The Philosophers' Cocoon

Do publication venues matter for many jobs?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

I have heard that the venue of one's publications doesn't matter for many jobs. Is this true? I guess I have in mind TT (or otherwise permanent) positions that aren't R1 but which still have a research expectation. I am curious about this for both hiring and promotion reasons. Does publishing in, say, generalist journals outside of the top 20 or so look bad to a hiring committee? Could the venue of one's publications every be an issue for tenure or some other form of promotion? Is it better for junior members of the profession to publish anywhere rather than nowhere? Thoughts on any or all of these questions, especially from current faculty involved in these decisions, would be helpful.

Good questions - it would be great to hear from search committee members!

If you've hired before (or are hiring now), what kind of department/institution are you at, and how much (if at all) do publication venues matter to you (or committees you've served on) in hiring?

Submitting another paper to a journal after rejection?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

an editor suggested me to not succesively send papers to one journal and to wait for (at least) a few months before submitting another paper. Is this the norm in most journals? (I am new to the game and trying to make sure that I know the rules which are not indicated in the instructions) Thanks so much.

Some journals have explicit policies about this, but I don't know if beyond this there are any unspoken norms. 

What do readers think?

Job-market discussion thread (2024-25 season)

Now that it's September, I figured now is probably a good time as any to open up this season's job-market discussion board. After all, readers who will be heading out on the market may already have questions you'd like to discuss (about application materials, the application process, etc.). So, please feel free to bookmark and visit this thread throughout the job season to commiserate with others, or just to see what others are talking about!

As many readers of the Cocoon may recall, each job season the Cocoon hosts two different job-market threads:

1. A job-market discussion thread (the present thread): to commiserate about the market, discuss particular job ads, the market in general, questions about application materials, interviewing, alt-ac opportunities, and so on.
2. A job-market reporting thread: to post news about interviews, on-campus visits, offers, rejection notices, etc.

This post will serve as the discussion thread, and as in the past I will open the reporting thread at a later date, around or after most job applications become due.

Because someone always asks, "Why two threads?", there are a couple of reasons. First, some people may want to discuss the market but not stress over daily news regarding which jobs they still do or don't have a chance for. Conversely, others may not want to discuss the market but just want news about the jobs they've applied for. Second, these threads can get very long already, so I think the best way for people to get the information they want in a well-ordered format is simply to have two threads.

A few final notes:

• This thread (the post you are reading right now!) will be the home of this year's job-market discussion thread. So, if you want to discuss this year's job-market, just comment below.
• Please reserve job-market news (i.e. interviews, on-campus visits, hires, etc.) for the job-market reporting thread, which I will open sometime in September.
• A 'permalink' to this thread will be on the upper right of blog's right sidebar for the rest of the job season. -->
• Because of Typepad's functionality limitations (which only permits 100 comments before starting a new comment page), readers may elect to bookmark each new page of comments as each new page emerges. I recognize that it can be frustrating to scroll through page after page to get to new comments, and I think this is probably the best solution given Typepad's functionality limitations.

Finally, as always, readers are asked to please bear in mind the Cocoon's supportive mission. I try not to moderate with too heavy of a hand, as I don't like to squelch reasonable discussion and debate. I also realize that the job-market can be an emotional roller-coaster, and that passions can run deep on job-market issues. But the Cocoon has always been intended to be an unique oasis of sorts: as a refuge for early-career philosophers to support each other and discuss issues related to their careers and the profession in productive, supportive way. So, I will moderate carefully to ensure that these threads remain a welcome environment for everyone--and, of course, if anyone has any concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know.

All that being said, discuss away!

How to Cold-Contact People to Learn about Getting Out of Academia (By Greg Stoutenburg)

By Greg Stoutenburg (@LinkedIn, PhilPeople)

A few years ago, I wrote a piece for this blog about my own transition out of academic philosophy and into a role in industry, in which I tried to provide a high-level overview of how to make the same transition. You can see it here: How to leave philosophy (Guest post by Greg Stoutenburg) - The Philosophers' Cocoon (typepad.com)

Having just read through it again, I’m struck by just how much is squeezed into those ~3,000 words. So, I wanted to write a follow-up about one part that surfaced in the comments for seeming particularly impractical or anxiety-provoking: cold-contacting people for the purpose of learning from them.

