RT Article
T1 Against Anonymity
JF Bioethics
VO 28
IS 4
SP 166
OP 169
A1 Baker, Robert
LA English
YR 2014
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1781885206
AB In ‘New Threats to Academic Freedom’ Francesca Minerva argues that anonymity for the authors of controversial articles is a prerequisite for academic freedom in the Internet age. This argument draws its intellectual and emotional power from the author's account of the reaction to the on-line publication of ‘ After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?’ – an article that provoked cascades of hostile postings and e-mails. Reflecting on these events, Minerva proposes that publishers should offer the authors of controversial articles the option of publishing their articles anonymously. This response reviews the history of anonymous publication and concludes that its reintroduction in the Internet era would recreate problems similar to those that led print journals to abandon the practice: corruption of scholarly discourse by invective and hate speech, masked conflicts of interest, and a diminution of editorial accountability. It also contends that Minerva misreads the intent of the hostile e-mails provoked by ‘After-birth abortion,’ and that ethicists who publish controversial articles should take responsibility by dialoguing with their critics – even those whose critiques are emotionally charged and hostile.
K1 publication ethics
K1 Nazi medicine
K1 Internet
K1 Infanticide
K1 Eugenics
K1 Disability
K1 anonymous authorship
K1 after-birth abortion
K1 Abortion
DO 10.1111/bioe.12093