[ECOLOG-L] ECSA54 Portugal - announcement
ECSA 54 Coastal systems under change: tuning assessment and management tools 12-16 May 2014, Sesimbra, Portugal http://ecsa54.fc.ul.pt Environmental change is occurring at unprecedented rates and scales. However, knowledge on how climate and anthropogenic impacts interact and affect hydrodynamic, geomorphological, geochemical, biological and ecological processes in coastal areas is still limited. A better understanding of changes in ecosystem function and processes will contribute to more efficient management and conservation strategies. The integration of current knowledge and the development of predictive tools involve a multidisciplinary effort to deal with challenges posed by changing coastal environments. To explore the topic of environmental change in coastal systems aiming at advancing assessment and management tools, ECSA 54 will address the following topics: Themes: 1. Hydrodynamic and geomorphological shifts in coastal systems 2. Geochemical processes in changing environments 3. Shifts in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning 4. From genes to ecosystems: effects of global change 5. Connectivity and its implications towards conservation and management 6. Improving management and decision processes: advances in predictive tools Convenor: Henrique Cabral, Centro de Oceanografia, Portugal http://ecsa54.fc.ul.pt Contact: ecs...@fc.ul.pt We apologize for crossposting.
[ECOLOG-L] Open Position - Resident Lecturer in Environmental Policy and Socioeconomic Values in Bocas del Toro, Panama
The SFS program on Tropical Island Biodiversity and Conservation Studies (TIBS), located in Bocas del Toro, Panama, seeks an enthusiastic, team-oriented individual to serve as part of a residential team of faculty and staff that delivers an interdisciplinary, hands-on learning experience to students spending a semester abroad. TIBS has a thematic focus on the tropical island ecosystems, including the coastal and terrestrial ecosystems and the economic and sociocultural systems unique to the Bocas del Toro archipelago in the Panamanian Caribbean. This position is for a resident lecturer to teach the Environmental Policy and Socioeconomics course during the spring 2014 semester (February to May). Resident lecturers also lead designated components of the research plan and, as part of this, oversee, mentor, and grade the student Directed Research projects. The successful candidate will provide high impact, experiential teaching and participate fully in the implementation of the Center's multi-year research plan that addresses these issues. Institutional Mission: SFS creates transformative study abroad experiences through field-based learning and research. Our educational programs explore the human and ecological dimensions of the complex environmental problems faced by our local partners, contributing to sustainable solutions in the places where we live and work. The SFS community is part of a growing network of individuals and institutions committed to environmental stewardship. Program Focus: SFS is working with the local government, community, and tourism developers in Bocas del Toro to develop management strategies to help conserve coastal and on-shore terrestrial resources and biodiversity and continue to provide economic opportunities for island residents. The program's objective is to quantify social and ecological baselines, conduct on-going ecosystem and resource monitoring, help to mitigate change to the marine and terrestrial environment, and prepare the local community for the continued evolution of eco- and adventure-tourism through research and education. Course Description: Environmental Policy and Socio-economic Values EE (SS) 302: The Environmental Policy and Socioeconomic Values course is designed to assist students in understanding the political, legal, economic, ethical and social pressures that influence the environment and the community's attitudes toward development. Issues to be addressed include: social and political systems (Bocas del Toro and the rural Caribbean); economic status of Bocas del Toro (within the larger context of the nation of Panama); Environmental policy (marine and terrestrial); Political Ecology; Artisanal fisheries in the Bocas del Toro and the Caribbean; Anthropological and sociological aspects of community development; Politics and processes of environmental regulation development; The evolution of eco- and adventure-tourism, Environmental/ecological economics (marine emphasis); Economic assessment techniques; Social survey techniques; Pollution impacts (terrestrial and marine); Protected ecosystems. Applicants are encouraged to review the course syllabi and programs descriptions on the SFS website: www.fieldstudies.org/panama Duties and Responsibilities Educate students about the complexity of local development and conservation issues through field-based teaching, scientific research and training. Create a rich mosaic of research questions centered on supporting functional ecosystems while balancing the needs of human communities and domestic economics. Empower local communities and decision makers to address their sustainable development