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We are writing to clarify, discuss, and address the temporary redaction of a presenter’s name and the removal of their work from our journal blog post.
The presentation in question, “How much is too much: the impact of Big Hit Entertainment’s indirect intellectual property strategy on fans’ consumption behavior,” by Emily Wang and Fatima Ahmad, considers the purchasing patterns of ARMY and their perceptions of merchandise sales through a qualitative study with interview participants. This talk was presented at a conference hosted by the Korean Marketing Association (KMA) in October of 2020 as part of a research track focused on BTS (titled “BTS: A Paradigm Changer in Martech and/or Innovation). We co-sponsored this track with the Asia Marketing Journal. The conference was free and open to the public.
It should be noted that conference presentations are not peer-reviewed and represent work that is in progress. This particular presentation has not been published as a full paper.
The presentations were recorded by KMA, and copies of the recordings were provided to R3. Following the conference, R3 requested permission from each presenter to publicly house their presentations on our website. Following permission granted from the presenters, the presentations were posted on a dedicated blog post, which was separate from our official Issues. In hosting the presenters’ work, R3 does not hold the rights to the recorded presentation. We must, in this instance, abide by the consent of the presenter(s).
When permission for posting of the presentation was withdrawn, we removed the presentation per the presenters’ request. Since permission was rescinded by the presenter, we have been in conversation with the presenters to discuss again when and how to once again make the presentation publicly available.
We acknowledge that this action of removing the names and presentation materials was an action that may have negatively impacted perceptions of our credibility and the research we publish. This practice does not apply to materials we have “published” in issues per our submission guidelines:
Retractions and Expressions of Concern
Our general policy is that we do not retract or “unpublish” material that we have published. We will do so if we have made an editorial or publishing error. For example, if we publish a photo with an article and the photo is mislabeled or should not have been published, we will remove the photo and explain why at the end of the article.
Concerns regarding the arguments or conclusions of a specific submission may be submitted using the Letter to the Editor, as described in Section 3.
Our intent was to honor the wishes of the presenters and the permissions which we were granted. However, we also see that to fully remove such materials can only lead to confusion and frustration. Our goal as a journal is to support rigorous, interdisciplinary examination and exploration of the art, fandom, economic effects, and sociocultural forces of and surrounding BTS (방탄소년단). Removing materials which may help to further these examinations and considerations is in antithesis to our intent.
Rigorous, interdisciplinary conversations and research often call for various means and methods for conducting that research. In some cases, the questions that we ask may call for longitudinal studies that take years to complete. These questions may require that we sit with people, understand their experiences and stories, hear how they respond and engage. In some cases, the questions we ask may call for expansive numbers, across continents, across cultures.
Some research calls for numerical, empirical data while some research calls for conversations, stories, and exchanges. Research, likewise, requires that we allow room for critical thought. A research study may find a result that holds true in some circumstances and is false in other circumstances. A research study may reveal perceptions that may conflict with your own. Research is as multifaceted and diverse and nuanced as the people who conduct it, the people who read it and engage with it, and the people it often represents.
At times, research is shared quite early in the process. This is often done at conferences, where presenters can receive feedback on their initial results in order to inform their continued work. The conventions of sharing early research results varies between disciplines.
We at R3 encourage all kinds of research and we seek to be a support to those that engage in the examination and exploration of BTS’s work and impact. Like BTS, we are also always seeking to develop and improve our own practices. We will be implementing policy changes to 1) make clearer the situations which may call for removal of content and 2) implement a clear and transparent process for the housing and mediation of conference materials. We will be implementing and documenting these policy changes for the sake of both presenters and the community at large.
This policy, once fully drafted, will be shared publicly with the R3 community.
UPDATE: Our policy is not yet ready, but continued confusion between our digital issues and non-peer-reviewed presentations has led us to remove the blog post discussed above. We will discuss and decide with our staff when and where might be appropriate to share these presentations but it will not be on this site in order to avoid giving authority where none is intended.