Open letter to Brill: Fake and unprovenanced manuscripts

For the attention of Brill.

FAKE AND UNPROVENANCED MANUSCRIPTS

On 22 October 2018, the Museum of the Bible issued a press release informing the public that five of their recently acquired fragments that were claimed to come from the Dead Sea Scrolls are modern forgeries. These five forgeries are included in the first volume of the series ‘Publications of Museum of the Bible’ which was published by Brill in 2016.

This volume has received sustained criticism from members of the academic community because it failed to provide information about the acquisition circumstances and collection history of the thirteen fragments it presented. In the introduction, the editor in chief stated only that they were acquired “on behalf of Mister Steven Green in four lots from four private collectors” adding the dates of purchase (November 2009, February 2010, May 2010, October 2014). Questions about the authenticity of all thirteen fragments were raised by many specialists, including one of the co-authors of the volume, and are still waiting to be fully answered.

This is merely the latest in a series of cases in which academics’ concerns about the provenance and authenticity of manuscripts have been ignored, despite the fact that most scholarly associations (e.g. ASOR, SBL, SCS, AIA and ASP) have policies and guidelines on these matters. It is clear that there were sustained serious flaws not only in terms of ethical collecting standards and museum best-practice, as the owners of the fragments have acknowledged, but also in publication good practices. As a group of specialists involved in the study of ancient manuscripts we ask Brill to clarify their position. Why did Brill allow the fragments to be published without proper discussion of their provenance, when one co-author had doubts about their authenticity?

This episode again demonstrates the urgent need for publishers as well as academics to exercise due diligence, through their peer reviewers, in checking that publications of antiquities, including ancient texts, acquired recently on the market give a full and annotated discussion of the acquisition and provenance history. We strongly suggest that Brill and other publishers treat this as seriously as they do copyright, and in their instructions to authors and contracts include a clause requiring the author or authors to be responsible for providing a full and proper explanation of the provenance and legitimacy of such recent acquisitions.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Roberta Mazza (University of Manchester), Roger Bagnall (ISAW, New York University), Dominic Rathbone (King’s College London), Christopher Rollston (George Washington University), Årstein Justnes (University of Agder), Paul Schubert (University of Geneva), Andrea Jördens (University of Heidelberg), Rodney Ast (University of Heidelberg), Amin Benaissa (University of Oxford), Todd Hickey (University of California, Berkeley), Bernhard Palme (University of Vienna), Jennifer Knust (Duke University), Brent Nongbri (Macquarie University), Malcolm Choat (Macquarie University), Caroline Schroeder (University of the Pacific), Philip Alexander (University of Manchester), Luigi Prada (University of Oxford), Jennifer Cromwell (Manchester Metropolitan University), Sofia Torallas Tovar (University of Chicago), Michael Langlois (University of Strasbourg), Nikolaos Gonis (University College London), Graham Claytor (Hunter College, CUNY)

UPDATE 7 NOVEMBER 2018:

1. This open letter has been now endorsed by The Board of Directors of the Society for Classical Studies besides colleagues listed below.
2. This morning Jasmine Lange (Chief Publishing Officer, Brill) sent us the following answer:

In response to your Open Letter, Brill would like to express that we are aware of the ongoing discussion about forged fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, as announced by the Museum of the Bible in its press release on 22 October 2018.

The forged fragments were included in the first volume of the Publications of Museum of the Bible (Brill 2016). The issue of the authenticity of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls was recently addressed by Kipp Davis, one of the editors of this volume, in Brill’s academic journal, Dead Sea Discoveries (‘Nine Dubious ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’, fragments from the Twenty-First Century.’, https://doi.org/10.1163/15685179-12341428).

The role of Brill, as with all other academic publishers, is to facilitate the peer review process in order to ensure that publications meet the required academic criteria. In order to safeguard the originality and quality of our publications, each and every work is subject to peer review. In addition, we receive advice from multiple senior scholars in the appropriate field. As a member of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), we take our responsibility as academic publisher very seriously.

