The latest APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies (15:2) is now available on-line here. (To save a click, you can also directly download it here.) Its table of contents is as follows:
From the Guest Editor, Amy Olberding
Submission Guidelines and Information
Articles
- “Chinese Philosophy and Wider Philosophical Discourse: Including Chinese Philosophy in General Audience Philosophy Journals,” Amy Olberding
- “Some Reflections on the Status of Chinese Philosophy in U.S. Graduate Programs,” David B. Wong
- “What’s Missing in Philosophy Departments? Specialists in Chinese Philosophy,” Erin M. Cline
- “May You Live in Interesting Times: The State of the Field in of Chinese Philosophy,” Alexus McLeod
- “The ‘Double Bind’ on Specialists in Chinese Philosophy,” Yong Huang
- “Problems and Prospects for the Study of Chinese Philosophy in the English-Speaking World,” Bryan W. Van Norden
Thanks for posting this, Steve. I do hope the data in my article here can be useful to those hoping to publish in “general” outlets. Hopefully not too buried in all the data are pointers about journals that seem more receptive than others. E.g., the Journal of Value Inquiry has been making radical strides and Hypatia is really on the ball, both now and in the recent past.
One issue this raised for me that I think warrants consideration is whether those of us with tenure have some greater burden to try submitting work to non-specialist journals. To be clear, I’m not suggesting we’re failing to do that – I really have no idea about submission rates! – but simply registering that any process of getting more work into the “general” journals is one that is riskier for those not yet tenured. Review times can be long, rejections demoralizing, and here the prospects for success are certainly reduced relative to specialist journals. Because of that, those of us who have job security are far better positioned to accept the risks and delays to publication that accompany efforts to publish in non-specialist outlets. To put it even more strongly, I think we may have a duty to younger scholars to try to crack these nuts. Their careers and professional lives will go better if the profession changes to better recognize and include the work they’ll do, so if we more senior folk can take the early hits that come with getting the reflexive rejections and so forth that come with getting work into less receptive outlets, we should try.
I’m really curious to know if others think we ought to be doing this!
Hi Amy — I think that’s a great idea. I will endeavor to act as you recommend!
Amy raises a good question. However, from my very limited experiences (I published in such “general” philosophical journals as Journal of Moral Education, Journal of Philosophical Research, Journal of Value Inquiry, journal of American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, etc. I have also published a number of purely Western philosophical stuff in other “general” journals), actually neither the review period is longer than, nor the publication schedule is slower than, the specialist journals in Chinese and Asian philosophy. But I don’t know their comparative rejection rate. By the way, if anyone would like to know the rejection rate at Dao, it is 80%.
Separately, but somehow related, I noticed that a number of friends doing Chinese philosophy have published their stuff at International Philosophical Quarterly, and so I would like to see whether any of you could share your experiences with that journal. I submitted to that journal once a few years ago but never heard from them. I wrote to them about one month after my submission, asking them whether they received my submission, with no answer. After a while, I wrote to them again, still with no response. Eventually, I wrote to them that I would like to withdraw my submission, of course, still without any response. I think I had another similar experience with that journal, but it was many many years ago, and so I don’t remember the detail. I would just like to know whether it is jut me.
Finally, as an editor of a specialist journal, I’d like to see you established scholars continue to support our journal while you are going to break the new ground.