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Is it normal that my adviser presented my work at a conference while I was there?
A couple of month ago, I was in a conference with my adviser. I had a poster and he had a talk. His talk was about my project. In fact, it was newer results that I presented in my poster. After he gave his talk, someone asked me "why while you are here your adviser present your work instead of yourself?"
At that time I basically didn't answer that question and just moved on with a smile. I thought that was not so important but right now, I think is it really ok ? Is it normal among academia?
Any idea or suggestion is appreciated!

It's not normal in my field, but what field are you asking about?

In my field it is uncommon to have two contributions for the same topic as poster and as presentation - did the talk of your advisor cover a broader range? Or was it an invited / special talk? Why did you have two contributions?

In life sciences this is common. Usually the advisor will also promote your poster during their talk and encourage people to see the poster and talk with you.

I would say that in biochemistry (specifically glycomics) this is quite normal, albeit you would try to put poster and the talk in a slightly different context. For instance, the talk could be the results and the poster could discuss the method development behind the results.

@Thomas my field is computational physics. It is not normal yet?!

@OBu My adviser's talk was about other aspect of my project which I didn't present in my poster because of small place which is not appropriate to present a lot of data. No it wasn't invited talk or special one. In fact, it's not two completely separate contributions, they are related but I did not included in my poster for the reason I've mentioned.

This could also be a matter of strategy. Your adviser is presumably known by more people in the field than you are, so a talk by him could attract a bigger audience. He could then use that to "advertise " your work and your poster.

As a life scientist i'd say its completely normal. Often what would happen is that the lab head will give a talk that synthesizes the work of several people in the lab, each of which will have a poster on their specific part of the work. Its not unheard of though for a supervisor to give a talk on just one project from one student, especially if the lab is small or new.
I have to say though, that as a supervisor, asking the conference organisers if they'd mind the student giving the talk rather than the supervisor can be a really positive thing to do for your students careers, and supervisors should seriously consider doing so if they think they can.

It is normal assuming (a) your advisor is actively involved in the research project, i.e., would be a co-author on any publications coming from the work and (b) your advisor acknowledged your role in the research during his/her presentation. For most faculty advisors (at least in my specific STEM field), much or all of their research is done with advisees, so any research talk they give will likely describe work done with others.
For reference, my advisor gave a seminar in my own department on a project that I led. I had no problem with this -- it was nice to get their perspective on my work, and they acknowledged that I had done much of the legwork.

I didn't think that's a problem but because someone asked me that question I thought OK maybe he's right I'm here already! Also, a lot of talks in that conference were given just by graduate students where their advisers even were not in the conference at all.

Well, your advisor may have just wanted to attend this particular conference and giving a talk justified the travel costs. If you have an otherwise normal advisor-advisee relationship, I do not think this situation is cause for alarm.

It's normal in my field. Good other answers: the supervisor should mention the student.
This also depends on what else was presented. For example, if the supervisor also presented other work that wasn't done by the student, it would be even more tricky for the student to present that work, because they weren't involved and and/or wouldn't be as capable of describing it or fielding questions. Finally, it also depends on the trainee's readiness to present in that setting and format. Some talks are more programmatic and appropriate for faculty; some are more brief and more appropriate for students.

The talks in that conference were more appropriate for students rather than faculties. I mean I was among a few people in that conference which had poster but without talk.

@MehrdadYousefi I wouldn't worry about it too much, but if you want to give a talk next conference be sure to bring that up with your supervisor. I only see it as odd if they work against your interests. If your interests aren't known they can't really work against them.


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Forced to Quit PhD although the hard and proved work
I am a first year Ph. D student, and I have been working on a new topic of research.  I worked day and night to prove something new and verified it. I began my Ph. D while my supervisor was on travel, but he returned before I had been here for long.  When he returned, he told me we have to stop and not continue without any reasonable reasons.
After a few months he began treating me poorly---always belittling and underestimating---although I got two grants from a top conference, made videos and podcasts, and constantly received praise for my good work and personality.
It seems that I have been treated as a competitor, not a collaborator.  Although agreeing with my approaches in private, my supervisor said false words to the committee to take the decision and stop my Ph. D work!
It is not surprising, as there was another former senior Ph. D student who I met on campus, who was not allowed to defend his Ph. D: this same supervisor claimed he was not able to finish his dissertation although he had published in a peer reviewed journal and having citation as well, it was scary and not familiar.
In front of committee, he lied, and said something without proving. I asked if he can make a detailed constructive criticism, but he could not.  All I can say that they are a gang literally, and he said words that show that he is jealous and doesn't want to see me having self confidence in my self. I know no one will believe me, but this is the truth.
Honestly, I am distressed and I'm losing sleep.  I had this dream where there were many people who saw me fail.  All things considered, I don't know whether what happened is good or bad, and I definitely don't know what I should do next!
I would be grateful for your advice and whether there is someone has encountered any similar situation.

What is your question?

@scaaahu, did you read the post?  This is a question by a person who only sees resistance wherever she looks, who needs somebody to explain what her options are.  If there were academic lawyers, then she would be asking for a public defender.

First, my condolences. It might also make sense to seek professional help, be it either psychological or a lawyer. However, the goal of my comment is to remark that having good publications is already something. You may not have your PhD (yet), but having 3 papers on a CV in the first PhD year is rather impressive and might score you a PhD position elsewhere.

"In front of committee" What committee? Why were they convened?

@Azor, the committee was one professor ( colleague of PI), he asked questions indicates he is not aware and specialized in my research, and two  administrative who really not related to academia, it was quite funny to hear that feedback of the committee was negative, so what the reasons: the answer was evasive and lies, really nasty. The supervisor after finalizing the decision and I agreed that this cannot be a good supervisor for me, he told me you are more independent and he is no longer interested in research. There is another student was not allowed to defend after 4 years of hard work.

I'm having a hard time following you. Was this committee convened in order to discuss your progress?

I am sorry to say that but as I said, it is like a gang, many engineers have been kicked out, although being professional. However, it seems that many PI dont like to have a good student and strong personality, they get afraid from students that could endanger them in future, of course those are psycho PI. All I wish to have a good sane supervisor.

@Monika I'm asking about the committee you mentioned. Why were you meeting with a committee?

As this part of laws at the institution, but this just false image, because he agreed with the committee to write false things about me. I was shocked, I was forced from informal meeting of the committee that the reasons mentioned are funny even for the kids, you will not believe, but I am shocked and after crying all night and remember his words and lies in front committee and agreeing with them to false report. I said I can trust him as a supervisor, he didnot mentioned the grants, the hard work. Hope you can understand how the system is corrupted and protect PI, it hard for me honestly.

@elliotsvensson Yes, I did. After seeing your comment, I re-read it. Unfortunately, I still think it's unclear. I just reviewed another question, in which the OP asked "can you offer any advice on how to make the most of the remaining few months before applications are due?". The OP of that question has a goal. In this question, you offered explanation:"If there were academic lawyers", Unfortunately, we are not. We answer questions. We cannot judge who is wrong and who is right. BTW, I wondered why the other PhD student got to do with it?

I'll need to repeat Azor Ahai's comment, ""In front of committee" What committee? Why were they convened?". Please explain why your department started this committee? You're a first year PhD student, what is the purpose of the committee? Why is the other PhD student was involved? What happened before they started the committee? Do you have something that you forgot to tell us?

This committee is just to see whether there is problems from supervisor or me ( it is supposed) and normally every one pass this. May I didnot illustrate well, and I will not repeat, but the PI make false claiming that I cannot continue as he doubts about my work that I have published already and he said before it is good work and no he has doubts that this can work, I confront him and he lied in front of people, and I told him, if you have doubts, could please list them, he couldnot, the committee as I said is not technical at all, and the reasons where  that my report is more than x pages.

For the student, this was in the beginning of the year, he published more than 3 good articles and have been cited for that,  This PI acclaimed that he was not able to finish and not let him to defend. This makes me scary, as this student disappear and I wouldnot know how to deal with this PI.

What is more worse, every research knows in I am in that x lab, and now there is another lab interested, but the new potential PI told me I have to ask the former PI about you and situation, but I am afraid he can make bad-mouthing about me, also this new potential PI  interested in what I did in different country told to bring two months test which is like ( rat experiment), I dont have any grants or financial support, I was working on project. I am sorry for writing in comments, but I am totally distracted, and cannot think and there is no help from institute or university.

@Monika I have seen your other posts. You must move away from the place asap. If you think this is a local cultural issue (e.g. I have had an awful time in Chinese Academia), move elsewhere asap. Seek physical interaction with good peers to advise you. You need support, and I am sure you will find it. Reach out for constructive individuals.

