'Counting the citations': what happened in 2013?

Navel-gazing was never easier. Google Scholar enables us to keep a close watch on our own (and other people's) publication activities. We have instant access to our citation count, our h-index, our i10-index, our i-100 index- we see a life in publication scrolling before us. And it reveals some interesting things. I have been publishing stuff since 1962 but for many many years had no citation impact at all. I used to wrestle with the printed volumes of the Science Citation Index before Google Scholar came along and made our lives more interesting, and better measured. My Google Scholar record begins in 1982 (as I assume does everyone elses) and the columns in the unrolling histogram are very short; nothing happens until very recently. Ironically it is not until I reach retiring age (in 2001) that my scholarly endeavors appear to have any significant impact. All the good stuff happens when my scholarly activity is supposed to have ceased.

There is a slow increase in column height after 2001 and a slow upward trend is detected, and then, at about 2013 there is a proper increase. Something happens at around 2013 that causes a citation increase. Now I do not think that this reflects me becoming more productive- I think it possibly reflects a general upturn in interest in loess and related topics.  Since I only write on loess (by & large) it could be that the movements in my personal histogram reflect a general increase in interest in loess scholarship. Since I am so one-eyed in my interests and publications this could be a possibility. Is there anyone else who publishes largely on loess whose citation histogram could be consulted- for comparative purposes.

Here is Prof.Dr. Slobodan Markovic of the University of Novi Sad- the most noted loess scholar in Europe. Does his histogram suggest an increase in loess interest (is,in fact, he largely responsible for this increase in loess interest)?
The overall shape of the IS and SM histograms is similar; 2013 is a time of action; and in each case a large column for 2018. Papers on loess were published in 2018. Is there an explanation for this publishing pattern in the 21st Century?  This blog starts with two sets of citation data; more may be added..

Part 2; Two more sets of data found; two more loess investigators to consider. Q: does the shape of the individual histogram reflect activity in the field in general? Or vice-versa?  Add citation charts for Drs Tom Stevens of the University of Uppsala and Ulrich Hambach of Bayreuth University- two important loess investigators; was 2018 good for them?



Dr Tom Stevens:

Dr Ulrich Hambach

The UH profile shows the 2013 leap and the 2018 highpoint very nicely; why did we all do so well in 2018?

John Hardcastle of Timaru compared to Gilbert White of Selborne

Fagg, R., Smalley, I.J.  2019.  Loess in New Zealand: Observations by Haast, Hutton, Hardcastle, Wild and Speight 1878-1944.  Quaternary International 502A,  173-178.

This from Gilbert White and The Natural History of Selborne (letter VII to Daines Barrington):
"Men that undertake only one district are much more likely to advance natural knowledge than those that grasp at more than they can possibly be acquainted with: every kingdom, every province, should have its own monographer."

This applies to John Hardcastle of Timaru. JH should be associated with Timaru in the same way that Gilbert White is associated with Selborne. He lived in Timaru, he stayed in Timaru, he wrote about Timaru.  He invented loess stratigraphy in Timaru, he made the first observations on fragipans, he was a pioneer in palaeoclimatology, he observed glaciers and logs on the beach, and rock-art and the plants growing in 'Hardcastle Hollows'.  Timaru and Selborne could be about the same size in area but while Selborne is a sprawling English rural parish with few inhabitants, Timaru is a well defined urban area in the South Island of New Zealand.

Hardcastle, J.  1908.  Notes on the Geology of South Canterbury.  Timaru Herald, Timaru 62p.
(reprinted, with commentary and maps, by Loess Letter Supplement ns2, June 2014).

Fagg, R., Smalley, I.J.  2018.  'Hardcastle Hollows' in loess landforms: closed depressions in aeolian landscapes- in a geoheritage context.  Open Geosciences 10.  58-63.

Smalley, I.J. 2014.  Observant recorder of nature.  Timaru Herald 17 July 2014.
John Hardcastle of Timaru 1847-1927: journalist, geologist- but mostly writer. Upload to Scribd.com.

Hardcastle followed the Gilbert White dictum and undertook only one district. His observations on the nature and distribution of the loess in the Timaru region still have value. He looked carefully and recorded responsibly. His writings for the Timaru Herald should be collected and published. Gilbert White's collected letters were published in 1788 and have been in print ever since- one of the most published books in publishing history. The JH essays should bring equal fame and renown to Timaru; he really was a great observer and recorder of Nature.

Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig Konrad Keilhack: a loessic centenary

Keilhack, K.  1920.  Das Ratsel der Lossbildung.  Zeit. Deutsch. Geol. Ges. 72, 146-161.

In 1920 Keilhack's paper on 'The Riddle of Loess Formation' was published in ZDGG; this is the famous paper in which Keilhack aired the idea of 'cosmic loess'. It is ironic that this great scholar should be largely remembered by a casual remark made at the end of an important paper on the problems and paradoxes involved in the formation of loess deposits.

"The difficulties of the loess problem, one may even say of the loess riddle, have their roots in the following five facts:
1.  Geographical distribution.
2.  Very gigantic mass.
3.  Restriction of its occurrence to such a small segment in the history of the Earth.
4.  Regularity and the peculiarity of its composition.
5.  Difficulty of determining its original and constituent substances."

"From the assumptions of truth or the probability that the entire loess in all the world is a homogeneous mixture and must have originated from a common source which caused its deposition, it is only one step to the question of whether this completely precludes the possibility of an extraterrestrial or cosmic origin of loess.  But this is for the astonomers to decide.  However, I must point out that with such a seemingly bold assumption some of the questions I have raised could find a satisfactory answer: for example, the homogeneity of composition, the impossibility of a derivation from any terrestrial minerals, the restriction to the diluvium (i.e. the Quaternary), the zonal distribution over the whole world (just think of Saturn's rings), and the causal relationship to the Glacial Periods."   (translated from Keilhack 1920; for more see Smalley I.J. 1975 Loess Lithology & Genesis pp.47-50).