/r/academia

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An online community for discussing issues related to academia, faculty life, research, and institutional structures. This is NOT the place to ask questions about your homework, your particular school or professors, or to get admission advice!

Survey posts must be approved by mods in advance, must include contact/IRB info, and must be specific to academia.

For sharing of academic works and discussion of issues and events relating to academia and the related political, economical, and social structures.

Commercial posts and endorsements of unethical services such as paper mills will be removed.

/r/academia

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0

Help! I'm interested in both science and psychology research.

As the title says. I'm sort of split between majoring in psych or physical sciences, because both fields fascinate me and i have several research things i'd like to do in either. How do I figure this out? Which field is easier to do research in without the relevant degrees and instead through other means (like working with someone in that field)? I'm a very ambitious person and every time I think about never getting the opportunity to learn about what I'd like to I get very sad. So yeah, what's the bar of entry looking like, and what's the minimum to do both? I'm having a difficult time trying to square the idea of just picking one thing to spend my meager human lifespan on. So. Easiest path to doing both if it's possible, please. 🙏

(the money I'm least worried about... there are a million routes to scholarships and I am a straight A student. it's time that is my enemy, time and barriers.)

3 Comments
2024/12/02
02:41 UTC

0

Will conference thesis be considered a scientific article if it is published in the journal with DOI?

Hello. I am a student and new to the academia. I have found an opportunity for a conference. They publish conference thesises in a special journal that indicate that this is materials of the conference but under academic publishing. But they also give each piece a doi number. This is what they website says: "Acceptance and publication of conference proceedings will be implemented under the support of “Publishing House “Baltija Publishing” (Riga, Latvia).

The collection of theses will be assigned an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) by a European publisher."

I am confused if this will now be considered an academic publication?

1 Comment
2024/12/01
22:37 UTC

3

Need Advice - Follow Passion at the Expense of Family?

I need some objective advice from people who have had to make this decision before.

I completed a PhD one year ago in the social sciences. I never really had a bold, strategic plan laid out for myself in regards to following academia - it sort of just happened and I’ve honestly fallen in love with it. I love research and teaching and feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to spend those years in graduate school thinking and theorizing about ideas.

As I began approaching graduation I, like all my peers, had to start thinking about what I wanted to do after. I’ve heard all the horror stories about trying to find a job in academia and how difficult it is. That being said, I was very lucky during my PhD and was able to lock down 15 publications and get a big national grant which I think has made me competitive in the tenure track market (I’m not too sure about this but my committee has said this). I did get a campus visit interview at my home institution before I graduated last year but didn’t get the job.

After that, I made a decision that I was going to exit academia and find a job elsewhere. My reasoning was that if I couldn’t get an academic job in my home town, then it isn’t meant for me. I’ve spent the past two years working in industry. The pay is great, the hours are consistent, and the work is objectively fine. But I’m dying inside. Getting a taste of an academic life and now having to pretend to care about my job now is killing me. I can’t imagine doing this for the rest of my life. A caveat is that I am extremely burnt out, and I’m struggling keeping up with work/home/life commitments.

My partner and I have both lived in the same mid-sized American city our whole lives. Both of our families live here and we are close with them both. We have two sons, who are best friends with their cousins. My sons have a step sibling as well who they adore who lives in this city. Despite dreams my partner and I had of living in different places, we never became the worldly people we wanted to be.

I have a campus visit for a tenure track job - It would be perfect and exactly in my portfolio. The city is pretty crappy - or at least crappier than where we live now. My partner is so excited at the prospect and is so supportive of the possibility to get this job and move there.

If I were to get this job, or another academic one in a different city, I can’t decided if it’s the right choice.

Pros:

  • academia is my passion and I think I would be so much more fulfilled in my career
  • there is a chance that uprooting our lives and moving to a new city would be the adventure we need.

Cons:

  • I would be ripping my sons from their family and support system
  • similarly, I would be rippling my partner, his family and my family apart
  • I would be ripping my sons away from their step-sibling - and my step child from one of their parents
  • leaving all our friends
  • the new city could be awful
  • because I’m so burnt out I could be framing this as the way out but it may be just as bad
12 Comments
2024/12/01
19:45 UTC

0

Minor Revisions to Acceptance?

I submitted a paper and it was sent back for minor revisions and the Journal was sending mails as a reminder as they were “waiting” for my revision

I made the revisions and now it’s been 8 days and it’s still on “Awaiting EIC processing”

I’ve heard it takes 1-2 weeks to review after minor revisions, should I send a follow up email?

14 Comments
2024/12/01
19:11 UTC

0

How do you reconcile interest in multiple branches in your field?

