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How can we help you? (June 2025)

Now that it's been several months since our last "how can we help you?" thread, it's time for a new one.

For those of you unfamiliar with this series, this is a chance for you to post openly or anonymously in the comments section below on anything you could use help with related to the profession. After you post your query in the comments section, I will then post new threads for readers to discuss your query. 

As usual, feel free to ask questions on anything (within the Cocoon's mission) that you could use help with, including but not limited to:

  • The job-market (applying for jobs, etc.)
  • Issues in the profession (including issues of social justice)
  • Graduate school
  • Publishing
  • Teaching (including in the age of A.I.)
  • Work-life balance
  • Mental health & well-being
  • Personal struggles
  • Etc.

Ask away – we're here to help! 

Finally, a quick reminder of the following RULE: Please do not submit replies to other comments in this thread. It makes these threads unwieldy and difficult for me to keep track of which queries I've posted new threads on. If you'd like to respond to a comment in this thread, please wait until I dedicate a new post to the person's query myself and comment in that thread instead!

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46 responses to “How can we help you? (June 2025)”

  1. Journal ethics

    What are the norms on journals publishing articles written by editors? I saw a case yesterday and I was surprised it stills happens.

    Reply
  2. Hermias

    This question is purely vanity/curiosity.
    Does anyone have insight into what drives traffic to philpaper/people, or how awareness of pages spreads? I guess it’s hard to track the exact flow of awareness?
    I usually get c.1000 hits a month on my papers, but the for the last 5 days I’ve been getting 500 hits a day, and 90% of them are from different localities in Vietnam and Brazil. I guess you really have no idea who your audience is…

    Reply
  3. J

    I would like to understand the role of an advisory board member for a journal.
    I was invited to join the advisory board of a lesser-known journal, and they clarified that my involvement would require no responsibilities. This seems unusual to me.
    I expect that advisory board members should provide guidance to the editors or help ensure that the journal maintains its integrity and fairness through their reputation. Could someone clarify this for me?

    Reply
  4. Same same

    @Hermias – the same thing happened to me! Tons of hits, all Vietnam and Brazil.

    Reply
  5. balloon-popper

    Not to harsh anyone’s buzz, but if you see hits like that it’s because some kind of scraper or robot is going through the website.

    Reply
  6. Same same

    No balloon here, balloon-popper! I had the same thought, and was worried that some bot was taking the papers I’ve posted and uploading them to some LLM. If that’s happening, then people might have an interest in taking them down.

    Reply
  7. Researching without conferencing?

    I have never liked conferences, and my (non-tt, teaching-focused) job doesn’t provide much financial support for conference participation anyway. However, I very much enjoy research and I like getting/giving feedback on new work. I have found informal settings to be much more productive than conferences, e.g. just swapping papers with friends in the profession and then meeting over Zoom to discuss. I’m wondering if people have found other successful ways to get/give feedback on research outside of the formal conference setting. I guess one issue here is that what I’m talking about doesn’t translate well into documentable research activity that can be used for hiring/promotion purposes. However, setting that issue to the side, does anyone have any tips here?

    Reply
  8. The Important Thing

    People. We’re philosophers. We use words well. So it’s shameful to see the phrase “harsh anyone’s buzz”. Buzzes aren’t harshed. Buzzes are killed. Mellows are harshed.

    Reply
  9. Peer Reviewed?

    A journal has invited me to comment on one of their recent articles, but advised that the draft I submit will not be editable except in minor ways. I assume this means I will not be receiving substantive feedback on it. In that case, should such a publication be listed as ‘peer-reviewed’ on my resume? I suspect that scholars familiar with the journal, which is the best in its subfield, would find it strange to see a publication in this venue listed as an ‘Other Publication’ or the like.

    Reply
  10. Long-winded(?)

    I have been toying with the idea of writing and (hopefully) publishing a short article (Analysis style), but I feel quite unprepared. I have published a bit, but always long articles (my articles are often on the longer side). Any tips on writing short papers that aren’t reply pieces?

