Publication metrics

I recently ran a poll on Twitter on which platform is most used for publication metrics. While in my field it seems to be Scopus, the consensus of the poll is clear: Google Scholar!

Here's the wake of the poll

Papers and presentations from IALCCE 2018

Last fall, I attended IALCCE 2018 where together with my colleagues from TU Delft, I organized a Mini Symposium on Load Testing of New and Existing Structures.

For this MS, I submitted 4 papers as coauthor - 3 of these papers are the results of projects with B.Sc. thesis students from USFQ funded by my 2016 Chancellor Grant. During the MS, I presented my work on stop criteria and I also presented about diagnostic load testing of steel bridges on behalf of ADSTREN.

The abstracts of the papers are:
Proposed stop criteria for proof load testing of concrete bridges and verification
Eva Lantsoght, Cor van der Veen, Dick Hordijk
In a proof load test, a load representative of the factored live load is applied to the bridge. Since the applied load is large, stop criteria are important. Stop criteria for shear and flexure are proposed based on existing codes and guidelines, laboratory experiments, and theoretical considerations. This proposal is verified with the results from pilot proof load tests. The result of this comparison is that the stop criteria are never exceeded, or that they are exceeded only in the last load step. The proposed stop criteria are thus not overly conservative for application to field testing. However, information about the available margin of safety is not always available, especially for shear failures, and will need further experimental validation.

Nonlinear finite element analysis of beam experiments for stop criteria
Jose Eduardo Paredes, Eva Lantsoght
Proof load testing is used to assess the structural capacity of existing bridges. Stop criteria, based on measurements taken during proof load tests, determine if a test should be stopped before reaching the target proof load in order to maintain structural integrity. A nonlinear finite element model is proposed to investigate stop criteria. A reinforced concrete beam with plain reinforcement is modeled. The goal is to develop a reliable finite element model with adequate material constitutive models to analyze available stop criteria from existing codes. The beam experiment is verified in terms of strains. Stop criteria from ACI 437.2M-13 and the German guideline are analyzed for the beam model. The presented analysis shows that nonlinear finite element models can be used for the evaluation of stop criteria for proof load testing to limit the required number of laboratory tests.

Development of a stop criterion for load tests based on the critical shear displacement theory
Kevin Benitez, Eva Lantsoght, Yuguang Yang
The capacity of existing bridges is an important aspect regarding the safety of the traveling public.
Proof load testing can be a useful option to evaluate if an existing bridge satisfies the requirements from the code. The stop criteria provided by the Guidelines are generally suitable for flexure only. Therefore, in this paper, shear is considered. When developing a stop criterion for shear for proof load tests on existing bridges, many different approaches could be taken. Here, a stop criterion is developed based on the Critical Shear Displacement Theory. The development of the stop criterion is based on the analysis of the contribution of each of the mechanisms of shear transfer. The criterion is verified with experiments on beams in the laboratory. The consequence of this development is that now a stop criterion for shear with a theoretical basis is provided.

Verification of flexural stop criteria for proof load tests on concrete bridges based on beam experiments
Andres Rodriguez, Eva Lantsoght
When performing proof load tests, irreversible damage may occur. Guidelines for performing the test have been developed, which establish stop criteria to terminate the test before this happens. The stop criteria prescribed in the currently available codes are mainly designed for buildings, but load tests are also performed on bridges. This investigation compares the results from beams tested in the laboratory with stop criteria and analyzes their applicability on reinforced concrete bridges. The stop criteria from ACI 437.2M-13, the German guideline of the DAfStB, and a proposal developed by Werner Vos from TU Delft were evaluated. It was found that the DAfStB concrete strain stop criterion provided the most consistent results. The ACI stop criteria should only be applied if the ACI loading protocol is being followed. The deflection proposal by Vos, seems to be a reliable option, but further investigation needs to be done before it can be applied.

The slides of the presentations are:

Proposed stop criteria for proof load testing of concrete bridges and verification from Eva Lantsoght

Diagnostic load testing of bridges - case studies from Eva Lantsoght

Introducing the Neuroethics Police Podcast

Today, I have the pleasure of hosting Katherine Bassil, the host of the Neuroethics Police podcast. Katherine is a neuroscience PhD candidate at Maastricht University in The Netherlands. She has gained interest in neuroethics throughout her studies and has attempted to integrate it in her work where possible. She hopes that one day she’ll be able to bridge the fields of neuroscience and neuroethics and hopefully inspire others to see the importance of such an effort. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineBassil and on Instagram @Katherine.Bassil

"It's time for the Neuroethics Police to make some arrests" is not a typical sentence you would expect to see "neuroethics" in. The Neuroethics Police? Not a common phrase, either. But I chose to build a podcast around this premise anyway. Why? To invite the curious, the skeptic, and the skeptic-turned-advocate to take part in the discussion of the ethics of neuroscience, a topic I believe does not have the attention it deserves.

My interest and curiosity for neuroethics, particularly the ethical and societal implications of neuroscience research, grew overnight after I attended a symposium on Neurolaw. After this symposium, I started thinking beyond the lab bench for the first time. It was shortly thereafter that I began my search for a neuroethics course within my masters' program in neuroscience to gain some more knowledge on the subject. I was met with disappointment; there was no sign of neuroethics at my university.

Why isn't there neuroethics training within our neuroscience program? Why aren't people (neuroscience students & professors, the public, etc.) aware of current neuroethical discussions? Why was I never aware of this -what I believed to be- important field before?

After graduating and moving onto my PhD studies, I was genuinely motivated to make this change, of bringing others' attention to neuroethics. I was determined to shine a spotlight on neuroethics and to show its importance. I was curious to learn the opinions of neuroscientists in my own department on current ethical discussions related to neuroscience. But I felt that individual discussions, however stimulating they may be, were not enough. I needed something broader, something more global, that could reach even those who had questions but didn't know where to begin. I had an idea - to start a podcast: The Neuroethics Police.

Why a podcast? I chose this format because I wanted to reach out to as many people as possible, and neuroethically-dense articles are, frankly, not everyone's cup of tea. Additionally, live conversations are unique and spontaneous, and there are many places a conversation can go which for a pre-planned format like a blog would never see. That's what I wanted for the audience of the Neuroethics Police, a platform that is accessible on the go, that is spontaneous, real and engaging all at the same time.

At the time I was starting this podcast, I was not sure if my goal to raise awareness on the ethical and societal implications of neuroscience research would come across as intended. But I learned a lot of important lessons after hosting just a few episodes.