@Scientist, I am terrified, really Now the HR and director of school want to me, I know I have to sign papers to terminate, I dont know, I am thinking about runaway and not sign any thing, I feel terrified, I still have to the end of the month and go. Please advices, I dont want to sign to something I forced from awful and racist supervisor, please advices.  I dont want to sign, I am afraid from them.

@Monika how about we move to chat? Message me from this room: https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/81054/postdoc-in-china

You describe a very difficult situation that has only difficult solutions. It seems pointless, even dangerous, to continue with this supervisor and, perhaps, even at this institution. It may be impossible to change the behavior of the supervisor, even if the department puts pressure on him to change.
However, though difficult and disruptive, you may be able to take the work you have done and use it as a firm basis for application elsewhere. I would normally just suggest changing supervisors at your current place, but it may not be possible and if the current supervisor is truly vindictive, then he might still be able to interfere.
But if your current and previous work is good, you can find an academic home somewhere. If you decide to move, investigate any future supervisor at least a bit so you don't get in to the same situation again.
You don't suggest that this could be a case of pure sexism. If it is, then in some places you can make a case for sanction of the professor, of course. Sadly, sexism is too accepted in too many places.

Let me add that I can't judge your work. It may be that your advisor thinks your work has less value than you do and that is his reason for his behavior. Of course, you have stated that others (reviewers, editors, etc., if that is the meaning of your second paragraph) have given validation to your work by publishing it.
But even if the professor is correct, it doesn't excuse bad behavior toward a student. If he thinks you are on the wrong path, his job is to guide you to a better path, not to disparage you.

I agree with the answer "above the line" and I upvoted it.  Concerning: "Of course, you have stated that others (reviewers, editors, etc., if that is the meaning of your second paragraph) have given validation to your work by publishing it."  I see nothing in the OP's question suggesting that her work has been published.  To be frank, the language she uses to discuss the validation she has received from others is rather odd, so whether the work is actually correct seems to be a key question (that we cannot judge).  I also firmly agree with "But even if the professor is correct..."

I am sorry for commenting, but I am in severe pain and alone in a foreign country and there is no one I can speak, every one is afraid. All I can say, he didnot read my work this is the truth, besides he is not specialized in the topic and the collaborator really a devil person didnot accept that I developed a new model, he deprived me to go the other lab without any reasons. If I wrote new question based on my work, he accuse that I have stole it, if I do very impressive cartoonish drawing, the same. He didnot praise me, always belittling, I made many correction for him during my work.

@ Peter, I have published my work in three top conferences, two of them gave me travel grants for my participation, I dont know if you could believe that or not, but as I said in my previous this is the truth, it is quite shocking, and there is a former phd student after 4 years was not allowed to defend although publishing in peer review journal and have being cited, he was accused was not able to finish although he completed the thesis, but no one dare to speak.

@Monika: That you have published in three top conferences is critical additional information.  I strongly recommend that you edit your question to add this.  (By the way, I have absolutely no reason not to believe you...so I do believe you.)  Given this, I think you should be able to transfer to a different and better graduate program with a different and much better advisor.

Now the HR and director of school want to me, I know may be I have to sign papers to terminate, I dont know, I am thinking about runaway and not sign any thing, I feel terrified, I still have to the end of the month and go. Please advices, I dont want to sign to something I forced from awful and racist supervisor, please advices.

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Is age a hindrance of getting acceptance in a PhD program?
Is age a hindrance of getting acceptance in a PhD program?
For instance, what if a student applies at the age of 45 for an admission?

Might be somewhat, but not a major one.

I started my doctorate in the computing field at 58.  (I also took the whole ten years, plus an extra six weeks, to finish.  Don't do that.)

I think you can rest easy (and work hard). There are a lot of people who decide to work toward a doctorate later in life. Depending on what your background is, you can bring a lot of experience to the process.
While most programs depend on a certain amount of knowledge in the field that undergraduates normally come with, mostly breadth and a bit of depth, a person who has worked in a field and kept up with the changes required of a professional probably won't be handicapped.
However, as with anyone else, you need to make a case that you are both prepared and have the drive to plunge deeply into research. Everyone is a bit different, but age, itself, is no barrier.

In general, universities in the UK, USA and Australia (the countries I've spent the longest amounts of time) have policies that specifically prevent discrimination on the basis of age (and other so-called "protected attributes") in admissions decisions. These policies are in line with broader legal frameworks against discrimination in that particular country.
In the Graduate School I manage, a quick scan of our records shows that the oldest student we accepted for a Masters degree was 73, while a 68-year-old student was accepted into a Psychology PhD.

Yes, exactly. In the U.S., chronological age itself cannot be any sort of criterion for admission. The only real question can be of sufficient qualification for the program, and indicators that the candidate can complete it. Yes, the question of how they've "performed" so far in life is relevant, and the longer one has lived, the more one has been "tested"... so that is inevitably, and equitably, fair.

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Is Self-plagiarism allowed in two submitted articles by one author?
Is it allowed that someone use the same paragraph in two submitted articles for two different journals? Note: both of these articles are unpublished still so it's not possible to cite one in another one. Also, those articles are submitted concurrently. If it is considered self-plagiarism, it should be really avoided or not? Because when someone works on a topic rigorously may introduction or even materials and method section will be relatively the same as his/her previous works. Any idea or suggestion is appreciated.

If the method is taken from elsewhere you should cite the protocol, and use block quote if necessary. If the method is novel, then pay attention during the submission, you should see one common question asking if the work has been presented or circulated elsewhere, you may use that to declare the potential repetition and let the editors decide. If no such slot exists, it's better to inform the editor in the cover letter.
Moving forward, consider cascading your publications: while paper A is under review, paper B should be being finalized, paper C being drafted, paper D's experiment being done, paper E and on being conceptualized. That way you can avoid problem like such and still maintain a reasonable output level.
To be honest, if I saw two papers from the same author saying "education data were broken down into 3 levels: less than high school, high school completed, and college or above." I will not jump off my chair and scream "plagiarism!!" But people's ideas about this issue are not all the same, I'd agree that assuming the worst would be a good approach.

To be safe, assume that it would be self plagiarism rather than making the opposite assumption. Cite the "other" work by author, name, etc and list it as "unpublished" or "under review" or whatever is fair.
It is just a good policy, protecting your own reputation, to be scrupulous in such things - even over scrupulous. Some people take it as a serious issue, others do not, but you don't have control over that.

So, whether it is "allowed" or not, I suggest you avoid the practice.

I know it's a really bad practice but sometimes it's not possible. Let's say in those two articles I used an identical chemical method to etch my samples. I just describe the chemistry of solution plus time and temperature. How can I paraphrase it in another article which I used the same etching method? I mean practically it's just a name of some molecules and that's it.

Actually, @MehrdadYousefi, for some things in math, for example, and I suspect chemistry, people recognize that there is essentially only one way to state things - especially formulae. So an accusation is very unlikely  But a cross reference is also good, even in those cases so that your readers will find both papers if they find one. Perhaps something of the form "This is also discussed ... in X" where X is in you list of references.


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Disappointed about Academia
I was a first-year PhD student but was forced to quit although hard-working day and night! I am disappointed, I am now 27 and did not create family, left my home country. Problems from the past in my family hugely affect my mental health. I have OCD and some other health issues.
Everyone admires my personality in presenting my work, however I am now shocked as I dreamt of doing good research to really help people and imprint a memory before leaving this earth. But I found it does not look like that. When I was a little girl, I used to tell my late mother: "I do not want to be an ordinary person, I want to add this world, to become an important person".
However, while writing now I would burst in tears and feel deeply alone. I suffered from complaining, so I would forget to speak and grew used to keeping every thing inside. I am afraid for my family as I feel responsible and I would like to make their lives better. Maybe the problem was that I did not do as well as the others? I thought I could do something new and meaningful, but I ended up being kicked out.
I would be grateful if someone tell me how can I overcome this harsh period?

You are not alone! This is a difficult type of work. Try searching the forum with the tag “emotional-responses”

What country are you in? I don't know of many first-year PhD students who are already writing their thesis.

Perhaps it make you feel better and help others if you offer a public evaluation of your ex-supervisor, see https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/115576/66782

Why were you forced to quit? What would you like to achieve? Return to your position? Find a new one?

Now the HR and director of school want to me, I know  I have to sign papers to terminate, I dont know, I am thinking about runaway and not sign any thing, I feel terrified, I still have to the end of the month and go. Please advices, I dont want to sign to something I forced from awful and racist supervisor, please advices.

