New Journal: Ergo

The first issue of Ergo is out and can be accessed here: http://www.ergophiljournal.org/

The following are four blog posts discussing each of the papers appearing in the first issue:

Julia Jorati (OSU) on a paper in early modern by Paul Lodge (Oxford):
http://philosophymodsquad.wordpress.com/

Anna Mahtani (LSE) on a paper by Michael Caie (Pittsburgh):
http://choiceandinference.com/, http://m-phi.blogspot.ca/

Ellen Clark (Oxford) on a paper in philosophy of biology by
Christopher Hitchcock (Caltech) and Joel Velasco (Texas Tech):
http://philosomama.blogspot.co.uk/

Thomas Nadelhoffer (Charleston) on a paper in experimental philosophy
by John Turri (Waterloo):
http://philosophycommons.typepad.com/xphi/

New Open-Access Journal!

Ergo, An Open Access Journal of Philosophy

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ergo

Ergo is a general, open access philosophy journal accepting submissions on
all philosophical topics and from all philosophical traditions. This
includes, among other things: history of philosophy, work in both the
analytic and continental traditions, as well as formal and empirically
informed philosophy.

Ergo uses a triple-anonymous peer review process and aims to return
decisions within two months on average.

Ergo is published by MPublishing at the University of Michigan and
sponsord by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto.
Papers are published as they are accepted; there is no regular publication
schedule.

To submit a paper, please register and login to Ergo's editorial
management system at:
http://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ergo/index

Submitted manuscripts should be prepared for anonymous review, containing
no identifying information. Submissions need not conform to the journal
style unless and until accepted for publication.

Submission and publication is free, but the journal essentially depends on
the support of reliable reviewers returning informative reports in a timely
manner. We hope that you will consider acting as referee for Ergo if asked
by one of its editors. We also hope that you will consider submitting your
work to Ergo.

Please share this call for papers with your colleagues!

Managing Editors
Franz Huber (University of Toronto)
Jonathan Weisberg (University of Toronto)
ergo.editors@gmail.com

Section Editors
Rachael Briggs (Australian National University & Griffith University)
Eleonora Cresto (University of Buenos Aires)
Vincenzo Crupi (University of Turin)
Imogen Dickie (University of Toronto)
Catarina Dutilh-Novaes (University of Groningen)
Kenny Easwaran (University of Southern California)
Matt Evans (University of Michigan)
Laura Franklin-Hall (New York University)
Ole Hjortland (LMU Munich)
Michelle Kosch (Cornell University)
Antonia LoLordo (University of Virginia)
Christy Mag Uidhir (University of Houston)
Julia Markovits (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Lionel McPherson (Tufts University)
Jennifer Nagel (University of Toronto)
Jill North (Cornell University)
Brian O'Connor (University College Dublin)
Laurie A. Paul (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Richard Pettigrew (Bristol University)
Martin Pickavé (University of Toronto)
Adam Sennet (University of California at Davis)
Nishi Shah (Amherst College)
Quayshawn Spencer (University of San Francisco)
Ásta Sveinsdóttir (San Francisco State University)
Robbie Williams (University of Leeds)
Wayne Wu (Carnegie Mellon University)
Jiji Zhang (Lingnan University)

Call for Nominations: BJPS Kuhn's SSR Anniversary Virtual Issue

The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science plans to publish a special virtual issue to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. The issue will be composed of specially selected papers on the topic of Kuhn's work that have been published in the journal over the past 50 years, together with a major review essay. The Editors of the journal would like to invite readers to nominate their favourite piece on Kuhn's ideas for inclusion in the journal.

Nominations (one per person only, please) of papers previously published in the BJPS should go to Beth Hannon at

BJPS@leeds.ac.uk

by Sept. 30th. 

The Editors' decision on what papers to include will be final!

New Journal: The Journal of Causal Inference

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Journal of Causal Inference, a new
journal dedicated to building a rigorous cross-disciplinary dialogue in causality.

Existing discipline-specific journals tend to bury causal analysis in the language
and methods of traditional statistical methodologies, creating the inaccurate
impression that causal questions can be handled by routine methods of regression
or simultaneous equations and glossing over the special precautions demanded
by causal analysis. In contrast, Journal of Causal Inference highlights both the
uniqueness and interdisciplinary nature of causal research. The journal serves as
a forum for the growing causal inference community to develop a shared language
and to study the commonalities and distinct strengths of their various disciplines’
methods for causal analysis.

Submissions

Journal of Causal Inference encourages submission of applied and theoretical work
from across the range of rigorous causal paradigms.

In addition to significant original research articles, Journal of Causal Inference also
welcomes:

1) Submissions that synthesize and assess cross-disciplinary methodological
research
2) Submissions that discuss the history of the causal inference field and its
philosophical underpinnings
3) Unsolicited short communications on topics that aim to highlight areas
of emerging consensus and ongoing controversy, or to bring unorthodox
perspectives to open questions
4) Responses to published articles in causality

To read more about JCI, including our aims and scope and editorial board
membership, please visit our website:

http://www.bepress.com/jci

Papers can be submitted electronically at:

http://www.bepress.com/cgi/submit.cgi?context=jci

The first issue is planned for Fall 2011.

Philosophy of Science in the Latest Journal Citation Reports

On 28 June, Thomson Reuters released the 2010 edition of their Journal Citation Reports. The Social Science Edition contains a category for History and Philosophy of Science (for those interested, there's also a category for Ethics). Unfortunately, the coverage of journals specialising in philosophy of science is fairly incomplete, though it does include the three most important general journals. Here is the data for those journals:

Title	JCR Data						EigenfactorTM Metrics
	2010 Total Cites	Impact Factor	5-Year Impact Factor	Immediacy Index	2010 Items	Cited Half-life	E-factor	Infl
BIOL PHIL	548	0.829	1.299	0.564	39	6.5	0.00151	0.439
BJPS	767	1.048	1.146	0.161	31	>10.0	0.00139	0.434
PHIL SCI	1648	0.602	0.931	0.044	68	>10.0	0.00191	0.281
SYNTH	1471	0.676	0.783	0.063	142	>10.0	0.00250	0.199

For those unfamiliar with the metrics, here is a brief overview. Impact Factor measures the frequency with which an average article from the preceding two years was cited in a given year. So the data above reflects the average citations in 2010 to papers published in 2008 and 2009. 5-year Impact Factor is just what you would expect—the same but for the preceding five years. Immediacy Index is the average number of citations by articles published in some year to articles published by the journal in that year. Cited Half-Life is the median age (in years) of the articles cited in a given year. The Eigenfactor metrics are more complicated. Eigenfactor (E-Factor) is a measure that weights citations by the influence of the journal measured by citations, similar to the way Google's PageRank orders the influence of webpages. Influence (Infl) is a measure of per-article impact, similar to Impact Factor.

Some initial comments on these results:

• Overall the Cited Half-Life figures, which are high, resemble the other humanities disciplines more than they do the sciences. To take some sample contrasts—linguistics, mathematical physics and biology tend to have journals with cited half-lives of less than 10 years, while history tends to have journals with cited half-lives of more than 10 years. (Biology and Philosophy looks like an exception, but I think the lower figure is an artifact of the fact that it only started publishing in 1986).
  
• BJPS and PoS have more dissimilar 2-year impact factors than they do 5-year impact factors. I conjecture that this is because there are more replies and discussions in BJPS than in PoS.
• I'm impressed by the performance of B&P, especially the high Immediacy Index. I conjecture that this is because it contains a large number of fora on books and target papers.
  
• EigenFactor is friendlier to Synthese than are the JCR metrics. This suggests that while Synthese is cited less overall than the others, it is cited more in the more important venues.
  

Here are some journals that it would be good to see indexed in future:

• Biological Theory
• European Journal of Philosophy of Science
• Foundations of Physics
• International Studies in the Philosophy of Science
• Metascience
• Mind and Language
  
• Philosophy and Theory in Biology
• Review of Philosophy and Psychology
  
• Science and Education
• Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A
• Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
• Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
  

No doubt I've forgotten some others, and some are too new to have two years of data to draw on. Of course, what would be really nice is a category dedicated to philosophy journals overall.

Journal: HOPOS

First Issue of HOPOS Journal Now Available Free

The University of Chicago Press is pleased to announce the publication of HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science. The digital edition of the inaugural issue (Spring 2011) is now available free for a limited time to all visitors to the journal’s home on the web: www.journals.uchicago.edu/hopos.

With no other current publication addressing the history of philosophy of science, the HOPOS journal will have its own place in a growing area of research. HOPOS will draw upon the multiple methods of philosophy and history to study the development, functioning, applications, and social and cultural engagements of the sciences.

The journal situates understanding of individual sciences within their historical settings and against the backdrop of mainstream issues in philosophical thought relevant to the growth of our knowledge of the world and of human nature.

“Our aim is a journal that provides an outlet for interdisciplinary work that is not often easy to publish in existing journals,” said HOPOS editor Rose-Mary Sargent of Merrimack College. “Both subject matter and length restrictions in existing journals do not allow for the extensive bibliographical references so often required in works that are of both a philosophical and a historical nature. HOPOS provides an important new venue for this kind of scholarship.”