1) Debate is a necessity

Since the first episode, I have been told that there is a need for more debate, more communication, and more discussion on the implications of neuroscience. Discussion is a necessity between scientists, ethicists, policy makers, government officials, and the public. There are no exceptions. One example reflected by the first guest of the podcast, Prof. Dr. Jos Prickaerts, is the need for guidelines concerning cognitive enhancement research. He particularly points out to how "tempting" certain research could be to some scientists and how the absence of strict guidelines may blur the lines between what is practically possible and what is ethically permissible. We need to get some of those pressing issues out there, to the public - including cognitive enhancement research, implications of neurotechnology, brain implants, to name a few - and not confined within the laboratory or university office walls.

2) Non-scientists have something to say

While preparing the list of potential guests to invite to the podcast, it was clear to me that my list was easily exhausted even when restricting it to neuroscientists and ethicists. But it didn't feel right to discuss societal implications of neuroscience research in the absence of members of society not immersed in academia. There are many informed decisions that concern society, and we tend to forget the public's voice in shaping these decisions. So, in the coming episodes, I urge all those interested, particularly non-neuroscientists to reach out and voice their opinion on topics ranging from neurotechnology and cognitive enhancement to biomarkers and other brain-related topics.

3) Ask the right questions

Developing thoughtful, fair, and non-biased questions remains the most challenging part for me in the process of creating an episode. Bias exists everywhere, even in formulating questions. I often found myself unintentionally imposing my opinion within the questions I ask. This has taught me to better identify bias and to more critically contemplate other people's work.

4) Voice your opinion

"I'm just a PhD student." That remark used to keep me quiet whenever I felt the urge to give my opinion during a discussion. But that's not necessarily a reason to keep quiet. The hierarchy in academia often puts students in a position to question whether they should speak up or not and whether their opinions are valuable. Bachelor, Master, or PhD students: we all have something interesting and important to say. In the coming episodes, I will be joining the discussion as well by challenging my guests' views, and so could you! The exceptional thing about the platform I use to create my episodes is that it allows the audience to interact with me or my guests by calling in during the recording session, asking questions or even commenting by sending a voice message that can be featured on following episodes.

My final message is this: there is a lot that needs to be discussed and the clock is ticking. For example, in the second episode, my guest and I discussed biomarkers for depression and aging and how their use could have potential ethical and societal implications. The implications we discussed include creating unnecessary anxiety in individuals who undergo similar screenings, but also the potentially discriminatory actions insurance companies might take in reaction to the development and application of biomarkers in clinics. The more people we have on board, the faster we can move towards more effective neurotechnologies, ethical neuroscience research, and an innovation-educated public.

Proof load testing of viaduct De Beek

I recently gave a presentation about a case study of a proof load test at the IABSE event organized by the national groups of Belgium and the Netherlands.

You can find the slides of the presentation here:

Proof load testing of viaduct De Beek from Eva Lantsoght

PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: The Challenges of Parenting and Academia

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands.

These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands.

If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better - and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic!

"As a serious academic, you should spend all your waking hours working on your research and you should not have a life or family," some seem to argue, or that seems to be the undercurrent of some of the "I've had 4 hours of sleep over the last 6 days to finish the proposal" kind of stories you may hear some academics tell each other at conferences. Such a work rhythm is not sustainable - not for single academics, and not for academics with families.

With that said, being an academic parent can pose some challenges. As I'm learning more each day about what it means to be mom and an academic, and I'm interviewing fellow academic parents (which children in all age categories) about how they work as academic parents. While my conclusions about parenting is that every person does what works best for his/her family, I wanted to list a few challenges that are typical for academic parents and some ideas on how to overcome them.

1. Geographical isolation

If you moved away from "home" for an academic position, you may be geographically isolated from your family and friends - and not have anybody to rely on when you need an extra hand. Not being able to drop off your child for a few hours with the grandparents can be quite an inconvenience.

But wherever you are, you need a support network - it takes a village to raise a child, so you will need to build your village. If you don't have any family nor friends around, try to pair up with other parents who may be in the same situation (find them at your kid's or kids' activities). You can help each other out, and find moral support along the way. If you are having a hard time making friends with other parents, see if you can bring a grandparent to help you out for a few months (for example, when you return to work after parental leave). If none of these options are available for you, see if you can hire more help.

2. Low income

If you are/become a parent during your PhD years, you may be on a low budget. If your spouse traveled with your for your PhD and is not allowed to work because of visa restrictions, you may suddenly need to feed and house an entire family on a student stipend. While this is not impossible, and many students do so every year, you may find it challenging.

If you are on a low budget, see what your childcare options are for your budget, and if you possibly can get financial support for childcare from the government or your institution. If your spouse is not allowed to work, at least you save on childcare. To make ends meet, you may need to have a good look at your current expenses, and drastically cut down on certain categories. I've written about controlling your budget and ways to save money in the past - I personally think it's better to learn to live frugally for a few years, rather than to return home after graduate school with the burden of depth. Remember, this too shall pass.

3. Travel demands

If you need to travel to conferences or to a field site for research, parenting can become challenging. Travel is demanding for parents at many levels. When you are the mom of a nursing baby, traveling will mean that you need to accommodate pumping and perhaps send milk home. When you are a single parent, traveling overnight will require your child to stay with a trusted person overnight - which you may not have when you are geographically isolated. When your children are older, you will need someone to take care of all logistics at home when you travel.

There's no single solution to this challenge. Options include traveling with your child(ren) and a family member to see your him/her/them during the day, hiring more help for short periods of time, as well as cutting down on travel. I've significantly reduced travel over the last two years, and nothing bad has happened to me.

4. Irregular lab hours

If you need to run experiment on a certain time schedule, which may involve irregular hours, you will find that childcare can be difficult to arrange. Your partner may be able to jump in, but that's not always the case.

The key here is planning. If you know that a period of intense experimentation in the lab is coming up, start to look for your options in advance. Can you get extra hours in daycare? Do you have friends or family that can chip in? Can your partner trade hours at his/her job? Should you hire extra help? Should you delegate part of the experimental work to a student?

5. Inflexible tenure clock

Depending on the conditions of your tenure track, you may find that the tenure clock does not stop when you become a parent. If you work with chemical substances in the lab, it may be impossible to continue experiments during pregnancy. You may fall behind the tenure clock during maternity leave, and then you may decide to work part-time instead of full-time, but the tenure clock won-t adjust to your new schedule.

If you are faced with an inflexible tenure clock, speak up about it. It's not a fair system, and it should be changed so that parents don't get cast to the side because of the tenure clock. Ask for your options. Insist where you can - this battle is worth a fight, as it will improve the conditions for the generations that come after us.

6. Working environment

If you are constantly hearing other people brag about all the hours they put in to their academic work, you may feel out of place. If you are the only parent in a research group, you may feel that your colleagues don't understand your struggles.

