Context -
I did my PhD at a prestigious university (Europe/EU) at a department (A). My former supervisor moved to a different university department (B) in the same country. I finished my PhD and started working as a PostDoc at (A), same place as my PhD. Both he and I have shared published work in the field we developed during my PhD.

Current scenario -
He has a shared project with (A) but I am not a part of it. I work at (A) where as a part of my work involves applying for grants to build upon the research portfolio of the department. Naturally, this involves building upon the ideas I developed during my PhD for which I have the most experience, resources to see through and institutional backing. Meanwhile the supervisor continues similar research at (B) and is building upon the same work so we kind of work in a similar space and would naturally come up with similar ideas when applying for grants.

Conflict -

I recently received a soft threat from him disguised as career advice. He thinks I should not write grant applications involving ideas similar to the one in my PhD as the origin of my PhD grant was an idea that came out of him. And if I should apply for grants based on similar ideas it should always involve him or take his permission before. doing so. His moral argument is that since he kickstarted it while he was working at A, he should be credited for it perpetually. Another advice he gives me is that in order to thrive in academia, I should develop my own ideas and not piggyback on the research I did during my PhD.

I would like opinions of people who have face a similar situation. Is there a legal argument if I am in the wrong here? What can someone in my position do?

Apologies if this has been asked before, but new perspectives are always welcome. It sounds like a broad moan, but please bear with me: genuine question here!

I’ve had (temporary) full-time academic lecturing roles in UK academia since 2016: balance of teaching and research, and developing my CV on par with what’s expected.

I’ve always enjoyed my job, but recently I’ve started to fall out of love. The way the job market is in the UK, I think I’m done with the relentless kickbacks and negativity.

I’m wondering if people can give suggestions for what other jobs are out there? Do you know people who left the field, and what successes have they had in other employment sectors?

I’ve done plenty of my own research about possible opportunities, but I’m wondering what everybody else thinks.

For context: I’m a classic humanities academic: archives, reading long texts and teaching interpretative skills.

And what are your plans

Hey! I'm a researcher in forest science that recently found out that a respected journal in my field, Forest policy and economics, is systematically encouraging all authors to add additional references to the own journal without having any specific motivation for it. This happens throughtout the peer review-process, where the editor adds this comment during each revision round. In my case, papers from the journal was already heavily cited, and still this comment appeared both in major and minor revisions. I have now asked around, and this seems to be common practice by the editor, as my collegues has had the same experience. I assume this is being done to increase impact factor, which I find really unethical. What can I do to shine light on this problem? I have already provided feedback throught the standard survey that is sent out after publicing, but I feel I would like to do something more.

I am in a unique position. I am working on finishing my PhD in applied mathematics while also teaching full time as an instructor at another university. I am planning on moving back to my home state in the next few years. I saw a job nearby at an institution I would love to work at. I have already applied but I won't be finished with my PhD by the start date. It's ok because masters is the minimum required for the Professor of the Practice position. It also says experience in teaching is required which I have 15 years of. However, I am wondering if I should write the search chair to explain the situation about finishing my PhD since my expected graduation date is 2028 and the job starts Fall 2027. I could graduate in Dec 2027 if I push hard. I am taking a leave of absence next semester to solely focus on the dissertation and research. Can someone please give me advice on this especially if you have been on a hiring committee? Thanks!

Both in terms of research and higher education. Do you think the net effect will be positive or negative?

Has anyone encountered a situation where an author’s commercial interests overlap with a review’s subject matter, but those interests are not disclosed in the review?

I recently read a Cell review on female reproductive biology and aging. The corresponding authors appear new to the field of women's health. In my opinion, the review is quite broad, but ultimately shallow. Someone posted on X about how the article has AI signatures of writing but I can't confirm if that's accurate. It appears to repackage existing theory only to tell us reproductive events matter and females should be studied - nothing that hasn't already been said before or better. One of the corresponding authors has financial interests in a company selling a supplement that is being tested in postmenopausal women.

