How can we help you? (December 2021)

I'm taking the next few days off for some much-needed rest during the Thanksgiving holiday. In the meantime, now that it's been a couple of months since our last "how can we help you?" thread, it's time for a new one!

For those of you unfamiliar with this series, this is a chance for you to post openly or anonymously in the comments section below on anything you could use help with related to the profession. After you post your query in the comments section, I will then post new threads for readers to discuss your query.

As usual, feel free to ask questions on anything (within the Cocoon's mission) that you could use help with, including but not limited to:

• Life and work in the COVID-19 era
• The job-market (applying for jobs, etc.)
• Issues in the profession (including issues of social justice)
• Graduate school
• Publishing
• Teaching
• Work-life balance
• Personal struggles
• Etc.

Fire away - we're here to help! 

Important reminder: if you submit a comment in this thread responding to someone's query, I won't post it, as this makes it difficult for me to keep track of everything in the comments section, particularly which queries I've started new threads on and which ones I have not. However, if you do post a follow-up comment, chances are good that I will post it in the new thread I start on the relevant query. So, do feel free to submit responses. Just know that they won't appear in this particular thread and might instead appear later in a new post!

Comments

[S]

How can I get papers to referee? Where to start? I am a junior researcher with a few publications, but not from EU or USA, and without much of a network. Any advices?

And of course lots of thanks to those running the blog.

[D]

I recently got a paper accepted for publication, and the editor sent my manuscript to the typesetting office. Since then, I noticed a few typos and minor mistakes that I had somehow missed until now (and so did my reviewers). Since I still have not received the proofs, do you think it is all right to contact the editor and let them know I would like to fix these mistakes? Or is it already too late for that?

[Early career]

How different does a paper have to be from its earlier incarnaton for it to be acceptable to submit it to a journal that rejected the earlier incarnation?

More concretely: I have been re-writing a paper that was rejected from a generalist journal but with encouraging comments from two referees and the area editor. The new version has a very similar fundamental point as the old version. But the main claim is formulated differently, the argument is a bit different, the paper is shorter, with a different structure and the writing itself is all completely new, no copy-pasta. Will the journal(s) that rejected its predecessor consider my new version? Might they even send it to the same referees?
Also, is the answer affected by whether or not I change the title?

[anon]

I have a question that might have an obvious answer.

I applied for a job in September, like two months ahead of the deadline.

I realized after the deadline that I forgot to include a CV.

I inquired to the search chair and was told they searched for contact information to contact me so I could supply the CV but they couldn't find my contact info in my dossier, so my file was never considered because of my lack of a CV.

Now, I get that its my responsibility to double check my app for completeness.

But I also a bit surprised at the explanation--they couldn't find a way to contact me?
My email is probably available in 30 seconds through a google search.

Anyways, I get that is not the responsibility of a search committee with so many applicants but this struck me as kind of an odd explanation.

Thoughts on whether a search committee has any kind of obligation to try and inform applicants of incompleteness in their app and does that fall entirely on the applicant?

[JobSeeker2021]

Sometimes the deadlines that are listed on PhilJobs do not correspond to the deadlines in the job ad. For instance, the Moravian Philosophy of Science job ad is now expired, even though the deadline says December 15 on PhilJobs. This is not the first time that I have noticed that the deadline listed on PhilJobs is not the actual deadline listed in the ad. I think this is something that job seekers should be aware of.

[Is it appropriate to review your critics?]

I was recently asked to review a paper that engages with some of my work. Since the journal asking for the review made the manuscript available to me, I was able to look it over before agreeing. I quickly discovered that the paper is very critical of one of my papers, and that it also includes a number of serious mischaracterizations and misunderstandings of my arguments (which I found very irritating). On the one hand, I feel the urge to accept the review request so that I can correct these mischaracterizations. On the other, I know that I am not a neutral party in this matter, and so I am also somewhat inclined to decline the review on account of my obvious bias. What do other people do when they encounter this kind of situation? Is it better to decline on account of my bias, or to accept on the grounds that I am an authority when it comes to what I say in my own papers?