To make academia more sustainable, we need the working environment to change and to be able to accommodate people with different backgrounds and with different situations at home. To solve the world's pressing problems, it's all hands on deck - we can't afford to lose good researchers simply because the working environment is hostile towards parents. If you feel that your colleagues don't understand your struggles, build your own network of academic parents to help each other out and to share your best advice.

How sleep-deprived are academics?

I recently ran a poll on Twitter to see how much or how little sleep academics are getting. The majority of the respondents of the poll (70%) are getting between 6 and 8 hours of sleep per night, as recommended. However, 20% of the respondents are getting less than 6 hours on average, which may lead to adverse health effects in the long run. A few years ago I wrote an article on why depriving yourself of sleep is a bad idea, and what you can do to get better sleep.

Here are the poll results and the wake of the discussion:

Peer review and the journal impact factor

I recently ran a poll on Twitter to learn if academics change the way they review depending on the journal impact factor. As for myself, I won't be "milder" if I'm reviewing for a lower impact factor - the methods still have to be justifiable, and the paper still needs to be well-organized and well-written - in my opinion.

What I learned from this poll is that most of the respondents have the same attitude. For some high impact journals, the perceived future impact of the work is more important, so that may change the way in which the reviewer prepares his/her report and recommendation - but at the end of the day, the science still has to be good to merit publication, regardless of the venue.

Here's the wake of the poll:

The carbon footprint of academic conference travel

The latest IPCC report on climate change worries me deeply - I can't ignore the alarm bells this international panel of scientists have set off. Generally, I try to be make environmentally friendly choices: I eat plants, I walk my commute, I buy second hand clothes and furniture as much as possible, my kid is in cloth diapers, I recycle as much as possible etc etc. But the elephant in the room for my lifestyle is my traveling. I used to get excited about the opportunity of going to a conference halfway around the world. Now, I worry about the carbon footprint of my trip.

So I ran a poll on Twitter to see if I'm the only one - and I learned we as academics have heard the alarm set off by our fellow scientists. Now let's go one step further and take direct action in our teaching and our profession (how? I am still trying to figure that out!). Here's the poll and its wake:

Getting your PhD proofread: how to do it properly (and ethically)

Today, I have the pleasure of inviting Dr. Maximilian Lemprière to share his insights on proofreading the dissertation. Dr. Lemprière started The PhD Proofreaders after completing a PhD in political science at the University of Birmingham. The company offers a tailored service that reflects the peculiarities of a PhD but which also respects the integrity of authorship and the ethical responsibilities that come with academic proofreading.


Record numbers of PhD students are having their dissertations proofread. Should it be counted as cheating?

Sometimes, yes.

This might seem like a strange thing for someone who runs a PhD proofreading company to say, but it’s true. It’s a wild-west out there and it’s difficult for students to know where to draw the line between legitimate proofing and cheating.

This post is for those thinking of hiring a proofreader for their PhD thesis. I’ll tell you what is and isn’t allowed when you hire one and how you can make sure what you are buying is legitimate and, most importantly, ethical.

Why? Because too many students are getting caught out without realising it.

Isn’t it cheating?

Whether hiring a proofreader counts as cheating depends on the service that’s being offered. Proofreading for conventions of language, grammar, punctuation and syntax is legitimate and has a long history in academia. How many people do you know who have had their friends of family proofread their thesis? Lots, most likely. Similarly, all journal articles and books are professionally proofread. It is difficult to spot language and grammar mistakes in our own work, so it's sensible editorial practice for any text to be proofread, not least one as important as a thesis.

But, proofreading is often equated with copyediting.

Copyediting is most certainly not allowed. Pay a copyeditor and the text they return isn’t yours.

Trouble is, it’s a wild-west situation out there. There are plenty of legitimate, honest and ethical proofreaders, but there are many cowboys offering to edit or, in the worst cases, rewrite your work. In other words, you often have copyeditors masquerading as proofreaders.

What’s more, it’s up to you as the student to know what is and isn’t allowed. Sure, by the time a PhD student submits their thesis they know about the rules surrounding plagiarism, but the rules surrounding proofreading are less well understood.

To make matters worse, the information that’s available is often conflicting. Some universities have been proactive and have published codes of practice governing the use of proofreaders and copyeditors. Trouble is, many of the students we speak to don’t know they exist and far from all universities have been so proactive. Plus, stories such as
this and this are just plain misleading and reflect the common tendency to think proofreading and copyediting are the same. They aren’t.

So here I want to talk directly to students interested in paying someone to proofread their PhD. I want to tell what you need to know and ask in order to make sure you choose an ethical proofreader and don’t fall foul of the rules.

What do you need to do?

1. Make sure you understand your university's proofreading policy. If there isn’t one, speak to your adviser. Work within these rules at all times.
2. Ask the proofreader whether they will be willing to work around the university's requirements or any requirement you specify.
3. Check that the proofreader doesn’t offer to copyedit.
4. Even if they’re not copyeditors, some proofreaders may wish to make suggestions about how to improve the flow of your text. Make sure that they leave comments, rather than restructure or rewrite the text directly.
5. Ask them if they are willing to have their name included as a third-party editor (your university will most likely require this). If they say no, be sceptical.
6. Ensure they have experience proofreading academic texts. Generalist proofreaders might not be aware of issues to do with plagiarism.
7. Be open with your supervisors and express your intention to have your work proofread. They may offer you advice.
8. When you get your work back, read through your thesis thoroughly. 


Conclusion:

Love it or hate it, proofreading is here to stay. The issue is controversial, but largely because there is so much copyediting masquerading as proofreading and because there is a common misconception about the difference between the two.

Three things need to happen for the situation to improve.

Most importantly, those offering proofreading and copyediting need to be much more heavily regulated. Most, including us, choose to operate ethically, but if we were to choose not to there would be no punishment. The risk is shifted to the student.

Australia is a role model in this regard. The government there has introduced a standard for professional editing services, which has been adopted by universities. It clears up any misconceptions of what is or isn’t allowed, whether on the part of the examiner, the student or the proofreader.

Second, Universities need to be more proactive and publish proofreading codes of practice. Many have begun to do so, which is a welcome sight. The LSE comes to mind here; they have gone a step further and set up their own proofreading company.

Third, students need to be be better educated about what is and isn’t allowed. It is my hope that this post helps in that endeavour.

Tools for planning

I ran a poll on Twitter to identify which method is most popular for planning: lists, tasks, or a calendar. The most popular method seems to be lists, but more than anything, I learned from this poll that every person has his/her own method. After all, this conclusion is not surprising, as learning how to organize oneself and developing our own methods is a typical part of the learning process in the doctoral years and beyond.

