Rank Hypocrisies: The Insult of the Ref Contributor(s): Sayer, Derek (Author) |
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ISBN: 1473906563 ISBN-13: 9781473906563 Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd OUR PRICE: $83.60 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: February 2015 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Education | Higher |
Dewey: 378.106 |
LCCN: 2014945632 |
Series: Sage Swifts |
Physical Information: 0.5" H x 6.1" W x 8.3" (0.60 lbs) 128 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: In crystalline text steeped in cold rage, Sayer takes aim at the REF's central claim, that it is a legitimate process of expert peer review. He critiques university and national-level REF processes against actual practices of scholarly review as found in academic journals, university presses, and North American tenure procedures. His analysis is damning. If the REF fails as scholarly review, how can academics and universities continue to participate? And how can government use its rankings as a basis for public policy? Derek Sayer extends these arguments, notably through his discussion of the questionable staff selection processes used in REF2014 within his own university. Where Rank Hypocrisies goes beyond previous critiques is in its open challenge to the REF′s claim to provide ′expert review of the outputs′ - the very heart of its legitimacy. Examining the composition and operation of REF disciplinary subpanels in forensic detail, Sayer paints a picture in which overburdened assessors assign vaguely defined grades in fields that are frequently not their own while ignoring all external indicators of the academic influence of the publications they are appraising, and then shred all records of their deliberations. Judged against international norms of peer review, the REF is an elaborate charade - and an insult to the core values of the academy. |
Contributor Bio(s): Sayer, Derek: - Derek Sayer is Professor of Cultural History at Lancaster University and Professor Emeritus (Canada Research Chair) at the University of Alberta. His most recent book is Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History (2013). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. |