New Guidelines for JBL Contributors: Publish in Wikipedia or Perish

Hundreds of articles in the field of biblical studies appear in academic journals every month. Very little of even the most ground-breaking research is readily available to the public. Now, the Journal of Biblical Literature has decided to ask every author who submits an article to the journal to also submit a Wikipedia page that summarizes the work. As Jim West reports, this is the first time an academic journal has forced its authors to disseminate information in this way.

Every new Wikipedia page will go through the same peer review process as the original article, though afterward, of course, the pages are open for editing just like every other page in the Wikipedia.

In a phone interview via Skype with the author of this blog, JBL’s executive editor James VanderKam had this to say: “We are pleased to take the lead in the dissemination of peer-reviewed research in the field of biblical literature to the general public through Wikipedia. It’s about time we took our ostrich heads out of the sand and realized that Wikipedia has established itself as a fundamental go-to resource for millions of students, professors, and lay people. Ehud Ben Zvi tells me JHS is also planning to introduce the requirement, but we agreed that if JBL were the first to take the step, the catalytic effect might be greater.”

The initiative is part of a larger pilot project of the Pew Charitable Trusts whose commitment to a healthy interface of religion and public life is well known. Seed money for the project consists of 200K in the form of grants to journals and book publishers in the next biennium who take it upon themselves to put these guidelines in place and peer-review submitted Wikipedia articles.

According to a source inside Pew who requested anonymity because she is not authorized to speak to the press in pajamas, a grant program for qualified scholars who take it upon themselves to bring Wikipedia articles in their specialization up to speed is under consideration.

“The problem,” she said, “is that biblical scholars can’t seem to agree on anything. Just look at the articles on the Q document, Markan priority, and the Farrer hypothesis. Thank goodness for the resources provided by bloggers like Stephen Carlson and Mark Goodacre.”

I made this up, of course, but not entirely. A journal of molecular biology HAS revised its submission guidelines such that acceptance is conditional upon simultaneous wikification of the submitted research. Go here for a report and preliminary discussion. I wish it were true that JBL and similar journals had already followed suit. It hasn’t happened – yet.

Comments

[David Ker]

It's an idea that could save modern theology from its own irrelevance.

[JohnFH]

To judge by any number of baseline criteria, many scholars seem aware that their scholarship is irrelevant.

It's hard not to come to that conclusion.

[Stephen C. Carlson]

Awww, and I was getting all excited that someone at Pew knows of my work...

[JohnFH]

Stephen,

They should know of your work, and that of others at the intersection of religion and public life via online media. But I'm not sure they do.

The least we might ask Pew to do is investigate ways in which they might reinforce the positive potential of the medium.

[danielandtonya]

Perhaps JBL contributors could give a summary to Wikipedia without having to be forced.

[Jay Litwyn]

I do not think the encyclopedia is the best way to promote literature of this kind. The web? Sure. The encyclopedia is for facts that are really not open to dispute. wikisources or wikimedia commons seem like more appropriate venues if not a USENET newsgroup.

[JohnFH]

Jay,

Biblical studies is no different than other branches of the humanities. The distinction between facts and beliefs about facts is harder to draw than it is in the physical sciences for example.

However, the kind of knowledge typical of the humanities has a place in wikipedia no less than, on the one hand, entries about molecular biology, and, on the other hand, entries about current events.