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All dressed up and nowhere to submit?

I recently wrote a longish paper replying to an article in a good journal that was itself a longish reply to an earlier article in the journal. Alas, my article ended up getting rejected from the journal and now I find myself in a bit of a quandary: namely, what to do with the paper now? As I'm sure many readers know, most philosophy journals don't consider replies to articles in other journals. This has always seemed to me a bit unfortunate, as it seems like a real barrier to philosophical debate. But regardless, I'm at a bit of a loss what to do with the paper now.

Any readers have any tips/suggestions? Have you ever been in a similar situation? If so, what did you do and how did it work? It could be good to hear from journal editors too, as they obviously have inside insight. Many thanks in advance to everyone who chimes in!

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6 responses to “All dressed up and nowhere to submit?”

  1. Michel

    Seems to me like all you can do is convert it to a standalone paper. Most of that work can probably be accomplished by changing your framing and signposting, but some of it will require more extensive tinkering. It’s a little tricky to shift from reply-mode to making-a-more-general-point-mode.
    One of my most-rejected papers was like that, and it took a few years to finally get it published. It’s out in a very good generalist journal now, however, and I’d say it’s one of my best!
    Good luck!

    Reply
  2. Response Author

    Send it somewhere else. I submitted an article to journal X that was responding to an article in journal Y and it was published. If the target article was published in a good journal and has had some impact on a particular debate, there’s a better chance that another journal would be interested in a response, even if this not the norm.

    Reply
  3. a few ideas

    some ideas: Use it as your focal example, mention the paper/author 1-2x max in intro and conclusion, & fill in 2-4 more discussions of 1-3 paragraphs of related lit where it fits, and/or add one more section not directly on the paper.

    Reply
  4. Marcus Arvan

    Thanks for the tips!

    Reply
  5. X

    I have a related question. I reviewed a paper for a journal and it was accepted. It is bad form to now go and write a paper that largely rejects the argument of the paper I accepted. It is a good paper. I just think it is susceptible to problems and counterexamples that I had not considered in my initial review.

    Reply
  6. Michel

    X: I don’t think it’s bad form at all. TBH, I assume that’s how most replies get written and published.

    Reply

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