cc: "Profeta, Tim (Lieberman)" <Tim_Profeta@lieberman.senate.gov>, "Loschnigg, Johannes (Lieberman)" <Johannes_Loschnigg@lieberman.senate.gov>
date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 09:25:42 -0400
from: "Michael E. Mann" <mann@virginia.edu>
subject: RE: Senate hearing
to: "Miller, Chris (EPW)" <Chris_Miller@epw.senate.gov>

   This op-ed today in the "New Zealand Herald' from the 'editor' who published the Soon at al
   "Climate Research" paper:
   [1]http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3512583&thesection=news&thesubsection
   =dialogue
   Such comments would seem to disqualify such an individual from being an editor of a
   scientific journal. Coupled with the attached 'Scientific American' piece, this seems to
   make a compelling case that something is rotten in the journal "Climate Research"...
   perhaps worth keeping copies of these,
   mike
   At 04:04 PM 7/14/2003 -0400, Miller, Chris (EPW) wrote:


     Thanks. This is very helpful.  FYI -  David Legates is likely to be a majority witness,
     as well as Soon.

          -----Original Message-----
          From: Michael E. Mann [[2]mailto:mann@virginia.edu]
          Sent: Saturday, July 12, 2003 11:50 AM
          To: Miller, Chris (EPW)
          Cc: Profeta, Tim (Lieberman); Loschnigg, Johannes (Lieberman)
          Subject: Re: Senate hearing
          Dear Chris, Tim, Johannes:
          I felt that it might be useful for you all to have the information I've tabulated
          below, in case a discussion of the relative scientific credentials of various
          scientists emerges during the senate hearing later this month.
          The 'Science Citation Index', along with the number of peer-reviewed publications
          has long been used as measure of the reputation, impact, and credibility of a
          scientists work (it is one of the key diagnostics used to determine tenure or
          advancement at academic and scientific research institutions).  It allows the
          evaluation of not just the issue of how many publications an author has contributed
          to the peer-reviewed scientific literature, but whether that scientists' work is
          being read and  acknowledged by his/her peers--i.e., is the work considered
          important by the rest of the scientific community.
          I've provided a relative comparison of myself, W. Soon, and S. Baliunas (these
          change on a weekly basis, mine are the latest numbers through July 11, 2003 from the
          ISI International database. One caveat to note:  not all peer-reviewed publications
          appear in the ISI--they need, for example, to have been cited at least once, and
          some peer-reviewed journals are not entered into ISI, so the numbers give a good
          overall picture, but the details would very depend on precisely how you did the
          counting.
          Provided are
          (1) # of peer-reviewed publications (journal articles and other *reviewed*
          manuscripts, book chapters, etc). Note that for Soon and Baliunas, almost all of
          their reviewed papers have appeared in the 'astronomical literature', and not the
          'climate' literature. Note also that I haven't included manuscripts that are 'in
          press'. This would add about 4 to my publication total, and I suspect no more than 1
          to either Soon or Baliunas. My up-to-date CV can be accessed here:
          [3]http://www.people.virginia.edu/~mem6u/cv.htm
          or here:
          [4]http://www.people.virginia.edu/~mem6u/cv.pdf
           (2) the # total number of recorded citations (as provided by ISI International) of
          their work by other scientists, and (3) the number of publications for which the
          number of citations exceeded the various totals indicated.
          I think the results would be eye-opening, if the issue of scientific credibility,
          reputation, and respect by peers is raised in the course of the hearing (the
          minority might indeed want to broach the topic itself),
          mike
                                      # of publications      # of Citations    #>100 cited
          >80     >50     >20
          Michael E. Mann                54                1217
          3          5         8        12
          Sally Baliunas                    11                 180
          0          1         1         3
          Willie Soon                          7                 142
          0          0         0         3
                              Professor Michael E. Mann
                     Department of Environmental Sciences, Clark Hall
                                University of Virginia
                               Charlottesville, VA 22903
          _______________________________________________________________________
          e-mail: mann@virginia.edu   Phone: (434) 924-7770   FAX: (434) 982-2137
                   [5]http://www.evsc.virginia.edu/faculty/people/mann.shtml

     ______________________________________________________________
                         Professor Michael E. Mann
                Department of Environmental Sciences, Clark Hall
                           University of Virginia
                          Charlottesville, VA 22903
     _______________________________________________________________________
     e-mail: mann@virginia.edu   Phone: (434) 924-7770   FAX: (434) 982-2137
              [6]http://www.evsc.virginia.edu/faculty/people/mann.shtml

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