The Philosophers' Cocoon

A safe and supportive forum for philosophers.

Owned & Moderated by Marcus Arvan (University of Tampa)

Contact: marvan@ut.edu

Blog mission & moderation policy

IMPORTANT NOTE on how to ensure anonymity in commenting
Job-Market Reporting Thread (2025-26)
Job-Market Discussion Thread (2025-26)

recent posts

about

Tips for seeking feedback on papers (for a philosopher in a non-Anglophone country)?

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

I am an early-career philosopher from a non-Anglophone country. After earning my PhD from an institution in my home country, I secured a tenure-track position here. The academic publication system in my country has its challenges; submissions are rarely blind-reviewed, and editors often desk-reject papers from junior philosophers due to concerns about citation potential. Consequently, I prefer to publish in English.

However, I face difficulties obtaining feedback on my manuscripts. The community of analytic philosophers here is small, making it hard to find individuals with the expertise to provide constructive feedback. Additionally, I don't have many personal connections with philosophers from Anglophone countries, and I feel it might be presumptuous to ask for comments on my drafts from those who don't know me. Currently, I submit my manuscripts to journals and wait for several months, hoping to receive helpful comments from reviewers.

Given these circumstances, I wonder if there are more effective ways to obtain feedback on my manuscripts. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Good question, and it would be great to hear from readers, particularly those in a similar situation. But here's one idea: why not use ChatGPT and/or other large language model AI for this? Although I share a lot of common worries about their use (and safety), I've heard that they can provide an excellent sounding board for philosophical ideas, as well as for refining writing. 

Do any readers have any helpful tips to share?

Posted in ,

5 responses to “Tips for seeking feedback on papers (for a philosopher in a non-Anglophone country)?”

  1. Tim O’Keefe

    I’d present your papers at conferences, to get feedback from your commenter and the audience members. The quality of the feedback you get can be hit or miss, but I’ve sometimes found it very useful. Some conferences are competitive to get your paper into, but others are pretty wide open.

    Reply
  2. reach out

    I think it is fine to reach out to other philosophers whose work you are addressing or drawing on. Many people would be falttered and willing to help, as long as you do not turn it into a situation where they feel hounded. Indeed, I reached out to very senior people earlier in my career, and some of them gave very constructive feedback. Indeed, in two cases, it led to ongoing relationships (professional, of course). But do not send really under-developed ideas to busy people.

    Reply
  3. Grad

    Congratulations on securing a tenure-track position!
    One option could be to contact graduate students working in the area you are in, describe your situation, and offer paper exchanges (where you and another exchange a paper, and you give feedback to each other).
    Another could be to try to get to know anglophone people at conferences or summer schools (albeit this would likely require travel funding).
    Lastly, I’m not all that sure it’s presumptuous to ask strangers for feedback. If I received an email describing your situation like this, and asking if the professor knows e.g. a grad student or postdocs who might be willing to provide feedback in a paper exchange, or is willing to provide feedback themselves, I wouldn’t find that presumptuous! Quite the contrary, people might find you reaching out to them for advice flattering. But I am not a professor nor anglophone, so others would be better suited to judge this.

    Reply
  4. anglophone

    I wouldn’t worry about the presumptuousness of cold emailing people who you think would give you helpful comments. The worst that could happen is that they say no, and this might be how you start to develop a network outside your home country. I think lots of people would be excited to review a manuscript from someone who values their expertise.
    There are also a decent number of entirely online conferences these days. That’s one way to get feedback (although that also means potentially waiting for months, as in the case of journal submissions) and to make connections with people outside of your country, who you could then ask for feedback on future projects.

    Reply
  5. ChastenedAuthor

    I second Marcus’s idea about using ChatGPT. You have to be a little careful, because it will spit out some nonsense sometimes, but it can be a great way to workshop some ideas initially. I also find it useful for if I’m using a method I’m not completely at ease with.
    I also second what other say about don’t worry about cold e-mailing. I reached out cold to a senior professor and asked if they would be willing to look at one of my papers. I had a bit of an opening, because they had cited one of my articles in one of their papers, but we had never met or talked before. They were very gracious, and about two and a half months later I got very detailed, very good comments on my paper.
    Like other said, so long as you don’t hound or pester them, I think you’ll be surprised at how many positive responses you’ll get.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Discover more from The Philosophers' Cocoon

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading