Getting Published in Philosophy by Peter Smith

A really good suggestion letter for graduate philosophers. explains how journals work, which journals to publish in, why it important to publish, how to increase you chance of being published, and other advice

From: http://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/teaching_staff/Smith/students/published.html

Moving away from Anonymous Review

Apparently American Economic Review has decided to stop doing anonymous reviews. I argue for the continuation of rigorous double blind process. Some nice arguments at Feminist philosohers

Philosophy Textbook Publishing and Guides

If the following is true, then learning how to write a good textbook for philosophy could be a decent career move. Some of the material I have read online suggests that only 1 out of 5 professors (in all disciplines) actually finish textbooks they have started. The textbook writing tutorial below is crammed full of information if your interested.

From: THE LONDON PHILOSOPHY STUDY GUIDE

One of the most noticeable trends in Philosophy publishing in recent years is the proliferation of books aimed directly at students. This is, of course, driven by thought that if a book gets on an 'essential purchase' list then it will make quite a lot of money for the publisher, but it does mean that publishers have started to do more to produce philosophy books that are both readable and useful, which once looked like an endangered species.

From http://www.ucl.ac.uk/philosophy/LPSG/intro.htm#Writing

Some notes about text book writing:

Philosophy Job Applications: Getting Through Phase One

The following is a summery of the main point made in a post on The Combat Philosopher regarding getting a job in philosophy. This post focuses on getting through the first round of the application. That is to say, getting to the interview at the APA. These are some suggestions from someone who has worked on hiring commitees. I suggest reading the whole post Here.

Summery of The Combat Philosopher's post copied and pasted:


Having served on numerous hiring committees, both in philosophy and in another discipline, I have a few words of advice for people who are going on the market.


1.  It is a profound mistake, though a common one, to think that the academic hiring process is a rational one.

Call for Book Reviews: Perspectives Postgraduate Journal

While not worth much on a CV, Book reviews are a great way to break into publishing.
Here is the post:


Call for Book Reviews 
Perspectives International Journal of Philosophy, Volume 4, 2012. 

For Volume IV, 2012, we are seeking book reviews on recently published
works.
If you would like a list of books available for review please email
perspecti...@ucd.ie. If you have a recently published book in mind to
review
that is not on our list please let us know. We also accept reviews of
books
for consideration that are outside of this list. 

CRITERIA FOR BOOK REVIEWS: Submissions should be 2000-2500 words and
about a
recently published book. Contact the editors for a list of books
available for
review. Works should be typed and double-spaced. Complete style
guidelines are
available on our website. www.ucd.ie/philosophy/perspectives/papers.html
Also
include a brief biography for the contributors page, should your paper
be
accepted. Make sure to include all relevant contact information,
including a
permanent e-mail address. 

DEADLINE FOR BOOK REVIEW SUBMISSION: 1 November 2011 Please send
submissions
by email to perspecti...@ucd.ie

Introduction to the Philosophical Career

This is the best concise outline of professional philosophy I have seen so far and I highly suggest reading it. It is clear, honest and a quick read. here is a link to the main article and all the sub-points

http://spot.colorado.edu/~huemer/grad.htm

   1.    Why are you writing this FAQ?

       2.    What can I do with a philosophy degree?

       3.    What do philosophy professors do?

       4.    I love learning about philosophy. Will I be a good philosopher?

       5.    Where will I get a job?

       6.    What will I be teaching?

       7.    But I’m really smart, so I’ll be one of the few at the elite schools, right?

       8.    Can I advance in the profession through talent and hard work?

       9.    Will I influence the field through my insightful articles?

       10.  Will I survive in my field?

       11.  How does one advance in philosophy?

       12.  Why the hell would I want to become a philosopher??

Tips on Publishing in Graduate School

Tips on publishing in philosophy from Gualtiero Piccinini over at Philosophy of Brains blog.

14. Be happy if your paper gets a “revise and resubmit”.  Revise your paper and make sure you address all of the referees’ comments, even if you don’t entirely agree with them.  In addition, write a separate document in which you go through the referees’ comments one by one and explain what you did to address them.  If you think a comment is completely wrong, explain why in the most respectful way.  Then resubmit your paper together with your response to the referees’ comments.

15. Rejections are a natural part of the process.  Anybody who submits nontrivial work to philosophy journals gets rejections.  Consider that Wittgenstein submitted the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus to many publishers and they all rejected it.  If you receive feedback on your paper, study it carefully and revise your paper so as to prevent anyone from making the same criticisms (whether fair or unfair).  If you received no feedback, ask yourself whether the paper might have weaknesses that can be remedied.  If yes, revise the paper before sending it somewhere else.  If not, submit it immediately to another journal.

Full posthttp://philosophyofbrains.com/2008/08/08/tips-on-publishing-in-graduate-school.aspx

12 Suggestions for New Graduate Students

This advice comes from a research psychologist but I found the advice quite helpful and it seems like much of it could be easily applied to philosophy.

 As a beginning graduate student, you may have doubts that you measure up when it comes to the skills required to produce original research. The following is a list of twelve suggestions, distilled from my nearly seven years in graduate school, to help you realize your full research potential.

