Does it matter when you submit your grad school application?

Most graduate school deadlines are in December or January, but you should actually start thinking about your application much earlier than that. I recommend getting started on the preliminaries (like identifying programs you want to apply to) about a year before your applications are due.

Are publications important for grad school?

The main thing that graduate school admissions committees are looking for are good researchers. Publishing papers demonstrates such ability; publishing papers in well-known journals is even better.

Is it OK to cite arXiv?

You can cite everything that you want, including arXiv contributions. However, you might want to look for alternatives. In case of review/overview articles you often will be able to find some and use them instead without risking plagiarism.

Do masters students publish?

Technically speaking, your thesis will be published by your institution. However, this does not count as an official publication. Nevertheless, the best thing a life sciences graduate student can do is publish throughout his or her time as a graduate student.

Can a high school student publish on the arXiv?

A high school student (with an endorsement as twestley laid out nicely) can publish on the arxiv, but very likely a high school student should not do this. In my field, the arxiv is read daily by everyone in the field. There is no peer-review process, but we do self censor quite a bit.

How long does it take for an article to post on arXiv?

The operative word is ‘post’, since articles on arXiv are not peer reviewed. The amount of time it takes for an article to appear after it has been submitted depends on what time of day and what day it is submitted, and this is laid out at the bottom of this page:

Should I reference an arXiv preprint in my PhD?

Once you are done your PhD, if you do decide to do that, the arxiv preprint will be so old that it certainly will not have much impact one way or another. If some idea in it still interests you then, you will have the option to reference the arxiv preprint (wording like “as we showed in [3].”)

How often does the arXiv read research papers?

In my field, the arxiv is read daily by everyone in the field. There is no peer-review process, but we do self censor quite a bit. We usually circulate our research through our networks and get feedback before posting. Putting something on the arxiv that is low quality has serious impacts on your career.