I’m in my final year of undergrad and my professors and advisor feel strongly that I’d receive an offer for our PhD program (a large R1, I study sociology)

I’m considering it, but frankly I don’t have a strong interest in research. I would like to do some research or publishing, but I wouldn’t want that to be the primary focus of my career. I do enjoy teaching though. I’ve worked in a high school with a before/after school program and I’ve TA’d.

Anyway. Long story made short- should I just get a master’s degree? Our funding is great, so the stipend would be solid if I went for a PhD. Part of me is thinking that I can just master out in the worst case.

I’m just concerned that if I don’t get a PhD, I’ll be stuck as an adjunct.

I am in the biomedical sciences. Has anyone here switched postdoc labs? What was your experience like? Did you tell your supervisor beforehand? Did you completely change institutions? What was your strategy? I am pretty sure I am not getting the experience I need in this postdoc-- pretty sure the project is a dud (but PI loves it), PI is a micromanager (walks by my gels and comments on the amount of loaded), doesn't allow postdocs to take any of their projects to faculty positions (could be why getting faculty positions seems rare in this lab), I'm not learning many of the techniques I joined the lab to learn and am not being allowed to, I am not being allowed to maintain the techniques in which I gained expertise during my PhD (which was a condition of me taking this offer, so feels like a bait and switch). I just don't see myself progressing here and the environment is kind of meh scientifically (no one talks to each other about science, no paper discussions, lots of people who just talk to ChatGPT to plan their research instead of colleagues)... I've been here a few months but I know I want out. I am not deadset on being a PI, so applying to industry is an option, but I really enjoyed my PhD so I think a good fit postdoc lab could be enjoyable for me. I'm at an R01 institution with funding for 2 yearsand also did my PhD at an R01, but I don't want to bank on finding another academic positions with things how they are, but I think I'm gonna squander my momentum here.

Hey all, I am looking for advice on how to handle something that isn't sitting well with me.

I recently attended a very large conference in my field, and during the closing ceremony the head of the international society insisted on giving the conference organiser (a fellow academic) a kiss on the cheek. It was incredibly uncomfortable and really rubbed me up the wrong way. Especially since the prior version of this conference was organised by a man who was, as expected, not given a cheek kiss.

I keep opening my emails to send one to the offending academic and then chickening out. I'm a new postdoc with zero sway or protection in the wider community. But it really bothers me that this behaviour could go completely unaddressed. I keep justifying my cowardice with "he won't care about the opinion of a random post doc anyway".

I am curious if anyone has any experience standing up to someone so much higher above them in the world of academic politics?

For reference since it unfortunately matters in this world, I am a trans guy but am assumed to be a cis guy within this space. So I do have white male privilege on my side.

Thanks, everyone for the feedback thus far. My advisor submitted it this morning, so hopefully they will accept it and that the wording of the job application itself allows for this to still be submitted and accepted. At this point, it is what it is and bigger and better things I suppose.

This is for a job posting for a faculty position at Wellesley that had no "deadline" but simply a "community will start reviewing applications Sept. 1". Wondering what this is supposed to mean in terms of when my recommender needs to get their letter in by? I've always hated "it's due by" because it's not clear to me if they mean 11:59 the night before or the night of...trying to figure out if I'm going to miss being included in the first round of consideration since my advisor missed turning in the recommendation by the end of tonight since it says they'll be starting the reviewing tomorrow...This is for a humanities job at Wellesley if anyone happens to know anything there.

Hello everyone,

I am a Master’s student publishing a paper in a Frontiers journal with a professor in the department.

So, after the paper was accepted for publication, the professor noticed that the Article Publication Charge (APC) is above the open access budget of the university. He asked the journal to waive at least 50% of the APC, but they only discounted 10%.

Today, the paper was officially published in the journal’s website, while the outstanding APC is not paid at all.

I searched through Frontiers policies, I couldn’t find anything related to retracting the paper or conducting a lawsuit for this case.

I feel this isn’t adding up. Are there no consequences for not paying APCs??? Or is it just we won’t be able to publish papers with Frontiers journals unless the APC is paid?

Please let me know what you think of this.

I am 25 years old and have just started my PhD. I don't have any academic publications yet, and I feel like I'm running behind. I also had a paper rejected by a journal this week, so my motivation has taken a hit. How did your journeys begin? Do you think it's too late for me?

I have seen a couple of tenure-track positions open up in big liberal arts colleges in the US in my field (languages). If similar posts opened in the UK (where I am currently), I would be well-positioned given my experience (PhD + publications + over 5 years's full-time academic experience in the same field + native speaker of the language in question). However, I am reluctant to start working on applications to these US colleges (and I am aware how vastly different the whole process is in the US compared to the UK), as I suspect I wouldn't even be considered given that I would need visa sponsorship. What do you think? Is it a non-starter, or do I have a chance?

