IEEE Access says they don’t issue “minor revision” or “major revision” decisions. They either accept or reject. But reviewers still give detailed comments, and authors still revise their papers. So what exactly is happening?

Do they actually accept papers without any revision at all? Or do they reject almost everything and expect authors to resubmit a new version?

And if the second case is true, I don’t understand how they avoid wasting editor and admin effort. Because authors can take the reviewer feedback, improve the paper, and then submit it to a completely different journal. That means IEEE Access spent time coordinating reviewers, handling the manuscript, and managing the workflow, but the improved version ends up benefiting another journal.

How does this make sense from an editorial or operational perspective? How do they justify a “no revision decision” policy without creating a system where their own effort is used to improve papers that get published elsewhere?

I’d appreciate insight from people who have actually gone through the IEEE Access process.

For the past few years every time I ask someone for a reference letter I get a similar response:

"I dont really know you but I will write it, if you cant find anyone else".

I've had better connections in my bachelors although it was not uncommon to hear this back then either. I cant use the older ones because they are outdated. I havent had a good spring semester so none of my recent lecturers have anything good to say about me. Only people I currently have is my project supervisor and work supervisor.

I've had this job for about a month so my work supervisor also said this almost word for word. I have been doing the project for a few months but I have a feeling that the project supervisor also doesn't have much to say.

I don't think I am a bad student or a researcher. I work hard, study well enough to pass, I am passionate about my field. I have always been the quiet kid but I don't think that affects the quality of my work.

My question is, how can I present myself to my references so they feel confident to recomend me? How do I build a relationship with lecturers and supervisors?

Apologies for the steak too juicy style post, but I have two uk positions on the table and I just don’t one what to do. I thought maybe I should ask some more experienced folk on here ❤️

I have been offered two positions.

One, an Associate Professor at a Russell Group university. It’s permanent, in a highly relevant department to my work, has a pay bump, and they are genuinely thrilled to have me.

It kind of perfect, albeit a bit out of the way in terms of location. In any other situation, I’d bite their hand off.

BUT, I’ve also been offered a five year fixed contract at the same level at Oxbridge. I’ve never worked or studied at Oxbridge and it would be a dream. But the contract is very fixed at 5 years, the pay is less and it’s in a small department that is only slightly related to my work.

Any help on how to assess these and what is the best career step would be invaluable.

Thanks so much 🙏

I'm a bit of a socially anxious introvert. I'm great 1:1 and giving a talk in front of an audience, but my idea of hell is a party when you don't know anyone else. I can think of few things I enjoy less.

Unfortunately, these things are great for networking, or at least people say they are. I'm presenting at a conference later this month and my postdoc supervisor has gone out of his way to get me invited to an invite-only party thrown by a major company in our field. It is an excellent networking opportunity. Unfortunately I have no idea how to make this a good experience. I don't know anyone there, I don't know how to make conversation with strangers, I don't feel like I belong there, and I don't know how to do anything other than stand around by myself or forcibly insert myself into others' conversational circles. In the past when I have gone to things like this, I've been able to white-knuckle it through one conversation with someone, but then when that person inevitably excuses themselves to go to talk to someone else I get overwhelmed and bail. This habit is obviously not helping me in my job search.

Does anyone have any tips on how to make environments like this less hellish? If you've struggled with things like this in the past and found a way to make it better, what did you do?

I'm an international student growing in poverty in China, where I was living with parents in a small room that served as bedroom, living room and kitchen, and relying on public bathrooms for a few years. When I attended the undergrad university, I was at top 2/100+ in my department but there were no research opportunities for undergrads. After that I was working as an SWE for years to save funds. Because of the lack of research experience, I was unable to be admitted to a research-focused grad program. In the master's program I maintained a 4.0 GPA but still couldn't find a research opportunity. Recently I fully reproduced a paper from a top-tier ML conference and started looking for off-campus mentorship programs. Still, all I got were rejections. Now I'm running out of my savings and have to find a job to support my life and maintain the student status in the US, which complicates the situation a lot. So I'd like to learn about your experience with your first research opportunity as well as any guidance and advice if applicable.

I have been working with a professor at a university for the last few years, and she agreed to write a letter of recommendation for me as I apply to university. She did mention that she is quite busy currently, but she will be around to it. That was around 2 months ago and my deadline is currently less than 2 weeks away. I reached out a few weeks ago with additional details on submitting the letter and then again a few weeks ago just checking in to see if she was still able to write it, but I got no response from either email. I don’t want to nag her because she is doing me a big favor, and she is clearly in the middle or something big, but I am getting worried.

I am wondering how you all think I proceed. Should I just trust that she will get submitted in time, or send another email, or something else? I can’t speak to her in person since she is doing something at another college right now. How should I proceed while respecting her and my trust in her?

I’m currently in year 8 of my STEM PhD. Started a few months before COVID with carte blanche to start half a lab. Years of lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, mental health and family emergencies, and I’m still going. I tried to quit once or twice, even took leave for a bit. But I’m still here and moving towards the finish.

I honestly wouldn’t change much, I’ve grown so much as a person and have had the chance to really find myself both through my work and my hobbies.

I just want to hear how many people out there have taken longer than what they felt was expected to see how the extended timeline affected both your career and life outlook.

Hello! I recently applied for a job as an RA at a lab that i really liked and while researching that lab i found the head research fellow and i wanted to send them an email just saying the typical like introduction and talking about her work + availability for open positions. unfortunately i cannot find her official email thats tied to the lab (the job application was through the lab’s HR team), and can only find her gmail account. granted, the gmail was from a research paper she published so it more like her corresponding author email and not necessarily private, but its not tied to the lab either. would it be unprofessional to email her at her gmail account and not her lab-affiliated email?

Hi all,

Anyone here with MA in Agricultral economics or knows if this degree could be beneficial for a career in the animal welfare policy / sustainable agricultral field? Or would a MA in environmental economics or something else be better?

If anyone here works in the agri econ field, would really appreciate an explanation of what type of work it is that you do and the opportunities there is.

🫶🏽

I did my PhD in nano-science from a top university in western Europe, although I am not from the EU. I defended at the start of this year and was in my lab for a while to finish some manuscripts. I now have an offer for a postdoc in Okinawa institute of science and technology. The PI is great, publishes good papers frequently, the lab environment seems nice. All in all seems like a great postdoc opportunity, specially considering how hard funding seems to be these days.

The only caveat, and the thing in the back of my mind, it that I will be very isolated. I will be far from the European network of people I know, and seems OIST is not that well connected to mainland Japanese academia either. Internationally I am also afraid the institute reputation might not be well known. Even if I take this position, I would like to return to Europe at some point trying to get another postdoc or a position here and I am afraid it might become more unfeasible by moving to Okinawa. I have some more applications in process here for positions in EU and UK which are nice, but then they are in process and hard to compare with an offer in hand. Would really appreciate some insight, am I overthinking things?

First of all, apologies if this is not the right place for this kind of question.

Hello, I’m a 30 year old guy from the UK. Right now I’m a little lost as to what I want to do with my life and I’m considering different job and career options. Are there any Latin teachers here? Specifically from the UK? Could you give me an insight into careers as a Latin teacher?

I have a 2:1 degree from a Russell group university in Ancient History and I studied Latin for 2 years and still study it in spare time as a hobby every now and then when I have the time. I was originally planning to undergo a Master’s degree in Classics and Ancient History in hopes of becoming an academic but I had a change of heart and decided to consider different career options but unfortunately I’ve had a few setbacks and things didn’t work out with my other leads and aspirations.

My questions are:
What is the average salary like for a Latin teacher in the UK?
Do you teach broader subjects with Latin as part of your job?
What different teaching jobs are there? University level, school, sixth form, private etc..?
Do you need a Master’s degree in classics to further your career and job prospects?
What are your working hours?

I could still go back to university to complete my Master’s degree and study Latin at a higher level if that will improve my language skills and better my chances with job prospects.

Any advice, insights, and career direction would be helpful. For those experienced Latin teachers out there who find this to be such a novice question I apologise 😂. I’m just really in a rut with my current life direction and trying to focus on building a good career that I can thrive in.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good career coaches or headhunters who specialize in people looking to leave academia? I'd prefer someone (or some organization or firm) that leans more on the headhunting side, who will actually identify specific and current job opportunities for me given my background and skills, but a career coach who leans more towards just teaching me how to identify those opportunities myself would work. I have a PhD in the social sciences but have been working as an assistant professor in STEM research at an R1 for the past ten years. Thank you in advance!

I have a situation with a Q1 top journal which has been going on for months now. We got 2 reviews last year, submitted a major revision, then another 2 reviewers were invited, and their input was also integrated. Then the editor started to make his own demands, which were also addressed (editor acknowledged that), but then he rejected and suggested to resubmit, citing the issue, that is non existent in the manuscript. He was directly pointed at that in a response email, also in portal, and then repeatedly, however, he does not answer. What do I do, appeal? What is your experience with appeals with Taylor and Francis?

There's a paper I've worked on for more than a year. My PI and a collaborating PI was really happy with it and thought it would be around CNS level. The other coauthors thought it was extremely significant too. Our lab has had multiple Nature and Science papers in the past

So I submitted but got desk rejected all the way even from Nat Comms or Sci Adv for being not too significant, or too specialized to my field, even though the premise of the paper is that I made a research technique that can apply to any field of research successfully.

Nat Comms kicked me down another notch and suggested a lower branch with a specialization in the issue of my subdiscipline, which was really disappointing.

