Questions tagged [science]

This tag is for questions on academia specifically applicable to students, researchers, and faculty in scientific disciplines.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
10 votes
2 answers
346 views

Preprint services for environmental and earth sciences? [closed]

Is there a good, reputable preprint service that is used in the environmental and earth sciences, and considered acceptable by the major publishers? Many journals specifically state that it is okay to ...
2 votes
1 answer
131 views

How important is it to cite the earliest report of something?

As a general rule I try to put in some due diligence to cite the authors who first provided strong evidence of something that I'm referencing, even if I wasn't aware of their work before I started ...
2 votes
2 answers
243 views

Where do all the research paper annotations go?

Today, an increasing number of research papers are publicly available. At the same time, a community of researchers and students are reading those materials. We are highlighting, commenting, finding ...
2 votes
2 answers
725 views

Can we add co author later? [duplicate]

Me and my friends did a project during final semester. It got accepted for publication. Later I came to abroad for studies. My friends didn’t add my name as a co author.I have given my input and it’s ...
8 votes
5 answers
619 views

How do I publish the work of my elderly father, a "fringe" scientist? [duplicate]

I am trying to figure out the best way to publish my elderly father's life work. He says he would be considered a "fringe" scientist or an independent researcher. Should we self-publish? The ...
1 vote
2 answers
2k views

What is the formal process for a theory to get accepted by the science community? [duplicate]

Question description so that anyone can evaluate and answer accordingly Since last many years, I have self-studied a subject that is Theoretical Physics - Cosmology, Time and Space. I have never got ...
2 votes
1 answer
252 views

Reputational risk by association

A few years ago, while still an undergraduate student, I published a paper with one of my professors, who is fairly respected in his field (respiratory medicine). Several years have passed and I am no ...
4 votes
2 answers
303 views

How can I convince my supervisor that I have enough data to support my findings?

I am a final-year Ph.D. candidate in a physics-oriented field. Over the course of my program, I have developed a postulate which leads to some contradictions with some of the tenets of my field, and I ...
8 votes
3 answers
855 views

How to avoid European bias in science history teaching? [closed]

I'm a new lecturer. Part of my course (one lecture) teaches the origins of our scientific understanding of the solar system. I talk about the ancient Greeks, the preservation of their work by eastern ...
3 votes
0 answers
174 views

How to gain research experience after undergrad?

After graduating with B.Sc Computer Science last year, I got interested in compilers and kernel. I started reading research papers and finally decided to pursue masters, but most programs favour ...
3 votes
2 answers
165 views

Should I reject a specific historic fact and not include it in my work? Advice needed on reliability of source

I'm working on a chemistry paper about the Belousov-Zhabotinsky-reaction (a chemical oscillator). I included some information about the history of that oscillation reaction, in particular about ...
25 votes
2 answers
3k views

Is there a scientific field that focuses exclusively on scientific instrumentation research?

I would like to know if there is any scientific field that focuses exclusively on scientific instrumentation research? I know that each field (and sub-field) has its own instrumentation and apparatus, ...
3 votes
0 answers
409 views

Reputable alternatives to The Conversation for science communication? [closed]

What are some popular press alternatives to The Conversation that are perhaps more reputable than Medium or HuffPost that accept pitches from academics communicating their research for a general ...
0 votes
4 answers
1k views

What advantage is there to getting a PhD in the life sciences when you can do research with only an MD?

During an interview recently Dr. Fauci, the top doctor in the US, called himself "a scientist, and a physician". It appears that he only has an MD, but is an immunologist and a highly cited researcher....
1 vote
5 answers
125 views

What are the subjects that one must learn while an undergraduate to pursue an academic career in Biophysics? [closed]

I am an undergraduate student pursuing a B.Sc(Hons.) degree in Physics. I want to pursue an academic career in Biophysics. So, I wanted to know which subjects are required for higher studies in ...
2 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is an academic and formal way to define variables?

I'm currently writing my IB Extended Essay in physics. I wonder how I can define variables in a formal way. I originally used a triple bar (e.g. "F≡buoyant force"). However, I'm not sure if this is ...
34 votes
7 answers
13k views

Why do breakthroughs in science and research that have enormous (and obvious) potential often not (or barely) go beyond the lab?

