I sincerely apologize to everyone who feels hurt by my PNAS preprint on how metrics of research impact can help to inform hiring and tenure decisions. My goal was to promote fairness and concreteness in judgments that now are based on personal opinion. My work was intended to decrease bias and to improve fairness. It was intended to help us all to do the best science that we can.
I believe in the results in my PNAS paper. Methods and results are discussed in my book on "Metrics of Research Impact in Astronomy". I believe in those results, too. Both the PNAS paper and the book were favorably refereed. The book was published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, but it rescinded publication after the social media criticism. With my concurrence, PNAS reversed its decision to publish my summary paper. Therefore my results are not available to further discussion of these always-difficult subjects.
I support efforts to promote fairness, inclusivity, and a nurturing environment for all.
Last update: October 8, 2022
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