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Journals with good turnaround times?

In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

About journal reviewing times:

I heard that the reviewing process is taking longer and longer in the last fewer years. As a PhD who is eager to get papers published, I was wondering whether there are mainstream and generalist journals that are known to have relatively short turnaround times for the reviewing process.

I have an impression that Synthese is reliable in this respect. On its website(https://www.springer.com/journal/11229) it says the median is 82 days from “Submission to first decision”; although this information is probably outdated.

For those who have more experience or inside information on this: are there journals that are particularly efficient in this respect? Are there mainstream journals that I should avoid?

Good questions. Another reader submitted the following reply:

I just wanted to point your (and everyone else's) attention to the APA Journal Survey Project, which has a lot of data on review times: https://apasurvey.philx.org/. And of course you can help each other by submitting your own data!

The APA Journal Survey Project is a good resource, but does anyone know how up to day the information is? Also, while I'm happy to have people post below on their experiences journals with good turnaround times, I don't know how comfortable I am with people posting on journals with bad turnaround times (as blog comments are hearsay, and negative comments could hurt a journal's reputation, which could give rise to problems for me as blog moderator and administrator).

In any case, if you have had any good recent experiences with journals giving quick decisions, feel free to post on them below!

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11 responses to “Journals with good turnaround times?”

  1. British Grad Student

    Analysis is famously the quickest and a great generalist journal. I’ve submitted there four times, sadly with the same rejection verdict, but they never took more than 2 or 3 weeks. They also always gave me helpful comments. I would also agree that Synthese is very good for that too. But definitely check out the Apa phil survey.

    Reply
  2. Elizabeth

    So far I’ve had good turnaround times (as in <3m) from: Journal of Applied Philosophy, Ratio, Analysis, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Utilitas (11 days for an R&R!), and Political Studies.
    Of course JPP has always had a reputation for a quick desk reject too, but who knows how relevant that is given the current situation.

    Reply
  3. Mark

    Regarding the APA Journal Survey Project (https://apasurvey.philx.org/), acceptance rates are (apparently) significantly overestimated. For instance, while Ethics reports a 3.8% acceptance rate, the website says 9.7%. Perhaps the self-selected sample skews acceptance rates more than response times; nonetheless, it seems warranted to take the survey’s results with a hefty grain of salt.

    Reply
  4. grad student

    If one wants to get a more up-to-date information from APA Survey, they should check the recent submissions rather than the journal averages (https://apasurvey.philx.org/surveys).

    Reply
  5. whatever

    The APA Journal Survey Project is very hit or miss, and I find it a little frustrating when people immediately point to it as a resource. Many journals have hardly any update data, since it fully depends on the submitter, not the journals to keep track of this stuff. I wish there was a place where all the relevant information for the top 25 generalist journals was kept.
    FWIW, I’ve gotten the quickest responses from Phil Studies and Philosophers’ Imprint. But came back with decisions in two weeks. PPR notoriously desk rejects almost to the very day of their initial two month review window. At Ergo I’ve waited 6 weeks for a desk rejection – not bad I suppose. Inquiry gave me a verdict in two months.

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  6. PS

    My experience with Synthese was good in this respect, also with Philosophy & Technology (although I submitted fewer manuscripts to the latter). Philosophical Psychology also has good turnaround times since the new editorial team took over.

    Reply
  7. academic migrant

    Journals where I got very quick desk rejections:
    Ergo
    JESP
    Analysis
    Journals where I know (through system status) that someone works hard to find reviewers almost immediately
    Ergo (also lets you see how many reviewers turn down requests)
    Imprint
    ETMP
    AJP
    Journals that give you an obvious timeframe for decisions
    Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy
    Res Publica (graduate prize)
    obviously incomplete though.
    And I do want to mention, regardless of how good journals are in terms of management, reviewer delays just can’t be easily resolved.

    Reply
  8. TT

    This is probably well-known, but BJPS is very well known for having (1) very quick turnaround times and (2) great referee reports, even for rejections.

    Reply
  9. UK Grad Student

    I heartily recommend sharing the APA Journal Survey Project as a resource – after all, the more of us who log our decisions, the more accurate the data will be.
    Re: Marcus’ comment, you can check up-to-date information for any given journal by selecting the journal on the APA Journal Survey Project page – this will display their most recent decisions and turnaround times. I can’t comment on all journals, but I’ve noticed Ratio has been particularly speedy in recent years. Almost all of their decisions (even acceptances!) arrive in less than 2 months.

    Reply
  10. Sam Duncan

    I’ll second those who said that Ergo, Analysis, the Journal of Applied Philosophy, and Journal of Political Philosophy all have quick turnarounds. Though I’d also second the view that all very liberally use the desk rejection. Back in the day though Goodin would almost always give at least give something in the way of comments for the stuff JPP desk rejected. Though again given the current situation that’s likely to change.
    A few I’d add to the list are Journal of the American Philosophical Association, the Southern Journal of Philosophy, and the British Journal for the History of Philosophy. I’d add that top to bottom I’ve always had very good experiences with the editors of those journals. I think my experience with JAPA might be the best overall journal experience I’ve had. Also, as a referee I can say that if you blow your two month deadline for BJHP by even a day or two they will nag you relentlessly (albeit very politely). Ask me how I know! I mean this as a complement and I think in a better world all journals would prod referees like this a lot more. Public Affairs Quarterly used to have pretty good turnaround times, but that was a long time ago and the editorial board has changed a lot, so I wouldn’t swear that that’s still the case. Anyway, hope that’s useful.

    Reply
  11. grad student

    I received a rejection with two sets of mostly helpful comments from Nous in less than 2 months.

    Reply

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