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How much feedback should you get from a Supervisor?
My dissertation is due next month and I’m extremely stressed about it.
I meet with my supervisor nearly every week but apart from being given papers to read I don’t feel like I’ve been supported enough regarding feedback.
Whenever I sent drafts of my work they never gave any written feedback and just told me at the next meeting “I didn’t read it in detail but I thought it was good” - this has happened two or three times already.
I submitted my most recent draft and after cancelling our meeting they said they would give me an email of written feedback and it never arrived.
When I gave a draft of my work to another lecturer earlier in the year they gave a large and precise list of things that could be improved. Their level of feedback made me think if that’s what I should be receiving more often.
I don’t know if I’m expecting too much from a supervisor or if this one is the norm.

I meet with my supervisor nearly every week

This sounds like a good level of engagement. Some people may prefer more frequent contact, some may prefer less (and it may vary by stage of a project), but I'd say "nearly every week" is a pretty solid middle ground.

Whenever I ask the supervisor on things I don’t understand they never have an answer and say they don’t know

It's reasonable to expect students to do their own work towards finding answers, and when you get into "research-level" investigation rather than "coursework-level", experts in the field do not have full knowledge of everything. There's too much "stuff" out there, it's not possible for even experts to be on top of everything except their very narrow world. Even most things they may have read may not come to memory on cue. This can even include details of ones own past work! Knowledge at the research level mostly involves being able to find the information you want efficiently and to understand it - sometimes this involves just knowing the general area enough to know search terms to use, sometimes it involves knowing particular individuals who may have written on the topic, sometimes it involves realizing you've read something similar before and finding the paper in some way you've organized papers (perhaps in a literal file cabinet, or in these digital days perhaps a PDF on your file system).
It's also quite common that there is no answer, or the answer depends on so many different factors that the answer is ultimately up to informed opinion, and different people will come to different conclusions.
Without knowing what sorts of things you are asking about, it's hard to know if your supervisor is just nudging you to do more background work on your own, or if they're pushing you off to save their own time investment, or if they're entirely clueless.

“I didn’t read it in detail but I thought it was good”

This response would be frustrating to me, too, but without knowing your advisor it's tough to judge. Perhaps they really do think your work is just fine. That's great, and nothing you need to do about it! Perhaps they think your work is good enough for a masters thesis. That's great, though unfortunate if you're trying to polish some skills, but should get you through the proximate goal of graduation.

Also I asked them about a key idea in the project that was central to one of the papers and they just said “I don’t understand it either”.

It's not entirely clear but I assume you mean this is a paper that is part of a project you're working on, with your advisor as one of the authors? It's unfortunate, then, if they are an author on a paper they don't entirely understand, but sometimes that's what happens when you collaborate. Hopefully they at least understood at the time of publication, but in this situation I might ask that they direct you to someone who does understand better. Sometimes experts rely on other experts with differing expertise: this is a much more efficient way to work in interdisciplinary areas than attempting to become an expert in everything (which is futile).

I submitted my most recent draft and after cancelling our meeting they said they would give me an email of written feedback and it never arrived.

This is rude, though it's reasonable for you to give them another nudge and ask when you can expert feedback. Hopefully they respond productively.

I don’t know if I’m expecting too much from a supervisor or if this one is the norm. I thought they were meant to be experts in the field.

Nothing in the story you tell sounds to me like it conflicts with your supervisor being an expert in the field. It sounds like there are some orthogonal issues: maybe they're too busy (which is a bad excuse, but not particularly uncommon), maybe they see your project as not particularly important, maybe they have more expectations of independence from the students they advise. What you describe sounds "normal" to me, but "normal" doesn't mean "acceptable". My own research advisors were always more helpful than what you describe. From the selection of questions we get on this site, others are much worse.

If you were earlier in the process, I'd suggest finding a different supervisor that aligns better with the guidance you're looking for. Being just a month from your due date, though, I'd keep a shorter view and look to just your immediate next goals. Ask very specific questions of your advisor about your next goals, not vague requests for feedback. Questions like: "is this work sufficient for a masters thesis so that I can graduate/get good marks/publish in a peer reviewed journal?" And, if not, what specifically do you need to do to fix that.

@Gabi23 Can you get some feedback from the PhD student who works with your advisor? Besides that, you may have better luck asking for very specific feedback rather than handing over your entire project: focus on exactly what you're least certain about. I'd point to similar suggestions I gave in this answer: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/162672/writing-advice-for-a-junior-phd-student-writing-a-single-author-paper/162673#162673

I don't know what standards are for acknowledgement in your field for masters theses, but I'd caution against anything you might do that would impact your ability to get a good recommendation letter. That said, I don't think effusive praise is necessary where it is not earned. Additionally, some perspective may be useful...my outsider's impression about math is that it is particularly unusual for masters students to make large research contributions, so it may be worth remembering this is just your first step into research and need not describe your entire career.


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Last year of PhD: only one paper in peer review and other in arxiv. Problem with postdoc?
I am starting to look for postdoc (I am at the end of my 3rd year of PhD, my PhD is a 3 year long and I will finish in october) and I currently only have 1 co-author publication (on a good journal), and 1 still on arxiv on which I am first author.
In the meantime we are writing 2 papers on which I am first author.
However I am worried that as "in practice" I only have one paper in a peer reviewed journal the post-doc advisor might not be super interested in my profile. Indeed it is "easy" to say "look there is another on arxiv and other in preparations". Because as long as it is not peer reviewed it could be something of poor quality in people mind.
My question is then: on my CV I wrote "in preparation" for those two other papers. But isn't it a bad thing to only have one co authored paper in a peer review at this stage? How usually post-doc recruiter (for a first post-doc) look at the publications? Are they putting weight in the "in prep" section of the curriculum? How to "defend" my profile?

I don't know what field you're in, but in math one co-authored publication in a good journal and one singly authored preprint would be a reasonably strong output for someone just finishing a PhD, especially a 3-year Ph.D.  It's not obvious to me that there's a problem to solve here.

Sorry, but this question can't be answered because it depends on who else applies for the job.  More publications are certainly better.  If you wish to inform yourself, check the CVs of people who have the type of job you would like to get.

@NoahSnyder I am doing theoretical quantum information/computing. Good PhD have 3 papers published by the end of the phd. My concern is that when looking at my current curriculum even though i might probably have an appropriate amount of papers at the end of the Phd, my profile would not look attractive right now

@AnonymousPhysicist of course the more the better. My question is from post doc recruiter, would then take in account the fact other papers are in preparation. And also the one in preprint. I am wondering how recruiter are dealing with curriculum of last year phd. This does not depend on other candidates. I just want to know how curriculum are looked at for postdoc recruitement.

You should work to improve your record, however you can, but it is what it is, so you have to deal with that. I think, however, that choosing a postdoc purely by counting papers would be pretty foolish. The question should be, and, I hope, usually is, how good a fit is this candidate for this position.
I can't guarantee that everyone is rational, of course, but the nature and significance of your work should weigh heavily. And, a rational system would look at more than what you have already finished. Work in progress is a good thing. A reasonable personality is a good thing. Compatible interests, a circle of contacts (especially collaborators)... All good things.
My suggestion is that in any application, that you don't apologize for how bad you are, as you seem to be doing here. Instead, indicate how your skills match the requirements of the position and your goals looking forward.
It is easy to get a lot of work done, and maybe publications, if you only work on the easier-to-resolve problems. If you work on hard problems (harder than average), then having fewer than average publications is natural. Some questions take a long time to answer. If you are confident in your work, then project that confidence, as well as your compatibility with any position you apply for.

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Should table heading units follow a slash or be in parentheses?
What is the standard in Computer Science and Physics?

