Obscure pursuits

September 6, 2002

More entries have arrived in the search for the most outstandingly obscure academic journal.

Suggestions include the Journal of Memetics , which contains a paper titled "The six essentials? Minimal requirements for the Darwinian bootstrapping of quality". Another is the Beality Journal , which contains articles such as "Bodily rebirth" and "No peanut butter", a contribution that actually argued that man-made carcinogens are no more harmful to the American public than a peanut-butter sandwich. The Bee Venom Therapy Journal was also deemed to be outstandingly obscure.

The search - now in its sixth month - is being conducted by Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research , and The THES 's Steve Farrar. If you think you know which journal is the most obscure, please send the journal name to marca@chem2.harvard.edu or steve.farrar@thes.co.uk.

Meanwhile, the pair is hoping to start a campaign to resurrect the Journal of Fish Sausage , which ceased publishing in 1990 after 23 years. If you can find contact information for the Japanese publisher, they'd be delighted to hear from you.

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