You can find the results of the poll and its wake here:

Two papers on the arched strut

In 2018, I was co-author of two papers on the topic of the arched strut - both were presented by my colleague Dr. Alexander.

The first paper, presented at the conference on Short and Medium Span Bridges in Quebec City, looks at the use of the arched strut for approach slabs of bridges and considers the effect of fatigue. The abstract is as follows:

Strut-and-tie models (STM) are appropriate for analyzing and designing disturbed regions in a reinforced concrete structure. The arched strut is an addition to the STM tool kit. It models the combination of disturbed behavior in one direction with slender behavior in the perpendicular direction. The arched strut is part of the Strip Model, originally developed to model load transfer between a two-way slab and its supporting column.
It is difficult to define the geometry of conventional STM in a slab. One end of the strut is connected to the concentrated load but there is no similar feature to define the position of the other end. The arched strut is a means of addressing this difficulty. The method does not model a failure criterion; rather, it defines an acceptable load path that meets static and material constraints.
This paper summarizes the technique in the context of column-slab connections, develops the modifications needed to model conventional punching of an approach slab under a patch load, and proposes additional modifications to adapt the analysis to fatigue loading.
The principal findings are that, while the analysis for two-way shear given in S6-14 are deficient, the punching strength of a typical approach slab under both static and fatigue loading from a CL-W truck should not be a concern.


The second paper, presented at IABSE Nantes in September 2018, describes the arched strut from a more general perspective and shows how the arched strut can be used as a tool in the strut-and-tie models toolkit. The abstract is as follows:

The arched strut is an addition to the strut-and-tie (STM) tool kit. It models the combination of disturbed behavior in one direction with slender behavior in the perpendicular direction. Common applications for the arched strut are in the design of connections between a reinforced concrete slab and its supporting columns or punching of bridge decks.
The arched strut can be applied to any combination of shear and moment at a column-slab connection. The designer is given clear guidance on anchorage requirements for the flexural reinforcement and the expected ductility of the connection. The method does not model a particular failure criterion; rather, it defines an acceptable load path that meets design objectives.
The paper outlines the basis for the arched strut and presents examples illustrating its use in design.

PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: Academic Honesty and the Dark Side of Academia

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands.

These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands.

If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better - and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic!

Academia has a dark side. Some scholars have published work that turns out not to be reproducible, as a result of data fraud or even complete data fabrication. You can read plenty of stories about such dishonesty on Retraction Watch - some are stories about errors in methodology, and researchers jumping too quickly to conclusions, whereas other retraction are the result of fraud.

By now, the dark side is present at all levels. Undergraduate students can buy their essays (and typing this sentence makes my stomach churn, as I'm sure this post will be flooded with spam comments from paper mills). Graduate students can buy their thesis online. And some professors who may feel pressed for extra income contribute as ghost writers to this system. The for-profit cycle of academia is complete (and has sent some students and academics completely out of orbit).

In an extreme case, a dean who exposed academic fraud in South Africa was murdered. One of the men accused for murder is a former colleague of the murdered dean. When people have a lot to lose, they can become extremely desperate.

Paper mills

Paper mills are websites that churn out on-demand essays for students at all levels. And the use of paper mills is on the rise. According to this article from the Times Higher Education "one large essay-writing company says that it has seen a 20 per cent increase in the number of UK customers in the past two years."


Ellis, Zucker, and Randall (2018) studied this problem and managed to find the cracks in the system of paper mills to learn more about their business model. Their analysis show that the paper mills are a mature business, and they offer some recommendations for academics to detect fraud.

If you want an intriguing look into the life on the other side of the paper mill, read "The Shadow Sholar: How I Made a Living Helping College Kids Cheat" by Dave Tomar. I found myself wanting to yell at the author many times for making such poor choices in his life, but all in all, it's a fascinating read.

And also: thesis mills

You can also order your PhD thesis online. Out of curiosity, I've filled out a request form twice. The first one got lost in my archives (I think I submitted the request late 2012, early 2013), but I remember asking for a quote for 100,000 words of a PhD thesis in 48 hours, with the topic of my PhD research (which includes experiments). They got back to me with a quote and a confirmation they could deliver the requested thesis. Ha ha ha.

The second time (November 2017) I filled out a request for a quote, I was limited to 10,000 words of PhD level work, to be delivered in 48 hours. Price tag: 275,175.95 British pounds. Again - I laughed in disbelief, posted about it on Instagram, and called it a day.



But some PhD candidates do take this route for their PhD thesis. Here you can read how a Turkish scholar pressed a paper mill for answering questions about delivering a PhD thesis, and he mentions the following jaw-dropping results of an investigation: "The Boğaziçi University Centre for Educational Policy Studies examined 600 post-graduate papers (470 master’s theses and 130 PhD dissertations) submitted between 2007 and 2016, and found that 34.5 percent of them were heavily plagiarised. The global average for plagiarism is 15 percent."

Predatory journals

Another part of the underbelly of academia are predatory journals. These journals, following the open access publishing model, are only interested in cashing the article processing fee (APC), often with no or minimal peer review. While the general idea is that scholars are "tricked" into publishing with predatory journals, in some cases the authors know very well what they are doing, and use such publications to pad their list of publications.

Until 2017, Jeffrey Beall curated the Beall's list of predatory journals. Unfortunately, after receiving threats. You can find an archived version of the list here. By now, other players, including the anonymous "Stop predatory journals" are or were working on updated versions of the list, but many scholars are afraid of continuing this work because of the threats Beall received.

Sadly enough, predatory journals nowadays are the venue of choice for antivaxxer and climate change deniers to publish - resulting in these articles showing up as "proof" in a number of blog posts and news articles by these groups.

If you are not sure if the journal you want to submit your work to is legit, ask your colleagues if they have heard about the journal. Check some recent publications in the journal to see if these appear to be studies that have gone through peer review. Beware of emails addressed directly to you asking for a publication, especially when they talk about a (conference) paper you recently published. Similarly, don't accept invitations to serve on the editorial board of such journals (note that some predatory journals list academics on their editorial board who are not even aware of the fact that they are listed there - in case of doubt, send an email to the "famous" researcher on the editorial board with the title and abstract of your work to see if your work is suitable for the journal).

Hijacked journals

While less common than predatory journals, hijacked journals are according to Wikipedia: "legitimate academic journals for which a bogus website has been created by a malicious third party for the purpose of fraudulently offering academics the opportunity to rapidly publish their research online for a fee." Here's an archived version of Beall's list of hijacked journals. To my best knowledge, there's currently no up-to-date list of hijacked journals. When in doubt, ask around if you are submitting your work to the correct journal/website!

