Rise to the Top: The Habits and Mindset of Top 0.1% PhD Students.

In this video I share with you the habits and mindset of top 0.1% PhD students and how you can join the club.
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▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - have
2:29 - supervisor choice
3:47 - skills for papers
5:03 - short publishable experiments
7:20 - peer review
8:48 - get yourself some publicity
11:43 - wrapping up
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[@Caroline-tv2xy]

Hi Andy! Just wanted to say that I passed my Ph.D. defense yesterday and that your videos have been so incredibly helpful in providing me with some useful advice over the years. So grateful for your videos and keep doing what you're doing!!

[@musicmixtube6882]

Congratulations 🎉

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Congratulations, Caroline! Pleased that I was able to help. Good luck for your next steps.

[@isiakashuaibu7621]

Congratulations

[@pntrgrl6720]

Congratulations 🎊🎉. Such an amazing achievement!

[@monojitchatterjee3185]

Congratulations Dr. Caroline!

[@elizavetabelova6525]

There is a major quality crisis in science right now due to overpublishing. And this is particularly because of people in nanotechnology and material sciences who publish small experiments that don't add any value to the scientific community. I was in the nanotechnology field for a while and to be honest I don't understand why someone would want to defend a dissertation on 100 ways to synthesize magnetic nanoparticles, for example. It is the level of work of a skillful technician, not an independent researcher.

[@DrAndyStapleton]

I guess until the metrics for "success" change we'll continue to see the same in other fields too...what are your thoughts?

[@musicmixtube6882]

If you are in the academia you’ll know that fighting the system only blunts your progress, I am saying this through experience. I am not saying that people should not care about publishing good papers but the number matters!

[@christiangreisinger2339]

In the AI field its kinda the same. Usually the time investment and quality is pretty high because there is a need to find novel methods backed up with tons of theoretical mathematical proofs, but most of the results dont really add any value because the newer methods are either straight up worse/only good in very specific scenarios/good but way to much computational effort. Because there is no need to publish code its not even known if the proposed results are true

[@serenaarmiento8589]

I agree with you Elizaveta, I see a lot of rubbish work in my field which just increases the "noise" level and makes it difficult to find the really good papers. It also forces reviewers to waste time on papers not worthy of publication. New PhD students shouldn't be taught to publish as many papers as possible but to try and give the best contribution they can to their field.

[@heartandmindmatters]

@serena, this is a nice thought "contribution... "

[@claudiolentini5067]

"Try to find that skill that everyone needs, and no one wants to get, and try to get that" ... And then, after long days of imprecations, you'll discover that there was a reason that no one wanted to get that skill

[@khomkrity]

Perhaps that skill isn't necessary; it's just another want.

[@gergotr1810]

In mathematics, we always list authors in alphabetical order, no matter what their contribution is, which can be a little frustrating if your coathors always come before you even if you wrote most of the paper. It is not fun to be always "et. al."

[@francishunt562]

Could be worse, you could be called Zaphod Zumble.

[@erickgomez7775]

Change your name to Aaron Atari, but beware of any Aaron Acclaim

[@claudiolentini5067]

"Allow me to introduce myself, i'm James et. Al.

[@hgarde]

On the contrary, mathematicians know this and know that “first author” is not relevant in that field. This avoids the ethically problems that arise in other fields, where people may fight over the ordering. Most mathematics papers have very few coauthors anyway. In addition, in mathematics the number of papers is not as important as where you publish. A good balance is of course preferred.

[@TheGarrymoore]

True! There are many reasons why someone is a first author....so 'the first author' criterion is not good for judging the quality of contribution.

[@Garcia-elf]

I’m finishing my PhD soon. I have 4 first-author papers published, including in Molecular Ecology and Current Biology, but no middle-author papers.

[@yangene]

Congratulations and all the best!

[@gracekimchi]

Ahahahaha I had to make sure that my playback speed wasn't actually 1.5x. Amazing. Thanks for sharing all your wisdom with the rest of us!