challenges through applied research that informs local decision making. Contribute to the scientific community through the dissemination of research, including peer-reviewed publications and professional meetings Teaching * As part of an interdisciplinary teaching team, deliver a significant part of the overall academic program (minimum 50-60 lecture hours per semester) * Plan, revise, and effectively deliver a challenging, problem-based interdisciplinary curriculum * Organize lectures and prepare course materials in a timely and professional manner * Adhere to the daily academic schedule * Prepare, administer, and grade assignments, quizzes, mid-term and final examinations * Supervise and mentor up to ten students in their directed research projects * Actively support and counsel students on academic issues * Maintain records of: lectures, exams, quizzes, readings, field experiences and homework assignments Research * Help design the new program's research plan and conduct designated research according to it. * Identify appropriate components of the research plan suitable for student Directed Research projects * Prepare research results for clients and partners and/or for publication and conference presentations * Assist in the
[ECOLOG-L] Graduate School Recommendations
Greetings All, I've got a senior Environmental Studies major who is interested in pursuing a masters degree studying Prairie Ecosystems. What programs might you recommend for her? *Kevin Klein [image: True Blue] http://www.ic.edu/ * Professor of Economics Program Coordinator- Environmental Biology and Ecological Studies Co-Chair - Environmental Program Development Committee Illinois College 1101 West College Avenue Jacksonville, IL 62650 217.245.3474 Survey of Economics, 4e, by Dolan and Kleinhttp://www.bvtstudents.com/details.php?25, 2010, **BVT Publishing, http://www.ic.edu/ http://webmail.ic.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.ic.edu/ My Web page http://www2.ic.edu/klein
[ECOLOG-L] 11th Annual Ecological Genomics Symposium
LAST DAY TO REGISTER: Friday, October 25, 2013 11th Annual Ecological Genomics Symposium November 1-3, 2013 Marriott Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, MO Symposium website: http://ecogen.ksu.edu/symp2013 The 11th Annual Ecological Genomics Symposium will be held November 1-3, 2013 at the Marriott Country Club Plaza hotel in downtown Kansas City. The meeting will convene Friday at 7:00 p.m. and conclude on Sunday at noon. We have an outstanding lineup of speakers for the 2013 symposium and we encourage you to attend! For a brochure and complete information regarding poster abstract submission, registration and hotel reservations, please visit our symposium website: ecogen.ksu.edu/symp2013. REGISTRATION: Please register online today at: www.ecogen.ksu.edu/symp2013. You may also register to attend the optional Saturday night banquet for an additional fee of $50. Deadline for registration: Friday, October 25, 2013. POSTER ABSTRACTS: Poster topics should be related to the field of ecological genomics. Instructions for submitting your abstract online are at: http://ecogen.ksu.edu/symp2013/abstract.html. DEADLINE FOR POSSTER ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. CDT. VENUE: The symposium will take place at the Kansas City Marriott on the beautiful Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. Reserve your hotel room online by visiting ecogen.ksu.edu/symp2013 or http://tinyurl.com/me8l5x2 The 2013 Ecological Genomics Symposium speakers are: Anne Bronikowski, Iowa State University Comparative genomics of vertebrate aging and stress-response pathways Asher Cutter, University of Toronto Hyperdiversity and hypodiversity in genome evolution of Caenorhabditis nematodes Ana L. Caicedo, University of Massachusetts Amherst Convergence and the evolution of weediness: The case for red rice Rob Knight, University of Colorado The Earth Microbiome Project Marcus Kronforst, University of Chicago Population genomics and ecological speciation in Heliconius butterflies Bradley J.S.C. Olson Peering into the pond for clues to multicellularity Michael Pfrender, University of Notre Dame Genetic and regulatory basis of adaptation in stressful environments Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, University of California Davis Evolutionary genetics of highland adaptation in maize and teosinte Annelie Wendeberg, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research Population-targeted metagenomics of anaerobic methane-oxidizing consortia Andrew Whitehead, University of California Davis The genomics of evolved resistance and resilience in killifish resident in dynamic and static environments ADDITIONAL INFORMATION will be posted on our website, www.ecogen.ksu.edu/symp2013, as details are finalized. FUNDING for this symposium is provided by Kansas State University. Ecological Genomics Institute Directors: Dr. Loretta Johnson, john...@ksu.edu Dr. Michael Herman, mher...@ksu.edu Kansas State University, Division of Biology 116 Ackert Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506-4901 www.ecogen.ksu.edu Ecological Genomics Institute Program Coordinator: Alexandra Boyd, alexb...@ksu.edu (785) 532-0115 Alexandra Boyd Program Coordinator | Ecological Genomics Institute 302 Ackert Hall Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506-4901 (785) 532-0115 | alexb...@ksu.edu
