Book reviews in social science : proposals for reform, with special reference to sociology
By: MARTINS, Herminio
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Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: Oxon : Routledge, july 2010Subject(s): Crítica | Ouvidor | Ética | Ciências Sociais | SociologiaCritical Policy Studies 4, 2, p. 202-210Abstract: Recent litigation over academic book reviews drew attention to the current 'deficit of reflection' on their functions and purposes. In fact, for authors, whether and how adequately their books will be reviewed is best seen as a lottery. As for the scholarly community as a whole, reviews don't serve it very well, for they often fail to meet reasonable adequacy criteria in one way or another. Tentative proposals for reforming this long-standing state of affairs include a right of reply by authors, a code of practice for reviewers, possibly an Ombudsman as a last resort for dealing with grievances arising from book reviews and other modalities of academic evaluation. In any case, given the intensity of the manifold stresses on universities and individual academics, and the current deluge of academic works, reform has become an urgent need. To meet it may well require dispensing with standard book reviews, with their endemic flaws (rhetorical, hermeneutic, ethical, cognitive). A shift to a mix of numerous informative book notes and far greater emphasis on review symposia may well be the best course. This could help bring about an epistemological turn towards a more dialogical, inclusionary and productive form of scholarly conversation
Recent litigation over academic book reviews drew attention to the current 'deficit of reflection' on their functions and purposes. In fact, for authors, whether and how adequately their books will be reviewed is best seen as a lottery. As for the scholarly community as a whole, reviews don't serve it very well, for they often fail to meet reasonable adequacy criteria in one way or another. Tentative proposals for reforming this long-standing state of affairs include a right of reply by authors, a code of practice for reviewers, possibly an Ombudsman as a last resort for dealing with grievances arising from book reviews and other modalities of academic evaluation. In any case, given the intensity of the manifold stresses on universities and individual academics, and the current deluge of academic works, reform has become an urgent need. To meet it may well require dispensing with standard book reviews, with their endemic flaws (rhetorical, hermeneutic, ethical, cognitive). A shift to a mix of numerous informative book notes and far greater emphasis on review symposia may well be the best course. This could help bring about an epistemological turn towards a more dialogical, inclusionary and productive form of scholarly conversation
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