Independent variable (units)
Dependent variable (units)

1
1

2
4

3
9

or

Independent variable / units
Dependent variable / units

1
1

2
4

3
9

Can you provide us with published examples of tables using one of these formats?

Hi, I thought of closing this as duplicate of the other one because labelling practices and guidelines are virtually the same between graphs and tables. Let me know if you have any specific objection.

@GEdgar There are actually plenty of examples of both usages in the literature. Unfortunately, some have objections about using the second form, even though it's the recommended one within the International System of Units.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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19 months and no decision: At what point should I withdraw my paper?
I submitted a mathematical paper to a good journal specialized in geometry and topology. By good I mean that there is no doubt whatsoever about its scientific standing (e.g. Scimago places it consistently in the first quartile within its subject category).
Now, the problem is that I submitted the paper more than 19 months ago, and yet I have not received any feedback. The journal does not use an online submission system, so to inquire about the status of the submission I need to send an email to the journal's email address.
Approximately six months ago I was informed, upon request, that both referee reports had been received, and that the paper was pending the handling editor's decision. Last week I emailed the journal again (putting the Editor-in-chief on copy) and asked again for news. I was informed that the status has not changed.
I am wondering how long more I should keep waiting before withdrawing the paper. I do not want to withdraw it, knowing that a decision might be close, but at the same time I am getting really frustrated. What would you do in this situation?

(note: this is a canonical question created because we get tons of questions just like yours: "my paper has been under review for ______, what should I do?" You'll find a bunch of other questions here if you search, too)

You could ask when it is likely that they will have a decision. But, depending on your topic and the paper, starting over might take a  long time again. Don't push them too hard unless you have another viable option.


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How to email a professor requesting to supervise a PhD thesis?
I am interested in applying to PhD in Mathematics in University of Luxembourg. In the webpage it is written that "We recommend that you contact potential thesis supervisors by email to discuss your areas of general research interest and specific ideas for a thesis topic. You may consider sending a description of the research project and your CV. Once you have identified a supervisor, he/she will initiate the application process and complete the application for admission."
Therefore, I need to contact potential thesis supervisors by emails to discuss  areas of general research interest and specific ideas for a thesis topic. That is, first I need to convince a professor to supervise me or I am well prepared to work under the professor.
Therefore, I am thinking that I will send an email to a professor. But I am facing some troubles.
I want to apply to PhD in Mathematics on Algebraic Topology. One thing that I have understood is to be selected I need to show interest on that particular subject. I want to convince the professor that I am well prepared to work under him and eager to join his research group. But, the problem this how to show the interest?
I have planned something and I want to execute my plans. I am sharing with you. One of the ideas is to read some papers of the professor and do comment on that. But I think it's not so the good idea because it may be cause of a bad impression. But I may be wrong. Now I am writing here, what I am thinking.
I am thinking the followings.

Since, I am particularly interested in Algebraic Topology, I will attach in the email a detailed  learning roadmaps (mentioning the references) of Algebraic Topology in which way I learned the subject.
I am thinking that I will attach (or give a google drive link) solutions of the exercises of some books, the exercises of those books are not easy to solve (even for researchers). I am preparing the hand written  solutions on the IPad.
Also, I will attached a write-up for the ideas for future research on the particular topic, in which I would like to help from some papers of the professor and mention those in my write-up. That's mean I will read some papers of the professor and made a write-up where I will include my ideas as well as some parts (or results or may be some ideas) of the Professor's paper.

Please advise me. Am I thinking in a right way? Please help me. It will also be helpful for me if you add your opinions and advise in details.
Thanking in advanced.

I think that what you propose would be enough.

I don't think sending an email with books you've read and a few solved exercises would get you any responses. I think Adam at Avidnote's answer is good -- you should try to look for postings about PhD positions and apply to those. One good place to look for algebraic topology PhD openings is on the ALGTOP mailing list archives.

It all depends on the university and so I don't thinkt here's one piece of advice that suits all cases. At some universities, PhD positions are advertised on their website and through other channels, and potential applicants will need to submit their proposal through those official means. In other situations, a Professor can manually pick a grad student to supervise as their PhD student if they have the funding to do so.
My advice is to look at the credible websites that advertise PhD positions, and search for a position that relates to your field. From my experience, very few professors would respond positively to receiving a cold email like this from out of the blue. They will usually just be deleted. The best case is to contact someone you've worked with before, or through someone who knows the Professor who can put in a good word for you.

One place to find European PhD openings in algebraic topology is on the ALGTOP mailing list archives. For example, there were 5 such openings announced between 1 January 2021 and 31 March 2021: https://lists.lehigh.edu/pipermail/algtop-l/2021q1/thread.html.

Nice tip! I suppose one could also check twitter/linked and set Google alerts for when a new position is published.

I don't think you need to send a "learning roadmap" or solved exercises. A learning roadmap doesn't really convey whether you have learned the subject. The University of Luxembourg requires that you have a masters degree before you start your PhD. If you have a masters in math, then you've probably solved a few exercises in the process.
Having ideas for future research projects is a very good thing, especially if they are ideas relating to the work of a potential advisor. My advice is to keep the initial email short and to the point -- you can add more details once you get a response. Something like:
"Dear Prof. [So and So],
I am interested in applying for a PhD position at the University of Luxembourg. I obtained my Masters from [the Institute of Such and Such]. I would be interested in working on a project relating to your work on [informal group laws]. I have a few ideas for potential projects in this direction. Please let me know if you would be willing to discuss these.
Thank you in advance for your time,
user454229"
Of course, don't just copy this and insert the relevant details. You want to write the email in your own voice. This is just to give you an idea of how to keep it short and to the point. And good luck!

Thanks for your answer. My university does not offer a course in Algebraic Topology. But I have learned the basics of the subject on my own. Since I have no proof that I have learned the subject, I am thinking that I will send my hand written exercises (on IPad) through a google link. I will send the exercises of the books like, Hatcher; Knots and Links. I think solving those are not easy (even for early researchers) task. I am talking just a way about convincing the professor that I am well prepared to do work in his research group. Am I going in a right direction?

I am thinking that I will make this material available on a website and let professors know about it. Is that a good idea?

I still don’t think this is a good idea. I wouldn’t say the exercises in Hatcher are hard for researchers. If you have good ideas for research directions and can discuss them, that’s a much better indication that you have a solid background in the subject


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Undergraduate research: confused about my role
I'm a sophomore student studying Mathematics and Computer Science at an US college. Since I'm considering applying for a PhD program after graduation, I've connected with a professor to work under him. In particular, I'm working more closely with one of his PhD students. My plan is to work for them for a year. I have good background knowledge in the field and even some previous research experience. We've been working together for a month.
Today, the PhD student received a warning from his advisor (i.e., the professor whom I made contact with) that he's progressing a bit too slowly - he published last year, but it looks like he's not ready for publishing this year at all.
The PhD student told me this and he said he's not sure about his directions, and would welcome my input. Although it's nice to have my input, this makes me very confused about my role in this project. Our field of research is a little theoretical, so I'm certainly not as qualified as him to lead projects and to come up with novel ideas (since he knows the literature much better than I do), but if I don't do this I risk having no publications (which is very important for machine learning PhD applications) at all during this research experience.
I would appreciate any thoughts on my situation.

Defining your role is the supervisor's responsibility (though they often neglect it).  Nobody but your supervisor can help you.  There are a huge range of reasonable approaches your supervisor could take to defining your role.

Could you give some examples of the approaches?

I suspect the PhD student is mostly looking for somebody to talk things through with, both on the technical side and the human side. They aren't asking you to lead the project or hold their hand, they probably want to bounce ideas off you. This, of course, is a fine thing for you to learn how to do well, since talking about some idea often leads to other ideas coming to life.


