OpenPsych: Difference between revisions

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Line 50: Line 50:
* '''Lack of qualified reviewers''': reviewers "are not required to hold advanced academic qualifications",<ref>Brady, Rosie., and Chye, Noella. (7 Dec 2018). [https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/16685 Hundreds of academics oppose research fellow’s eugenics work on discredited ‘race sciences’]. ''Varsity''.</ref> nor need to specialise in what they review. For example, Kirkegaard who reviews paper submissions to two of the journals has only a [[BA]] in [[linguistics]], claiming he is entirely "self-taught".<ref>Merwe Van Der, Ben. (7 Dec 2018). [https://cherwell.org/2018/12/07/former-nuffield-fellow-denounced-for-racist-pseudoscience/ Former Nuffield fellow denounced for “racist pseudoscience”]. ''Cherwell''.</ref> Kenya Kura, who reviews submissions to ''Open Behavioral Genetics'' has no expertise in genetics; his [[PhD]] is in [[economics]]. [[Gerhard Meisenberg|Meisenberg]]'s academic background is in [[biochemistry]], but he reviews papers for ''Open Differential Psychology''.
* '''Lack of qualified reviewers''': reviewers "are not required to hold advanced academic qualifications",<ref>Brady, Rosie., and Chye, Noella. (7 Dec 2018). [https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/16685 Hundreds of academics oppose research fellow’s eugenics work on discredited ‘race sciences’]. ''Varsity''.</ref> nor need to specialise in what they review. For example, Kirkegaard who reviews paper submissions to two of the journals has only a [[BA]] in [[linguistics]], claiming he is entirely "self-taught".<ref>Merwe Van Der, Ben. (7 Dec 2018). [https://cherwell.org/2018/12/07/former-nuffield-fellow-denounced-for-racist-pseudoscience/ Former Nuffield fellow denounced for “racist pseudoscience”]. ''Cherwell''.</ref> Kenya Kura, who reviews submissions to ''Open Behavioral Genetics'' has no expertise in genetics; his [[PhD]] is in [[economics]]. [[Gerhard Meisenberg|Meisenberg]]'s academic background is in [[biochemistry]], but he reviews papers for ''Open Differential Psychology''.
* '''Lack of impartial reviewers''': virtually all reviewers are proponents of [[hereditarianism]], resulting in a former reviewer for ''Open Behavioral Genetics'', Meng Hu, quitting and saying he had "bad experiences" with OpenPsych.<ref>Hu, Meng (18 Jun 2015). [http://archive.is/YcIDb Bad experience at OpenPsych journals].</ref> He described reviewers as not reasonably enough impartial: "One problem with OP is that most (if not all) reviewers have an 'hereditarian side'... people may think OP looks like a ''[[Mankind Quarterly]]'' bis."<ref>[https://openpsych.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=15&pid=772#pid772 OpenPsych: Reviewers].</ref>
* '''Lack of impartial reviewers''': virtually all reviewers are proponents of [[hereditarianism]], resulting in a former reviewer for ''Open Behavioral Genetics'', Meng Hu, quitting and saying he had "bad experiences" with OpenPsych.<ref>Hu, Meng (18 Jun 2015). [http://archive.is/YcIDb Bad experience at OpenPsych journals].</ref> He described reviewers as not reasonably enough impartial: "One problem with OP is that most (if not all) reviewers have an 'hereditarian side'... people may think OP looks like a ''[[Mankind Quarterly]]'' bis."<ref>[https://openpsych.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=15&pid=772#pid772 OpenPsych: Reviewers].</ref>