I’m going to now ignore everything else involved in a career transition from academia and focus just on this one thing.

What is a cold contact?

A cold contact is someone you’re contacting and have no prior relationship of any kind.

Why are we talking about cold-contacting people?

Because a conversation with someone in a job you may be interested in is a fast way to gain knowledge of that career path. At the end of that conversation, you may be much more enthusiastic about that path or have been successfully persuaded that you are not interested in that path. (For me, it was usually the latter.) Either way, you’ll have acquired that knowledge in about 15 minutes, which is much better than if you just tried Googling it.

Why do I need to cold-contact people?

Because you are an academic philosopher and you only know other academic philosophers, and you already know you don’t want to be on this path. So unless you have a source of contacts that someone can introduce you to – and that would be a ‘warm’ contact – this will be an important way for you to talk with people to gain the knowledge you're after.

Can a political scientist specializing in political theory obtain a job in political philosophy?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

Could someone with a PhD in political theory from a European political science department be competitive for positions in philosophy departments? Consider a candidate who has a few publications in top-10 specialist journals in moral/political philosophy but hasn't published in other areas of philosophy.

Interesting question, and I have no idea beyond the fact that some hiring departments may specify in their job ads that successful candidates should have a PhD in Philosophy.

Do any readers have any helpful insights?

Pulling out of an unhappy fellowship?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

I am beginning my second year in a clinical ethics fellowship. I am very unhappy with the program as I think I am not getting what I was promised. Moreover, I do not think that I really fit in with others in the department; something I have not yet experienced throughout my education, so it is quite jarring. During my first year, I gave several talks and published two articles and two commentaries. How bad would it look if I dropped out and went on the philosophy or medical ethics or health humanities markets this fall? Should I just stick it out for another 10 months? I don't know what to do. I have fairly substantial savings, so if I got some random job working at a grocery store or whatever, I wouldn't be too worried about money. Please help

Yikes, I'm sorry to hear this, but I guess I'm a bit uncertain what to advise. If you're deeply unhappy in a job or fellowship, then I think you have no obligation to continue on--but then again, assuming the fellowship is in the Northern Hemisphere, it seems to me pretty late to pull out of it at such a late date.

What do readers think?

Relocating to the US with family?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

I would love to hear about the experiences of philosophers from outside the US who moved to the US with a family.

Those who relocated with a family, did your family move to the US with you? Do they also work in the US, or have you found that you can be the "sole breadwinner" in a TT job? If your spouse does work, how have they adjusted to the US employment "benefits"? (The poor parental leave and vacation allowance in the US sounds like a worry for spouses in non-academic positions - especially if they're used to more generous allowances in their home country). And how does your spouse manage continuous employment alongside Employment Authorization Documents that need to be renewed every year?

Excellent questions, and I suspect there may be many readers with experience in these matters.

Does anyone have any helpful tips to share?

Avoiding early morning classes (and asking on the job market)

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

For those of you with jobs - how easy is it to get out of teaching classes early in the morning (8-9am)? I am a PhD student who has had to teach at 8am and I didn't enjoy it (I'm a night owl and think it's just genetic). I would genuinely want to know more about the flexibility of the teaching schedule before accepting a job somewhere - would asking questions like that be frowned upon or hurt my candidacy? Does this vary a lot from school to school?

I suspect this is highly situation-specific. In my department, it's pretty easy to avoid early-morning classes due to the university's scheduling rules and guidelines. But I've been in other departments where many faculty were regularly expected to teach first thing in morning. But maybe my information is out of date, so it'd be good to hear from others. As for the job-market, I'm not sure what to advise, but I guess I'm inclined to say that it would be safer to wait to ask questions like these until after an offer is made, as I suppose it could backfire on a candidate to ask earlier. Then again, candidates are "interviewing departments" no less than the converse, so if this is important to a candidate (or a deal-breaker), then by all means ask.

