good insight. I am now trained and fully autonomous in the work that I need to do. My only restriction at this point is having the equipment I need to work and the reagents for them. A problem which is kind of rife throughout medical research.

it is ok, dont worry you are paid, for nothing, so it is not your fault, their fault

I know its not my fault, and believe me I like getting paid, but I'm the sort of person that thrives on a busy schedule. I'm just bored out of my skull right now.

I am not undergraduate, as my post says I am first year out of undergrad. I am a full time employee.

You could leave. I appreciate that you "love the environment [you] work in, including [your] boss and the people [you] work with. But, you're not happy with your work. Alternatively, you could create a reason to stay. E.g., by setting up a project that doesn't have such problems. You'll need to justify the project to your boss, but that shouldn't be a problem, given that you have lots of free time and given that you'll leave otherwise.

Leaving was something I had thought about, however I do not want to throw in the towel. The project I'm working on is, despite problems, really a very exciting one and when the equipment is operational I'm absorbed by it completely. It would be a fools errand to establish a new project in my downtime only to abandon it when the equipment and the work I was hired to do is running again. Not to say I don't think about what else it is I can do, but 2 different experiments/projects I came up with are a part of the unavailable options - I'm starting to get stumped as to what else I can do!

Start some side-projects (that don't require fancy equipment and products you would have to wait for)

OMG, I so sorry, I misread your question @Eppicurt you need to leave that JOB ASAP

@Mark that is allow for person that is not phd or on reaserch possiotn?

@SSimon That's something to be discussed with the supervisor/professor/boss/...

First, I'm not from your area and I don't know how things usually work in medical labs. But I have participated in several research project in field of computer science. Some of these projects were just as you described, and even though the fields are different, I think the situation is the same.
My simple suggestion is to leave that lab for good. That might be a very bold decision, but unfortunately people like you (and me) have to take this bold decision for a brighter future.
You have mentioned that the lab environment is very good, you love your boss and your collegues. That is great! But that is not enough. Simply put, the things you have done goes in your CV. Not your good relationships with your boss and collegues. As a person who is at the beginning of their career, you should activate your potential before it is long lost.
I recently moved to another country from my hometown. And that was not an easy decision. Just like you, I had very good friendships, and perfect relationships with my supervisors. Thus, most of my relatives told me that these type of friendships are not to be found abroad, and I was gambling by leaving such a good environment.
They were right. I do not have very close friends in my workplace here. We do not usually go out for a few drinks occasionally as I did with my collegues back in my hometown.
However, I found two things way more precious in my new workplace.
Shared ambition and productivity.
I still do the job I love, I have good relationships in my new workplace, I have a great and friendly boss, and I actually work!
To sum up, every single research project I have participated was exactly as you described. Despite the good relationships and laughter, lack of productivity and drudgery work made me feel like I'm wasting my life there. I realized that I was not happy. I moved on. I'm happy. If you prefer being productive for the expense of slight decrease in the close relationships environment, realize that you are not happy. You should move on. You will be happy.
Also, if allowed, I suggest you also ask this question in Workplace.SE.

Thanks for the answer. As I've had a few days to think about it, I am of the opinion that this is relatively common amongst medical researchers. Unfortunately, I don't feel that leaving the job is necessarily the right nor the best option for me both financially and career-wise. I don't have any contingency plan or any other means to support myself, and since the funding runs for only another year I feel like it's worth sticking it out. I think my plan will be to talk to my boss about how I'm feeling, as I'm not sure he fully understands what I'm going through.

I have also added a clarification.

but OP is not PhD,

Neither was I when I made the decision.

If the equipment is broken, in my country researchers seek collaborator from other institutions, universities, and labs that have that equipment. Eighter rent, borrow or use for the benefit.
What are things you can promise them? usually, it is sort of co-authorship or if collaboration is with someone above lab setting, it is a form of special bilateral institutional agreement for cooperation. This looks good on CV of executives. For another thing, I am not sure what you can promise them.
There are many websites and social media platforms that you can ask for collaboration, it is out of the scope of your question to name it, but the second good option for finding collaborations are conferences, workshops, and researchers night.
Generally, seeking for collaboration outside of your institution should be number one priority for you now.

I am not in medical research or academia, so please take everything I say with a grain of salt.  I previously had a job where we were unable to perform a large percentage of our work due to broken equipment.  The monthly meetings usually went like this:

Them: "Why such little progress with X?"
Me: "Broken equipment, same equipment as last month..."
Them: "(Still) no money to fix it."
Me: "...then here we are."

After a few months, I mentally changed jobs.  My job became "find a way".  I started making phone calls, learning about the equipment, borrowing equipment from others, talking to people that do the repairs, trying to negotiate prices (which I'd take to management for approval, of course) - beg/borrow/steal and sometimes just fix the equipment ourselves.  In your line of work, that may be impossible due to equipment calibration requirements or whatever - but maybe not.
You seem an intelligent fellow - if you can learn to code you can learn to fix your own equipment, or find a way to get it fixed.  In my opinion, that is your job now.


text:
What is the meaning of the academic title "Karsh."?
I have recently started my work at a new institute.
One of the employees there is from Iran.
Their academic title is "Karsh." and "Karsh.A.".
A short Google search revealed that "Karsh" is either a surname or a village in Iran.
I have never seen these titles and I am curious on what they describe.
Is this something similar to a Bachelor/Master’s degree?

Maybe a Karsh scholar?

Wikipedia notes that the Martha and Bruce Karsh STEM Scholars Program only awards PhDs or MD-PhDs.

In that case maybe a Karshenasi degree.

@Aruralreader Thanks alot, perfect explanation. I have copied the relevant passage into the answers for easier access.

From A rural reader's comment: WENR World Education News and Review

Bachelor (Karshenasi: Karsh.)
The Karshenasi degree is structurally similar to a U.S. bachelor’s
degree. Previously known as the Licence, the Karshenasi requires at
least 130 credits at a university or other institution of higher
education, and a minimum of four years of full-time study. Students
must achieve a minimum grade point average of 12 out of 20 to earn the
degree.
Undergraduate curricula offer a wide range of general education and
elective subjects along with the degree specialization, which
typically is concentrated in the last two years of the program.
Karshenasi programs are also offered as short two-year programs on top
of a Kardani degree. These programs are known as Karshenasi
Napayvasteh (non-continuous degree) and offer holders of Kardani
degrees the option to continue their education and complete a
Karshenasi degree in two years.
Master’s Degrees (Karshenasi Arshad: Karsh. A.)
Following the Karshenasi, the Iranian system has a postgraduate
Karshenasi Arshad degree (previously known as Fogh Licence or Fogh
Lisans). The award of the credential typically requires 28 to 45
credits, depending on the program, with an overall GPA of 14/20 or
better, and the completion of a thesis.
Programs are generally two years in length. These postgraduate degrees
are referred to as “non-continuous master degrees” (Karshenasi-Arshad
Napayvasteh) as opposed to “continuous master degrees”
(Karshenasi-Arshad Payvesteh) found in the professions. (Additional
detail below.)
NOTE: In recent years, there has been an increase of Western-style
Master of Business Administration and Doctor of Business
Administration programs offered by both public and private
universities in Iran.
Of note for credential evaluators is the fact that private sector
programs may at times be of questionable quality and often exempt
students from academic course work on the basis of practical work
experience.

Is this specific to Iran? Or more general?

That is actually a good question. The link above suggests that it is specific to Iran, but my guess is as good as yours. If you have any further information regarding that topic please post it here somewhere.


text:
How do I cite — in APA style — a Creative Commons licensed image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons?
Suppose I wish to use this image in my paper: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Standing_white_tiger.jpg
+--------------+
|              |
|  IMAGE HERE  |
|              |
+--------------+

Figure 1: A white tiger in captivity (Morin, 2018).

How do I properly cite the image in the references section?
My attempt:
Format:John, D. (Year). Official description. Publisher. Retrieved on Month Date, Year. https://www.example.com/image-source.jpg. License.

Morin, B. (2018). Standing white tiger (Bengal tiger species ) with open mouth, at Singapore Zoo. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved October 8, 2020. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Standing_white_tiger.jpg. CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

Suppose the English description does not exist; only the French description exists. How should the citation look like when there is only an official description in French? My attempt:

Morin, B. (2018). Tigre blanc (espèce Tigre du Bengale ), la gueule ouverte, au zoo de Singapour [Standing white tiger (Bengal tiger species ) with open mouth, at Singapore Zoo]. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved October 8, 2020. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Standing_white_tiger.jpg. CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

Are my citations of Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons licensed images correct in APA style?