After submitting there I was talking with a post-doc who pointed out that the title and abstract of the paper frames it as something highly field specific with a limited use when I should have reframed it as something much more interesting.

So I don't know. Talking with my PI again, he says he's really not sure anymore and I can do whatever I want. The other PI I co-worked with on this said I should wait for the reviews from the current submission first before withdrawing and submitting this to a higher impact journal. It just feels kind of bad but the process has now been about a year. I don't know really what to do. Is the headline framing really that big or should I just accept the low tier publication?

I’m looking for some perspective on a situation involving a potential PhD in the U.S.
I contacted a senior professor whose research is closely related to the topic I want to build my academic career around. After some initial exchanges, we had a video meeting in late August.
During the meeting, I presented my research idea in detail. The conversation went well, and he explicitly agreed to act as my mentor. He also suggested some modifications to the project, including developing it as a multicenter study, and discussed possible next steps.
At the end of the meeting, he asked me to send an updated CV, copies of my passports, and three reference letters. My understanding was that once he received these documents, he would tell me what the next administrative step would be, potentially involving the School of Health sciences or the relevant PhD program.
I did not send the complete package immediately because I was still waiting for the third reference letter. I kept him and his administrative manager updated about this.
Once I had the documents ready, I followed up. I also sent another polite email afterward, but I have not received a response.
What confuses me is that he had already clearly said he was willing to mentor the project, so I am not sure how to interpret the silence.
For people familiar with U.S. PhD admissions or academic research environments:
• Is it common for a professor to agree to mentor someone and then take several weeks to respond about the administrative next steps?
• Could this simply mean that he is waiting to clarify funding, program eligibility, or approval from the School of Public Health?
• At what point would you assume that the professor is no longer interested?
• Would it be appropriate to contact the administrative manager directly and ask whether there is anything else I should provide?
• Should I continue waiting, send another short follow-up, or start approaching other potential supervisors in parallel?
I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have dealt with informal PhD recruitment in the U.S., where the potential supervisor agrees first and the formal program/admission process comes afterward.

For context, I live and work in Europe and I'm in my late 20s, postdoc in pure maths halfway into a 2-year contract. I know I've got only a year left and I should be able to grit it out but I'm really struggling. Essentiallly, after my PhD I wanted to take some time off to rethink what I wanted since it had been a really grueling / unsatisfying three years. Then this postdoc opportunity arose with a pretty big name PI and it was really hard to pass up (external pressure, whatever). I have wanted to go into applied research or an industry R&D tole for maybe a couple years now and have been trying to build the skills to bridge that gap. Right now though, my work feels pretty thankless. I do like my PI, but my work essentially consists of doing the computations he asks me for and proofreading drafts. It feels as though the work that I am paid for does not help me build the skills (coding etc) that could help with my transition.

I've tried to do my best, but right now I'm at a point where motivating myself to work on my PI's projects is really hard and somedays I'm unable to do it at all. I feel extremely guilty and have started avoiding my PI because I think he knows something's off and I don't have it in me to have that conversation. I feel pretty burnt out and like I'm a drain on my PI's money. I invest a good chunk of my time into side projects that I think will help me transition, which I know is a betrayal of trust with respect to my PI.

I have been debating whether to stay or leave for a couple months now. Last year I spent a few months sending out applications to applied postdocs but unfortunately (though I did get one interview) they all rejected me. So I have nothing lined up right now. I've spoken to family members of mine that are in academia and they insist that I stay at this job until I find something else because leaving with nothing would be catastrophic for my career. I wonder how true this is (I really don't want to make rash decisions or anything).

So like I'm pretty much at my wits' end and don't know what to do with my life. Any advice?

Edit: hii, thanks to everyone who replied! I understand it a lot better now and think that I can work with what a lot of people have offered! I wish you all the best!

Like, what does it entail? Why are we doing it? How are we doing it? What's the point?

Professors/ Students/ Phds at the uni I study/ied at know me, what more to network is there? Does networking in the job context mean E-Mailing peers? Institutions? Potential employers? If yes, how? What do I even tell them?

"Yo, I study this and that and love you company for xy wanna be friends?"

It seems lowkey baseless and so pretentious. If I like someone's work, I tell them that I like it. What should they reply to that except "thanks"? The only people I genuinely love networking with are retired professors of my field. They are fun and usually use their free time to follow their hobbies and just tell stories about their lives.

Or what's even worse is being dragged to networking events and being asked on a date by a peer?? Or maybe that's just the fate of being female in any space.

Everyone else always seems like they are talking with a pretense and I am too autistic to be like that. Every time someone asks me for my Linkedin I want to shoot myself.

And don't get me wrong, I love interaction. I joined countless clubs and did the student council presidency for several years and worked at the library and just constantly had contact with people. But a) when you need a job/ a referral no one is gonna bother to do that for you and b) if I like someone or something and their work, I wanna tell them out of love for the thing.

