The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of "Writer's Block"

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"The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of 'Writer's Block'" is a humorous

academic article by psychologist Dennis Upper about writer's block
. It contains no content except for a title, journal formatting elements, and a humorous footnote.

Published in 1974 in a peer reviewed journal,

behavioral psychologists.[3] It has been cited more than 100 times.[4]

The article received a humorous positive review which was published alongside the article.[1]

I have studied this manuscript very carefully with lemon juice and X-rays and have not detected a single flaw in either design or writing style. I suggest it be published without revision. Clearly, it is the most concise manuscript I have ever seen – yet it contains sufficient detail to allow other investigators to replicate Dr. Upper's failure. In comparison with the other manuscripts I get from you containing all that complicated detail, this one was a pleasure to examine. Surely we can find a place for this paper in the Journal – perhaps on the edge of a blank page.

The article has led to at least five similarly humorous and peer-reviewed, published replication studies,[5][6][7][8][9] and several similar papers[10][11][12][13] and scholarly articles.[14]

More seriously, the paper is said to be a case reinforcing the image of a writer's block as a "blank page",[15] and encouraging brevity in writing.[16] It has been also used as an example that humor can indeed be found in academic publishing.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b "The Shortest Science Paper Ever Published Had No Words, and Was Utterly Brilliant". RealClearScience. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  2. ^ "Humor in Science (Episode 1: Writer's Block)". arno simons. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  3. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4301_20
    .
  4. ^ "Google Scholar". scholar.google.com.
  5. S2CID 144342829
    .
  6. PMC 2078566
    .
  7. S2CID 147400784
    .
  8. PMID 27873416
    .
  9. S2CID 244567338
    .
  10. S2CID 20344712
    .
  11. S2CID 145153409
    .
  12. S2CID 147453593
    .
  13. S2CID 144430449
    .
  14. ^ Jensen, Erik M. (February 11, 2000). "The Shortest Article in Law Review History". Journal of Legal Education. 50: 156.
  15. ISBN 978-0549303558
    .
  16. ISBN 978-3319054704
    .
  17. ISBN 978-0943158198
    .

External links

Scholia has a work profile for The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of "Writer's Block".
  • Upper, Dennis (Fall 1974), "The unsuccessful self-treatment of a case of 'writer's block'", Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 7 (3): 497,
    PMID 16795475
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