The copycat paradigm: Italian “Class-A” journals and the paradoxes of excellence

This article describes how the copycat implementation of foreign protocols of assessment is transforming the production of knowledge within the Italian social sciences. Focusing on the gatekeeping process whereby the national agency for the evaluation of university research (ANVUR) publishes yearly lists of “Class-A” journals, my analysis draws on interviews, first-hand observations, my own experience as a returning migrant-scholar, as well as comparisons with historical Italian journals. My aim is twofold: on the one hand, I reflect on the parallel misrecognition of scale and context underlying neoliberal capitalism; on the other hand, I describe the paradoxes of excellence and the forms of reflexive alienation engendered by the contemporary knowledge economy.