Michael Smith wrote: > > Does this display a weakness of on-line journals? > If they were "reviewed" by a single individual this would perhaps > explain the failure. > I find it nearly impossible to believe that a number of individuals > could have overlooked such quality research. I do not know the details here, but it doesn't strike me as ALL that surprising. Because of the increasing pervasieness of the publish-or-perish ethos, there has been a concomitant explosive growth in the number of journals and, thus, a similar growth in the number of submission to be reviewed. As a result, many reviewers are overburdened, but reluctant to appear as "bad citizens" by refusing on account of overwork. So they "skim" the papers, checking critical passages to see that they conform to accepted standards, but perhaps not reading (while attending closely) every single word. Thus, in an article that is mostly sound, the occasional outlandish claim might be missed. (I'm not defending. I'm just saying...)
There used to be an old story along these lines, except the context was a dissertation defense. The student comes in and places an unopened bottle of fine whiskey on the table. The defense proceeds as usual. Questions are asked and answered. People lean back, staring at the ceiling, apparently in deep thought, considering each others' contributions. At the end, the student passes. One of the committee members decides, finally to ask, "why did you bring the bottle of whiskey?" The student says, everyone please open my dissertation to page 100, and read the last line of the first paragraph. The line reads: "whoever draws my attention to this sentence during the defense will receive the bottle of whiskey." :-) Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ "Part of respecting another person is taking the time to criticise his or her views." - Melissa Lane, in a /Guardian/ obituary for philosopher Peter Lipton ================================= --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