1. START RESEARCH EARLY

2. WRITE DOWN IDEAS

3. KEEP UP WITH THE LITERATURE

4. WORK ON SEVERAL PROJECTS SIMULTANEOUSLY

5. LOOK FOR COMMON THEMES EARLY

6. RESERVE TIME TO WORK ON RESEARCH

7. SEEK OUT ADVICE

8. VIEW EVERYTHING AS A POTENTIAL PUBLICATION

9. ATTEND CONFERENCES

10. COLLABORATE WITH OTHER STUDENTS

11. KNOW YOUR STATISTICS AND METHODOLOGY

12. FINISH WHAT YOU START, BUT KNOW WHEN TO QUIT

Full artice: here

David O. Brink; UCSD: Graduate Study in Philosophy

This is a great little PDF outlineing what to expect from graduate school and how to apply.

Here is just a snippet but I suggest checking the whole document out for yourself.

http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/dbrink/GraduateStudy.pdf

David O. Brink; UCSD
May 2006
Graduate Study in Philosophy

• Be Realistic.
o Getting In. Top programs receive approximately 150-250 applications and admit between 5-15%.

o Finishing. Anywhere from one quarter to one half of those who start Ph.D. programs fail to
complete the degree.

Employment: JFP cancelled

The Jobs for Philosophers 190 print issue has been cancelled due to the low number of job ads received for that issue. The JFP190W will be published online on May 6 as scheduled.

http://www.apaonline.org/

Low number of Jobs noted.... Must publish in grad school..... *Aneurysm*

Citing Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

While articles on SEP are good introductions and published by philosophers in the field, it is generally looked down upon to cite SEP. It shows a lack of dedication to go deeper into your sources. Many of the articles are only condensed versions of  the author' book or published work, in which case, find the original text and what you want to cite in that.  In undergraduate papers many young professors who are internet savvy will let you cite it. If you choose to do this SEP suggests the following:

GUIDEBOOK FOR PUBLISHING PHILOSOPHY - Resources for Writing and Publishing Philosophy

Provided here is a selective bibliography whose primary purpose is to assist philosophers in the preparation of manuscripts for publication.
http://www.pdcnet.org/pages/Products/electronic/pdf/resources.pdf

MA to PHD: Don't Write a Thesis

If one want to go on to a PhD from an MA, a thesis may be inadvisable. Ones thesis (70-200 pages) is compeated during an MA in the last year of graduate study. If one want so go straight from an MA to a Phd one must apply early into one's second year. What this means is the writing sample you will send them will only be a chapter of your thesis and most likely it will be unpolished and underdeveloped. It may be advisable to do a reading intensive program in which one writes a really stellar pollished paper (20 pages) as well as trying to publish/present other papers while in the first year.

Published Writing Samples

Big D asks, 

Okay, job-related question. If I'm submitting a writing sample for an application, and it has been published, should I submit a copy of the final, published form, or a simple copy from my word processing program?

I don't think it really matters. I've had success--that is, I've gotten interviews--both ways. What say you, Smokers?

--Mr. Zero

From: http://philosophysmoker.blogspot.com/2011/04/published-writing-samples.html

[Essential answer is if your going to submit THAT essay submit it in published form. If one is thinking about submitting another essay it complicates the issue.]

The Evolution Of "Publish Or Perish": What Counts As "Other"

I am unsure if this can be applied to philosophy but it is still interesting.

Article by B.C. DeSpain, a superintendent for 15 years, chairs the Department of Educational Administration and Counseling at Southeast Missouri State University.

http://nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes%5CDeSpain,%20B.%20C.%20The%20Evolution%20of%20Publish%20or%20Perish%20What%20Counts%20As%20Other.pdf

CFP: Philosophy of Sport?

Here is a call for papers on the philosophy of sport. Philosophy of sport is rather new and was started in the 1960's. I have been seeing philosophy of sport mentioned quite a bit on the internet lately but am very ignorant of it's nature myself.  The philosophy of sport definition from Penn State:

Philosophy Journal Information: ESF Rankings, Citation Impact, & Rejection Rates

Table of philosophy journals. Classification of philosophy journals into three types. European Science foundations rankings. This table also includes rejection rates and H&G Values for each journal. 

Final Call for Papers: “The Problem of the Criterion”

At least to me this is an exciting topic. Deadline: June 30th.

 "To know whether things really are as they seem to be, we must have a procedure for distinguishing appearances that are true from appearances that are false. But to know whether our procedure is a good procedure, we have to know whether it really succeeds in distinguishing appearances that are true from appearances that are false. And we cannot know whether it does really succeed unless we already know which appearances are true and which ones are false. And so we are caught in a circle. [‘The Problem of the Criterion’, 1982]"

FAQ: Publishing

The following is drawn from workshops led by David Kahane 1998-2000. Make of it what you will; one fun thing about the workshops was the widely varying opinions offered by faculty in attendance!
What place should publishing have in your priorities as a grad student?
What’s publishable? When is something ready to publish? 
Where to submit it? 
How to submit it
Dealing with rejection
Dealing with acceptance
Other kinds of publishing

Five Secrets to Publishing Success

By Thom Brooks: In this essay, I will uncover what I believe are five secrets to publishing success. These tips arise from my experiences in the fields of philosophy, political science, and law as an author, an editor, and founding editor of the Journal of Moral Philosophy. These experiences may be of particular use to readers working in the areas of humanities and social science, but I hope will also be relevant to readers in different disciplines. The advice below is general and there are always some exceptions, although what I note below is most often the case.