[Sam]

I wondered if anyone had any advice or strategies regarding when and how to ask senior members of the profession for letters of recommendation. There are a few such people whom I know well and who I know think very well of me as a philosopher but haven't read much, or any, of my work. I feel bad asking them for recommendations since it seems like I presume that to write a good letter they would have to get to know my written work, and so it seems like a much bigger ask than simply writing a letter (which is already not a significant ask!). I would also hugely appreciate any general strategies for approaching people. In general I am not such a confident person, and in particular I am really concerned that those I ask would think that I had an ulterior motive in building relationships.

[Grad student]

1. How do job committees view being an editoral assistant of a journal?
For example, suppose that as a grad student you could serve as the editorial assistant for a top 20 journal, or perhaps an Oxford Studies in XYZ. But if you do so, you'll lose out some teaching experience. How will job committees view this?

2. How do job committees view being being a guest editor of a special issue?

[sisyphus]

How are magazines like "Philosophy Now" viewed in the profession? Or others, like Aeon, Nautilus or The Conversation? Is there a ranking of prestige among these kinds of venues in philosophy? Ones that are good to publish in, or ones to avoid?

On occasion I peruse such magazines, however I mostly ask because I see people sometimes list articles they've published in these kinds of magazines as "publications" on their CVs. That strikes me as odd, and something one ought not do, (right??) - at least without making it very clear the publications are pop-pieces that aren't peer-reviewed.

Point being, I'm on the job market now and I'm curious how much these kinds of publications are worth on a CV, and how they should be listed.

[I Just Want a Job]

I'm wondering if anyone has ideas and advice about applying for jobs outside of the US. First, might an American PhD be an advantage for a candidate applying to, let's say, Eastern Europe? Second, should I be competent in what is happening in that country philosophically, or is it enough if I just specialize in my area? Third, how is the academic job market in other places in the world? Is it more difficult or easier to find a job elsewhere?

[UK Grad]

I sometimes see 'calls for nominations' for certain prizes, e.g. the APA Article Prize. I have no idea what the norms are for these. Is it acceptable to suggest to someone that they nominate you for the prize? If so, would you only ask someone like your supervisor who knows you well and has a stake in your success, or could you also ask someone you don't know that well but who might appreciate your work? Or, is the idea really that a nominator just nominates someone whose work they appreciate, without any prior discussion?

[Assistant Professor]

@sisyphus - I would be curious to hear what others think about the prestige of public-facing venues (some are quite hard to get published in or are invite-only) but when publishing in them it would be appropriate to have them listed on a CV under a different heading from peer reviewed publication.

Non-exhaustive publication categories one might include in a CV, depending on which are applicable to you, could be: Books, Peer Reviewed Articles, Invited Articles, Book Reviews, Commentaries or Replies, Media Essays, Etc.

[J]

Hello, I have a question concerning letters of recommendation when applying to PhD programs in philosophy. I have four people total writing letters three of which are philosophers that I have studied under and worked with. The fourth person is a professor/advisor I have taken classes from. While this fourth person does have a background in philosophy, they do not teach or study philosophy for their academic work.

During the application process can it impact your application negatively overall if there is at least one letter of recommendation that isn't coming from a philosopher? Currently, they have already written the letter and I would hate to not use it after they have taken the time to write it for me.

[Finch]

I wondered if anyone in the discipline might be willing to share tips on designing powerpoint presentations. Or maybe even some templates or ideas for color or font schemes. I have always been aesthetically-challenged and while I understand the very basics—like don't fill the slide with a wall of text—I have always felt at a disadvantage here. Perhaps there are even some disciplinary norms specific to philosophy which I am missing. I would really benefit from any and all tips!

[job candidate]

I've attended two first-round interviews so far, and both said the final round will be physical flyouts. I understand that this is the pre-pandemic norm in the US. I will do my best to fly into the US if I happen to get into the final round. Just would have preferred to have all things done online, to make things easier for me, less costly for everyone, and avoid unnecessary risks.

