Wiley Declines to Publish Jensen Book

Last Spring, the New York branch of John Wiley & Sons canceled a book on intelligence research, The G Factor, on the eve of publication, labeling as "repellent" the views of its author, Christopher Brand of Edinburgh University, on racial differences in IQ (Science, 3 May, p. 664). Now, Wiley has evidently decided that controversial psychologist Arthur Jensen's 800 page tome on the same topic-the bulk of which it has had under review for the past 10 months-is too hot to handle. In a letter dated 29 July, the publisher wrote to Jensen that "after careful review and discussion, we have concluded that we are not the right publisher from your book…."

Jensen, an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley, is well known for his research on the g or "general intelligence" factor, including it's biological underpinnings. Two of the books 14 chapters discuss race differences in g. But Jensen says his editor at Wiley had been very positive about both the book and prospects for a contract once all the chapters were in. Furthermore, he was told the scientific reviews were excellent. Indeed, one of the reviewers, Wesleyan University psychologist Nat Brody, wrote Wiley last November that the book "meets the highest standards of scholarship" and predicted "this book will be the standard reference on the subject for many years.

But then came the Brand affair. After that, says Jensen, he was warned that at Wiley "they were having a lot of conferences about my book at a level these things usually don't get discussed at."

Wiley spokesperson Susan Spilka denies that political worries affected Wiley's decision. "We in no way has made any commitment" to Jensen, she says. "We look at thousands of books, we reject some and accept some…that's the business of publishing."