Have the conference proceedings actually been published yet? I wouldn't formally cite it without checking that your abstract is in there.

Sounds sensible. Just one more thing before you commit yourself. Check what program the people most likely to be able to help you use. If they're all Stata users it might be better to go for that from the outset!

FWIW I am also a Stata user. I'd agree with bewildered's comments. I don't know if there are many Stata users in the business world but I think it's quite popular with economics researchers.

Depends on:
- What kind of analysis you intend to do (e.g. if the quantitative analysis doesn't go beyond logistic/linear regression then SPSS may suffice).
- What you might want to do after the PhD
- Your current level of skill/confidence.

SPSS is easier to use (so I gather) whereas R is quite challenging (which I think you're probably aware of given your post). R is becoming more an more popular in a variety of areas, particularly given that it's free.

This is worth a read if you want to get a feel for the challenges of learning R if you've used a commercial package in the past:

Along the same lines... if you click reply, get the message telling you that you need to log in, you do so... it still won't let you reply unless you refresh the page.

You also don't see the 'abuse' button unless logged in - I can't always be bothered to sign in just to report spam.

I'd cut back the background (200-250 words max) and beef up the research questions/aims and objectives.

Out of interest, what is your general field? That might affect the advice.

Some further thoughts:
- could you do some teaching (or relevant volunteering) in your home town? This might be politically challenging though.

- Could you stand to let your boyfriend move home at the end of your second year and spend another few (six?) months in situ before returning to join him? Chances are if you pursue an academic career then there might be times you'll have to be apart, albeit temporarily.

It doesn't sound like there's much worth sticking around for!

Although you say you can access supervision via Skype, I would consider maybe fixing a once a month meeting with your supervisor face to face. Partly so that you're not forgotten, partly as a motivator/focal point (you WILL start to flag at some point, motivation wise), partly to show willing. You could couple it up with anything else going on (like those occasional research group meetings).

Also be aware that some unis formally monitor their students' attendance now and may require supervisors to sign to say they've seen the student every so often. Our uni does this under the pretext of making sure we're supported, but the way it's been implemented, I'm pretty sure its a Home Office thing. Of course if you're not in the UK this might not apply.

Some more things to consider:
- How far is your hometown from uni? Would it be feasible, say, to drop by once a month?

- What's your departmental culture with regard to seminars, journal clubs etc. Would you be missing out?

- Are there any teaching opportunities you could access which require limited face to face time e.g. online/distance learning courses, dissertation supervision/marking.

Interesting. I'd not given much thought to corresponding author issues yet, as I've not first authored anything.

I'm also in health sciences. I do most of my work with existing clinical datasets. I would therefore expect for any papers relating to that data for the co-author who is responsible for that data to be the corresponding author, as he's a senior clinician and any papers that come out of this work reflect upon his reputation. However, there is one study I am doing completely independently of that data which I came up with my myself and am leading on. I would hope to be corresponding author there because I really do feel it's my work primarily, even though there will be coauthors. Whether that happens is another matter!

Congratulations on your offer. Is it definite that the PhD must be full time? Doing an unfunded full time PhD is quite an undertaking. It may be better to start off part time so that you can work somehow, and then switch to full time status once you have secured some funding.

I would be very reluctant to fund an entire PhD from loans, particularly given that a PhD is not necessarily career enhancing. What are your career plans post-PhD? If you let us know broadly what kind of field you are in, people might be able to point you in the direction of relevant funding streams.

Oh I didn't think *you* were anti-OA... but maybe the people who had advised you were! :) I agree that there are some dodgy OA set ups out there - but there are also dodgy subscription journals too. But in Medical Sciences there are some increasingly well regarded ones (http://www.plos.org/) - I am actually choosing one as my first choice for one of my thesis publications. If I can figure out who will pay...!

tt_dan it's hard to advise you specifically as you don't mention your field. But in general people in your own area might be best placed to give you advice as to which journals/conferences to look target or avoid.

In the old model of publishing, there is no fee to submit to a journal, but end users have to pay to read the articles (either via personal or institutional subscriptions, or pay per access). This is still the approach of many older journals. In Open Access the process of manuscript review is pretty much the same - the difference is that if the article is accepted, the authors pay a fee and then any reader can access it for free. There is also a mixed model where some old style journals will let you enable open access on your article if you pay the fee.

Open Access is NOT the same as vanity publishing. Articles are still subject to peer review, can still get rejected etc. There are some great open access journals; there are some rubbish old style journals. It's not clear cut.

Open Access is not always met with the attitude that MeaninginLife describes. In medical sciences, Open Access is generally considered to be a very positive model, and people are keen to have more of it. The issue of who pays is still a little thorny, but research councils are starting to deal with that.