[also job candidate]

I agree with @job candidate. I live in a country where getting in and out during the pandemic involves a lot of bureaucratic hoops. And there's the always looming worry that borders will be shut while I'm on a flyout. This is a pretty big risk to take, in addition to health risks and costs of flying.

[Now an outsider]

I have a question about book publishing. I am two and a half years post-PhD and have transitioned to non-academic full-time work after poor luck on the job market. I still find myself wanting to continue publishing work in academic philosophy, beyond journal articles. Would any decent book publisher (e.g. Routledge, Palgrave, Wiley, university presses) take seriously a proposal for a scholarly monograph from someone now entirely outside academia, assuming a completed manuscript was submitted?

[The One Conference Too Many Problem]

Lately, I've been wondering about conferences, and to the extent to which it's acceptable to give the same talk at multiple conferences. Obviously, I know that most people present their work at multiple venues, but is there an upper limit to this? I suspect people might look oddly at a CV that had twenty presentations of the same idea.

I haven't reached anything close to that point yet, but I'm an early-career scholar who teaches a 4/4. As such, I haven't gotten a ton of new writing done since March 2020. But I have continued presenting old work, in part to keep my CV up to date and in part because I like attending conferences. In my case, this work remains unpublished, and each time I presented it was to a very audience. However, I wondering if there are some ideas I should 'retire' at this point because they have had their moment to shine.

[Current PhD Student]

On this blog, I have seen many questions like "Would X help my prospects on the job market," and often that answer is "No, X won't really make a difference." My question is: what actually, substantially, really, definitely makes a difference? What should grad students actually spend their time on?

Here are the things I think really, actually matter the most (please tell me if I am wrong!): prestige of the PhD-granting institution, publications in top journals, being a great fit for the job AOS/AOC wise, (at least for a lot of jobs) having some solid teaching experience. There are also so many random things at play that can play a major role, like how your personality meshes with the people on the committee, who knows who, who they just hired last year, etc.

It seems like most other things just don't make a big difference, at least enough where it's worth doing action X JUST because you think X will help you on the job market (versus, say, doing public philosophy stuff because you are passionate about it).

So, it seems like there is not too much that's actually both helpful to my prospects AND within my control (publish in top journals, meet a lot of people and seem cool/smart/professional to them, finish the program while keeping my sanity), and I should just focus on those things without worrying much about the rest. Does this sound right?

[interviewee]

Now that readers are doing interviews, I was wondering if we could field thoughts on how well, in your experience, your sense of how the interview went correlates to success in getting job talks (or from job talk to offer). Have readers ever gotten offers from truly terrible interviews? Or not gotten offers from interviews that seemed guaranteed to go through? Can you get a sense of how interested the committee is in your application based on how they act in the interview setting? Curious for your thoughts!

[Grad student]

There's the best generalist journals, and best moral/political journals on Leiter's website. But how about other fields? How do we figure out which are the best journals in our fields and how they are ranked?

[Competing for Scraps of Scraps]

Simple question: how is a R1 job different from being a graduate student? (Wrong answers only.)

What I mean is, grad school can lead to burnout, especially if one is caught up in trying to publish and do everything possible to get a job. From what I hear, things are only more hectic and stressful if one succeeds in getting a job (with committees, teaching more, and trying to get tenure). If this is the case, then would many borderline burned out grad students be best off thinking about alt-ac careers? (Asking for a friend.)

I get that, perhaps once one gets tenure, then one's academic life might become less stressful. And maybe, if one's initial job is right, then there might not be as much stress w/r/t becoming tenured. As someone who's relatively new on the job market, though, it does seem like there is a decent chance that, if I get a job, the relative stress will only increase. This concerns me.

A more positive spin on my question might be: what is the most hopeful thing you might tell a grad student who faces a precarious job market and an increased set of responsibilities even in the best case scenario in which she lands a R1 job? In what ways will the job that she's hoped for be truly worthwhile?

[Amaya]

In addition to the really helpful 'Zoom teaching demos' thread, I'd really benefit from one on Zoom job talks, or even job talks in general if there isn't a thread on that already! :)