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Should I include this information in a cover letter for a journal submission?
I am in the process of making my first journal submission. Half-way through submission, I realise that I haven't considered the cover letter, which is an optional field in the submission process for this particular journal.
The history of my article is that the subject of the original paper is of tangential, but real, relevance to my PhD thesis. Having read the article, which is highly theoretical and technical and not in my area of expertise, I was pretty sure that I couldn't understand it properly—it seemed, if I followed it through correctly, to predict straightforwardly incorrect results. After struggling for several months in trying to get to grips with it, I swallowed my pride and reached out to a couple of the authors. It turned out that I wasn't misunderstanding after all, and the problems were real. They mentioned that if I could see a solution, they'd be happy to hear about it. I thought about it hard for a while and sent them my thoughts regarding a solution that they (people interested in this framework) might use, and they, surprisingly to me,  suggested I submit them to the journal in question.
I should point out that these problems only affect a very narrow area of the ground covered in the the original paper, albeit an important one.
So my question is, given that this is a response to another article, firstly, do I need to give my article a 'sell' as it were, or can I just say that I am submitting it? Secondly, if I do write a more detailed letter, should I mention that (some of) the original authors suggested that I  submit it, or that I have been in correspondence with them? Is it ok/wise to forego a cover letter completely?

The cover letter is indeed optional. In the cover letter you include:

What is done in the paper.
Why do you submit the paper to this journal (the journal published a paper to which your paper is related).
Possible referees.

Do not include info about who suggested what.

Thank you for the  helpful answer. If no suggestions for referees are requested by the journal, should one still give them

You can do that. There is nothing wrong in it. It is as optional as the letter itself.

I would add that this can be very short. Careful cover letters are necessary when submitting to very highly ranked journal*, where it is crucial to pass a first editorial screening at desk. This latter is of course done by every journal but just to assess scope. Very prestigious journal assessment is about importance and general interest. *they are as important as the paper, in those cases.


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Internship research is too complex for me to understand
I'm studying CS and this year I should obtain my bachelor's degree.
I'm required to do a mandatory internship, and I'm doing it with a professor that asked me if I would join his research project. Right now, my assignment is to search for a paper about a challenging task in computer vision and to implement it (prostate segmentation in TRUS images, without using supervised learning).
The problem is: I've only taken the first basic course in computer vision, and I don't understand at least 80% of every paper. What should I do? Should I tell my professor I'm not suited for this task? If I change the internship, and consequently, my thesis, I almost surely won't be able to get my degree this year.

It's not clear what you were told to do, but if you are having difficulty you should speak to the professor as soon as possible.  Probably the internship is supposed to be hard, and you are supposed to keep working on it.

Don't forget to go to your university library and to read books (on paper). You can find good books on computer vision. I did borrow some at Paris Jussieu university library, and you could use OpenCV

You should definitely talk with your adviser about your concerns. Perhaps asking them to point you to the relevant material you should read before you start reading the papers, which in many cases are written for the experts in the field. Your adviser can estimate the level of knowledge you have according to your resume, so I doubt they will be surprised if you ask to help with finding out the right literature for you.

Clear and honest communication with your advisor is the key to complete your thesis. If you don't understand the papers you're reading, just honestly say this to him. He might be able to give you some hints or direct you towards the right direction. On the other hand, if graduating this year is not your first priority and you're really interested in other topics, you can switch to another internship.
During my Master's thesis in CS I learned the hard way that you won't look dumb to your supervisor if you just admit that you don't understand the papers, so don't be scared of that! Indeed, asking questions shows that you're actually doing something.

I agree with this answer, but just to be clear, it's important to say "I don't understand why they say X / how they did Y / how they obtained formula Z", rather than a generic "I couldn't understand this paper at all", otherwise the supervisor won't really be able to help.

I had this problem when I first started in computer vision too - the solution ended up being to spend a month reading papers and textbooks until I understood how to implement the thing in question. It's a learning opportunity, just one that unfortunately comes with a high effort requirement. For what it's worth, if you don't understand the paper in question, work backwards via the references until you find something you do understand, and then try to figure it all out from the ground up. It's ok to tell the professor what you're doing to set expectations appropriately, incidentally.


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Societal impact of research
As someone who conducts research that is unlikely to be of any relevance to the common man, I would like a little perspective on the impact that pure research plays in society, and how I can, in some sense, feel better about my research contributions.
In a field such as pure mathematics, one can argue that most people are unlikely to understand, or even be interested in recent results. In my opinion, pure mathematicians are attracted to the unhindered joy of research and the challenges it brings, and this is a major factor in the field being active today. (For the record, I am not a pure mathematician.)
In contrast, research in fields such as medicine and environmental science seem to have a larger impact on the common man. A simple example would be the Covid-19 vaccines that will play a major role in bringing the world back to a semblance of normality. Even if it can be argued that today's mathematical results will shape the science and engineering of tomorrow, I continue to feel that these will not have as large an impact as medical research will continue to.
My question is simple: Though I am someone who conducts research motivated simply by the challenges it brings and the joy of achieving a solution, I do occasionally feel that I would like my research to have a larger impact on society (which it really does not). I would like to know if there are others that feel the same way, particularly from a field such as mathematics, and if so, how I can obtain a new perspective on this.

Something you'll no doubt hear is that research has been deemed of value by higher authorities than the common person, the good of all, that sort of thing. So whatever you're doing to advance knowledge is a societal asset whether society knows it or not. I suspect you are wrestling with that justification. Good luck to you, it's a worthwhile question.

Thank you, that is indeed what I am wrestling with.

And spend some time exploring how diverse the “common man or woman” is. Pluralism.

You need to think longer term. Decades, and perhaps centuries. Research done today may seem to have little immediate impact, and that is true. But over time, it contributes to the general knowledge that makes things possible. Think of any scientist from the past whose name is known today, even, say, Euclid. Some of what they did may have had some immediate effect, but much of it laid the groundwork for later advances.
In pure mathematics and theoretical physics, for example, an interesting question today may be vital in the future. Isaac Newton's calculus work was so unimportant that he put it in a drawer for years. Leibniz did "interesting" things in understanding real functions, but without their work, and what came after, much of engineering in the past 150 or so years would be impossible.
Think Mendel or Darwin. They studied and thought because certain questions were "interesting" to them. They laid the foundation of modern understanding and that led to "useful" things.
Note that Einstein's work took years to be accepted because the "great minds" of the day were focused on a different theory that turned out to have no basis - the aether.
Moreover, many of the advances of the "great minds" of science were only possible because of a general advancement in understanding, much of which was contributed by those whose names we no longer remember. The current state of understanding the world can be thought of as an advancing front with many contributors, some of whose contributions we remember specifically, but it is the front itself that makes them possible. All of us push against that frontier in our small, perhaps, ways.

I think if you've been blessed with the opportunity to do research, whether someone is paying you specifically for it or not, pursue it. @Buffy makes a very good point on the potential for your research to come into its own far after you've moved on. We see the same thing in the arts. Your insights don't need to be practical or immediately of interest to others, particularly if you're doing research for the pleasure of it as Darwin, Newton, etc., probably did.

I’m almost certain cryptography was a field of mathematics that was pushed aside as unimportant for quite some time. That is, until WW2. Now, we are seeing cryptography come back with a vengeance in the cryptocurrency space. Who knows what impact your research will have, that’s part of the fun.

Thanks, this answer is quite helpful...

@GrayLiterature Cryptographers cringe when people compare that field with cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is a very small application of cryptography and is only tangentially related. Cryptography came back with a vengeance in the 90s, long before Bitcoin.

