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Failure in the market for reviewing economics papers: Good readers, bad referees, and ugly papers

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  • Hatzinikolaou, Dimitris

Abstract

The paper discusses the problem of incompetent and/or irresponsible refereeing of scientific papers, with emphasis on economics papers. To illustrate, I describe my own confrontation with erroneous published papers, and demonstrate that writing comments on such papers does not always solve the problem. Finally, based on previously suggested as well as on currently used solutions, I propose a change in the review process by abolishing referee anonymity and letting the authors appeal publicly if they think their papers have been evaluated improperly. This change will render the process self-correcting.

Suggested Citation

  • Hatzinikolaou, Dimitris, 2012. "Failure in the market for reviewing economics papers: Good readers, bad referees, and ugly papers," MPRA Paper 45384, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 26 Sep 2012.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:45384
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/45384/1/MPRA_paper_45384.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    3. Joshua S. Gans & George B. Shepherd, 1994. "How Are the Mighty Fallen: Rejected Classic Articles by Leading Economists," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 165-179, Winter.
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    5. Frey, Bruno S, 2003. "Publishing as Prostitution?--Choosing between One's Own Ideas and Academic Success," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 116(1-2), pages 205-223, July.
    6. Dimitris Hatzinikolaou, 2010. "Econometric Errors in an _Applied Economics_ Article," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 7(2), pages 107-112, May.
    7. Christos Kollias & Nikolaos Mylonidis & Suzanna-Maria Paleologou, 2007. "A Panel Data Analysis Of The Nexus Between Defence Spending And Growth In The European Union," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 75-85.
    8. Deirdre N. McCloskey & Stephen T. Ziliak, 1996. "The Standard Error of Regressions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 97-114, March.
    9. Dimitris Hatzinikolaou, 2000. "Sensitivity of consumption to income and to government purchases: some specification and estimation issues," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 767-775.
    10. Athanasia Mavrommati & Athanasios Papadopoulos, 2005. "Measuring advertising intensity and intangible capital in the Greek food industry," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(15), pages 1777-1787.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Review process; referee anonymity; causality; endogeneity; spurious regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation

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