I agree. I wonder whether there are any generally accepted conventions concerning the publication of passages extracted from referee reports. It is not only the referee who might be compromised by the publication of such remarks, but also the not-always-anonymous author of the paper being refereed, who can come in for some pretty rough treatment.

As an editor, I would be extremely hesitant to publish any part of a referee report that was less than a quarter of a century old, and I could easily be persuaded that the cut-off ought to be fifty years. A possible exception might be a passage that conveyed the scientific views of the ref, independently of the content of the paper being reffed, and that contained no info that might identify the paper under review.

Gary


Gary Mongiovi, Co-Editor
Review of Political Economy
Economics & Finance Department
St John's University
Jamaica, NEW YORK 11439 (USA)

Tel: +1 (718) 990-7380
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________________________________
From: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kevin Hoover [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 1:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] Paul Samuelson files at Duke (and elsewere?)

As an editor I am a little horrified by the idea that referee reports from as recently as 2004/2005 should be readily available, whether their author is with us or not.  The system of peer evaluation relies on confidentiality, and while ultimately such reports might become fodder for historians, having them come available so soon would undermine the system of peer review.

Kevin Hoover
Editor, History of Political Economy

On 10/5/2011 11:46 AM, Stanislaw Kwiatkowski wrote:

Dear list,

I'm trying to track down a couple of reports Samuelson wrote as a
reviewer for the Journal of History of Economic Thought. I know as a
fact, that he did a couple reviews in 2004/2005. But the
Samuelson-JHET correspondence file ends in 2002.

Any ideas if there are other places, that have parts of Samuelsons files?

The updated Duke inventory is attached - the online version is outdated.

Thanks in advance,

Stan Kwiatkowski,
Poland


--
Stanisław Kwiatkowski
Instytut Misesa
www.mises.pl<http://www.mises.pl>
+48 609711878
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>



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