Ramblings & Musings

I am not going to discuss the wrongs of the boycott (since many people more eloquent than me did it), I want just to understand what these calls actually mean.

Boycott by Individuals Does this individual boycott includes refusal to read academic journals published in Israel? Or refusal to read any article published by the individual who is Israeli and did not dissociate himself/herself from "such policies" if if published in Israel? Or everywhere else?

Now assume that the British academician (Say Prof. Bull) joins such boycott and publishes an article containing also results very similar to those published by an Israeli much earlier but without any mention of this. It definitely gives a black eye to the Prof. Bull who is not up to date in his field and also gives a black eye to the journal which does not provide a decent peer review. On the other hand, what is going to do Prof. Bull if he submits a paper, and then a reviewer (say Provessor I.) notes that some results are not new and were published earlier by an Israeli but article does not mention this and therefore should not be accepted in its present form? If Prof. Bull explains that he has not read a paper because he boycotts... the reviewer would be completely justified to write that Prof. Bull is ignorant (does not know his field), arrogant (refuses to know) and that the reviewer does not want to waste his/her time anymore reviewing papers of Prof. Bull. Not because Prof. Bull joined boycott, but because of this makes reviewing his papers more time consuming task.

Position of Journal It is extremely unlikely that the Editorial Board agrees with Prof. Bull because this would severely tarnish the reputation of the journal, losing potential authors, reviewers and subscribers.

On the other hand, can journal refuse to accept for publication an article submitted by an Israeli on the basis of boycott? This would cause even greater outrage, and the loss of the authors, reviewers, members of editorial board and subscriptions will be very significant. Further, some subscribers could cancel subscriptions and request money back since the journal lost its quality because it does not follow a mandate of an international journal. Probably journal will go to drain almost instantly.

Conclusion So, basically joining the boycott is equivalent if not to Academic Seppuku then to Academic Self-Maiming and is acceptable only for those who has nothing to lose: fourth-rate researchers. But ... it is exactly who are the authors of the calls to boycott: fourth-rate researchers with no academic credibility.