* '''Scientific racism''': OpenPsych has published articles widely considered [[scientific racism]], while several members of its editorial board hold [[far-right]] political views and attended the controversial [[London Conference on Intelligence]].<ref>[http://londonstudent.coop/exposed-london-eugenics-conferences-neo-nazi-links/ Exposed: London’s eugenics conference and its neo-Nazi links]. ''London Student''.</ref><ref>Merwe Van Der, Ben. (19 Feb 2018). [https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/education/2018/02/it-might-be-pseudo-science-students-take-threat-eugenics-seriously It might be a pseudo science, but students take the threat of eugenics seriously]. ''New Statesman''.</ref> The [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] in an article discussing proponents of scientific racism, including Emil Kirkegaard, describes OpenPsych as a "pseudojournal".<ref>Ward, Justin. (12 Mar 2018). [https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/03/12/wikipedia-wars-inside-fight-against-far-right-editors-vandals-and-sock-puppets Wikipedia wars: inside the fight against far-right editors, vandals and sock puppets]. Southern Poverty Law Center.</ref> Meisenberg formerly was editor-in-chief of the ''Mankind Quarterly'', that has been described as a "[[white supremacist]] journal".<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Gresson |editor1-first=Aaron |editor2-last=Kincheloe |editor2-first=Joe L. |editor3-last=Steinberg |editor3-first=Shirley R. |editor2-link=Joe L. Kincheloe |editor3-link=Shirley R. Steinberg |title=[[Measured Lies: The Bell Curve Examined]] |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-17228-2 |page=39 |edition=1st St. Martin's Griffin}}</ref>
* '''Scientific racism''': OpenPsych has published articles widely considered [[scientific racism]], while several members of its editorial board hold [[far-right]] political views and attended the controversial [[London Conference on Intelligence]].<ref>[http://londonstudent.coop/exposed-london-eugenics-conferences-neo-nazi-links/ Exposed: London’s eugenics conference and its neo-Nazi links]. ''London Student''.</ref><ref>Merwe Van Der, Ben. (19 Feb 2018). [https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/education/2018/02/it-might-be-pseudo-science-students-take-threat-eugenics-seriously It might be a pseudo science, but students take the threat of eugenics seriously]. ''New Statesman''.</ref> The [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] in an article discussing proponents of scientific racism, including Emil Kirkegaard, describes OpenPsych as a "pseudojournal".<ref>Ward, Justin. (12 Mar 2018). [https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/03/12/wikipedia-wars-inside-fight-against-far-right-editors-vandals-and-sock-puppets Wikipedia wars: inside the fight against far-right editors, vandals and sock puppets]. Southern Poverty Law Center.</ref> Meisenberg formerly was editor-in-chief of the ''Mankind Quarterly'', that has been described as a "[[white supremacist]] journal".<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Gresson |editor1-first=Aaron |editor2-last=Kincheloe |editor2-first=Joe L. |editor3-last=Steinberg |editor3-first=Shirley R. |editor2-link=Joe L. Kincheloe |editor3-link=Shirley R. Steinberg |title=[[Measured Lies: The Bell Curve Examined]] |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-17228-2 |page=39 |edition=1st St. Martin's Griffin}}</ref> Kirkegaard is regarded by the Centre for Analysis of Radical Right to be a "figure on the [[Radical right (Europe)|radical right]] fringe",<ref>[https://www.radicalrightanalysis.com/2018/06/25/eugenics-white-nationalists-continue-to-turn-to-the-false-theory-of-genetic-supremacy/ Eugenics: White Nationalists Continue to Turn to the False Theory of Genetic Supremacy]</ref> while an article in ''[[Le Temps]]'' describes him as [[alt-right]].<ref>https://www.letemps.ch/sciences/laboratoire-fake-science</ref>