You are not alone.
From my understanding of your post, you felt forced to quit after holding great expectations about yourself and in spite of making a significant effort for one year. If this is the correct interpretation, I believe your supervisor has failed miserably.
Unfortunately, modern day academia is not focused on human development and resources. It is mainly about politics and power, and increasingly infested with egoistic manipulators.
I suggest you do a great deal of self-assessment and seek professional help. Also focus on networking, improving transferable skills, and meeting capable change-driving individuals. Consider the following points:

I do not know which is your home country, and what is your family condition. But realistically assess whether spending 4-6 years on a PhD would really help your family in any meaningful way. Most young PhDs in my home country are either unemployed or underpaid, thinking they ought to have started working earlier.
Being successful is as relative as being lucky. Based on your description you seem to have joined an awful place for pursuing a degree, and was denied support from the beginning. Are you sure you would have fared any better in staying there for any longer? It seems to me you have spared yourself of years of lost time and internal pain.
Do understand that decision-makers and highly influential individuals are typically not academics. Seek to invest in your skills, contacts, and look deeper into the private sector and entrepreneurship.
As a 27-year old I think you are still very young, and I do not advise anyone to start worrying about "making a family" prior to 30s. But, of course, I do not know the social norm in your culture and your own life goals.

Breath deeply, don't look back, start afresh. You are free.
Good luck!

I hope this isn't your intent, but it reads like "give up your lifelong dreams because someone has treated you badly".

Sorry @Buffy if my answer is too broad. From my understanding the OP dreams of making a difference and doing good research, helping others. Like so many others, she is probably not aware that the academia is not the only place to achieve that (nor it is some "default sphere" to get there) . Broadening horizons and changing perspectives is the main message. New decisions will surely ensue.

Assigning blame isn't helpful for moving forward and you can't know the circumstances of this woman's situation well enough to make such a statement. Just to point out the unspoken other side, it's in everyone's best interest to fail a student after a year or two if it's clear they're not going to be successful in an academic program. Yes, this is painful for everyone, but that doesn't mean it's not the right decision. The perception of making some progress is not the same as making enough progress to be a successful researcher.

@David I assume the statement of blame you meant is that the supervisor must have failed her. I really don't see how it might look different, but perhaps you see something else. [Edit, after you edited yours: Oh yeah, I think we do disagree on how to tutor a PhD student and how "this woman" ought to have been treated.]

@David Looks like this answer is helpful to someone. I really hope more PIs will realise that training and mentoring a PhD student doesn't equate with the making of a "successful researcher" , whatever that might mean.

What you state here is something that many do indeed feel coming into academia. The image of research as being something greatly impactful on an individual level is a bit of an illusion. We only hear of the famous researchers, and not of any of the hundreds of thousands overshadowed in every field. Further, the process of research can actually alienate you from the fruits of your labor. Even if you do impactful work, you likely won't feel it or see it in a favorable amount of time. Those that seem to fare well in academia are those that are content with the reality of the dynamics involved, and enjoy what they really do.
I will say that from what you describe, however, your mentality towards work and life in general seem to be quite unhealthy. Indeed you have tragic circumstances that led to this, but its something you should work on with a therapist. The will and need to change the world for the better is definitely a common motivation, but not one that should be above all other reasons for a persuit, because its a goal that is almost by definition impossible to achieve to one's degree of personal satisfaction.
I doubly recommend therapy to help with loneliness, and making steps towards reaching out to friends and forming support groups, because the work load involved in grad school can be isolating. As a second year PhD student, I really recommend going out of your way to find people.

In most universities, there should be some supports for students. For example:
Meet with the office that is responsible for international student services and make sure you understand your right and your responsibility. If you student visa status will be terminated you may only have a short grace period before being considered as staying illegally.
Meet with the office that provides wellness and mental health support. If you can't find one, talk to the school clinic or your doctor for referral. You are under extreme stress and have no one to talk to. Having a meeting with the service provider will help you put things into perspective.
Let your family know if they have been supportive.
I am not sure what is so significant about being 27, many people received their doctorate much later than that. When it comes to learning and doing research, age really does not matter as much as, say, being a runway model. And if your original plan was to get a PhD and then get married by 27, then this plan is outdated, you'll need to weigh the options and revise it. Some plans work out some don't; as long as you have tried the best in your part, no shame in changing course.
Remember that circumstances come with a label of good/bad, fortunate/unfortunate, etc. mostly based on how we emotionally look at it. It seems you're currently drowning in self-pitying, anger, anxiety, and confusion.  While I can't ask you to simple "snap out of it," you'll need to heed to our advice and put together a help network. That is the first step to healing.
Academia is just like any other features in this world, there are good and bad sides. I value your experience, but you should hold on to the judgment for now. If you're really good at what you do, the hands of one "unreasonable" supervisor cannot cover a student's brilliance. Don't let go of hopes.
Good luck! Try to sleep and eat. Schedule meetings as soon as possible.

I can tell you that a lot of PhD students also go through such frustrating experiences. Fundamentally there are 2 reasons for this 1. difference between expectation and reality 2. you are learning about research in your PhD, but you are not really knowledgeable to make extremely significant contributions

Difference between expectation and reality: I think media tends to distort the nature of a PhD, its a lot of grunt work. And from the outside it seems that everybody who gets a PhD is a god. Unfortunately, the reality is that most of the time the work you do in your PhD is not going to be shake the world, but that is the nature of research. You stand on the shoulders of giants and make a small dent. Heres a good visual analogy: http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/. Its only over a lifetime of extremely long hours and thought do, the giants become giants.
you are learning about research in your PhD, but you are not really knowledgeable to make extremely significant contributions: You will realize after a while that most of your initial experiments and hypothesis will fail. This is the nature of really pushing the boundary of a field. That doesn't mean you should give up on your goals. It can be kindof devastating. I had one time, when I lost 6 months of work, because a very finicky device that I had painstakingly made, stopped working because of some random unexpected reason.

You seem like you have high ambitions, but if you have high ambitions, you should also realize that you will also have larger failures than most people, and probably have to make more sacrifices.
As @Penguin_Knight mentioned remember to do the simple things like eating/sleeping/exercising well and keeping in touch with people. Personally, for me, these things have been what have carried me through the hard days.


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Should I withdraw my paper from a journal which even didn't give me the manuscript number after one week?
I submitted an article to Elsevier which even after one week its status is still "submitted to journal" and they didn't give me even the manuscript number. I have several past experiences with this publisher, where they gave me the manuscript number promptly, but this time after one week without even manuscript number seems a little bit odd.
Should I withdraw my article and submit it somewhere else, which probably their process may be faster? The reason why I'm asking this question is that I don't want to waste my time but on the other hand I don't want to make a bad reputation for potential future submissions by withdrawing my article because their journal is pretty famous in my field (computational physics).

Have you searched this site for questions about journal workflow? Because a week is not very long to wait.

Besides what @AzorAhai said, can you tell us what field you’re in?  Typical journal workflow timings vary widely between different fields.

How fast would be fast enough for you?

@AzorAhai It's not about the workflow. The workflow is with editor -> under review -> result. But the problem is it's not even with editor after one week. I mean technically my manuscript even is not acknowledged as a submitted paper.

@PLL they described their workflow as well as their timeline clearly but my problem is that it seems it's not considered by their editor at all because it does not have even manuscript number to follow up!

@JonCuster I'm not kind of people whom complain about peer-review timeline but the problem is one week is too slow for a journal to at least confirm that actually they receive your paper.

The editor getting to your paper is part of the workflow. They don't look at every paper the moment it arrives in their inbox. The fact that it exists in their system means it's been received, does it not?

Yes, but usually the journals will give you a manuscript number and that means it will be considered by their editor even if they want to reject you promptly they give you this manuscript number and after 5 minutes they will reject you. But my paper does not have that manuscript number yet.

I’m nominating this question for reopening, because the accepted answer of the proposed duplicate question doesn’t answer this question.  Specifically, it doesn’t address the issue of “when should the author expect to be allocated a manuscript number?”

@MehrdadYousefi: Allocating a manuscript number is still part of the journal workflow (although it’s not addressed in answer of the linked question).  In particular, it still varies widely between fields and journals.  In my field (pure mathematics), there are plenty of reputable journals that don’t use a submission number at all (at least in correspondence with the author) — they just refer to the submission by title.  Using a submission number is just part of how certain journals choose to organise things, not an immutable part of the process.  So I wouldn’t be concerned, in your situation.

I know but I don't think I could mention the publisher's name here but in their system they will assign a manuscript number sometimes even promptly after submitting the paper. But in my case, because I have a lot of experience with this publisher, it looks odd that they didn't give me the number after one week.

I'm asking because I don't want to waste my time also on the other hand their journal is pretty famous in my field and I don't want to create a bad reputation by withdrawing my article.