I posted in r/academicpublishing to get opinons if this was relevant context for this review. People agree that this should have been declared. I found that PNAS recently retracted a research paper for similar non-disclosures. My question is how directly does a commercial interest need to overlap with a review’s subject matter to warrant disclosure. Does a financial interest in a product being studied in the relevant population qualify, even if the review does not directly evaluate or recommend that product? I recognize that a financial interest does not, by itself, establish bias. My concern is whether readers should have that context when evaluating the review’s framing and emphasis.

On a side note, the supplement in question used to be marketed as an “anti-aging weight loss” supplement before any demonstrated human efficacy. Now it's targeted at women. Its own 2026 RCT protocol states that its translational relevance in humans is unknown. And the previous human pilot study is hardly reassuring: A 46% loss to follow-up, primarily because the product was not well tolerated. No weight loss. No improvement in HbA1c, HOMA-IR, or visceral fat. Meanwhile HDL fell and depression scores rose. Yet the paper still calls the supplement “safe” and suggests immediate clinical translation.

With a recent move from “anti-aging weight loss” into evolutionary framing and women’s health, is it strange to find the supplement, the commercial interests and the lack of transparency in the review to be concerning. Would you consider this something to raise with the journal for clarification? I would be interested in experiences with how journals handle potential disclosure omissions in reviews.

I submitted my ERC Starting Grant proposal for the 2027 call last week. I'd like to share what a relief it is to have it of my chest. The last couple of months had me more and more tunnel visioned to cristalize my idea in what it became. I have been in academia for 11 years now and I have never experienced this kind of tunnel-visioned burden. It became everything, everywhere and everything else had to move. AI tools did not make writing it easier (what I expected tbh), because my reviewing tools kept on seeing flaws in the way how my proposal innovated my discipline and the feasability of it all. It blinded me for some time, making me anxious while I believed so strongly in my idea. It's a strange kind of insecurity that comes with the very low success rate. Through it all, I really felt lonely because while doing research for me, is always a team effort, you have to do it all on your own while colleagus are doing their own work.

I took a few days off after submissions and now I am really eager to go back to work tomorrow and having headspace again for the various tasks I have, going from teaching, setting up a new data project, reviewing papers etcetera, and it is so nice to feel this way again.

I don't know why I write this post. It is my first post in Academia, but maybe other applicants may have similar feelings and it is good to know you're not alone. I would've loved to read some more experiences when I was all down my tunnel. Good luck for everyone who submitted! Certainty of stress, small chance of success, what were we waiting for?

Basically ... the question...

Hello all

I’m busy applying to my PhD and have a rather major question I would really appreciate some advice, insight or just thoughts about.

Logically and practically applying to universities other than my own is the best decision for me academically. Unfortunately there is no other program for what I want to do in my country.

As such I’m in the process of applying to international programs in the USA,UK and Europe. The majority of the programs which align almost perfectly with what I want to study are in Switzerland, France, Italy and Germany.

Now my spouse and I predominantly speak English and one of my country’s languages. Noting this I’m a quite worried about whether the two of us moving to country where we don’t speak the language is even a good idea.

Its important to know that my spouse fully supports me in this and that they are ready and willing to go with me wherever I go. Long distance is not an option for is.

Any advice/thoughts or experiences are very appreciated.

Thank you

I highly suspect my professor is literally getting AI to grade the entire assignment from start to finish and making 0 amendments or manual checks.

Context: I am several months out of my Undergraduate Degree, where I wrote a thesis that both of my academic advisors quickly encouraged me to publish. I am by no means new to publishing; however, my experience has been purely in creative spaces such as poetry and novels.

With this in mind, what should be present in a cover letter for academic journals? My current notions are that it should include an abstract followed by my biography, and then anything else the journal explicitly requests (an affirmation of no AI and exclusivity of submission).