I think Buffy's answer hits an important point to reconsider your time horizon in evaluating the social impact of research.
I'm writing here to suggest how it is the cumulative sum and multiplicative effect of the entire body of researchers working towards expanding knowledge that has a profound effect, even if a single researcher makes a minimal individual impact.  In other words, to suggest individual research is not worth the effort is similar to suggesting that voting is not worth the effort.  Sure, one missing vote does not matter too much, but if no one voted?  It's the same with acts of kindness, littering, eating right, etc.
In sum, we research because of the virtue of the act of pursuing research.  We are the truth seekers. We gradually illuminate the darkness, even if it is little by little.  "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants", as it were. (and things like combustion engines, penicillin, plastic, indoor plumbing, etc. are nice bonuses, too).

Gauss: An interesting connection to your namesake. I understand he felt his research in pure mathematics, say number theory and the theory of equations, wasn't the thing he was being supported for, yet he pursued it, I suppose, as a calling.

I want to put a new perspective on it. As scientists we are in some term the modern 'magicians'. We take matter and transform it into all kinds of different forms and shapes.
Whereas the mathematicians find new principles in the world of numbers and of geometry the theoretical physicist binds these findings to the physical world.
Of course, the laws found herein can be used by chemists and material scientists to create new kinds of materials (but taken into account your elaborated question, you know all of this already).
The important point I want to make here is that I don't think it is important what we actually do in science. It is more important how we do it and how we can learn to use our mind. Because in the end, we cannot say if the things we invent or discover will actually serve humanity or not. For this, the world is far too complex.
This is why I think in academia it is much more important that students learn how to think as much as they learn that thinking is not everything.
Science is just embedded into the society and in humanity as a whole. And hoping to contribute to the advancement of humanity by doing inventions might be a dead end.
Once this is realized we can see that our main purpose in academia is to raise students that can shape their world and their future in a meaningful way.


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How to read research papers?
I am reading some papers from Arxiv which were advised by a professor. Also the papers are published by a professors. My question is as follows: How to prove the professor that I have read the paper (advised by him)? Actually, I don't want to say just "sir, I have read the paper advised by you". If I truly read the papers then I might get a chance to be research student under him.
Please advise me.

Does this answer your question? How to read papers of professors?

Yes I read it previously but it answers me "how to read a paper"

Are you trying to ask something like: "how do I demonstrate that I read and understood a professor's paper to the professor in question?" or are you just trying to ask: "what is the best way to try to read a research paper that was recommended to me?"

@NAMcMahon Yes, I am asking about something like: "how do I demonstrate that I read and understood a professor's paper to the professor in question". Actually, I want to convince the professor that I read some of his paper and understood those well. How will I convince him?

@user454229 Did you read it and do you understand it well?

You probably don't understand everything in the paper. Then ask your professor questions related to things you don't understand well

If you want to prove that you read a paper, you should read it carefully by analyzing the main results and identify the contribution. You should also understand why a hypothesis is made and whether if it is optimal or not. Sometimes you might find some errors or improve some results. In this way, you can prove that you truly read a research paper.

Understand the motivation for the paper, how it contributes to its particular research community, and note any clever twists or innovations it introduced.

Write a short (one page) summary of the paper, giving key results. Include any important insights you obtained by reading the paper. End your summary with questions you might have that the professor might be able to answer. Send a copy to the professor.
Note that in some fields like mathematics, the "key results" might include things not stated as such. An interesting and unique proof technique or methodology might be the most important contribution.
The insights and questions are just as important as the summary, actually.
If you have periodic meetings with the professor, bring the summaries along with you.
Bonus: If you can think of some logical extension to the paper that might require research, mention that also.
Going beyond your question, it would be useful personally if you add the paper to a personal bibliographic list along with your summary. Perhaps include things referenced in that paper that you think would be worth exploring.


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How do I demonstrate that I read and understood a professor's paper to the professor?
This is a question that has been in my mind for a long time. Now I am a M.Sc. first year student  in mathematics and planning to apply for graduate school next year in Europe. But for applying to graduate schools, it is written that first I have to write an email to a supervisor along with a idea of a research project and I have to convince him that I am well prepared to work under him as a PhD student. Also,  it is recommended that you should study the papers of professors to whom you are applying.
Now, I am interested in a topic. My college does not offer that topic. So, I have learned the topics on my own. Also, at this moment I do not participate in an internship program because of this pandemic situation all over the world. That is why I have decided that I will read some papers of the professor to convince him that I am well prepared to work under him.
My question is as follows: How do I demonstrate that I read and understood a professor's paper to the professor?
Please advise me. Thanking in advance.

Which country in Europe?

@astronat France and Luxembourg

That is why I have decided that I will read some papers of the professors to convince him that I am well prepared to work under him.

I disagree with this advice. I would rather see applicants (especially those with an MS) demonstrate their ability to do research, usually through a publication or a strong thesis. As long as their topic is somewhat related to my research, that would be a stronger demonstration of their potential to succeed in a PhD program. Being familiar with specific papers that I have written is not necessary or expected (you can always read such papers if you are accepted).
If your only option is to study the papers of professors, my advice is to implement the methods discussed in those papers numerically, i.e. repeating the results, or possibly even conducting some trivial yet new extensions (like repeating the experiments on a different dataset). That would be far more impressive than simply reading a paper (where your depth of understanding is not clear).

The OP does not specify which part of mathematics they are interested in, but in many topics (e.g. my own) there is no such thing as implementing methods numerically or repeating experiments on a different dataset.

@Elodin Implement the methods discussed in the paper is a great idea. Also, I have done this type of works previously. I checked a conjecture numerically in Mathematica. But now I am going to read a paper in hyperbolic geometry. The link for the paper  is here. My question: I can not implement the methods that discussed throughout the paper always. For example, please consider the above mentioned paper. So, what should I do for the paper?

I'm not in mathematics so I can't speak to that paper specifically, but often the mathematical statements that I prove give analytical properties that could be demonstrated numerically. You could also prove some simple extensions of the results.

You probably should not handle this like an assignment "I have to read a paper and proof that I have understood it", but see the broader context.
Would you have been interested in being a coauthor for the paper? Do you have ideas for follow up papers? Would you like to work on similar projects? Do you have own ideas? Do you get the impression that you will be able to work in the same field?
Answer these questions to yourself, then talk to the professor about what you want to do and why. Being informed about their department's work will help you and having own ideas will help them to find good topics for you.

I believe I have a good answer here, from experience. Two things you should do to communicate to a professor that you understand a paper you read:

Ask good questions
Add on to it, even if it's trivial, like you said

Asking questions, while it would seem like the opposite thing to do, is a fantastic way to let a professor know that you put the time and effort into reading. You don't always have to understand every little detail- that's what advisors are for. Asking a good question or two about a paper, and possibly relating it to other ideas, starts a great discussion.
Saying something like "I thought it was really interesting how you did ____ instead of the more well known method of ____. What made you choose _____ ? I tried to improve some results using _____ and came up with _____." is admirable, in my opinion.

How do I demonstrate that I read and understood a professor's paper to the professor?

The most obvious requirement here is the ability to be able to summarise the essence of the paper (and its contribution to the literature) in simple and understandable terms.  If you can explain the parts of the paper that you found interesting, that also helps show your understanding.  Ideally, you should be able to talk intelligently about the paper at an abstract "heuristic" level, but then get down dirty and discuss the technical details of parts of it if required.  Your question here is really "How can you tell if someone understands something you understand", so think about all the things that cause you to believe that other people understand things you understand.
One thing to bear in mind here is that one reason to read a prospective supervisor's papers is to see if there are any aspects of the research that you would like to try to extend in your own research work.  If you can find some aspect of the paper that you are interested in, and think you could take further, then that will give you a possible avenue of research on a research question where the professor is obviously qualified to assist you.  If you find something like this, take the opportunity to discuss it with the professor to get their opinion on whether your idea is fruitful.  This may show your understanding of the paper, but just as importantly, it will give you feedback on a research idea.


