The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Eddie891 Talk Work 16:22, 19 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

John Truss[edit]

John Truss (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)
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Is the only reason this article exists, because his daughter is set to become UK Prime Minister? I do not think his academic research output on its own meets WP:PROF. There are also many emeritus professors in the UK, so this on its own should not be used to assume notability. Also, all of the references in the article so far do not have John Truss mentioned in their headline but rather his daughter Liz. Uhooep (talk) 13:26, 5 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Is the only reason you nominated it for deletion because his daughter is set to become UK Prime Minister? You should have given it a chance while it is under construction. See here too. Philafrenzy (talk) 13:30, 5 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I previously considered creating the article myself, but upon researching the subject, concluded there wasn't enough to confer individual notability here. That's not to say others can't substantiate notability of course, but it's not there yet in my opinion. Uhooep (talk) 13:39, 5 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I agree which was why it had an "under construction" tag. Philafrenzy (talk) 13:57, 5 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Weak keep per WP:NPROF C8 based on the findings below that he was co-editor in chief of Journal of the London Mathematical Society.
Comment The journal that Truss co-edited, the Journal of the London Mathematical Society, had an impact factor of 0.88 in 2021. This would fail to put the journal in the top 71% of journals by impact factor according to this 2017 report, therefore I would argue that this is not enough by itself to pass WP:PROF C8, which requires "a major, well-established academic journal in their subject area". Uhooep (talk) 17:22, 7 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Beyond the problems with impact factors, the operative words here are "in their subject area". Mathematics is a low citation field. While not a tippy-top journal, JLMS is highly respectable in the field, and I believe it meets the standard. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 18:00, 7 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Mathematics journals score notoriously poorly on impact factors, because citations happen slowly relatively to other fields, especially lab sciences or engineering. There is also the "well-established" part of that criterion: being published since 1926 by a historically significant mathematical society (despite having "London" in its name, it's actually a national organization in the UK) suggests that there should be no argument over that. --RFBailey (talk) 20:41, 7 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Being a full professor before retirement doesn't make him meet NPROF #5. Being an emeritus professor doesn't either. EddieHugh (talk) 17:35, 5 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
NPROF #5 reads "has held a named chair appointment or distinguished professor appointment at a major institution of higher education and research, or an equivalent position in countries where named chairs are uncommon." Named chairs are uncommon in the UK and Leeds University is a "major institution". Edwardx (talk) 23:06, 7 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Your argument seems to be that an emeritus professor is equivalent to a distinguished professor appointment. That would make all emeritus professors meet this criterion, and we'd be very busy creating new articles. At Leeds, named chairs exist – [1], [2]. EddieHugh (talk) 14:16, 10 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
EddieHugh, I believe the argument that Edwardx is making is actually that all full professors at UK universities pass WP:NPROF C5, since named chairs are less common there versus in the US. I have heard this argument before, and am fairly skeptical. (But I don't think the math department at Leeds does have a named chair, and I am a keep !vote via WP:NPROF C8.) Russ Woodroofe (talk) 14:56, 10 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
That would be a very low bar... the definitions aren't very clear, but an official UK source states: "Among academic staff, 22,810 or 10% were employed on a contract level described as a professor in 2019/20." EddieHugh (talk) 16:35, 10 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Weak keep. The joint editorship is enough to meet C8, I suppose. JoelleJay (talk) 16:36, 8 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ Cameron, Peter J. (2012). "The random graph revisited". In Casacuberta, Carles; Miro-Roig, Rosa Maria; Verdera, Joan; Xambo-Descamps, Sebastia (eds.). European Congress of Mathematics: Barcelona, July 10–14, 2000, Volume I. Vol. 1. Birkhäuser. p. 271. ISBN 978-3-0348-9497-5.
  2. ^ Tarzi, Sam (1 June 2014). "Multicoloured Random Graphs: Constructions and Symmetry" (PDF). ((cite journal)): Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ Cameron, Peter J.; Tarzi, Sam. "Group Actions On Amorphous Sets". ((cite journal)): Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Tarzi, S. (1 June 2003). "Exclusion Principles as Restricted Permutation Symmetries". Foundations of Physics. 33 (6): 955–979. doi:10.1023/A:1025669511908. ISSN 1572-9516.
  5. ^ Cameron, Peter J.; Tarzi, Sam. "The Theorem of Baer, Schreier and Ulam for Bounded Amorphous Sets". School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London. ((cite journal)): Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ Cameron, Peter J. (1990). Oligomorphic Permutation Groups. Cambridge University Press. p. V. ISBN 0-521-38836-8.
  7. ^ Cameron, Peter J.; Tarzi, Sam (25 August 2017). "On the automorphism group of the m-coloured random graph". arXiv:1708.07831 [math].
  8. ^ Cameron, Peter J. (1990). Oligomorphic Permutation Groups. Cambridge University Press. p. 104. ISBN 0-521-38836-8.

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Relisting comment: A lot of people think he meets WP:NPROF no support has been given for how he meets WP:NPROF. For those voting keep please clarify how you think he meets WP:NPROF.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, KSAWikipedian (talk) 13:39, 12 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This is untrue. Several people have said specifically why above, namely point 8 "The person has been the head or chief editor of a major, well-established academic journal in their subject area", viz the Journal of the London Mathematical Society which is a major and certainly well-established (since 1926) journal in its field. Philafrenzy (talk) 17:30, 12 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Questionable Relisting. It is baldly false to claim no support has been given for how he meets WP:NPROF. There are plainly several well-articulated reasons above. I will restate mine, namely that 2 books by reputable academic publishers (AW & OUP), which WorldCat shows to be widely held, passes PROF 1 and editorship of JLMS passes PROF 8. I've been here on-and-off for many years and have observed during the last several an increasingly unfortunate trend toward agenda-based behavior and editing. I had initially disregarded the comment by one of the editors above related to politics, but relisting in light of what is clearly at least a no consensus default keep now seems not terribly inconsistent with this charge. 65.113.135.165 (talk) 12:41, 13 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
How does having two books published meet "The person's research has had a significant impact in their scholarly discipline, broadly construed, as demonstrated by independent reliable sources" (PROF 1)? Editorship for PROF 8 is a reasonable case to make, but I don't understand the PROF 1 argument. EddieHugh (talk) 18:19, 14 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Please check the AfD record. It is an established precedent resting on 100s of cases. 128.252.172.7 (talk) 14:13, 15 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
No it certainly is not. JoelleJay (talk) 03:16, 16 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
DGG used it many many times. That probably makes it a precedent. 2600:1700:8650:2C60:D942:AC01:209C:7E26 (talk) 03:21, 16 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Given your first example of this alleged argument, I'm skeptical this is true. JoelleJay (talk) 05:05, 16 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Prof 8 isn't a "case". It's a matter of fact isn't it? And therefore a straight pass for notability. Why hasn't this been closed as keep on that basis? Philafrenzy (talk) 20:08, 14 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Philafrenzy, while I am a weak keep !vote myself, there are a large number of !votes that do not hew to Wikipedia policies and guidelines. Having books that some libraries hold does not grant notability (although several reviews of such books would meet WP:NAUTHOR). Being a full professor generally does not meet WP:NPROF C5. (I am aware of the arguments that full professors in the British system might, but I believe this to be somewhat contentious at best.) Being cited by Peter Cameron does not meet WP:NPROF C1; the citation record in general is a little on the light side for WP:NPROF C1, even in a low-citation field like math. (Note that user RFBailey has argued that Google Scholar may be missing some citations on older work, and there may be a good faith argument to be made there.) Regarding WP:NPROF C8, user Uhooep has argued that one of the flagship journals of a major mathematical society is not sufficiently major and well-established to meet the criteria; few Keep !votes have referred to WP:NPROF C8 or addressed this point. