The space of possible journals in philosophy is much bigger than what is actually on offer. Consider the most prestigious journals (an exercise done every few years) and what appears there: Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (not much phenomenology published there), Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Review, Mind (OK. Mind is a cool title), and Noûs.
These are generalist, but not really. It's hard to find, e.g., a paper in Indigenous philosophy in there. I had to look twice when Philosophical Review published a paper in Chinese philosophy recently. Mostly, these journals track recent trends in analytic philosophy.
All too often, a new journal is just a carbon copy of generalist prestigious journals, and I understand the rationale for this (tiny acceptance rates!) But do we need yet more generalist, mostly analytic journals for papers up to 10,000 words that are mainly not response papers and mainly not history of philosophy?
Because of the peculiar ecology of philosophy journals, their relative prestige, and overrepresentation of some areas and underrepresentation of others, we are nudged in certain directions in our explorations of philosophy. Especially early career scholars who need a publication record to get any academic job, or for tenure and promotion purposes, are nudged to publish in prestigious journals. How does this ecology of journals impact how we write?
Continue reading "The journals we don't write in, because they don't exist" »
Recent Comments