The Forum: Peer Review as the Enforcement of Disciplinary Orthodoxy

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Roy Schwartzman, Professor (Creator)

Institution

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )

Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Recently Omar Swartz (1997) solicited further discussion regarding Blair, Brown, and Baxter's article "Disciplining the Feminine" that appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Speech three years ago. I remember reading Blair, Brown, and Baxter's article with exultation. Finally, well-established scholars openly discussed the unstated ideological foundations-in this case, the "male paradigm" (Blair, Brown, and Baxter, 1994, p. 389-395)-underlying two hallowed institutions: the standards of scholarly achievement and the practice of peer review. The authors used two artifacts to show how disciplinary boundaries are established and maintained: Hickson et al.'s (1992) report on research productivity of female scholars in communication and the reviewers' comments regarding an earlier version of Blair, Brown, and Baxter's article. Although Blair, Brown, and Baxter have called attention to two scholarly practices (measurements of scholarly productivity and peer review), I concentrate on peer review because it serves as the primary mechanism for authorizing what counts as legitimate research. Scholarly research that has passed the gauntlet of peer review, therefore, appears in publications perhaps less to convey new information than to declare that such research carries the seal of approval from academic gatekeepers (Crane, 1972, p. 122). Usually the values of information and certification do not conflict. Problems arise, however, when innovative research is significant because it violates disciplinary norms and expectations.

The Forum: Peer Review as the Enforcement of Disciplinary Orthodoxy
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Created on 1/1/1997
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Additional Information

Publication

Southern Communication Journal 63 (1997): 69-75

Language: English

Date: 1997

Keywords

Scholarly achievement, Peer review, Female scholars, Legitimate research

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