Hi. I’m currently on a masters program and I’m on my last semester, I’m going to defend my thesis in february I think. I have also secured a phd spot and I start in the first week of april.

The thing is, I’m so so so tired. I was never one to procrastinate or anything. But I feel like I’ve been pushing for far too long, sometimes I almost cry while doing my research, and it’s a theme I love.

I got concerned because my friends tell me those are signs of a burn out. But I can really do anything about it. If I just stop doing everything, I will be with constant anxiety, I will lose my position at the phd I worked so hard far, my supervisor will be on my ass and I have a scholarship so…

I don’t know what to do. I’m so tired

I am a lecturer in interdisciplinary studies combining linguistics and medicine. During my doctoral years, I worked on second language acquisition. After enrolling in a medical university and receiving grants, I started to focus on studies in language impairment, especially with people having depression.

As required, I should publish articles related to my grants which is quite hard and time-consuming due to the data collecting and processing involved. Meanwhile, I am always driven by the curiosity of knowing how effective AI can be in teaching, spending time on doing experiments in class.

Consequently, I am getting extremely anxious about my evaluation on publication.

How do you guys deal with this? Thanks for your suggestions.

Hi,
I got my paper accepted for an IEEE conference.
Unfortunately, I failed to upload the final manuscript by the deadline due to invalid format (I used letter format instead of A4 ㅠㅠ)
By the time I fixed it, the deadline had passed.

I sent an email right away (about 15 minutes after the portal closed) to the committee and the publication chair to ask if I can submit it manually or if they can open the portal for a moment.

It's been almost 7h and I haven't received a reply yet, but maybe it's because it's still early morning there.

Anyway, my question is, what are the chances they will allow me to submit it late?

I am very worried because I need this publication to graduate (this is my final year).

P.s. I completed the registration and paid the fee

I am a researcher in chemistry. I don't really have supportive lab mates or guide. My lab works a lot on subjects that are not published too much. Most protocol I make are very interdisciplinary.And sometimes no paper on that research exists it's hard to navigate alone.

What tools are people in chemistry, nanotech or biosensing using to navigate day to day questions and problems.

For context I’m a cs/math major in undergrad and I wanted to ask how people are publishing papers in their undergrad and getting into PhD programs. How are they going about writing those papers? I’m honestly a little confused as to how people have publications/won awards in their undergrad I thought that was mostly done in PhD and also are published papers necessary to getting into a good PhD program? If anyone has any tips on how to do this that would be much appreciated!

The emails can be for potential supervisor or research assistantships or for research stays at the professor's university and for collaboration.

How fast or slow professors usually respond?

Hi 👋

I just launched a new research journal, and since it’s not affiliated with any institutions, I don’t have the base for an editorial board now. Also it is not indexed because I haven’t published any articles (indexing can be done after publishing some peer reviewed papers).

When I research about researchers that fit the scope of my journal, and then contact them to be a part of the journal, no one answers.

One of them said that I am a predatory journal. Absolutely understandable! I receive those emails too often. But how can I invite them to be a part of the editorial board and also be believed.

In the start and the end of the email I write that I am not a spam or predatory and I can provide the information to prove it. But again…

It is just a dream to have my own journal but it is getting harder than I thought to get started.

Clarification: I am not promoting my journal, nor inviting anyone from here. I just want to discuss and get some help.

Any tips?

And explain why that major should be grouped with the other 3

Anyone have any experience with this? I have a paper submitted to a conference (computer science) where the reviews are double blind. One of the reviewers is giving a borderline reject on the grounds that we "falsely represented a paper and don't understand it.". Thing is, I am the first author on that paper. I implemented the method and wrote the paper.

Now I have to politely try to explain that I do in fact understand my own paper and they don't without stating that it's my method. I'm guessing this is common so just wondering how everyone navigates this. It's the first time this happens to me. I'm worried that they'll double down because nobody likes being told they're wrong. Their language was quite strong and categorical.

Feng Tian, an assistant professor of neurology at HMS and head of a lab at BIDMC, was arrested by the Brookline Police Department two weeks ago and faces two counts each of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a pregnant victim, among other charges, in connection with reported domestic violence in 2023 and 2026.

Tian has continued to give research-related instructions members of his lab, which studies neurons susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease.

Tian continued sending research-related instructions in the WeChat group as recently as Monday morning, when he asked lab members to join a Slack channel.

Publishing while perishing.

I have been trying to submit a manuscript to one of Springer journals, and my manuscript got sent back twice. The message only noted that "Please remove 'Name' from the author list in the submission metadata."

I submitted the files in Word (the journal requires editable files). The files I originally submitted did not have author information in the document property, but I could still see my name in the "last saved" section in the stats, so I erased it by using the "Remove all Personal Information" function under "Protect Document" for the second submission (I use Word for Mac). Still, my manuscript was returned for the same reason. I emailed the editorial staff twice requesting more specific instructions (Where in the metadata do you see my name? how can I fix it?), but have not received information yet.