    Reply
  11. different review models

    Do you know philosophy journals reviewed in single-anonymized or identities-visible models? Recently I saw an established philosophy journal published by Springer say in its submission guidelines that its peer review process is single anonymized. According to the accompanying taxonomy file available at https://osf.io/we82n
    Single anonymized means Reviewer masked to author, author visible to reviewer, reviewer and author visible to (decision-making) editor;
    Double anonymized: Reviewer masked to author, author masked to reviewer, reviewer and author visible to (decision-making) editor;
    Triple anonymized: Reviewer masked to author, author masked to reviewer, reviewer & author masked to (decision-making) editor;
    All identities visible: Reviewer visible to author, author visible to reviewer, reviewer
    and author visible to (decision-making) editor.
    Since most philosophy journals seem to be Double or Triple anonymized, I am curious about philosophy journals reviewed in single-anonymized or identities-visible models. Do you know good philosophy journals adopt these models? What are the differences between the four models? Identities-visible model seems interesting because reviewers know that authors will know their identities, and so they tend to write the reports in much more responsible ways. But what about single-anonymized review? Reviewers know the identities of authors, but authors does not know the identities of reviewers, shall this model produce more responsible reports?
    I’ve received many 100 to 200 word reports with very biased, or deeply disrespectful and irrelevant, or even shameless and wrong comments from philosophy journals that adopt Double or Triple anonymized review models.

    Reply
  12. j_wondering

    Question about publication ‘ethics’: Say a philosopher is working on a project and is drafting a long, journal article length paper on the subject. While working on that project, the opportunity arises to publish a much shorter commentary style paper version of the longer paper, which would leave out a lot of details but highlight one specific part of the longer project. Is it weird to have a ‘short’ and ‘long’ version of an argument be published, if there are things highlighted or discussed differently between the two?

    Reply
  13. h

    How many times is it normal to present the same paper at conferences/workshops? There are several talks that I have presented twice–both in order to get additional feedback and to network at conferences–and I’m now at the point in my career at which I’m being invited to give lectures at other departments, so I’ll likely continue to do so. But I’m wondering at what point, if any, it looks bad/weird on one’s CV to keep “milking” the same talk.

    Reply
  14. Word count?

    This seems like it should be an easy question to answer, but I’ve had a surprisingly hard time figuring it out. If a journal says submissions should be no longer than 10,000 words, including notes and references, do the “references” here mean in-text references, or the actual reference/bibliography list at the end of the article? It would seem that including the full reference list in the word count would encourage under-citing, which is a problem. The particular journal I have in mind is Mind & Language, which makes this even weirder, since empirical-adjacent journals tend to have papers with more citations.

    Reply
  15. from tt to non-tt

    Could members of search committees for non-tt positions weigh-in on their reactions when they see an application from someone in a tt position come across their desktop? How much rationale do you care to see in the cover letter as to why such a candidate might be applying too your job? I ask because as someone in a precarious tt position in a red state who has already made cuts (maybe you can guess which one), I am interested in applying to attractive, stable non-tt teaching positions when they pop up; in fact, I’ve applied to such positions, but have had no luck. So I am looking for tips.

    Reply
  16. grad

    I’m interested in how faculty distribute their time across different research activities (reading, drafting, writing, and revising) during three periods: the teaching term, academic breaks, and sabbatical.
    As a grad student without service responsibilities and limited teaching responsibilities, I’m trying to understand how research productivity is managed alongside other obligations.

    Reply
  17. hate to have to ask

    Does anyone have any advice re: interacting with someone in the profession who’s treated you very badly? E.g., sexual harassment, verbal abuse, etc.
    Particularly in the context of, this person is going to keep being in the profession, adjacent to your area, will keep being invited to contribute to things/speak at conferences, and so forth. The question is not so much how to interact with that person specifically (avoidance whenever possible seems ideal), but how to emotionally/mentally handle the positive comments of others and generally having to continue to share professional space with them (unlike in a non-academic field where you could presumably change jobs or companies).

    Reply
  18. DryCapElbow

    What do we make of this:


    The creator does not direct their concerns towards Academic Philosophy (or any other part of the Humanities), but as someone pursuing their postgraduate/doctorate/postdoc, how seriously should one take the rather strongly made suggestions in the video?

    Reply
  19. Annoyed

    When should one pull a book project from an unresponsive press? My editor at a major press has screwed up at almost every step of the process. For example, she failed to deanonymize peer review comments, which has hurt one of my professional relationships. After passing peer review in September, I have still not received a contract. Now she hasn’t responded to my emails for months, since January (she is certainly still at the press). I asked to switch editors with no luck. I feel like I’m falling into the gambler fallacy at this point.

