What I meant about Galileo

[Richard Feinman <RFeinman@downstate.edu>]

My apologies for being obscure.  I guess I am too close to the 
problem and thought everybody knew what I meant.

I will get right to the point.

In my role as researcher, I submitted a paper on low carbohydrate 
diets to a journal.  They rejected the paper on the basis of 
comments by reviewers that I consider were prejudiced and that I 
was able to rebut. My argument is now that I did not get a fair 
review.  I used Galileo as a metaphor because in the 
medical-nutrition world, low-carbohydrate diets are anathema and 
low-fat is still a kind of orthodoxy that is so pervasive as to 
be equivalent to the church.  I would argue that in a 
controversial field, the journal was obligated to get a reviewer 
who was sympathetic or at least open-minded.

Of course, nutritional orthodoxy is not quite like the church and 
there are numerous journals and most of the time I can just try a 
different journal.  Assuming here, however, that I feel that only 
the journal that rejected the article is appropriate and that I 
can prove by the usual standards of evidence that my paper met 
the same standards as papers usually published in the journal.

If the paper is published by a private organization, do I have 
any legal recourse to demand a fair hearing in court. I realize 
this isn't specifically a library science question but I thought 
the group might be interested or have some experience with 
similar issues.

If I really pursue this, I will, of course, seek legal advice.

Elsevier published Galileo's works when it was turned down by the 
Pope but I don't see an equivalent for me.

In my role as editor, I feel that can put personal prejudice 
aside but we are not a major journal and the only comparable case 
(on a different issue), the author simply withdrew the paper.

Again, sorry for the obfuscaiton.  Anybody have comments on this?

Regards,
Richard D. Feinman


"Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>
Sent by: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
10/01/07 08:18 PM

Richard,

I may simply be obtuse here, but I would like very much to
understand your parable better.  Can you spell out its
implications?

Joe Esposito

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Feinman" <RFeinman@downstate.edu>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 3:07 PM
Subject: Question on Galileo without Elsevier

> If turned down by a scholarly journal, would Galileo have had 
> any legal recourse to get a paper published?
>
> If his lawyer could demonstrate that the scientific standards 
> of his work were commensurate in quality with other papers 
> published in a particular journal, could he argue that only 
> pressure from the church or even sincere opposition because of 
> contradiction of church doctrine, was keeping him from being 
> published?
>
> Does anybody know if there is any legal recourse for a 
> privately owned journal?
>
> Does a journal's editor have a completely free hand?
>
> Richard D. Feinman, Co-editor-in-chief
> (718) 871-1374
> FAX: (718) 270-3316