Query on Hoax Proposal on "The Costs and Benefits of Genocide"

	A	B	C	D
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2	Responses to a Query on a Hoax Proposal for a Special Issue on "The Costs and Benefits of Genocide: Towards a Balanced Debate"
3	Note: One or more editors of the scholarly journals listed below are among the signatories of a petition supporting the editorial decision by the Third World Quarterly to publish "The Case for Colonialism," an article advocating for the colonial subjection of entire peoples, which is a violation of basic "human rights and fundamental freedoms" (UN Resolution 1514/XV). The petition states that "any work--however controversial" should be published in scholarly journals irrespective of any ethical concerns that might be raised regarding its publication so long as it "merits exposure and debate." This raises the question of what the limits of legitimate scholarly "debate" are and whether any topic--even the most ethically questionable--deserves to be the subject of "balanced" debate in peer-reviewed scholarly journals. In an attempt to gauge whether any ethical standards exist in editorial decision-making in academia today, a hoax proposal for a special issue on "The Costs and Benefits of Genocide: Towards a Balanced Debate" was submitted to a sample of journal editor signatories of the pro-TWQ petition, and the responses are shown below. The aim of this query was not to make a practical joke of this very serious matter, but rather to call attention to the need for ethical standards of editorial decision-making in scholarly publications.
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5	By Reuben Rose-Redwood
6	2017
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8	Journal	Proposal Accepted	Reason for Rejection	Ethical Concerns Raised
9	West European Politics	No	Topic doesn't fit goals & aims of journal, but acknowledges that topic "sounds fascinating"	No
10	Party Politics	No	Only rarely accepts special issue proposals, but offers encouraging advice, noting that "I hope you do find an outlet."	No
11	Democratization	No	Topic doesn't fit goals & aims of journal	No
12	Security Studies	No	No reason given for rejection	No
13	International Relations	No	Not currently accepting special issue proposals	No
14	Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding	No	Topic is too vague and polemical, sounds like TWQ click-bait, balanced debate on topic unnecessary	Skepticism yet no explicit ethical concerns raised
15	European Journal of Political Theory	No	Skepticism of need for "balanced" debate on topic	Skepticism yet no explicit ethical concerns raised
16	Italian Political Science Review	No	Skepticism of need for "balanced" debate on topic	Skepticism yet no explicit ethical concerns raised
17	Global Governance	No	Moral & ethical concerns over topic	Yes, strong ethical concerns raised
18	Contemporary Review of International Social and Political Philosophy	No response	-	-
19	Pacific Review	No response	-	-
20	East European Politics	No response	-	-
21	International Peacekeeping	No response	-	-
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