POTSDAM -- By the time recently retired Clarkson University Professor Emeritus Philip K. Hopke announced he had published his 600th scientific paper, he actually had hit 603.

Officially titled Bayard D. Clarkson distinguished professor emeritus, Hopke is renowned internationally as a preeminent researcher in atmospheric and aerosol science and engineering.

He founded and directed the Center for Air Resources Engineering and Science (CARES) and was the founder and first director of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment (ISE), both at Clarkson.

“I wrote my first paper in 1967 and I came to Clarkson with 132 of them published,” he recalls. “My publications really accelerated over the last 15 years, when I finally had an analytical lab to produce my own data. I have a large network of collaboration, so I do a lot of editing and rewriting that builds better science into these papers, which count as part of the 600-plus total papers.”

Hopke acknowledges the utility of having a high rank in publishing and citations. A variety of indices provide an easy basis of comparison of researchers and their work.

“A really bad paper will get a lot of reads, too, because people want to correct you,” he points out. “It's not just publishing that you want to accomplish, but provide information that people find useful and quote in their work.”