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 10:47, 15 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  • There is, of course, a rock-solid precedent established over hundreds of AfDs that 2 books handled by notable academic publishers constitute notability. (DGG himself has probably made that argument on 100s of AfDs.) That was my main point (I'm 65.113.135.165 above) and it is enough to close this case as keep. Holdings, which are another quantitative metric (like citations) that have also established notability in 100s of AfDs, are, in this case, sufficiently high (>600) to constitute another independent indicator of notability. Editorship of JLMS is a 3rd. These points were all stated clearly above. So, the questions remains: why was this relisted? 128.252.172.7 (talk) 14:13, 15 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  • Are you claiming that having 2 books published through notable academic publisher alone is sufficient for notability? If so, can you back that up by pointing to previous concensus discussion? Because I don't see how publishing alone would satify criteria 1 of WP:NPROF. -Kj cheetham (talk) 14:28, 15 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  • Yes. I will admit here to my lack of search prowess, since I burned about 30 minutes just to find one reference to this precedent in an AfD from a few years back: ...we conventionally go by rules of thumb that DGG has articulated many times, roughly: at least 2 books by reputable publishers (especially including university presses like CUP or PUP, etc) and having "good" institutional holdings. It would perhaps be worth a ping to DGG for some elaboration. I don't know if his position has evolved on this matter, but I do know that this threshold was invoked successfully in many AfDs in years past. 128.252.172.7 (talk) 15:37, 15 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  • Unfortunately, I have to point out that claiming requirements for notability are now stricter brings us inevitably back to the issue of the de facto notability standard that we have discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Jennifer Thorpe-Moscon. Namely, it is hollow to claim higher standards when BLPs exist for many postdocs and asst professors that plainly violate those very stated standards. I am, in good faith, trying to create awareness that WP has get a handle for actually enforcing some level of uniformity if it ever aspires to rise above populist status. 128.252.172.7 (talk) 16:44, 15 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
This was DGG's !vote in the AfD you linked: DeleteThe relevant standard here is WP:CREATIVE, not WP:PROF; she's a poet, not a scholar of poetry. The most likely criterion is awards, and I see no awards of any sort except student awards. Fellowship for bing a poet in residence are not awards in the usual sense. In terms of her single book, it hard to judge poets by the extent of copies of the book, but it is her first and only book. There seem to be no formal published reviews. The praise from Natasha Tretheway is not a published review, but a blurb quoted in a blog posting advertising a bookstore appearance. This seems a clear case of Not Yet Notable. DGG is explicitly not evaluating that case through NPROF, but rather through NAUTHOR.
What you quoted was part of a comment from Agricola44 specifically regarding norms for poets (or, at the broadest, authors in the humanities). Furthermore, what Agricola is referencing is more of a quick-fail exclusion criterion rather than a threshold for inclusion--i.e., not every author with two books with decent holdings is notable, but almost all the ones who are notable (and were evaluated strictly through this criterion) do check those boxes. JoelleJay (talk) 03:43, 16 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
For the record, I absolutely do not believe that 2 books by reputable publishers is sufficient for notability. That alone does not demonstrate impact. WP:GNG/WP:NPROF/WP:NAUTHOR are what apply. -Kj cheetham (talk) 09:19, 16 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I find it remarkable that the IP editor is citing two AfD discussions that ended in delete to support a keep case based on 2 published books. FWIW, two books, each with two reviews in reliable sources, would probably be a pass of WP:NAUTHOR (and avoiding WP:BLP1E). Perhaps this is what the IP editor is thinking of? Russ Woodroofe (talk) 09:44, 16 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Wrong set of criteria, unless you're saying that he's a 'creative professional' (sorry, mathematicians, your creativity is undervalued by society). And (obviously) a library isn't a gallery or a museum. EddieHugh (talk) 18:19, 14 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
There actually do exist mathematicians whose work has been represented within the permanent collections of several notable galleries or museums. Erik Demaine, with works in MoMA and the Smithsonian, comes to mind. But in general, I agree with you: this criterion is for artworks in museum, not for books in libraries. —David Eppstein (talk) 21:33, 18 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.