Volume 1 Number 2                                                     November 15, 2005

 

The Source of Lake Wobegon

Richard P Phelps

EDITOR'S NOTE

This article was submitted for possible publication in mid-2005. Bruce Thompson managed the review process, enlisting four reviewers including himself (click here to read that review). Based on revisions suggested by the reviewers, it was accepted for publication in November 2005. Phelps suggested that more reviewers be used than the usual two:

I'm hoping that you can send it to more than two reviewers.  This article is far too important to risk having it killed by just one flippant smart ass.

As noted below, that article has been removed from this site. It is still available on Phelps' web site. The pdf version on that site seems identical to the final version of the original article submitted by Phelps and accepted by Thompson, with two exceptions. As received for publication, a footnote on the front page stated:

1 The author acknowledges the generous assistance and advice of four anonymous, expert reviewers, plus the advice of the TEG Review editor, Bruce R. Thompson, and that of the author of the Lake Wobegon reports, John J. Cannell. Of course, none of these several individuals is in any way responsible for any errors in this article.

At the time, Phelps commented, "I think it is very important that the acknoledgements[sic] be included in the article; without them, many will jump to the conclusion that I simply published my own paper. " The version on Phelps' site contains wording that is identical to the above except for the elimination of the reference to Thompson.

The version as submitted by Phelps also had the following copyright notice, "© Third Education Group, Inc.", which has been eliminated on the Phelps site.

This article has recently been removed from this site both because of the demands of the author's lawyers and because the editor can no longer vouch for its veracity given its author's propensity to rewrite history.