Editing Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (section)

==Mission statement==

The formal mission statement, approved in 2006 and still current, states:<ref name="About CSI">{{cite web|title=About CSI|url=http://www.csicop.org/about/about_csi|website=CSI|publisher=CFI|access-date=30 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112121924/http://www.csicop.org/about/about_csi|archive-date=12 November 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><blockquote>The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry promotes science and scientific inquiry, [[critical thinking]], science education, and the use of reason in examining important issues. It encourages the critical investigation of controversial or extraordinary claims from a responsible, scientific point of view and disseminates factual information about the results of such inquiries to the scientific community, the media, and the public.</blockquote>A shorter version of the mission statement appears in every issue: "... promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims."<ref name=":0">{{cite web|last1=Frazier|first1=Kendrick|title=It's CSI Now, Not CSICOP|date=December 4, 2006|url=http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/its_csi_now_not_csicop|publisher=CFI|access-date=28 March 2016|archive-date=January 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125114829/https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/its_csi_now_not_csicop/?%2Fspecialarticles%2Fshow%2Fits_csi_now_not_csicop|url-status=live}}</ref> A previous mission statement referred to "investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims", but the 2006 change recognized and ratified a wider purview for CSI and its magazine, ''Skeptical Inquirer'', that includes "new science related issues at the intersection of science and public concerns, while not ignoring [their] core topics".<ref name=":0" /> A history of the first two decades is available in ''The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal'' published in 1998 by S.I. editor [[Kendrick Frazier]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Frazier|first1=Kendrick|author-link=Kendrick Frazier|title=Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP)|url=http://www.csicop.org/about/csicop|website=CSI|publisher=CFI|access-date=28 March 2016|archive-date=August 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818120929/http://www.csicop.org/about/csicop|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=About CSI|url=http://www.csicop.org/about/about_csi|website=Skeptical Inquirer|publisher=CSICOP|access-date=20 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112121924/http://www.csicop.org/about/about_csi|archive-date=12 November 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2018, Frazier reemphasized the importance of the committee's work by saying that "[w]e need independent, evidence-based, science-based critical investigation and inquiry now more than perhaps at any other time in our history."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Frazier |first1=Kendrick |author-link=Kendrick Frazier|title=In Troubled Times, This Is What We Do |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date=2018 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=14–15 |url=https://www.csicop.org/si/show/in_troubled_times_this_is_what_we_do |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180606235847/https://www.csicop.org/si/show/in_troubled_times_this_is_what_we_do |url-status=dead |archive-date=2018-06-06 |access-date=7 June 2018}}</ref>

===Name===
Paul Kurtz was inspired by the 1949 Belgian organization [[Comité Para]], whose full name was ''Comité Belge pour l'Investigation Scientifique des Phénomènes Réputés Paranormaux'' ("Belgian Committee for Scientific Investigation of Purported Paranormal Phenomena").<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.skeptic.com/downloads/Why-Is-There-a-Skeptical-Movement.pdf |title=Why Is There a Skeptical Movement? |author=[[Daniel Loxton]] |publisher=[[The Skeptics Society]] |page=3 |date=2013 |access-date=1 September 2014 |archive-date=March 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330130327/https://www.skeptic.com/downloads/Why-Is-There-a-Skeptical-Movement.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1976, the proposed name was "Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and Other Phenomena" which was shortened to "Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal". The initial [[acronym]], "CSICP" was difficult to pronounce and so was changed to "CSICOP".  According to [[James Alcock]], it was never intended to be "Psi Cop", a nickname that some of the group's detractors adopted.{{sfn|Kurtz|2001a|p=42}}

In November 2006, CSICOP further shortened its name to "Committee for Skeptical Inquiry" (CSI), pronounced C-S-I.{{r|csinow}}<ref name="name_change">[http://www.csicop.org/about/csi.html "CSICOP becomes CSI after thirty years"]. CSI. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815024758/http://www.csicop.org/about/csi.html |date=August 15, 2009 }}</ref> The reasons for the change were to create a name that was shorter, more "media-friendly", to remove "paranormal" from the name, and to reflect more accurately the actual scope of the organization with its broader focus on critical thinking, science, and rationality in general, and because "it includes the root words of our magazine's title, the ''Skeptical Inquirer''".<ref name="CSI_Now">{{Cite web |url=http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/its_csi_now_not_csicop/ |title=It's CSI now, Not CSICOP |author=[[Kendrick Frazier]] |work=CSI website |publisher=CSI |date=4 December 2006 |access-date=1 September 2014 |archive-date=July 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140719010159/http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/its_csi_now_not_csicop/ |url-status=live }}</ref>