#31; 13.000+ words written in March

Today I have had a book writing day, with some 900 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. I also watched the webinar "Quantifying and mitigating subsurface risk in CO2 storage projects", organized by Finding Petroleum/Carbon Capture Journal. 

So far this Spring I have had 31 writing days, including 26 book writing days. In March, I had a total of 14,5 writing days (possibly a record?), including 13 book writing days, and I logged 13.393 words written altogether (a new record in terms of monthly total as far as I can tell), of which 13.017 words written on my monograph manuscript.

Jacob Tom´s ph.d. defence completed; attended

Today I attended the trial lecture and ph.d. defence of Jacob Lee Tom at University of Stavanger. The theme of the trial lecture was “Travelling Concepts: A Methodological Challenge”, while Jacob´s ph.d. thesis is titled "Radical Moderation: Time and History in Twentieth-Century Norwegian Literature". Opponents were Sissel Furuseth (University of Oslo) and Zoltàn Boldizsàr Simon (Bielefeld University, Germany). I have co-supervised Jacob along with Dean Krouk from University of Wisconsin-Madison, while my UIS colleague Tyson Ashley Retz has been main supervisor.

Unfortunately I had to cancel my participation in the doctoral dinner due to a health emergency.

#30

Today I have had a book writing day, with some 1.150 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 30 writing days, including 25 book writing days.

By now I have written about 60% of the book manuscript.

#29

Today I have had half an article writing day, partly devoted to work on the revision of the book chapter manuscript "Steffens´ early outlook reconsidered: Nature conceptions of the industrial-age Anthropocene", with some 100 words added to the manuscript in the process. I also accepted to contribute with two entries in a prospective special issue (journal to be agreed) titled "CONTRADICTionary: An Almanac of Resistance", which will be organised around the ca. 200 words the Trump administration is attempting to ban from science.  

So far this Spring I have had 29 writing days, including 5 article writing days.

Updated CV - publication numbers; peer review numbers; international engagement

Today I have updated my brief-version CV.

Excerpts:

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS 

As of March 2025: Altogether 115 academic publications (as either author or editor). This includes 64 peer-reviewed international publications, including 2 co-authored scientific monographs, 22 peer-reviewed English-language book chapters with international publishers, and 37 peer-reviewed articles published in international journals.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS 

Peer-reviewed papers presented in-person at international conferences in Argentina, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and USA – altogether in 24 countries.

FURTHER INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS 

I have attended further academic and related events in Canada, France, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, and South Korea; done field work in Brazil; and spoken online to audiences in Brazil, Finland, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, the UK and the USA. Including in-person conference presentations, I have engaged directly with audiences in 29 countries. 

PEER-REVIEWS FOR SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS 

I have done peer-reviews of scientific manuscripts for The Anthropocene Review, Biosemiotics, British Poultry Science, Cognitive Semiotics, Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, Environmental Humanities, Environmental Philosophy, Humanimalia – a journal of human/animal interface studies, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, Journal of Comparative Social Work, Kultur & Klasse, New formations, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Otherness: Essays and Studies; Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences, Philozofia, Plants, People, Planet, Public Journal of Semiotics, Semiotica, Sign Systems Studies, Sosiologi idag, Theoria, and Visual studies; altogether for 25 scientific journals.

#28,5

Today I have had a book writing day, with some 800 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 28,5 writing days, including 24 book writing days.

By now in March, I have logged 11.244 words written altogether during writing days, which I believe is a new montly record in terms of academic writing (the last record appears to have been 11.225 words written in December 2020).

"Wasted GDP in the USA" featured in HSSCOMMS collection "Top 50 papers: 2015-2024"

Today I discovered that my 2023 article "Wasted GDP in the USA" has been included in another collection by Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, where it appeared, namely the collection "Top 50 papers: 2015-2024". The collection was released January 20th 2025. 

"The articles have been selected based on a combination of metrics (citation counts, downloads and Altmetric scores)", according to the journal. The collection features "some of this journal’s most impactful and accessed research from the past decade". Altogether the journal appears to have published about 4.000 articles over its first decade.

My article is one of 15 articles published in the past three years (2022-2024) that have been included in the collection. 

Abstracts reviewed for NASS XIV conference

I have recently peer-reviewed 17 abstracts as a member of the scientific committee of The 14th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies along with the 15th Annual Lotman Days (NASS XIV), with the theme “Creativity – Complexity – Intelligence“, which is to be held in Tallinn, Estonia, June 11–13.

Moreover, even more recently, I have taken part in assessing candidates for receiving NASS graduate student grants.

