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On one hand their research is important and should be published. On the other hand, do they have a right to demand it to be published in the most prestigious jo
by bjourne 7y ago
On one hand their research is important and should be published. On the other hand, do they have a right to demand it to be published in the most prestigious journal in the world? High-profile journals reject good articles all the time for various reasons. Especially "the field has moved on" is a grating reason for rejection but is used all the time.
- dwheeler 7y agoIn general they don't have a right to demand it. However, in this case it is a direct refutation of a previous article that the journal published. At the very least their refutation deserves to be evaluated by a peer review process and considered for publication. In fact, I will go further, if a paper directly refutes older work in a journal, then that journal probably DOES have an obligation to publish it as long as it is done at least as well as the original. The claim that the field has moved on is complete garbage and nonsense. It is farcical on its face. The older work is still being quoted.
- bjourne 7y agoMaybe you are right, but Science isn't an outlier here. All journals are loathe to publish direct refutations of previously published articles. Conference papers are even worse in that regard - zero room for refutations. "The field has moved on" is probably, second to "The article contains factual errors" the most common reason for article rejections. This problem is not limited to Psychology either. It is just as prevalent, if not more so, in Computer Science.