Sternberg peer review controversy

The Sternberg peer review controversy concerns the conflict arising from the publication of an article supporting pseudoscientific intelligent design creationism in a scientific journal, and the subsequent questions of whether proper editorial procedures had been followed and whether it was properly peer reviewed.

One of the primary criticisms of the intelligent design movement is that there are no research papers supporting their positions in peer reviewed scientific journals.[1] On 4 August 2004, an article by Stephen C. Meyer (Director of Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture) titled "The origin of biological information and the higher taxonomic categories", appeared in the peer-reviewed journal, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Meyer's article was a literature review article, and contained no new primary scholarship itself on the topic of intelligent design. The following month, the publisher of the journal, the Council of the Biological Society of Washington, released a statement repudiating the article and stating that their former editor Richard M. Sternberg had, in an unusual manner, handled the entire review process without consultation or review from an associate editor.[2] The position of editor was unpaid and voluntary, and Sternberg had put in his resignation from it six months earlier.[3] Sternberg disputes the Council's statement and asserts that the paper was appropriately peer reviewed by three biologists who "concluded that [the paper] warranted publication".[4]

The same statement from the Council vowed that proper review procedures would be followed in the future and endorsed a resolution published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which states that there is no credible scientific evidence supporting intelligent design.[5] On September 18, the Discovery Institute issued a statement praising the publication of Meyer's paper in a peer-reviewed journal and chastising the National Center for Science Education for stating that the paper should not have been published.[6] The Biological Society of Washington's president, Roy McDiarmid called Sternberg's decision to publish Meyer's article "a really bad judgment call on the editor's part" and said it was doubtful whether the three scientists who peer reviewed the article and recommended it for publication were evolutionary biologists.[7]

The event has been used to support an unsubstantiated but common narrative of persecution.[8][9]

  1. ^ Judge John E. Jones III: "A final indicator of how ID has failed to demonstrate scientific warrant is the complete absence of peer-reviewed publications supporting the theory...The evidence presented in this case demonstrates that ID is not supported by any peer-reviewed research, data or publications." (Ruling, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District 4: whether ID is science).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference statement was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference EERS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Statement from Richard Sternberg". Archived from the original on March 6, 2005. Retrieved 2005-07-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. ^ "AAAS Board Resolution on Intelligent Design Theory". American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2002-10-18. Archived from the original on 2010-03-05. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
  6. ^ Staff (2004-09-08). "NCSE Flip-flops As Controversy Over Peer-Reviewed Article Continues: Darwinists Like Peer-Review Except When They Don't". Center for Science and Culture. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
  7. ^ "Biology society regrets creationist article". Society of Academic Authors. 2004-10-31. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Reuland2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hoax was invoked but never defined (see the help page).