As editors of the SSRN’s ERN History of Economics eJournal, we have recently been made aware of a paper written in a style so aggressive and uncivil that several members of our community have questioned how we could have allowed it to be circulated and why we have not forced it to be withdrawn.  We have decided, therefore, that this is a good opportunity to clarify the nature of the ERN History of Economics eJournal and our role as editors.

We should say at the outset, that we do not condone papers that engage in ad hominem attacks or other forms of personal disparagement – especially when it is directed at younger scholars or others whose positions are not secure.  Surely, one can challenge analysis, interpretation, evidence, or methods while remaining within the bounds of civil discourse.  We urge everyone in our community to respect those bounds. 

Having said that, we nonetheless do not believe that it is our role as editors, nor that we would have the capacity, to police civil discourse on the ERN History of Economics eJournal.  Contrary to what many people appear to think or to urge, the ERN History of Economics eJournal is not a journal in any ordinary sense and, equally, our role as editors is not the role that we have had as editors of History of Political Economy (Hoover) and the Journal of the History of Economic Thought (Medema).  The ERN History of Economics eJournal is a subject-matter-specific working paper archive – no more, no less.  Papers are submitted to SSRN by their authors, and the authors choose which eJournals that they would like them to be listed under – up to 12 are allowed.  The editors of the eJournals may reject a paper as inappropriate for the eJournal – e.g., if the eJournal belongs to a department or a society, then editors may pick and choose the papers according to departmental or society rules.  But if a paper is rejected from an eJournal, it still remains accessible on SSRN.  Editors are not empowered to “reject” a paper from being posted, but only to insist on its being appropriately classified.

Being listed in the ERN History of Economics eJournal is not an endorsement or a mark of approval on the part of the editors.

When the ERN History of Economics eJournal was first set up, it was sponsored by the History of Economics Society.  But last year, HES decided to terminate its sponsorship of the eJournal at the end of the current term.  Its authority over the eJournal will soon transfer completely to the publisher. 

Our policy from the beginning is that as editors we are merely facilitators, conveying working papers to the audience of historians of economics.  We do not make decisions about quality or content.  We are not gatekeepers.  Our policy is to assume that papers submitted to the ERN History of Economics eJournal are appropriate and to disqualify them only when we cannot believe that any historians of economics qua historian might find the paper of interest.  That is a very permissive policy, and we, in fact, disqualify only a few papers.  But we do not believe that it is our role either to separate the wheat from the chaff or to enforce social norms, which, in any case, would not be universally agreed.

Our policy is motivated in large part by the desire to keep an open forum.  But it is not only that we favor free speech; it is also the practical matter that we could not read and assess the large number of papers that are posted to SSRN.  

Promoting and maintaining civility and collegiality within our community is up to all of us, but it cannot be done successfully by our becoming gatekeepers of what can be posted on the ERN History of Economics eJournal.  Indeed, we worry that our trying to do so might undermine rather than promote those values.

Kevin D. Hoover <[log in to unmask]>
Steven G. Medema <[log in to unmask]>
Editors, ERN History of Economics eJournal