#27,5

Today I have had half an article writing day devoted to work on the revision of the book chapter manuscript "Steffens´ early outlook reconsidered: Nature conceptions of the industrial-age Anthropocene", following peer-review, adding some 200 words to the manuscript in the process. So far this Spring I have had 27,5 writing days, including 4,5 article writing days.

#27

Today I have had a book writing day, with some 900 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 27 writing days, including 23 book writing days.

By now in Mars I have written more than 10.000 words on the book manuscript.

#26

Over the last three days, I have had half an article writing day devoted to work on the article "Når gode råd er plagsomme" which I co-write with Svein Tuastad. In the process, which also included a meeting, I added some 100 words to the manuscript.  So far this Spring I have had 26 writing days, including 4 article writing days.

Still #117 among UIS researchers on Google Scholar

According to Google Scholar, I remain #117 among University of Stavanger researcher profiles in terms of number of citations (1345 now vs. 1088 April 4th 2024, cf. previous post).

See also my Google scholar profile.

Third Wonderful world program council meeting

Today I attended the third meeting of the program council of the philosophy and science festival "Wonderful world", which is held in Stavanger, Norway, May 28-31st (there was also a meeting March 6th which I attended).

Seminar on how to solve the climate crisis given in environmental psychology course

Today I have given the seminar "Hvordan løse klimakrisen?" (How to solve the climate crisis) in the environmental psychology course that is part of the University of Stavanger´s master programme in psychology. About 10 students attended online.

#25,5

Today, during sick leave, I have had half a book writing day, with some 1.050 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 25,5 writing days, including 22 book writing days.

200 recommendations on ResearchGate

According to ResearhGate, my research publications registered there have now reached 200 recommendations from fellow researchers.

See my ResearchGate profile and my 99 research items registered there to date.

Abstract for 25th Gathering in biosemiotics: "Ecological semiotics"

I have just submitted the abstract below to the organizers of the 25th gathering in biosemiotics, which will be held in Rotterdam August 25-29th.

***

Ecological semiotics  

ABSTRACT  

This presentation draws on my recently published encyclopedia chapter “Ecological semiotics” (Tønnessen 2024). Ecological semiotics, or ecosemiotics, can be understood as the study of sign use by organisms in an ecological context. In ecology, semiotic phenomena and sign processes occur at different levels of biological organization, and distinctive kinds of sign use is characteristic of different kinds of interspecies interaction. Ecosemiotic studies help to explain how ecological complexity can be understood in semiotic terms, and how sentient organisms interpret their environment and make choices that are informed by their sign use. The basic theoretical outlook of ecological semiotics includes lifeworld perspectives, particularly represented by the Umwelt theory of Jakob von Uexküll (2010). This connects ecosemiotics with phenomenology, subjectivity and agency. In a more rudimentary sense, even plants, fungi and microorganisms have agency which can be framed in semiotic terms. A semiotic approach to ecology is particularly pertinent in the context of human ecology and contemporary discussions concerning environmental sustainability. While ecosemiotics is amply informative applied to general ecology, it is especially pertinent in the context of understanding how human agency and sign use affects the environment at large. Ecological semiotics can help us understand how genuinely human sign use stands out from non-human sign use, and the ways in which human sign use is subject to cultural variation. Crucially, a semiotic approach to environmental issues can be informative with regard to understanding how human behaviour and sign use affects non-human lifeworlds by triggering environmental change which is experienced in sign-mediated ways. This positions ecosemiotics to address issues of environmental sustainability.  

REFERENCES 

Tønnessen, Morten 2024. “Ecological semiotics”. Chapter. Encyclopedia of Ecology (3rd edition) (Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-21964-1.00018-5.  

von Uexküll, Jacob 2010. A foray into the worlds of animals and humans with A theory of meaning. O’Neil, J. D. (transl.). Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press.

#24,5

Today, during sick leave, I have had half a book writing day, with some 300 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 24,5 writing days, including 21 book writing days.

I have had a record of 4,5 book writing days this week, and written more than 5.000 words. So far in March I have written more on the monograph than in any other month.

#24

Today, during sick leave, I have had a book writing day, with some 1.200 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 24 writing days, including 20,5 book writing days.     

Today was the second-most productive writing day so far this year in terms of number of words written.

