Questions tagged [etiquette]
The customary code of polite behavior amongst the academic world.
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Etiquette concerning Lab Findings / Results
I'm an undergraduate and was fortunate to be selected for a 12 week summer placement in a professors lab at my university.
I worked way over and above the funded hours and made some very interesting ...
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At what point does research criticism become academic hazing?
I've been collaborating on a paper with a junior colleague and a senior colleague, among others. The junior colleague is the lead writer on the paper and has done about 85-90% of the research. Junior ...
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How do I cite personal observations of what people generally believe about a topic?
I am trying to figure out how to cite what the general "word on the street" is regarding a certain topic within a scientific paper. As a researcher, I have noticed there are a number of ...
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Should I correct my previous statement to a stranger after several years?
A stranger sent me an email asking for a solution and advice on a technical problem years ago. I gave him my personal opinon and solution at that time. Now, several years later, I found that some of ...
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Professor is responding to research-related emails but not reference request
I realise this is a common question, but my situation is complicated by the work-related responses without a response to my reference request. I requested a reference letter from my professor a week ...
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Is it ok to ask academic contacts if they know of any postdoc positions suitable for me?
I'm a graduating PhD student looking for academic postdocs. So far, I've tried (soft-)applying to positions I found advertised online, applying for a grant and asking my PI for help. None of this has ...
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Independent guides for when to give authorship?
Are there any independent, widely-accepted codes of conducts or guides for when authorship should be given on a paper? Would be helpful to have these to refer to to avoid potential confusion or ...
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Use of Prof title for academic moving from US to UK
In the United States, we use the title Professor or Prof. (in writing) for all faculty at the assistant, associate and full professor levels.
In the United Kingdom, we use the title only for the most ...
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Specific Advice about Grad-Undergrad Friendships & Relationships (US)
I am 21/M, and I am about to start my PhD at a R-1 university in the US in two weeks (if it matters, it's a southeastern state.) A month ago, I started talking to a 19/F on an online chat platform - ...
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Invitation to publish
A prestigious professor emailed me and requested that I submit work for publication with the renowned series that he edits.
He needs this work because it is a gap for something he is engaged with.
I ...
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Is it appropriate to try to contact the referee of a paper after it has been accepted and published?
I have a paper that was refereed, accepted, and published. The referee's report was overwhelming positive and enthusiastic about my paper and results.
Now that the paper is fully published, is it ...
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Is it OK to inquire about my application status after a late application submission?
I recently encountered a situation regarding the submission of my application for a 9-month academic program. I submitted my application after the deadline by 40 minutes and now find myself ...
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What is the etiquette for reaching out to potential PI's in physics?
I'm an undergraduate student majoring in physics and mathematics, who is preparing to begin applying to graduate programs in physics. In doing so, I've reached out to a few people for advice, and I've ...
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condolence and work-related request in a single email
So my professor lost a family member a couple of weeks ago and went back home. I have not communicated with him since he announced this (in a lab meeting), work-related or otherwise, because I was ...
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Writing an appeal letter for a rejected master programme
Background:
Due to unexpected factors, I was forced to give up my offer and send applications to find another master programme. As a result, I had to submit my application files at the beginning of ...
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What steps should I take when contacting another researcher after finding possible errors in their work?
The story starts on April 2, when I found a critical mistake in a semi-famous recent applied math paper with 100 citations. I admire the paper and I find a very simple counterexample that high-...
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Referee for two papers by the same author: can I let them know?
I am a referee for two papers by the same author: can I acknowledge in the second report (the first was almost ready when I was invited to referee the second one) my report to the first paper?
To give ...
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Whose Email(s) Should be Listed on Research Poster Presentations?
If I make a conference poster as a graduate student, whose email address(es) should be included in the subtitle of the poster? Traditionally, I have always thought it should just be the PI's email, ...
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May a university lecturer wear a cap while teaching in the North American Setting?
If not, can one refer to any formal (written) prohibition of wearing caps for lecturers, in a North American university?
The cap may be text-less or have any non-offensive text/image.
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What should I do when I can’t replicate results from a conference paper?
There is a theoretical computer science paper that is published in a very good conference. The paper essentially comes up with an algorithm and an explicit function (mentioned in the paper) of some 20 ...
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Contact chair after VAP position ended to express interest in an RTF position?
I spent 2 years in a Visiting Assistant Professor position, which just "ended" after 4 tenure track positions were filled. I was not considered for any of them. My best guess is that I a) ...
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I sent a Facebook friend request to my ex-professor, should I apologise?
Summary: after graduation, I sent my professor a friend request on Facebook, but didn't have response for a few days. I feel really bad and I really want to apologize.
I just graduated and I have ...
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Can I omit my department's name to express my dissenting opinions?
My full affiliation is:
Abacus Beard Department of Underwater Basket-Weaving, Calvin Doofus Division of Ocean Science, University of Watering-Down.
A. B. is the name of a big donor. C. D. is the ...
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May the spouse of a tenure-track candidate accompany them during their lunch with the head of the department?
In a hypothetical North American setting, assume that a tenure-track candidate whose spouse is also with them during their campus visit. Having lunch with the head of department is common for such a ...
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Offended My Professor [closed]
Last night in class we were having a discussion about how to handle an ethical dilemma in the workplace. I raised my hand said that I had read an article that said there are few times when we would ...
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Is it worth pointing out missed works in already published papers?
I have come across several works that omitted the citation of relevant related literature, but clearly are camera-ready versions already accepted/presented at a conference or journal.
Of course, due ...
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How much control does my advisor have if I'm on fellowship?