[@ZhangWei-df7ej]

In an isolated Ph.D., sometimes the only interaction is with some guy on youtube (Andy).

[@Pandora234able]

I’ll be your friend! I’m a PhD in Engineering Nanotechnology

[@javlontursunov6527]

Man u r awesome, Even thought I am not a PhD student yet, I am constantly watching ur videos . Thank you. May you be blessed

[@putusita9052]

These are amazing tips! Thanks so much.

[@donharris8846]

Great content, as always 👏🏾👏🏾

[@necaro]

This is genuinely good advice, Dr.

[@katrinajan8217]

Super helpful! Thank you 😊

[@maximrojkov1700]

Andy, thanks for another interesting video! I've used the design of your communication award (downscaled) for live CAD modeling on a lecture about 3D printing (and printed it during the lecture) :)

[@priscillabahaw5673]

Thanks for your honesty

[@harperlee4058]

At least in the US, I would say your advice about getting published in a top journal is spot on. Everyone I know in my field who published 1st author in Nature, Science or PNAS as a phd or post doc landed a job as a tenure-track professor, usually at a top university. In my experience, "cheese" publications as you put it are not as helpful at all, at least not directly. Even things like "Q1" publications are less clear. Certainly you want lots of 1st author pubs in top journals, but in my field what counts as top doesn't always track stuff like impact factor or scimago rankings (it requires talking to top people in the field to know what are the top journals that people respect).

[@kenmina-hs1wb]

Thank you for the advice

[@lunasun872]

Great advice! Thanks 👍🙏🙂

[@KnowledgeGardenApp]

In my field (data visualization), the top conference (ieee vis) has several tracks that have quick turn-around (workshops, short papers, late-breaking. With Arxiv, the opportunity for wider feedback has increased for many fields. Good advice, Andy!

[@Garcia-elf]

Also my thesis doesn’t have a nice umbrella where everything fits. I worked on the genetic basis of pigmentation in a snake and genetic basis of freshwater adaptation in stickleback. Putting a thread through that in the thesis has been a challenge!

[@suze3441]

I have to admit that the more I watch your channel, the more I think: get the hell out of it asap. Sunday late afternoon here (Netherlands), spring arrived today, and I'm basically (still) surviving: finalizing the lay-out of my dissertation (having no means to outsource); working on an job application (temporary contract); preparing the 4 courses I'm teaching at the moment (another temporary contract). Anyhow, thanks for the content!

[@MA-ek1xl]

What are you trying to do afterwards?

[@suze3441]

@@MA-ek1xl no idea! 🙂

[@SurajInd89]

Just think of thousands of PhD scholars in India who are even forced to do the household chores of supervisors, and that too for one-tenth of what you earn. You’re lucky to be doing your PhD anywhere outside India. I would say we Indians must be awarded two PhDs, one for our research and another for our patience. And that too it takes approximately six years to complete one and people someone go up to eight years.

[@suze3441]

@@SurajInd89 Ah yes, I hear you. I'm afraid though that the academic world has become an international/ global one...or at least the market for the tons of PhDers out there. Meanwhile I did finish my phd, after 8,5 years (of which only 3 years on contract). I've been stuck in a powerplay with (3) supervisors, and tons of administrative "PA" work and teaching load. For sure, I'm privileged as a Dutch citizen (minimal welfare programs are still there), but the truth is that I have been working 70 hours a week at a salary of 1 day a week (and the living costs have sky-rocketed, also here). To give an idea: I've been eating canned beans for over a year just to be able to pay my rent (for a room). I did my masters partly in India (Bangalore), and wrote my Masters thesis on Jammu and Kashmir. Some of my old classmates back then have been better off, some not at all. Class (+ caste) does play a role here > those having a financial safety net will have more opportunities to succeed in (global) academia.

[@suze3441]

That said, I'm very grateful for the opportunity I had to do this research. I wanted to write a story that did justice to my experiences and the interlocutors I worked with (monograph, 2 years of fieldwork, philosophical anthropology). I fought for that, it took a lot (friends, health, years, money), and I wouldn't do anything differently if I could

[@21LeonidasZ]

One other advise: Except from scimago, try to also get into an ABS listed journal as well.

