Ben Baumberg Geiger
Research into disability, work and benefits
Inspired by this wonderful blog post, and later by the idea of negative CVs, I think it’s important to reveal the inevitable, yet still-painful failures involved in publishing academic papers. (Bearing in mind the critiques of this kind of thing, I should make clear that I’m not saying academic publication is a pure meritocracy that rewards effort — just that it inevitably involves failure!)
In this section I list the rejections that occurred for the papers listed on the main publications page before they were published, and (even more painfully), the papers that never made it... (These are available to anyone that wants them on request). This will doubtlessly seem strange to many people, but let me know if the post inspires you to do the same!
Paper
Suspicious Minds? Interpersonal contact, media frames, and the perceived deservingness of disability welfare benefit claimants (Geiger)
This was rejected after review by American Sociological Review and (after being split into two papers) by European Sociological Review, before being published in Journal of Social Policy.
Paper
Disabled but Not Deserving? The deservingness heuristic and the politics of disability welfare benefits (Geiger)
This was rejected after review by American Journal of Political Science, before being accepted by Journal of European Social Policy
Paper
Has working-age morbidity been declining? Trends in general health, chronic diseases, symptoms and biomarkers in England 1994–2014 (Geiger)
This was desk rejected by both Demography and Social Science & Medicine (for being descriptive rather than theoretical) before being accepted by BMJ Open
Paper
Benefit ‘Myths’? The Accuracy and Inaccuracy of Public Beliefs about the Benefits System (Baumberg)
This was desk rejected by the British Journal of Political Science before being accepted by Social Policy & Administration 2017
Paper
Can alcohol (policies) make you happy? A critique of the consumer surplus approach, and an empirical alternative (Geiger & Mackerron)
Rejected by Addiction (after R&R, ) — for reasons that I really didn’t agree with — before being published by Social Science & Medicine
Paper
Does the alcohol industry have a real economic motive to behave ‘responsibly’? A critical investigation of the motives for Corporate Social Responsibility according to CSR professionals (Baumberg)
Rejected by Social Science & Medicine (after R&R, ), before eventually becoming subsumed in British Journal of Sociology
Paper
Convenient truths: An empirical investigation of moral perceptions of ‘alcohol industry’ employees, and the implications for theories of moral decision-making (Baumberg)
Rejected by Journal of Business Ethics ()
unpublished
Paper
Contradictions in the desire to work past pension age: ‘Third Age work’, flexibility, and the later working agenda (Baumberg)
Rejected by Social Policy & Administration ()
unpublished
Paper
Alcohol in the economy: The costs and benefits of alcohol and the alcohol trade (Baumberg & Anderson)
Rejected by a Special Issue of Addiction ()
unpublished
There are also various funding bids that have been rejected:
Funding
Funding
And various bids that I was a part of but didn't lead on, including:
- (parts of which were funded in the broader ESRC/MRC project led by Sarah Vickerstaff —
- , for an ESRC Centre for Research on Social Security (led by Prof Karen Rowlingson, which was shortlisted but ultimately not funded
- , for a UK Prevention Research Partnership for Welfare, Mental Health and Wellbeing (led by Prof Clare Bambra)
- , for an international project on intellectual humility (led by Prof Nancy Cartwright, to the John Templeton Foundation)
- , for an international comparison of inequalities during/after the COVID-19 pandemic (led by Prof Kjetil van der Wel, rejected by the Norwegian Research Council in two different funding calls)
- , for an ESRC Centre application for the 2nd phase of the Centre for Society and Mental Health (led by Profs Craig Morgan and Hanna Kienzler, rejected in this call but later funded via ESRC Centre Transition funding, jointly funded by King's College London)