[GOAL] Re: Has the OA movement over-reacted to challenges on peer review?

[Jean-Claude Guédon]

Surprisingly, Dr. Schwartz has not yet noticed that a rather open and
vigorous debate about OA has been going on for the better part of two
decades, including debates among OA supporters. Mr. Beall is absolutely
welcomed in this debate, so long as he debates (as opposed to taking
potshots, for example).

Furthermore, what I was doing was not intervening in  an OA debate; it
was simply reacting to Mr. Beall's defamatory comment about DOAJ  (I am
not too surprised... etc.).

DOAJ is an open, transparent, organization that tries to put some good
information about OA journals. It has limited resources and it relies on
a number of volunteers; in short, it does its best in a very honest
fashion. It is not perfect, but few things are perfect in this vale of
tears...

Those who see mistakes in the DOAJ list should do as those who see
mistakes in Wikipedia: rather than criticize the device, help correct
the content.

As for the alleged bullying dimension of my statement, I could not even
begin to comment. I do not have the psychiatric credentials of Dr.
Schwartz, and would not know how to handle categories that seem to
change significantly every decade or so. Let me be clear, however, on
one crucial point: bullying (as I understand this term - i.e. a strong
individual imposing his/her will on another individual ) was not among
my intentions. I was simply rising to the defence of an organization
that was inappropriately attacked. It may just be that one's "vigour" is
felt by the other as "bullying", but then what about a "vigorous ...
debate"?

In conclusion, thank you for the "powerful partisan" characterization:
this is an evaluation I would never have dared make about myself. :-) 

-- 

Jean-Claude Guédon
Professeur titulaire
Littérature comparée
Université de Montréal



Le jeudi 14 mai 2015 à 09:14 -0500, Michael Schwartz a écrit :
> Jean-Claude Guédon's comment on Jeffrey Beall's Blog is "totally mean
> spirited....small." 
> 
> 
> The many ongoing changes, consolidations, and innovations associated
> with open access require vigorous, open, and respectful debate.
> Presently in today's OA, we see the good...the bad...and the ugly.
> There is no "slam dunk" here. And, sadly, there is precious little
> debate. I wonder why...
> 
> 
> Critics such as Jeffrey Beall should be welcomed, not shamed.
> Gratuitous insulting comments about their character are inappropriate,
> to say the least. And the more powerful and influential the bully the
> more inappropriate.
> 
> 
> As long as powerful partisan's hammer away from their bully pulpit -
> without reproach, a really vigorous and open debate - which MUST occur
> for all sorts of reasons - cannot and will not happen. How sad....
> 
> 
> Michael Schwartz
> 
> 
> Michael Schwartz, MD
> Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
> Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine
> Founding Editor, Philosophy, Ethics and Humanities in Medicine
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On May 14, 2015, at 8:12 AM, Jean-Claude Guédon
> <jean.claude.guedon at umontreal.ca> wrote:
> 
> 
> > In his blog, Jeffrey Beall writes:
> > 
> > "I am not too surprised to find a journal that advertises fake
> > impact factors and does a four-day peer review included in DOAJ:.."
> > 
> > This is totally mean spirited. This is small.
> > 
> > DOAJ relies on all of us, and in fact regularly asks for people to
> > review the quality of journals. If Mr. Beall devoted a small
> > fraction of his admirable energy to helping DOAJ weed out bad
> > journals, rather than bask in total negativism, we would all be
> > better off.
> > 
> > Jean-Claude Guédon
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > GOAL mailing list
> > GOAL at eprints.org
> > http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal

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