These are questions that we imagine you might be wanting answers to. If you have a question not on this list, please drop a line to webmaster@commalg.org, or use our online form.
How do I get on your list of commutative algebraists? What are the criteria for being included? (And conversely, how do I get removed from the list?)
Our list of commutative algebraists is an attempt at a comprehensive list of webpages and/or contact information for active commutative algebraists. In some cases, it just points to a department faculty listing, which gives the contact information. Currently we are only listing graduate students who are finishing soon or who have research, preprints, or papers on the web.
To add or remove your name to/from the list, just send email to webmaster@commalg.org, or use our online form. We'll make the changes right away.
Why did you retire your preprint section? Where should I go to get preprint announcements?
When we started commalg.org there was no section of the arXiv devoted to papers in commutative algebra. The purpose of our preprint section was to provide one place with links to preprints that people had posted to their personal websites and to the Algebraic Geometry and Rings and Algebras sections of the arXiv.
Since we premiered commalg.org, however, the arXiv has added a Commutative Algebra (AC) section. After the AC section was introduced, we posted fewer than a handful of preprint announcements that didn't come directly from the arXiv. In essence, we were copying the announcements straight from the arXiv emailing, which seemed pretty silly after a while. The arXiv listings are browsable and searchable, much like ours were, and the arXiv offers the added bonus of email announcements which are handy and really easy to sign up for.
The preprint section of commalg.org outlived its usefulness, so we put it out to pasture. We heartily recommend that you get your preprints straight from the source--the arXiv.
How do I sign up to receive preprint announcements?
In order to control the amount of mail in people's inboxes, we have decided not to send regular announcements about changes to commalg.org. This includes preprint announcements. You can, however, receive announcements about preprints posted to the arXiv. (Info about the arXiv can be found elsewhere in this FAQ.) To subscribe to the arXiv's email announcement in commutative algebra, send mail:
To: math@arxiv.org
Subject: subscribe
add AC
You may be interested in receiving announcements for other sections of the arXiv like Algebraic Geometry (AG), Rings and Algebras (RA), or Representation Theory (RT). To sign up for multiple listings at once, send a slightly longer email:
To: math@arxiv.org
Subject: subscribe
add AC
add RA
add AG
Do you post job openings on commalg.org?
Generally speaking, we don't. The AMS provides the EIMS, which carries job announcements for most positions in North America and some in Europe. However, we do occasionally post position announcements for jobs that aren't listed on EIMS, or which arise late in the hiring season.
I don't have a web page, but I want to make
a preprint available to the world at large. How do I do that?
The easiest way to make your preprints available to the world at large
is to post them to a preprint server.
A preprint server
is an automated electronic mechanism, usually
Web-based, for exchanging preprints of scholarly
articles. The servers are fully accessible to anyone.
Authors post their preprints; readers retrieve the
preprints they are interested in. There are no gate-
keepers judging the quality of the posted material
(though oversight is exercised to eliminate inappropriate postings), and there are no access fees. [J]
The arXiv is the largest mathematical preprint server around,
containing over 17,000
papers in mathematics. There is now a section of the arXiv devoted to Commutative Algebra.
Posting to the arXiv is relatively painless. There is an extensive
help page mantained by the kind
people at the arXiv. This includes help on
submitting a paper (including help for registering as an author) and copyright issues.
Here is a brief outline of the submission procedure.
-
To register as an author, go to http://arxiv.org/uploads, click on "Submission form", select "Register for the first time", and fill out the form.
-
You will receive an email response from the arXiv including a verification code.
-
To finish registering, enter the verification code in the
email verification form.
-
Go to the upload page or
directly to the submission page.
You will need your author-id and password to access the submission page.
-
Follow the directions to upload. There are a number of fields to be
filled in, including title, author(s), MSC-class, and abstract. Explicit
instructions for the preparation of the entries can be found
here.
If this gets to be too much for you, but you still want to post your
paper to the arXiv, we'll do it for you. Email
webmaster@commalg.org to get the process
started.
Why should I use the arXiv preprint
server?
For explanation of what the arXiv is, see elsewhere in this FAQ.
The most compelling reason for you to post your preprint to the arXiv
is to allow your work to reach, quickly and conveniently,
people who may not otherwise be exposed to your research. Once a
paper has been published in a refereed journal, exposure is not a
problem. However, in the months between submission and appearance, you'll
want other researchers to have access to your preprint. A preprint server
does this for you by keeping an electronic version of your paper online
and allowing anyone who wants a copy to download one. Furthermore, one
can arrange to receive periodic
email announcements
of new preprints available in a specific area.
The arXiv is the largest mathematical
preprint server around, containing over 20,000
papers in mathematics. There is now a section of the arXiv devoted to Commutative Algebra. According to [J], "Around
25,000 people get daily email about postings to the arXiv, and around
35,000 users access the arXiv every day".
If you post a paper, only a fraction of those people
may read it, but that's potentially more exposure than your paper would
receive otherwise.
Is commalg.org a discussion board for commutative algebra?
Sorry, no. Moderating or hosting a discussion board, while fine and worthy ideas, are much too time-consuming for us to consider at this time.
There is a CommAlg mailing list available at Yahoo! Groups, which serves as a discussion and announcement forum for people interested in commutative algebra, especially students.
commalg.org looks awful on my computer. Do you want to know about it?
Yes, please! We've worked hard to make commalg.org accessible to everyone, but the operating system and web browser you use may make it look much different than we'd planned. We'd appreciate it if you send email to webmaster@commalg.org, or use our online form to let us know about any egregious ugliness.
I found a broken link. Do you want to know about it?
Yes, please! You can send email to webmaster@commalg.org, or use our online form. Either way, we'll be eternally grateful.
Who are you people?
commalg.org was built and is run by Graham Leuschke, Moira McDermott, and Sean Sather-Wagstaff. We are mathematicians, not web designers, so be gentle.
Will you help me with my homework?
Sorry, no. commalg.org concentrates on information relevant to people doing research in commutative algebra. We don't have the resources to provide help or advice. Good luck, though!