Re: [ECOLOG-L] New article demonstrates Impact factor is a poor metric of merit
They find that assessors give higher scores to papers from higher impact-factor journals, and papers from those journals get cited more often. They try to make the argument that assessor scores for papers from journals with high impact factors are inflated, but this is unconvincing. The assessor scores, citation numbers, and journal impact factors are all positively correlated - there is a lot of co-linearity in the data. By trying to control for journal impact factor they effectively eliminate the correlation between assessor score and citation number per paper. These three variables cannot be untangled because of they are strongly associated. Their conclusion is based on a statistical artifact and does not reflect the true relationships among these three variables. I agree that citation number is not always the best measure of the quality or impact of a paper. Search engines such as Web of Science rank papers based on numbers of shared citations - the papers at the top of the list are most likely to get read and cited. To objectively assess the quality of papers it would have to be a blind test - papers would have to be presented to assessors in plain manuscript form with no authors or journal indicated. I don't think it would be worth the effort. We all know that not all papers in high-impact journals are are high quality, but you are more likely to find high quality papers in journals with high impact factors. Mitch Cruzan On 10/21/2013 9:04 AM, malcolm McCallum wrote: just an fyi, I thought some might be interested in! http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001675;jsessionid=CF510EB51871DB51380C5DAD0E41CBDA
[ECOLOG-L] Graduate Research Assistantship in Forest Resources at Penn State University
A masters level graduate research assistantship is available starting in summer 2014 in Penn State’s Department of Ecosystem Science and Management (http://ecosystems.psu.edu/) for a highly motivated student to study the influence of mycorrhizas and other site factors on oak regeneration dynamics in Pennsylvania’s Ridge and Valley Physiographic Province. Ideal candidates will have a B.S. degree in forestry or closely related biological discipline, field experience, knowledge of eastern deciduous forest vegetation, competitive GRE scores, excellent organizational and communication skills, and be able to begin fieldwork in April or May 2014. She/he will have opportunities to collaborate with other Penn State faculty, federal (US Forest Service) researchers, and Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry managers contributing to this project. The selected candidate will be supervised by Dr. Aaron Stottlemyer (http://www.personal.psu.edu/ads175/blogs/PSUD_FEL/) and supported with a stipend, tuition remission, housing and transportation during the field season. Inquiries should be sent to Dr. Aaron Stottlemyer (ads...@psu.edu) and include a brief description of research interest/experience and career goals, CV, unofficial transcript, and GRE scores (if taken). For more information about graduate programs in Forest Resources at Penn State and application instructions, see http://ecosystems.psu.edu/graduateprograms/forest-resources. Dr. Aaron D. Stottlemyer Assistant Professor of Forestry Penn State University, DuBois DuBois, Pennsylvania 15801 email: ads...@psu.edu
Re: [ECOLOG-L] New article demonstrates Impact factor is a poor metric of merit
I agree! My experience is that the impact factors of some journals are real citation ratings (uninflated), but the impact factors of others get inflated by a variety of strategies that improve the chances of higher ratings. Among these, bundling journal topics and then asking authors to cite papers from partner journals, (asking authors to cite papers from their own journal is becoming rare due to the self citation rule now in effect but only occasionally enforced [for good reason]), and also pre-releasing articles 6-8 mo before they appear in print so that now the citations to that article are based on a window 6-8 mo larger than that of journals which do not do this. A strategy I see at PLoS that is pretty unique to them is a submission sent to PLoS Biology if rejected is almost always forwarded to PLoS One, and I believe that some are even fast-tracked for publication there. This also ensures improved impact rating of PLoS Bio because many authors DO make sure they include relevant citations from the jouranl where to which they are submitting, and it is also more likely a paper submitted to your journal will cite your journal simply because of commonality in subject matter. Its all a game from the editor perspective. the pre-release is not a favor to the author, it is a strategy to bump citation ratings by increasing the quantity of citations in year 1. year 1 citations are in a lot of ways more important than year 2 citations for impact calculations because articles release at the end