Daniele Besomi wrote: >The connection of the journal ranking, research assessment exercises >and refereeing process was mentioned earlier in this thread. Perhaps >it is worth re-reading in this light the article by B. S. Frey, >Publishing as prostitution? - Choosing between one?s own ideas and >academic success. Public Choice, 116, 2003, pp. 205-223. (a draft can >be downloaded from http://ideas.repec.org/p/zur/iewwpx/117.html ). You've got to love any article with the term "intellectual prostitution" as a keyword. One thing about the current system is that it leads to a more homogenous (that is, boring) product. Publishing the referees' comments would certainly make the journal more interesting, and likely make the comments more thoughtful. The use of "property rights" as a tool of analysis brings up another possibility, that of the "sponsored article." One or more "established" scholars could sponsor an article and be listed as such, perhaps even with brief comments. This might be especially useful in the case of young scholars. It might be objected that it merely relocates the problem of "intellectual prostitution" from the referee to the sponsors. However, the master/disciple relationship is an ancient and honorable one, and one that occurs naturally. John C. M?daille