@MehrdadYousefi I would vote to reopen if you added those details that you know this journal, and that you usually get a number immediately, as well as adding your field (or even the publisher).

@AzorAhai I will add those details as well as my field but not the publisher's name. I don't think it would be appropriate to discuss a commercial publisher here.

I'm not sure why you think that, but no one will force you to.

Because that doesn't help too much to just know the name of the publisher. I could simply withdraw it and maybe submit it somewhere else but I think withdrawing will create a bad reputation. I'm not sure I'm correct or not.

I mean, it very well could. Like PLL points out, not every publisher gives a manuscript number so knowing exactly who this is could mean someone knows "Oh yeah, Springer not giving a manuscript number in a week means there's a bug" or "Spring not giving a manuscript number means they are deciding whether to desk reject," etc.

Ok, well, it's Elsevier.

With the additional info I've also voted to reopen; please make sure the info in comments makes it into the question, though.

One week is not an especially long time. You write that you've had previous experience with this publisher and they gave you a manuscript number promptly, but you didn't write if it's the same journal. Different journals can have different workflows - for example I've seen a journal which processed new submissions once a week, i.e. if you're unfortunate enough to submit your manuscript the day after they process new submissions, you won't get a manuscript number until one week later either.
It's up to you whether or not to withdraw, but I'll say that I've never seen an author withdraw after one week. I have however seen authors write to the journal asking about the status after one week. If you're really concerned, I would do that.


text:
Statement of purpose for PhD admissions
In the statement of purpose, I have research work that's in progress and will be part of a manuscript to be submitted likely after applications season.  How should I go about describing my current research and future research goals?  I feel I would necessarily have to go into some details about my work with our research group, but I wonder if there is then a risk of getting ideas scooped by the admissions committees.

Have you spoken to your PI?

First, as  Caharpuka says, make sure to discuss this with your supervisor / PI and any other collaborators who are involved in your research.  Ask them about how much detail they are comfortable with sharing, and show them a draft of your statement before submitting it.
However, in general, you want to give enough details so that it is clear what you are working on.  You want to show that you have a deep understanding of the overall project as well as your specific tasks.
It is pretty unlikely that an admissions committee member would try to scoop you.  First, it's generally agreed that student / job / grant applications are confidential, and it would be highly unethical for a committee member to use such information for their own benefit.  Second, researchers usually don't lack for ideas of what to work on, so they don't need to steal them; usually the limiting factor is the time and resources to work on the ideas they have already.
So, err to the side of more details.  The risk is small, and it is far outweighted by the benefits.


text:
For STEM fields, is there self-segregation in United States academia?
I notice that often a lot of Chinese mathematicians collaborate with other Chinese, and Americans collaborate with other Americans.  Many of the journal papers that I look up seem to indicate this sort of self-segregation too.
Is this real or perceived?
If it's real, is it due to racism, familiarity with people of one's own background, or perhaps a combination of various factors?

What are you looking for in an answer to this question? I suspect it's mostly a combination of geography and language. But my guess does not an answer make.

All my collaborators are Italian, simply because my supervisor is Italian. If he were Chinese, or if we were working in China, I suspect I'd have a lot more Chinese collaborators. There's no deeper cause or reason here.

A slightly provocative question: do you see the same happening outside of academia? I doubt academia is any special in this regard.

Highly readable piece on the issue of general self-segregation in the USA

In the larger context of society, you tend to get auto-segregation in minority immigrant populations once they reach a critical mass. I imagine something similar occurs in academia too, but I don't have any data on that.

I see anecdote but not data to back up your assertions. In an author list of a paper, how do you know who is white?

I don't think it makes a lot of sense to answer a request for data and sources with "your claims are unsourced and lack data", @JonCuster... It's incredible that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, attacking OP, defending their turf, finding excuses... It's a valid question.

@NajibIdrissi - given that the OP directly used 'whites' collaborating with other whites, I think it is entirely valid to question how one could determine that fact from a list of names well before one starts throwing 'racism' around as a possible reason to explain something that may not actually exist. The question, as worded, strongly appears to be expecting a given answer. Asking a less loaded question on graphs of collaboration would be highly preferable, in my opinion. The core of the question may be valid, but as it stands it isn't particularly good.

@JonCuster I'm sorry if my question made you upset - I didn't mean for it to be "loaded".  It's simply an observation of mine, on campus and online, in the academic journals, and so I was curious.

@JalapenoNachos - I'm not upset, it just could be worded better. Questions on how to stimulate greater diversity are quite welcome. But playing the racism card so early is not productive.

@JonCuster I don't see what the problem is here, the OP clearly started by asking if this perception was real or perceived. I don't think asking if something could be linked to racism is "playing the racism card".

This is ridiculous. Names clearly correlate well enough with ethnicity to give someone a ballpark estimate. Since OP isn't claiming statistical significance (or anything else, all OP did was ask a question), that is perfectly fine. The only loaded question being asked is "In an author list of a paper, how do you know who is white?"

Can I suggest replacing "whites" with "Americans" or something similarly less racially charged?  Or are you really asking about race (in which case "Chinese" is off the mark)?

@JeffE ok, done

Yeah academia in the US, or anywhere else for that matter, is an extremely segregated, racist and sexist segment of society. So what you're noticing is somewhat "normal" as individuals will tend to associate with communities to feel better since the climate is extremely toxic and dysfunctional.

I seriously doubt that racism plays much part in any effect you might think you see. I also question what you think is the evidence.
There might be some small effect based on language, not race. If a couple of academics at a US institution share a language other than English, they may be drawn together to ease communication. But such an effect should be short lived.
The fact is that the majority of US academics in STEM fields in the US are white males. The person in the next office is likely to be a white male. While there are issues with that, I don't see much racism in evidence within the academy. As with anything, there can be exceptions and a few noted scientists and mathematicians were notably racist. But they stand out.
The article cited by user  Carl Christian on general self segregation can be easily explained. In the college first year student example, the self selection was going on before the students actually had a chance to meet anyone. So their self segregation was a result of factors outside the university not inside it. In the US, much of the force driving racism is fear of the other. We fear people who we haven't met and don't know. When a white and a black person pass one another on the street at night, both feel fear. But this fear is caused by the pervasive separation of the races in neighborhoods and schools. People have been actively discouraged from interacting in normal ways.
Fear of the other is probably much influenced by evolution. People in truly ancient times had to be wary when the met another person (from a different tribe) or an unfamiliar animal. Until you had some knowledge of how they would react, you had no basis for trust.
But within a university department, people do know one another and see one another each day and so have no reason to fear them. So, if you need to collaborate with someone you look first to the next office over, not thinking of them as different. They are just fellow academics. Likely they will be white men, of course. But if they have similar interests, regardless of race or sex, you will be glad to collaborate.
If racism and sexism exists in academia, and they do, it is much more likely to be evident at the point of entry, either for students or academic jobs. But after people come to know one another, assuming that is permitted and encouraged, the fear of the other goes away and we can just accept that people are people. The army doesn't give you the option of not participating. Initially you are forced to work with people not like you. But mutual trust is required for the job.

Since it wasn't referred to in the question, I didn't discuss the notion of racism toward students by faculty. Such racism might be conscious or unconscious, but it has a damaging effect when it occurs, regardless of cause.

Your post mentions fear of the other, but sort of misses the counterpart which is comfort with the familiar. The under-representation of non-white males in positions of power within academia has long been identified as a problem not just for the inequities it represents but for the subsequent generations of academics that are lacking mentors that look like them and share more similar life experiences.

@BryanKrause, correct, certainly after your first sentence. I don't think comfort explains racism, however. It would explain indifference, perhaps, but the racists we see on the screen don't seem comfortable in any sense. But I still think that the effect is primarily at the "gate". Fortunately, that problem is, in theory, easier to address, though there are forces that oppose even positive moves to be more open in education.

I didn't suggest it explains racism, I meant that it's an explanation for the phenomenon the question asker is talking about. Your answer says you think racism only happens at the point of entry and is moot after that, but you don't give much evidence or support for the latter.

@BryanKrause, I suppose I could say that I didn't see any evidence to support racism in over 50 years within academia. But that is just my own experience. But it clearly exists at each gate and there are a lot of gates. "Mostly moot" would be a better characterization. There are well known exceptions, as I noted.

I think that's a hard statement to make unless you are a person of color, which you may be, I can only presume you have a preference towards canines. I don't have as much time as you in academia and am not a person of color, but I'd be extremely wary to say racism doesn't exist within academia (even if limited to 'past the gates'). Though I do agree with you that it's probably not the cause of the phenomenon the OP is describing.

@BryanKrause you've made an assumption. I'm not, in fact, a dog person.