of the year have virtually no possiblity of citation in the following year. A good example is PLoS One which continues to grow at a huge rate. The growth is deflating the real impact factor. It causes year 1, the year with the least opportunity for citation to always be way larger than year 2 (the year with most citations). A stable journal is the only one that has a valid impact rating. Journals that reduced publication volume by increasing rigor (a valid mechanism) or reducing anual volume regardless of rigor will see growth in their impact rating. Impact factor is important, but maybe we need to start looking at the individual's citation rating instead of the rating of the jourals in which they publish. On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 10:00 AM, Mitch Cruzan cru...@pdx.edu wrote: They find that assessors give higher scores to papers from higher impact-factor journals, and papers from those journals get cited more often. They try to make the argument that assessor scores for papers from journals with high impact factors are inflated, but this is unconvincing. The assessor scores, citation numbers, and journal impact factors are all positively correlated - there is a lot of co-linearity in the data. By trying to control for journal impact factor they effectively eliminate the correlation between assessor score and citation number per paper. These three variables cannot be untangled because of they are strongly associated. Their conclusion is based on a statistical artifact and does not reflect the true relationships among these three variables. I agree that citation number is not always the best measure of the quality or impact of a paper. Search engines such as Web of Science rank papers based on numbers of shared citations - the papers at the top of the list are most likely to get read and cited. To objectively assess the quality of papers it would have to be a blind test - papers would have to be presented to assessors in plain manuscript form with no authors or journal indicated. I don't think it would be worth the effort. We all know that not all papers in high-impact journals are are high quality, but you are more likely to find high quality papers in journals with high impact factors. Mitch Cruzan On 10/21/2013 9:04 AM, malcolm McCallum wrote: just an fyi, I thought some might be interested in! http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001675;jsessionid=CF510EB51871DB51380C5DAD0E41CBDA -- Malcolm L. McCallum Department of Environmental Studies University of Illinois at Springfield Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive - Allan Nation 1880's: There's lots of good fish in the sea W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. 2022: Soylent Green is People! The Seven Blunders of the World (Mohandas Gandhi) Wealth w/o work Pleasure w/o conscience Knowledge w/o character Commerce w/o morality Science w/o humanity Worship w/o sacrifice Politics w/o principle Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or
[ECOLOG-L] MS Positions in Molecular Ecology of Freshwater Mussels at Central Michigan University
Position Description: Looking for 1 or 2 MS students to do research on the molecular ecology, phylogeography, and conservation genetics of freshwater mussels. Research projects typically center around species found in the Great Lakes and surrounding tributaries. Positions to begin as soon as May 2014 (no later than August 2014). Minimum stipend: $18,000/yr + tuition waiver (depending on qualifications) Required Qualifications: BS degree in Biology or related field (minimum GPA 3.0), preferably with a concentration in ecology and evolution, fish and wildlife, or conservation biology. Must be comfortable in water and be able to swim. Must be able to travel outside of US and have a passport. Preferred Qualifications: Previous experience in a molecular ecology lab (PCR, mtDNA sequencing, microsatellite DNA genotyping). Strong computer and statistics skills. Experience and ID skills for freshwater mussels, aquatic invertebrates, fish. Interests in freshwater ecology, evolution, biogeography, conservation. Experience with boats (including trailering and boating license) and SCUBA certification. To apply: 1) Contact Dr. David Zanatta and send a detailed letter about how you are qualified and why you are interested, detailed CV, GRE scores (if available), and contact information for 2 academic references. 2) Apply to the CMU graduate program (http://www.cmich.edu/colleges/cst/biology/academic_programs/grad/Pages/default.aspx) 3) Apply for a teaching assistantship from CMU Biology Department (see URL above). Research assistantships from CMU or from Dr. Zanatta's grants (funding dependent) may be available for top applicants. Application Deadline: 01/31/2014 Contact information: Dr. Dave Zanatta Associate Professor Institute for Great Lakes Research Biology Department Central Michigan University 335 Brooks Hall Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 email: zana...@cmich.edu office: 989-774-7829 lab: 989-774-7634 fax: 989-774-3462 Homepage: http://people.cst.cmich.edu/zanat1d/
[ECOLOG-L] Postdoctoral Research Associate in Biology Education
