Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/D. N. Samarasekera


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. The outcome of this hinges largely on whether the position this individual holds counts towards WP:PROF#5. Most users address this in their !votes, and while there's clearly legitimate room for disagreement, I do not see anything to overcome the numerical tilt in those arguments. Vanamonde (Talk) 01:30, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

D. N. Samarasekera

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I originally created this bio as I thought that the Chair he holds was sufficient to pass WP:PROF ("The person has held a named chair appointment or distinguished professor appointment at a major institution of higher education and research, or an equivalent position in countries where named chairs are uncommon"), but looking at his academic output on Google Scholar I am no longer convinced that the unnamed Chair in this instance is enough to carry it over the line. Uhooep (talk) 15:06, 31 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Academics and educators-related deletion discussions.  Spiderone (Talk to Spider) 15:49, 31 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Sri Lanka-related deletion discussions.  Spiderone (Talk to Spider) 15:49, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * delete I agree that his GS profile is too weak of WP:NPROF#1 and that he does not have a named chair, so NPROF#5 doesnt apply. Also no indication of any awards and the memberships (Royal college of surgeons) are not selective enough. --hroest 18:20, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Delete. The newspaper article about the legal squabble over whether he was qualified to be given his post over a seemingly-more-qualified competitor, the only independent source in the article, makes interesting reading, but I don't think it's enough for WP:GNG-type notability. And I agree with the previous comments that we don't have any real suggestion of WP:PROF-notability; it seems like his post is more or less a standard professorship, not one at the level of a distinguished professorship, and being department chair is also too low an administrative position for automatic notability. —David Eppstein (talk) 20:41, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Delete, should have been a procedural delete in that the article's creator is proposing the article be deleted. Clearly fails to satisfy the requirements of WP:NSCHOLAR/WP:ANYBIO. Dan arndt (talk) 04:58, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep per WP:PROF #5: The person has held a named chair appointment or distinguished professor appointment at a major institution of higher education and research, or an equivalent position in countries where named chairs are uncommon. Prestigious chairs at American universities tend to be named; equivalent chairs at universities elsewhere in the world tend not to be. This is why the second clause exists; otherwise this whole section would be biased in favour of American academics. It's amazing how many editors (as all three above) conveniently ignore this clause and fixate only on the "named chair" one. He holds the Chair of Surgery (not just a personal chair) and is also a senior professor, which probably meets the "distinguished professor" criterion too (again, this latter tends to be an American thing). -- Necrothesp (talk) 12:12, 4 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep I agree with Necrothesp: having held "the Chair in Surgery" (more than just a personal professorship) at a significant university outside the United States is indicative of meeting criterion 5 of WP:PROF. Modussiccandi (talk) 09:51, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Bungle (talk • contribs) 16:18, 7 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Weak delete. The position doesn't look to be comparable to a named chair (in particular, there is another person in the small surgery department of the University of Colombo with a chair professor of surgery).  Citations are weak for WP:NPROF C1, no other sign of notability. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 15:15, 8 August 2021 (UTC)
 * There are three professors in the department. Of these, two hold established chairs and one holds a personal chair. Established chairs (i.e. those which always exist and are held by a succession of people appointed to them, as opposed to personal chairs which are conferred on an individual for the term of their tenure) in universities of the Commonwealth tradition are equivalent to named chairs in the modern American tradition. Named chairs are not that common in Commonwealth universities. The concept that chairs that are named, usually after an individual or foundation that endowed them, are somehow automatically more prestigious than those that are not is ridiculous and shows a lack of understanding of how these things work outside America. The holder of any chair that is established by a major university meets the requirements of WP:PROF #5. -- Necrothesp (talk) 12:17, 9 August 2021 (UTC)
 * But very very few places in the US have 2/3 of their faculty having named chairs. Hobit (talk) 18:57, 10 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Actually, the department has twelve academic staff (I suspect there may be some confusion here about the term "professors" - only in America are all academics known as professors; elsewhere, "professor" only refers to those who hold chairs), of whom two hold established chairs. I'm no mathematical expert, but that is certainly not two thirds! I make it one sixth! Plenty of departments in American universities have one sixth (or more) of their faculty holding named chairs. -- Necrothesp (talk) 12:33, 11 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Delete. His position does not seem to be equivalent to a named chair, and even among Sri Lankan surgeons his citation record is below the median. JoelleJay (talk) 20:02, 10 August 2021 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.