Quite a tone deaf answer. Somewhat examplary of the level of denial in academia concerning racism and sexism. Downvoting since this answer is irrelevant, not backed up by reality and simply reflects opinion and not facts.

@16278263789, I was responding to a particular case, not the world in general.

There probably is some self-segregation, but nothing above what people normally do in everyday society.
I think it's worth keeping in mind that much of the dialogue regarding segregation deals with the actions of government, an extremely powerful 3rd party. Self-segregation is at best an ethical issue, not legal. Moreover, everyone has a right to free association and can decide who they want to deal with.
Arguably, I would say that academia self-segregates less than society at large, due to more liberal attitudes of academics and students.

Is there data to support the assertion that self-segregation in academia is less, or no greater, than in society at large?  Everyone has their own observations and experiences, but it's hard to know whether or not they are representative.

@NateEldredge It appears there is ample data to attest that segregation in STEM is most likely greater than in any other segment of society (finance, entertainment etc...). It shouldn't be too hard for instance to obtain the data about the number of PhD's in mathematics in any given year by race, unless you do not consider this to be data. There are also several articles out there from African American mathematicians about the virulence of racism in mathematics department. Have fun reading!

From my observations, there's some self-segregation. It's not so much because of racism but rather the feeling that [outsider] is not [one of us]. For example, if you collaborate with some Chinese nationals who talk to each other in Chinese (and you don't speak that language), then that's a subtle sign that you're not one of them. This applies even if they speak fluent English and default to that language when speaking to you. There's nothing unique about Chinese either - it could equally be German, French, or whatever language.
Another example of this is religious beliefs, when they manifest in real life. If I'm Muslim (and some races are certainly more likely to be Muslim), then there're certain things I cannot eat, and I certainly cannot take alcohol. If I go to a social event where everyone is drinking alcohol, then I'll definitely get the feeling that I'm not one of them.

I am not sure if people are "segregating" their collaborators. However, I do see some patterns in research departments and groups in STEM fields which may lead to what you see in those collaborations.
My particular research group had a lot of ethnic diversity, however, I have noticed that some other groups or even department have a tendency to have a lot of senior researchers and students of very consistent ethnic background (to the point of having similar names).
Some salient examples that I observed in my particular university.

Some groups in theoretical computer science seems to have a huge amount of
researchers with Greek background and they all collaborate with each
other. Just look up some research paper in this area.
In applied computing, there is a lot of Chinese researchers, and they
all collaborate with each other or industries in East Asia like
Huawei and Baidu.
In electronics, there seems to be a lot of researchers of Eastern
European or Italian researchers or Middle Eastern backgrounds. I do see that, often, these professors taking on students with the same ethnic background.
In mathematics, a lot of researcher from Germany, also a lot of
researchers from Israel. But it gets more interesting when you break down the particular fields...

Of course, this is just what I observed for some research groups repeatedly during my time in academia as a student and as a researcher.
What could be the explanation for what I saw?
There could be a confluence of factors here beyond bias or prejudice in picking collaborators or professors or students.
Cultural factors. For example, I think Italian engineering school place great emphasis on mechatronics. However, I don't know why there are so many famous Greek computer scientists (maybe someone can enlighten me). I think there is a strong tradition of math education in Germany, which may explain why there would be many German researchers in this field. Finally, I think East Asian culture place great value on tech entrepreneurship, which may explain why many would be doing applied computing.
This still doesn't resolve some of the other more interesting things that I saw, for example,

the head of department being the same ethnicity as his replacement, who he mentored for a decade,
a professor with a mixed-race child taking interest in a student who is also mixed-race (she was a fellow classmate), then taking that student as his student.
a professor in applied computing with wife who is Asian having large amount of Asian female research students. Again, is it racial ethnic preference or self-selection? We'll never know.
The funniest one. I actually remember two distinct research groups where all the members look like Abercrombie & Fitch models. In one group photo, where conference was taking place near a beach, the members of the research group even posed as if they were models. I might add that the research lead for this group was gay. It did cross my mind that whoever is leading the research group might have a bias for certain "look" to his/her students.

But at least it give me more assurance that this game is not totally rigged in North America.

Even in mathematics, it greatly varies from area to area etc. E.g. I co-authored papers with (in no particular order, mentioned by the country of origin rather than residence/citizenship) Australian, Indonesian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, South African, Iranian, Israeli, Italian, French, Croatian, Greek, Belgian, Spanish, Dutch, German,  UK, US, Canadian, Mexican, Bulgarian, Polish, Estonian, Russian mathematicians and computer scientists.
On the other hand I am probably not typical; I imagine a majority still stays in one country throughout the career and only collaborate in their mother tongue.
Disclaimer: I grew up in USSR, did my PhD in Australia, hold a Dutch passport and work in UK.


text:
How to mail the editor asking to withdraw my submission?
How do I say to the editor that I want to withdraw my paper from his journal?
I had submitted a paper to a journal 10 days back. When I checked recently, the status was showing "Under Review".
But just today, one of my friends found a serious flaw in one of my results!  Now I need to withdraw my paper from the journal so that we both can review it and then send it again.
I also want to include my friend's name as a co-author because he helped me a lot.
Can I mail the journal editor saying I want to withdraw?  It has been only a 3-4 days the status is showing "Under Review".

Directly, as if the editor were an actual human being.

If the flaw affects the performance margin but does not make the main conclusion of the study impossible - I would recommend you start working on revised version immediately, while waiting for the first review feedback. In my experience, reviewers will focus on methodology, relatedness to fundamental & recent research in the field, presentation of the research and paper structure - if the flaw is result of code error, dataset  issue etc. and not consequence of irrational method design decision - be assured, the reviewers will not take the flaw that critical, it is ok to fix it in revised ver.

Until you give up copyright to your work it is yours. Yes, you can withdraw it. However, you might be better served by sending a note that you have found a flaw and expect to have a revision of the paper within X days, where X is reasonably small. Ask how to proceed and ask if the editor can just put the paper on hold for the interim.
I can't predict the response, but it might be better than withdrawing it altogether. But, yes, you can do that.
Adding the colleague as a co-author should also offer no difficulties.


text:
How to withdraw a paper when advisor insists on having his name
I have written a paper all by myself,the research problem and its solution all were formulated by me.
As a result I wrote the paper and submitted to a journal citing only my name.
As I told my advisor today that I have submitted my work,he is insisting that I should include his name in the paper as he is my supervisor and he has every right to own it.
I knew that if an author makes some significant contribution then only his name should be cited.
But I fear that if I dont agree,he may spoil my career.
Shall I ask the editor that I want to withdraw my paper citing this as a reason?
or What shall I do to include his name as the paper has already been submitted?
I think I should not submit my paper for publication at all.

Does he want to be included as author, or just have an acknowledgement in the paper? The last is appropriate, at least. But he doesn't have a right to "own" it, I think.

What field are you in? And why do you not trust your professor's judgement his contributions merit authorship?

@Buffy;He wants his name on the paper,I would have been happy to achnowledge him but he wants listed as a co-author

Contact the editor and tell them you want to add another author. If they tell you it is impossible, just withdraw and resubmit it after making the change. Basically your advisor has the power to demand co-authorship for your work, even when they don't deserve it. It is a completely one-sided system. At this point your best option is to just give it to them (the other, lesser, options are to throw away your work, or else ignore them and risk them getting your paper retracted, and getting you in trouble at your school). Find a better advisor if you don't like it.

If your advisor didn't help you on the paper, other than by fulfilling his normal duties as instructor, then he is abusing his power over you if he demands authorship on the paper. He should be ashamed to try that.
He can ask, of course, and provide reasons, but not demand.
However, it would be entirely appropriate for you to acknowledge him in the work itself for the general help he gives you in your education.
Yes, you can ask to have the paper withdrawn, and you can revise it to include an additional author or acknowledgement section.
But if his general attitude is as bad as it sounds, then he can still damage your career if you withdraw and don't publish it at all. If you can avoid that outcome, and are close to completion, you could, perhaps, publish the paper later when he no longer has power over you.
But, sometimes, in an extreme imbalance of power situation with a bad actor, the wisest choice is just to go along and work toward better outcomes in the future. Maddening choice, but safe.

I might note that the OP identifies as an undergraduate student. While it is conceivable that an undergrad would, entirely by themselves, produce a useful paper, I might also consider the possibility that the advisor contributed more than the student is admitting to.

+1, Agree with Buffy.  Good point @Jon Custer.  At what point should the OP consider discussing with another faculty member or Dept Head?

@SecretAgentMan At what point should the OP consider discussing with another faculty member or Dept Head? — Before posting the question here.

