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1500 questions
56
votes
5 answers

Should an Editor in Chief publish in their own journal?

An Editor in Chief of a journal ought to be proud of their journal and consider it a good place to publish their own work, so not publishing in the journal that they edit suggests a lack of confidence in the journal. On the other hand, is…
Dikran Marsupial
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56
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5 answers

Dean will not tell me what upcoming meeting is about. What do I do?

I am a tenured professor and co-chair at a small teaching college. I received an email last Friday morning from the head of facilities requesting confirmation of my attendance at a meeting for this coming Thursday, with the subject line "Facilities…
DRShort
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55
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5 answers

How do people peer-review many papers?

I am an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. I try to be an active peer-reviewer but on average it takes a few hours to review a manuscript (reading, some searches in the literature, checking some relevant reference, and finally writing the report). I…
user83205
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55
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10 answers

Is there any way to post my code on Code Review Stack Exchange and not be worried about plagiarism?

I am doing my thesis-based master’s in computer engineering and am required to program a tool in C++ as a part of my research. I am quite impressed by the help offered on the Code Review website and am considering posting a big chunk of my code for…
a_sid
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55
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10 answers

Can I have a PhD in one field, and be an avid academic contributor in another?

Disclaimer: I'm an undergrad with very limited knowledge of how academia really works and what the atmosphere and culture is like. I'm very interested in pure mathematics, and I think I'm pretty good at it. I'm currently an undergraduate in my…
Michael Ala
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55
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11 answers

Should I hide the fact that I did a group assignment completely by myself?

Three students and I were assigned a small (~14 hours of work) group project. Because there was no effort on their side to meet and work, my e-mails regarding their progress remained unanswered and from previous experience I know that their quality…
problemofficer - n.f. Monica
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55
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11 answers

How to hold back from interfering with students' inefficient-but-not-wrong work?

I'm a new and junior group leader. I therefore work quite closely with my (also new) MSc students. I try to let them work and figure out things as independently as they can, but have my door open so they can ask me for help. When they do, it will…
elisa
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6 answers

How should I interpret "English is poor" review when I used a language check service before submission?

Recently I submitted a manuscript to an international journal. It was accepted with a minor revision, but I am worried about the reviewers’ comments. The first reviewer commented that the paper is well written but it still needs some English…
Kay
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55
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7 answers

Is it normal for a PhD candidate to be dissatisfied with their PhD thesis topic, if the field is not hot?

I am a 2nd year PhD student in Germany. I am working on computational mechanics. It is on modeling the mechanical behavior of a composite coating. My background is metallurgical engineering. When I had started with the research, I was very…
Confused PhD
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5 answers

When reviewing a manuscript for the second time, is it fair to comment on aspects I did not realise the first time?

I refereed a manuscript and recommended a major revision. Now, almost three years (!) later, the manuscript has come back to my desk. The editor told me to treat it as a revision and not as a new submission. However, since I don't remember the…
gerrit
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55
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3 answers

Student asks for letter of recommendation: I can't remember the student

I have already had this issue a few times. I just received an e-mail from a former student of an undergraduate course, asking for a letter of recommendation to apply for graduate studies. This course took place almost 5 years ago. I don't think I…
dbluesk
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55
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5 answers

Is it acceptable to wear the same outfit every day?

I am a male graduate student in natural sciences at a public university. I want to simplify my life a little bit by wearing the same outfit (more or less) every day. (Obviously I would have multiple copies to be hygienic.) I tend to wear untucked…
cdarwin
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55
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8 answers

I solved their problem. Should I involve them?

I have dedicated time and effort to solve a theoretical problem posed by two other people. Now I think I have resolved it, and I have material for a publication. Should I involve them as co-authors? Here are more details: those other two people…
anon
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55
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5 answers

Should I send an email to authors of a paper I enjoyed reading?

For me as a graduate student, there are some papers out there that really stand out among the others. Some of them are really meaningful and inspiring. Is it polite or even acceptable emailing the authors of a paper you enjoyed reading? Sometimes I…
Eliezer
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9 answers

A professor has offered to send me a hard copy of his new book. Would it be rude to ask for a PDF file instead?

While working my way through one textbook, I spotted several errors, TeXed them up and emailed to the author of the textbook. He thanked me and asked for my physical address so he could send me a copy of his new textbook (a more advanced one). I was…
Leo
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