[@alhaeri1]

a valuable video indeed

[@kenmina-hs1wb]

Sir. You are a Godsend

[@mekosmowski]

Thank you.

[@colcoco_co]

That's interesting about the last author being a key role, what fields is that for? In social sciences we list the names based on amount of work done, so the last person is actually the least involved.

[@Erintii]

I was to go person after my PhD for data analysis. My contract was not prolonged as students were cheaper and this was a priority not skills.

[@stretch8390]

It's a shame Schekman's advice and open criticism hasn't changed anything about publishing in the sciences. As it stands, the only real motivation I see for people to go into Academia is to work on a certain problem that they don't have the opportunity to in private industry.

[@ProbablyKen]

What about the good old scientists mindest to have love for ones field and produce good content and then publish it. I know it is also about career but this process just seems dubios. However, I am not yet part of this.

[@JCResDoc94]

this is a fine video. _JC

[@BobsBlackwell]

Ah, I love you so much Andy. Cheeky parcel 😂 x

[@theverasilva]

Hi Andrew! This was one of my favourite videos of yours, thank you. Quick question, what’s your opinion on inviting a really influential author in your field to be part of your paper? I’m not talking about the small experiments you mentioned but one of the main research questions of your thesis. Thanks again 😊

[@alessandrodonascimentovarg24]

Good idea

[@RanchoPsycho]

I wish you provided some guidance for PhD student in Social Sciences domain. 🙏.

[@syedmohammadhamza4612]

Hi Andy, tell me how not to fall in obsessive research trap?

[@subtleblows]

Skills to swap for papers - this is an obvious way to get on a lot of papers, but observers know what is going on, and I do not know that it adds much compared to say first author in a Q3 or Q4 journal.

[@ashdown85]

Publishing a lot is not how you make research better, and the number of publications is not a good criterion to measure the quality of someone's work. And we don't need to be flooded under a massive amount of useless articles. I would like it a lot, if people stopped advising to publish just for the sake of publishing, or for self esteem reasons (0,1%, really ??? is that really what you are doing research for ?)

[@SurajInd89]

Unfortunately when you apply for a post-doc, they give so much weightage to the number of publications. So even though it matters little to the research, it often matters a lot in the career.

[@lenag3329]

yeah, that publishability mindset..

[@HimmelReiner]

I have 10 publications as a first author in journals with impact from 6 to 10. And a bunch of others. I did not get even a response letter for my postdoc applications, lol. And also no one responded for collaboration letter to host me as a fund applicant , double lol

[@elizavetabelova6525]

What field are you at?

[@priscillabahaw5673]

What field? I have research funding and would like to collaborate.

[@michaelmcguire2778]

How can I find out which journals are the top in my area ?

[@WestOfEarth]

This publishing paradigm can't continue like this, can it? It feels unteneble over the long term.

[@JCResDoc94]

5:00 youre anon tech as well? i didnt know that. _JC

[@user-qb7wv6wk5l]

How about top 0.1% postdocs or PIs.

[@mitalinautiyal]

Hey Andy! Wanted to hear from you about publishing fee that journals charge for open access. Do you think it is worth? What would be its worth if it is a q1 journal? I am getting a paper published in one such journal but my uni is not ready to pay for it. Is this common or a part of so called recession?

[@21LeonidasZ]

It's worth it if you are rich.

[@mitalinautiyal]

@@21LeonidasZ never met a rich PhD scholar 😀

[@alessandrodonascimentovarg24]

Scientific publishing industry is migrating to Open Access. If you decide for Open access, go for a traditional publisher. Avoid the new brand names.

[@user-cs8ez7ig9l]

I 💕 you ❤

[@javiercamacho3259]

I think I need a mentor ...@andy are you interested?

[@TheGarrymoore]

Many times the Principal Investigators (PI's) put PhD students as first authors just because there are criteria requiring students to be first authors of papers, whereas the PI's are the real bearers of the original ideas....so "the first author" principle does not tell anything about the contribution to the research. More often than not PIs help PhD students to get the degree by letting them to be the first author.

