Are rejection rates particularly high in philosophy?

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

Are the rates of rejection - of articles from journals, of grant applications from funding bodies, of job applications from universities - particularly high in Philosophy? Is there some data about the average number of rejected papers per published papers from other disciplines? (Or a similar statistic about grant/job applications?)

Knowing this won't change anything on ground, but the (potential) solidarity with others would help feel a bit less disadvantaged (if I actually am).

Good questions. A while back,  Eric Schliesser (Amsterdam) presented some data at Daily Nous that rejection rates at philosophy journals tend to be far higher than in other fields, and when I've shared journal rejection rates in philosophy with some people in other fields, they have been shocked at how high our journals' rejection rates are.

If the OP is looking for a little grounds for solidarity on getting lots of rejections, they may find this post by Jason Stanley of interest, as well the following recent post by Neil Levy (Oxford University) on Twitter/'X':

Phil Studies accepted the very 1st paper I sent them. They rejected the subsequent SEVENTEEN attempts. Anyway, don't be discouraged by rejection, but definitely don't tell anyone you're on a 17 rejection streak until it ends.

I'm not so sure about rejection rates for grant applications and job applications, though. I do know anecdotally that the academic job market is significantly better in some other fields (until last year, my spouse was an academic in a rapidly growing, specialized STEM field flush with job openings and not all that many applicants), but I suspect things vary a lot here depending on field. 

Do any readers have any better info on the OP's questions (on rejection rates from journals, grants, and job apps)?

Comments

[academic migrant]

I was told by the dean that philosophy received the highest number of job applications in the history of my current university. So maybe.

If this is a general phenomenon, combined with having no industry, the rationality of doing a phd in philosophy for a job is debatable.

[Neil Levy]

My impression - as someone whose job is dependent on grants - is that rejection rates in philosophy for grants are similar to those in other areas, but there are fewer granting bodies for philosophy.

Rejection rates are higher in philosophy with regard to journal submissions. This is partly explained by the fact that in other disciplines, presubmission inquiries are very common. That's only a partial explanation but it's important when you're comparing the most selective journals. People rarely submit to Nature without initial encouragement. Again, though, the venues are very many more. I am regularly an author on a psych paper, and I'm always confident it will be accepted somewhere decent. I never have that confidence about philosophy papers.