What counts as a good generalist journal?

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

What counts as a "good" generalist journal? I am an MA student and have recently had a R&R from a well-known although not Top journal (the lower end of the Leiter Top 20) after being encouraged to submit by a professor. This is my first publication, and this was the first venue I submitted the paper to. After having read some posts (on here and elsewhere) about the importance of publications in top journals, I am now concerned that simply being in the top 20 does not mean that this venue is well-regarded enough, and a publication there may be looked on poorly during PhD applications. Am I overthinking, or should I really be aiming only for top 10ish journals?

Beauty, meet Eye of the Beholder. Seriously, I don't think there's any objective answer to this question. I've met some people who only seem to see top-5 or top-10 journals as good, others who only see some top-10 journals to be good, others who see all top-20 to be good, etc. I think a lot depends on context. If you're trying to get a job at NYU or Princeton, then yeah, you probably need to be publishing in top-10/top-5 places. But if you're like most of us who aren't at places like that, top-20 is probably sufficient for being considered "good."

But this is just my off-the-cuff reaction. What do readers think?

Comments

[You're overthinking]

You are overthinking it. Getting an R&R from any journal (especially a top 20 journal!) as an MA student is very impressive and will look very good on PhD applications.

If you were tenure track somewhere, the advice might be different, but for your career stage, that's an impressive achievement and you should do what you can to turn it into an acceptance.

[admissions person]

No PhD program is going to look down on an MA student for publishing in a top 20 generalist journal, or dismiss them for that reason. But also, no PhD program is going to just admit or reject anyone based on publications. What matters is how good your writing sample (and the rest of your file, but mostly your writing sample, especially with an MA) is. And I suspect almost every program will be at least somewhat impressed that you have published in a good journal (they should be), but also, again, they won't take that as much information either way without assessing your file for themselves carefully.

[UK Grad Student]

Congrats. An R&R at a top-20 journal during your MA is a fantastic achievement.

There's a difference between which publications will *help* your applications and which publications won't *harm* your applications. There's also a difference between applications for grad school and for jobs.

My intuition, coupled with what I've heard from senior philosophers, is this. A lower top-20 publication will:

-*Help* your applications to pretty much all graduate programs.
-Not *harm* your applications to any job.
-*Help* your applications to every TT job at philosophy departments outside of, say, the top-30 worldwide.
-*Help* your applications to TT jobs in the top-30 philosophy departments worldwide only if accompanied by a publication in a top-5 / top-10 journal.

Disclaimer: I'm a graduate student who has never served on a search or admissions committee.

[Yay!]

Congrats! That’s a great achievement. I would recommend you seek out help from your supervisor when revising the paper. Take your time with it. You don’t want to overlook anything or make a hasty revision that might jeopardize its acceptance.

A top 20 journal is great, especially at your stage. Don’t fixate on the top 5 journals. It’s good to get some pubs in those later on in the game to show that you can. But aside from rare cases, it’s not advisable to always try and publish in those. It’s very difficult and review times are very long. Some of the “lower” ranked journals tend to have better turn around times, which matters at certain career stages.

[academic migrant]

At your stage it wouldn't harm at all. It will most likely help. So take time doing the revisions, and at least instrumentally, be open to the suggestions of the reviewers. Show that you take their advices seriously, and make unambiguous indications regarding what changes you have made.

And I think at most career stages, it wouldn't harm to have more in top 20s. The only thing, I think, for most people, is that it would not be as good if you could have landed it into top 10 or even top 5.

[sahpa]

You're overthinking it. You should think about it less. While you're at it, I recommend enjoying grad school more.

[Circe]

I don't see any evidence that OP needs to be told to enjoy grad school more. Well done, OP! When it comes to journal acceptances, buyer's remorse is a thing. But since you are an MA student, this is really excellent. You probably know, but most good journals (top-20) have acceptance rates under 10%.

[sahpa]

Circe, if you don't see *any* evidence, I recommend you read the room and draw on your general experience concerning grad students prone to neurotic thinking about their careers. Beware unreasonably high standards for what counts as evidence.