References:
Ellis, C., Zucker, I. M. and Randall, D., 2018, "The infernal business of contract cheating: understanding the business processes and models of academic custom writing sites," International Journal for Educational Integrity, V. 14, No. 1, January 11, pp. 1.

Acknowledgment: thanks to Prof. Pacheco-Torgal for the inspiration for part of this article, and the links to a number of the articles referred to in this post.

Academia's favorite pens

On a lighter note, I recently ran a poll on Twitter to see what most of us use for writing - and, not surprisingly, the ballpoint pen won the poll! I like writing with a fountain pen and until the end of my first master's I always wrote in either pencil or fountain pen, but then I started to write with the free pens I get at conferences as my studies advanced and I got poorer.

Here's the result of the poll and its wake:

I am Suzan Verberne, and This is How I Work as an Academic Parent

Today, in the subseries about academic parents in the "How I Work" series, I am interviewing Dr. Suzan Verberne. Suzan Verberne (1980) grew up in Twente in the east of the Netherlands. In 1998 she started her academic education at Radboud University, Nijmegen. She obtained her master degree in Natural Language Processing in 2002 and worked in a small company for a couple of years. From 2005 to 2009 she was a PhD student, also at Radboud University, on the topic of automated Question Answering. After her PhD she worked as a postdoctoral researcher from 2009 to 2017, on a variety of projects involving Text Mining and Information Retrieval. As from March 2017, she is an assistant professor (tenure track) at Leiden University for the Data Science Research Programme.Check out her homepage.

Current Job: Assistant Professor at the Leiden Institute for Advanced Computer Science
Current Location: Leiden, the Netherlands
Current mobile device: Samsung Galaxy S7
Current computer: MacBook Pro 15 inch

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I am an assistant professor (tenure track) in the Leiden Institute for Advanced Computer Science at Leiden University. I am a data scientist, specialised in text data. I am affiliated with the university-wide data science research programme in which I supervise projects on text mining and information retrieval in the biomedical, health, legal, archaeological and policy-making domains. I currently supervise 4 PhD students, a handful of undergraduate students, and I teach two courses per academic year (link to my homepage).

I live in Nijmegen with my husband and two children (3 and 6 at the time of writing, almost 4 and 7). I have a part-time contract so that I can be at home with my children one day a week. My husband also works 4 days and we have 3 days of childcare.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
GMail, Dropbox, Todoist. Also: a text editor that allows for advanced searching/replacing and keeping track of multiple files in parallel (currently BBEdit). TeXshop for writing (although my collaborators have caused me to use MS Word as well), and PyCharm for coding.

What does your workspace setup look like?
I have two offices in two different university buildings, I work from home and from the train (my moving office!) I fully depend on my MacBook Pro that allows me to work effectively from everywhere.

Office number 1

Office number 2

What is your best advice for productive academic work?
Plan your long-term important work (proposal writing, paper writing) as first thing in the morning. The rest of the day you will be flooded with other work and you won't have time to write, which is frustrating at the end of the day. If you reserve the first hour (or one-and-a-half) of the day for the long-term priorities you are sure you progress with the important things over the course of weeks.

What is your best advice for academic parents?
Take vacations with your family, both long and short. Take real weekends: go out with your family, be active. Taking time off has a truly positive effect in the long run. Plus, it always strikes me that the best memories of my children are from family vacations. Being away together.
Also, try not to work on days with the children. Postpone the work to the evening when they are sleeping.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
I have overview spreadsheets: one for papers, one for projects and proposals. I colour the lines based on status (in preparation, submitted, rejected, in revision, accepted) and keep track regularly.
For task planning, I use Todoist, which allows me to set dates and priority levels. I learned not to be frustrated to not finish all my tasks but to be satisfied with finishing the high-priority tasks.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
Not that I am aware of. We have an iPad at home but I am typically not the person using it (all other family members seem to love the thing).

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
Planning and organisation are my talents. I can be very efficient and deadline-oriented. (A pitfall is being too deadline-oriented and doing too many on the last day; the closer the deadline the more efficient I become.)

What do you listen to when you work?
Mostly nothing. I don't bother to hear co-workers or co-commuters talking. I do have Spotify and listen to an occasional playlist when the train company is too noisy (current playlist: 90s Rock Anthems).

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
A book about the history of the neighbourhood we will move to next month (Hees in Nijmegen).
I don't find a lot of time for reading honestly. On vacations, when there is no Netflix and work to fill my evenings, I read a number of books. The rest of the year very few.



Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
Extrovert. I communicate a lot, both in written and in spoken form. I try to be open and honest to colleagues, supervisors and students. I feel that I failed when someone tells me I was not clear to them.

What's your sleep routine like? Has it changed significantly since becoming a parent?
Roughly 22.30 to 6.30. When I became a parent it changed dramatically in the sense of: going to bed earlier, sleep with many interruptions, and getting up earlier. Now my children are getting older and sleep through most of the nights, I am happy with a regular sleeping schedule where I go to bed between 10 and 11 PM and wake up between 6 and 7. To be honest, I have better sleeping habits now than before we had children because I often was away in the evenings and went to bed too late, which caused me to be tired during daytime.

What's your work routine like?
Different depending on the week day because my husband and I share the responsibilities for bringing the children to childcare/school and picking them up again.
On Mondays I work from home or have meetings that are relatively close by, so that I can bring and pick up the children. On Tuesdays my husband brings and picks up the children and on Wednesdays he does not work -- those two days I leave for work at 7.15 in the morning and return around 6.15 in the evening so that I can have dinner with my family and bring the children to bed. On Thursdays I don't work. On Fridays I bring the children to daycare and then leave for work, starting later. I return home before 7 in the evening, unless I have work events to attend in the late afternoon.
I often do some work in the evening but typically only for one hour, finishing some tasks and replying to emails (between 8 and 9 -- when the children are sleeping).

How is it like to be a parent where you work? Are your colleagues supportive and understanding?
The combination can be difficult sometimes. I have to say no more often than colleagues without children. I only attend one or two international conferences per year and I have not been to conferences outside Europe for 7 years. Also I have to set priorities for events at work and miss a number of relatively important events such as the opening of the academic year, and the monthly drinks at the institute. However, I have not experienced complaints from direct co-workers about not being available late in the afternoon, or evenings, or Thursdays.

How much maternity or paternity leave (if any) did you get and was it paid leave?
I did not use any. I have a part-time contract.

Which childcare services are you using? Does university provide support in finding and funding childcare?
I believe they do, but we have childcare close to where we live (and close to the school).