I have published with this journal before, and this issue was not raised then. I am also a bit confused - reviewers only receive PDF files generated by their system (I have also served as a reviewer for this journal - and as far as I know, this is a general practice across journals). I believe any author information associated with the Word files is eliminated in conversion.

I am at a loss. Has anyone experienced the same issue, and/or know what "author list in the submission metadata" they are referring to?

Im left out, burdened with heavy work, feeling like I have stagnated and slowly rotting

Things about me:
Almost a decade into graduate school.
Almost a decade as an RA.
Carries most workloads as the most “dependable”.
Salary does significantly increase per project.

Contexts into my feelings (as described by the title):
Most peers from graduate school have graduated, proposed, or are just finishing their thesis.
Some peers have even been accepted to PhD, done with PhD, are in post doc, or have own established careers.

And here I am.
More than work, life happenings (personal, mental, health, and financial) has taken a toll on me.
I feel left alone. Yes, I have friends, helpful workmates.
But here I am.

If anyone has been in the same shoes as mine or are currently feeling the same, how did you save yourself from this quagmire?

I am so happy! Just wanted to share this with you guys! There is essentially no one in my social circle who care about academic stuff.

I honestly think prestige is one of the weirdest currencies in academia. You spend years trying to get into the “right” lab, publish in the “right” journal, work with the “right” people, and collect enough impressive names and affiliations so that someone else might decide you're worth taking seriously. And the frustrating part is that none of it necessarily means you're doing better research. Sometimes it just means you learned how to play the system better. It feels like everyone is constantly comparing invisible points on a scoreboard that nobody admits exists. Journal impact factor, university ranking, citations, famous supervisors, conferences, grants. At some point you start wondering whether you're actually doing science or just building an academic résumé.

Maybe I'm just burnt out, but the whole prestige economy feels like a massive scam sometimes.

My current postdoc has about five to six months left out of a 13-month appointment. I have mainly been working on one project. I initially obtained some promising data, but I have not been able to reproduce the results, so at this point I am worried that I may leave the postdoc without a strong publication or a clear scientific outcome.

At the same time, I recently interviewed for another postdoctoral position and was invited to give a research seminar. I am now unsure what to present because some of the results from my current postdoc that I had hoped to discuss no longer appear to be reliable.

I published three papers during my PhD, so I know I have been productive in the past, but this first postdoc has been very discouraging. I am starting to question whether I should continue in academic research at all, and I am also unsure what realistic career alternatives I have if I decide to move away from traditional academic science.

What would be the best way to approach the upcoming seminar, and how should I think about the remaining months of my current postdoc and my longer-term career options?

Hi guys i am 3rd year PhD Scholar here and the Ai FOMO has finally started hitting me.

Most of my Ai used is still pretty basic. I use ChatGpt or Claude to fix my writing, explain confusing concepts, or help me understand a complicated methods section. Sometimes I use perplexity when I just want to find a few papers or quicly wanna generate a image.

But people in my lab keep talking about these more advanced Ai workflows. Stuff like mapping, literate, comparing methods across papers, tracking how a topic has changed over time, and using research agents to organize questions before starting a review.

Someone mentioned Mira Ai science for this kind of deeper research, alobg with tool's like Elicit and Consensus. It made me realise i probability haven't explored much beyond basic promoting.

At the same time, i cant tell how much of this is actually common and how much is just Ai hype.

Are researchers really using these tool's in their everyday work, or are most people still mainly using Ai for writing and quick literature searches?

Got this on LinkedIn: 

Invitation to Serve as an Academic Advisor

Dear Professor XXXX,

We have long admired your outstanding academic achievements and hold your professional expertise in this field in the highest regard. I am writing on behalf of Fengkai Group, a company based in Hong Kong.

At present, several of our authors have high-quality manuscripts that are suitable for submission to international journals. We would like to respectfully invite you to conduct a brief pre-submission review of these papers and provide some revision suggestions. In appreciation of your time and academic support, we would be pleased to offer USD 500 for each manuscript.

In addition, we regularly organize online academic lectures for young researchers around the world. It would be our great honor to invite you to join us as a guest speaker, with an honorarium of USD 200 per lecture.

We sincerely look forward to your reply and hope to have the opportunity to collaborate with you.

Best regards,

Amy Yang@ Fengkai Group Co., Limited

Sounded harmless, right? Then I looked it up -- see : https://forbetterscience.com/2025/05/19/a-sting-inside-a-papermill/

Yikes.

Hello everyone,

I have noticed that I have increasingly and conciously change certain wording or grammar to be less "AI". I honestly would perfer if in this increasing AI world we could be original and be ourselves but I often caught myself trying to identify phrases that sounds AI.

And I'm also pretty sure my trainees are getting tired of me picking out stuff in their work that reads AI.

Wonder if folks have the same feeling?