    Reply
  20. grant

    I am curious how people get suggestions and guidance regarding one’s research after graduate school, especially for those who work in small departments where there are minimal overlaps between people’s research interests. I am not talking about conference papers or substantive drafts, but some early-stage, premature ideas, or some relatively basic questions.
    More specifically, I have seen really great discussions and suggestions both here (thank you, Marcus!) and the “Teaching Philosophy” facebook group. I guess I am looking for a counterpart of such online communities for research. Somewhere I can ask questions anonymously, such as “I become interested in topic X. What are some recent works on it?”, “I had a really hard time understanding the concept Y. Can anyone help me or suggest some readings?”

    Reply
  21. Frustrated

    One of the more frustrating aspects of academia is how often senior faculty, including those tasked with supporting job candidates, assume that people on the market are young, naive, and not quite fully adult.
    Why is this the default assumption?
    I’m a 36-year-old married scholar with two young children, and yet I’m frequently treated—especially by North American colleagues—as if I were a grad student in need of unsolicited life advice or professional guidance. The tone often implies that I’m too inexperienced to know my own mind, and seems to show tacit commitment to the assumption that postdocs are somehow too young to know themselves, or something. In my case, I have been offered tenure-track positions, but I have turned them down for very good personal and professional reasons.
    Can we stop equating job market status with youth, naivety, or incompleteness? Why is this even an assumption? Can any senior or mid-career scholars weigh in on how they have critically reflected on their treatment of those who are professionally junior, and changed their treatment of those who are professionally junior as a result?
    One analogue here, I think, is how I was treated before and after having children. Before children, I was sometimes treated as though there was some sort of incompleteness as an adult stemming from the lack of children, which is rubbish.
    I’d be interested to hear from others who’ve experienced this, and from senior or mid-career scholars who have advice on how to speak to junior colleagues without condescension.

    Reply
  22. Same boat

    @Frustrated, I do not have a solution. I just want to say that my experience is pretty similar: I find the North American attitude towards researchers in precarious jobs very disrespectful. Although I have to say that there are some people who are very supportive and treat me like an intellectual peer (usually those are people with an international profile, though…).

    Reply
  23. Solitude

    I have seen many questions on sabbatical here, and many suggestions. In particular, I have seen many testimonies of how nice and useful visiting another university is. But I wonder if there is anyone who can testify on the effects of a different way of spending the sabbatical, namely deep working/reading in solitude for the entirety of sabbatical.
    This is my plan, because for some idiosyncratic reasons I can’t visit anywhere. Also, my experience in the past of giving random talks in nearby universities and have zoom discussions did not prove to be a productive way to spend a sabbatical.
    Success and failure stories are both welcome!

    Reply
  24. conferences

    What’s the best way to find out about conferences/workshops in one’s areas? Does philevents basically cover all bases here, or are there are other resources that I should be availing myself of?

    Reply
  25. Netanel

    Does anyone browse mid- to lower-tier journals looking for something to read, or do people only read articles there when something outside refers them to them?

    Reply
  26. Counteranker

    I noticed that the Leiter poll journal rankings are pretty consistent throughout the years in how certain journals are ranked. I was curious if there’s anyone out there who’d care to share if they have a strong disagreement about the rankings of some of the journals there, and even some unranked there.

    Reply
  27. question

    I’ve recently received an R&R from a journal. However, I now have significant misgivings about the paper; I no longer like the way I framed the issue, my views have developed/changed since the manuscript has been under review, etc. The referee report suggested a number of changes. However, there are many things not mentioned by the referee that I would like to change. Frankly, I would prefer to scrap the manuscript altogether and rewrite it from scratch. What do people recommend doing in this kind of situation? Is withdrawing the manuscript unreasonable? If not, what do I say to the journal/editor? Some context: I am a junior academic with a non-tt but permanent position. I already have a handful of publications in respectable journals. I felt somewhat rushed in sending this manuscript out for job market reasons (it’s one of the main positive contributions of my diss.), I’m now regretting doing so.