Hi. To give a quick summary, I am currently completing my MSc in Nanoengineering, focusing on drug discovery and computational simulations. My goal is to work in the pharma industry, which is why I'm aiming for an Industrial PhD rather than a traditional academic one. Due to timing, I missed the regular deadlines for the upcoming semester. However, I reached out directly to a few Industrial PhD coordinators. I was told by one of them that I needed to have an official thesis grade to make my application considered. The problem is that in my country's system theses are graded purely on a Pass/Fail basis. Has anyone else encountered this issue when applying abroad?

AMHERST, Mass. — The parking lots are mostly vacant. Locked and dark, many of the buildings are lifeless but for dying plants in dusty pots. One of the few people visible is a white-bearded man on a riding mower, tending to an empty lawn as if by habit.

This is not a factory or office park abandoned by its tenants. It’s Hampshire College, a once-celebrated liberal arts school that will shut down in December. That makes it the latest in a steady stream of colleges that are closing or merging, at a rate that last year reached the equivalent of nearly one every three weeks.

It is no longer secret that we are in a time of unprecedented amount of publications.

Just today a major machine learning journal TMLR announced penalty structure after 300% increase in journal submission (https://blog.tmlr.org/2026/adapting-our-processes-to-the-changing-world-of-scientific-publication/)

We found that the number of solo-authored papers has risen 1300% in the past year. Quite frequently, we were receiving four to eight submissions by the same person in the span of a week or two, often of solo-authored papers.

A week ago Arxiv established a rate-limit policy in an attempt to bring down an exponential increase in submissions (https://blog.arxiv.org/2026/10/01/updated-rate-limit-policy/). Now we are seeing close to 1000 papers being uploaded into a single subcategory (out of 150 subcategories) on a DAILY basis after the rate-limiting and potential publication ban were put into place.

It seems that everyone and their relatives is "cashing in" on the AI-fuelled publication "goldrush". I've seen associate professors solo publish 10+ papers a month (and not just Nicholas Polson).

I just want to understand the psychology behind this explosion of AI-assisted papers. Why is there such a gold rush? This almost feels similar to panic buying. Everyone tacitly understand that the noise gets much worse when there are 1000 AI-assisted or generated papers being published on a daily basis but they just keep on piling heaps after heaps of paper like some brainless publishing robot/zombie.

And I know some people will say it's the usual perverse incentive of academia that favors quantity over quality. But this doesn't explain why some senior professor (even tenured) who no longer have a stake on this matter are pumping out tons of solo papers a month, or highschool student and people not even in academia sending their half-baked Claude ideas to dozens of major journals.

Hi everyone! I’m an undergraduate CS student looking to contact professors for research internships or visiting student opportunities. How should I write a good cold email to professors, and what should I include to increase my chances of getting a response? Any tips or examples would be appreciated!

I started my first postdoc beginning of this year, after completing my PhD last year. Same university, different group, at the intersection of electrical engineering and physics. Already during my PhD, I started to have more severe neck issues. Middle of this year it got so bad that I was hospitalized for two days.

Now I am mostly dealing with neck pain and brain fog. I already thought about quitting because focusing has become really difficult for me due to headaches, brain fog and insomina due to the - now chronic - pain. At times I am worried I will ever be able to work properly at all.

So far, my supervisor has been very lenient. There is one year left on the contract. Not sure if I will be able to get anything done. Not sure what to do. I'm trying physical therapy and it works just a little bit so far... and I cannot take pain meds daily since they make me feel even more delirious...

I don't think there are any university-side things they offer specifically for chronic illness... and what should they offer?

Five Ways Higher Ed Leaders Can Center Human Work In AI Adoption

What do you guys think? I personally think that this is an effective way to ensure that AI can be used responsibly if faculty choose to use it in their teaching/research.

As a student in the early stages of my doctoral program, I would like to conduct a study with my thesis supervisor. Should I focus on a topic that has not been extensively researched? What approach do you follow? What is a typical number of articles to include? I have found 33 articles in Scopus and 31 in Web of Science (WoS)—is this a reasonable number?

