|
|
The new Am. AnthropologistLee Cronk (CRONK@TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU)Wed, 5 Oct 1994 15:56:54 CDT
issue of American Anthropologist, the first one produced under the editorship of the Tedlocks. Isn't anyone besides me disturbed by this issue? What bothers me most about it is the heavy editorial hand evidently being taken by the new editors. I had heard rumors that people (mostly from biological anthropology) had submitted manuscripts to them, only to have them returned, unreviewed, with a note to the effect that they don't match the new editors' vision of the journal. Judging from the content of the new journal, there is some truth to these rumors. The issue consists almost entirely of pieces that had to have been solicited by the editors, not unsolicited pieces submitted by anthropologists on their own. There are only a few pieces in it that _may_ have been submitted without solicitation by the editors. This sort of heavy editorial hand is appropriate, I think, for journals that are privately produced, but not for the main journal of the American Anthropological Association. The editors of AA should be required to send out for peer review absolutely any manuscript they receive (particularly if it comes from a AAA member), and they should be bound by the majority vote of the reviewers. It is quite clear from the content of this first issue that the Tedlocks do not feel bound in this way. If anyone besides me feels this way, let's get together. Maybe we can see to it that the AAA passes bylaws preventing this sort of thing from happening again. Or maybe we'll just have to form a new organization of our own, since it is increasingly clear that there is little room for people like me, people who think that a science of human affairs is both possible and desirable, in the discipline as it is becoming. -Lee Cronk ************************************************************************ Lee Cronk Assistant Professor Department of Anthropology Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4352 Office: 409-847-9254 Fax: 409-845-4070 E-mail: cronk@tamvm1.tamu.edu ************************************************************************
|