    Reply
  28. anxiety on UK skilled worker visa

    My guess is that some are in a similar situation to me: on a Skilled Worker Visa (not Global Talent Visa), are a few years from Indefinitely Leave to Remain (maybe equivalent to the US Green Card?), and has an employer who’s unwilling to pay the visa costs and Immigration Health Surcharge.
    A few months ago, the UK government decided to crack down on immigration. One thing we know is that the government wants to increase the 5 year residency requirement before being eligible for Indefinitely Leave to Remain to 10 years. What we don’t yet know is whether this will apply to people already in the country, and if so, whether we will qualify for “earned settlement” i.e. made sufficient “contributions to the UK economy and society.”
    Not seeking any insight into how the government will implement it, as this is anyone’s guess before actual details are revealed. Just asking whether anyone in a similar situation would like to commiserate about how this country is unwelcoming to migrants.

    Reply
  29. Alma

    What should I do when I am asked by a triple blind journal to review a paper that I myself submitted?
    Obviously I will not agree to review it, but I’m wondering what is the best way to decline the request.

    Reply
  30. early career angst

    How prestigious are presses like Bloomsbury, Routledge, Rowman & Littlefield, Lexington, etc. compared to university presses? On the one hand, I have sometimes heard people in the humanities say university presses are the “gold standard” for academics in terms of hiring and promotion. On the other hand, many of these non-university presses rank higher in informal surveys than many university presses (e.g. https://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2013/02/best-philosophy-publishers-in-english.html). I am especially interested in Bloomsbury’s reputation: since the time of Leiter’s survey, it has obtained a number of other publishers ranked in the top 20, such as Rowman & Littlefield. Does this indicate that Bloomsbury has a comparable prestige?

    Reply
  31. CV confusion

    If one is an adjunct at one university, but at a different institution holds a research position (not TT), where does the adjunct work belong on a CV? Under ‘Professional Experience’ (i.e., as a professional affiliation) or under ‘Teaching Experience’?

    Reply
  32. anon asst prof

    How should one deal with an uncommunicative coauthor?
    Long story short, I’ve had a paper in the works with one coauthor for a good while. The paper has been basically complete for over a year now. We’ve both agreed it just needs a final polish from both of us before sending it out, and that my coauthor will edit it with regard to new work in their AOS first and I will then give it a final polish. So far so good, and I think it’s a great paper!
    However it’s gotten increasingly difficult to get a hold of my coauthor. They’ve had some personal life difficulties, so it’s very understandable. At first, when I would circle back to ask if they’re making progress, it would take them months to respond. We managed to meet up over zoom, and I asked if they’d like me to take over entirely if they can’t contribute anymore (of course retaining them as an author), or bring someone else from their AOS on board as a third author. They ensured me they’ve got this, but afterwards, they’ve stopped responding altogether. I’m both worried if they’re OK, and frustrated because I’m working on a connected paper that builds on our collaboration and would love to cite this one in it.
    What’s the best way to move forward? Is it appropriate to contact someone from their department to ask if my collaborator is OK, or could it create problems for them?

    Reply
  33. Cf.?

    Does does anyone (particularly those who often read job market writing samples or regularly serve as a reviewer) have any advice as to when on when one can or should use “Cf.” according to our disciplinary norms? I am aware that there is a bit of semantic drift going on and that people often use it beyond its official use of meaning something like “compare”. One often finds it used as more or less synonymous with “see” in all sorts of published venues, particularly in empirical-adjacent philosophy journals. However, I am wondering whether some sticklers look down on this usage and whether it would thus be wise to avoid it even though I enjoy using it in the latter way.

    Reply
  34. Bigdumbbutitriedsearching

    I recall a post I cannot find wherein someone listed a series of regularly available postdocs. Can anyone help me find it? Thanks!

    Reply
  35. Early Career

    I wonder how does one distinguish if a paper I wrote should be submitted to a generalist or a specialist journal? Is it just that once you get rejected from the top 10 generalist journals, you start sending your paper to specialist journals in your area? Or, perhaps, there is something about the content itself that makes the difference. Any advice?

    Reply
  36. Anon PhD student

    It seems that more and more are PhDs encouraged to go for a postdoc, rather than apply for a tenure track position right away, these days. (At least, this is my impression as a current mid-way grad student.) What really are the benefits of navigating the job market this way? Are there circumstances where this is a particularly good/bad idea? I’ve been asking around my department about this for some time and am curious to hear what others think. Any thoughts?
    TLDR; to postdoc or not to postdoc?

    Reply
  37. dangerous?