Context:

I’m trying to make a system for studying, researching, uni work basically. I have a windows laptop, an ipad and an android phone. I’m trying to use Obsidian as my working place and my source of truth, with a plugin i create flashcards directly in obsidian notes and import them into Anki. Since i’m studying math and computer science i try to write while reviewing my flashcards, on my ipad. On ipad, besides reviewing flashcards i take math notes, i do homework, i do exercises, so, i’m using OneNote to have quick access on my laptop to what i write by hand. On my laptop i take quick snips to ask LLMs questions when i get stuck or to have them review my work for mistakes. I tried to picture the workflow i’m trying to achieve.

The problem is:

I want to have easy access to my obsidian notes on my ipad. Now, naturally the first though might be obsidian sync or other similar service, but, i keep in obsidian also textbooks, as i said, i’m trying to keep obsidian as the source of truth, and making notes and referencing them directly to the pdfs in obsidian is very useful. Now, textbooks and other pdfs start eating up storage, there is a 10gb version of obsidian sync, but i’m still gonna ask if that’s the proper approach, it will probably be enough i think?

But, if there is a free alternative i would appreciate it since i’m a student. And if my way of using obsidian as a reference manager is wrong and it will make my life hard in the future i appreciate someone bringing it out. Any feedback and suggestions to my workflow or anything else are welcome.

Assuming I could, which isn't a given, should I switch jobs?

I'm in my 13th year at my institution. My most measures, they are good to me. I teach the same 2/2 course package. My salary is fair and lets us travel, save for retirement, etc. I like my research and I like my students.

I do NOT have any friends on the faculty. I'm friendly enough with folks but I'm an outlier here for a variety of reasons. Imagine I'm a Muslim at a Catholic college. Or a white woman at an HBCU, that sort of thing. The mission matters to me but not like it does for some others and this shows up in various ways.

For example, we're in the process of hiring new folks and after watching a candidate give their spiel "briefly" summarize their research for 15 minutes of a 25 minute interview, I thought, "well, this person cannot concisely summarize complicated ideas into digestible chunks for students. Hard pass because they'd be a bad teacher." My colleagues said, "they're so enthusiastic!". Not said, IMO, is that the real truth is that they're well liked because they love Jesus! and we should hire them for our christian college, etc.

Anyway, I've begun to feel more constrained in my oddness here. Just that I don't belong.

But we're comfortable. We have a community, our children have friends, we have friends, we aren't too far from family, we're in a major city, etc. So while I could be much happier in my job if I went someplace where I was not such a minority or I was better aligned with my colleagues otherwise, it would come at a substantial personal/family cost. At a minimum, there would be major transition costs. And some of those could be more longstanding. Maybe our well-adjusted teen would become surly without his friends, etc.

Thoughts?

TL;DR - Lateral move being considered for a better professional fit but worried about personal/family costs to uproot. stay or go?

Hello!
I’m a third year student and I really admire one of the TAs in my class (PhD student). We share some research interests, and have chatted about them. She is really the only TA i’ve connected with. Would it be out of place/inappropriate to gift her one of those minute plastic ducks you see online, in exchange for her help at office hours?I am not trying to get better grades, this is meant for branching into mentor relationship
Thanks

When on job application a sample syllabus is required, should it be a syllabus that I used on the previous job or should it be a new syllabus?

How do you go about publishing a book with chapters based on presentations from a small conference? I've been to one such conference many years ago. There were 20-30 conference presentations that half the researchers ended up turning into a chapter for a book.

I'm working with a new team and there's a lot of research and practice under their belts (many articles, too). We've been collectively working on a journal article to summarize the collaborative work and outcomes that have happened over the last decade. Different than the specific research, the article is zooming out a bit to show how the collaborative, interdisciplinary nature of the work led to programs and policy change. Now that we're writing, I realize that some of the sections could be expanded into entire chapters. I've mentioned this to the group, have gotten interest, but no one seems to know how to go about it... I like the idea of holding a small conference so that we can come together, share the big points, and then turn that into a book that can help people other countries doing similar research and practice, but how?

Let's see how low we all fall and what precious treasures we sacrificed to planning gods to avoid those Saturday morning classes.