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Biology Education School of Biology and Ecology Maine Center for Research in STEM Education The School of Biology and Ecology, and Maine Center for Research in STEM Education at the University of Maine seeks an applicant for a postdoctoral position in biological education research. Candidates must have a Ph.D. in biology, ecology, evolution, biology education, or a closely related field; have a strong research record; and have demonstrated interest in discipline-based education research. One of the primary responsibilities of this position is to help develop, validate, and field-test a concept assessment tool that will be administered at multiple points in the biology curriculum to monitor student progress and enable targeted curricular reform. Preference will be given to applicants who have a record of successful work in the ecology and evolution fields; skills in statistical and model-based analysis; demonstrated excellence in teaching; and have evidence of collaborating well as part of a team. The successful candidate will be part of a multi-institution team of researchers that are supported by the National Science Foundations Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (TUES) Program. This full-time position twelve-month appointment has a flexible start date and is contingent on successful performance and continued funding (with possible renewal for up to three years total). Candidates should submit electronically a letter of application, curriculum vitae, two page summary of research accomplishments, two page statement of teaching philosophy, copies of three representative publications, undergraduate and graduate transcripts to: michelle.k.sm...@maine.edu, and arrange to have a minimum of three letters of references submitted to michelle.k.sm...@maine.edu. Salary range is $38,000 $40,000 with full University benefits. Application review will start on November 15th and continue until a suitable pool of applicants is found. Appropriate background checks will be required. For more information visit http://jobs.umaine.edu. Women and minority candidates are especially encouraged to apply. The University of Maine is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer. Luanna Prevost Assistant Professor Department of Integrative Biology University of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Ave, SCA 110 Tampa, FL 33620 phone: (813) 974-7836 email:prev...@usf.edu
[ECOLOG-L] Assistant Professor in Ecotoxicology
University of Connecticut Tenure Track Faculty Position Wildlife or Fisheries Ecotoxicologist The Department of Natural Resources the Environment ( http://www.nre.uconn.edu) and the Center for Environmental Sciences Engineering (http://www.cese.uconn.edu) seek applicants for a 9- month, tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor position to begin 23 August 2014. We seek applicants with experience and interest in wildlife or fisheries ecotoxicology, with application to long-term environmental sustainability. Duties include excellence in scholarly publication, effective extramural grant solicitation, recurrent multidisciplinary collaboration, effective undergraduate and graduate teaching, and service to the Department, Center, University, and society. We seek a candidate whose research and teaching focus on field and laboratory assessment of contaminant exposure and effects on terrestrial or aquatic biota. This may include one or more of the following areas: • Analytical characterization of exposure to environmental contaminants; • Development of biomarkers of contaminant exposure and effect; • Assessment and minimization of exposure risk to species and communities; • Application of mathematical models, computer simulation, or geographic information systems (GIS) to understand and predict the effects of toxicants on the environment. Required qualifications: 1) a doctoral degree or equivalent at the time of appointment in ecotoxicology, wildlife or fisheries sciences, ecology, or other environmentally-related disciplines; 2) collaborative and multidisciplinary research experience; 3) experience in field and laboratory measurement of toxicological data; 4) teaching experience; 5) effective oral and written communication skills. Preferred qualifications: 1) post-doctoral experience; 2) success at obtaining competitive extramural grants; 3) a record of scholarly publication in ecotoxicology; 4) potential to establish a well-funded national program in ecotoxicology that addresses issues pertinent to wildlife or fisheries sciences. Salary is competitive and commensurate with the qualifications of the applicant. Screening of applications will begin November 1, 2013 and continue until the position is filled. Applicants should visit Husky Hire at http://www.jobs.uconn.edu to upload an application letter, curriculum vitae, statements describing teaching philosophy and research interests, and names and contact information of three individuals who have been asked to submit letters of reference. Letters of recommendation should be sent via e-mail to the Co-Chairs of the Ecotoxicology Search Committee (Drs. John Volin Michael Willig) via environm...@uconn.edu.