But these are just a few of my quick reactions. What are yours?

What role do dissertations play in hiring?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

How important is the dissertation for jobs? Do people on hiring committees even read them or should I focus my writing sample and getting published?

I highly doubt that many people on hiring committees have the time to read entire dissertations. I expect they'll take your writing sample as indicative of the kind of work you likely did in it, as well as recommendation letters. But, of course, to get good recommendation letters, you may need to write a good dissertation! Also, my sense is that for most jobs (though not all), publications are super important, as most of your competitors will have some.

What do other readers think? It would be great to hear from some search committee members!

How do open-rank searches go?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

There have been discussions on both TT search and senior search but I do not see much about the "open rank" search. I am curious about how an "open rank" search goes. For example, when a position is advertised as "open rank", does the hiring department really mean it, or is there still some preference for a TT position? What is the context for this kind of search? Does the committee review materials separately (TT vs. Tenured) or altogether? Thank you!

Great questions. Do any readers with inside experience have any helpful insights to share?

Turning term-papers into publishable work?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

Does anyone have any insight on their experiences moving from term papers to publishable work? I'm having trouble determining what good philosophical writing looks like and how/what I can do to improve the writing (and ideas).

Excellent question! Early in my career when I was having trouble publishing, I read an article by a fellow grad student in AJP and saw just how differently their paper was written from the way that term-papers were written: namely, much more authoritatively, and without as much background exposition as a term-paper. That would be my biggest tip: read published articles, and try to see how they differ in presentation style from how you write term-papers. It made all the difference for me!

What do readers think?

Responding to a reviewer error after rejection?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

Is it possible, or generally considered acceptable, to reply to a referee's comments if (i) the referee recommended rejection, (ii) the referee's recommendation was based on an obvious misinterpretation or factual error, and (iii) the journal acted on the referee's recommendation?

Background: I submitted a manuscript responding to author A, and a referee claimed that I had attributed a view to A that A does not hold. But A does hold the relevant view, and my statement of A's view is provably equivalent to A's. (Indeed, my statement of A's view is barely even paraphrased.) It was clear to me that the referee had not read the relevant passages of A's work before writing their report, even though I identified these passages for them in a footnote. I am concerned that the same referee will be invited by other journals to review my manuscript and will once again recommend rejection if they are not made aware of this error.

Good question. I seem to recall hearing of one example of someone who raised an objection like this to an editor and was able to get the editor to reconsider the rejection and send out the paper to another reviewer. But, I'm not sure whether it's generally advisable to do something like this, and I've never tried to do it myself.

What do readers think? Do any readers with relevant experience, either as authors or as editors, have any helpful insights to share?

The Philosophy Podcast Hub

Jason Chen (Ohio State) has a cool new substack, The Philosophy Podcast Hub, which lists active podcasts in philosophy. New episodes will be posted every week!

Tips for international relocations with a partner?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

Does anybody have advice on potential international relocations with a partner? I'm planning to apply for a phd program in North America and after that get back to my country (China). The problem is that my partner has a good job now and she prefers not to move. So I'd like to hear some advice on how realistic it is to get a temporal living in another country like the US, or advice on the predictable troubles on the horizon that we should really not get ourselves into.

Great question! Do any readers with experience have any helpful tips or other advice?

Grappling with cross-disciplinary journals not understanding philosophical style?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

How do you handle editors and reviewers from cross-disciplinary journals not understanding philosophical style and research (and rejecting a paper because it's more of an "opinion piece" rather than what their discipline deems "research" or because they consider the use of first-person pronouns "informal")? This is a pattern I've noticed especially among reviewers with a computer science background, but I'm sure it's not limited to them.

I've never run into this problem, but I guess my hot-take is that I'd simply try to learn and adhere to their conventions as much as is feasible. But if reviewers at a journal aren't willing to consider philosophical arguments (deeming them "opinion pieces"), then maybe the journal just isn't a good fit for the piece.

Do other readers, perhaps ones with more experience on this, have any helpful tips to share?