The magazine began as The Zetetic, a title drawn from Greek meaning skeptical seeker, but its first editor Marcello Truzzi resigned just one year after its launch due to a fundamental disagreement with the organization's leadership. Truzzi envisioned a world where science and pseudoscience could coexist peacefully, yet the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, later known as CSICOP, demanded a more aggressive stance against supernatural claims. Founder Paul Kurtz argued that when paranormal beliefs gained wide public attention, the skeptical position deserved equal media coverage, creating an irreconcilable rift between the two philosophies. This schism led to Truzzi departing to start The Zetetic Scholar while CSICOP renamed the publication Skeptical Inquirer and hired Kendrick Frazier as the new editor. The first issue under the new name appeared in the Fall and Winter of 1976, marking the birth of what Daniel Loxton would later call the birth of modern skepticism in the English-speaking world. The magazine evolved from a quarterly digest to a bimonthly standard magazine in 1995, adding newsstand circulation to its subscription model to reach a broader audience. In 2025, the publication launched an audio version available on podcast sites to ensure its message reached listeners who prefer audio formats. Barry Karr serves as the executive director of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, while Stephen Hupp, a psychology professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, took over as editor in June 2023 following the death of Kendrick Frazier in November 2022. Stuart Vyse had served as interim editor during the transition period, bridging the gap between the legendary founder and the new leadership. The magazine's history reflects a constant tension between maintaining core skeptical principles and adapting to changing cultural landscapes, a balance that has kept it relevant for nearly five decades.
Combating Nonsense
Cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter wrote in Scientific American in 1982 that the magazine's sole purpose was to combat nonsense using common sense accessible to anyone who could read English. Hofstadter noted that the publication required no special knowledge to understand, only a curiosity about how truth defends itself against attacks from imaginative theorists, speculators, eccentrics, and outright fakers. The magazine has published articles on fringe science, pseudoscience, paranormalism, psychic phenomena, astrology, ufology, homeopathy, and New Age movements, while also addressing politics, general science, cyberterrorism, and other topics. In 2009, Paul Kurtz acknowledged that while the organization would continue researching paranormal subjects due to their expertise, they needed to expand their focus to areas like climate change denialism, conspiracy theories, and the alternative medicine movement. Kendrick Frazier observed that despite the general skeptic community's belief that debunking long-discredited topics was a waste of time, millions of Americans still accepted paranormal beliefs. Surveys indicated that when presented with ten general paranormal topics, the public would select four as subjects they believed in, creating an ongoing challenge for skeptics. Daniel Loxton implored skeptics to continue researching and publishing despite the odds, stating that while they could not win an ultimate victory over superstition or ignorance, they could do a lot of good by fighting hard enough. The January and February 2023 issue featured an article by Craig Foster comparing the first volume of the magazine to the current publication, finding that the 1976 principles of skepticism still resonated forty-six years later. Foster noted that the editorials from Truzzi and Kurtz were so consistent with contemporary skepticism that they could be reprinted today without dates, and readers would not find them peculiar. The only sentiment that seemed out of place was the idea of the journal as an exchange between skeptics and paranormal promoters, a dynamic that has evolved significantly over the decades.