How is your parenting style?
Difficult question! When the children were younger I was leaning toward attachment parenting: I breastfed both children up to two years, carried them in slings and we co-slept regularly. Most of that was motivated by pragmatism, not so much a principled decision I must admit.
At the same time, we have always be working parents relying on professional childcare from a young age (3 months, which is standard in the Netherlands).
Now they grow older I cannot say we have a particular parenting style. There is quite some talking involved, we try to take our children seriously (although toddler tantrums are sometimes difficult to rationalise), and I think we have a little bit of focus on social relations -- the importance of having friends and contacts you trust and are loyal to. We have a few strict rules on the things we find important (the 'pick your battles' strategy).

What's the best advice you ever received?
In parenting: "het is een fase" ('it is a phase'), which means that challenges with children (infants/toddlers/preschoolers/...) often go away after a while; you can hardly influence that.
In work: this image

I am Misty Paig-Tran, and This is How I Work as an Academic Parent

Today, I am starting a new subseries within the "How I Work" series - a series for academic parents. My first contributor is Dr. Misty Paig-Tran. Misty Paig-Tran, PhD. is an Assistant Professor of Biology and runs the Functional Anatomy, Biomechanics, and Biomaterials lab at California State University Fullerton. She earned a B.S. in Marine Biology and a PhD in Biology with an emphasis in Animal performance.

Current Job: Assistant Professor California State University Fullerton
Current Location: Fullerton, CA
Current mobile device: IPhone
Current computer: Both Mac and PC

Can you briefly explain your current situation and research to us?
I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. My lab is called the FABBLab or Functional Anatomy, Biomechanics, and Biomaterials Lab. Most of my work explores how organisms perform in their environments. Sometimes this leads to new technologies for human use.

What tools, apps and software are essential to your workflow?
We use the basic adobe suite of products often. We also use 3D cad programs and AMIRA visualization software. As for tools we use our material tester a ton. We also make use of microscopes (compound and Scanning electron microscopes, laser cutters, 3D printers, and high speed videography. Sometimes we need basic tools like drill and R software for data analysis.

What does your workspace setup look like?
I do have my own office, a labspace, and I make use of a home office as well.



What is your best advice for productive academic work?
For me, I use lists. Every morning I make a list of tasks to be completed. I keep longer term lists on my whiteboard where I see it daily until I complete the task.
Also rewards. If I am writing a grant, I write a solid paragraph then get a bit of social media time (5 min) or chocolate.

What is your best advice for academic parents?
Treat the day as if you are at a normal 9-5 job. I try to make realistic goals for what fits into the time I have here. Once I go home, my time has to be devoted to my kids (they are 1 & 3). By the time I get them both to sleep, I am too pooped to do more academic work.

How do you keep an overview of projects and tasks?
I am super conventional in that I have a running list of projects taped on my desk and a list of where each project is in terms of completion on my white board in my office. I’m really good at ignoring reminders on my phone or on a google calendar, so this is my best organization method.

Besides phone and computer, do you use other technological tools in work and daily life?
Ipad when I go to meetings for sure.

Which skill makes you stand out as an academic?
Oh geez, this is totally a loaded question. Probably my experimental approaches, but honestly the thing I get asked most is how do I balance work and home life with two kids while still publishing.

What do you listen to when you work?
Ok so full disclosure I cannot listen to anything and write. I am one of those people who know the lyrics to everything, so my brain will focus on music or the podcast while I am trying to think. If I am grading, I try to listen to something light like post-modern jukebox.

What are you currently reading? How do you find time for reading?
Currently I am reading a book called The checklist manifest because I realized that paperwork is not my strength and I am trying to learn to cross my T’s and dot my I’s so that I do not annoy the wonderful folks in the bio office. Usually I read some sort of fantasy novel because it is light and I don’t have to think to hard about the characters while I am at work.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? How does this influence your working habits?
100% introvert. If I could just sit in my office and work I would. That said, people stop by my office all the time to chat and catch up. Sometimes this gets a bit overwhelming, kind of like going to a scientific conference and having to interact with people (with whom I really do want to socialize with) for days. By the end of the conference I feel like I need a week in solitary confinement. Interacting with people via social media is great fun because it also lets me experience a conversation without being forced to input my opinion unless I choose to.

What's your sleep routine like? Has it changed significantly since becoming a parent?
By 10pm I am done. By 4:30am or 5am I am up because my 1 year old refuses to sleep past that time. Naturally I like to stay up late and wake up late. So yeah, my schedule has totally changed since becoming a parent. My best work pre-kids happened at around 9 or 10pm. Now I am lights out at this time.



What's your work routine like?
8:00 am teach human cadaver based anatomy or ichthyology
mid morning = office hours/emails/prep for lecture/coordinate lab
late morning = meetings with colleagues or students about research projects
lunch
early afternoon = paper/grant writing
late afternoon = either more of the same or instruct students/experimental design/seminar/ other tasks
4:30 – off to get the kids.

How is it like to be a parent where you work? Are your colleagues supportive and understanding?
My colleagues are luckily 100% supportive. We are a family friendly university and no one bats an eye if I have to leave early for a doctor’s appointment or if I come to an after hours event with kiddos in hand.

How much maternity or paternity leave (if any) did you get and was it paid leave?
I got almost a semester of paid leave and yes, this was leave coupled with sick leave and disability. I got two extra weeks because I had c-sections.

Which childcare services are you using? Does university provide support in finding and funding childcare?
I use a Montessori school around the block from campus. I do not get extra support from the university. I found it myself and have not seen something through the university to help with this, though it may exist and I just don’t know about it. Childcare is ridiculously expensive especially when you have two kids. Basically this is where my paycheck goes and my partner pays the mortgage.

How is your parenting style?
Hmmm…I guess I don’t know the buzz words for types of parenting styles. I am somewhere between strict (somehow I will instill manners into a three year old – mostly there now) and somewhat hands off meaning I do try to let my kids make mistakes and learn from them.
When it is family time, I guess I am sort of all in and not getting work done – which is probably good for tenure but not good for my sanity. Toddlers are a special kind of challenge.

What's the best advice you ever received?
I guess I could say about what? About academia? I once was told that the tenure process is awesome because it is a guaranteed job for two years at a time and then if you get tenure it is a job for life. Having worked in restaurants, etc where I know people got fired all the time (no I have never been fired), that seemed like a great gig.

For my sanity: Never be the smartest person in the room. I tell my students on the regular that I feel dumb every day. If I don’t feel dumb, then I am not learning something new.

For parenting: Try to go with it and not react immediately. I tend to get frustrated when I have to say something over and over, which is pretty much a daily occurrence with a 3 year old. Stopping and taking a breath has been magical for my sanity and for my kids seeing a balanced and not-so-stressed-out mom. Does it always happen? No. Are there days when I question my life choices trying to balance the academy and small kiddos? Absolutely. But really, it is my dream job and my dream family, so I don’t have too much to complain about.