The journal is available in both print and electronic formats. Each issue will contain a minimum of four articles and ten to fifteen book reviews. Articles are blind reviewed by two or three referees.

The first issue is dedicated to the memory of Ernan McMullin, one of the founders of the discipline who died unexpectedly while the issue was in press.

IN THE FIRST ISSUE:

Major Articles:

Ernan McMullin, “Kepler: Moving the Earth”

James G. Lennox, “Aristotle on Norms of Inquiry”

Thomas Uebel, “Beyond the Formalist Criterion of Cognitive Significance: Philipp Frank’s Later Antimetaphysics”

Warren Schmaus, “Science and the Social Contract in Renouvier”

Eric Schliesser, “Newton's Challenge to Philosophy: A Programmatic Essay”

Individuals receive access to the journal through their membership in the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science. For membership information, go to the journal’s website, www.journals.uchicago.edu/hopos, or the society’s website, http://www.hopos.org/. For additional information, email subscriptions@press.uchicago.edu or call 877-705-1878 (outside the U.S. and Canada, call 773-753-3347).

Institutions can subscribe via JSTOR, http://about.jstor.org/participate-jstor/subscribe.

Founded in 1891, the University of Chicago Press is the largest American university press. The Journals Division publishes periodicals and serials in a wide range of disciplines, including several journals that were the first scholarly publications in their respective fields. The Journals Division has also been a pioneer in electronic publishing, delivering original, peer-reviewed research from international scholars to a worldwide audience.

Contact: Kevin Stacey, University of Chicago Press / 773-834-0386 / kstacey@press.uchicago.edu

The Synthese Affair

You probably have heard about this already, so I shall be brief (see here and here for more details). The Editors-in-Chief of Synthese prefaced the January 2011 special issue of Synthese on "Evolution and Its Rivals" (guest-edited by Glenn Branch and James H. Fetzer) with the following statement (apparently, without the Guest Editors' knowledge):

This special issue addresses a topic of lively current debate with often strongly expressed views. We have observed that some of the papers in this issue employ a tone that may make it hard to distinguish between dispassionate intellectual discussion of other views and disqualification of a targeted author or group.

We believe that vigorous debate is clearly of the essence in intellectual communities, and that even strong disagreements can be an engine of progress. However, tone and prose should follow the usual academic standards of politeness and respect in phrasing. We recognize that these are not consistently met in this particular issue. These standards, especially toward people we deeply disagree with, are a common benefit to us all. We regret any deviation from our usual standards.

Johan van Benthem

Vincent F. Hendricks

John Symons

Editors-in-Chief / SYNTHESE

This was likely the result of pressure from supporters of Intelligent Design in general and of Francis Beckwith (who is the polemical target of one of the papers in the special issue) in particular.

Over at Leiter Reports, Brian Leiter has urged 'all philosophers to stop submitting to Synthese; to withdraw any papers they have submitted at Synthese; and to decline to referee for Synthese until such time as the editors acknowledge their error, and make appropriate amends.'

Since Synthese is one of the main philosophy of science journals and many of the readers of this blog read, submit to, and publish in that Journal and since Leiter's post doesn't allow comments, I thought it might be a good idea to open the floor for discussion here.

To set the ball rolling, here are my two cents. In my experience (and from what I hear from most other people who have first-hand experience as well), Synthese is a very well-run journal and this is in great part to be attributed to the excellent job done by the Editors-in-Chief. I agree, however, that, on this occasion, the EiCs' conduct and judgement were questionable. I think it was inappropriate to add the above statement especially if, as it seems likely, this was done as a result of dubious external pressures. (Incidentally, I wouldn't go as far as saying that the statement 'undermines the integrity of the entire volume and its contributors', as Leiter somewhat hyperbolically does). If the EiCs had any concerns about the tone of any of the papers, they should have voiced them before the papers were published. Since apparently they had not done so, they should have stood by the papers (not all editors may be ready to go to the same lengths as the Editor of the European Journal of International Law but there must be a middle-ground). I think it would be in the best interest of the journal if the EiCs publicly acknowledged their lapse of judgement, but I trust that it's not going to take a boycott to get them to do that.

Journal : HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science

Another new journal that may be of interest to readers of this blog:

At long last HOPOS has its own journal. Published by the University of Chicago Press, the first issue is scheduled to appear Spring 2011 in both print and electronic formats.

The editors invite submission of article-length manuscripts to be published in HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science.