[@elberethreviewer5558]

Your superior didn't have to nominate you just because you asked. You won that fair and square.

[@divz2646]

What is Q1?

[@catalinavallejor]

Hello Andy, I have been trying to subscribe to your news letter, but there seems to be an error with the page, have you checked that out?

[@KnowledgeGardenApp]

Same here - couldn't find a way to sign up

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Sorry about that - I'll check it out!

[@JCResDoc94]

*2:04** you can just say PNAS.* i know they dont like it. _Jc

[@erickgomez7775]

Clearly, Andy is to go person for grooming a nice beard

[@gamingmarcus]

The top valuable skill: become a crystallographer. Everyone needs them.

[@thefaramith8876]

I think Peer Review is BS. We have over publishing and peer reviewing just doesn't work. But I'm not sure about this, a video on this?

[@francishunt562]

I'm not sure what you mean about the peer review process not working. What's the alternative ?

[@clivetinashe]

Hey andy. Can you please do a list of top journals papers can be published in? For me im an engineering student so i would like something along that

[@elizabethfrank-backman6390]

While I agree 100% about avoiding perfectionism, wouldn't it have been better to talk about the perfectionism itself? Learning when a paper is actually ready is part of the phD training. If there are emotional issues behind the perfectionism, learning how to counter them is also an important part of professional (and emotional) development. On the other hand your suggestion that one use the peer review process as an "editor" worries me. I can't tell you how many crappy articles I've had to waste time on because the so-called peer review process didn't double check citations and notice that a citation was misused. Or think through the logic of the paper. Or whether a reasonable range of interpretation of alternative interpretations of research results has been considered. There is really NO substitute for thoughtful review by your colleagues and pHD advisor before you publish. At least you know the quality of the review process.

[@Kestrel216]

"cant produce rubbish" man I wish a bigger majority of the community would adhere to that... man there are some shit papers out there

[@corsai7506]

Have to disagree, not every paper is the front page of Nature magazine material, be the best, and do not chase the nest!

[@francishunt562]

True, also the chances of getting published in 'Nature' are extremely slim. They get thousands (yes thousands) of submissions every month.

[@Mq8F]

Ok but I can’t focus now, what was in the package? 👀

[@DrAndyStapleton]

My house keys that someone accidentally took away with them.

[@mohitshukla5190]

​@@DrAndyStapleton 😅😅

[@barumbadum]

Andy, I wish I would know you 10 years ago.

[@akankshasinha6347]

I just got denied from my PhD application. Any advice?

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Check out this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHK9YZymlLh6f80

[@francishunt562]

Can be a long haul sometimes ; don't give up and keep applying.

[@Battlehammer333]

Go for the next position. Can’t expect to score the first one.

[@DSScully]

It might be a blessing in disguise

[@TXxJiggle]

Most important question is "how to grow a beard like you?"

[@amlaaaa479]

Unfortunately this only applies to empirical disciplines.

[@konstantinburlachenko2843]

Sorry. Firstly, in my academic activities positions means nothing. And secondary, please do no think that order matters at all. People in the paper may execute uncomparable work. Think about name of authors as a set.

[@JCResDoc94]

its all so gross. _JC

[@luisescarcega]

the order your name appears on the paper doesn't really matter as you can see they are ordered alphabetically

[@hgarde]

I find the comment that “you should not care so much about quality and let reviewers find your mistakes” despicable. Reviewers are not paid to do reviews, and wasting their time with poor quality work will likely burn many bridges. In the long run that is a terrible decision. In some fields the number of experts are quite low, so you will very likely to need the same reviewers and editors in the future. It is likely that your work will be rejected without review as well. Besides why would you want to do research and not take some pride in it? What a truly terrible advice.

[@bjornlindqvist8305]

HI ANDY I LIKE YOUR VIEOS BUT WHY ARE U SCREAMING AT ME?

[@sureshg2885]

hi come brne co