Retraction Watch:
There’s a new journal in town.
Inference’s first issue includes a lengthy review of a laboratory by a tennis instructor, a set of caricatures, and an exchange of emails from 1996 that is “perhaps, less remarkable for what it says than for the fact that it took place at all.”
In short, its editors — who “would prefer to remain anonymous” — seem to share a sense of humor with the editors of the Journal of Universal Rejection or the Proceedings of the Natural Institute of Science:
Although the editors appeal to experts for advice, Inference is not peer-reviewed. Writers must please the editors. They need please no one else.
A list of appropriate topics for the journal is best described as random, ranging from “The difference between plants and animals” to “The principle of mediocrity.” ...
Tomorrow being the third Thursday of October, take note:
Editors are pleased to receive death threats on the third Thursday of the month.
I'd like to get something published there just for a caricature. And I would love, just love, publishing any number of exchanges of emails I've had over the years.
