View source for Organization:Society for Scientific Exploration

{{Short description|American body to study fringe science}}
{{Infobox organization
| name         = Society for Scientific Exploration
| image        = Society for Scientific Exploration Logo PNG.png
| image_border = 
| size         = 200x100px
| caption      = SSE
| map          = 
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| mcaption     = 
| abbreviation = SSE
| motto        = 
| founded      = {{start date and age|1982|}}
| founder      = [[Biography:Peter A. Sturrock|Peter A. Sturrock]]
| extinction   = 
| type         = [[Medicine:Alternative medicine|Alternative medicine]] and [[Fringe science|fringe science]] publishing group
| status       = active
| purpose      = To provide a critical forum for sharing original research into conventional and unconventional topics
| headquarters = 
| location     = Society for Scientific Exploration<br>12 Candlewood Drive, Petaluma,California
| region_served =
| membership   = 
| language     = 
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| website      = {{Official URL}}
| remarks      =
}}
The '''Society for Scientific Exploration''' ('''SSE''') is a group committed to studying [[Fringe science|fringe science]].<ref name="time">{{Cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1064461,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050525001020/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1064461,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 25, 2005|title=Science on the Fringe|date=2005-05-24|publisher=Time magazine|author=Michael D. Lemonick/Gainesville|access-date=2008-06-02}}</ref> The opinions of the organization in regard to what are the proper limits of scientific exploration are often at odds with those of mainstream science.<ref name=sheaffer /> Critics argue that the SSE is devoted to disreputable ideas far outside the scientific mainstream.<ref name=sheaffer/>

==History==
The society was founded in 1982. Its first meeting took place at the [[Organization:University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland, College Park]] in 1982.<ref name="sse_meeting">{{Cite web| url = http://www.scientificexploration.org/meetings.php | title = Meetings | publisher = Society for Scientific Exploration | access-date = 2008-06-02 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071225142328/http://www.scientificexploration.org/meetings.php <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-12-25}}</ref>

Of the SSE and its journal, it has been said that "Pretty much anything that might have shown up on The X-Files or in the National Enquirer shows up first here. But what also shows up is a surprising attitude of [[Philosophy:Scientific skepticism|skepticism]]."<ref name="time"/>

==Activities==
===Journal===
{{Infobox journal
| title = Journal of Scientific Exploration
| cover = Journal of Scientific Exploration Cover Page PNG.png
| editor = [[Biography:Stephen E. Braude|Stephen E. Braude]]
| discipline = Interdisciplinary
| formernames =
| abbreviation = J. Sci. Explor.
| publisher = Society for Scientific Exploration
| country = United States
| frequency = Quarterly
| history = 1987–present
| openaccess = Yes
| license =
| impact =
| impact-year =
| website = https://www.scientificexploration.org/journal
| link1 = https://www.scientificexploration.org/journal-library
| link1-name = Online access
| link2 =
| link2-name =
| RSS = 
| atom =
| JSTOR =
| OCLC = 976504769
| LCCN =
| CODEN =
| ISSN = 0892-3310
| eISSN = 
}}
The society's [[Scientific journal|scientific journal]], the ''Journal of Scientific Exploration'', was established to provide a scientific forum for [[Unsolved:Ufology|ufology]], [[Unsolved:Parapsychology|parapsychology]], and [[Biology:Cryptozoology|cryptozoology]], publishing research articles, essays, book reviews, and letters on those and many other topics that are largely ignored in mainstream journals.

The journal is peer-reviewed and was abstracted and indexed in [[Scopus]].<ref name=Scopus>{{cite web |url=https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/23650 |title=Source details: Journal of Scientific Exploration |publisher=[[Company:Elsevier|Elsevier]] |work=Scopus Preview |access-date=2023-07-03}}</ref>

The journal is edited by [[Biography:Stephen E. Braude|Stephen E. Braude]].

The Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists says that the journal has reports about anomalies in science, particularly in the parapsychological and extraterrestrial fields.<ref>
{{cite web
 |title=Journals: Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group
 |url=http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/college/specialinterestgroups/spirituality/resources/journals.aspx
 |publisher=Royal College of Psychiatrists
 |access-date=2012-09-03
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.hist.unt.edu/web_resources/anth_journal.htm
 |title=Journals and Other Media at the Department of History of the University of North Texas
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720094530/http://www.hist.unt.edu/web_resources/anth_journal.htm
 |archive-date=2011-07-20
}}</ref> Some academics have noted that the journal publishes on anomalous issues, topics often on the fringe of science.<ref name="cross">
{{cite journal
 |last=Cross |first=A.
 |year=2004
 |title=The Flexibility of Scientific Rhetoric: A Case Study of UFO Researchers
 |journal=[[Social:Qualitative Sociology|Qualitative Sociology]]
 |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=3–34
 |doi=10.1023/B:QUAS.0000015542.28438.41
|s2cid=144197172
 }}</ref>

====Criticism====
[[Biography:Kendrick Frazier|Kendrick Frazier]], editor of ''[[Unsolved:Skeptical Inquirer|Skeptical Inquirer]]'' and [[Organization:Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] fellow, has suggested that:<blockquote>The JSE, while presented as neutral and objective, appears to hold a hidden agenda. They seem to be interested in promoting fringe topics as real mysteries and they tend to ignore most evidence to the contrary. They publish "scholarly" articles promoting the reality of dowsing, neo-[[Unsolved:Astrology|astrology]], [[Unsolved:Extrasensory perception|ESP]], and [[Unsolved:Psychokinesis|psychokinesis]]. Most of the prominent and active members are strong believers in the reality of such phenomena.<ref name="CSICOP">{{cite press release
 |date=6 July 1998
 |title=CSICOP Responds to the Recent UFO Report Sponsored by the Society for Scientific Exploration
 |url=http://www.csicop.org/articles/sse-ufo-report/
 |publisher=[[Organization:Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]]
 |access-date=2012-09-03
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816002615/http://www.csicop.org/articles/sse-ufo-report/
 |archive-date=2000-08-16
}}</ref></blockquote> Seth Kalichman regards the journal as a publisher of pseudoscience, with the journal serving as a "major outlet for UFOology, paranormal activity, extrasensory powers, alien abductions etc".<ref name="Kalichman">{{cite book
 |last=Kalichman |first=S. C.
 |year=2005
 |title=Denying Aids: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, and Human Tragedy
 |page=71
 |publisher=Springer
 |isbn=9780387794754
}}</ref>

[[Philosophy:Philosophy of science|Philosopher of science]] [[Biography:Noretta Koertge|Noretta Koertge]] described the journal as an "attempt to institutionalize pseudoscience".<ref name="PigliucciBoudry2013">{{cite book|author1=Massimo Pigliucci|author2=Maarten Boudry|title=Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pc4OAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA175|date=16 August 2013|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-05182-6|pages=175–}}</ref>

Skeptic [[Biography:Robert Sheaffer|Robert Sheaffer]] writes that the SSE journal has published articles implying that certain topics, like paranormal activities, [[Unsolved:Dowsing|dowsing]] and reincarnation, are true and have been verified scientifically. The articles, often written in impressive jargon by scientists with impressive academic credentials, try to convince other scientists that further research into those topics is warranted; but, Sheaffer argues, those articles failed to convince the mainstream scientific community.<ref name=sheaffer>{{citation |title= Uncritical Publicity for Supposed 'Independent UFO Investigation' Demonstrates Media Gullibility |journal= [[Unsolved:Skeptical Inquirer|Skeptical Inquirer]] |volume= 22 |date= September–October 1998 |author= Robert Sheaffer |issue= 5 |url= http://www.csicop.org/si/show/massive_uncritical_publicity/ }}</ref>

===Annual meeting===
The SSE holds an annual meeting in the US every spring and periodic meetings in Europe. In the US meeting, around a hundred of researchers who came to hear talks on, as journalist Michael Lemonick writes, "among other things, consciousness physics, astrology and parapsychology ... [M]any of the scientists here are on the faculty at major universities, and were doing fine at conventional research. But sometimes that gets boring."<ref name="time" />

According to experimental psychologist [[Biography:Roger D. Nelson|Roger D. Nelson]], head of the [[Philosophy:Global Consciousness Project|Global Consciousness Project]], the SSE aims to "give everyone a respectful hearing. If we think a speaker is doing [[Unsolved:Pseudoscience|bad science]], we consider it our duty to criticize it. We get our share of lunatics, but they don't hang around long."<ref name="time" />

