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Systematic Data on Turnaround Time for Philosophy Journal Publishing?

Brian Leiter

A Dean elsewhere writes:

With regard to journal publishing in the humanities and social sciences there is a significant body of data on the situation in economics which is mostly gloomy.  I know of several universities where because of the long time between submission and acceptance economics departments are now urging faculty to stop the tenure clock through a leave (paid or unpaid).  One faculty member reported that economics is the worst offender with respect to turn-around time, often between 1.5 and 2 years.  Anecdotally I have been told that a similar situation exists in Philosophy (we have one member of the dept who has taken a year leave to get the tenure clock stopped).  Do you know of any data on the turn-around time between submission and acceptance for Philosophy journals (when I looked at articles in Mind and Nous I was unable to find such dates) and if this is having an impact on the tenure process. 

I know we've discussed these issues previously, but I can't recall whether there is a centralized source of information about these issues.  And are there cases of the tenure process being affected by the slow turnaround?

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9 responses to “Systematic Data on Turnaround Time for Philosophy Journal Publishing?”

  1. Molly Mahony

    The MLA Directory of Periodicals includes 240 Philosophy journals (Nous is not included, but Mind is). The following is from the Mind entry:

    Submission Information
    Submission Charges: No
    Charges for Pages: No
    Articles: Suggested Length: 6,000-9,000 words; Number Submitted per Year: 400; Published per Year: 15
    Book Reviews: Published: Yes; Suggested Length: 3,000 words maximum; Number Submitted per Year: 100; Published per Year: 100
    Short Notes: Published: Yes; Suggested Length: 5,000 words maximum; Number Submitted per Year: 100; Published per Year: 20
    Abstract: Published: Yes
    Copyright Holder of Accepted Material: Author
    Disposition of Rejected Manuscripts: Not returned
    Time between Submission and Publication decision: 3-4 months
    Time between Decision and Publication: 3-12 months
    Number of Readers prior to Publication decision: 1-3
    Editorial Style: British punctuation
    Blind Submission: Yes, at author's request
    Copies Required: 2

    Reply
  2. Andrew

    For some data, check out Andrew Cullison's Journal Surveys: http://www.andrewcullison.com/journal-surveys/

    Reply
  3. Fritz Allhoff

    There's this one, but maybe a little limited/dated: http://www.andrewcullison.com/2009/09/journal-review-time-comparisons/.

    Reply
  4. Tom Hurka

    The Mind claim of 3-4 months between submission and publication decision is a joke, isn't it?

    Reply
  5. Untenured

    I did not even receive a acknowledgement of my submission to Mind in 3 months, before I decided to rescind the submission and send it elsewhere. Those cannot be accurate numbers.

    As an assistant professor going up for tenure in two years, I rely on Cullison's information, even though it is informal, to decide where to send my pieces in order to get reasonable turnaround time on decisions. This is crucial if I am to have time for revisions with R&R's, or to resubmit after a rejection. In my view, it is safe to say that most assistant professors make similar decisions based on turnaround time. If a journal or referee sits on the paper for a year, and it is within the last year or year and a half before one submits one's portfolio for tenure, that work is lost as a potential publication to count towards tenure. This has significantly constrained my options for several works in progress – about half the possible venues for the topics in question will be ruled out because of overly long turnaround times. In this regard, long turnaround times affect many or most tenure cases.

    Reply
  6. Michael Kremer

    Untenured: I don't know about your institution, but at both the institutions where I have been employed (Notre Dame and Chicago), work such as you describe is not necessarily "lost as a potential publication to count towards tenure." Such work (submitted and under consideration), if it is of high quality, can certainly be sent to external readers and can be counted as evidence of scholarly productivity. External readers (and internal ones too) can say things like "this is an excellent paper, sure to be published." I would advise that you should talk to your older colleagues and department chair about this question.

    Reply
  7. Bill W

    I wonder whether it would be relevant to mention to A Dean Elsewhere that although Nous and PPR have quite good turn-around times (or are reputed to), they only accept submissions for a few months each year (so a paper tailored for one of these venues effectively often has to wait six months before it can even be submitted.)

    Reply
  8. Jackie

    In response to Michael K., some universities (mine is one) will only send to external reviewers work that has been accepted for publication. So Untentured's concern is quite legit.

    Reply
  9. Thom Brooks

    I highly recommend consulting the Philosophy Documentation Center's two volume directory. The best resource I know on this topic covering all philosophy journals.

    Reply

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