I inderstand,but the problem is my advisor is in the PhD committee and he wont let me get away,I think I have no other option left.Can you please tell how to write th editor to withdraw the paper?

he wont let me get away — What, he's going to physically block the door or something?

Shall I ask the editor that I want to withdraw my paper citing this as a reason?

Resolve the co-authorship dispute with your advisor first, before doing anything with your paper.
Let's give your advisor the benefit of the doubt.  It is possible that they actually did contribute significantly to the development of your paper, but in ways that you may not recognize.
So I would recommend asking them, directly but calmly, what they believe they contributed to the paper.  And then LISTEN.
If their only answer is "I'm your advisor", start looking for a new advisor.
Same for "I pay your salary" or "I need it for my tenure/promotion case" or "It's a department/university rule".  The only ethical justification for co-authorship is a novel and significant intellectual contribution to the paper.  The requirements are the same for your advisor, your department chair, your office mate, the bartender at your favorite pub, or some random stranger on the internet.
But your advisor might remind you of activities that they consider significant intellectual contributions, even if you don't.  For example, if you and your advisor discussed your research results as they evolved, those discussions could be enough of a contribution for co-authorship even if no concrete ideas from those discussions appear in the paper.  In particular, steering you away from tempting bad ideas is definitely a contribution.
Whether their contributions really are significant enough for co-authorship is something the two of you will have to negotiate, but I recommend erring on the side of generosity.  Not because they're your advisor, or because you "owe" them, but because generosity pays off more in the long run.
Alternatively, they might have expected to be more involved—as a colleague and mentor—in the research and writing process.  After all, their job as your advisor is to help you become a better researcher, but they can't do that job if you don't let them.  That's not a good argument for retroactively making them a coauthor of this paper, but it is a strong indicator that you and your advisor need to discuss your expectations for future research much more clearly.
If you are seriously worried about your advisor overreacting ("spoiling your career"), you should discuss the situation first with your department chair, graduate program director, department ombudsman, or one of your other faculty mentors.  (You do have at least one other faculty mentor, don't you?) Again: LISTEN.  Given the high emotions involved, it might be appropriate to invite the other faculty member to mediate the discussion between you and your advisor, or at least act as a neutral observer. Hopefully, your worries are unfounded.
And if you can't trust your advisor enough to have the discussion at all, I'm afraid your relationship with your advisor is broken.  Start looking for a new advisor that you can trust.


text:
How can you read an excessive number of pages in a short amount of time?
I'm taking 3 online classes. Each has a book I have to read. Each chapter is around 100 pages long in all of them, and I have a week to read them. I'm not able to do some of my assignments, because I'm having to spend so much time reading. I'm having to read so much I'm not even absorbing all the material, and I'm starting to get a head ache from doing nothing but reading nonstop all day.
I'm losing my mind and I don't know what to do. I just don't see how I can absorb that much information so quickly. If you want to know what my classes are, they're World Religion and two programming classes. Yeah. Over the course of five days, I have to read 60 pages per day! And yes, I have to do it in five days, because otherwise I won't have enough time to do any of my assignments.

Is there some reason you have to do all three in parallel? You might get better results by concentrating on one of them at a time.

You might want to get tested for a learning disability that affects your reading speed.  If you're taking notes as you're reading or working through examples, then that will take extra time, but if you're just reading, 2 minutes per page is slightly slower than average.  This works out to only 2 hours for 60 pages.

The first step to doing it, is to stop telling yourself this workload is excessive.

One trick is to find out what the prof wants you to get out of the book, and just scan the pages for anything relevant.  You can skip over paragraphs that introduce ideas you already know or present ideas that aren't relevant to the course.
Another trick is to use Amazon books to do this for you... do a search through the book for course key words and just read the sections around those words.
If you just need to learn the subject, and it's impossible to apply tricks for this, prioritize your time: study the table of contents, line by line.  Read the introduction and one chapter from somewhere in the middle.  Read the conclusion.
At the same time, read the Wikipedia articles for the subject of each book... or for the book itself, if it's well-known enough.
When you go to answer homework using any of these tricks, you will "know the book" well-enough to go back and find the answer you need somewhere in the pages.
Unfortunately I can't say whether these methods will get you anywhere: perhaps these courses really do just require more time.


text:
How to get a tutoring position in Melbourne, Australia?
I'm starting my PhD in neuroscience next month at the University of Melbourne and I've been told that graduate research students often work part time as tutors. I've been trying to find this information on the website but haven't really found anything. Would anyone be able to help me figure out how to go about getting a tutoring position for some extra cash and teaching experience? I've seen websites like learntmate etc., any recommendations for the best one and the process?

Are you talking about private tutoring external to the university, or being a teaching assistant for courses that your department teaches?

Both actually, I'd prefer the latter but essentially would be great to get paid a little more since PhD students make peanuts.

Wait, and you'll be contacted.
Start your PhD first. Once you're officially a student, when they're looking for tutors, they'll send a mass email to all PhD students. That's when you can sign up. These are internal emails - the positions are not advertised online, and you won't be able to find them via Google.
If you're still concerned, you can ask your prospective supervisor or the department receptionist.

I was told by the university helpline that all positions are advertised on the careers unimelb page but I didn't see any. She also said that she isn't aware of positions being advertised anywhere else. I did see some private ones though (none for my subjects).
Is it hard to get a tutoring position? More specifically, do they only take very few people?

@Divyangana this will depend entirely on the university (in mine, for instance, we don't have a choice: all PhD students must do some teaching). So wait, or ask your supervisor.

Which university are you at? I think that that's the case in the US but probably not in Australia.

@DivyanganaRakesh I'm pretty sure it applies in Australia as well. If you think it doesn't, then ask your prospective supervisor or the department receptionist.


text:
Why do some professors not recommend any text books for a course?
I took a semester where a professor was teaching Statistics. He gave out no lecture materials nor the name of any text books.
When I asked him for a text book name, he gave me a name of a 900+ pages' book.
I could not find anything relevant in the text book which matches his lectures.
Finally, I quit the course.
The same thing happened whilst undertaking my Numerical Analysis course.
See this YouTube video named Introduction to Computer Graphics at 16:31. This is okay may be for 3D computer graphics. But, I guess, not good for math.
Why don't some professors recommend a text book for a course?

Could you clarify “I could not find anything relevant in the text book which matches his lectures”? If the professor was teaching Statistics, presumably he was lecturing on statistics, and if the text book was on statistics, presumably it also contains statistics. While it is possible (and likely) that the organization and presentation of material is very different (e.g. the professor uses different notation, different order, etc), it would be strange if the actual content has absolutely no overlap (though possibly you need to learn “statistics”, say the entire textbook, before realizing it).

@ShreevatsaR, he was solving a number of maths which exactly match Hwei P. Hsu. But, he referred me Douglas C. Montgomery.

@ShreevatsaR, he had a list of his own maths designed by himself.

Thanks for clarifying; that makes it clearer. At least in the case of the two books, though they are clearly very different in the presentation, their content does have some overlap (even more than I'd have expected): you can see a close match between "Chapter 1. Probability" and "Chapter 2. Probability", similarly Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, or Chapter 7 and Chapter 7. So is the question about why the lectures did not closely match any textbook?

@ShreevatsaR, So is the question about why the lectures did not closely match any textbook? --- No.

@JalapenoNachos I've had like 2 lectures in my entire life that followed a textbook. Not sure why it's such a big holdup for many people.

Finding relevant information in books is an essential skill in academy. It looks like you need to develop this skill.

During my first semester at university, many of my classmates complained that the lecturer was following the textbook "too closely" and that it was a waste of time since "we could also read the textbook on our own". Many wanted to have the professor's perspective and personal take on the material. (It was a maths lecture)

You make it sound like you dropped the course as a "punishment" to the lecturer. I bet that was effective.

I'm confused by your bolded "no lecture materials". It is your responsibility to take notes from the lecture that you are able to use later, was there some reason this was not possible?

@JackAidley, taking notes were not enough for various reasons including, among others, fast talking, complicated method of lecture delivery, too much expectation from students, and so on.

I’m with @Cubic here. If a professor saw no benefit from requiring a book, then why would anyone try to find an excuse to spend money on one? In a world of electronic learning materials, this question seems to lack a core concern.

I believe you simply took a course that was too advanced for you, either due to the material studied or for the effort required by the professor. Some courses cannot be taken lightly and require actual effort to complete. College is not just memorizing a book or set of notes written and organized by others. You actually need to be able to understand the material, what's important and what not, how to record and organize it efficiently and exercise the theory to problems including ones that you did not see during a lecture. If you don't do that you are doing college wrong.

@Bakuriu, you are right.