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Is it absolutely necessary for a researcher to have an institutional email?
I was creating a researchgate account and it says it wouldn't let me in if I can't provide institutional email.
I do research in an University and I don't have any Institutional email. But the way researchgate website is creating account, makes me think like is it an absolute necessity to have an institutional email to do research.
Bonus question: What are the benifits of having an institutional email address?

No, it isn't essential, but be aware that ResearchGate is very controversial. Journals and conferences will accept a personal email such as gmail, etc.

Interestingly, I don't have an institutional address (not since July 2005), but I got a researchgate account 3 or 4 years ago. I don't remember how I got it, but I definitely didn't initiate the process. Instead, I think it was an email from them, not the first from what I recall, but rather after many email requests over probably several months, and eventually I decided what the heck, maybe I can use it to archive the manuscript I mentioned here, which is what I did.

Fun fact: when I did my master's thesis in 1995, and for 3-4 years during the PhD, institutional emails were expensive and the university would give them only to associate and full professors, or to the entire group. So, all the members of my group but the PI, master's students, PhD students and postdoc would share a single institutional email, to which also personal communications would have been addressed, with the embarrassing result that everyone would read each other's emails.

I read an article a couple of weeks ago (probably linked from Retraction Watch) which proposed that journals should accept submissions only if the e-mail address provided for correspondence is an institutional address, as a way of detecting and preventing certain types of ghostwriting.  If that proposal becomes a reality, then not having an institutional e-mail address will become a big problem.

Every employer, including universities, should create email accounts for their employees/students to use for official purposes related to their jobs/studies.
There are many reasons that using private emails for these purposes can be a problem. Depending on what country you are in, these can include government records requests laws that would allow the public access to your private communications if you're using that private email for public purposes (in practice, this isn't quite as dire, but it's potentially a massive pain).
Not sure why your institution has not provided you an email address, but this seems very unusual. It isn't that uncommon for your institutional email to be used to authenticate that you are indeed the person you say you are and that you have some association with that institution.
I won't go so far as to say it's "absolutely necessary" but I'm having a hard time imagining doing any of my own work without an institutional email, and I would find it very very weird to work somewhere that wouldn't give me an email address.

Very rececently our  university has started the official email system, however due to corona situation I could not complete the necessary official steps (application letters etc) to provide me an official email address.

Also the official email adddress is temporary. After a certain time it will expire.

@AlwaysConfused Issue (1) seems very strange to me. Do you not have access to other university resources (library, etc) that is connected to an email account? How do you access benefits and related employment/HR content? For (2), that may be a reason to use another email as well, but it doesn't seem like a reason to have no institutional email.

Yes I have offline library access. And I enjoy it.  Its a small university in a rural place and its not a tech-savvy one.

@AlwaysConfused "Offline" as in "in-person" only? Especially given how I've been fully remote for a year+ due to the pandemic that seems very foreign to me, but I suppose not unusual at all in the slightest going back a generation.

This is generally excellent advice, with one exception: if you're a non-executive director of a company, or in one of the rough equivalents of that role that are often held by academics in the university sector, then sometimes it's part of the job to take hostile action against the executive leadership of the organisation.  When considering or planning such action, it's probably not such a good idea to do one's communicating over an e-mail server controlled by the executive leadership team.

This is fine for people who are currently part of an academic institution, but the question only stated: “a researcher.” So I would note that not all researchers are currently part of an academic institution, in which case I encourage in the strongest terms not penalizing or disadvantaging such people.

@Nicholas The question states "I do research in an University" (sic).

That’s fair. But since the question doesn’t presume that, it seems good to me that the other scenario be at least briefly acknowledged. This is not perhaps some idle concern, and it would be interesting to see stats on numbers of alumni at different levels of academic pursuit (even up to PhD programs), who are not now part of an academic institute, but still do some research in that field. I would not be surprised if it at least matches the number of those on the reverse. Cheers

@NicholasPetersen I don't know much about independent research. In my field it doesn't exist at any influential level, and doesn't really deserve acknowledgement as a feasible approach. I know people feel strongly about independent research in other areas, but my overall impression is that the number of people who successfully do useful (truly) independent research is very small. Special cases are the "exceptions that prove the rule" because they are notable specifically because they are so unusual.


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Previous publication of my supervisor and a post-doc is a lie
I am in a bit of a situation. Basically, the research on which I was basing my PhD was carried out by a former post-doc in our group. After one year and a half not being able to replicate his results, I exploited my admin privileges on our cluster to download his codes. I discovered that the algorithms he used in his publication are different from the ones used in the experiments, as the ones he claims he is using are not really applicable and the ones he is using do not have the claimed complexity. He even went so far to provide made up (theoretical) timings to cover this up.
My supervisor knows about this issue from me and he also knows that the post-doc has stopped responding to my mails trying to replicated his work. My supervisor is very hands-off and I don't believe that he has any fault in this but his name is on the publication. Moreover, I feel he is disappointed in the post-doc and feels guilty. So, it seems to me that pressing the issue does no good for me and I have stopped mentioning the topic to my supervisor. (I am still quite angry about this issue as this has cost me about a year and a half of my PhD)
I have been able to salvage the original idea of the publication and come up with an algorithm which has the correct complexity and we are now writing the paper. To the reader these two publications might appear extremely similar and I would like to include a sentence in the introduction that the previous publication is not a working algorithm. What is a good, diplomatic way of doing this?

There isn’t a diplomatic way to expose someone as having committed academic fraud. You either expose him undiplomatically and face the shitstorm that is likely to follow, or give up the idea of insinuating that his algorithm doesn’t work as claimed.

@DanRomik While I fully agree that in case of fraud, there is no nice way to resolve the issue, I would give first give the benefit of doubt to the people involved. Being sloppy, making wrong assumptions, or making errors, even when they are serious is not the same as committing academic fraud.

@Greg did you read the question? Academic fraud is what the question is about, and I don’t see a point in questioning OP’s premise, which seems based on very clear evidence.

@DanRomik It's quite possible that the OP has missed or misinterpreted some of the post-docs work, especially when they haven't even been able to talk to them about it. It seems safer to approach it as improving/making corrections to prior work than to approach it with big accusations.

@setholopolus sure, anything’s possible. I don’t have a strong opinion about it, I was just addressing the question as it is written.

I was tempted to agree with Dan Romik's Comment yet how would it be wrong to say "Other/certain/previous publications have suggested (detail) but (refutation)"?

I exploited my admin privileges on our cluster to download his codes → I suffer by just reading this part. Besides your actual problem, you should have your admin rights revoked after such a thing (at a minimum). Depending on the jurisdiction this can be theft, exposition of private data, and other monstruosities.

Crap like this is why I left academia.  Even at a global top-20 university I found this kind of stuff to be way more common than you would think.  Oddly, in the private sector, if it doesn't work, you don't get paid.  Weird to think that capitalism keeps people more honest than the ivory towers of academia, but welcome to the future.

@WoJ It could just be poor ESL phrasing - given that the research belongs to the group, it's quite likely that OP actually has free access to those documents and is simply representing what happened poorly.

