Lisa Bortolotti (Birmingham), who took over the editorship of Philosophical Psychology following a publication controversy in 2020, and who announced some adjustments to the journal final yr, writes in with an replace about their implementation and outcomes.
Progress at Philosophical Psychology
by Lisa Bortolotti
On this submit we’re going to replace you on the progress of a philosophy journal publishing interdisciplinary analysis, Philosophical Psychology (Taylor and Francis), after some substantial adjustments carried out by the editorial crew. When beginning our new journey a yr in the past, we aspired to make the journal extra inclusive, numerous, and engaged, and to boost the standard and effectivity of peer-review. How a lot progress did we make?
Engagement
The editorial crew solicited a wider vary of ebook evaluations (we went from 3 submissions in 2021 to 22 in 2022) and likewise deliberate some symposia on topical books that may promote interdisciplinary change: Joseph LeDoux’s The Deep Historical past of Ourselves (Penguin 2019), Neil Levy’s Dangerous Beliefs (Oxford College Press 2021), and Anneli Jefferson’s Are Psychological Issues Mind Issues? (Routledge 2022).
Within the editorial crew’s imaginative and prescient, symposia and ebook evaluations facilitate debate throughout disciplines and can be of curiosity to the well-informed public. Taylor and Francis are totally supportive of the editorial crew’s mission to extend inclusivity and engagement and can make all ebook evaluations revealed in 2023 free to entry for six months after they’re assigned to a problem.
The will for wider engagement motivated a sequence of requires papers (the CFPs on understanding bias and affordances are nonetheless open). Due to particular points the editorial crew can encourage submissions in sure areas of curiosity and search the contributions of wonderful students belonging to underrepresented teams within the career.
One other nice initiative to deal with bias is the launch of the Lex Academic essay prize, for the very best essay on the understanding of linguistic discrimination, made potential by the beneficiant sponsorship of Lex Educational. The deadline to submit a paper is the twenty eighth of February, 2023.
Peer evaluate
The journal skilled a steep improve in submissions of analysis articles (from 190 in 2021 to 290 within the first ten months of 2022) and, partly as a result of progress in submissions, the journal acceptance price for unique analysis articles plummeted (from 22.5% in 2021 to 12.4% in 2022 for analysis articles—this can be totally different from the determine you see within the journal’s web site as a result of the revealed one covers all kinds of submissions and never simply analysis articles).
The present acceptance price means that the peer-review course of stays rigorous and helps authors in publishing the very best work they will produce. The peer-review course of within the final 12 months has additionally been considerably sooner than up to now two years: on common, authors obtain a post-review resolution on their submitted articles inside 50 days.
Philosophical Psychology is now on social media, utilising platforms like Mastodon, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to advertise new content material and additional talk with readers. Within the final 12 months, full article downloads have elevated by 40%. Beginning in 2023, authors of accepted articles might be invited to supply a mini-abstract of their work that may be broadly used for selling it. This can contribute additional to significant engagement with potential audiences.
The improved pace of peer evaluate and the dedication to selling revealed content material broadly makes Philosophical Psychology a extra engaging venue for the work of early profession researchers and for conceptual and empirical work whose publication is time-sensitive and probably impactful.
