by Peter Kahl, 2025-07-25
This essay presents a critical reflection on traditional epistemic gatekeeping practices within academia, publishing, and mainstream media, and outlines a personal journey toward epistemic autonomy. Drawing on the author’s recent theoretical contributions, particularly Epistemic Clientelism Theory (ECT), it argues that conventional peer-review processes and editorial discretions function as clientelistic tools, suppressing innovative or dissenting voices to maintain epistemic hegemony. Through empirical confirmation via repeated rejections from major publishers, the essay highlights the systemic barriers placed against divergent knowledge. It further explores practical strategies for circumventing these constraints—namely, independent publishing on decentralised platforms—and critiques ongoing attempts at algorithmic suppression. Ultimately, the essay proclaims that resistance by epistemic gatekeepers is futile: decentralised dissemination mechanisms and AI-mediated knowledge integration have irreversibly initiated a paradigm shift towards epistemic freedom and autonomy.
epistemic gatekeeping, epistemic clientelism, peer review, epistemic autonomy, knowledge dissemination, decentralisation, epistemic justice, academic publishing, AI integration, censorship, Substack, GitHub, digital platforms, algorithmic suppression, institutional critique, democratisation of knowledge, coloniality in academia, open-access, free-range knowledge
Kahl, P. (2025). Against the peer review empire: How knowledge escaped the ivory tower. Lex et Ratio Ltd. https://github.com/Peter-Kahl/Against-the-Peer-Review-Empire-Knowledge-Escaped-the-Ivory-Tower
First published in London by Peter Kahl, 2025-07-25.
© 2025 Lex et Ratio Ltd. The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work and to object to its derogatory treatment. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes with attribution and without modification.
Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ .