Dr. Gerald North wins AGU Outstanding Referee Citation

Dr. Gerald North, who is a Distinguished Professor and Holder of the Harold J. Haynes Endowed Chair in Geosciences in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, can add another distinction to his record – Dr. North was recently awarded the 2005 Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Geophysical Research Letters. Dr. North was given this distinction by the Publications Committee of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) during the Editors' Evening on May 25, which was a part of the AGU Joint Assembly.

The awards are given to referees who put forth an outstanding effort in their critiques of the works that are in consideration to run in the AGU volume. Such critiques of submitted papers are a vital services performed for AGU; however, this service is also often among the least recognized because of the nature of academic peer review.

To recognize contributions to this review process, each year, educators involved in the AGU are asked to nominate referees deserving of this award. Dr. North was recommended for this award by the main editor for the American Geophysical Union, Jay Famiglietti.  While the final edits are anonymous to the original writer/researcher, the citation committee has the chance to look over edits that referees have made.

“I read the papers, and then I write a report and send it back. I do what I can to help the authors. Most of the time, I recommend that the paper be revised, but sometimes I have to recommend that the paper be withheld. That is obviously one of the hardest parts of the review process,” Dr. North said.

Dr. North has been involved with the AGU article critiquing process for many years. In fact, he was previously named the 1985 Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Geophysical Research Letters.

“It is nice to win this award because I realize what awards of this nature mean,” he said. “It is nice to get recognition. It is also nice for the reputation of the (College of Geosciences).”

Dr. North earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Wisconsin in 1966. His research focus currently includes climate analysis, hydrological modeling, and Satellite remote sensing. For more information about Dr. North and his work, visit his webpage at http://www.met.tamu.edu/people/faculty/north.php.