Comment on Journals in Political Philosophy
posted by Political Scientists for Scholarly Journal Ethics @ 3:33 PM
24 Comments
Political Science Journal Monitor
Political scientists have designed this site as an outlet for their colleagues to share their experiences--both positive and negative--with submitting to or reading scholarly political science journals. Postings aim to promote more consistent adherence to an ethical code by journals and their contributors, an improved review process experience, and a superior product for readers.
24 Comments:
Does anybody out there have an idea on what the turnaround times are at various political theory/philosophy journals?
I had very bad experience with political theory, very good experience with crispp, and many friends of mine had a nightmare with history of political thought. JPP is fast but hard, and ppe is quick enough.
These are my impressions though, I have no idea if they represent anything.
HPT is notoriously slow-- six months to first reports not unusual, a year not unheardof. Journal of the History of Ideas moves much faster.
The slowness of some journals can really complicate the life of a young scholar. If one is before his tenure, than time is very important. However, some of these journals behave as though only senior people exist. Waiting a year for the first response is much too much, if all you have is five years in order to show some results. This is one of the worst sides of the profession for me at least.
One way to deal with this is to send articles to law journals, as you can send a given article to more than one journal at a time.
Law journals are great for a quick turnaround (especially for a good article) and also because the multiple submission rule really puts the author in a position of power. If an author gets an offer from one journal, she can use it as a bargaining chip with the others. But don't a lot of departments discount the value of law journal publications because they aren't peer reviewed?
Yes.
There is an article here by Richard Posner on the problems of student-edited law reviews:
http://legalaffairs.org/issues/November-December-2004/review_posner_novdec04.msp
Thanks for the info!
More journals, more journals...what about PPA and Ethics?
In general I get the impression that political philosophy journals are on average much slower than other journals in political science. Is there a good explanation for this or is my perception just wrong.
Does anyone make a distinction among law journals based on the competitiveness of publishing there? Harvard Law Review is substantially more competitive than, say, Outer Mongolia U Law Review because Harvard receives many more submissions and has a higher rejection rate.
Those who are willing to count law reviews at all will certainly rank among them-- Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Michigan, Chicago, Columbia, NYU (in some order) count for more in some real sense-- and also get much more widely read and cited.
But there's still a strong and widespread urge to say "even a mediocre peer-reviewed journal is having its decisions made by grown-ups with expertise, and even the best-ranked law review has its decisions made by law students without expertise."
Hello, all,
recently I've saw several different lists ranking political theory journals. The first few are always identical (ppa, ethics, political theory, journal of political philosophy) but how about the next in line? What are the ranking of crispp, ppe, hpt, cpt etc?. A second question - how about new journals such as global ethics and the new Scottish journal (I forgot his name).
Cheers.
And a related question, pertinent to the "Angry Guy" debate before.
Which journals should we recommend to our bright ABDs and Asst. profs., both for them to submit to and read?
This is a very differenct conception of "best" and would exculde _Ethics_, imo.
Which journals should we recommend to our bright ABDs and Asst. profs., both for them to submit to and read?
This is a very differenct conception of "best" and would exculde _Ethics_, imo.
To read would certainly include Ethics, for those in the appropriate part of the field.
Read: Political Theory, JPP, Ethics, APSR, RoP, Nomos, HPT. Keep an eye on: AJPS, JoP, PPA.
Submit to: PT, PPA, RoP, AJPS, JoP. APSR in exceptional cases. You want publicaions that will appeal to poli sci hiring and tenuring committees.
Well, I'd disagree with including Ethics for precisely those reasons. People in depts who are not theorists are not going to give it the same esteem they'd give, say, APSR. And with the turnover time at APSR these days, I'm looking for suggestions as to where else they should look. Radical Philosophy is a good suggestion, but if my experience is any clue, its title alone raises hackles amongst our more conservative brethren (and sistren).
I don't know what the new regime will be like, but I found _PT_ to take a long time on more than one occasion, under both Strong and White. I currently only suggest it for those who 1. have a while and 2. think this is the best essay they will write in a helf-decade.
I have heard good stories of suggestions and speed of turnover from Contemporary Political Theory, Perspectives, and MLN.
Also, new journals generally have more generous acceptance rates. So I also suggest those for advanced ABDs and recent PhDs.
Regarding Journal of the History of Ideas--my experience has been different from 8:26's. Over two years for a response, despite some persistent inquiries. That was under the old regime (Rutgers). Perhaps things have changed. HPT is also slow. The only reliably quick turnarounds in my experience come from the top general journals--APSR, JOP, AJPS.
my experience, with a dozen or so submissions: JPP is fast but hard (indeed), ppe is fast but equally hard, Ethics differs on whether they send it out for review or not, but takes easily 6months plus. If you come from the political science side of political philosophy, you could try political studies, which is generally considered a good journal, and which is quite fast and very nice people.
I too have had a bad experience with History of Ideas (8 months to hear back on a revise and resubmit, and counting!) By contrast, I've found HPT, especially recently, to be quite quick.
I would be interested in thoughts about political theory / philosophy journals that might venture into the discussions of post-colonialism. I personally enjoy Theory and Event, Constellations, CPT, and some others. I also, of course, enjoy many articles in the standard journals (PT, JPP, etc). However, I have been frustrated in the lack of intersection between political theory and post-colonialism. Any thoughts?
Good point, Jay, but this may be the wrong audience. Many people think of political theory as an offshoot of philosophy, such that historical, cultural, or (dare I say?) political issues get shut out. Read the most recent -- or any -- issue of _Ethics_ to see the heights to which they aspire.
Would love to get people's opinions on Philosophy and Social Criticism. I really like the journal and recently published a piece there, but don't really know what people generally think of the journal.
Is "Politics & society" a good journal to publish (analytical) political philosophy?
Is it read by political philosophers?
Do political science departments like it?
Is it at the same level as JPP, PT, PPE or RoP?
Besides Political Theory, History of Political Thought, JPP, Journal of history of Ideas, are there any other strong political philosophy journals out there? To deal with truly scholarship pertaining to an individual philosopher's idea on a subject outside ethics. Say for example, Philosopher X on race or love.
Social Theory and Practice is another outstanding journal. Not quite as good as JPP, Ethics or PPA, but still amongst the excellent ones.
You should also consider Publis - The Journal of Federalism if your manuscript is a fit. This journal is open to theory-based research manuscripts and has a solid reputation and quick turn around time.
I don't know what the new regime will be like, but I found _PT_ to take a long time on more than one occasion, under both Strong and White. I currently only suggest it for those who 1. have a while and 2. think this is the best essay they will write in a helf-decade.
I have heard good stories of suggestions and speed of turnover from Contemporary Political Theory, Perspectives, and MLN.my blog usagamezone.blogspot.com
Also, new journals generally have more generous acceptance rates. So I also suggest those for advanced ABDs and recent PhDs.
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