Ernst Julius Öpik, an undervalued Estonian precursor of the Alvarez impact catastrophism

Ernst Julius Öpik was a brilliant Estonian astronomer and astrophysicist, who, as a former volunteer in the White Russian army, moved in 1948 to Northern Ireland. His extensive interests encompassed, among others, stellar structure, the age and evolution of the Universe, the physical theory of meteors, statistical analysis of Earth-crossing minor bodies, mechanics of celestial collisions

Evolving international impact of "Acta Geologica Polonica" 1995-1999

The international reputation of scientific journals as a mean of communication may be tested in different ways (see ZITT & BASSECOULARD 1998), but the most significant calculations are based on citation analysis of included articles. This is an obvious record of the truly world-wide circulation of the journal, coupled with the proven utility of published results (GARFIELD 1990), i.e., successes in the increasing ‘competition for attention’ in modern science (FRANCK 1999). The most comprehensive and reliable source of such data is the system of indexation of science and technology journals created by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in Philadelphia. In principle, to find the position of a journal in the ISI ranking it is enough to consult the annually published statistical database Journal Citation Reports - 1999 Science Edition (JCR), where bibliometric characters are presented for the 5550 source ‘master’ journals (see the ISI Homepage http://www.isinet.com). Acta Geologica Polonica (AGP) has not been included in the coverage by the online Science Citation Index (SCI) Expanded. Consequently, AGP is not rated by ISI. [fragm. wstępu

The Frasnian-Famennian brachiopod extinction events: a preliminary review

Preliminary review of taxonomy of the brachiopod order Atrypida and its stratigraphic distribution in the late Frasnian Kellwasser Crisis of several regions of Laurussia, western Siberia and South China point to their moderate diversity and stepdown but irregular extinction pattern. The distinctive character of the late Frasnian atrypid fauna is emphasised by several relict genera, marked by recurrent and possibly aberrant characters (mainly in ornamentation types), tendency to size reduction and homeomorphy in some taxa. The transgressive/hypoxic Lower Kellwasser Event and preceding eustatic changes during the Palmatolepis rhenana Zone had only a regional destructive effect, and were linked rather to an enhanced dispersal of the last generic set of atrypids. The Variatrypinae, Spinatrypinae and Iowatrypa-group seem to belong to the latest surviving atrypids. The final demise of the remaining atrypids (and some other articulate brachiopods, e.g., gypidulids) coincided with the transgressive/hypoxic Upper Kellwasser Event, followed by catastrophic eustatic fall during the late Palmatolepis linguiformis Zone (F-F Event). This was probably exacerbated by accelerated submarine volcano-hydrothermal activity, and consequent progressive regional eutrophication, and climatic destabilization. The level-bottom rynchonellid-inarticulate biofacies crosses the fatal F-F boundary horizon without major changes. No reliable data exist for the presence of atrypids in the Famennian survival and recovery biota, even for the smooth lissatrypid Peratos. Sustained competition from radiating and diversiffing productid-cyrtospirifrid-athyrid faunas may have provide an additional biotic factor in the collapse of the Frasnian shelly benthos at the time of stress, as well as in a post-extinction offshore repopulation from inner shelf habitats

Increasing international impact of Polish Polar Research

Almost three years ago I presented results of an analysis of Polish Polar Research (PPR) as a medium of international sci− entific communication in 1996–2002 (Racki 2002). The study based on citation statistics that reveal importance and useful− ness of published results and ideas in the global research com− munity. Of course, this impact measure needs careful attention and remains a subject of some controversy (e.g. Adams 2002), and should be used with informed peer review for a truly appro− priate evaluation of scientific information sources. The most reliable system of the cited reference searching includes data− bases of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in Phila− delphia. The ISI® Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI Ex) provides access to references found in approximately 5,900 of the world’s leading scholarly science and technical journals covering more than 150 subject categories. The diagnostic sig− nificance for international journal quality has got the ISIs impact factor (IF), a number which gives a measure of the rate with which the “average article” in a journal has been cited in a par− ticular year

A volcanic scenario for the Frasnian–Famennian major biotic crisis and other Late Devonian global changes: More answers than questions?