[ECOLOG-L] Research Assistantships in Tropical Ecology in Gabon through Duke University
The Poulsen Lab at Duke University is looking for enthusiastic, motivated candidates for a one-year position as a field-based research assistant in Gabon. Our lab focuses on the impacts of anthropogenic activities on tropical forests, animal communities and ecological processes in the Central African rainforest. Field assistants work on a rotating schedule, spending one to two weeks a month conducting animal surveys in and around Ivindo National Park and one to two weeks collecting data on tree phenology, forest dynamics, seed dispersal and seedling recruitment in forest plots near the Ipassa Research Station. We are looking for two field assistants to join our team beginning on January 1, 2014. Successful candidates must thrive in a small team setting, working well with both Gabonese and American technicians and guides. Work typically begins at first light (6 am) and can consist of hiking more than 10 km in hilly and swampy terrain in hot, muggy and buggy conditions. Field assistants live out of a tent two weeks each month. The field station is rustic with only itinerant access to internet and telephone. While working in this challenging environment, successful candidates will be rewarded with the opportunity to observe tropical bird and animal species in their natural habitats. Candidates will undoubtedly learn a great deal about tropical ecology, natural history, conservation biology, and the impacts of land use on forest structure and composition in near-pristine and degraded landscapes as well as what it takes to organize projects in Central Africa. Preference will be given to candidates with previous field research experience, particularly related to bird and mammal censuses and tree and seedling surveys. Experience in French is strongly recommended. Field assistants must pay their travel to Gabon, but will be provided with room and board at the Ipassa Research Station. Interested persons should send: 1) a CV, 2) a cover letter describing motivation and qualifications for position, and 3) the names and contact information of three professional references. Please send application materials in pdf form to john.poul...@duke.edu with the subject line (candidate's last name)-Ipassa Field Position. Ex: Smith-Ipassa Field Position. Applications will be accepted until November 15, 2013. More information on The Poulsen Lab can be found at www.poulsenlabduke.edu.
[ECOLOG-L] Anticipated post-doctoral position available
Dear major domo, Below is a listing for a possible post-doctoral position that we anticipate being available soon. Can you please post? START We anticipate having a post-doctoral position in early 2014 to be funded through the United States Army Corps of Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) and coordinated through a university research partner. The project will focus on (1) assessing the impacts of possible ESA listings of over 757 species that may occur on military installations over the next five years and (2) categorizing and assessing relatively unknown, rare plant species based on a functional traits-based approach that leverages functional trait information from common, more well-known plant species. The expected products are multiple manuscripts assessing the national scale impacts of the potential listings on military installations and the feasibility of using a functional-based approach to evaluating conservation strategies for threatened and endangered plant species. We are seeking an ecologist that has experience collecting functional trait data (e.g. specific leaf area, seed mass, phenology, N:P ratios), excellent data management skills, experience using R and/or Matlab, and experience analyzing ecological data, including multivariate techniques. In addition, GIS database development, management and analytical skills are critical. The position will require travel for the collection of plant functional trait data across the southeastern United States. In order to qualify, the candidate must have received their Ph.D. before starting their tenure. The position is available for one year and renewable for up to three years. The first -year stipend is approximately $40,000 USD annually. Interested candidates should send a current CV, as well as a written statement of past research accomplishments qualifications for current position. Also attach the physical and e-mail addresses of three references to Wade Wall (wade.a.w...@usace.army.milmailto:wade.a.w...@usace.army.mil). The funded proposal is available upon request. END Thanks, Wade A. Wall US Army ERDC-CERL P.O. Box 9005 Champaign, IL 61826-9005 1-800-872-2375 ext. 7320 1-217-352-6511 ext. 7320
Re: [ECOLOG-L] New article demonstrates Impact factor is a poor metric of merit
