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To me the biggest surprise with this paper was not that there is an academic out there who thinks like this (I’m sure there are many), but rather that it got published in a peer-reviewed journal, and what that says about the peer review system, on which we (for better or worse) depend so heavily for the legitimation of our work. Perhaps it’s cold comfort, but this “article" was published as a Viewpoint, rather than as a research article. If you log in to TWQ and begin the submission process, it clearly states that Viewpoint are not peer reviewed. From my experience as an editor for both Human Geography and the Journal of Latin American Geography, I suspect that means that this piece went through editorial review with a single editor, and was perhaps discussed by several editors, rather than going out for peer review. 

I’m not this provides any clarity on the best way to respond, but by definition there is a qualitative difference between non peer reviewed opinion essays, and peer reviewed scholarship…

I am, however, dismayed to see that the article has gone from 34 views yesterday to 618 today. (To be clear, none of those clicks are mine.)

Johnny


-- 
John(ny) Finn, PhD
Assistant Professor of Geography
Department of Sociology, Social Work, & Anthropology
Christopher Newport University
Review Editor, Human Geography
Phone: 757-594-7939






On Sep 13, 2017, at 6:22 AM, Lindsay Sawyer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I have been thinking this too, and have decided not to even post a link on twitter - where my very small following is unlikely to have much of an impact!

I think the more productive way might be to not engage directly with the article (that does not warrant it in any case) but to pressure TWQ for a statement, and to reflect on their peer review process, and perhaps the process more broadly in academia. And further to reflect how it is that someone can go through Princeton and Cambridge and remain fundamentally ignorant…

Thanks for all the contributions to this discussion so far on this forum - it is a much appreciated thread!

Lindsay 

Lindsay Sawyer
Research Associate | Global Development Institute
Rm G.038 Arthur Lewis Building
University of Manchester | Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL
Tel: +44(0)7799732237



On 13 Sep 2017, at 10:55 am, Hillary Shaw <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

That gves me a moral dilemma - I was going to post it on my foodeserts.org article archive - which wouldn't boost the metrics of the journal - for others to read - but should I be publicising this article, (with, to put it mildly, serious flaws) up there at all?  What does the rest of CG think?

Dr Hillary J. Shaw
Director and Senior Research Consultant
Shaw Food Solutions
Newport
Shropshire
TF10 8QE
www.fooddeserts.org



-----Original Message-----
From: ANDERSON, BEN <[log in to unmask]>
To: CRIT-GEOG-FORUM <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed, Sep 13, 2017 10:40 am
Subject: "The case for colonialism", outrage and response

"As Farhana and others have said on twitter, I think it's really important that, if the article is read, it's done so in a way that doesn't increase the metrics of the journal or the author. So we don't click on it, don't circulate it. "

Ben