tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post4249575147121976482..comments2024-03-20T13:10:11.477+05:30Comments on nanopolitan: Annals of Academic ProductivityAbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790560045313883673noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-85436763592770533742009-12-11T03:17:35.973+05:302009-12-11T03:17:35.973+05:30http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VRBWLpYCPYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VRBWLpYCPYAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9818962.post-74824456686738684692009-12-08T23:14:14.183+05:302009-12-08T23:14:14.183+05:30Hello Abi,
I stumbled onto your blog while resear...Hello Abi,<br /><br />I stumbled onto your blog while researching the antics of the great, the one and only V. Shiva Ayyadurai, and I can only say, if THIS is the best thing that VSA ever does for me, it will still be far more than enough to justify his miserable existence.<br /><br />May I draw your attention to something I wrote for Current Science many years ago? The URL is here:<br /><br />www.ias.ernet.in/currsci/jun10/articles2.htm<br /><br />What I was trying to say is this: (i) All decisions on promotion, tenure, awards etc. are by nature subjective. Any attempts to "quantify" such decision-making will only serve to mask the subjectivity of the process. (We simply transfer the subjectivity from the *application* of the criteria to the *enunciation* of the criteria.) (ii) The fact that the decisions are inherently subjective IS NOT A REASON to doubt the integrity of the people making the decisions. Most of the time they are doing the best they can. Speaking for myself, I never really liked making such decisions *when they had the element of a zero-sum game and/or there was a lot of money involved.*<br /><br />Coming specifically to impact factors, I find the obsession of the chemistry and biology communities with these to be quite ridiculous. I entirely agree with Sachin Shanbag that over-reliance on such quantitative measures is indicative of laziness. To paraphrase the old US Supreme Court definition of obscenity, we recognize quality when we see it, even if we cannot define it. On the flip side, we can also recognize sleaze when we see it, though apparently Nature and its Editors cannot.<br /><br />Keep up the good work.<br /><br />SagarM. Vidyasagarhttp://www.utdallas.edu/~m.vidyasagarnoreply@blogger.com