S4 E26 | Contrarians at the Gate: Publishing Controversial Topics in the Era of Academic Progressivism

The Dissidents

In this week's episode Elizabeth and Professors of Sociology Mark Horowitz and Anthony Haynor talk about the pitfalls of trying to publish research findings that challenge progressive orthodoxy. They describe their own experiences with editors and reviewers (one of their papers about grade inflation was the topic of prior episodes). We also discuss public complaints about the editorial process at Frontiers and Perspectives on Psychological Science. In our view, editors and reviewers are doing their fields an injustice by judging papers on their conformity with ideology instead of focusing on quality and scientific merit.

Podcast Notes:

Uttl, Bob & Violo, Victoria & Gibson, Lacey. (2024). Meta-analysis: On average, undergraduate students' intelligence is merely average. Available here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378173544_Meta-analysis_On_average_undergraduate_students'_intelligence_is_merely_average

One summary of the Perspectives on Psychological Science Controversy: https://www.chronicle.com/article/i-am-the-victim-a-journal-editor-is-under-fire-after-a-diversity-debate-is-derailed?sra=true

Mertonian Norms of Science Wikipedia Mertonian Norms