Inspired I suppose by the advice given at the recent PSA conference, and accompanying marketing by the editors of Politics ('we're not a big name journal, but you can publish something short with us') I've been thinking again - as I do periodically - about prospects of publishing.
I thought I'd take the opportunity to link up a couple of pieces of advice I'd read, for future reference.
Crooked Timber begins with a debate covering the need to publish - generally it seems a good thing these days, though there's some debate about 'second tier' journals, and the opportunity costs of hack work. It hadn't really occurred to me that publications matter beyond putting peer-reviewed work on your CV, but it seems when it comes to job-hunting the chances of someone on the interview panel actually having read your published work matter - and hence you want it to be good.
Brian Leiter's blog also has an interesting discussion on the merits of grad students publishing - how important it is, where to do it, etc. He also has this interesting report, in which he lists excellent, good and 'also noteable' journals in different philosophy fields. For my interests:
MORAL, POLITICAL, AND LEGAL PHILOSOPHY
Excellent: Ethics, Philosophy & Public Affairs, Philosophical Review, Journal of Philosophy.
Good: Nous, Journal of Political Philosophy, Mind
Also Notable: Political Theory, Legal Theory, Law & Philosophy, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Analysis, Economic & Philosophy, Utilitas, European Journal of Philosophy, American Philosophical Quarterly, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Ratio, Philosophical Quarterly.
Other guidance on where to post may be extracted from another Brian's detailed survey results, or the discusssion here (though I think that tended to break down into petty arguments!)
In case the focus on where to publish (rather than whether or how) seems a bit premature; Peter Smith from Cambridge offers some good advice, even down to the basics of writing and structure (rather than just submission), and his insights as former editor of Analysis.
Thanks for the helpful information and links. I am considering submitting something to the new MIT journal: International Affairs. The paper in question is very interdisciplinary, so it might be a good fit for them.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of things are you considering submitting?
No probs Milan, though I don't know if the links will all be so useful to you. I'm really thinking in terms of political philosophy as a sub-field of philosophy, rather than political theory as a sub-field of politics.
ReplyDeleteThe main problem at the moment is not having anything worthy of submission, though I'm working on a response to one other person's paper, and I also have a conference paper prepared for Brave New World I might try submitting somewhere...