In the comments section of our most recent 'Ask a search-committee member' thread, anon writes:
What would publications from https://1000wordphilosophy.com/ look like to a potential search committee members?
The editors do come right out and say
"We publish approximately 10% of essays that are submitted, usually after substantial revisions and editing.
Most, but not all, of our published essays are by professors of philosophy or advanced graduate students in philosophy.
Essays published at 1000-Word Philosophy are peer-reviewed publications. "
I realize not as much weight as journal articles but I
am still curious.
Anonymous then chimed in as follows:
Hi anon–just one perspective here but my guess it is somewhat representative of folks on research-focused hiring committees: having a publication like this would make no difference to me one way or another when assessing a file. My guess is that some faculty at research-focused would (unjustifiably) count it as a very slight negative, because it makes you look "less serious" as a researcher or something, and that some would count it as a slight positive (but not much of a positive). I have no idea what people in other kinds of institutions/departments would think.
As far as research schools go, this sounds right to me. Research-focused departments are looking for top researchers, where is this typically understood as original work in top-ranked journals, book presses, etc. Since short 1,000 word introductory anthology pieces don't speak to that, my sense is that Anonymous is right: one of these publications is liable to make little or no difference in how anyone evaluates a file (and it could indeed be a minor negative). But what about more teaching-oriented departments?
My sense is that publications like this could well be a mild or even moderate positive for 'teaching jobs' (i.e. SLACs, CC's), provided one is otherwise an excellent candidate. Here's why. At teaching schools like mine, people care about whether a new hire is going to publish enough to get tenure. Since one is almost certainly not going to get tenure on the basis of articles in 1,000-word philosophy, it won't count for much if one doesn't have other, more standard peer-reviewed journal publications (viz. more substantial, original work). However, suppose you do have a fairly good peer-reviewed publication record in more standard types of journals. In that case, might a 1,000-word philosophy entry be seen as at least a minor positive? My sense is: absolutely! Indeed, there's a particular reason for this.
A number of years ago, a friend of mine at a SLAC mentioned that, in the tenure process, their article that received the most positive reaction from the tenure committee and dean was a chapter in a book in Blackwell's Philosophy and Pop Culture series. Apparently, this paper was singled out, far more than the person's peer-reviewed journal publications. Why? It might sound odd to a lot people–specifically, because we are socialized in grad school to think that "good research" is publishing in Phil Review and whatnot. However, my sense is that for at least some SLACs, provided one also published more standard peer-reviewed research, 'non-standard' publications tend to be looked upon pretty favorably. The reason for this, or so I gather, is that people at SLACs–particular administrators–can look favorably on things that give the university a good public face (i.e. visibility outside of academia). Publications in Blackwell's pop culture anthology do this, as (plausibly) do entries in 1,000-word philosophy–since it is a venue intended to introduce a general audience to philosophical issues!
Anyway, long story short, even at "teaching institutions" I expect that entries in 1,000-word philosophy may not be looked at as a huge positive. Still, provided one otherwise has a more standard publication record, I think it is not at all implausible that publications like this may tend to be looked at as at least a mild positive–as more "popular" publications can potentially make you look like a more interesting candidate who does philosophy in a way that may engage more with students and the general public.
But this is just my sense. What is yours?
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