The environment or community concerned with the pursuit of research, education, and scholarship.
Questions tagged [academia]
62 questions
50
votes
9 answers
Can I terminate an employee for qualifying for a job through a "degree mill?"
We have recently put together an HR unit, which reviewed all our employees and found that one has an unsatisfactory qualification (BA in Public Relations from an unaccredited college). HR suggested terminating her contract with a notice. HR tells us…
user20159
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21
votes
3 answers
Is it defamatory to publish nonsense under somebody else's name?
Imagine that a supposedly academic journal intentionally publishes an AI-generated article which is full of claims which are easily verifiable nonsense to any expert in the field. The article is published under the name of a real academic who works…
kaya3
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13
votes
3 answers
Is PI legally allowed to require their PhD student/Post-docs to pick up their kids from school?
Assuming that I'm a PhD student/Post-doc, what kind of tasks are the principal investigator(PI) - i.e the group leader - legally allowed to ask me to perform?
For example, is s/he legally allowed to ask me to pick up her/his kids from school? If so,…
Our
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5
votes
2 answers
Are designs explained in academic publications considered to be in public domain if there isn't yet a patent application about it?
In academic journals, sometimes the new approach they describe seems so promising that companies may want to use those designs or designs made/inspired from the principles mentioned in the publication. When an invention is publicly displayed, it…
b.g.
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5
votes
1 answer
How to refer to Supreme Court cases by just one name
I'm writing a paper for my high school U.S. History class, and I want to refer to certain Supreme Court cases by just one name after my first naming of the case (for example, I want to refer to Rucho v. Common Cause as Rucho or as Common Cause), but…
Lieutenant Zipp
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5
votes
1 answer
Are there any restrictions on "Open Access" material?
A video on Wikipedia claims that Open Access articles come with "full reuse rights" (sections 0:04 and 5:38).
Are Open Access articles as open as public domain works?
Is the definition of the rights of Open Access articles equivalent to that of…
Pacerier
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5
votes
1 answer
What rules prevent additional foreign jobs while on H1B?
Say X is an academic on an H1B visa, working full time. Now, X is offered an additional part-time research position in a different country (say, for example, Switzerland, Singapore, India, wherever). What rules/conditions of the H1B (if any) would…
stuckstat
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4
votes
1 answer
May a UK academic employer ask the latest pay slip of my current Canadian job?
As a postdoc in a Canadian institution, I have been offered a lecturer position in UK. In the offer email I have received, one clause reads as follows:
Please could you provide evidence of your current salary by sending me
your most recent pay…
user36135
4
votes
2 answers
What makes a legal question "hard"?
When someone says another person has a brilliant legal mind, I assume that means the person is well suited for hard legal questions. I think mathematicians and logicians have a systematic way of determining how hard their questions are. Is there a…
Mr. A
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4
votes
1 answer
Are there legal barriers to academic departments in the US choosing to act themselves in cases of sexual harassment or related incidents?
My understanding of Title IX is that it is a federal law that requires, among other organizations, universities, to ensure that women are not denied equal opportunities.
In order to ensure compliance with this law, universities create their own…
Davis
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3
votes
1 answer
No break clause in academic contract
I came across a mention of a "no break clause" in academic contracts, i.e. a clause in working contract by which an academic is liable to a penalty if they terminate their contract before the end of a fixed term. This is not related to a…
Dmitry Savostyanov
3
votes
0 answers
Are gender-quotas lawful for academic funding bodies in the UK?
Background
I am an academic, working in an interdisciplinary field. The UK's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is a United Kingdom government agency which funds research into health and care (and is the largest national clinical research…
Landak
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3
votes
1 answer
Can a professor patent and license a technology if the development used software with non-commerical license?
Suppose a professor or student at a university uses software like Rosetta (a protein folding software) for their research. Rosetta has free academic licenses as well as paid commercial licenses available. The professor or student uses an academic…
wanderingmathematician
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3
votes
1 answer
What type of lawyer would I need to help me deal with issues of academic misconduct?
What can stop a university from doing whatever they want and screwing students over in terms of accusing them of cheating, plagiarism, or a misunderstanding of professor authorization of essay re-submission in a second class, trying to take a…
J Phills
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2
votes
2 answers
What are the legalities of online research involving illegal services?
I want to do a thesis paper involving illegal online resources. I don't want to be persecuted for these things though. What are some of the steps I would need to take to legitimately go about researching said illegal areas of the internet. Who would…
cloudnyn3
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