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Vested Interests 1, Scientific Integrity 0
The decline and fall of the AA's research journal Correlation

Ivan W Kelly

This article without the sub-title was the lead article in Skeptical Briefs 10(1), March 2000. At the end Geoffrey Dean provides a follow-up covering the subsequent years to 2006. Ivan W Kelly is Professor of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of Saskatchewan.

Abstract -- In the author's opinion Correlation under Rudolf Smit (editor 1993-1998) had become one of the most impressive and open-minded journals in existence, the model example of a journal in any area. Smit was also editor and translator for one of the Netherlands' leading scientific institutes, and his open-minded stance conflicted with the AA's attitude that only positive results are welcome. The AA argued that negative articles should be subject to their veto, which Smit (like his predecessor Simon Best 1981-1992) saw as contrary to the spirit of science. In due course the AA replaced Smit with practising astrologer Pat Harris, whose first issue revealed such a disastrous loss of rigor that, if it continues, can only provide ammunition for critics. A follow up reveals that the loss of rigor did indeed continue, together with farcical refereeing and censorship of unwelcome material. When in 2000 three Correlation consulting editors raised concerns about the journal's poor intellectual credibility, the editor reacted by sacking them. The days when Correlation could be regarded as a serious journal are clearly over.