Name And Address Supplied wrote:
> "Malcolm"  wrote in
message news:...
> 
>>"Name And Address Supplied"
 wrote
>>
>>>I think this is telling. Your impression of the peer review process is
>>>based on the assumption that Hamilton's logic is absurd. *Given* that
>>>it is absurd, and given that it is established convention within the
>>>peer-reviewed literature, then you logically infer that there is
>>>something chronically wrong with the peer review process.
>>>
>>
>>The problem is, John is outside the peer group, and not only is his take on
>>Hamilton's theory rejected by them, he cannot even get it heard, because he
>>is effectively frozen out of the publication process.
> 
> 
> Right, a lot of people are 'frozen out' of the publication process,
> because they are cranks who produce bad manuscripts. This is exactly
> what a peer review process is for.
> 

Whilst NAS is right, I do not think that all is lost for the amateur. 
As I see it, a non-specialist will face two issues.  The first is that 
their ideas might be demostrably stupid (i.e. they are cranks).  The 
second is that they do not know how to write a scientific paper in a way 
that is acceptable.  There are conventions that are observed (such as 
the Introduction - Methods - Results - Discussion structure), which are 
considered important.  It would be unfortunate if a paper were rejected 
because it did not conform to this standard.  However, all is not lost. 
  There are several books about scientific writing, so I would advise 
that these are consulted.

I suspect that a manuscript with a good idea from a non-specialist might 
be treated with some sympathy if it was clear that the author had tried 
to get the format right.  Of course, if the ideas are nuts, then no 
amount of skill in writing will help: you just have to make sure you 
have the right co-authors (e.g. W.D. Hamilton would be a good one to 
try.  You just have to get his address right).

Bob

-- 
Bob O'Hara
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
P.O. Box 68 (Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2b)
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki
Finland

Telephone: +358-9-191 51479
Mobile: +358 50 599 0540
Fax:  +358-9-191 51400
WWW:  http://www.RNI.Helsinki.FI/~boh/
Journal of Negative Results - EEB: www.jnr-eeb.org
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