Sometimes advances are made in science research that have enormous and very easily visible potential. There are two examples that I have seen recently. One example is this newly engineered ...
5 votes
4 answers
1k views

Is it harder for academics to make fundamental discoveries than in the past? [closed]

In present day academia, it seems much harder to make foundational breakthroughs than it was in the past. Most work now synthesizes previously discovered results to study something extremely specific. ...
0 votes
3 answers
1k views

HiWi payment in Germany for student with international bachelor's [closed]

I am working at a German research institute as a HiWi. HiWi jobs pay hourly wages based on the education level of the employee. For instance there is a "without bachelors" and "with bachelors" wage. ...
0 votes
2 answers
124 views

Reporting results that are significant even with correction, without losing my unadjusted ones?

I have a study in which I have several promising variables, all concurring with previous literature and significant at alpha=0.05. However, I have this one variable that is of special interest and ...
1 vote
1 answer
94 views

Should I publish or present in academic conferences before doing science outreach?

I have just finished fieldwork and the media and the community I’ve been working with want me to give a talk on preliminary results. Should I first present data to colleagues?
4 votes
2 answers
2k views

Are physics and natural sciences considered liberal arts?

I was surprised to see the description given for "liberal arts education" in Wikipedia as follows: Liberal arts today consists of four types of areas: the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, ...
0 votes
2 answers
530 views

What is the difference in using terms like a model, a framework, an approach, a method, a scheme in scientific research?

in scientific research, I get confused in using terms like a model, a framework, an approach, a Method and a scheme so what is the difference between them? when I should use each of them to express my ...
4 votes
2 answers
777 views

If I take a PhD from a not so well standing university, will I be less respected in science?

Let me give you additional context on the question. I am a master student in Computer Science (hopefully graduating this year). I want to do a PhD later on (after working in the industry for a bit). ...
7 votes
4 answers
2k views

How to start my own research?

I am currently a researcher (a postdoc) in a research group at a scientific institute. I obtained my Ph.D. degree 2 years ago and right away I got employed at this institute and started as a postdoc. ...
3 votes
2 answers
182 views

How important is the orthographic/typographic rigor? [closed]

Science and Orthographic/Typographical Errors Some people appreciate the attention to have their orthographic/typographical errors corrected/pointed out. Others find it uncool to just point formal ...
26 votes
8 answers
5k views

How to improve scientific writing skills?

What do you do to write better proposals, grants, and papers? Do you think reading books about how to write scientific content is a good way to improve it?
17 votes
1 answer
6k views

Another student has been assigned the same MSc thesis as mine (and already defended)

I am in a dilemma as to how to approach this issue. Basically, myself and another student were assigned the same thesis topic. Only difference is, I have been doing it part time and she completed her ...
12 votes
2 answers
389 views

When did English come to lead in published research?

As any modern student knows, nearly all published research these days is in English. That's just the way of the world. But it didn't used to be that way. Many of the most pivotal pieces of scientific ...
0 votes
3 answers
934 views

Mentioning possible PhD principal investigators in graduate application w/o being asked to do so?

My title is pretty self-explanatory, but I was wondering how it looks to mention specific researchers to work with in graduate school via my personal statement/s. I'm applying to PhD programs in ...
4 votes
1 answer
316 views

Preparing two PhD simultaneously?

I was enrolled in a PhD at the Faculty of Science, and broke up "temporarily" after 4 years due to a horrible Professor, and restarted a new PhD at the Faculty of Engineering. For the 1st university, ...
1 vote
1 answer
469 views

Academic postdoc: Interview process time insights

I had an informal meeting via Skype for a postdoc position that I am highly interested in, speaking of which, I was invited for a formal interview soon after. I was asked to give a talk to the lab (...
10 votes
2 answers
1k views

As a post-doc, should I pursue incremental research or revolutionary research?