We seek to publish highest-quality scholarship concerning the history of philosophical discussions about science. The history of philosophy of science is broadly construed to include topics in the history of related disciplines, in all time periods and all geographical areas, using diverse
methodologies. The journal aims to:

• provide an outlet for interdisciplinary work
• increase the already unusually high level of participation of international scholars in the history of the philosophy of science,
• raise the level of work in the history of philosophy of science by publishing scholarship that helps to explain the links among philosophy, science, and mathematics, along with the social, economic, and political context, which is indispensable for a genuine understanding of the history of philosophy.

HOPOS scholarship is firmly concerned with situating philosophical understandings of science within the broader historical and philosophical settings in which they were developed, and against the backdrop of mainstream issues in philosophical thought, covering epistemological,
methodological, metaphysical, and moral issues relevant to the growth of our knowledge of the world and human nature.

The journal does not limit submissions to HOPOS members. Scholars from all related disciplines are encouraged to submit to the journal. The length of articles is flexible, and all articles published in HOPOS are peer reviewed.

Please see the HOPOS journal home page at
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/hopos/current for further informationand for author instructions.

HOPOS does not consider unsolicited book reviews, but if you would like to be considered for a future review, please contact Warren Schmaus, Book Review Editor, at hoposreviews@iit.edu. All other editorial correspondence should be sent to Rose-Mary Sargent, Editor, at rsargent@merrimack.edu.

Journal: Philosophy and Theory in Biology

Fans of quality open-access journals will be happy to know that, after the Philospher's Imprint, those guys at Michigan have done it again! (Fans of catchy journal titles will not be as happy, I'm afraid, but don't they know it's bad manners to look a gift horse in the mouth?)

The Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library is pleased to announce the release of a new peer-reviewed, open-access journal, Philosophy and Theory in Biology (P&TB) (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/ptb/). This interdisciplinary publication brings together philosophers of science and theoretically inclined biologists, fostering a broad conception of what it means to do "theory" in science and to analyze the sciences philosophically. P&TB is published solely online, taking advantage of new technologies to reduce publication and environmental costs. The journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of scholarship while making its content freely available to the academic community, independent scholars, and the public at large. The University of Michigan Library, through its Scholarly Publishing Office (http://www.lib.umich.edu/spo/), provides academic publishing services that are responsive to the needs of both producers and users, that foster a sustainable economic model for academic publishing, and that support institutional control of intellectual assets.

European Journal for Philosophy of Science

Announcement and call for submissions:

The European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA) is pleased to announce the launch of its new journal:

EUROPEAN JOURNAL FOR PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE (EJPS)

Editor-in-Chief: Carl Hoefer (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain)
Deputy Editor: Mauro Dorato (University of Rome III, Italy)
Associate Editors: Franz Huber (Konstanz, Germany), Edouard Machery (Pittsburgh, USA), Michela Massimi (London, UK), Samir Okasha (Bristol, UK) and Jesús Zamora (UNED, Spain).
The Editorial Team will be assisted in its work by an Editorial Board of highly reputed philosophers of science from around the world.

EJPS is the official journal of EPSA and will appear three times a year, beginning in January 2011. EJPS intends to publish first-rate research in all areas of philosophy of science, and now welcomes submissions via the on-line portal: http://www.editorialmanager.com/epsa

The Journal’s website (still partly under construction) is here:
http://www.springer.com/philosophy/philosophy+of+sciences/journal/13194

European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA): http://www.epsa.ac.at

New Journal: "European Journal for Philosophy of Science" (EJPS)

Stathis Psillos announces a new journal on PHILOS-L:
"The Steering Committee of the European Society for Philosophy of Science (EPSA) are pleased to announce that a new journal with the title "European Journal for Philosophy of Science" (EJPS) has been established. EJPS is the official journal of EPSA and is published by Springer. The Editor-in-Chief is Carl Hoefer (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain) and the deputy editor is Mauro Dorato (University of Rome III, Italy). Franz Huber (Konstanz, Germany) Edouard Machery (Pittsburgh, USA), Michela Massimi (London, UK), Samir Okasha (Bristol, UK) and Jesús Zamora (UNED, Spain) are Associate Editors. The first issue of EJPS is due to appear in January 2011. Members of EPSA will get the journal as part of the membership to
EPSA (current rate 40 Euros per year)."

This is splendid news, and I congratulate EPSA. (I have some knowledge of HOPOS' efforts to start a journal [news about that shortly], so I applaud the efforts by Stathis and EPSA.) It's great that they manage to keep the price down (a real concern with Springer journals). Let's wish they can create high standards and obtain a high ESF ranking.
But Stathis, shouldn't you have announced this first here?
Now for the sociological observation: Hoefer and Dorato both have a US PhD and have some HPS sensibilities. Not what I would have predicted (but no surprise about that).