There are lots of ways to go about this.
Since your advisor is a co-author on the previous paper, this may be difficult, since they are invested in the existing paper and have some credibility at stake. Theoretically, they should be happy to retract/rewrite the older paper, but we are human.  You are probably correct that they feel guilty- everyone with their name on the paper is ultimately responsible for all of the content.
At the same time, this can make some things easier for you. Finding an error in previously published work opens some new avenues for publication. Now, instead of a simple sentence, you can issuing a comment or a correction on a previous paper - many journals will allow you to publish a correction or remark on their previous articles, particularly if you can demonstrate a major problem or flaw.
Critically, do not be a jerk about this process. Simply state that there has been an oversight or error in the work by XYZ. Do not speculate as to why it went wrong or how. Even with evidence that their results do not match their data, there could be numerous reasons for it.   Journals don't want to be told they did a bad job, neither does your advisor- but everyone would prefer you correct an error softly and with tact rather than letting someone else do it loudly and disruptively.
Edit:  I am not sure your evidence is legally obtained, nor am I fully confident from this post that the evidence is conclusive that they were fraudulent.  Until both of those conditions are met, I wouldn't recommend making accusations of data fabrication - publicly or privately.  You will have, in all likelihood, a legal battle - for which I am not a lawyer. But you can conclusively say, as another commenter mentioned: "We were not able to reproduce the results."

That's right, as he couldn't reproduce the result of the previous paper, and he has a working, thus probably different algorithm now, he just has to write: "A similar algorithm was presented in [X], but we were unable to reproduce the result. Our algorithm is novel because of [reasons], and is able to produce the excepted result." Not being able to reproduce something is a pretty big deal already. (This may be complicated by the authorship of the supervisor again, though.) @rptr5

If anything I'd consider a research more credible if in a later paper they openly re-analyze their previous approach and correct their findings. I can understand though that this can be hard for some people.

I totally disagree. Somebody reading not being able to reproduce a claimed better result might read it as you being incompetent, while in reality the result was fake. So I think this is a bad answer

@Hakaishin It might vary based on the fields, but in my field (CS), the phrase "unable to reproduce prior work" doesn't have negative connotation. It simply means there could be some details that were omitted, or there could be a mistake in the original paper, or the author could not get the same data set/split, and many other reasons. So it's still reasonable to say.

@justhalf - that's great for CS especially in the light of this paper: Producing wrong data without doing anything obviously wrong! (Mytkowicz, Diwan, Hauswirth, Sweeney, 2009)

Also remember that this paper was published and no one during the review and approval process picked up on the errors either.

It seems patently implausible (in my field anyway) that an introduction as bare of details as "We could not reproduce [results from our own group], so we [redid it without further analysis]" would ever get past peer-review. I would expect to be asked aggressively about this in the review, and I might even expect that some reviewers would sound the alarm about it.

Especially when it comes to algorithms, bugs and programming errors happen quite frequently. That does not necessarily imply that the post doc knowingly commited fraud.

@Hakaishin, this student believes it is fake. It's possible that the previous student made an error, misunderstood the task, misunderstood the results, copied the results poorly in transfer, etc. If it is possible to believe incompetence by a PhD student, this seems like the safest route to go unless you have evidence in hand that it is fraudulent and you had the rights to that evidence, of which is unclear from this post.   It seems like several alarming things are happening- to which I recommend doing honest, nonspeculative work so you don't get burned next!

I broadly agree with the thrust of this answer, but I think the wording of "we were not able to reproduce the results" is a bit better than "these results don't appear to be repeatable". The former is factual, whereas the latter is actually quite vague. If you want to stay factual and really make a point, you could perhaps say "even after obtaining the original code, we were unable to reproduce the results". That conveys the point that at best it's non-trivial or impossible to reproduce the results even with the original code in hand, when it should be easy, but it avoids direct blame.

Notably, that wording is completely factual, and doesn't say more than you want: it doesn't say how you obtained the original code, it doesn't claim that the results can't be repeated by anyone, which you would have to show, and it doesn't say in what manner you used the original code whilst failing to produce the results. It simply says you had the code, and you didn't manage it, for whatever reason. People may (rightly) assume that you're not so incompetent that you can't run code to reproduce trivially reproducible results, and that the old code is bad. But that's just their assumption.

If your advisor knows that the paper was published with fake claims/data and is not willing to take action, I would sincerely consider working under someone else's supervision. This should be something that keeps him up at night for one or two days, but after accepting the hit that his career will take for this mistake, it is absolutely fundamental that he takes action - even if the action goes against his own reputation.
If your advisor is also an author of the paper, this matter is also interesting for another reason: It exposes how little some of the authors know what the hell is going on behind a paper with their names...

"Gift authorship" is pretty common in a lot of stem fields. Often it is people's advisors who are receiving the authorship for merely providing funding to their group members.

@Taw yes, I know. What do you think of this? Personally, I find it a very bad model.

Convincing funding agencies that an idea is worth exploring and to get you money for it is non trivial. You should try it some times.

@Marianne013 People are not always hired with project money. Many research institutes have a fixed number of available positions for new postdocs/PhD students, regardless of what the project is. In fact, funding for some institutes is so insanely high that it is sometimes hard to fill up all the spots. Besides, the role of a "sponsor" should not be taken as equivalent to the role of an author. The last name convention is also inadequate, because it can be either the group leader or just the guy who paid the bills. Donating money to the circus does not turn you into a clown.

Authorship is more complex than some people think. Many papers in stem fields require a variety of skills. I work a lot with biologists and doctors. I hope I'm not expected to check their cultures or observe them while they visit patients. And I'm sure nobody expects them to check my models and my code.

@LucaCiti it doesn't matter. After malpractice is discovered, the person in charge is expected to take action

@QuantumBrick - This is only true of a vanishingly small proportion of institutes, maybe 2-3% of the scientific workforce (funding for a fixed number of positions), at least in biology. The position of PI on the paper is not because they are the sponser, but rather, beause they got the funding, they must have come up with the concept for the research project in the first place.

No one author can possibly know the details of everything on a paper. If one person understands everything another person did, why would they both need to be on the paper. The last paper I published had 10,000 lines of code, and only two of the 8 authors knew any programming. That doesn't mean that the senior author shouldn't take action if malpractice is discovered, just that its not necessarily their fault if they didn't spot it before.

@IanSudbery I agree with everything you said. I never said it was their fault, only that they need to take action... I'm just a little bit tired of seeing people having ideas, working them by themselves, writing the whole paper, and adding the name of someone who didn't do anything just because _________ (insert justification). Maybe this is precisely one situation where they can be useful by sharing the guilt, who knows.

At least in biology it is rare that the senior author didn't do anything. Mostly likely the whole idea behind the project was theirs. Indeed, this is often the case because Students have 4 year contracts, and postdocs have 3 year contracts, and most papers these days have at least 10 person-years of work in them. So its highly unlikely (although not impossible) that a student or postdoc will have an idea and take it all the way to publication, on their own, without input from their supervisor.

I think what both I and @LucaCiti are objecting to is this sentence: "It exposes how little some of the authors know what the hell is going on behind a paper with their names..."

@IanSudbery I believe this is then highly field-dependent. In physics, at least among me and all my acquaintances and friends, it is very common for post-docs and PhD students to include people that have done literally nothing as authors. I have done it many times myself.

Most universities should have a research integrity officer. You could contact them to ask what you should do next. We had to go through ethical research training, and the training said that you could even ask them a question "hypothetically" to explore your options without having to jump into accusations.

If the previous paper is just sloppy, you can write something of the sort "We present an improved analysis of..." and then explain in your paper the advantages of your technique.
If there is scientific misconduct in the previous paper, ideally your supervisor would have it retracted.  Also depends to a certain extent if the former postdoc is still in the same field.

I would like to second the retraction suggestion, but in principle, an erratum might be sufficient, if, as the topicstarter says, "To the reader these two publications might appear extremely similar".

