Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
Gary King has done a great service to the discipline in raising the question of how we meet appropriate standards for assuring that our published work advances the collective knowledge concerning government and politics that is in our mutual professional interest. He has done so in a truly collegial manner, stating his view, raising concerns, and inviting discussion. The editors of PS are using this publication in precisely the proper way by providing a forum in which this professional debate can be aired.
The original version of this paper was given as the Presidential Remarks at the Annual Meeting of the New England Political Science Association, Portland, Maine, May 6, 1995. I thank those colleagues who commented on my address and suggested that I revise their remarks for this article. I am also grateful to the following with whom I have discussed these views, though none in any way bears responsibility for them: Patrice Franko, Robert McArthur, Linda Fowler, Warren Miller, Tony Corrado, Cal Mackenzie, and Ruth Jones.