Section 12.18 of APA 7 states:

To write a copyright attribution,

state whether the material was reprinted or adapted (use "From" for reprintings and "Adapted from" for adaptations);
provide the title, author, year of publication, and source of the material;
indicate the material's copyright status...; and
provide the permission statement as requested by the copyright holder if permission was sought and obtained.

Place the copyright attribution as follows:

For a reprinted or adapted ... image ..., place the copyright attribution at the end of the general note for the table or figure ...

(American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 389)

In other words, the copyright attribution goes into the general note for the figure, not in the references section.
As an aside, APA 7 has some differences from APA 6, one of which is that you no longer use "Retrieved from" unless the source is likely to change often (as in a Wiki page).
For the references section, visual works are covered in section 10.14. I would do something like this (with hanging indent):
Morin, B. (2018). Standing white tiger [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Standing_white_tiger.jpg


text:
Is it appropriate to address a PhD holder as "doctor" (without name)?
In the US and Canada, I addressed my lecturers and instructors as "Professor X", "Dr. X", "Mr. X", or "Ms. X" (depending on their formal education and academic position). I am currently at a university in Southeast Asia where students rarely (almost never) address university staff by name. They will say (always in English), "thank you professor", "thank you doctor", "good morning sir", "good morning miss", etc. There is nothing wrong with this; it's just the academic custom here.
My question is about US and Canadian academia: is it appropriate to address a PhD holder as "doctor" without name? For example, is it appropriate to say "thank you doctor" instead of "thank you Dr. X"? I recall hearing "thank you professor" (without name), but I can't recall hearing "thank you doctor" (without name).

In North American English, "doctor" without a name usually means a medical doctor.  To address a PhD or university instructor in that manner is neither appropriate nor inappropriate, but it is unusual.  "Professor Lastname" is a safe choice, but customs vary.

Often many would assume that they come from Gallifrey.

Is "thank you professor" (without name) safe?

Safe, yes, but more than a little stuffy.  "Thank you" alone is just fine.


text:
Can I offer my students a cash reward?
Disclaimer: I am not thinking of actually doing this. This is just a random shower thought that I had.
I am a non-tenured adjunct instructor. Would I be disciplined or lose my job if I announced to my class that I was offering a $100 cash reward for any information about cheating taking place in the class? If someone did bring me information and I followed through and gave them $100, would that change anything? This would be my own money out of my own pocket.
I realize that different institutions have different policies, so there may not be a single correct answer. I'd be interested in whatever perspective you have to offer.
Note that I'm not asking whether this is a good idea, whether it's socially acceptable, whether it would upset the students or my colleagues, or even whether it's ethical — only whether I would face disciplinary action for doing it.

Start with the policies and procedures of where you work. We don't know them, so can't answer.

Quoting from the help (https://academia.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask): "You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page."

Given your last sentence, I don't think we can handle your question here. We could discuss the ethics, acceptability, or whether this is a good idea (as the existing answers indeed do), but only someone familiar with your institution's policies (and the people enforcing them) can tell you whether you would face disciplinary action.

I find it both lazy and unethical. Lazy because there are other ways to minimize/eliminate cheating, such as making cooperation among students part of the course. Unethical since you would be setting up a perverse incentive for people. Vigilanteism usually ends badly. If someone collects then they are likely to be shunned in the future. Students should be learning, not doing your monitoring job. You need to think about the side effects, and there could be several unintended consequences.
I'd be tempted to end your contract, honestly. And I'm happy it isn't a plan, but just a stray thought.
Offer rewards (probably not cash) for positive things. Best paper, most thoughtful question, things like that.

(Disclaimer: I understand that this is an idea, not a plan.)
You should be concerned about whether it's unethical, precisely because your institution may well have a policy about "unprofessional or unethical behavior," as my own does. If it does, you'd be exposing yourself to a question of whether a Chair, a Dean, a Provost, or whomever might find this behavior to be unethical; if they do (and Buffy shows by example that they might), you could face sanctions.
I sit on the Grievance Review Committee for my institution. If a student brought a grievance against a professor (regardless of rank, tenure-track status, or anything else) for this type of action, I would be strongly inclined to agree that it was patently unethical behavior. Pitting students against one another would be, charitably, quite gross. Having cash-based transactions with your students would put you in very dangerous territory. A hypothetical instructor who behaved this way would receive precisely no support from me.


text:
Any possible solution for this submision mistake?
I recently have submitted a CVPR conference  paper (double blind) and made a horrible mistake!
I finished the remaining part of the paper one day before the deadline, and I made a copy of the files just in case anything went wrong.
Then I started to take care of the typo/grammar mistakes and polishing the structure (paragraphs, figures and tables placement).
When I finished I submitted the final version. But the next day, when I checked the submitted version I got a shock!
I had submitted the version before the polishing! The one that I copied for safety!!
The portal is closed and the organizers won't allow any more updates to the paper. Only submitting a supplementary file is allowed for which I'm not allowed to submit the paper again.
My guess is when the reviewers see an unpolished paper with many mistakes they will have a strong bias towards rejecting it!
There is no solution, is that right?