This is not enough imho. I would add "We were not able to replicate the previous results."

Have a sit-down with your supervisor and speak openly and frankly about this. Prepare carefully how you are going to put this into words. Ask him how he would like to address the problem, but ultimately accept his decision, whether he bravely faces it or shrugs it off, because you have little to gain in dragging him down.
Write up a "Corrigendum" in which, with your supervisor's consent, you make references to the fact that you were unable to replicate the previous results. If your supervisor wishes, he can allege a "spreadsheet" error in the previous study, otherwise just leave it vague.
Hopefully no-one was seriously injured in the process: The time you spent attempting to replicate a fraudulent result is not entirely wasted, I'm sure. Whatever evidence you have uncovered about the fraud would not stand in a court of law. You have learned a valuable lesson: academia does have its fair share of incompetence and fraud.


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Expressing concerns about an individual starting in a faculty position
This is a question that does not quite fit the bill on any particular SE forum but Academia SE comes the closest in my opinion. I will use non-binary they/them pronouns to retain some amount of anonymity.
Some background will be important: I have lived with my current roommate -- a grad student at my university in the US -- for two years, in this time I have come to know them in a way I really wish I hadn't. This person is extremely manipulative, a compulsive liar and used me and my friend for an embarrassingly long amount of time before we realized what was going on. This has not been limited to personal favors but also professional ones where this person would get editing feedback on their extremely long papers with nothing in return, not do the reading and then ask for summaries that they would then use during class discussion without attribution. This is a person who openly flouts page limits, writes in a needlessly convoluted sentences and has shown repeated patterns of not respecting other people's time. Professionally, I think this person is a total hack who uses trauma of marginalized groups to progress their own academic agenda.
Now, I suspect that this person likely has narcissistic personality disorder but I am in no way an expert. They are usually very polite and cordial to other people they do not know very well and generally have a good image in the department -- except that they often do not respect other people's time but people think it as a quirk.
My concern is that this person will soon be assuming a position wherein they will be teaching and advising students (in a different program than mine). I do not know where they draw a line regarding abuse so it's hard for me to judge whether this is something that they might do to their students. Still, is there a way for me to warn someone about this individual?
I am also afraid that if I do make complaint I will be ostracized. I have, with my own eyes observed departments side with abusers because everyone knows them to be "good guys" and I wonder if I should just let things play out and hope other people catch on eventually.
Update: Seeing your abuser succeed in their professional lives without suffering any consequence while your work suffers because of the trauma, that just doesn't seem fair. I maintain that this person is unfit to teach by their history of disregard for rules -- including syllabi, contracts and so forth. In any case, it is perhaps time I sought helped and moved on with my life.

Is there someone in your faculty (with decision-making power) you could talk to about your concerns privately before filing a complaint?

Before you do anything I would strongly consider if that person actually did anything formally problematic or if your evident dislike for them is clouding your judgement. Because what I read in your question is that they are a bad collaborator and crappy roommate, from which you jumped directly to abuse and a mental disorder. Not saying you are wrong, but in order to "whistleblow" there would be a lot more specific accounts of misbehavior.

If your friend decided to forego the faculty position and decided, for example, to pursue a management position somewhere, a place at which he or she would have direct reports, would you preemptively notify the hiring company? And the next one?

Could you edit this to be more factual and clarify what professional relationship, if any, you have with the roommate?

The subtext I am reading here is that my situation seems personal more than professional. While it is hard for me to reveal the full extent of this situation, I think it might be best to let things play out. This person has no history of misconduct, and all evidence is circumstantial so a complaint would accomplish nothing other than raise questions about my motivations.

Honestly, I do not see you indicating any real problem why this person should not get hired. Private interactions are usually different from professional ones.

Although i would not like such a person as a boss, or even colleges, it seems that many people do. Some symptoms of personality disorders seem to have become job requirements for leadership positions in the eyes of some.  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-integrationist/201901/do-narcissists-make-good-leaders

At worst it sounds like this person is a garden-variety a*****, and there's no shortage of those in academia.

I will be signing off now, but I do want to say that I appreciate all of your valuable insight. Seeing your abuser succeed in their professional lives without suffering any consequence while your work suffers because of the trauma, that just doesn't seem fair. I maintain that this person is unfit to teach by their history of disregard for rules -- including syllabi, contracts and so forth. In any case, it is perhaps time I sought helped and moved on with my life.

I'm really sorry, I just want to mention that  "This is a person who openly flouts page limits"  is the single funniest character assessment that I have ever read in my life.

@Stumbler I'm glad you can find humour in my description. I was trying to suggest that they have no problem breaking rules or inconveniencing other people. There have been more serious contractual violations by the individual that I am dealing with personally. My point being that this is someone who does not think rules are made for them.

@whistleblower: The humor comes from the fact you are bringing something insignificant (going over a page limit) with insignificant stakes (a grade on a college paper?) into something important with high stakes. Perhaps if we take this to the extreme you will see what I mean: how would you react if someone wrote "This person is unqualified to become senator. This person openly flouts the park's 'do not walk on grass' signs".

To be honest, all hard criteria OP brings up are flaws, but none irredeemable. Quite possible that that person really has been completely parasitic in their relation to OP, but there is also no evidence that OP established boundaries to limit their time vampirism. Overlong papers, flouting rules, inconveniencing other people, when you do not have a formal duty/link to that person, are very easy to handle, with the magic word, "Sorry, no." It is a different issue when you are bound to them professionally, but even then the points brought up are nuisances, but not career killer criteria.

OP should mention any hard criteria, because it will change advice. "this person [gets] editing feedback on their extremely long papers with nothing in return" - the saying goes: "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." Did OP put their foot down?From the very limited information OP gives, it may look from the other side that OP is a pedantic, inflexible, transaction-oriented person.Not at all saying this is OP's case,but given OPs info, there is still enough ambiguity for such an interpretation. But, even if OP's points were all manifest true, their nemesis is hard to corner.

I recognise that this post is about whistleblowing, but this does kind of crossover into being an interpersonal issue, and you may find more helpful answers on that site instead

@AlexRobinson Is it whistleblowing? If the person in question really broke legal or serious institutional rules, I would agree, but all examples above are pretty minor. It is possible that OP hides the real nature of the offenses, but then they should give us an example of an equivalent offense that would warrant a whistleblowing action. The person in question might be a jerk, but calling them out is not warranting the heroic badge of whistleblowing.

Reads like any number of successful business school and economics professors I've known. Character flaws are a trait of academics and driven people in general.

Complaining about your roommate to the roommate's employer is unprofessional behavior.  Do not do it.
If you are experiencing domestic abuse, talk to the police or a local victim's advocacy organization.

The more I look at it, the more it seems like a case of domestic abuse and I believe my school has resources to address that. My interactions with this person have traumatized me  and I feel scared for any students who may have to interact with this individual. Still, I may have conflated the two seemingly separate issues and that is for me to figure out.

Speculating about abuse or lack thereof seems highly inappropriate to me.

@CaptainEmacs "Domestic abuse" doesn't have to be between people in a romantic relationship

@AzorAhai-him- Never heard this term outside of family/relationship context, but ok.

@CaptainEmacs I totally agree that I've never heard it in a different context than that of a family household, but I guess it makes sense because "domestic" means something along the lines of "local to the place where you live/reside".

Nothing you said makes this person categorically unqualified to teach students. Your descriptions also fail to demonstrate that this person is untrustworthy.

This is a person who openly flouts page limits, writes in a needlessly
convoluted sentences and has shown repeated patterns of not respecting
other people's time.

