academic
TagNew: Journal of Philosophy of Emotion (Updated)
The Journal of Philosophy of Emotion (JPE), a new online, open-access academic journal, has announced that it is now accepting manuscripts for publication. (more…)
Philosophy: Not Just About Argumentation
We are no longer able to detect the philosophical unless it comes to us in the form of the peer-reviewed academic article, published (preferably in English) in a journal with a stellar ranking and a top-notch editorial board. No wonder philosophy has become so irrelevant today. Why should anyone need philosophers, if philosophy limits itself so radically? (more…)..
Springer Agrees To China’s Demand To Censor Its Journals
Springer Nature, possibly the world’s largest academic publisher, has agreed to demands from the Chinese government to block access in China to more than a thousand articles, according to reports at Financial Times and The New York Times.
Wiley Offers Expedited Publication in “Online Only” Issues of Hard Copy Journals
Wiley, the publisher of many academic philosophy journals, has begun offering authors of accepted manuscripts a choice: wait the usual long while (from several months to sometimes up to a year, or longer) to have your article published in a normal, hard-copy issue of the journal (which will also appear online), or have the article published sooner in an online-only ..
“Easter Eggs” in Academic Philosophy
Secret features or qualities, hidden messages, subtle references, often humorous—what’s come to be known as “Easter Eggs”—appear in various media, from video games, to movies to Apple’s Siri, to even some recent high profile resignation letters. What about in academic philosophy writings? (more…)
Use This Free Automated Recommendation Service, Created by Philosophers
MARGY (Managing Academic Recommendations Gratis Yay) is a free automated academic letter of recommendation service. It had its initial trial run at the start of the year (following earlier beta testing) and is up and running for the Fall 2017 academic job market. (more…)
A Desk Rejection Scorecard (guest post by Antti Kauppinen)
The following is a guest post* by Antti Kauppinen, currently an Academy of Finland Research Fellow at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tampere, and soon to be (as of 2018) Professor of Social and Moral Philosophy at the University of Helsinki. It’s about improving desk rejection: the practice of editors at academic journals rejecting papers without ..
Philosophy Journal Relaunches With New Name
The journal formerly known as Philosophy & Theory in Biology has relaunched with a new name, Philosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology (PTPBio), and has just published its first articles under the new title. (more…)
Should Graduate Students Referee?
Should graduate students be called upon to serve as referees for journals? I was stunned a few years back to learn of the growing use of graduate students to serve as referees—stunned until I remembered the (arguably) over-publishing practice of our profession. But now the practice of enlisting grad-student referees—to my limited and aging eyes—appears to be g..
Women in Philosophy Journals: New Data
There are new findings on the presence of women in academic philosophy journals:
- Though approximately 25% of philosophy faculty in the United States are women, only 14-16% of the articles that appear in the discipline’s top journals are by women.
- Journals which do not use anonymous review seem to have a higher percentage of women authors than journals which ..
The Latest Philosophy Papers
A new website has been launched that lists new philosophy articles as they are published. The site, called The Philosophy Paperboy, is the creation of Andrea Raimondi, graduate student in philosophy at the University of Nottingham, with web design by Lorenzo Cataldi. It’s searchable, and currently tracks over 400 journals. (more…)
New Philosophy Journal Survey Project
The Blog of the APA is launching a new project to collect and share data on the experiences philosophers have had with academic journals, including information about each journal’s “average review time, time to publication, acceptance rates, comments per submission” and related qualities. (more…)
Quitting A Safe Job To Pursue A Career In Philosophy (Ought Experiment)
Welcome back to Ought Experiment, the column by Dear Ida that offers personal advice for your academic life. Today’s letter is from someone considering pursuing a career in academic philosophy. (more…)
New Faculty Salary Data
The 2016-17 edition of the American Association of University Professors’ Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession has been released. It provides a wealth of information about faculty salaries in the United States. (more…)
Should Journals Publicly Grade Submissions?
Jonathan Weisberg, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto and managing editor of Ergo, notes that by the time a paper is published in one journal, it has likely made the rounds at a few others, and hence has been reviewed by several people whose opinions on it are not publicly available. These people have already “thought about strengths and..
Working from Home and (vs?) the Goods of Academic Community
How much time do you spend working in your campus office? Do you do most of your work from home? At a coffee shop? And how are changes in where people work affecting university life? (more…)
Does Referee Gender Make a Difference?
Once again, Jonathan Weisberg (Toronto), one of the managing editors of Ergo, looks at the journal’s data to see what, if anything, can be learned from it. This time, he focuses on what difference the gender of an article’s referee makes. (more…)
How To Get More From Attending Academic Talks
Some philosophy talks are exciting, others are dull. It’s pretty easy to tune out of the dull ones. But once you tune out of a talk, it is difficult to follow the argument when you tune back in,and so you just end up sitting there wasting your time. As Ravi Vakil, a professor of math at Stanford puts it, “Talks are like horses: once you are thrown off, it is hard to..
Poll: Impact of Academic Boycott of the US on Philosophy Conferences
Over 5000 academics have signed on to a statement “pledging not to attend international conferences in the US” so long as the travel ban (which denies entry to the US by people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia) issued by Donald Trump in an executive order on January 27th  is in effect. (more…)
When It’s Reasonable To Think Something’s Awry With Your Submitted Manuscript
When you suspect something has gone awry with the manuscript you submitted to an academic journal, when is it appropriate to contact the journal about it? And what are the clues that something has gone awry?
In response to that second question, here are some possibilities: (a) you have not received any acknowledgment that your manuscript has been received, (b) th..
The Anti-Authoritarian Academic Code of Conduct (updated)
People are wondering how authoritarian the United States government will become under a Trump administration. There’s no way to know for sure. Perhaps the answer is: no more than it already is. Or perhaps Trump, who seems to be some combination of much less knowledgeable of and much less respectful of the limits of executive power than any previous U.S. president (e..
Productive in Publishing (guest post by Jason Brennan)
Jason Brennan received his Ph.D. in philosophy in 2007. Since then, he has authored or co-authored seven books, and has two more books currently in progress. He has also written a good number of peer-reviewed articles, reference entries, and pieces for popular consumption. He’s currently Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Chair and Provost’s Distinguished Assoc..
Faculty on Strike at Public Universities and Colleges in Pennsylvania
Faculty at 14 public institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania are on strike owing to a failure in contract negotiations. According to Inside Higher Ed, the faculty had been working without a contract in place for 477 days. (more…)
Publishing Scam Mimics Legitimate Philosophy Journal
When Chris Kramer, associate professor of philosophy at Rock Valley College in Illinois, learned that a paper of his had been accepted to the International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, he was excited. And then suspicious. (more…)
The Value of Conferences
The case against philosophy conferences is depressingly formidable. I say “depressingly” because I love philosophy conferences. Here are some of the considerations against them: (more…)
Academic Purges In Turkey
The government of Turkey appears to be using the recent attempted coup as an excuse to purge universities of opposition. According to recent reports, the licenses of approximately 21,000 teachers have been revoked, nearly 1,600 deans have been ordered to resign. Additionally, the government has banned academics from travelling abroad. (more…)
Amazon Prime for Academics
Today is Amazon.com’s “Prime Day,” which is just a big sale for it’s Prime members. You can become a member here, and then take advantage of the sale. Anything that’s good for academics at a good discount? (more…)
The Ideal Conference
Let’s figure out what the ideal moderately-sized academic conference with, say, 30 to 40 participants, would be like. There are various factors to consider, including, but probably not limited to: (more…)