Getting into the habit... A PhD student’s perspective on data management

Today's post is a guest post by Annemarie Hildegard Eckes. Annemarie is a PhD student in Biogeography at the department of Geography in Cambridge, working with all sorts of data and formats: Climate data in .netcdf, and .txt format. Tree growth dynamics data in .excel spreadsheets. Tree ring anatomical data as images, and later as .txt -files. Her project involves the development of a computer model that simulates how a tree stem grows in width, in response to the environment (temperature, precipitation etc..). The ultimate aim is for the final model to be used in the vegetation model HYBRID, developed by Andrew Friend, to help in projections on how vegetation will behave under climate change in the future.
All this data needed to be described and managed well, for example: who gave it to me? What did I do to it? How to make sure I don’t lose it? How do I version control and document the scripts that use the data and the model that I compare the data against? How will I make sure the data and scripts during my PhD will be shared with the community and what standards should I adhere to, to make reusability really easy? Annemarie didn’t feel that she had enough expertise in this, but wanted to do it right from the start. Before she started her PhD she worked with a database for crop data. That’s when she really learned how poorly documented and poorly organised research data can slow down a research project immensely and she did not want to make the same mistake which she has seen experienced researchers make. Her previous experience and motivation to acquire good habits right from the start got hervery interested in RDM and made me an advocate for it as Cambridge and JISC data champion.

A PhD project is a significant period in a researcher’s life. During the project, we generally must develop our own research question and methodology, generate data and publish our results in papers and as a final thesis. Such a project is meant to teach us how to conduct research. This is the crucial time in which we as early career researchers should pick up the right habits for our future as successful scientists.

Research Data Management (RDM) is an important day-to-day activity for Scientists. Research output, collaborations and productivity depend on it. No surprise, then, that the documentation of a project’s RDM has become a requirement for many grant applications. By writing a Data Management Plan as part of the PhD proposal, we students are not only confronted with the whole data lifecycle of our research data before it is even generated, but we also gain experience in how such a plan is written. Early career researchers such as us PhD students should not underestimate the importance of skills in RDM, which in my opinion are nowadays pretty essential for a good scientific career.

I think “data management” in its most basic form starts with managing your email inbox. To me, it often is simply the act of keeping all information that I deal with in order. We all do it more or less all the time. The tricky bit is how to deal with what we call research data the best way. As we may be new to the research subject of our PhD, we may not know how best to collect, document and manage the data we are dealing with.

PhD students and RDM training
The point of a PhD is to learn how to conduct research and RDM is part of that process. But sometimes it may be important to learn about good practices right from the beginning, rather than getting into bad habits that cause problems later in your research.

I think that training in RDM for us PhD students is useful for two reasons, firstly to learn the right habits and secondly to enhance productivity throughout the duration of the PhD.

Figure 1 RDM-smileys: In talks I give about research data management, I like to use these smileys in my presentations. The first row at the beginning and the second row at the end of the talk. The principle behind these smileys is based on a presentation by the Cambridge office for Scholarly communication.

I conducted a survey and interviews at our department, asking fellow PhD students about their data management practices, the data types they collected and their training needs. Participants at the end of their PhD indicated that they generally felt prepared to conduct data management in their coming research career, while they also say that they would have benefited from training at the beginning of their PhD. In one interview, this came out especially, with one interviewee stating that “the lack of training in research data management slowed me down”. This shows that while we PhD students have ourselves learned more on the aspects of data management during our PhD, early training would have made us more productive - and certainly more happy ( see figure 1)! Please check this blog entry where I discuss some of the survey results.

PhD students and the data tree training platform
An online platform that provides training on RDM for PhD students is in my opinion a much needed resource! I think that at the beginning of my PhD, I would have been happy if Data Tree had existed to provide me with a good overview of RDM.

As an online course it is accessible to all PhD students at any time. And with some of us having crazy schedules and weird working and sleeping habits, doing such training in our own time might help us remain flexible. It’s my experience that people do not spend the time to come to talks or workshops. While my survey showed clearly that PhD students do think RDM is important, the turnout to stand-alone talks, workshops and other events I have organised has been rather low. I hope that such a continuously accessible platform would decrease the barrier to learning more about RDM.

While time and timing might be a barrier to learning about and performing RDM, I wonder whether the main reason PhD for students not attending training courses is the lack of priority. For many busy PhD students, RDM never seems to be a priority- and neither does RDM training. Therefore, PhD students will probably need to be encouraged in some ways to make use of this online platform. One option could be that Universities make this online course count in their PhD training logs.

It will be interesting to see how the platform is taken up and what strategies are used to encourage us busy PhD students to do this online course. I wish this platform a good start, a lot of users and that it makes a significant contribution to PhD students’ success in RDM!

What's the first thing you do in the morning?

I recently ran a poll on Twitter to learn how we start our days in the office. I usually make my coffee (I have to hurry so much to get out of the door in the morning that I don't have time to drink coffee at home), then revise my ToDoist list for the day (which I make up-to-date the night before, infant permitting), check my priorities in my BulletJournal, check my GoogleCalendar, and then get to work - or procrastinate with social media (guilty as charged!).

Based on the results of the poll, it looks like my habit of getting coffee first is quite common.

You can find the poll and its wake here:

PhD Defenses Around the World: a Defense in Portugal

Today, Dr. Miguel Abambres shares his experiences of the PhD defense. Miguel is a passionate Portuguese scientist, born in Lisbon in 1984 (Leo), and also a cat guy who loves traveling and teaching. He received his degree in Civil/Structural engineering in 2007 from IST (University of Lisbon) after spending the final semester of his undergrad at TU Delft. He received his PhD in 2014 from IST (University of Lisbon) on the topic of computational mechanics (novel FE formulation) applied to thin-walled carbon/stainless steel structural members. He did a post-doc at FCT (University of Coimbra, Portugal) in 2017-2018 on the development of an AI-based software for nonlinear regression problems in any field of knowledge. He also has 1,5 years of experience as a structural engineer in national and international firms, has spend 1,5 years as a under/postgrad professor (in Spanish) in Lima, Peru, and has worked 9,5 years as a scientist in several countries. His research interests include: Applied Computational Intelligence, Artificial Neural Networks, Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, and Steel Structures. Besides Portugal, he has lived in Holland, Australia, Norway, Perú, Colombia and Brazil. This post was written in August 2018.

