Errors in Publications #1

Check those page proofs carefully!

Will asking a question get your science paper cited more?

My friend Jim Steenburgh over at Wasatch Weather Weenies alerted me to this column in the Guardian newspaper. The column points out something that we scientists may know but forget from time to time: factors other than the quality of the science determine whether and how often our articles get cited by others. Among the […]

How To Choose a Good Scientific Problem

I have not found a more concise and clear statement about how to choose a good scientific problem for someone at various stages in their career. Enjoy! Alon, U., 2009: How to choose a good scientific problem. Molecular Cell, 35, 726-728. DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2009.09.013. [PDF]

Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

The first personal computer I used was a Mac. I could probably count the number of PC keyboards I’ve ever touched on all my fingers and toes. I’m not a fanboy, but you gotta respect him for what he’s done in his all-too-short life. Two essential items for today: • One thing we owe to […]

6 Habits of Highly Annoying Public Speakers

Cracked.com (America’s only humor site since 1958) always has great reads. Today’s entry was no exception. The 6 Habits of Highly Annoying Public Speakers As an example, Number 6 is “Blaming the Audience for a Lack of Enthusiasm”, illustrated above. The most annoying thing, beyond being nagged to do something you don’t really want to […]

The Top Journals in Science (for retractions)

Roger Pielke Jr. reports on a Wall Street Journal article on the number of retractions published in scientific journals. The top three journals in the number of retractions (1900 to 2010)? 1. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (57 retractions) 2. Science (54 retractions) 3. Nature (43 retractions) Graphic here by N. Saunders. Think […]

Petterssen, Palmén and Newton, Carlson, and Lackmann

I am honored to have seen page proofs of Gary Lackmann’s new book Midlatitude Synoptic Meteorology: Dynamics, Analysis, and Forecasting to be published later this year by the American Meteorological Society. For this book, Gary goes back to the original meaning of the word synoptic (“forming a summary or synopsis”). Twelve chapters summarize and synthesize […]

Writing a Thesis: How to Interact with your Supervisor

Three-Month Thesis has a thoughtful post about how many thesis drafts you need. I would disagree with a few things on that page. 1. The number of drafts depends very strongly on the student. I would argue that you need as many drafts as it takes to finish the thesis. 2. In principle, the quality […]

Please don’t write multiple-part papers!

I’ve talked about this topic of writing multiple-part papers before. Earlier this year, I published an article about what the data show from Monthly Weather Review. Schultz, D. M., 2011: Rejection rates for multiple-part manuscripts. Scientometrics, 86, 251-259. [PDF] I found that although the rejection rates for multiple-part manuscripts were not that different from the […]

How important is it to use “important” in your writing?

Have you read an article where the author talks about “an important process” or “the important role of another process”? Do these sort of platitudes go in one of your ears and out the other? Are you convinced by the author’s use of the word “important” that it truly is an important process? Or, do […]

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