Styrningen som gick sin egen väg

Om peer review, ”publish or perish” och konkurrensinriktad vetenskapsstyrning

Abstract

Governance out of control – On peer review, publish or perish and competitive science policy

This article outlines an alternative history of the current system of scientific publication. Forgotten or ignored foundational discourses are examined, and six premises are delineated: 1. Quantity of produced text is a sign of scientific eminence. 2.Quantity of citations from a journal is a sign of its usefulness. 3. Management is exhorting publish or perish. 4. Peer review is stated as mandatory and with a long history in establishing scientific quality. 5. Competition is necessary for more and better science and increasing national strength. 6. Quantity of citations is a proxy for individual excellence. These are remnants from a process where various values have been pursued in different contexts and rarely explicitly clarified by their originators. Quantitative and ahistorical scientometric research has obscured inherited motives and implicit interests by quantifying qualities. Scientific validity has rarely been addressed in an open and deliberative way.