@yahoo.com He might see how to find sources part of what you learn in the lecture. An also recognizing the problem by yourself. To me, that partly   defines the difference between school and university.

@yahoo.com And statistics is really hard to understand in many parts.

Everyone has a different experience or preferences, but I have always relied heavily on textbooks, in fact I usually browsed several on the subject and used them together with the lecture notes. Especially in the math-heavy fields. Now my professor prepares excerpts from many sourses so his students can compare how various authors describe the same subjects (physics-related). I find it very useful, and I have been assisting him for years now. Of course, we have never asked students to buy a book, or even take one from the library. The material we prepare ourselves is usually enough

Reasons why I do not use textbooks:

Most textbooks in my experience are bad.
Most students do not read them (probably because they are bad).
They are expensive.
They do not align with how I want to teach the course.
I can provide the relevant subset of content myself.

I can't see a reason to use a textbook in my courses other than for supplemental material (even then, I would much rather point them to some free PDFs/slides from various faculty that are online).

I can't speak for everyone, but I think the reason why a lot of students don't read textbooks is because they are just a chore to read. One of my professors once recorded his lectures and gave us the videos. It was very helpful in understanding the material and my personal opinion is that if he just gave everyone a textbook recommendation, people would not have learned nearly as much.

Weird.  In college (40yrs ago) I read every single textbook that my professor assigned and required and so did the vast majority of my classmates.  To this day I still have them and frequently reference them.

@RBarryYoung: It might vary based on your field (and on your interest in learning/academia in general), but I would suggest that your experience does not reflect those of most others. Some courses are heavily dependent on reading the textbook; many others barely touch on the "required" reading.

@V2Blast The 40 years ago part of Barry's comment is relevant.  Attitudes and methods of both teachers and students have changed noticeably in the last half century.  One big reason is that 40+ years ago you didn't have near-instantaneous access to the sum total of human knowledge in your pocket.  The book assigned for the course was not really optional then (for both sides, really). Today I can find entire textbooks, solution manuals, youtube video courses, etc. online with limited fuss.

@zibadawatimmy That is very true.

IMHO and without any intention of sounding disrespectful, these are not really great reasons. (1) Most != all; pick a good one (2) Most != all; all students' needs should be catered for if at all possible (3) It is a very minor cost compared to the overall cost of being a student, and the textbook need not be compulsory (4) The priority should be the student's needs, not the lecturer's wants, (5) Learning method is as important as content and not all students find lectures as effective as reading; see point 2. The last sentence is reasonable if in fact free alternative sources are provided.

Could you expand on your first point? Since textbooks are written by academics, one would expect that the average textbook would be as good as the average lecturer. Moreover, since editors pick experimented lecturers to write textbooks, or since actual lecturers evaluate books and recommend good books to their students, bad books are eventually eliminated from the market. So one could assume textbooks are actually better. Are textbooks inherently flawed?

@Taladris Textbook authors are not picked uniformly at random from the population of (fluent) professors. There's a selection bias; many great lecturers will never consider writing a text.  So there's no such expectation. The production of textbooks for common classes (calculus, say) is also a profit-oriented venture of mass consumption; it's not motivated by educational efficacy.  I think you also overestimate the amount of time the typical professor/lecturer is willing to put into evaluating a text and actively encouraging or discouraging its use.

@Taladris Could be the Dunning–Kruger effect. Could be that because teaching and research are different skills many textbooks are less than ideal. Maybe there should be more collaborations between research- and teaching-dominant scholars. But I think point four of this answer could be the most common reason: it's just not how you'd teach it.

Good luck teaching quantum mechanics (or similar) without a textbook.

In my experience of textbooks from 20 years ago, my physics text was written by the professor.  He was bad at teaching and if you couldn't understand his lectures, the book was worse.  For a digital electronics course I had, I only ever opened the front cover to see how to draw the shapes.  The course was very easy for me and not worth the $110 for the book.  Because of how bad most textbooks are, I've quit trying to read them.  They either are way too detailed and get lost in the details, or they don't have any detail to explain anything.  Sometimes they are both.

@JBentley sure, “most does not equal all”, but on the flip side, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, especially in large audience academic theaters.

@JBentley books are not a “minor cost” for many students, especially if not included in their tuition assistance.

@JBentley one can assume that the lecturers wants to meet the needs of the students, so those two do not necessarily conflict.

I wonder if this is also culture-specific as well as field specific: the textbook was a complete waste of a very great deal of money ($100~$200 USD per) in all of my (US) non-technical classes and an arguable waste of money in about half of the technical ones. Curious if students from other countries feel the same?

Right.  The only think I need from a math text is a list of problems. So when I had the freedom, I always chose Schaum's outline or something similar.  $12 on Amazon, tons of worked out examples, plenty of practice problems.

Sounds like you should write your own textbook, based on your course perhaps.

@DoritoStyle I think you missed my point. You can provide a textbook without any detriment to the needs of the many. It is not a binary choice, so there is no outweighing. You can provide a learning environment that enables students to access the full content via lectures or via reading, and leave them the choice over which style they prefer. If a textbook is expensive for some students, you haven't hurt them by offering them it as an option. And yes, it is minor relative to the other costs (food, accommodation, tuition fees, etc.).

@JBentley check your privilege

@JBentley That's a misleading argument. For many students, most of tuition is deferred till after they graduate (usually with interest). My yearly immediate costs for my undergrad averaged around $4k in tuition and fees, $5k in rent and utilities, $1k in food, and $800 in used textbooks (after exhausting free/borrowing options). Like clockwork, it was this giant lump sum due at the beginning of every semester -- sucking an extra 2 hours of work a week on top of 18-25 credits. Is 7-8% "minor"? Maybe, but I won't admit to not having felt a burden.

I've studied COSC, and in my experience none of them require textbooks, half of them don't even recommend them. Part of that could be the material, a lot of COSC moves faster then textbooks, or are too specific for a single textbook. I've also studied a few other courses, such as biology. These ones recommend textbooks more, though I haven't yet found one that would cause me to fail if I didn't buy the textbook.
We also have lecture notes available, they'll usually refer to a chapter or section of a textbook for more detail, but the material in the lecture notes is usually enough to pass.

@curiousdannii: I am always cautious of the Dunning-Kruger effect, as it is often misused. Sure there are textbooks written by incompetent lecturers that didn't acknowledge their lack of skill, but there are probably lecturers that over-estimate their teaching skills and would benefit from using a textbook.

@RBarryYoung It's not too strange. I was in a differential equations course that had an assigned textbook, newest 2016 edition, really expensive and the works. I was struggling with the course, and a friend of mine at work (who is also 30ish years older than me) said that he had a differential equations book from his days in college, and loaned it to me, and I started reading that book instead. Turns out differential equations haven't really changed in 30 years, and his book was loads better (and cheap, I later bought my own copy on Amazon for $5). And then I started passing the class.

@RBarryYoung 40 yrs ago, they were worth reading.

@DavyM i had much same experience, (except i didnt buy the book because it was allready in the family). After that I realized that you the student need to find a book that suits your need.

Regardless of any perceived advantages of textbooks, they usually have many disadvantages for the student. By some decision-making process, your professor has decided that no combination of textbooks has enough advantages to outweigh the disadvantages.

They're expensive.
They take a kitchen sink approach to have a wider market.
They're difficult to read.

Often lacking explanations, intuitions, and visuals for the complicated concepts they're spouting as obvious and important.

They take time away from homework, reviewing and consolidating your lecture notes, discussions with peers, attending office hours, and other things that are generally much more beneficial to your learning and career.
They're outdated in many fields. Parts of statistics and numerical analysis are advancing rapidly and have been for years.
They're difficult to use correctly when they don't map perfectly to the lectures.

As a bit of an aside, some of the greatest value from a textbook is gained when they don't map perfectly to lectures. It allows you to supplement the lectures with a completely different perspective.

They're inflexible. For any given textbook, some students won't learn well from it. A professor can tailor their approach to a degree, but a textbook is fixed. That presents a risk in choosing a book.

I chose a book for one of my courses, the students all complained bitterly that there were no examples. The next year I chose a different book (triggering complaints that they couldn't get used ones) with examples; they all complained bitterly that it had no theory or rules, just endless examples and case studies. I put in hours of work to finally track down a book with both and in addition to the "we can't get used from last year" I was told it was too long, too heavy and too expensive. I switched to printing my lecture notes.

They're not expensive if you borrow them from the library or download them. 2. They are intended for teachers to make a partial selection from the "kitchen sink" of all chapters together 3. They're usually easier to read than one's classmates' lecture notes 4. Let the students decide how best to approach the course. Tell them you recommend following the lectures without consulting the book, for example, but also mention a book 5. Unless it's an advanced course, you're typically teaching basics, which change rarely enough to be well-covered by books.