For these reasons some critics argue OpenPsych's journals are "non-peer-reviewed.<ref>Bradbury, Rosie., and Cook, Joe. (30 Apr 2019). [https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/17456 Controversial research fellow Noah Carl dismissed by St Edmund’s]. ''Varsity''.</ref>
For these reasons some critics argue OpenPsych's journals are "non-peer-reviewed.<ref>Bradbury, Rosie., and Cook, Joe. (30 Apr 2019). [https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/17456 Controversial research fellow Noah Carl dismissed by St Edmund’s]. ''Varsity''.</ref>

Revision as of 02:13, 3 July 2019

Open Differential Psychology, Open Behavioral Genetics, Open Quantitative Sociology & Political Science
DisciplineBehavioural genetics
LanguageEnglish
Edited byEmil O. W. Kirkegaard
Publication details
History2014–present
Publisher
OpenPsych (Denmark)
ISO 4Find out here
Indexing
ISSN2446-3884
Links

OpenPsych is a publisher of three open access scientific journals on behavioural genetics, psychology and quantitative research.

While OpenPsych claims its journals are peer-reviewed, this has been questioned; an article in New Statesman has described OpenPsych as a "pseudoscience factory-farm".[1] The magazine Spiked describes OpenPsych as "academically dodgy".[2]

History

The OpenPsych journals Open Differential Psychology (ODP), Open Behavioral Genetics (OBG) and Open Quantitative Sociology & Political Science (OQSPS) were set up by Emil O. W. Kirkegaard and Davide Piffer in March 2014.[3]

Editorial board

Editors:

  • Emil Kirkegaard, Davide Piffer.

Review team:

Open Differential Psychology (ODP)

Open Behavioral Genetics (OBG)

  • Davide Piffer, Meng Hu, Gerhard Meisenberg, Peter Frost, Kenya Kura.

Open Quantitative Sociology & Political Science (OQSPS)

  • Emil Kirkegaard, Bryan J. Pesta, Noah Carl, Gerhard Meisenberg.

Criticism

The quality of peer review at OpenPsych has been questioned; criticisms include:

  • Lack of qualified reviewers: reviewers "are not required to hold advanced academic qualifications",[4] nor need to specialise in what they review. For example, Kirkegaard who reviews paper submissions to two of the journals has only a BA in linguistics, claiming he is entirely "self-taught".[5] Kenya Kura, who reviews submissions to Open Behavioral Genetics has no expertise in genetics; his PhD is in economics. Meisenberg's academic background is in biochemistry, but he reviews papers for Open Differential Psychology.
  • Lack of impartial reviewers: virtually all reviewers are proponents of hereditarianism, resulting in a former reviewer for Open Behavioral Genetics, Meng Hu, quitting and saying he had "bad experiences" with OpenPsych.[6] He described reviewers as not reasonably enough impartial: "One problem with OP is that most (if not all) reviewers have an 'hereditarian side'... people may think OP looks like a Mankind Quarterly bis."[7]
  • Scientific racism: OpenPsych has published articles widely considered scientific racism, while several members of its editorial board hold far-right political views and attended the controversial London Conference on Intelligence.[8][9] The Southern Poverty Law Center in an article discussing proponents of scientific racism, including Emil Kirkegaard, describes OpenPsych as a "pseudojournal".[10] Meisenberg formerly was editor-in-chief of the Mankind Quarterly, that has been described as a "white supremacist journal".[11] Kirkegaard is regarded by the Centre for Analysis of Radical Right to be a "figure on the radical right fringe",[12] while an article in Le Temps describes him as alt-right.[13]

For these reasons some critics argue OpenPsych's journals are "non-peer-reviewed.[14]

Controversies

Kevin MacDonald

In June 2015, OpenPsych allowed the anti-Semitic psychologist Kevin MacDonald as a one-off "external reviewer" to review a submission in Open Behavioral Genetics.[15]

OKCupid

In May 2016, Kirkegaard with Julius Daugbjerg Bjerrekær published a paper in Open Differential Psychology that includes the data of nearly 70,000 OkCupid (a dating website) users, such as their intimate sexual details.[16] The publication was widely criticised at the time and been described as "without a doubt one of the most grossly unprofessional, unethical and reprehensible data releases."[17] Although Kirkegaard claims the data is public, this is disputed by others who point out the data is restricted to logged-in users only:

Moreover, it remains unclear whether the OkCupid profiles scraped by Kirkegaard’s team really were publicly accessible. Their paper reveals that initially they designed a bot to scrape profile data, but that this first method was dropped because it was “a decidedly non-random approach to find users to scrape because it selected users that were suggested to the profile the bot was using.” This implies that the researchers created an OkCupid profile from which to access the data and run the scraping bot. Since OkCupid users have the option to restrict the visibility of their profiles to logged-in users only, it is likely the researchers collected—and subsequently released—profiles that were intended to not be publicly viewable. The final methodology used to access the data is not fully explained in the article, and the question of whether the researchers respected the privacy intentions of 70,000 people who used OkCupid remains unanswered.[18]

