HES: Re: ANN--European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH)

[Deirdre McCloskey]

Dear Robin Neill and David Collander:

Quite.

It is certainly true that peer review leads to a policing of the 
boundaries of Normal Science.  And so peer review is no cure-all for bad 
work---on the contrary, it forces the production of a good deal of it.  
Peer review in the production of journal articles is greatly overrated 
as a check on bad work.  Mainly it enforces orthodoxy. 

And yes, David, I can well believe that peer-reviewed Science is a 
rather small portion of what an economist, even an academic economist, does.

Therefore: be it resolved that we will not participate in ranking 
schemes.  Instead, we will commit to reading some of the work of people 
we are required to assess. 

Regards,

Deirdre McCloskey