I've recently finished my PhD (the field almost doesn't matter, but applied mathematics if it helps), and begun a 3 year grant-funded postdoc with a heavy but very flexible research emphasis, in the ...
0 votes
1 answer
642 views

What is the standard scientific conference poster size and quality? [duplicate]

What is an ideal poster size for scientific conference? Should it be printed on paper or flex or photo paper?
0 votes
2 answers
544 views

Conjunctive adverbs in academic writing

As scientists, researchers and scholars, how do you feel when you read a scientific document that contains a lot of conjunctive adverbs, like however, in addition, etc? Does it sound non-scientific ...
0 votes
1 answer
204 views

Can scientists be categorized according to temperament and working style? [closed]

I'm doing a bit of informal research about scientists. I would like to know if scientists, at least in the hard sciences, can be categorized according to their working style. And if so, what are some ...
1 vote
0 answers
396 views

minor errors in published paper [duplicate]

I am inexperienced in publishing papers in scientific journals. I was going over recently published paper of mine and found that I accidentally reported mean with standard deviation when I meant to ...
-1 votes
1 answer
234 views

How to denote remainder in a paper in science? [closed]

I want to write a result in a scientific paper that contains the remainder of X (a real number) divided by R (another real number), i.e. X - [X/R]R, where [X/R] is the floor function. Is there an ...
8 votes
1 answer
280 views

How to communicate realistic expectations for science faculty research to administration

I teach at a small US liberal arts college with no graduate students. There is no support for research, and the teaching load is 4-6 courses per year. A colleague was recently denied promotion to ...
1 vote
0 answers
79 views

Which kinds of academic revolutions has philosophy of science indentified so far and when?

Recently, I had an interdisciplinary discussion with some friends about Industry 4.0, internet of things,...which brought up the question, which kind of academic revolutions apart from industrial ...
9 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is a joint science PhD/JD a bad idea if I end up pursuing academic science?

Question. I'm going into my third year as a PhD student in oceanography, and due to my interest in law, I'm considering applying to the concurrent PhD/JD program at my university. I’m wondering ...
4 votes
1 answer
212 views

How to get SCI impact factor from other than Journal site

I could see the IF of journal I am looking for in their site. My problem is Thomsor Reuters report lists the journal as indexed in both SCI and SSCI, but kournal home page says its indexed in SSCI ...
63 votes
6 answers
13k views

Our research is being ignored by other research groups

I am doing a PhD in molecular biology where we conduct research on human skin and skin diseases. Our group (EU based) has been in a discussion with another research group from the USA, where we can ...
1 vote
1 answer
169 views

Help and opinions about difficult PhD choice [closed]

I would like to share my situation, as I really need to have opinions from people in the academia or people who had similar doubts in the past. I am totally confused about starting a PhD, I have ...
0 votes
1 answer
103 views

Are communicability and verifiability the only reasons to prohibit other true results? [closed]

In order to publish a research paper in a particular domain, or the domain itself must satisfy the above two requirements: Communicable to and verifiable by other people. Isn't it? In this context, I ...
1 vote
2 answers
426 views

Is my Ph.D. research topic worthy?

I am a third-year Ph.D. student in the Industrial Engineering department and my supervisor owns a company based on the technology which I initially intended to work on under his supervision. I am ...
2 votes
2 answers
168 views

How to Use a Result Already Under Review in Another Paper?

This may apply to any mathematical scientists. I am working on a paper, which (as far as I can tell) needs a result that I obtained. The result needed is a part of another paper of mine that is ...
0 votes
1 answer
123 views

Would I have to conduct an experiment to write a scientific paper? [closed]

I recently got a book named How to write and publish a Scientific Paper by Robert A. Day and Barbara Gastel. The book doesn't really explain the "background" of a scientific paper. Would I have to ...
1 vote
1 answer
41 views

Should "I" be used in a science fair conclusion?

I just want to know if I is appropriate to use in writing a science fair conclusion.
1 vote
4 answers
317 views

Code plagiarism by teacher at renowned university [duplicate]

As a post-graduate student at a renowned university, I am supposed to make an assignment (see attached images) which is obviously inspired on this licensed scikit tutorial. Since the assignment (code)...