I'm a second year Ph.D. student in STEM and I have a lot of "clashes" with my advisor. Some are serious issues: (1) he wouldn't talk to me, the 1st author, about a project and instead met 1-...
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Ethical standards in asking a professor for reviewing a finished manuscript and publishing it together
I have been independently working on a substantial idea. The results of my work have been compiled into a complete manuscript.
However, I think I need to have an expert in the field reviewing it to ...
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Should I send a manual email as well as an autogenerated email to potential reviewers?
I am an editor for a math journal. When I select and invite a reviewer to referee a paper the journal's management software automatically writes and sends an email invitation to that reviewer.
For a ...
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How do I pivot from a collaboration with some professors on a project I am not particularly invested in to one lying more in my area of interest?
I am a graduate student who is currently working on a project with another student and some professors which will soon lead to the publication of a paper with my name on it. As someone who would like ...
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Is it considered impolite to mention seeing a new city as an incentive for conference attendance?
I'm a grad student in the final term of my 2nd year. In a weekly meeting with my supervisor yesterday, I brought up an upcoming conference in our discipline. This conference is twice-annual and very ...
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Is it appropriate for a teacher to make a sex analogy related to physics?
My physics professor was talking about the companion forces that act on an object with molecules interacting with one another and Newton's 3rd law canceling out the internal forces. Then he said ...
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What is the de facto standard while writing equation in a short email to professors?
In a research field that math is frequently used, while sending a long note/paper, attaching a pdf is of course the best. But for a short email that only involves few equations, a pdf file might be ...
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One of my postdocs elegantly solved a problem another postdoc had been working on for years. I have no idea how to navigate this delicate situation
I run a lab in an applied computational field (e.g. computational biology/chemistry/physics etc.)
One of my postdocs (“A”) has been working on a problem for the last two years. They have made good ...
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How to approach my MSc advisor that I may want to apply for another PhD program?
I am doing a research-based master's degree at a university, and my advisor was asking me "if I want to do a Ph.D." when I was starting and I said yes. For some reason, he assumed that I'd ...
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(When) Is it appropriate to give a "thank you" gifts to a professor who is not your advisor or teacher?
As a grad student (or postdoc), past taking classes, is it ok to get a thank you gift for a professor who :
has helped you with something (e.g. introduced you to someone for a collaboration or wrote ...
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Could I ask an ex-advisor to show me the letter of recommendation he wrote for me?
Is it possible to ask somebody who wrote me a letter of recommendation to show me the letter? or is it impolite in academia? - The letter is a requirement to participate in a top networking conference ...
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Handling alternate spellings of a personal name
Dealing with a text that mentions several times the architectural historian Siegfried Giedion. A number of Giedion's books feature his first name as "Sigfried" and others as "Siegfried.&...
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Virtual conference speaker made it awkward due to the small number of attendees. Should I (the organizer) send them an email apologizing?
Organized a virtual conference and invited lots of top-tier speakers. The number of registrants was around 115, and the event got lots of attention on social media. The strange thing is that the ...
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How do I handle a conflict with my former mentor about a potential paper correction?
During my postdoc, I published two research papers as the first author, with my mentor (a Professor at an Ivy League institution) as the corresponding/senior author. Months after publishing the papers,...
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Does telling people that I (undergrad) want to stay in academia come across as naive and/or big-headed?
I am an undergrad planning to apply to MA-PhD cognitive neuroscience programs either this year or next. I've decided to try to approach grad school in a way that will maximize my chances of getting a ...
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Etiquette: How many reminders should one send for conference speakers to submit their talk info?
I am co-organizing a conference that will take place virtually on Mar 13, 2023. We invited the speakers and they confirmed their participation in Nov, 2022. Now, we sent them a form that collects ...
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Submitted to journal, rebuttal period now ongoing but no feedback from referees yet
I submitted a paper to a journal in January. According to the journal web site, the rebuttal period is the present week of February 20 to 24. It's February 20 everywhere in the world and actually ...
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Invited a speaker to talk at a conference which is part of a bigger conference and the parent organizers rejected their participation. What to do now?
I am organizing a volunteer academic conference as a part of a larger conference at a top university (let's call it X). Organizers are required to invite speakers to talk about their research in a ...
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Using URL Shorteners to Track Who Viewed My Application
Some URL shortening services allow users to see very basic information on who has clicked-through the link. If I remember right, it documents the visitor's web browser, computer's OS, exact date and ...
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How to approach disclosing a marital relationship when we both want to be post-docs in the same lab?
I and my spouse are planning to apply for a post-doctoral position with same professor. Since we both are eligible for and interested in the positions, we want to communicate the same to the professor....
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Do journal editors/referees expect relatively unknown authors to provide evidence of counsel from an expert when submitting a paper?
The reason I've brought up this question is due to the following observation.
Let's say, for instance, there is some field which is called "Specific Grand Theory".
The field is quite minor ...
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Can you contact a professor whom you have never met to inquire about a RA opportunity?
Is it considered ok to proactively ask a professor from a different university that you never met in person about some potential research assistant internship? Or is something like that considered ...
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Is it okay to upload code I wrote for replicating someone else’s simulation study?
I have code I wrote to replicate a simulation study by another author. Is it okay to publicly upload this in my code repository?
This will include:
code (my work, based on the author’s description in ...
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My supervisor worked so hard to get a research opportunity for me, but now I want to quit. How to handle this situation?
It is about my friend (an undergraduate student in Australia), but I used first person pronoun "I" for convenience. My friend needs advice, and I tried my best to describe the situation. The ...
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