Marjanović, Marjan;
(2023)
In Defence of Scholarly Bullshit—a Reflection on Kirchherr.
Circular Economy and Sustainability
10.1007/s43615-023-00253-6.
(In press).
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Abstract
The recent publication by Kirchherr on bullshit in sustainability and transitions studies has generated much contention. In the intentionally controversial paper, the author uses profanity to provoke and shock the readers. He argues that the metric-driven logic of the academic system has allowed subpar scholarship—recognised as scholarly bullshit, to permeate the field and that up to 50% of the articles (in particular, those on circular economy) published in reputable sustainability and transitions journals can be considered of generally inferior quality. In this reflection on Kirchherr’s piece, I aim to contribute to the debate that the author has instigated by offering an alternative opinion. Namely, I find it necessary to warn against the implications of the negative connotations that the term scholarly bullshit encapsulates since the actual situation in the field may not be as problematic and unfavourable as it sounds. By assessing the arguments presented in the original paper, I explain not only why the existence of subpar scholarship is not a problem but also explicate some positive effects of the phenomenon that make it a potentially desirable element of the scientific publication process. Although I agree with the original paper’s overall argument about the increasing presence of buzzwords in recent scholarly work, I conclude that weeding out presumably “inferior” scholarship may lead to a type of “scholarly eugenics”, resulting in the loss of the interdisciplinary richness and fertility that have been driving the field of sustainability and transitions so far.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | In Defence of Scholarly Bullshit—a Reflection on Kirchherr |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s43615-023-00253-6 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-023-00253-6 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Circular economy, Scholarly bullshit, Sustainability,, Sustainable development, Sustainability transitions |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > The Bartlett School of Planning |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10163748 |
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