Only the conference committee can answer this. Contact them. An unpolished paper won't be accepted as is, but many papers require at least one revision. If the ideas are strong, perhaps you will be ok in any case.

@Buffy I was wondering about putting the correct version on arXiv.org. but not sure if the reviewers really try to dig in the materials in the literature when they have little time to review the papers.

Explain your dilemma to the chairs by email and ask whether they'll switch the polished version (which you should attach) for the submitted version.

I'd do that but really doubt they agree as it'll violate their strict submission policy!

Ask the program chair. But given the incredible submission volume for CVPR, don’t expect an answer.

In very large/competitive conferences, you may be out of luck. But in lesser strict circumstances, the program chairs may be willing to cut you slack. Write to them, nice, simple and polite, and explain your situation, but without panic, whether they would permit you to correct your mistake.

What if i put the correct version on arXiv.org?  It does not infringe the blind-review policy, but i cannot put a link to it in my supplementary material file.

@Babak Putting it on arXiv doesn't help you here. (It does help you in other ways.)

OK. I try to mention the problem in the supplementary file and point out the major issues (structural issues). This way i hope if the reviewers check that file at least they get a less negative feeling toward these issues (i hope).


text:
Applying to MPhil in Advanced Computer Science at the University of Cambridge
Is participating in the international competitive programming contests and achieving an excellence degree graduation compensation for the low rank of your university when you apply to MPhil in Advanced Computer Science at the University of Cambridge?

The admissions department will answer that definitively, we can but guess it may help...

The admission requirements and international equivalents make no mention of university rank. (Disclaimer: I haven't checked every single country in the international equivalents). You can check for yourself whether your degree results meet the required standard.
I haven't found specific statistics for CS, but the overall ratio of applications to admissions for graduate study overall at Cambridge is about 6 to 1. (The ratio of applications to conditional offers is about 3 to 1, but it sounds as though you have your results already and would get an unconditional offer or a rejection). If you meet the basic requirements you could expect an interview.
The interview is where things like participating in Informatics Olympiads may be useful. If you've mentioned it in the application, you may get a question about it. But that kind of thing is more useful to undergraduate applicants than to graduates, unless you can show direct relevance (e.g. good results in undergrad-level security competitions, when you've mentioned in your application that you want to focus your studies on security topics). The reason that it's less useful for graduate applicants is that you will probably have done some kind of individual project in the final year of your undergraduate degree, and that project tells the interviewer more about your interests and abilities than Olympiad results.

Thank you for these details. I have another question about your answer: What is the best place to write about my individual project in the final year of my undergraduate degree (CV, application, portfolio, ... etc.), and where can I attach the report of this project?


text:
Doubts when looking for possible PhD supervisors
I'm currently in my last year of my master in environmental engineering and I'm strongly thinking about doing a PhD afterwards.
I'm looking around for possible supervisors working with research topics that I'm interested in (especially micropollutants removal from water), but I don't know how to assess their and their research group reputation. What would be the best method to assess that?
Also how early is it acceptable to send an email to inquire about a possibility to conduct a PhD project with them, especially if they work in a different university and thus know nothing about you?

Some of your current professors--even those who do not work in this subfield--might be excellent resources for this.

To know about a research group reputation, you have to follow their research works (most likely that there will be a dedicated webpage for their group which lists their works). If it is not a research group then you have to shortlist a few professors and visit their webpages to know more about their works.
Now, before emailing anybody, you have to come to a decision point and zero in on few works that they have published or are working on. This will give you a focus area. Further, you have to understand them a bit and if you find them too much intriguing then you should email them.
Further questions on how to email professors can be browsed in academia SE.

Besides looking at the overall output of the lab, look at the track record of this person’s students. Did they go on to good jobs and post docs?  Did they publish well?  Contact them if you can, because you could be one of them.