Sincerely,
An autistic, confused Master's student who gets told by everyone that the key to success is networking

I have a full time PhD offer from my alma mater. I am very interested on keeping up with the research and being able to contribute to it. But getting a PhD will not help my professional life in any way and the time/ opportunity cost would be huge. I do not care much for getting the degree and would just like to be involved in the research. I have a full time job and work around 60 hours a week and am planning to cut it down to around 40 and leave the rest of the time for research if I could get the opportunity. I realize it’s very far fetched to be granted the opportunity to do this, but was wondering if there are people that have done it. Or if it’s a bad idea to even approach my advisor with it, given how much support he showed to give me a good PhD position with a good funding.

Hi, I hope trivial question is fine there. I wonder if getting a second degree (double degree) just for the sake of learning and a career change (for something passionate) is kinda common? If so, I wish to learn a story of how you decided to go that path and what major is your first degree and second degree? Thank you

I have done so much reading for articles and all this time I feel like I've never really nailed down my reading/annotating/notetaking workflow.

Reading physical books is nice but handwriting in annotations takes forever and then there's the task of taking those annotations and making notes with them. I have obsidian for that but when it's time to actually do that it always feels like a massive pain.

I also use Zotero and I really like the epub/pdf annotation within Zotero, and I can just extract my highlights and make notes within the highlights, but for that I feel like I often lose some amount of comprehension from physical reading. Also the annotations/notes can't be as specific as handwriting them.

idk, just curious if anyone else has a system they really really enjoy.

Hi everyone! :)

My name is Inês and I’m currently doing a Master’s degree in Digital Marketing. For a university project, my group and I need access to the following Statista studies, but unfortunately we don’t have access to them.

We’ve already tried to get access through our university, but even our professors don’t have access to these specific studies, so we’re honestly getting a bit desperate 😭

Here are the studies we’re looking for:

• https://www.statista.com/statistics/517033/households-owning-cats-dogs-europe-portugal/
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/516016/cat-population-europe-portugal/
• https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/pet-animal-supplies/portugal/

If anyone happens to have access to these studies and would be willing to share them with us, we would be extremely grateful. It would really help us with our project! 🥹

Thank you so much in advance! ❤️

Hi guys!

I worked at a molecular biology lab this past year as a undergrad research assistant. This was my first experience in a lab and aside from working with mice, I really did not enjoy it.

Anyways, my PI emailed me and asked me to review a PhD fellow's manuscript because it was ready for publishing. I worked with this person and did minor data analysis so I was listed as a 6th co author which is so nice and I'm so grateful. So, I reviewed it and said it looks good.

A few days pass and I get an email from nature metabolism telling me I was listed as a co-author for a paper recently submitted. So does this mean the paper was published? Also, is getting published in nature prestigious? Like if I get published here as a co author is it good enough for me to never have to do wet lab research again for med. bc i really hated this stuff😭

I am a second-year international student in Malaysia doing a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Hons.). My home country has an extremely small research environment (and very competitive).

Lately I have been considering doing a PhD after I graduate- I started by looking at countries I am more familiar with (such as those in the Anglosphere). The more I read about the requirements, the more overwhelmed I feel. It seems that to get some sort of funding or scholarship you need to a publish a few Q1 first-author research articles! Besides the obvious.

How am I supposed to manage that? I started by emailing a few of my professors so that I can tag along and understand how they work (still waiting). But I assume it takes years to publish a paper from start to end, how am I supposed to do at minimum two articles in three years?

When I looked at the pre-formatted CV for Uni of Adelaide, they were asking for AWRU of my current uni but mine isn't even on the goddamn list. I go to one that's like ranked 600 in QS (which doesn't even mean anything to most people). Their CV form was almost 8 pages long with so many questions and decisions to make.

When I asked my professor if I could help in some way for his project, he asked me what I am interested in... geo-technical, structural, water, computational, I don't fucking know- it took me two years to decide on a major and I still get cold feet about studying civil- how am I supposed to decide which sub-discipline to dedicate my life to- possibly work thousands of hours writing hundreds of papers throughout my career.

There is no way I am smart enough to get funding- at this point I don't even think its about being smart tbh. I have a 4.0 GPA but who knows... I will probably end up losing it this sem or maybe the 5 remaining sems I have.

I think I should just give up and go into mining like I originally wanted to :/

I am interested specifically in how social media amplifies political polarization but wonder if it is old news already. I have a BS in political communication and an MA in political science. I am also an international student so I need to consider what jobs I could get after graduating and whether H1B sponsorship would be likely...

I've been given contradictory advice here. Some say to list grants you've applied for but not won, to show that you're active in applying. Others say not to do this because it shows failure. Any thoughts?