Brill and its editorial boards work in good faith and with integrity to further the advancement of scholarship. Given the highly specialized nature of many of our publications, Brill relies upon the judgment and expert advice of its editorial boards. Provenance has always been and remains a difficult and contentious issue with museum collections around the world, both public and private. We always aim at improving our processes and policies and we welcome you to have a discussion about formulating additional policies related to provenance and associated topics that promote integrity and strengthen the interests of the academic community.

List of signatures to the Open Letter:

1. Tim Whitmarsh (University of Cambridge)
2. Sabine R. Huebner (University of Basel)
3. Jodi Magness (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
4. AnneMarie Luijendijk (Princeton University)
5. Arthur Verhoogt (University of Michigan)
6. Jennifer Sheridan Moss (Wayne State University)
7. Ann Ellis Hanson (Yale University)
8. Dorothy J. Thompson (University of Cambridge)
9. Serafina Cuomo (Durham University)
10. Glenn W. Most (Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa and University of Chicago)
11. Jean-Michel Carrié (EHESS Paris)
12. Marco Fressura (Roma Tre University)
13. Candida Moss (University of Birmingham)
14. Chris Mowatt (University of Sheffield)
15. Peter J. Miller (University of Winnipeg)
16. Antonia Sarri (University of Manchester)
17. Maria Pretzler (Swansea University)
18. Jeffrey Henderson (Boston University)
19. Elton Barker (Open University)
20. Brendan Haug (University of Michigan)
21. Andrea Rodighiero (University of Verona)
22. Usama Gad (Ain Shams University)
23. Livia Capponi (University of Pavia)
24. Arietta Papaconstantinou (University of Reading)
25. James J. O’Donnell (Arizona State University)
26. David J. Thomas (Durham University)
27. James Keenan (Loyola University, Chicago)
28. Andrew Connor   (Monash University)
29. Martina Astrid Rodda (University of Oxford)
30. André Hurst (University of Geneva)
31. Stefanie Schmidt (University of Basel)
32. Silvia Strassi (University of Padua)
33. Marek Dospěl (Independent Scholar)
34. Robert Parker (University of Oxford)
35. Benjamin Overcash (Macquarie University)
36. Thomas A. Wayment (Brigham Young University)
37. Benjamin Fortson (University of Michigan)
38. Malcolm Heath (University of Leeds)
39. Elsa Garcia Novo (Complutense University of Madrid)
40. José Luis Alonso (University of Zurich)
41. Jennifer A. Baird (Birkbeck College, University of London)
42. Paola Davoli (University of Salento, Lecce)
43. Dimitri Nakassis (University of Colorado Boulder)
44. Mike Simpson (University of Manitoba)
45. Melissa Harl Sellew (University of Minnesota)
46. Jim West (Ming Hua Theological College)
47. Deborah Chatr Aryamontri (Montclair State University)
48. Alba de Frutos García (Complutense University of Madrid)
49. Mark de Kreij (University of Oxford and Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen)
50. Myrto Malouta (Ionian University, Corfu)
51. Irene Soto Marín (University of Basel)
52. Jakub Urbanik (University of Warsaw)
53. Franziska Naether (Leipzig University/Stellenbosch University)
54. Paul McKenna (Independent Scholar)
55. Jennifer E. Gates-Foster (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
56. Matt Gibbs (University of Winnipeg)
57. Joseph D. Reed (Brown University)
58. Judith Peller Hallett (University of Maryland)
59. Paul Kelly (University College London)
60. Jonathan Davies (Maynooth University)
61. Jona Lendering (Independent Scholar)
62. Csaba La’da (University of Kent)
63. Monica Tsuneishi (University of Michigan)
64. Katherine Blouin (University of Toronto)
65. Marie Legendre (University of Edinburgh)
66. Alberto Nodar Domínguez (Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona)
67. Annette Yoshiko Reed (New York University)
68. Micaela Langellotti (University of Newcastle)
