Many of the emails I receive regarding the publishing scandal by Cambridge University Press ask me why I won’t simply alert the editors of the Journal of Biosocial Science. Surely, your emails tell me, after hearing the truth from me, the Journal will be left with no choice but to correct their error.

I already contacted them. I wrote an email in February before the article ran. No response.

I wrote again two weeks ago. I have heard nothing; not even the standard “we’re looking into it” reply that some bloggers have reported they received from JBS. With no response, I now officially declare my letter to the editor of JBS an “open letter.” Here it is:

Dear Professor Mascie-Taylor:

I am writing in regards to the article published in the May 2006 issue of the Journal of Biosocial Science by Paul Cameron. My book was recklessly misused and misrepresented in Cameron’s article. I am shocked that this article succeeded in getting published by Cambridge University. It is an embarrassment to social scientists everywhere.

Are you aware that I sent an email to Miss Gallimore (pasted below) as soon as I found out Cameron’s article was scheduled for publication alerting her to how flawed his research was? (Your email was not listed on the JBS site; hers was so I wrote to her. I did not receive a reply.)

Are you aware that my book, FAMILIES LIKE MINE, is a mainstream book published by HarperCollins in which I deliberately oversampled homosexual offspring? My book accounts for 50 of his sample of 77. (And for the record, I have no Ph.D. to speak of; the bulk of his sample is based on research that was conducted me, in a book written by a non-degreed author. Cameron had zero contact with anyone in his so-called sample.)

Are you aware that another book in the study, OUT OF THE ORDINARY, is a literary anthology? How could anyone get any scientific statistics from essays that were selected for a collection based on literary merit?

Does JBS plan to address the excessively flawed “science” of Cameron? He is already capitalizing on the perceived credibility this publication has granted him. Here is his press release in which his uses Cambridge’s good name to spread his lies: http://www.earnedmedia.org/fri0426.htm

I am reporting developments of this fiasco on my blog which you can follow here: http://damnstraight.oversampled.net/index.php?s=cameron

Do you care to make a statement as to why/how this article was approved for publication? Are there plans to retract it?

I anxiously await your reply.

Sincerely,

Abigail Garner
Author of Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is
www.FamiliesLikeMine.com

Before you suggest that maybe the email didn’t go through or maybe he’s traveling, he was not the only person I emailed. I sent this message to several email addresses to alert everyone who is accountable in some way for what gets published in JBS. I sent a copy to the general editorial email addresses at Cambridge University Press in both the US and the UK. I also emailed a copy to the advisory board members I was able to track down an email address for. (This was more challenging that you would think — they only list first initials so it takes some creative sleuthing beyond a simple Google search; I found positive email addresses for ten of them.)

And then I included the letter I sent to Gallimore three months ago:

From: Abigail Garner
Date: February 10, 2006 1:35:50 PM CST
To: cmg26@cam.ac.uk
Subject: Cameron’s research / Varsity article

Dear Miss Gallimore:

In a Varsity article published January 30 regarding Paul Cameron, the final statement was “Caroline Gallimore, Associate Editor of JBS, promised Varsity that she would investigate.” I am writing to provide information for that investigation and to ask for confirmation of publishing details.

I am the author of FAMILIES LIKE MINE, one of three books Cameron used for his supposed statistical analysis in the article in question. Cameron had absolutely no right to twist these non-scientific samples into bogus findings that he is trying to pass off as hard data. Anyone who is familiar with the sources he cites would know his results are ludicrous — no advanced degree necessary to debunk his work after just a few minutes of elementary fact-checking.

Documentation of my “peer review” of this article which was rejected by Pediatrics Journal and more on my opinion on this matter is online here: http://damnstraight.oversampled.net/index.php/2006/02/09/

If you need an official statement from me to help with your investigation, I am more than willing to provide one. I recommend that JBS take swift action to denounce Cameron’s article and his unethical so-called research.

Finally, please clarify when/if the article did run. According to the JBS website, it has been available for a fee online since the May 2005 issue. The Varsity article dated January 30, 2006 says the publication of Cameron’s research in is forthcoming. Please tell me when the article did/will run online and/or in print. I, of course, want to make sure I accurately report these facts as this story continues to unfold.

Sincerely,
Abigail Garner
Author of Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is
www.FamiliesLikeMine.com

I echo Jim Burroway’s latest comment on the matter: “So far, despite repeated attempts to reach them, I have received nothing but a deafening silence.”

Trackback URI | Comments RSS