I have a question about the certificates provided for an award. Suppose, I received an award, but I wasn't Ph.D. at that time. After receiving Ph.D., can it be affixed to my name in that certificate? Has this question been asked before? I couldn't find anything on the site.

@AJ Well, the award is awarded to whoever you are at that time. Giving you a title that you didn’t have yet would be misleading.

So, it cannot be changed?

@AJ Anyway, why on earth would you want to do this? If you want to prove that you have a PhD, why use another award?

@Wrzlprmft That's not for me, but someone else.

@AJ Well, at the end of the day it’s up to whoever issued that certificate, but if that were me, I would refuse to do it. I would also not have such a change made myself.

@AJ Okay, why does that someone want to do it?

@Wrzlprmft It's about something else, something fictional. But I want to check if it has a real world case.

It now seems that this is not the real world case.

Thanks. :)

@AJ Ah, no; I see no reason why the PhD would be retrospectively added too this.

@AJ Real-world, this probably wouldn't be done for three reasons:

(1) Earning a prestigious prize even before completing grad school would remind everyone that he was a prodigy. And since that's his big claim to fame, he'd likely prefer to remind people of it. He's that kinda character.

(2) Almost everyone in Cooper's life has a PhD; the show even makes a point of teasing the one guy who only has a Master's. Since it's so well assumed, no one would feel the desire to brag about it, even if they were petty. It'd be like the average American bragging about a high school diploma.

(3) Sheldon's on the competitive side of academia. In that context, having a PhD's kinda tame. An academic might brag about their Nobel prize, but not something as commonplace as a doctorate.

To draw an analogy, Albert Einstein was a PhD. But, seriously, who cares? The dude was so far beyond the minimum level for a PhD that calling him "Dr. Einstein" would almost seem to be downplaying what he actually did.

I have to decide if I want to fight with my reviewers. All 3 said they want to see 0.05 per decibel instead of 0.5 per bel. I might compromise and give them 5 per decabel just to really piss them off.

@StrongBad is being a reviewer a very high calling in academia, and is there a lot of prestige attached to it?

@D.Hutchinson It's kinda like answering SE posts, though with less visibility. Usually reviewers are invited to do reviews because they're already respected as an authority whose judgement is worthwhile on new literature in the field.

@Nat does it come with any perks? If you were a reviewer for Top Tier Journal X, would your paper submissions to Top Tier Journal X have an easier time of being accepted?

@D.Hutchinson have you been requested to review some papers by the editors of some journals?

@CaptainBohemian hey :)

nope

was just curious ...

some of my profs. are reviewers and / or editors

so I wonder what perks they get in return for their service

I guess they have some special discount when buying something from that journal whose articles they have reviewed.

@CaptainBohemian hmm ... but ... if they affiliated with a good university / strong research group, they should already have access to good journals and wouldn't need to pay out of pocket for articles, I think ...

they're*

@CaptainBohemian one of our librarians told us of the enormous fees that the university pays for access to journals, but she wouldn't give me an exact dollar amount.

@D.Hutchinson they may want to buy books for private use. Can this kind of purpuse be subsidized by research budget?

our* university, that is

ah, I see

that I wouldn't know ...

sorry, I mean the publisher of the journal whose articles they review. Usually a publisher publishes many books, not just that journal.

@D.Hutchinson sigh. I didn't use that resource when being affiliated in university and research institute. I found how much I need that resource when I study unaffiliated.

@CaptainBohemian I agree

I have quit my research lab and am initiating my job search outside of academia - and I only recently found out that as an alumni member of our university library, we don't have access to academic journals

@D.Hutchinson I think those journals can only be accessed by going to that university library physically or using the computers in that university electronically.

right @CaptainBohemian

If I can do either of the both, I can still access those journals, but my alma mater is too distant so that I wouldn't go there often without accommodation there.

I see @CaptainBohemian

I can still go to universities not distant from this broken house, but because I am not familar with these close universities, I don't feel disposed to do this.

I see @CaptainBohemian

how's your hunger today?

I had lamb noodles and a chai latte mmm :)

@D.Hutchinson I just ate strawberry puffs.

@CaptainBohemian nice :)

@D.Hutchinson well, it's very cold today so that I feel my brain can't quite exercise its power.

I feel in such cold weather, I only feel comfortable when either sleeping or eating or doing nonserious things.

@D.Hutchinson yesterday I dreamt of being employed in a nonacedemic place.

yeah?

what kinda place?

tech firm?

@D.Hutchinson I can't remember the detail. Actually I have never been employed in nonacademic places, so don't really know what they would be like, so it's impossible that I can have a concrete scenario for that. I just dreamt I sat in the office, having not been assigned any duty, and think what I will do and hope I won't need to do any brainless ennui-triggered works.