Although the prime causation of the Late Devonian Frasnian–Famennian (F–F) mass extinction remains conjectural, such destructive factors as the spread of anoxia and rapid upheavals in the runaway greenhouse climate are generally accepted in the Earth-bound multicausal scenario. In terms of prime triggers of these global changes, volcanism paroxysm coupled with the Eovariscan tectonism has been suspected for many years. However, the recent discovery of multiple anomalous mercury enrichments at the worldwide scale provides a reliable factual basis for proposing a volcanic–tectonic scenario for the stepwise F–F ecological catastrophe, specifically the Kellwasser (KW) Crisis. A focus is usually on the cataclysmic emplacement of the Viluy large igneous province (LIP) in eastern Siberia. However, the long-lasted effusive outpouring was likely episodically paired with amplified arc magmatism and hydrothermal activity, and the rapid climate oscillations and glacioustatic responses could in fact have been promoted by diverse feedbacks driven by volcanism and tectonics. The anti-greenhouse effect of expanding intertidal–estuarine and riparian woodlands during transient CO2-greenhouse spikes was another key feedback on Late Devonian land. An updated volcanic presspulse model is proposed with reference to the recent timing of LIPs and arc magmatism and the revised date of 371.9 Ma for the F–F boundary. The global changes were initiated by the pre-KW effusive activity of LIPs, which caused extreme stress in the global carbonate ecosystem. Nevertheless, at least two decisive pulses of sill-type intrusions and/or kimberlite/carbonatite eruptions, in addition to flood basalt extrusions on the East European Platform, are thought to have eventually led to the end-Frasnian ecological catastrophe. These stimuli have been enhanced by effective orbital modulation. An attractive option is to apply the scenario to other Late Devonian global events, as evidences in particular by the Hg spikes that coincide with the end- Famennian Hangenberg Crisis

Polish Polar Research as a medium of international scientific communication 1996-2002

The multidisciplinary journal Polish Polar Research is bibliometrically ana− lysed as a medium of international scientific communication in light of current citation data from SCI Ex 1996–2002. Despite its world−wide distribution and distinctive visibility in the polar society, the journal’s two−years impact factor is invariably not very high (below 0.35) because the cited papers are mostly from the 1980s. The increasing participation of foreign (co)authors in the Polish quarterly, paired with the slowly growing number of citing articles in SCI Ex are already promising steps to the immediate information transfer and subse− quently improved brief−term journal impact. Citation links with polar investigators from Germany, and also from Great Britain, Spain and the USA are clearly manifested, espe− cially in fields of marine Antarctic ecology and biology. Even if Polish Polar Research may successfully compete with several low−rated journals from different countries indexed in SCI Ex in related categories, its continuing internationalization is urgently required

Dmitri Sobolev and other forgotten forerunners of mass extinction science and volcanic catastrophism

Some paradigms in the impact-volcanic controversy that we regard as having first been established in the 1980s in fact can be traced much farther back in time, as exemplified by the heuristic neocatastrophic concepts proposed by Dmitri Sobolev and other progressive Russian scholars (Aleksey P. Pavlov, Mikhail A. Usov) of the early 20th century. They were truly conceptual forerunners of the global catastrophe model in Earth history which is now widely accepted as the volcanic/ greenhouse scenario, even if preceding thought-provoking concepts of some leading European scholars (e.g., Svante Arrhenius, Jacques J. Ėbelmen) were unknown to them. From time to time, scientific society is astonished by the discovery that supposedly modern concepts originated many decades ago. For example, mass extinction themes are still the subject of intense debate in mainstream science, but some paradigms have a beginning that can be traced far back in time

What is hot in sedimentary research over the millennium crossroad?

The world-wide and multidisciplinary Science Citation Index (SCI), available presently online as SCI Expanded via Web of Science from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in Philadelphia, has been applied as a powerful and reliable tool for the comprehensive study of citation patterns (GARFIELD 1979). Introductory bibliometric analyses for sedimentological literature were already presented in Journal of Sedimentary Petrology many years ago (MIDDLETON 1974, PILKLEY & WILCOX 1981, BODINE 1982). Hot Papers Database contains data on highly cited papers processed in the ISI databases during the last two years. Current information on the publication ‘hits’ in physics, chemistry, biology and medicine are regularly presented as What’s hot in Research? at the ISI homepage (www.isinet.com). For the geosciences, the list of most cited articles from 1981 was published by GARFIELD (1983), but contained almost exclusively papers in geophysics. The article presents this kind of updated ISI data (i.e., based on SCI Expanded) for the closely linked geological topics of sedimentology, sedimentary geology and sedimentary geochemistry, and is thought to be a continuation of the previous search by MIDDLETON (1974). SCI Expanded includes modern papers only (since 1996), having been indexed from ca. 5900 source ‘master’ journals. The identification of the highest cited references (as an important part of the intellectual essence of the discipline) and dynamic, rapidly developing research fronts are major tasks of the recent bibliometric studies, as is well shown in a refined approach to interdisciplinary climate research by SCHWECHHEIMER & WINTERHAGER (1999). [fragm wstępu

The Late Devonian bio-crisis and brachiopods: Introductory remarks: preface

The aim of this volume is to present the extinction and survival patterns of articulate brachiopods, in particular the demise of Atrypida near the Frasnian-Famennian (F-F) boundary in the Northem Hemisphere

The impact factor of Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

The impact factor for Acta Palaeontologica Polonica was calculated on the basis of a citation database provided by the Institute for Scientific Information in Philadelphia. It appears that APP is improving its position within the group of leading international palaeontological periodicals, with IF increasing from 0.167 in 1992 to 0.576 in 1997. APP is the only Earth Sciences representative among 35 Polish journals included in the IS1 citation database