Im enrolling for a M.Sc. in CS, and part of that is chosing a specific branch(like ML, complexity theory, quantum algorithms etc) of which i have interest in several of them. Im assuming that you cant/its not recommended to do Masters and phd in different branches(nor do i want to, i just want to study all of them to the same degree)

My fear is not really not enjoying what i choose now but not being able to enjoy the others too down the road.

So how do you make it work? Do you choose one and just enjoy the others as a "hobby"? Do you get more degrees? Is there a "shortcut" between some branches if you already have a phD or other degree in a similar branch?

1 Comment
2024/12/01
18:24 UTC

1

APA intext citation for works in progress

My professor sent me some articles she and her colleagues are working on to use in my MSc thesis (will be under embargo ofc). I was wondering how I should cite these. I think my references are correct, but I am having some trouble with finding the correct format for the in-text citations.

Should it go (LASTNAME, forthcoming, p. XXX), or should I say in progress or n.d. and only specify that it is unpublished in the reference section?

1 Comment
2024/12/01
18:06 UTC

6

Increased number of LLM generated paper reviews?

I organized a couple conference sessions this year and I can't help but notice that there's a significant increase in peer reviews generated by LLM. I had to reject a good chunk of them since the content is complete nonsense.

I hope this is an isolated case otherwise I feel that academia is moving into some bizarre situation..

8 Comments
2024/12/01
07:01 UTC

0

Could you please provide me with some sugegstions regarding reviewer comment rebuttal and standard practice in the following case ?

Context: Computer science conferenceOne of the reviewers says "It has a meaningful contribution. However, improvement in the following areas would elevate the work’s significance and applicability:-Then the reviewer adds 4 different experiments which will take time.

The last day to submit a camera ready is Dec 20. The paper notification we got something like this "Your paper has been accepted for a physical presentation at the conference. Please make the necessary changes according to the reviewer's comment"

Now, the acceptance notification does not explicitly say that it is accepted with minor revisions. But they suggested making changes according to the reviewer's comments. We won't be able to address all four comments before Dec 20. In addition, two of these comments do not make any sense.

What's the standard practice in this case? ( in computer science area)

You can also suggest if you are from a different area as well

6 Comments
2024/12/01
06:29 UTC

2

Not Top Candidate: Timeline?

I did my campus visit in late October (I'm among the last), and received an email in mid-November stating very explicitly that I was not selected for an "immediate offer" but placed as "the first in the waiting list".

Does anyone have any experience with that - if you are not the top candidate, how soon will you hear a final decision?

I know there is nothing I can do now, but still want to get a sense of it. TIA and happy holidays :)

7 Comments
2024/12/01
03:42 UTC

0

First time making a research paper for my Bachelor's Program which tools you suggest?

This is my first time making a project and I'm real close to the deadlines. Professor asked me to include methodology flowchart or whatever that is. how can I make something like this? https://arxiv.org/pdf/2402.12010 I looked up but couldn't find such software.

https://preview.redd.it/knc4sbvpn54e1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=fc8911155b8a56ccd1d26caf457e9b98d4a35890

https://preview.redd.it/rv3xlwmkn54e1.png?width=840&format=png&auto=webp&s=abdbf95a2dacd4215cf3c75691b10c3f427a77db

5 Comments
2024/12/01
03:19 UTC

10

How do you guys usually organize your knowledge?

Obsidian is cool but there isn’t really a collaborative aspect to it- youre mostly starting from scratch for every project.

24 Comments
2024/12/01
02:54 UTC

1

For those who have transitioned from academia to consultancy, how was it? What are some of the key differences you’ve experienced? Any regrets?

I’m considering making the shift to consultancy…

0 Comments
2024/11/30
04:34 UTC

1

Why are bachelor's degrees so hard to get into but masters are usually not?

I saw somewhere that some masters for Ivy league schools and other big names US schools are like 40-45 percent whereas the undergrad might be 3%. How is it fair that the lowest degree has such a stark difference in odds

1 Comment
2024/11/30
08:14 UTC

1

Britannica nor reliable?

Title should say not*

I finished grad school four years ago and haven't done peer reviewed research since so I may be missing something.

I'm in a hobby subreddit and someone asked about the history. I thought I knew the answer but to double check I went to google, found the Britannica link and it gave a brief overview of the history.

I never saw Britannica as a primary or even cite worthy source, but for a basic idea of a concept I thought it was okay. So I shared the link. But someone commented that I shouldn't trust them.

Is that right? Is Britannica not reliable?

5 Comments
2024/11/30
16:05 UTC

8

Is there a good method for turning physical books in to searchable PDFs?

I am doing an MA in History and I much prefer to work with PDFs and ebooks, but many of the books I am using are only available as physical books.

I know there are expensive scanners available and I have also used Google drive OCR for digitizing shorter pieces of writing, but I would like to know if people have found a good method for digitizing large bodies of text?

