I’ll just use this page as a storage bay for discussion of how to get published in mainstream academic journals. So, here’s an unordered list of advice.
No misspellings, no grammatical errors, avoid unnecessary commas, avoid double negatives (duh).
Avoid sexist language.
Read your paper out loud several times; this will alert you to parts that sound clumsy.
Walk the fine line between stating the obvious and failing to explain yourself. For example: Don’t write “Rene Descartes, a French philosopher...” but also don’t assume that your audience knows what Casati & Varzi’s approach to mereology is without explaining it briefly.
Do not use big words unnecessarily. Write as simply and clearly as possible. Of course, certain big words exist so that you can avoid writing long phrases again and again.
Avoid rhetorical questions.
Don’t forget your quantifiers! Instead of “Philosophers have long held that...” make sure to write “Many philosophers have long held that...” or “Most philosophers have long held that...”
Show late drafts with lots of people; a new set of eyes can see what you cannot.
If possible, you may want to publish in a science journal rather than a philosophy journal. Here’s why.
If you have no academic publications yet, a good way to get start is by writing a book review. Make sure you contact the journal’s editor in advance and ask if they’d be interested in a review of the book in question.
Journal reviewers are not usually paid. Do not torture them with underdeveloped work.
Pay attention to the journal’s self description, and read several of their past published works, to get a feel for the type of work they like to accept.
Note the difference between a ‘substantial article’ (>3000 words, makes a new contribution), ‘discussion piece’ (<3000 words, makes a few brief comments or criticisms of somebody else’s work published in that journal), ‘critical notice’ (>3000 words, usually a book review with substantial new material, usually solicited by the journal). Certain journals publish only one or two of these types of submission.
For initial submission, you usually don’t need to style the paper for that journal specifically. Just pick a standard format, double-spaced, use a standard serif font, etc. If the paper is accepted, then follow to a T whichever style guide is appropriate for the journal to which you are submitting. This information is usually listed on the journal’s website (“submission details”, “information for contributors”).
Most journals will only consider papers that have not been submitted elsewhere. Don’t waste the reviewers’ and editors’ time.
Look up journal turnaround times and so on; this will help you which journal to submit to. Try here.
If you do say “Many philosophers have long held that...”, the natural response from your readers will be: which philosophers? and since when? It would be immensely better to at least include the originator for the principle in the statement.
A journal that receives a large number of papers will probably reject incoming papers based on formatting. Many computer science journals do this.
I’ll just use this page as a storage bay for discussion of how to get published in mainstream academic journals. So, here’s an unordered list of advice.
No misspellings, no grammatical errors, avoid unnecessary commas, avoid double negatives (duh).
Avoid sexist language.
Read your paper out loud several times; this will alert you to parts that sound clumsy.
Walk the fine line between stating the obvious and failing to explain yourself. For example: Don’t write “Rene Descartes, a French philosopher...” but also don’t assume that your audience knows what Casati & Varzi’s approach to mereology is without explaining it briefly.
Do not use big words unnecessarily. Write as simply and clearly as possible. Of course, certain big words exist so that you can avoid writing long phrases again and again.
Avoid rhetorical questions.
Don’t forget your quantifiers! Instead of “Philosophers have long held that...” make sure to write “Many philosophers have long held that...” or “Most philosophers have long held that...”
Show late drafts with lots of people; a new set of eyes can see what you cannot.
If possible, you may want to publish in a science journal rather than a philosophy journal. Here’s why.
If you have no academic publications yet, a good way to get start is by writing a book review. Make sure you contact the journal’s editor in advance and ask if they’d be interested in a review of the book in question.
Journal reviewers are not usually paid. Do not torture them with underdeveloped work.
Pay attention to the journal’s self description, and read several of their past published works, to get a feel for the type of work they like to accept.
Note the difference between a ‘substantial article’ (>3000 words, makes a new contribution), ‘discussion piece’ (<3000 words, makes a few brief comments or criticisms of somebody else’s work published in that journal), ‘critical notice’ (>3000 words, usually a book review with substantial new material, usually solicited by the journal). Certain journals publish only one or two of these types of submission.
For initial submission, you usually don’t need to style the paper for that journal specifically. Just pick a standard format, double-spaced, use a standard serif font, etc. If the paper is accepted, then follow to a T whichever style guide is appropriate for the journal to which you are submitting. This information is usually listed on the journal’s website (“submission details”, “information for contributors”).
Most journals will only consider papers that have not been submitted elsewhere. Don’t waste the reviewers’ and editors’ time.
Look up journal turnaround times and so on; this will help you which journal to submit to. Try here.
Read Rowena Murray’s Writing for Academic Journals.
If you do say “Many philosophers have long held that...”, the natural response from your readers will be: which philosophers? and since when? It would be immensely better to at least include the originator for the principle in the statement.
A journal that receives a large number of papers will probably reject incoming papers based on formatting. Many computer science journals do this.