(cont.) 6. They may not map perfectly to lectures, but they have their own narrative flow. 7. They're more flexible if you direct the students to a subset of chapters. And as a bottom line - if there's no good textbook, consider writing one yourself.

@einpoklum I'm not quite sure who's misunderstanding whom, but there seems to be a bit of a disconnect here. I rather like books myself and think they have a place in most courses, but OP didn't seem to be asking for positives. We can't just wave away the negatives because they can be partially mitigated or don't exist in every imaginable circumstance. Taking cost as an example, for my undergraduate I had to buy 4+ books each semester even after downloading/borrowing any I could find for free. Even used, that came to $300+.

@einpoklum you can’t honestly expect every student taking a course to be able to borrow textbooks from the library

@DoritoStyle: 1. In my alma mater, an on-campus book store had an arrangement in which essentially every student in each of the faculty-wide basic courses could have a copy of the textbook, at the same time. Sure, they were a bit worn out and some had pencil markings (or worse), but we had our books. 2. You can download the book (this is legal in most countries, and probably-illegal-but-never-pursued in almost all countries). 3. You can scan a library copy for self-study.

@einpoklum that sounds like an excellent program, but in my experience it’s an exception to the rule!

For individual courses and professors you need to ask the professor. However, there are a number of reasons why someone might want to make no recommendation.
Least likely is that the prof feels that any book is as good as any other.
A bit more likely is that the prof feels that any book is as bad as any other.
Up the scale a bit is the sense (possibly misplaced) that the prof's lectures are all the student will need. If this is the case, the student's are strongly advised to attend every lecture and take lots of notes. For some this is a valid position if the professor also puts extensive materials online or otherwise makes them available. However, it can also be a trap if the professor thinks that lectures deliver the needed information and skills perfectly to every student. That is a serious error of judgement.
Another reason is that the prof wants the students to actually seek out answers to questions online or in the (gasp) library. Some professors don't answer questions with answers but with a strategy for finding the answer. This, of course, disadvantages lazy students.
Still higher on the (my) list is that the course is intended to use active learning and so more passive approaches (reading, watching, listening) are discouraged and the student is expected to do most of his or her learning by doing exercises and projects. For Statistics and Numerical Analysis, this seems to me to be a worthy goal. I find it useful also in much of computer science.
Given that one learns by practice and reinforcement, this last strategy can be very effective. Active learning gives you an operational knowledge of a subject that reading (or even reading and underlining) a book won't.

I have, on occasion, "recommended" a book, not for help on the things in the course, but for things that won't be covered. There was no obligation to buy the book. I've also made such recommendations about a pair of quite different books for the same reason.

I totally agree with the "active learning" bit and that is how I work my course (demonstration of method with detail and lots of practise after). plus one from me just for that.

+1 for point #3: ultimately, the point of university is to become an independent learner. At some point as professionals there won’t be a textbook telling us how to solve a particular problem. Doubly so if your aim is to become an academic. Sometimes you are just have to find and evaluate primary material for yourself.

It might also be cultural. I studied (mostly math) in France. I have never been given a textbook to read for any higher education class. It just isn't done, and I think the idea of paying for a book would have been a non-starter for me and most of my classmates. Now that I teach myself, recommending a textbook isn't even something that crosses my mind, and I know it's the same for many of my colleagues. (Some do; but it's never required for the students to even glance at the list... And there may be a few copies in the university library, but they certainly won't buy it.)
What is done in some courses is that the teacher will have written (or inherited) some lecture notes – colloquially known as a polycopié or poly – and hand it out for students or even just post on a webpage. Of course, when the notes keep being passed on from prof to prof, they basically become an unpublished textbook. Some of them are of the highest quality. But it's always understood that it's a mere memory aid and that was is important is what's said in class. And there usually is no claim of completeness like the word "textbook" implies (I think).

Similar here in Germany. I have bought some textbooks. Always after the course when I knew enough from the course (and the various books in the library) to be able to decide which textbook I want.

I took a class in kinematic astronomy where the first thing the professor asked was, "Do any of you read German?"  Sometimes a field is so highly specialized that there just isn't a good textbook available that covers everything the professor plans to discuss.

From the OPs comment, this was an introductory statistics class.  There are plenty of those textbooks available.

Reasons could be anything, down to personality preference. If you had an advanced statistic course, there might not be a book that covers your materials.
But this is 2018. You have Google, digital library, Amazon... Why can't you do some searching yourself?

The perspective of an expert is valuable in selecting a textbook -- especially when purchasing them online so that you can't easily examine them and get a sense of their quality or how they relate to what you already know.

Probably there is no text book for his course.
I would think, probably he actually used the 900 page book and cherry picked the topics for his course.
Probably not last month, but over the years he held the lecture. Recommending any text book would mean that it contains stuff you do not need (for the course) and may lack topics covered by the course, so he cannot recommend any book. Any but the 900 page book, which is not suitable for reading, but contains the topics which will be covered together with a lot of others.
So to satisfy you demand, he would need to write a book covering his course. Some professors do so sooner or later, but many do not. Others may use an existing book, but not everyone agrees with the existing books on the topics which are important for the lecture.

which is not true at all. he was solving a number of maths which exactly match Hwei P. Hsu. But, he referred me Douglas C. Montgomery.

When you know the right text book, use it. Maybe he had reasons to mention another, maybe he confused it with the other one, maybe something else. You stated in your question, that you did not know the right text book. I do not know the books, so I have no idea. It isn't that unlikely that he just thought of the wrong book in the moment, when the other book really matches the course.

by the time I found the correct book, the semester was over.

In my opinion, the reason is that most professors wish that students attend the lessons, in order to capture some particular explanations, and technical details you can't find in any book.  My statistics professor, when we asked her what where the reference books on which to study for the examinations, answered us: "Would you like to know what are the reference books??  Follow the course!!!!".

I think it is the idea that they want to design the exact content (topics covered).
I disagree with this stance because I think that many different courses can have benefit and that the biggest issue is not the exact topic list but how well you learn.  And I think textbooks are an excellent pedagogical aid (and also helpful for future reference, since you studied THAT book). I think almost all courses would be better off picking a text and sticking closely to it.  But obviously some people disagree with me.


text:
What to do if the Editor is not responding to my repeated e-mails?
This is in reference to my previous question:
How to mail the editor asking to withdraw my submission?
I wrote to the editor regarding my problem for 2 consecutive days.
I sent 4 mails to him regarding the withdrawal of my manuscript.
But I have not received a single reply from him.
How long should I wait? I know he is busy too but I need to do it fast as my Masters (Research) course will end in 2 months and I need to have it at least communicated if not published within this duration.
Otherwise I won't get my degree.
But why is the Editor not replying to my e-mails?
I need to resubmit it fast to either this journal or another journal.
Please help me, I don't understand what should I do.

Keep in mind that editors of academic journals are almost always volunteers.  They have their own jobs, usually as professors, and are busy with teaching, research and administration, which they actually get paid for.  They will get to their journal work when they can, but it can't be their top priority.

Seriously? Four e-mails in two days? I wouldn't be surprised if the editor was annoyed by your impudence and will take as much time as they can before answering you. The fact you're short on time doesn't mean everything revolves around you. Might be harsh words, but you are the only one to blame for the flaw you found after the paper went under review. Ultimately, talk with your advisor. I don't believe you won't get your degree – you will, but maybe with a delay. You need to come to terms with it; take a deep breath and stop panicking.

To expand upon @corey979 's comment, in North America, you posted this question on a Sunday, at the end of the weekend. Two days ago would have been sometime of Friday. The editor has had less than 1 full business day to respond.

Cannot you do it online through the submission portal?

Your degree depends on you publishing a paper within the duration of your masters? I highly doubt it, since this requirement is complete madness. Submitting a manscript takes time, and getting it published after that also takes time, often more than a year, and sometimes several.

Giving someone 2 days to respond to an email, especially about a submission, is no where near long enough. I wouldn't expect a response that fast for virtually anything. 4 emails is definitely excessive.
For a journal, I would expect 2 weeks to be a reasonable amount of time on this. Generally, anything of this nature is not urgent. You can certainly go ahead and begin preparing to submit the paper elsewhere (e.g., find a journal, correct your paper's mistake, and reformat the paper), but don't submit it yet.

+1, four emails in two days is beyond excessive.  Editors are likely volunteers.

+1, days when both of the days are weekends is even less unreasonable!

You don't need to wait for confirmation of the withdrawal note if you are going to send it to a different journal, now.  (Your withdrawal note, whenever viewed is enough to stop the publication process.)  If you want to resubmit to same journal, you will need to wait a while.