I have now completed my writing plan for Spring 2026. I plan for a total of 59,5 writing days, including 45 article writing days (76%) and 14,5 book writing days (24%). This is somewhat less than last Spring (68,5 writing days initially planned) but more than Spring 2024 (47,5 writing days initially planned).
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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.
I have just completed registrations in the Current Research Information System in Norway (CRISTIN) for 2024 (cf. my profile in CRISTIN). I registered 39 posts; all-time I have now registered 395 posts (since 2012, i.e. over 13 years, which means on average 30-31 posts per year). This is quite many posts though not quite as many as in 2019, when I registered 44 posts.
The activities I registered included 9 scientific publications, 7 of which should give "publication points" in the Norwegian system. This includes 2 book chapters I wrote by myself, 3 co-written book chapters in the book Mars and the Earthlings, and 2 full-length journal articles, one of which I wrote by myself and 1 I co-authored, as well as a short communication and a co-authored editorial for a special issue I was one of the guest editors of.
Other activities included 4 festival appearances (on Wonderful world and Kåkånomics, both in Stavanger), 2 radio interviews, 3 interviews in Khrono, 5 scientific conference presentations (3 of which online, 2 in-person), 3 guest lectures (2 in Italy, 1 in Slovenia), and 1 co-authored consultative statement written for Norway´s Council for animal ethics.
In 2024, my English language blog Utopian Realism and my Norwegian blog Utopisk Realisme had 6.665 and 4.071 page loads respectively and 10.736 altogether. For both blogs this is the highest for several years - though not an all-time high. Visits to Utopian Realism almost doubled from 2023, whereas visits to Utopisk Realisme increased more than 5-fold (although I don´t post much in that blog anymore). All-time accummulated number of page loads is at about 50.000 for each of the blogs and 104.520 page loads altogether.
The vast majority of the 10.669 unique visitors (6.609 for Utopian Realism and 4.060 for Utopisk Realisme) were First time visitors.
In 2024 I have logged that I have read some 6172,5 pages of academic texts. This is quite a bit more than the 4546 pages I logged in 2023, and a good step towards earlier highs. Apart from students I supervise at ph.d., MA or BA level, the authors I read the most of included Jakob von Uexkülll, Jason Hickel, Dag Hessen, Philip Goff, Alice Crary and Lori Gruen.
I have just summed up my work year in 2024 based on my log of working hours. 2024 stands out as the shortest work year in living memory (with my work log going back to 2009), with an average work week of 44,7 hours all weeks in the year included. This amounts to 2335,5 work hours, which compares to 138% of an ordinary work year. I worked 180 hours less than in 2023, which was at that point my shortest work year in living memory. This has contributed to a better work/life balance, with more time for karate training and relaxation; since the summer of 2024 I have also taken up daily meditation. And I still got quite a bit done in my working hours - though I got to attend fewer international scientific conferences in person than I´ve been used to, due to budget cuts at University of Stavanger.
Even though it went down from 2023, the share of my work time I spent on research in 2024 was the second-highest in living memory (after 2023). Similarly, the share of my work time I spent on research plus book projects was the second-highest ever, after 2023. Research was the largest category in terms of work hours in 30 weeks, vs. 17 for teaching, supervision and grading etc., and 6 for book projects. Book projects was the category whose share of all work hours increased the most from 2023, in result of my prioritisation of getting Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement finished by Summer 2025.
On the last day of 2024, according to my Google scholar profile, my research has attracted 1251 citations (+3 since December 17th). This includes 180 citations in 2024 (+3 since December 17th). My h-index remains 20 and my i10-index 38. 136 texts are listed on my profile.
As of today, my best years in terms of citations are:
#1 2022 (189)
#2 2024 (180)
#3 2023 (171)
#4 2021 (149)
#5 2016 (92)
#6 2020 (90)
However, it has happened that these numbers have changed early in the next year. By year-end 2022, for instance, 2021 was registered with 184 citations, while some of these were later moved to 2022.
Unfortunately Google Scholars does not count the citations of my 2023 article "Wasted GDP in the USA", which has 2 citations according to Springer Nature/CrossRef and 7 citations according to ResearchGate.
According to my Google Scholar profile my research has now been cited 1248 times (+12 since November 29th). This includes 177 citations in 2024 (+12), making 2024 my second-best year to date ahead of 2023 (172) but still behind 2022 (189). My h-index remains 20 and my i10-index 38.
Today I have had an article writing day, with some 800 words added to the article "Når gode råd er plagsomme: Regjeringens holdning til ekspertråd i omstridte politiske saker", which I am co-writing with Svein Tuastad. So far this Autumn I have had 24 writing days including 11 article writing days.
Altogether I have now logged more than 14.000 words written this Autumn, and more than 40.000 words this year.
In March I ended up having 8 writing days - no time for one today - with 6.109 words written logged. So far this year I have logged 17.395 words written, distributed on 8 different writing projects.
Today I have had the first writing day this Spring, mostly devoted to making a writing plan for the entire Spring (see previous post). I have also made a draft progress plan for my book project Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement, estimating some 75 writing days resulting in a finished manuscript in June 2025. This would realistically leave space for only 10 article/chapter writing days in Autumn 2024 as well as in Spring 2025.
Today I have finished my Prioritized writing plan for Spring 2024, with plans for 47,5 writing days. This is somewhat less than last year (Spring 2023). I have tried to account for likely or possible travels in late Spring, and plan to devote an estimated 8 writing days for the book format (specifically, devoted to work with my book project Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement). This will mean that I have less time for article and chapter writing. If I am to finish that project over the course of the next one and a half year, I will have to devote even more of my writing time to this purpuse in the Autumn and next Spring.
Yesterday I was offered, and signed, a contract as Head of Department at University of Stavanger´s Department of Social Studies. The news have just gone public, on the UIS intranet. I will serve as Head of Department from January 1st, 2021 to December 31st, 2024.
