The Top 7

At dinner, some weeks ago, among my companions, was a cardinal of the profession. The cardinal lamented the fixation on the top 5. This cardinal, rebelled against it by declining to use the term in letters of reference, promotion and tenure. The cardinal urged a focus on the content of the work rather than the ranking of the outlet. While sympathetic to the sentiment, I think the proposal mistaken in some contexts. Specifically, for promotion and tenure letters, one is writing for `outsiders’. The intended audience is not part of the specialty. The letter serves as a marker of credibility for the outsider. Declining to rate the outlets diminishes the credibility of a supportive letter. I advocate, replacing the offending term by `top 7′. For example, `The candidate has three publications in the top 7 outlets of the profession’. Just as one never needs to say which are the top 5 journals, there is no reason to say what the top 7 are. Those who know, know. Those who don’t, are clearly uninformed