Talk:Sensitivity analysis

Discussing a recent editing of this page by User talk:MrOllie

This is a suggestion for improvement of the page, following an intervention of User talk:MrOllie. In this page, as well as in the other pages he/she has visited last September, i.e. Sensitivity auditing, Sociology of quantification, Ethics of quantification, Post-normal science, Quantitative storytelling and others, the intervention could use some form of revision. As per this page, if one cares to look at Google Scholar one will see that the reference that have been censored are relevant references to the discipline of sensitivity analysis – more precisely they are those with the most citations (see below). Although I did not create this page, I was deeply involved in its development, acting as the Wikipedia editor for a nascent community. The figures on the page were likewise uploaded by myself, as can be easily verified. When the page became too large, I fully restructured it in 2020, for which I incurred serious problems with Wikipedia 's editors, as it seemed that I had plagiarized an existing book. Luckily, I could prove that the opposite was the case, and that it was the book that plagiarized Wikipedia. For having resolved this case, I received the encomium below.

		The Barnstar of Diligence
		For your investigatory work on Sensitivity analysis. Kj cheetham (talk) 10:20, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

I reported the story to document my involvement in the maintenance of this page. Going back to the intervention of User talk:MrOllie on this page, I note that having removed all my articles (with my co-authors), the editor paradoxically acted as an hypothetical 'rival' academician who wanted to deface the contribution of an author and of his school. This operated a sort of damnatio memoriae, totally outside academia. Removing the most cited handbooks of sensitivity analysis (see below) makes this Wikipedia page less useful for the readers and ultimately biased. Primary sources have been removed, including for the definition of global sensitivity analysis itself. The elision of the SAMO conference series, that now foresees an 11th installment in Grenoble in 2025, likewise deprives a large community of users of an actionable piece of information – i.e. a new researcher joining the community may plan an abstract for the next conference- Wikipedia being a living encyclopaedia. Since I am certain that the intention of User talk:MrOllie was not rewrite the history of the field nor to bias Wikipedia, but only to fix a conflict of interest, I suggest a civilized solution is found to this problem, for which I welcome your suggestions. Saltean (talk) 10:18, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

Input to this discussion

Hello User:MrOllie and User:Saltean - I would like to give some input here as someone who has contributed quite significantly to this page, albeit some years ago.

User:MrOllie I understand and agree with your efforts to check self-citations. However I think this needs to be done with discretion. In this case, User:Saltean is one of the most well-known academics in the field of sensitivity analysis, so removing all citations to his work makes very little sense. I would strongly support reinstating at least some of the references mentioned below, many of which are key texts used by students and academics, as well as important papers in the history of sensitivity analysis, and add value to the page. I say this as an academic who has worked in the field for 15+ years. To be transparent, I do know User:Saltean personally, but I am intervening here on the grounds of fairness and maintaining the quality of the page. I am sure with some discussion we can find a balanced solution. WillBecker (talk) 07:45, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

References

Top cited articles in sensitivity analysis (bold=number of citations; only articles with more than 1,000 citations reported)

• Sensitivity analysis in practice: a guide to assessing scientific models, A Saltelli, S Tarantola, F Campolongo, M Ratto, Wiley, 9000, 2004
• Global sensitivity analysis: the primer, A Saltelli, M Ratto, T Andres, F Campolongo, J Cariboni, D Gatelli, ..., John Wiley & Sons, 7834, 2008
• Variance based sensitivity analysis of model output. Design and estimator for the total sensitivity index, A Saltelli, P Annoni, I Azzini, F Campolongo, M Ratto, S Tarantola, Computer physics communications 181 (2), 259-270, 3051 2010
• A quantitative model-independent method for global sensitivity analysis of model output, A Saltelli, S Tarantola, KPS Chan, Technometrics, 39-56, 2532 1999
• Importance measures in global sensitivity analysis of nonlinear models, T Homma, A Saltelli, Reliability Engineering & System Safety 52 (1), 1-17, 2237 1996
• Making best use of model evaluations to compute sensitivity indices, A Saltelli, Computer physics communications 145 (2), 280-297, 2196 2002
• An effective screening design for sensitivity analysis of large models, F Campolongo, J Cariboni, A Saltelli, Environmental modelling & software 22 (10), 1509-1518, 2052 2007
• Sensitivity analysis for importance assessment, A Saltelli, Risk analysis 22 (3), 579-590, 1478 2002
• Sensitivity analysis as an ingredient of modeling, A Saltelli, S Tarantola, F Campolongo, Statistical science, 377-395, 1127 2000
• How to avoid a perfunctory sensitivity analysis, A Saltelli, P Annoni, Environmental Modelling & Software 25 (12), 1508-1517, 1124 2010

Andrea Saltelli Saltean (talk) 10:18, 8 January 2024 (UTC)