What I don't like about impact-factor rating schemes, besides the fact that there are so many ways of gaming the system, is that they build a certain kind of unfairness into the system. It happens by way of the rich-get-richer mechanism. However an article first gets a high rating, it then continues to enjoy an advantage SIMPLY BECAUSE IT HAS A HIGH RATING. People will tend to read the high-impact articles and not bother to look at lesser-rated articles, which may be just as worthy. It is like a bunch tree seedlings reforesting a field: the ones that happen to germinate and establish early, perhaps by blind luck of where the seeds lands, will begin to shade out those that germinate later. Of course, for articles and trees, some will truly deserve their privileged place because of scientific merit or good physiology, but what about all those others? Martin M. Meiss 2013/10/22 malcolm McCallum malcolm.mccal...@herpconbio.org I agree! My experience is that the impact factors of some journals are real citation ratings (uninflated), but the impact factors of others get inflated by a variety of strategies that improve the chances of higher ratings. Among these, bundling journal topics and then asking authors to cite papers from partner journals, (asking authors to cite papers from their own journal is becoming rare due to the self citation rule now in effect but only occasionally enforced [for good reason]), and also pre-releasing articles 6-8 mo before they appear in print so that now the citations to that article are based on a window 6-8 mo larger than that of journals which do not do this. A strategy I see at PLoS that is pretty unique to them is a submission sent to PLoS Biology if rejected is almost always forwarded to PLoS One, and I believe that some are even fast-tracked for publication there. This also ensures improved impact rating of PLoS Bio because many authors DO make sure they include relevant citations from the jouranl where to which they are submitting, and it is also more likely a paper submitted to your journal will cite your journal simply because of commonality in subject matter. Its all a game from the editor perspective. the pre-release is not a favor to the author, it is a strategy to bump citation ratings by increasing the quantity of citations in year 1. year 1 citations are in a lot of ways more important than year 2 citations for impact calculations because articles release at the end of the year have virtually no possiblity of citation in the following year. A good example is PLoS One which continues to grow at a huge rate. The growth is deflating the real impact factor. It causes year 1, the year with the least opportunity for citation to always be way larger than year 2 (the year with most citations). A stable journal is the only one that has a valid impact rating. Journals that reduced publication volume by increasing rigor (a valid mechanism) or reducing anual volume regardless of rigor will see growth in their impact rating. Impact factor is important, but maybe we need to start looking at the individual's citation rating instead of the rating of the jourals in which they publish. On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 10:00 AM, Mitch Cruzan cru...@pdx.edu wrote: They find that assessors give higher scores to papers from higher impact-factor journals, and papers from those journals get cited more often. They try to make the argument that assessor scores for papers from journals with high impact factors are inflated, but this is unconvincing. The assessor scores, citation numbers, and journal impact factors are all positively correlated - there is a lot of co-linearity in the data. By trying to control for journal impact factor they effectively eliminate the correlation between assessor score and citation number per paper. These three variables cannot be untangled because of they are strongly associated. Their conclusion is based on a statistical artifact and does not reflect the true relationships among these three variables. I agree that citation number is not always the best measure of the quality or impact of a paper. Search engines such as Web of Science rank papers based on numbers of shared citations - the papers at the top of the list are most likely to get read and cited. To objectively assess the quality of papers it would have to be a blind test - papers would have to be presented to assessors in plain manuscript form with no authors or journal indicated. I don't think it would be worth the effort. We all know that not all papers in high-impact journals are are high quality, but you are more likely to find high quality papers in journals with high impact factors. Mitch Cruzan On 10/21/2013 9:04 AM, malcolm McCallum wrote: just an fyi, I thought some might be interested in!
