On Dec 11, 2008, at 11:45 PM, Fred Bauder wrote:
We still have an editorial duty to evaluate the reliablility of Professfor Hausfleish and the Journal of Jane Austen Studies. And, if they are not reliable, reject them as inappropriate sources. If they are just personal opinion, that's what they are, inappropriate sources.
I am uncomfortable with treating anything that has gone through a process of scholarly peer review as "just personal opinion." Period. Now, if it's an unreviewed journal that just publishes whatever it feels like, we run into more problems - then we have to start considering Professor Hausfleish on his own merits as a scholar, and look at how the piece compares to his other work.
But peer-reviewed scholarship is not personal opinion.
-Phil