Editorial policies
What we will and won’t say
The Journal of AI Social Science Critique publishes structured, evidence-linked, post-publication critiques of social-science research on AI and AGI. It evaluates the claims, methods, assumptions, evidentiary strength, limitations, reproducibility, auditability and societal implications of recently published papers in top-tier conventional journals. Its purpose is to strengthen the scholarly record by making critique citable, versioned, transparent, author-contestable and machine-readable.
The editorial rule
Harsh on claims, precise on evidence, cautious about motives.
Permitted
- “The paper overstates what its design can support.”
- “The causal claim is not warranted by the evidence.”
- “The AGI relevance is asserted rather than demonstrated.”
- “The paper's policy implications exceed its evidentiary base.”
Not permitted without direct evidence
- “The authors misled readers.”
- “The reviewers failed.”
- “The paper is fraudulent.”
- “The journal was negligent.”
- “The authors ignored evidence deliberately.”
Lawful source bases
The journal does not reproduce target papers. It publishes separate critique objects that link to target-paper metadata and DOI. A paper may be read on any of the following bases, each logged per critique (and each capping severity, see the methodology):
- • Metadata
- • Abstracts
- • Open-access full text
- • Licensed-access full text where terms permit
- • Legally accessible excerpts
- • Author manuscripts
- • User-supplied PDFs where the user has lawful access
- • Cited sources
- • Data, code and supplements where lawfully accessible
Author right of reply
Authors are notified and invited to respond. They have a right of reply and no veto. A reply may take any of these forms:
- Factual correction request
- Methodological rebuttal
- Clarification
- Data/code update
- Severity challenge
- Request for expert certification
- General response
Notification timing by severity
| Severity | Notification timing |
|---|---|
| Low | At or shortly after publication. |
| Moderate | At or shortly before publication. |
| High | Before publication where feasible. |
| Severe | Before publication unless an editorial reason prevents delay. |
| Critical | Before publication, with senior-editor review. |
Corrections & versioning
Every critique carries a public version history. No silent substantive corrections.
| Change type | Version effect |
|---|---|
| Typographical correction | v1.0 → v1.0.1 |
| Minor factual correction | v1.0 → v1.1 |
| Major interpretive correction | v1.0 → v2.0 |
| Author-response update | v1.0 → v1.1 or v2.0 |
| Expression of concern | Status label |
| Retraction of critique | Retracted |
| Replacement critique | New major version |
Legal & ethical safeguards
These are design safeguards, not legal advice; the platform’s policies are reviewed by counsel before launch.
- Copyright & source use
- The journal does not reproduce target papers. It publishes separate critique objects that link to target-paper metadata and DOI, quoting sparingly under criticism/review/quotation exceptions and logging the access basis for every paper.
- Defamation & reputational harm
- The journal never publishes unsupported claims about dishonesty, negligence, bad faith, fraud, misconduct, incompetence or intentional deception. It criticises claims, reasoning, design, evidence, inference, novelty and policy implications — not author character or motive.
- Research misconduct
- The platform is not a misconduct tribunal. Where serious reliability concerns arise it states that the critique identifies concerns about the reliability of a paper's central claim; it does not assert misconduct unless an appropriate institution, journal or legal process has established it.
Conflicts of interest
Funders and institutional subscribers have no editorial control. Every editor declares conflicts per target paper and recuses where one exists. Severe criticism must be claim-linked and source-grounded.
The revenue firewall
Public critiques are open and free. The journal will never sell any of the following:
- ✗ Critique removal
- ✗ Severity reduction
- ✗ Paid favourable reassessment
- ✗ Paid author-response placement
- ✗ Paid journal inclusion
- ✗ Publisher reputation management
- ✗ Author-paid certification