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Cited by 3,010

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 5 of the 5 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Verification, Validation, and Confirmation of Numerical Models in the Earth Sciences

Oreskes, Naomi, Shrader-Frechette, Kristin, Belitz, Kenneth·1994·Science

Abstract

Verification and validation of numerical models of natural systems is impossible. This is because natural systems are never closed and because model results are always nonunique. Models can be confirmed by the demonstration of agreement between observation and prediction, but confirmation is inherently partial. Complete confirmation is logically precluded by the fallacy of affirming the consequent and by incomplete access to natural phenomena. Models can only be evaluated in relative terms, and their predictive value is always open to question. The primary value of models is heuristic.

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Crossref · 10.1126/science.263.5147.641

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Metadata

Authors
Oreskes, N., Shrader-Frechette, K., & Belitz, K.
Venue
Science
Published
1994-02-04
Volume
263
Issue
5147
Pages
641-646
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2045860903
Cited by
3,010
References
5
FWCI
444.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Verification, Validation, and Confirmation of Numerical Models in the Earth Sciences. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1126/science.263.5147.641
The paper
Oreskes, N., Shrader-Frechette, K., & Belitz, K. (1994). Verification, Validation, and Confirmation of Numerical Models in the Earth Sciences. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.263.5147.641

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.