In my case it was a remarkable period, i loved it, but not anything i wasn´t expecting. The exception was a "little stress" in the final semester (don't forget a 0.5 mg XANAX pill in your pocket during moments like this LOL), when one night I realized I had to restart my last computer simulations because the results were not good - I got afraid not having time to apply for the 2013 Vinnakota Award, but thanks to God I managed and at the end I had the honor to receive my first, yet the only (apart from grants), research prize.

I got a 4 year PhD grant from the Portuguese Government, and in order to apply I had to write a research proposal with my supervisors. Around the 3rd year I realized we had proposed enough topics for 2 PhDs (LOL), but my supervisor soon told me that the research proposal didn´t have to be fully completed as long as there was a major innovation in my final PhD thesis. Talk to your "bosses" and make it clear from the beginning. Researching under stress and anxiety harms a lot your performance.

Concerning thesis writing, my strategy was to start writing the theoretical part since day 1.
I proposed a novel mathematical formulation. Every stage of it was first written in MS Word (in the "final" thesis format, including text - not just formulas), then coded in MATLAB. After 4 years of research (including 6 compulsory postgrad courses and 15 papers (10 to conferences)), the so desired final phase had come - 6 months to finish the 328 page thesis.



After delivering the manuscript, I waited 6 months for the public defense. In the meantime I prepared my .pptx and went for holidays with my best friend a few months before the D day. In that day it was a piece of cake ahahaha (seriously, no one in that room knows more about your work than yourself).
Be confident and do not rehearse too much your presentation. Speaking at several conferences before the defense might help increasing your confidence and decreasing your anxiety (don´t forget the XANAX "friend", just in case).

Moving towards more Open Access publishing?

Eleven countries in Europe formed cOAlition-S, with as its basic principle:

"After 1 January 2020 scientific publications on the results from research funded by public grants provided by national and European research councils and funding bodies, must be published in compliant Open Access Journals or on compliant Open Access Platforms.”

I wondered if researchers are planning to move more towards open access, and ran a poll on the topic.

Here are the poll and its wake:

PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: Avoid These 10 Mistakes During Your Ph.D.

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands.

These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands.

If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better - and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic!

For the last few years, I've been consistently giving you my best advice. Today, I will give you a list of what not to do during your PhD years. Without me blabbering away with too much of an introduction, here are the 10 mistakes you should avoid when doing your PhD:

1. Start research without reading
When you start your PhD, you may be very eager to start working right away. While you may need to start working in the lab very soon after starting because of project deadlines, you need to start reading at the beginning as well to get a better understanding of what lies behind your observations in the laboratory. Your literature review is the basis of how you will phrase and tackle your research question. Pay due attention to the foundation of your work before you start building your research castle.

2. Stop reading after finishing the literature review
Once you finished your literature review, you may feel like you are "done" with the reading part of your research. Spoiler alert: you're never done reading. As a researchers, you need to keep up with the literature constantly. Set aside time on a weekly basis to read new papers, or to read classic/historical papers you missed when you did your literature review. Use this material to update your literature review until the final version of your dissertation is ready. And before your defense, delve into the literature again, so that you can show your committee members that your knowledge on your research topic is up-to-date and that you knwo their work very well too.

3. Avoid all "extra" work
You are not traveling to conferences and presenting your work because writing a conference paper is not a graduation requirement. You don't volunteer for extra work for committees within your university or of professional organizations. You reject all invitations to review papers. While I'm not an advocate for overloading you with work, you should consider opportunities carefully. For example, writing a conference paper can be a good first step before writing a journal paper. Presenting at conferences and other events helps you grow as a speaker, and replying questions during the Q&A prepares you for your defense.

4. Isolate yourself as a researcher
You don't talk about your research to the senior PhD students and post-docs. You don´t ask your supervisor for help when you feel stuck. You don´t listen to the input of the laboratory staff on your test setup. You are a complete solo player in your research. Unfortunately, research is a collaborative effort. Work in a team, and learn from those around you. Ask for help and advice - there's no shame in asking for help.

5. Isolate yourself socially
You eat lunch behind your computer. Your friends haven't seen you in months. At night, you watch Buzzfeed videos on your phone. Your mood levels are subarctic. Maybe you don´t even go to campus anymore but prefer to "work from home". Sounds familiar? Break out of your rut and make sure you rekindle your friendships and work relationships. Even better: set goals for your relationships with others, and add events to your planner (I learned this from Laura Vanderkam's 2018 book "Off the Clock" and now set goals for work, self, and relationships to balance these aspects of my life).

6. Procrastinate
OK, we all procrastinate. I love watching cat pictures on Twitter and reading random Wikipedia entries. But, when you can't get any work done because you are procrastinating more than anything else, you need to take action. You need to have a conversation with yourself about why you are not getting to your work. Is the task ahead seemingly too complex? Split it up into smaller, actionable items, and make lists and a planning. Do you have difficulties staying concentrated? Remove distractions and try the Pomodoro technique. Do you have something in your personal life that throws you off balance? Deal with it first and then get back to work.

7. Work without documenting your work
You want to work fast and don't want to get writing to slow you down - so you do all your calculations without documenting the references you used, the steps you followed, and the iterative changes your procedures went through. Big mistake. Document everything you do. If possible, ask for a computer with two screens: one screen for doing your calculations, and one screen in which you write down what you have been doing. Don't read without taking notes. Add a "version management" tab to your spreadsheets to log changes to your calculation sheets.

8. Work without a planning
You don't know where research will be leading you, so you don't need a planning. Maybe you work based on what comes into your email inbox. When you work like this, it's easy to lose track of your priorities. Make a list with your goals and priorities, and allocate your time accordingly. I'm a big advocate of setting milestones during the PhD, and planning at multiple levels (entire PhD trajectory, per year, per semester, per month, per week, and per day). I use a combination of lists in Todoist, planning and a weekly template in Google Calendar, and a Bullet Journal to write down my priorities and reflect on my progress.

9. Have the wrong motivation
Your goal in life is to become a professor so you need that PhD. Or, your goal in life is to make a lot of money, so you need the Dr. title. If you have the wrong motivation for doing your PhD, you will dread the journey. If you don't like what you're doing, then something is wrong. Try to find what motivates you to get to work every workday - will your research possibly have an impact on society? Whose lives will improve thanks to your work? How do you feel in the lab? If you really regret your decision, don't try to drag yourself through the next three or four years, but see if you can change project, topic, university, or even quit altogether if you learn that research is not for you.

10. Forget about self-care
You need to get through that PhD, whatever it takes. Well - it may take your health (physical and/or mental), and then you won't be able to finish maybe. So prioritize self-care, even when you feel you don't deserve it. Schedule time to unwind and do what energizes you. Take proper care of yourself by getting enough sleep, movement, and healthy food.