[ECOLOG-L] PhD Opportunities in Plant Evolutionary Ecology at Univ. of New Mexico
Ph.D. Students Wanted! Ecology and evolution of plants and plant-animal interactions My lab is broadly interested in the ecology and evolution of plants, often focusing on plant-animal interactions such as herbivory, seed predation, and seed dispersal. We use a combination of field, greenhouse, phylogenetic, experimental evolution, and molecular genetic approaches. Students are expected to develop their own independent projects, but will also have opportunities to collaborate on NSF-funded investigations of hybridization in wild sunflowers and the role of genetic diversity in invasions. The lab is also starting new projects in desert and alpine ecosystems at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge and the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab. Students will be a part of a dynamic group of plant biology, ecology, and evolution researchers at UNM. For more info please contact me (and send along a CV): Ken Whitney Department of Biology University of New Mexico Websites: http://biology.unm.edu/whitney/index.htm http://biology.unm.edu/whitneyrudgers/index.html Email: whitn...@unm.edu
Re: [ECOLOG-L] New article demonstrates Impact factor is a poor metric of merit
You want to know what is wrong with a lot of things we face in academia? Read this short story published about the time the NSF was being created: The Mark Gable Foundation in The Voice of Dolphins and other Stories http://books.google.com/books?id=xm2mIAAJprintsec=frontcoversource=gbs_ge_summary_rcad=0#v=onepageqf=false On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 5:06 PM, Martin Meiss mme...@gmail.com wrote: What I don't like about impact-factor rating schemes, besides the fact that there are so many ways of gaming the system, is that they build a certain kind of unfairness into the system. It happens by way of the rich-get-richer mechanism. However an article first gets a high rating, it then continues to enjoy an advantage SIMPLY BECAUSE IT HAS A HIGH RATING. People will tend to read the high-impact articles and not bother to look at lesser-rated articles, which may be just as worthy. It is like a bunch tree seedlings reforesting a field: the ones that happen to germinate and establish early, perhaps by blind luck of where the seeds lands, will begin to shade out those that germinate later. Of course, for articles and trees, some will truly deserve their privileged place because of scientific merit or good physiology, but what about all those others? Martin M. Meiss 2013/10/22 malcolm McCallum malcolm.mccal...@herpconbio.org I agree! My experience is that the impact factors of some journals are real citation ratings (uninflated), but the impact factors of others get inflated by a variety of strategies that improve the chances of higher ratings. Among these, bundling journal topics and then asking authors to cite papers from partner journals, (asking authors to cite papers from their own journal is becoming rare due to the self citation rule now in effect but only occasionally enforced [for good reason]), and also pre-releasing articles 6-8 mo before they appear in print so that now the citations to that article are based on a window 6-8 mo larger than that of journals which do not do this. A strategy I see at PLoS that is pretty unique to them is a submission sent to PLoS Biology if rejected is almost always forwarded to PLoS One, and I believe that some are even fast-tracked for publication there. This also ensures improved impact rating of PLoS Bio because many authors DO make sure they include relevant citations from the jouranl where to which they are submitting, and it is also more likely a paper submitted to your journal will cite your journal simply because of commonality in subject matter. Its all a game from the editor perspective. the pre-release is not a favor to the author, it is a strategy to bump citation ratings by increasing the quantity of citations in year 1. year 1 citations are in a lot of ways more important than year 2 citations for impact calculations because articles release at the end of the year have virtually no possiblity of citation in the following year. A good example is PLoS One which continues to grow at a huge rate. The growth is deflating the real impact factor. It causes year 1, the year with the least opportunity for citation to always be way larger than year 2 (the year with most citations). A stable journal is the only one that has a valid impact rating. Journals that reduced publication volume by increasing rigor (a valid mechanism) or reducing anual volume regardless of rigor will see growth in their impact rating. Impact factor is important, but maybe we need to start looking at the individual's citation rating instead of the rating of the jourals in which they publish. On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 10:00 AM, Mitch Cruzan cru...@pdx.edu wrote: They find that assessors give higher scores to papers from higher impact-factor journals, and papers from those journals get cited more often. They try to make the argument that assessor scores for papers from journals with high impact factors are inflated, but this is unconvincing. The assessor scores, citation numbers, and journal impact factors are all positively correlated - there is a lot of co-linearity in the data. By trying to control for journal impact factor they effectively eliminate the correlation between assessor score and citation number per paper. These three variables cannot be untangled because of they are strongly associated. Their conclusion is based on a statistical artifact and does not reflect the true relationships among these three variables. I agree that citation number is not always the best measure of the quality or impact of a paper. Search engines such as Web of Science rank papers based on numbers of shared citations - the papers at the top of the list are most likely to get read and cited. To objectively assess the quality of papers it would have to be a blind test - papers would have to be presented to assessors in plain manuscript form with no authors or journal indicated.
