Scientific journal snubs academic over Sleeping Beauty metaphor
Professor Ton van Raan told use of phrase for ignored work is culturally insensitive
A prestigious American academic journal has refused to publish an article by a leading professor on the grounds that his use of the fairytale Sleeping Beauty as a metaphor for ignored scientific work was culturally insensitive and in danger of being “sexualised”.
Ton van Raan, a professor emeritus of quantitative science studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands, first likened the belated discovery of an academic work to the story of the Brothers Grimm fairytale some 15 years ago.