Solutions to the new threats to academic freedom?

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 8704792 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1467-8519 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 02699702 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Bioethics Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Oxford : Wiley-Blackwell
Original Publication: Oxford ; New York : Basil Blackwell, c1987-

Authorship* ; Dissent and Disputes* ; Freedom* ; Mass Media* ; Public Opinion* ; Publishing* ; Research Report*; Humans

In my commentary on Francesca Minerva's article 'New Threats to Academic Freedom', I agree with her contention that the existence of the Internet has given rise to new and very serious threats to academic freedom. I think that it is crucial that we confront those threats, and find ways to eliminate them, which I believe can be done. The threats in question involve both authors and editors. In the case of authors, I argue that the best solution is not anonymous publication, but publication using pseudonyms, and I describe how that would work. In the case of editors, my proposal is a website that a number of journals would have access to, where papers that editors judge to be clearly worthy of publication, but whose publication seems likely to set off a firestorm of public and media protest, could be published without any indication of the journal that had accepted the paper for publication.
(© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Comment on: Bioethics. 2014 May;28(4):157-62. (PMID: 24602125)
Comment in: Bioethics. 2014 May;28(4):178-80. (PMID: 24724543)

Keywords: Internet; academic; anonymous; freedom; pseudonyms; threats

Date Created: 20140415 Date Completed: 20141124 Latest Revision: 20181202

20221213

10.1111/bioe.12092

24724539