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I have a question concerning mathematical writing, a draft of which is posted below if you are interested. The question I wish to ask on Meta however is about whether questions concerning mathematical writing can be asked on the main site. I have voted "close" for many questions because the question was not about research mathematics, and questions concerning mathematical writing seem borderline to me: certainly writing about mathematics is integral to mathematical research, but they are not research-level math questions themselves.

The question I would ask on the main site is as follows:

"I am working on a project that seems to have expanded beyond its original scope, and now involve several related but ultimately not very tightly knit topics. At which point does one decide to split the project into multiple papers? How do you decide, in the scope of a single line of investigation, how to split the work into multiple papers?"

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    $\begingroup$ Tangentially I'll mention that there is a tag called (mathematical-writing). Perhaps by browsing the tag one could see what type of questions were asked in the past and how they were received. $\endgroup$ Aug 4 at 14:43
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    $\begingroup$ Although looking at the second part (with the actual question at hand), I am not sure whether it wouldn't be closer to the tags (advice) and (research) rather than (mathematical-writing). (Probably it would be somewhere in the overlap of these tags.) $\endgroup$ Aug 4 at 18:04
  • $\begingroup$ I would personally have no problem seeing questions like this; it is a question inextricably related to mathematics research so long as papers are the format we report mathematics in. $\endgroup$
    – Alec Rhea
    Aug 4 at 18:28
  • $\begingroup$ Given that there is already a tag called mathematical writing, I take that it is generally acceptable to ask questions about writing mathematics on the main site. Thanks! $\endgroup$ Aug 5 at 2:55
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    $\begingroup$ There's also a tag called society, and a tag called dream-mathematics, and one called arithmetic, and one called poker, .... I don't think one can conclude much from the existence of a tag. $\endgroup$ Aug 5 at 12:26

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I would vote to close such a question for being either off-topic or opinion-based.

  • It would be off-topic, because it would not be about research-level mathematics, but rather about one's management of one's mathematical research. Close, but subtly different.

  • It would be opinion-based, because the question "How do you decide [...] how to split the work into multiple papers?" cannot have a unique objective answer, but rather multiple ones, each dependent on the work style and personality of the person answering it.

On the other hand, maybe try to see if it could be on-topic on the Academia Stack Exchange?

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