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1500 questions
133
votes
12 answers

I am an editor for a lousy paper and I found a better algorithm than theirs. Must I share it with them?

I am handling a paper as an associate editor that proposed an algorithm that I find to be weak. In fact, I was able to show that a very simple, brute-force approach actually has a better running time than their algorithm. Therefore, I will…
Matilda Martin Santos
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133
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8 answers

How do I identify predatory and low quality journals? With Beall's List gone, how can I tell if a journal is spam?

Jeffrey Beall removed his list of predatory journals from the internet this past Sunday. While the reasons for his doing this are not yet public, this is a real loss of a valuable service. Does anyone know of similar services available to the…
eykanal
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133
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16 answers

Is it ethical to profit by having my students buy my textbook?

This question was suggested to me by How can I sell my text book to my students in e-book format? which asked about the practicalities but attracted many comments about the ethics. So this question is to ask about the ethics directly. Suppose I have…
Nate Eldredge
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132
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10 answers

Reporting a student who may be psychologically disturbed

Yesterday, a colleague from my school's history department brought me a student's final project from her history class. The assigned project was to produce a "creative" project dealing with a historical figure/event covered in the time period of the…
Vladhagen
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132
votes
14 answers

How to build healthy working relationships with my male colleagues as a young-ish, attractive-ish woman?

I'm a PhD candidate from Asia currently visiting a prestigious university in Europe. Recently I've noticed quite some "strange" behaviours of male "colleagues" around me (by "colleagues", I don't mean that we work on the same projects or from the…
Randomvisitor
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130
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7 answers

Asked again to review a paper, when the authors don't wish to modify it

I have received a manuscript to review for a journal. The interesting thing is, I had already reviewed this article (exact same title, abstract and author list, almost exact same content) for another journal a few weeks ago where I recommended that…
F'x
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129
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8 answers

Is ignoring emails acceptable in academia?

As a grad student, I just find it tremendously frustrating when emails are ignored by faculty (both at my institution and at other places). Is this acceptable? I'd be content with a simple response with one line along the lines of "I have read this…
user6876
129
votes
13 answers

Is publishing runnable code instead of pseudo code shunned?

In Computer Science is it preferable to describe algorithms using pseudo code rather than real code? If so, why? I've talked to a few academics who think so but I can't understand why. Some of the arguments I've heard: "Pseudo code is shorter." …
Stand with Gaza
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129
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17 answers

Software to draw illustrative figures in papers

I would like to have suggestions of good software for drawing illustrations in research papers. I already know about Xfig, but this works only on Linux and is at times, clunky when it comes to text. Moreover the resolution is not always perfect…
Bravo
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128
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10 answers

Should a young professor avoid using dating apps?

I am a recent PhD graduate in mathematics, and I will be starting a tenure-track position this fall at a small liberal arts college in a northern US city. My graduate degree was completed at a large university in a college town, and I made…
MathAnon
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128
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22 answers

Should the slides in a presentation be self-explanatory or be as minimal as possible?

When you do a research presentation, what is usually the focus that you take. Some professors tell me to make the slides as self explanatory as possible, and I quote: Someone should be able to understand your slides without you being there To me,…
Leon palafox
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128
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12 answers

Why are professors' websites so ugly?

I can't help but notice that even in CS, professors' websites are almost always difficult to navigate, poorly-organized, and just generally hard to look at (poorly-tiled backgrounds, inconsistent fonts, etc.). Why is this? Is it expected of…
Alex Reinking
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128
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19 answers

I was caught cheating on an exam, how can I minimize the damage?

I got caught cheating in a two-hour engineering exam consisting of 100 multiple choice questions which was done online through the moodle e-learning software. I feel like my life is almost over. Having not studied well and having no time to study, I…
user23292
128
votes
13 answers

Is it ethical/acceptable to give a lighter penalty to students who admit to cheating?

I am at the moment dealing with an academic dishonesty incident in a class I'm teaching (a few groups of students submitting identical code, when the class policy forbids getting help from another person on a graded assignment). When I noticed…
ff524
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128
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17 answers

Is it okay to report classmates cheating on exams?

Is it acceptable or ok to report on students cheating? Many times during a test or an exam, I have seen students in front of me either passing notes, or otherwise collaborating whenever the professor isn't looking. I don't want to get into trouble,…
yuritsuki
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