At the time of publication, Kirkegaard was a Master's degree student at Aarhus University. On 13 May 2016, the university published a statement on their official Twitter account noting that Kirkegaard published the data as a "private initiative and not associated with AU", furthermore noting that "Emil Kirkegaard - He is not a scientist!".[19] Kirkegaard shortly afterwards left the university, failing to complete his degree; Aarhus University was said to be "deeply embarrassed" by Kirkegaard's actions.[20]

Kirkegaard uploaded the OkCupid data to the Open Science Framework, but this was later removed after OkCupid filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaint.[21]

Noah Carl

In April 2019, Noah Carl who reviews submissions for Open Quantitative Sociology & Political Science was sacked as a research fellow at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge University because of his controversial association with OpenPsych, that included collaborating with a number of individuals who are known to hold racist and far-right political views:

Dr. Carl has published papers in the OpenPsych journals (which I believe embrace three titles) edited by individuals with known racist views, and sometimes in collaboration with them or acting as a reviewer. In particular they refer to Emil Kirkegaard, a highly controversial figure alleged to be from the far right.[22]

Carl's own published "articles for OpenPsych include two on the connection between terrorism and Muslim population size using data from an Islamophobic conspiracy website."[23]

References

  1. ^ Merwe Van Der, Ben. (20 Dec 2018). No, objecting to Cambridge’s appointment of a eugenicist is not about free speech. New Statesman.
  2. ^ Tettenborn, Andrew. (9 May 2019). The lynch mobbing of Noah Carl. Spiked.
  3. ^ OpenPsych: About.
  4. ^ Brady, Rosie., and Chye, Noella. (7 Dec 2018). Hundreds of academics oppose research fellow’s eugenics work on discredited ‘race sciences’. Varsity.
  5. ^ Merwe Van Der, Ben. (7 Dec 2018). Former Nuffield fellow denounced for “racist pseudoscience”. Cherwell.
  6. ^ Hu, Meng (18 Jun 2015). Bad experience at OpenPsych journals.
  7. ^ OpenPsych: Reviewers.
  8. ^ Exposed: London’s eugenics conference and its neo-Nazi links. London Student.
  9. ^ Merwe Van Der, Ben. (19 Feb 2018). It might be a pseudo science, but students take the threat of eugenics seriously. New Statesman.
  10. ^ Ward, Justin. (12 Mar 2018). Wikipedia wars: inside the fight against far-right editors, vandals and sock puppets. Southern Poverty Law Center.
  11. ^ Gresson, Aaron; Kincheloe, Joe L.; Steinberg, Shirley R. (eds.). Measured Lies: The Bell Curve Examined (1st St. Martin's Griffin ed.). St. Martin's Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-312-17228-2.
  12. ^ Eugenics: White Nationalists Continue to Turn to the False Theory of Genetic Supremacy
  13. ^ https://www.letemps.ch/sciences/laboratoire-fake-science
  14. ^ Bradbury, Rosie., and Cook, Joe. (30 Apr 2019). Controversial research fellow Noah Carl dismissed by St Edmund’s. Varsity.
  15. ^ OpenPsych: Kevin B. MacDonald.
  16. ^ OpenPsych: The OKCupid dataset: A very large public dataset of dating site users
  17. ^ Besnick, Brain. (12 May 2018). Researchers just released profile data on 70,000 OkCupid users without permission. Vox.
  18. ^ Zimmer, Michael. (14 May 2016). Study Reveals the Perils of Big-Data Science. Wired.
  19. ^ Aarhus Universitet (@AarhusUni). Twitter.
  20. ^ Wollacott, Emma. (13 May 2016). 70,000 OkCupid Profiles Leaked, Intimate Details And All. Forbes.
  21. ^ Chang, Lulu. (15 May 2016). Update: OKCupid succeeds in removing 70,000 users’ leaked data from public view. Digital Trends.
  22. ^ St. Edmund’s College in the University of Cambridge EXTERNAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE APPOINTMENT OF THE TOBY JACKMAN NEWTON TRUST RESEARCH FELLOW [1], Independent Report to the Governing Body Sir Patrick Elias, External Investigator 30 April 2019.
  23. ^ Merwe Van Der, Ben. (12 Jan 2019). Nuffield College ‘unconcerned’ about academic’s ‘racist pseudoscience’, claim students. Cherwell.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=OpenPsych&oldid=904569305"