===1998 UFO panel===
On June 19, 1998 it was reported that "an international panel of scientists" was convened to conduct "the first independent review of UFO phenomena since 1966", according to the wording used by Associated Press. The ''Skeptical Inquirer'' published an article by Robert Sheaffer who wrote that the SSE was a non-mainstream organization that was biased towards uncritically believing UFO phenomena, that the panel included many scientists that were UFO advocates but no scientists that were skeptics of UFO claims, and that all the uphold cases were old cases that had failed to convince any skeptic of its accuracy or veracity.<ref name=sheaffer /> These included the Cash-Landrum incident, the [[Unsolved:Trans-en-Provence Case|Trans-en-Provence Case]] and the Aurora, Texas UFO Incident.<ref name=sheaffer />

==Membership==
As of 2005:
* the president was Charles Tolbert, an astronomer at the [[Organization:University of Virginia|University of Virginia]].<ref name="time" />
* the editor of SSE's journal was Henry Bauer, a dean emeritus at Virginia Tech.<ref name="time" />

As of 2008, the Leaders Emeritus<!--(sic)--> were [[Biography:Peter A. Sturrock|Peter A. Sturrock]], from the Department of Physics & Department of Applied Physics of [[Organization:Stanford University|Stanford University]] and Larry Frederick and Charles Tolbert from the Department of Astronomy of University of Virginia.<ref name="sse_council">{{Cite web| url = http://www.scientificexploration.org/council.php | title = Council | publisher = Society for Scientific Exploration | access-date = 2008-06-02 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080113160859/http://www.scientificexploration.org/council.php <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2008-01-13}}</ref>

==Indexing and abstracting==
The Journal of Scientific Exploration is or has been indexed and abstracted in the following [[Bibliographic database|bibliographic database]]s:

*[[Company:EBSCO Information Services|EBSCO Information Services]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Journal Information for "Journal of Scientific Exploration" |url=https://www.ebscohost.com/titleLists/a9h-journals.htm|access-date=Dec 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Journal of Scientific Exploration|url=https://www.ebsco.com/title-lists#search|access-date=Dec 26, 2019}}</ref>
*[[Microsoft Academic]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Journal of Scientific Exploration|url=https://academic.microsoft.com/journal/42616313|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227090506/https://academic.microsoft.com/journal/42616313|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 27, 2019|access-date=Dec 27, 2019}}</ref>
*[[Software:Naver|Naver]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Journal of Scientific Exploration|url=https://academic.naver.com/journal.naver?journal_id=2480897|access-date=Jan 29, 2020}}</ref>
*Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers, only up to 2008.<ref>{{cite web|title=Journal of Scientific Exploration|url=https://kanalregister.hkdir.no/publiseringskanaler/KanalTidsskriftInfo.action?id=436082&bibsys=false|access-date=Dec 27, 2019}}</ref>
*[[Publons]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Journal of Scientific Exploration|url=https://publons.com/journal/12719/journal-of-scientific-exploration|access-date=Dec 27, 2019}}</ref>
*Scimago<ref>{{cite web|title=Journal of Scientific Exploration|url=https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=23650&tip=sid|access-date=Dec 25, 2019}}</ref>
*[[Scopus]], up to 2018 when they discontinued its coverage.<ref>{{cite web|title=Journal of Scientific Exploration|url=https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/23650|access-date=Dec 26, 2019}}</ref>
*[[WorldCat]] (OCLC)<ref>{{cite book|title=Journal of Scientific Exploration|oclc=976504769}}</ref>

The journal is also mentioned in the list of open-access journals maintained by DOAJ.<ref>{{cite web|title=Journal of Scientific Exploration|url=https://doaj.org/toc/0892-3310|access-date=Dec 25, 2019}}</ref>

==References and notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.scientificexploration.org Official website]

[[Category:Fringe science]]
[[Category:Parapsychology]]
[[Category:Organizations (Unsolved)]]
[[Category:Organizations|Unsolved]]

{{Sourceattribution|Society for Scientific Exploration}}