My 10 most read Springer Nature articles; ca. 60.000 accesses in total

According to Springer Nature, these are my most accessed Springer articles:

1 (1). The Ethics of Laying Hen Genetics (Mia Fernyhough et al., Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 2019) 14.986 (12.924)  

2 (3). Wasted GDP in the USA (Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2023) 14.297 (5.144)  

3 (2). Umwelt Transitions: Uexküll and Environmental Change (Biosemiotics, 2009) 6.175 (5.155)  

4 (4). Phenomenology and Biosemiotics (Morten Tønnessen, Timo Maran & Alexei Sharov, Biosemiotics, 2018) 5.675 (4.648)  

5 (5). Jesper Hoffmeyer’s Biosemiotic Legacy (Morten Tønnessen, Alexei Sharov & Timo Maran, Biosemiotics, 2019) 3.789 (3.279)  

6 (6). Current Human Ecology in the Amazon and beyond: a Multi-Scale Ecosemiotic Approach (Biosemiotics, 2020) 3.673 (3.041) 

7 (7). Towards Synthesis of Biology and Semiotics (Alexei Sharov, Timo Maran & Morten Tønnessen, Biosemiotics, 2015) 3.022 (2.672)  

8 (8). Biosemiotic Achievement Award for the Year 2020 (Claudio Julio Rodríguez Higuera & Morten Tønnessen, Biosemiotics, 2021) 2.908 (2.644)  

9 (9). Comprehending the Semiosis of Evolution (Alexei Sharov, Timo Maran & Morten Tønnessen, Biosemiotics, 2016) 2.892 (2.546)  

10 (10). Making the Umwelt Bubble of the Modern Synthesis Burst (Biosemiotics, 2021) 2.552 (2.131)  

Combined these 10 articles have been accessed 59.969 times to date (vs. 44.184 as of November 2023, meaning they have been accessed a total of 15.785 times over the last one and a half year or so). My two most read articles account for almost half of the total of the top 10 articles, and "Wasted GDP in the USA" accounts for more than half of my top 10 article reads since November 2023. 

I gave a similar overview in the post "My 10 most accessed articles with Springer Nature; ca. 44.000 accesses combined" (November 2023). Changes in ranking and number of accesses are shown above.

See also:

"Wasted GDP in the USA" reaches 12.000 accesses (September 2024)

The 39 most read texts on my ResearchGate profile (July 2023)

 Webstats, Scribd: 14 documents with 1,000+ reads (January 2014)

To take part in event "Mars and the earthlings" May 31st at Wonderful World festival

The Wonderful World festival has released parts of its programme for this year´s festival, which is to be held May 28-31st in Stavanger, Norway. I am scheduled to take part in the event "Mars og jordboerne" (Mars and the earthlings), with Brage W. Johansen, on Saturday May 31st.

#23

Today, during sick leave, I have had a book writing day, with some 1.300 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 23 writing days, including 19,5 book writing days.    

Today was the most productive writing day so far this year in terms of number of words written. By now I have written more than 40.000 words on the book manuscript.

#22

Today, during sick leave, I have had a book writing day, with some 1.200 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 22 writing days, including 18,5 book writing days.  

Today was the most productive writing day so far this year in terms of number of words written. 

#21

Today, during sick leave, I have had a book writing day, with some 1.100 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 21 writing days, including 17,5 book writing days. 

Today was the second-most productive so far this year in terms of number of words written. By now I have written about half of the book manuscript.

#20

Today, during sick leave, I have had a book writing day, with some 700 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 20 writing days, including 16,5 book writing days. This week I have written more than 3.000 words over 3,5 writing days.

I also followed a webinar organized by Carbon Capture Journal, "Approaches to CO2 storage monitoring".

Wonderful Tour event "The dream about space" held

Yesterday I took part in the first Wounderful Tour event this Spring, ahead of the Wonderful world festival in May, arranged by Kåkå Kverulantkatedralen. The event, at Vitenfabrikken in Sandnes, was titled «Drømmen om verdensrommet» (The dream about space) and featured a panel consisting of me and Brage W. Johansen and chaired by Runa Norheim. Ahead of the panel, the movie "Capcom Go – Apollohistorien" was shown in the planetarium. Some 25 people attended the event.

Ecosemiotics paper "Ecological semiotics, lifeworld perspectives, and sustainability" accepted for presentation at NASS XIV

I have been informed by the organizers of the 14th Conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies, organized jointly with the 15th Annual Lotman Days with the theme “Creativity – Complexity – Intelligence”, which is to take place in Tallinn, Estonia, June 11–13, 2025, that my paper "Ecological semiotics, lifeworld perspectives, and sustainability" has been accepted for oral presentation.

PS: I am part of the scientific committee of the conference, but of course we don´t evaluate our own abstracts.

#19

Today, during sick leave, I have had a book writing day, with some 700 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 19 writing days, including 15,5 book writing days. 

Live Better article "Examining the connection between position-based power and social status across 70 cultures" published in British Journal of Social Psychology

The article "Examining the connection between position-based power and social status across 70 cultures" has just been published in British Journal of Social Psychology. This is the first article from the Live Better research consortium where I am credited as a co-author (based on data gathering in Norway).

Reference:

 — 2025, by Arkadiusz Wasiel, Maciej R. Górski, Michael Harris Bond, Victoria Wai Lan Yeung, Plamen Akaliyski, Grace Akell, Joonha Park, Mohsen Joshanloo, Boris Sokolov, M. Azhar Hussain, Liman Man Wai Li, Mateusz Olechowski, Vivian L. Vignoles, Farida Guemaz, Mahmoud Boussena, Md. Reza-A Rabby, Ayu Okvitawanli, Katarzyna Myślińska-Szarek, Brian W. Haas, Ángel Sánchez-Rodríguez, Olha Vlasenko, Vivian Miu-Chi Lun, Nur Amali Aminnuddin, İdil Işık, Oumar Barry, Márta Fülöp, David Igbokwe, Mladen Adamovic, Ragna Benedikta Garðarsdóttir, Natalia Soboleva, Julien Teyssier, Fumiko Kano Glückstad, Adil Samekin, Charity Akotia, Marwan Al-Zoubi, Laura Andrade, Petra Anić, Rasmata Bakyono-Nabaloum, Arno Baltin, Vlad Costin, Patrick Denoux, Alejandra Domínguez Espinosa, Agustin Espinosa, Vladimer Gamsakhurdia, Magdalena Garvanova, Alin Gavreliuc, Biljana Gjoneska, Eric Raymond Igou, Naved Iqbal, Nuha Iter, Natalia Kascakova, Elmina Kazimzade, Maria Kluzowicz, Agata Kocimska-Bortnowska, Nicole Kronberger, Mary Anne Lauri, Hannah Lee, Arina Malyonova, Fridanna Maricchiolo, Linda Mohammed, Fatma Mokadem, Magdalena Mosanya, Oriana Mosca, Elke Murdock, Martin Nader, Karolina Nowak, Danielle Ochoa, Zoran Pavlović, Iva Poláčková Šolcová, Ewelina Purc, Muhammad Rizwan, Ana Maria Rocha, Heyla Selim, Rosita Sobhie, Moritz Streng, Chien-Ru Sun, Morten Tønnessen, Claudio Torres, Kiều Thị Thanh Trà, Vladimir Turjačanin, Wijnand van Tilburg, Christin-Melanie Vauclair, Jorge Vergara-Morales, Cai Xing, Belkacem Yakhlef, Jae-Won Yang, Eric Kenson Yau, June Chun Yeung, John Zelenski and Kuba Krys. Examining the connection between position-based power and social status across 70 cultures. British Journal of Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12871

Abstract:

Even in the most egalitarian societies, hierarchies of power and status shape social life. However, power and received status are not synonymous—individuals in positions of power may or may not be accorded the respect corresponding to their role. Using a cooperatively collected dataset from 18,096 participants across 70 cultures, we investigate, through a survey-based correlational design, when perceived position-based power (operationalized as influence and control) of various powerholders is associated with their elevated social status (operationalized as perceived respect and instrumental social value). We document that the positive link between power and status characterizes most cultural regions, except for WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) and Post-Soviet regions. The strength of this association depends on individual and cultural factors. First, the perceived other-orientation of powerholders amplifies the positive link between perceived power and status. The perceived self-orientation of powerholders weakens this relationship. Second, among cultures characterized by low Self-Expression versus Harmony (e.g., South Korea, Taiwan), high Embeddedness (e.g., Senegal), and high Cultural Tightness (e.g., Malaysia), the association between power and status tends to be particularly strong. The results underline the importance of both individual perceptions and societal values in how position-based power relates to social status. 

Google Scholar: 1339 citations; 200+ in 2024; 40 texts cited 10+ times

According to Google Scholar (cf. my profile) my research has to date attracted 1339 citations (+22 since February 19th). 215 of these are from 2024 (+22 since February 19th), solidifying its position as my best year ever in terms of number of citations. This is the first time I have been cited 200+ times in a single year.

So far in 2025 I have gathered 12 citations (+3 since February 19th). My h-index remains 20, while my i10-index is now 40 (+2 since February 19th). This means that 40 of my publications have 10 or more citations each.

The book Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism, which I co-wrote with Alexei Sharov, stands with 94 citations, including 54 from 2024 and 4 so far from 2025.

#18,5

Today, during sick leave, I have had a book writing day, with some 700 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 18,5 writing days, including 15 book writing days. By now I have written more than 35.000 words on my book manuscript.

#17,5

Today, during sick leave, I have had a book writing day, with 1000 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 17,5 writing days, including 14 book writing days.

I am currently on sick leave (which started February February 18th) until March 17th, but plan to write for the next two weeks if my body allows.