17 Comments
2024/11/30
11:19 UTC

1

People who left academia, did you find a sense of joy and motivation in the industry? How/What do you do?

For context, I finished my PhD 6 months ago. Prior to that, I was already back in the industry for around 9 months, as I needed to get a job before my scholarship ended. A good opportunity came up (I work in UX and am a PhD in Psychology).

Now, here's the thing: I don't love my job, as I work in consultancy and usually work in very boring clients. This sometimes makes me daydream about getting a PhD research grant. There, I would eventually get more freedom and work on "stuff I really like".

I also have a bias that makes me think in academia is where we do "job that's worth doing". It's in academia that people have "interesting" discussions and where "stimulating stuff" is happening.

So my question is: did you end up enjoying your industry work more than your academic one? I will eventually seek out different companies, but am very curious if anyone feels like they would be happier in academia if the conditions were as good as in the industry. I personally cannot give up my current position as I am very comfortable. And yet, work can get VERY boring fast.

1 Comment
2024/11/29
16:29 UTC

0

Academic Rant : Distinguished Professor and LOR

I am a second year Masters student, and am currently applying for PhD programmes in UK and US. (as an international applicant). I have been working in research projects with two professors from an eminent institute for a year, and both promised me recommendation letters when I started working with them.

One of them provided all recommendations I asked for without any issues, absolutely chill and great-to-work-with man.

The second man, however, is a different case. He told me to write my own recommendation letter, which apparently is quite common in their institute. But now, he wants me to upload them, without even bothering to check the draft once! He lets me put in his official email in my applications, and sends me links to the recommendation portal, to upload letters and submit as I wish. He even asked me to use a different device for submitting the recommendation (we live pretty close irl, so I guess that would avoid the IP issue), and forwarded me the confirmation mail of his recommendation being submitted!(which of course, was done by me)

I think this is damn unethical, but both of them are pretty big shots in their field, and I have worked with them for a year. So it's supposed to be a pretty strong recommendation, and I don't want to give up on that.

If you have been patient enough to read till this, thoughts?

6 Comments
2024/11/29
15:16 UTC

0

Is International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research (IJFMR) good and reliable for publishing a research paper ?

myquals : BTech engineering 1st year from an Indian university

I got to know about this from an ad of Youtube. Its fees and time for publishing is also less as compared to other journals. The website also says peer reviewed. I dont know how a paper can be reviewed in such a short time. I wanna write and publish a research paper to make my resume stronger. Will this be considered by a university in US ? I need to publish a research paper asap. If you know any Journal who can publish a research paper asap and as affordable as possible, please do let me know.

I would be glad if this sub reddit can help me publish my first research paper.

Thanks

9 Comments
2024/11/29
14:21 UTC

0

How do Universities' business units fit in with open research concepts?

I'm really struggling to understand how this works — funding bodies say as much should be published (preferable open access) as possible. The REF process should mean publications are desired too. At the same time, business units want to license or create spin outs the University can license to.

In more applications-based research, doesn't this mean that academics get stuck unable to publish because the business units want to make money from the concepts? You can't patent something once it's been disclosed, but Universities don't tend to patent, so it just sits as a secret?

Please help me understand this.

4 Comments
2024/11/29
11:56 UTC

163

[ Removed by Reddit ]

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

78 Comments
2024/11/29
02:57 UTC

0

Co-authorships vs first or senior?

Somewhat of an odd situation and certainly not a real problem, but looking for some thoughts. Probably most for the seniors and those on grant comitees, but any thougths are welcome.

I don't have a lot of first authors (5), because I skipped the postdoc and went directly to faculty. It sounds great, but it really wasn't - I missed out on those formative years where you find your niche and got no starting package whatsoever and instead did a lot of teaching. Now I'm later in the game and have a couple of senior authorships (10).

I also have been fortunate enough to be slightly better with computers than my peers, allowing me to contribute to a bunch of papers in which I am usually somewhere in the middle (60-ish).

I realized today that a superficial glance at my publication list makes me look like technical support than a senior academic, owing to the abundance of middle-authorships, making me a bit worried. I realized that when I see a pattern like this, I lowkey suspect that this person is not driving his/her own research.

So, those of you evaluating grant proposals or on hiring comitees, how does that look to you?

7 Comments
2024/11/29
01:45 UTC

17

Should I cut my losses and not waste anyone time?

I have an interview next week for an associate professor position I have wanted for the past ten years. I applied on a fluke when it was mentioned at a conference that they had a low number of applicants.

