Why Didn't You Say So Earlier

"Besides physics and Engineering Drawing, I can't help you with the other subjects, bro." Shen Qi was quite surprised. So Xu Rui's call for help from his friends and family wasn't to call for a fight, but for his studies? Had this guy changed his ways?

Xu Rui: "First, solve my immediate problem: math!"

Shen Qi: "Mathematics?"

Xu Rui: "Advanced Mathematics!"

Shen Qi: "Advanced Mathematics?"

Xu Rui: "Yeah, I'm a sports scholarship student, and I also have to study Advanced Mathematics. Our Advanced Mathematics final exam is at 2 PM this afternoon. Come over right away and help me take it. I'll be waiting for you at the school gate!"

"No, I won't help you with this," Shen Qi said firmly.

"Shen Qi, if you don't help me, I'm definitely going to fail!"

"Why didn't you say so sooner? Xu Rui, if you had told me a month in advance, I would have given you a month of intensive advanced Advanced Mathematics. As long as you're not stupid, I guarantee you'd pass. Cheating will only hurt you, I'm sorry, I can't help you. If you fail, just retake the course. I can tutor you in math and guarantee you'll pass the retake."

After hanging up the phone, Shen Qi knew that Xu Rui must hate him to death, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Shen Qi returned to his dormitory. He needed to review his English; he had a College English exam the next morning.

After reading an English book for a few minutes, Shen Qi habitually opened his email. He checks his email every day to see if the editors of those mathematics journals have sent him any messages.

Bite!

New email notification.

"Hello Shen Qi, this is Tang Jinyong, editor of the * Journal of Mathematical Research *. Your paper, 'A Solution for Three-Dimensional Hypercomplex Numbers,' has passed the initial review and will soon enter the peer review stage. Please provide a LaTeX document of this paper that is ready for formatting and upload it to our journal's submission system."

"Download the <Copyright Agreement and Academic Standards> from the 'Download Center' on our website, complete the form according to the instructions, print it out, sign it in your own handwriting, and then upload the signed PDF file to our journal's submission system."

"Once your paper is officially accepted, our journal will charge an appropriate publication fee, pay you a modest manuscript fee, and send you a complimentary copy of our journal, along with 30 reprinted copies."

Before the peer review process begins, you may recommend several high-level reviewers in the same field (but please avoid any conflicts of interest). If you do not recommend any, our journal will arrange its own reviewers for your manuscript.

Please be aware of the above and reply accordingly.

The editor's email was very official and formal, a few cold and curt paragraphs, but it basically covered everything that needed to be said. This is the standard operating procedure for submitting and reviewing math papers.

The Journal of Mathematical Research is a journal sponsored by Zhejiang University, with an impact factor of around 0.3, which is still an SCI journal.

Shen Qi certainly understood the procedure. Great! After waiting for more than a month, one of his papers had finally entered the peer review stage.

The editors of core journals all sent written messages via email, and Shen Qi also replied with an email:

"Dear Editor Tang, I will complete the relevant procedures according to your journal's guidelines as soon as possible. Also, please arrange for a high-level reviewer in the same field; I have no recommendations at this time. Thank you."

Then Shen Qi uploaded the LaTeX document "A Solution for Three-Dimensional Hypercomplex Numbers," and downloaded the "Copyright Agreement and Academic Norms."

Writing academic papers is similar to writing online articles; an author cannot submit the same manuscript to multiple publications or have the same work published by multiple authors.

Having signed the "Copyright Agreement and Academic Norms" with Zhejiang University, Shen Qi could only submit "A Solution for Three-Dimensional Hypercomplex Numbers" to Zhejiang University's "Journal of Mathematical Research," transferring the manuscript copyright and media rights of the paper.

Shen Qi copied the Copyright Agreement and Academic Guidelines to a USB drive, printed it out, signed it, scanned it as a PDF, and uploaded it to the Journal of Mathematical Research's system.

At this stage, Shen Qi's paper has a very high probability of being accepted.

Of course, the most crucial step is the review of his paper by high-level reviewers in the same field, i. e., peer review.

Shen Qi did not recommend any of the academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences specializing in algebra to serve as reviewers for his paper.

Recommendations were useless; this paper wasn't even up to the academicians to handle, Shen Qi knew that.

Recommending top-level mathematics experts from Yenching University as reviewers wouldn't work either; the editor said it's best to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

So let's just leave it at that. We won't recommend any experts in the same field; let your editors arrange it themselves.

Journal editors are primarily responsible for the initial review; they act as intermediaries, connecting authors and reviewers.

The core content of the paper is reviewed by the reviewers. The reviewers know the authors' information, but the authors do not know who the reviewers are.

This is a single-blind manuscript, meaning the author is completely in the dark, and can only contact the editor, not the reviewers.

Shen Qi uploaded the PDF of the "Copyright Agreement and Academic Norms" to the system of the "Journal of Mathematical Research" and then Zhou Yu'an returned.

As soon as Zhou Yu'an entered the dormitory, he discovered the agreement signed by Shen Qi.

Although he hadn't published any papers, Zhou Yu'an knew the paper submission process. "A Solution for Three-Dimensional Hypercomplex Numbers, submitted to <Journal of Mathematical Research>, not bad, Shen Qi! Although the Big Mathematics Department is declining, even a starving camel is bigger than a horse. Their mathematics journal is still indexed by SCI. Shen Qi, you're about to become someone who has published SCI paper! Damn, you didn't even finish your first semester of freshman year, you monster!"

"Oh yeah, the * Journal of Mathematical Research * does have an impact factor (IF) value, but I didn't translate it into English." Shen Qi picked up his College English textbook and started studying English.

"Just by looking at College English, you can translate it into English?" Zhou Yu'an asked.

Shen Qi shook his head. "No, I'm reviewing College English mainly so I don't fail my English final exam tomorrow."

"Shen Qi, didn't you get a perfect score on your college entrance exam English test?"

"So what if you got a perfect score? Does getting a perfect score make you awesome?"

"Go to hell!" Zhou Yu'an didn't know how to retaliate. Being roommates with the top student among top students... well, there are pros and cons, I guess.

After looking at the College English textbook for a while, Shen Qi took out another book, "Professional English for Mathematics." He had never written a paper in English before, so he could consider it.

English experience points +1

English experience points +1

Shen Qi studied "Professional English for Mathematics" until evening, but his math experience points didn't increase; instead, his English experience points increased by a few points.

The next morning, there was College English exam.

This subject takes several semesters to learn.

Generally speaking, first-year college students with a good foundation in high school English will not have much trouble taking the College English exam.

Shen Qi's English level in the system is Level 3, and he scored full marks in the English section of the college entrance examination.

This College English exam was relatively easy. Shen Qi even had the illusion that the college entrance exam in English was more difficult than this College English exam.

In conclusion, Shen Qi completed the College English exam with ease and handed in his paper.

Oh, by the way, the English teacher was pretty normal; she didn't ask any daunting questions like "Who is the teacher?"

December is truly a devilish month. The next day, students in the School of Mathematics faced their final exams in Military Theory.

This course is similar to Marxist Philosophy; you just need to memorize the key points a day or two before the exam.