Is Interpreter a Well-Cited Journal?

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Doctor Scratch
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Is Interpreter a Well-Cited Journal?

Post by Doctor Scratch »

In the midst of waxing rhapsodic about the inherent arrogance in Ayn Rand's worldview, the proprietor of "SeN" paused in his latest blog entry to summarize a passage from a recent "article" from the Mormon Interpreter blog. The article in question is Newell Wright's "“Moving Beyond the Historicity Question, or a Manifesto for Future Book of Mormon Research,” and it was mentioned in another thread by drumdude. But this is the passage the Dr. Peterson cites in his latest blog posting:
This privileging of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies does not seem to be warranted by impact on the discipline of Book of Mormon studies, as measured by a citation analysis. Articles in Interpreter are likely to be cited twice as often as articles appearing in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. Using Harzing’s Publish or Perish software, I pulled all articles that have citation data from Google Scholar from 2012 to 2018 from the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies and compared them with articles about the Book of Mormon published in the Interpreter during the same period. Newer articles are cited less frequently than older articles, so I did not include anything newer than 2018. Also, older articles are cited more frequently, as they have been around longer, so I did not look at articles published before 2012.

The Journal of Book of Mormon Studies published 35 articles of all types that were cited at least once during that time period, for a total of 91 citations, or 2.68 citations per article. Interpreter published 69 articles focusing on the Book of Mormon that were cited at least once during that time period, for a total of 391 citations, or an average of 5.75 citations per article — more than double the citation rate of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. I believe that the influence of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies will continue to wane, because it is now locked behind a paywall and is not freely available to the three target audiences described at the beginning of Book of Mormon Studies. This same analysis suggests a bright, impactful future for Interpreter. This blindness towards the Interpreter is one example of the authors’ unconscious bias.
Interesting, no? And indeed, the President of the Interpreter Foundation sees this as not just a cause for celebration, but an opportunity to ask people to fork over money:
DCP wrote:I cite this not to criticize the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies but, rather, to point to the apparent impact and reach of Interpreter. Faithful students of the Book of Mormon who want to publish their work and who want it to reach a wide audience will (increasingly) want to consider submitting it to Interpreter for consideration. I don’t guarantee publication, of course — we have a vigorous system of peer review in place and, anyway, not every submitted manuscript fits our mission even if it’s really well done — but please do think of this as an invitation. We don’t care what academic credentials an author may or may not possess; we care only that submitted manuscripts be solid and of interest.

I also hope that potential donors, learning of the growing reach of the Interpreter Foundation, will want to join with us in this cause.


Right: of course they don't care about "credentials." (Ha ha ha.)

But let's step back a moment, shall we? I encourage you to mosey on over to Google Scholar and repeat the exercise (or part of it, anyway) that Mr. Wright used for his "research." Go ahead: click on the citations link for any of Interpreter's "articles." Click on another. Notice anything? Yes, that's right: pretty much all of the "publications" that are citing Interpreter's output are other, incestuous Mopologetic venues: Book of Mormon Central; Meridian Magazine; and so forth. I would be willing to bet that a significant number of those citations were made by Daniel Peterson himself. Furthermore, I bet that "Interpreter" has not been cited by a single reputable academic publication--ever. I could be wrong about that, but in its 10+ year existence, I doubt that a single well-regarded scholar has bothered to cite their work in an admiring light. Again: they can feel free to prove me wrong. But I think it's safe to assume that the vast majority of these citations (if not all of them) are coming from the same incestuous network of Mopologetic-friendly, hardcore Mormon publications.

So the "apparent impact and reach" of Interpreter is actually laughably small--despite the "SeN" proprietor's rather ridiculous enthusiasm. Perhaps he really believed Wright's data? I mean, you wouldn't expect someone who believes that the Book of Mormon is real history to be gullible, would you?

In any case, asking for donations in light of this is classic mountebank behavior. The whole thing sounds like a Mopologetic version of astroturfing, in fact.
"If, while hoping that everybody else will be honest and so forth, I can personally prosper through unethical and immoral acts without being detected and without risk, why should I not?." --Daniel Peterson, 6/4/14
drumdude
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Re: Is Interpreter a Well-Cited Journal?

Post by drumdude »

“DCP” wrote: we have a vigorous system of peer review in place
I think the typical word in this phrase is “rigorous.”
Marcus
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Re: Is Interpreter a Well-Cited Journal?

Post by Marcus »

I read that 'data' and had the same thought. The number of articles in the Interpreter citing other articles in the Interpreter is not really a measure of citations.
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Doctor CamNC4Me
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Re: Is Interpreter a Well-Cited Journal?

Post by Doctor CamNC4Me »

drumdude wrote:
Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:58 pm
“DCP” wrote: we have a vigorous system of peer review in place
I think the typical word in this phrase is “rigorous.”
A vigorous system of peer approval.

- Doc
Hugh Nibley claimed he bumped into Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Gertrude Stein, and the Grand Duke Vladimir Romanoff. Dishonesty is baked into Mormonism.
Marcus
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Re: Is Interpreter a Well-Cited Journal?

Post by Marcus »

drumdude wrote:
Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:58 pm
“DCP” wrote: we have a vigorous system of peer review in place
I think the typical word in this phrase is “rigorous.”
Wow. That's quite a lapse for DCP. Probably autocorrect, but...out of the mouths of autocorrect babes... :lol: I can definitely see Midgley, et al, being vigorous without being rigorous.
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Doctor CamNC4Me
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Re: Is Interpreter a Well-Cited Journal?

Post by Doctor CamNC4Me »

Marcus wrote:
Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:57 am
drumdude wrote:
Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:58 pm


I think the typical word in this phrase is “rigorous.”
Wow. That's quite a lapse for DCP. Probably autocorrect, but...out of the mouths of autocorrect babes... :lol: I can definitely see Midgley, et al, being vigorous without being rigorous.
Well, the Midge is full of vigorous mortis.
Hugh Nibley claimed he bumped into Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Gertrude Stein, and the Grand Duke Vladimir Romanoff. Dishonesty is baked into Mormonism.
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Kishkumen
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Re: Is Interpreter a Well-Cited Journal?

Post by Kishkumen »

To be fair, I don’t think this blog post is aimed at the kind of people who would care about where those citations were found. Lots of citations from other LDS venues is exactly what they are looking for, not citations in Numen or some such.
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Alphus and Omegus
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Re: Is Interpreter a Well-Cited Journal?

Post by Alphus and Omegus »

Doctor CamNC4Me wrote:
Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:20 am
drumdude wrote:
Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:58 pm


I think the typical word in this phrase is “rigorous.”
A vigorous system of peer approval.

- Doc
If it confirms their bias, they nod vigorously in approval as they publish it verbatim.
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Everybody Wang Chung
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Re: Is Interpreter a Well-Cited Journal?

Post by Everybody Wang Chung »

Daniel "Baghdad Bob" Peterson:
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"I'm on paid sabbatical from BYU in exchange for my promise to use this time to finish two books."

Daniel C. Peterson, 2014
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Dr Moore
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Re: Is Interpreter a Well-Cited Journal?

Post by Dr Moore »

Anyone at Interpreter bragging about citations…
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2C8CB396-F74A-4313-9DFB-E2F3B4502F78.jpeg (115.9 KiB) Viewed 790 times
:roll:
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