The problem is that the university is almost four hours away from me and I don't live near a hood public transit system so commuting is not a possibility. In addition when they set up the interview they let me know that the pay is significantly less than what I expected (most other universities that I've applied to had salaries around 75k, this one is around 55k and less than I currently make in k12)

In order to take this job if I am selected I would need to sell my house, find new housing, pay moving costs, my husband would need to relocate for his job (nursing) and we have two young kids, one is in elementary and the other is still in daycare.

Is it worth it to go ahead with the interview and ask to negotiate the salary and/or a relocation package? Or should I politely call on Monday and decline the interview as to not waste anyone time?

13 Comments
2024/11/29
00:41 UTC

26

Do you ever get people emailing to ask about your work/papers?

Before starting to work in academia, I always imagined that you may get people emailing in response to publications, to ask questions about your findings, discuss something, make suggestions etc.

I'm now two years into an academic position, after 4 years in a PhD - so about 10 papers total, and I think nobody has ever asked me anything lol. Cold silence. Just references (which a lot of the time seem to be mis-used). This is in medical science. Just curious if its different for others?

32 Comments
2024/11/29
00:38 UTC

0

Feedback on a Privacy-Focused Offline Document Query App for Researchers and Professionals

Hi everyone, I’m developing an app concept and would love your input! The app is designed for researchers, engineers, students, and professionals who work with dense documents (e.g., PDFs, DOCX, EPUBs, etc) and need quick answers or summaries—without relying on constant internet connectivity. Initially will be targeting Windows, but plan to quickly follow with Android and iOS mobile apps, since mobile is my ultimate target. Here's a quick overview: Offline Functionality: The app works entirely offline, ensuring privacy and reliability in areas with poor connectivity. Documet Ingestion: It processes documents (like research papers, technical manuals, or books) and stores them securely on your device. Question Answering: Using the latest Large Language Models (LLMs) running on-device, you can ask questions about the content, and the app searches and retrieves accurate answers from the documents you added. Summarization: Generate concise summaries of sections or entire documents.

Why Offline? While I'm a big fan of ChatGPT, I prefer to have some things offline. Privacy is one concern, but it's also often the case where I can't upload documents relayed to work for confidentiality reasons. Another is wanting to be independent of cloud providers, being able to work even when their services are down, or when I don't have connectivity.

Feel free to share any additional thoughts or suggestions in the comments or via DM.

8 Comments
2024/11/28
21:45 UTC

2

Publishing Papers? Remote Research Opportunities? Going for a PhD in Psychology from a Small International University?

Hi everyone,

I’m a psychology student at a small American-accredited liberal arts college in Lebanon, minoring in legal studies. Due to the recent war, everything was put on pause, which disrupted many of my academic and extracurricular plans. I’m now trying to get back on track and prepare to apply for PhD programs in the USA or Canada, but I’m facing some challenges and would love some guidance.

Research opportunities in my university are quite limited, especially in psychology. Research assistant positions are mostly reserved for graduate students, and the only chance for undergraduates to conduct their own research is in the senior study course during the spring semester of senior year. This setup has me worried about the competitiveness of my PhD applications, especially compared to applicants from larger universities with more research experience.

Does anyone know how or where I can find remote research assistant positions? I’d also love advice on how undergraduates can publish papers. How can I get started, and are there any resources you’d recommend?

Finally, has anyone here successfully transitioned from a smaller international institution to a reputable Psychology PhD program in North America? If you’ve been in a similar situation, I’d really appreciate your insights on how to strengthen my application despite these limitations.

Thanks so much for your time and advice!

0 Comments
2024/11/28
21:44 UTC

26

Does absolutely everyone feel terrible following up for Letters of Recommendation ?

I feel like the worst person in the world giving three weeks notice then emailing or sending those automatic reminders

19 Comments
2024/11/28
19:59 UTC

1

How to reference an awarded grant

As the title states, I’m looking to reference an awarded grant in a current grant application but cannot seem to find any guidance online on the proper APA formatting.

Does anyone know how I would reference a grant? (In-text and reference page)

1 Comment
2024/11/28
17:59 UTC

3

Reference management systems and cooperative document writing

Hello there.

I'm from a public institution that functions as a kind of science-policy interface. Because of a change in leadership, we are finaly taking a big step into the 2020s and are finally getting access to a lot of fancy tools.

I've been tasked to find out which reference management systems are currently used (e.g. Zotero) and what tools are used for collaborative work on papers (e.g. Google Docs, Office 365 online). For reference management systems we are looking for something that can be populated by multiple users, also non-local ones, so something cloud based.

Atm we are still doing the thing with a billion versions of the same document, just with different suffixes and then smashing them together and loosing our minds to get everything to look and sound like it was written by some serious organisazion. And I don't even want to tell you how we handle references and citations... lol

Do you know of anything you could recommend?

4 Comments
2024/11/28
15:24 UTC

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