Wikipedia:Notability (academics)

This guideline, sometimes referred to as the professor test, is meant to reflect consensus about the notability of academics as measured by their academic achievements.

Criteria

If an academic/professor meets any one of the following conditions, as substantiated through reliable sources, they are definitely notable. If an academic/professor meets none of these conditions, they may still be notable, and the merits of an article on the academic/professor will depend largely on verifiability.

1. The person is regarded as a significant expert in his or her area by independent sources.
2. The person is regarded as an important figure by independent academics in the same field.
3. The person has published a significant and well-known academic work. To be significant or well-known, the work must meet one of the following criteria:
   1. The work must be the subject of multiple, independent, non-trivial reviews or studies in works meeting our standards for reliable sources.
   2. The work must be prescribed as a textbook, a reference work, or required reading in an undergraduate- or graduate- level course; which is not taught, designed, or otherwise overseen by the author; at multiple independent accredited universities.
   3. The work must be widely cited (excluding self-citations) in the academic literature.
4. The person's collective body of work is significant and well-known. To be significant or well-known, the collective body of work must meet one of the following criteria:
   1. The collective body of work, or a large subset thereof, must be the subject of multiple, independent, non-trivial studies or summaries in works meeting our standards for reliable sources.
   2. The collective body of work, or a large subset thereof, must be the subject of an undergraduate- or graduate- level course; which is not taught, designed, or otherwise overseen by the author; at multiple independent accredited universities.
5. The person is known for originating an important new concept, theory or idea which is the subject of multiple, independent, non-trivial reviews or studies in works meeting our standards for reliable sources.
6. The person is known for being the advisor of an especially notable student, and that student has acknowledged the importance and influence of the advisor's ideas on him or her.
7. The person has received a notable award or honor, or has been often nominated for them.

Examples

Some examples of applications of this guideline follow.

1. An academic who has published a book or books of general interest, a widely-used textbook, or non-academic articles in periodicals with significant readership is likely to be notable as an author (see WP:BIO), regardless of their academic achievements. Similarly, an academic involved in significant current events is likely to be notable as a person under the general WP:BIO guidelines.
2. An academic repeatedly quoted in newspapers or newsmagazines may be considered to meet criterion 1. A small number of quotations, especially in local newsmedia, is not unexpected for academics and so falls short of this mark.
3. An academic meeting criterion 2 will probably meet other criteria as well. Nonetheless, in theory, an academic meeting only criterion 2 would certainly be notable.
4. It is hard for those not in an academic's own field to judge criteria 3 and 4: researchers in some areas publish many more papers than in other areas: in some cases, books are the standard form of publication. Nonetheless, numbers of publications can be judged quantitatively to a degree. The importance of a paper can often be deduced from the number of citations of it.
5. A caution about Google Scholar: Google Scholar works well for fields that are (1) paper-oriented and (2) where all (or nearly all) respected venues have an online presence. Most papers written by a computer scientist will show up, but for less technologically up-to-date fields, it's dicey. Even the journal Science puts articles online only back to 1996. Thus, Google Scholar should rarely be used as proof of non-notability.
6. Medline, now part of Pubmed, is the original broadly-based search engine, originating over four decades ago and indexing even earlier papers. Thus, especially in biology and medicine, Pubmed "associated articles" is a Google Scholar proxy for older papers with no on-line presence. E.g., The journal Stroke puts papers on-line back through the 1970's. For this 1978 paper [1],Google Scholar lists 100 citing articles, while Pubmed lists 89 associated articles
7. If an academic is the originator of an idea or concept that is significant and important within its area, they meet criterion 5, however, the originator of an idea that is similar to previously existing ideas may not meet criterion 5.
8. One of the measures of importance in academia is the achievements of one's students (normally PhD students, but exceptions are possible). A professor with a particularly well-known student may be notable for this reason alone: such an academic meets criterion 6. However, merely having a notable student is not sufficient: (1) the student should be extremely notable, and (2) the academic should be a primary influence on that student.
9. Receiving full professorship at a prestigious university, or receiving a named professorship at a reputable university, may be considered an award or honor under criterion 7. (This interpretation is disputed.)

Caveats

Some caveats to this guideline follow.

1. Note that if an academic is notable only for their connection to a single concept, paper, idea, or event, it may be more appropriate to include information about them on the related page, and to leave the entry under the academic as a redirect page.
2. Note that as this is a guideline and not a rule, exceptions may well exist. Some academics may not meet any of these criteria, but may still be notable for their academic work. It is important to note that it is very difficult to make clear requirements in terms of numbers of publications or their quality: the criteria, in practice, vary greatly by field. Also, this proposal sets the bar fairly low, which is natural: to a degree, academics live in the public arena, trying to influence others with their ideas. It is natural that successful ones should be considered notable.

See professor for more information about academic ranks and their meanings. Note that academic ranks are different in different countries.