Journal of Cosmology

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Not to be confused with Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.
Journal of Cosmology  
Journal of Cosmology.jpg
Abbreviated title (ISO 4) J. Cosmol.
Discipline Cosmology
Language English
Edited by Rudolph Schild
Publication details
Publisher Cosmology Science Publishers (United States)
Publication history 2009–present
Indexing
ISSN 2159-063X
LCCN 2010203854
Links

Journal of Cosmology describes itself as a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal of cosmology,[1] although the quality of the process has been questioned.[2][3][4][5][6] The journal was established in 2009 and is published by Cosmology Science Publishers. Rudolf Schild is the Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor.[1]

Contents

Scope [edit]

The Journal of Cosmology is an online publication website. The journal publishes original hypotheses and discoveries in cosmology, astronomy, astrobiology, and earth and planetary sciences. Contributions may cover multiple disciplines and sub-disciplines of biology, geology, physics, chemistry, extinction, and the origin and evolution of life, and Martian colonization and exploration.[1][7]

In general, published papers present original hypotheses, reviews, commentary, and speculation. Also covered is analysis of similarities and differences between competing hypotheses (Big Bang vs Steady State theory, panspermia vs abiogenesis, etc.).[1]

Reliability [edit]

The quality of peer review at the journal has been questioned.[3][4][5][6][2] The journal has also been accused of promoting fringe viewpoints and speculative viewpoints on astrobiology, astrophysics, and quantum physics. Skeptical blogger and biologist PZ Myers said of the journal "... it isn't a real science journal at all, but is the... website of a small group... obsessed with the idea of Hoyle and Wickramasinghe that life originated in outer space and simply rained down on Earth."[4][8] The journal has responded that the paradigm "life on Earth came from Earth" is like a religious belief. "Journal of Cosmology calls criticism of Hoover alien paper a witchhunt". 

Hoover paper controversy [edit]

In early March 2011, the journal drew widespread controversy[4][9][10] for the publication of a paper by Richard B. Hoover[11] a NASA scientist (now retired) with claims of evidence in meteorites that life on Earth could have come from space, in this case debris carrying life from a comet to Earth. The journal dismissed the criticism as "a barrage of slanderous attacks" from "crackpots and charlatans", calling themselves "heroic" for resisting the "terrorists" whose actions they equated with the Inquisition.[12][13] NASA distanced itself from Hoover's findings,[14] and issued a statement saying that the paper had been previously submitted in 2007 to International Journal of Astrobiology which did not accept it for review.[15] A number of commentaries on the paper were also published.[16]

In an open letter to the editors of Science and Nature, Schild proposed to establish a commission to investigate the validity of the Hoover paper, which would be led by three experts appointed by Journal of Cosmology, Science and Nature.[17] The journal said it would interpret "any refusal to cooperate, no matter what the excuse" from Nature or Science as "vindication for the Journal of Cosmology and the Hoover paper, and an acknowledgment that the editorial policies of the Journal of Cosmology are beyond reproach".[17] They subsequently issued another statement in which they stood by their publication process and suggested that criticisms were "slander and histrionic tirades", and comparing their critics to "lunatics... unleashed to throw filth", suggesting that their own actions were part of a 2000-years struggle of science against religion. Since their critics had "refused to cooperate" in a review, they reaffirmed the study to be "beyond reproach".[18]

The James Randi Educational Foundation awarded Hoover the tongue-in-cheek Pigasus Award, for widely-dismissed claims, that he had found signs of life in Mars rocks, though that identification was by another NASA scientist, David McKay in 1995 .[19][20]

Indexing [edit]

The Journal of Cosmology is abstracted and indexed in Polymer Library and ProQuest. From 2009-11 it was indexed in the Astrophysics Data System, but no longer appears there.

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "About the Journal". Journal of Cosmology. Retrieved 14 January 2012. 
  2. ^ a b "Potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open-access journals". Scholarly Open Access. Retrieved 2013-04-09. 
  3. ^ a b I. O'Neil (7 March 2011). "NASA Refutes Alien Discovery Claim". Discovery News. Retrieved 2011-03-07. 
  4. ^ a b c d P. Z. Myers (6 March 2011). "Did Scientists Discover Bacteria in Meteorites?". Pharyngula. Retrieved 2011-03-06. 
  5. ^ a b P. Plait (7 March 2011). "Followup Thoughts on the Meteorite Fossils Claims". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 2011-03-06. 
  6. ^ a b L. Battison (11 March 2011). "Microbes on a Moonbeam: Disentangling the Meteorite Microbe Claims". Science in Pen and Ink. Retrieved 2011-03-12. 
  7. ^ N. K. Geranios (November 15, 2010). "Scientists propose one-way trips to Mars". MSNBC. Retrieved 2011-10-08. 
  8. ^ P. Z. Myers (23 July 2009). "An Amusingly Suspicious "Paper"". Pharyngula. Retrieved 2011-03-06. 
  9. ^ D. Dobbs (6 March 2011). "Aliens Riding Meteorites: Arsenic Redux or Something New?". Wired. Retrieved 2011-03-06. 
  10. ^ R. Redfield (6 March 2011). "Is this claim of bacteria in a meteorite any better than the 1996 one?". RRResearch. Retrieved 2011-03-06. 
  11. ^ R. B. Hoover (5 March 2011). Fossils of Cyanobacteria in CI1 Carbonaceous Meteorites 13. 
  12. ^ "The Controversy of the Hoover Meteorite Study: Official Statement The Journal of Cosmology, Have the Terrorists Won?". Journal of Cosmology. 8 March 2011. 
    The statement was taken down, but a copy of the original can be found at D. Dobbs (10 March 2011). "Journal of Cosmology calls criticism of Hoover alien paper a witchhunt". David Dobbs's Somatic Marker. Retrieved 2011-09-22. 
  13. ^ I. Musgrave (9 March 2011). "Commentaries posted at Journal of Cosmology". Astroblog. Retrieved 2011-03-12. 
  14. ^ "NASA shoots down alien fossil claims". ABC News. 8 March 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-09. 
  15. ^ Associated Press (7 March 2011). "Scientists skeptical of meteorite alien life claim". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2011-10-09. 
  16. ^ I. Musgrave (9 March 2011). "Commentaries posted at Journal of Cosmology". Astroblog. Retrieved 2011-03-12. 
  17. ^ a b R. Schild (11 March 2011). "The Journal of Cosmology Proposes a Scientific Commission, Established Co-Jointly with Science and Nature, To Investigate & Confirm the Validity of the Hoover Paper". Journal of Cosmology. 
    A copy of the original can be found at G. Munevar (25 March 2011). "A New Controversy". Philosophy of Space Exploraton. Retrieved 2011-10-09. 
  18. ^ D. Dobbs (18 March 2011). "Cosmology journal declares war won, enemies evil, new Galileo". Posterous. Retrieved 2011-10-12. 
  19. ^ R. Mestel (1 April 2011). "Dr. Oz, Andrew Wakefield and others, um, 'honored' by James Randi". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-04-02. 
  20. ^ S. Crabtree (1 April 2011). "The 5 Worst Promoters of Nonsense". James Randi Educational Foundation. Retrieved 2011-10-09. 

Further reading [edit]

External links [edit]

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