The above does not justify the conclusions you have reached about this person. Plenty of people are chronically late with their morals intact. As for flouting page limits or writing long sentences, last time I checked poor writing style is not a mortal sin.  Now, you have two years of experience with them as a roommate and sometimes our beliefs about another person are difficult to articulate, yet by no means less justified. So I believe you when you call them extremely manipulative.   Unfortunately, your personal experience with this person in informal contexts does not meet the burden of proof for professional disqualification or even reprimand. I predict that if you were to raise an issue, you would be stonewalled with skepticism and assigned a reputation as a gossipmonger.
Warn your friends and favorite colleagues in private and let this person fail on their own. Your own career is more important than this battle.

I think the issue is this person's history of flouting rules -- course syllabi, contracts and so forth. Naturally, it is hard for me to be unbiased; but this situation may be best handled outside of our shared professional lives.

This seems to advise gossiping in the last paragraph.  Don't.

I don't consider warning your trusted friends about a malicious person "gossiping." If you were my friend and you knew I was working with someone very manipulative but didn't tell me because you didn't want to be seen "gossiping", let me tell you, you wouldn't be my friend anymore. I would be pissed.

In the US, stepping in to the hiring process would likely be illegal due to privacy laws. You would be open to slander/defamation charges. What you propose isn't whistleblowing under the law since you aren't reporting governmental misconduct. So, your claims have no protection.
If you were asked by this person to comment officially, then you can be honest, of course.
But, imagine a situation in which someone just wanted to carry out a vendetta against another person, making similar claims. You would expect a thorough examination of the claims and the motivations of the person making them.
I suspect that the behavior of this person isn't invisible to the faculty. If they see it and ignore it then it is an issue for them.

I don't believe such privacy laws would apply to someone not affiliated with the employer.  Any statement is open to slander or defamation charges, but if the statement is true the charges will not be successful.  There are no claims that have "protection" from false charges.

That is terrifying to think about. Perhaps it helps that there is more than one person who has had the same experience with the individual. Anyway, as I've commented on Anonymous Physicist's question, I seem to have conflated the personal and the professional. While I see some instances of overlap, there is no evidence of misconduct.

@AnonymousPhysicist, much of privacy law is civil law and it applies to everyone. A person sued for defamation needs to "prove in a court" that what they said/wrote is true to avoid damages.

Maybe you think that the word "charge" implies it is criminal.  I used that word because you used it.

@Buffy: That varies by jurisdiction. If you are sued in the US, then the plaintiff has to prove that you made a false statement of fact (as opposed to an unprovable statement of opinion, or indeed a true statement of fact). If you are sued in not-the-US but reside in the US, then that lawsuit is probably unenforceable against you.

@Kevin, the OP indicates it is a US question.

@Buffy: Your claim that OP would need to prove truth is inapplicable to the US, where the burden of proof is exactly the opposite.

@Kevin, I think that in practice it is more subtle. If I defame you without evidence of the truth of what I say, other than my own feelings or hearsay, then I'm at risk of losing a suit. I'd lose Absolute Immunity and it would become a question of malice.

@Buffy: Now you're conflating the actual malice standard with the false-statement-of-fact standard. Those are two entirely separate steps. First the plaintiff has to prove the statement false, then the plaintiff has to prove actual malice.

No, I'm not conflating, actually. My intent here is to warn the OP of the danger of making statements that might be construed as defamation, not predicting the outcome.

The reference to slander/defamation is a bit of a distraction in this answer IMO. For something to be defamatory it has to be untrue. The sentence "stepping in to the hiring process would likely be illegal due to privacy laws" which leads into the defamation reference implies that it is defamation which makes it illegal. This is misleading since there would be no defamation unless OP is lying. Anyone can sue anyone for anything, but that doesn't mean something illegal took place.

This sounds like a really difficult situation and I think you are right to be concerned for the welfare of this person's students. With emotional abuse, personal and professional lines can be blurry.
I have limited experience here, but I did once become personally involved with a colleague and through this discovered they were emotionally abusive (I suspect also narcissistic personality disorder). I was concerned that their behaviour was affecting other colleagues and decided to speak to HR - but the person was able to talk their way out of the situation with no consequence, even though they had received complaints from others before. I didn't want to escalate to a formal complaint, since the situation was blurred and not purely work related. I was right to be concerned though - as I spoke to more people, I discovered this person was generally considered unprofessional and a drain on their team. I can relate to your concern.
I was unsure from your post what your professional overlap with this person is. It could be difficult for you to have any impact on the situation, which could end up being upsetting for you if the university doesn't have the wisdom to take the situation seriously, particularly since this person is manipulative.
From my personal perspective - and this may differ from the judgement of others posting here - if you have any kind of relationship with e.g. a trusted individual in HR or colleague I would consider letting them know your concerns informally, make it clear that you are only doing this out of concern. Keep your examples limited to the ones that you feel comfortable discussing and are a little more black and white. I imagine what you decide to say might depend on how strong you feel.
Good luck and I hope you find a solution. I would also say it's likely you are not alone, it might help to reach out to people who you suspect could have also been affected by this person.

The other answers all offer wise recommendations and cautions and raise good questions. Here's another perspective; "I feel your pain." :-)

This is a question that does not quite fit the bill on any particular SE forum...

So this is more of an Interpersonal Skills SE-like answer to your Academia SE question and is meant to complement and add to the other very good answers already posted here.
I'm old(ish) and have seen a few cases of what I have armchair(=without qualifications) labeled as "narcissistic personality disordered" or even "psychopathic" academic individuals. Watching over years to a decade what happened is exactly what's mentioned in articles about those pathologies, a trail of trauma and collateral damage to those charmed, convinced or otherwise unprepared for what was happening.
What I'm saying is that what you fear certainly might be right.
However...
Whatever you do poses substantial risk to you, and the (probably) socially skilled/clever person would receive at most a temporary setback. If what you suspect is true, they will simply learn from the situation and adapt, and possibly seek out the cause (you) and take retribution for fun.
Imagine being on a long flight and an aggravating, troublesome passenger walks past your aisle seat. Should you stick out your leg and trip them to interfere with their behavior? Will this quick action produce a net-improvement for all the passengers during the remainder of the long flight? Will it for you?
If you want to use your (perceived) newly gained ability to recognize and perhaps understand manipulative behavior to improve your life and those of others, use it long term:

Be more alert in your own interpersonal interactions.
Be very carefully helpful to friends by asking neutral questions that may help them recognize their own situation on their own terms.
It is good and noble to want to intervene, but the how's and why's of how we choose to do it is what separates wise from foolish actions.
Be aware of subconsciously trying to right some wrong in your own experience by intervening on behalf of someone else. Helping others in these kinds of situations requires skill and wisdom to decide if and how it is really possible. Be cautious not to subconsciously conflate helping others with righting some wrong you've experienced yourself.

Remember that each person's reality is usually pretty different than anyone else's. What feels like an "objective" perception at the time may never translate to other people's "objective" perception.


text:
What are some tips to keep in mind when solving back of the book exercises?
I am pretty convinced at this point that the most difficult task when learning in a new topic in physics/mathematics is to actually sit down and do the back of the book problems till you figure out how to do the calculations at least once without mistakes. In my opinion, the experience of actually solving questions can be dreadful at times, so what would be ways to 'ease' /smoothen out the experience?
Tl;dr : Looking for tips on how to approach solving exercises faster

There are probably lots of similar questions on this site and on mathematics SE. Two suggestions.

Find a friend or group of friends to work on problems with.
Take a look at Polya's How to Solve It for problem solving tips.

I think your goal should be learning from problems, not necessarily solving them faster. Good problems ask for more than  calculating correctly and quickly. If that were all there was to problem solving then computers would be better at it than people.