54
votes
Paper authorship conflict: Advisor wants his name on a research paper he didn't contribute to
In my university it is typically the case that advisors are first authors
I do not believe this is accepted practice in any field. If accurate, this speaks very negatively about your institution. ...
- 115k
47
votes
Accepted
How do I motivate my PhD students to attend seminars
As noted in the comments, you should try and find out why the students don't want to attend. However, the answer will almost certainly be some flavour of "coming to seminars doesn't feel like a ...
- 20.1k
43
votes
Bad "breakup" with supervisor. What do I do?
While I can't recommend what to do, since it is your future at risk and not mine, it sounds like you are being used. I sympathize and agree with all of your concerns.
My suggestion is that, assuming ...
- 365k
34
votes
Accepted
How to say politely not to doze off during progress meeting?
I have two supervisors who I meet every week
What is the purpose of these weekly meetings? Given that you are "becoming independent" and otherwise seem to be on a good trajectory, it may be ...
- 68.8k
30
votes
How do I motivate my PhD students to attend seminars
You have some good answers and comments already, but I'd like to take a step back and look at the question.
You say your students and your group are doing well in all sorts of ways. Good.
House of God ...
- 3,029
29
votes
My PhD supervisor is doing nothing and is probably involved in academic misconduct. What should I do?
It's hard to judge which is the best course of action in your particular situation. But I would offer three general pieces of advice:
Try to document as much as you can in writing. This includes email ...
- 557
27
votes
My PhD supervisor is doing nothing and is probably involved in academic misconduct. What should I do?
Sorry to have painful advice, but I suggest that you prioritize your own graduation over other concerns. I agree that the behavior is bad and seems to be unwarranted, but any action you take is likely ...
- 365k
25
votes
Bad "breakup" with supervisor. What do I do?
The success of your applications abroad is probabilistic. And so is the potential outcome of your work under your supervisor. So I am unable to offer you a definite advice.
Nonetheless, two comments.
(...
- 3,472
24
votes
Accepted
Supervisor wants ownership of an Overleaf project I created
Ownership of the Overleaf project doesn't actually mean much. It wouldn't take more than 2 minutes for the supervisor to create a fresh Overleaf project, and copy over the existing content from the ...
- 44k
24
votes
Paper authorship conflict: Advisor wants his name on a research paper he didn't contribute to
Too many graduate students and postdocs over-romanticize their publications. Your career, in academia, will be judged by the body of your work, not one paper from grad school. Even so, people will see ...
- 4,909
20
votes
Bad "breakup" with supervisor. What do I do?
A PhD is a job. In some places it's legally required to be, in other places it's merely convention, but your professor has not offered you a real PhD position if they haven't offered any funding, just ...
- 115k
14
votes
How to say politely not to doze off during progress meeting?
As a follow up to the excellent answer provided by cag51, as well as something you said in a comment by way of reply to cag51's answer:
...making a broad presentation every week. I can’t help myself ...
- 241
13
votes
Paper authorship conflict: Advisor wants his name on a research paper he didn't contribute to
You are in a terrible situation with few, if any, good options. The rule may be nonsense, but it can affect you in any case.
I once changed universities to make progress for different reasons. It was ...
- 365k
12
votes
Professor claiming first authorship on former student's project
To answer this question, we need to discuss what does the first authorship mean first. However, the meaning differs across research areas and places. For example, in pure mathematics authors are ...
- 55.4k
11
votes
How to say politely not to doze off during progress meeting?
Don't guess. Don't waste any effort on making value judgments. Diagnose and fix the problem instead.
When someone dozes off during a meeting, clearly the meeting isn't effective at engaging them. You ...
- 329
10
votes
Paper authorship conflict: Advisor wants his name on a research paper he didn't contribute to
Scenario 1: The paper becomes wildly successful and cited a lot by people in your field. Then it does not matter whether you are listed first or second.
Scenario 2: The community is lukewarm or ...
- 247
10
votes
How do I motivate my PhD students to attend seminars
Leaving a talk en masse is definitely not good behavior, it is distracting and impolite, and you should address it in a group meeting as a matter of professional etiquette.
Making your students attend ...
- 22.9k
9
votes
How to say politely not to doze off during progress meeting?
He is tired, I wouldn't spend any time worrying about it especially because he is friendly still when talking about non-academic stuff. Its not worth dragging up why he isn't getting enough sleep ...
- 111
8
votes
Professor claiming first authorship on former student's project
Having been a data analyst on many papers, I will say that I've never been first author if all I did was data compilation and analysis. On many papers that I worked on, the people who did the most ...
- 3,029
8
votes
Professor claiming first authorship on former student's project
All of your concerns are irrelevant to authorship
Each of the dot points you list as your causes for concern are irrelevant to authorship and reflect a complete lack of understanding of the purposes ...
- 68.5k
7
votes
How do I motivate my PhD students to attend seminars
One department where I was a postdoc had a very straightforward method: heavily-subsidised beer at the end of the weekly departmental seminar.
- 9,264
7
votes
How do I motivate my PhD students to attend seminars
There are two separate issues here:
Students leaving a seminar early. If I had this problem, I would meet with all my students as a group and explain to them how impolite and disruptive such behavior ...
- 4,716
7
votes
How do I motivate my PhD students to attend seminars
Don't. Don't try to force your students to attend. Your students are adults and they can make their own decisions. They are voting with their feet, signalling that they don't see attending the ...
- 8,231
7
votes
My PhD supervisor is doing nothing and is probably involved in academic misconduct. What should I do?
Other two answers by @Buffy and @PBee provided useful but also contradictory advices. Therefore, I would like to add a few observations and suggestions.
"I did all the work by myself. However ...
- 1,117
7
votes
How to read when the professor changes mind and rejects you
None of those options matter. You tried something, and for whatever confluence of reasons, it did not work out. It is truly not worth any mental energy on your end at this point.
What I can suggest in ...
- 4,909
5
votes
Bad "breakup" with supervisor. What do I do?
Red Flags
Working: The casual suggestion that you, in effect, "Fund yourself" by working a job alongside your PhD studies is a major red flag. Not only because that is usually not how ...
- 3,821
5
votes
How do I motivate my PhD students to attend seminars
As hinted-at in other comments and answers, although you could attempt to coerce/command them to attend, that will lead to trouble.
And, we do have to admit, lots of "general departmental ...
- 88.5k
4
votes
How do I motivate my PhD students to attend seminars
I'm missing one point in the answers so far, which is cultural* - I'm answering from and mostly for germany.
The connotation of lunch-seminar is very strongly that it is a voluntary opportunity, so ...
3
votes
Bad "breakup" with supervisor. What do I do?
A PhD requires a lot of time and concentration, making your concerns about workload very understandable.
Reasons that legitimize declining the offer from your supervisor include:
Financial concerns: ...
- 3,782
3
votes
Bad "breakup" with supervisor. What do I do?
In addition to what the other commenters have written: is there another senior academic at your institution who could provide you with a more tailored perspective? This could be whoever runs your ...
- 2,542
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