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Comment by gus_massa | Hacker News Reader

A clerk sitting in a patent office with a PhD or without a PhD?

To be more specific: Do you have a degree in the university? In which field? Is it related to what you want to publish?

In which field yo want to publish? In physics they like papers in journals. In computer science, they like conference presentations.

Beware that there are many predatory journals that publish any article if you pay the fee. Nobody cares about them, it's borderline a scam.

From the other comment:

> Proofs and working systems are good, criticisms of common methodologies are bad.

I agree. Be very clear about what is your new result. It is very difficult to convince people about something like "Quantum Mechanics is wrong" unless you have a big trajectory or a very solid proof. It is easier if you have a new algorithm that outperforms the 2 or 3 more popular algorithms in the 2 or 3 more popular benchmarks.

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Thanks! I have Masters in CS from a state uni(Have a thesis in Machine learning). Been in industry(FAANG) for 2 years as an ML engineer(I know that's not a great track to be in for research). But I am very much interested in getting into core research teams like FAIR / Google Research as a Research Scientist(trust me when I say that the teams set the bar very clearly with an entry minimum of phd though you are exceptional as an ML engineer and they are highly attached to certain unis too. That's reality). I am not in the 99th percentile with my grades though(3.5/4.0). I understand that's also an important factor with admissions. So I am working on boosting my profile up with some good pubs. Pointers?

A friend in scientific publishing tells me that China is in on the game.

Not wishing to say anything trade confidential, however, a major Western publishing house is having difficulty competing, the reason being turnaround speed. Try and get something published here and it takes a long time. Having a baby can be quicker.

Meanwhile in China you submit to your journal and you get it peer reviewed the following week and published shortly thereafter.

Try it, at least under the pretext of learning about how the world of scientific publishing works in the West as well as in China. Even if you do not get published there will be benefits in knowing what the score is.

Sorry I have no more details to share with you on the internal difficulties of the publishing business, there has been a lot of merger and acquisition activity going on as the business model is currently going through some pains.

It may seem disloyal going to get published by the underdog, however it isn't a biggie. Where do you think growth for journal subscriptions is coming from these days? China. The publishing community is gladly selling them 'our IP'.

Grades don't actually matter that much for admissions. The letters of recommendation are much more important, e.g. from the advisor that you did your thesis with.

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