69. Rebecca Krawiec (Canisius College, Buffalo NY)
70. Thomas Bolin (St. Norbert College)
71. Francesca Gazzano (University of Genova)
72. Christine Luckritz Marquis (Union Presbyterian Seminary)
73. Tim Luckritz Marquis (Moravian Theological Seminary)
74. Samuel J. Huskey (University of Oklahoma)
75. Rick Bonnie (University of Helsinki)
76. Massimo Giuseppetti (Roma Tre University)
77. Tommy Wassermann (Örebro School of Theology)
78. Peter Head (Wycliffe Hall, Oxford)
79. Andrew T. Wilburn (Oberlin College)
80. Iain Gardner (University of Sydney)
81. Rachel Yuen-Collingridge (Macquarie University)
82. Pauline Ripat (University of Winnipeg)
83. Christos Tsirogiannis (University of Aarhus)
84. Cavan Concannon (University of Southern California)
85. Jill Hicks-Keeton(University of Oklahoma)
86. Paola Ceccarelli (University College London)
87. John Prag (University of Manchester)
88. April Pudsey (Manchester Metropolitan University)
89. Gregory Given (Harvard University)
90. Chance Bonar (Harvard University)
91. Monica Park (Vanderbilt University)
92. Federico Morelli (University of Vienna)
93. John Bodel (Brown University)
94. Yvette Hunt (The University of Queensland)
95. John Marincola (Florida State University)
96. Charles E. Hill (Reformed Theological Seminar)
97. Olga Budaragina (St Petersburg State University)
98. Richard Adam (City Lit London)
99. Charles E. Jones (Penn State University).
100. Shani Tzoref (University of Potsdam)
101. Christelle Fischer-Bovet (UCS, Los Angeles)
102. Adrian Kelly (University of Oxford)
103. Renate Dekker (University of Leiden)
104. Joel Baden (Yale University)
105. Sarah E. Bond (University of Iowa)
106. Jutta Jokiranta (University of Helsinki)
107. Matthew Goff (Florida State University)
108. David Langslow (University of Manchester)
109. Elvira Martín-Contreras (CSIC, Spain)
110. Laura Gawlinski (Loyola University Chicago)
111. Luke Drake (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
112. Mario Capasso (University of Salento, Lecce)
113. Natascia Pellé (University of Salento, Lecce)
114. Rachel Mairs (University of Reading)
115. Annalisa Marzano (University of Reading)
116. Ulrike Roth (University of Edinburgh)
117. Daniel Delattre (CNRS-IRHT, Paris)
118. Aleksander Engeskaug (SOAS, London)
119. Yannis Tzifopoulos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
120. Melissa Funke (University of Winnipeg)
121. Daniel L. Schwartz (Texas A&M University)
122. John S. Kloppenborg (University of Toronto)
123. Jorunn Økland (University of Oslo and The Norwegian Institute at Athens)
124. Donald Mastronarde (University of California, Berkeley)
125. John Serrati (University of Ottawa)
126. Anna S. Uhlig (University of California, Davis)
127. Antonio Stramaglia (Università di Bari)
128. John Serrati (University of Ottawa)
129. Giuseppe Ucciardello (University of Messina)
130. Terry G. Wilfong (University of Michigan)
131. Joseph Manning (Yale University)
132. Rafael Moreno González (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)
133. Matthias Stern (University of Basel)
134. Mohamed Gaber Elmaghrabi (Alexandria University)
135. Robert Kraft (University of Pennsylvania)
136. Terry G. Wilfong (University of Michigan)
137. Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra (EPHE, PSL)
138. Georgia Xekalaki (Archaeology & Arts / Egyptian Cultural Center Athens)
139. Jonathan Stökl (King’s College London)
140. Katharina Keim, Lund University & University of Manchester
141. Regine May (University of Leeds)
142. Dan Batovici (University of Leuven)
143. Ada Nifosi (University of Kent)
144. Juan Chapa (University of Navarra)
145. Margriet Haagsma (University of Alberta)
146. Uri Yiftach (Tel Aviv University)
147. Kim Ryholt (University of Copenhagen)
148. Nahum Cohen (Achva Academic College, Israel)
149. C.J. Hinke (Thammasat University, Bangkok)
150. Elena Esposito (Università degli Studi della Basilicata)
151. So Miyagawa (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)