    I’m heading to a large conference in the southern US later this year, where I’ll be presenting on a topic that is under attack by the current administration (think reproductive rights, trans rights, etc.). I’m an academic in Canada, so I’ll be traveling across the border. But I’m a US citizen, for whatever that’s worth.
    I haven’t been able to find any real information about how worried I should be or what I should do as I prepare to go to the US. I’m privileged to be in Canada, but I have a deep sense of responsibility to participate in some kind of resistance — which has been much harder for me since I’m not currently embedded in my usual US community. So, I’m fairly committed to going to this conference.
    But I just keep getting increasingly worried, and since most academics in Canada are completely avoiding the US (for good reason!!!), it’s been difficult to get any advice on what to do if I’m set on going. I guess I’m just wondering if anyone has any sense of how dangerous this could be, what precautions I ought to take, etc. Any thoughts or advice?

    Reply
  38. new editor

    This isn’t a pressing question, but I guess there is no harm in asking.
    Do you usually ask more junior or more senior people as referees? Should one ask more junior or senior people? All else being equal.
    For background, I have never received any advice on this front, formally or informally.

    Reply
  39. fish out of water

    This may be a unique question, but I’m thinking of writing a book on a topic that I haven’t published on extensively as an academic philosopher. (In short, the topic is much more applied, and in an area in which I used to do advocacy work).
    Will my book proposal be met with extra skepticism unless I publish ‘academically’ on that topic? Do you think concerns would be mitigate by making clear my relevant work/teaching experience?
    Stories from those with first-hand experience most welcome!

    Reply
  40. To accept or not to accept?

    I’m a grad student (ABD) who recently had my first job interview. I’d be grateful to hear some advice from folks in the profession about whether turning down an offer from this job, assuming I received one, would be too risky. Here’s my somewhat complicated situation:
    My dissertation is virtually ready to be defended as the time of writing. I can graduate as early as December of this year. The job starts in August (next month). So, if I took it, I would move there ABD and wrap up my PhD in absentia. The job is a temporary non-TT lecturer position that lasts for three years and it pays decently well, especially given the low cost of living in the area. The teaching load is 4/4. There is no philosophy department. It’s a small state university. My other option is to remain in my program for one more year (it will be my sixth year if I do). If I stay in, I’ll have more time to produce publishable papers over the next year, as I’d only be TAing or teaching one class each semester. I already have one pub in a leiter top-10 (not top-5) generalist journal, another in a well-regarded but not tippy-top specialist journal, and a third in a specialist journal that isn’t widely known. If I take the job, obviously I’ll have significantly less time to add more good pubs to my CV. On the other hand, I’m from a program that is ranked on the lower end of the leiter scale (it is a top specialist department for my dissertation area, however). So, I’m worried that if I don’t take this potentially decent opportunity now (assuming I receive an offer), I might end up with nothing, or with something worse, when it’s all said and done. I know that there’s a lot of luck involved with this sort of thing.
    Basically, I’m weighing immediate job and financial security against the possibility that I can do better if I just keep my head down and write, write, write for the next year. Taking the immediate security could mean that I’m less well-positioned at the end of the three years to move on to bigger and better things. Choosing to turn it down, however, could be seen as a gamble — I’d be turning it down on the assumption that I will receive a better offer this upcoming round on the job market.
    A few final things that factor into this: my spouse would be able to watch our small children full-time if I took the job. Currently, I spend part of my “working” hours every week contributing to childcare because my spouse has to work a part-time job (my TA stipend alone isn’t enough to keep us afloat). If I took the job, I’d get back some of that time (about 8-10 hours per week). Still, a 4/4 will be more significantly more time-consuming than my current workload even after factoring that in. Another thing to mention is that I would have summer and winter breaks off to write if I took the job. I’m also especially worried that this upcoming job cycle will be particularly rough. My ultimate goal is a TT job at an R2 or good SLAC with something like a 3/3 or 3/2.
    Any advice is greatly appreciated!

    Reply
  41. Anil Sezgin

    Does anyone have any experience with permanently closing their PhilPapers account? I have decided to do so for personal reasons (no beef at all with PP), submitted a request, but not heard back from them. My guess is that since probably no one does this, they are not used to getting this type of request. I’d be happy if someone at PP reads this and takes action!

    Reply
  42. new horizons

    What are the up and down-sides of radically changing the focus of one’s research before tenure? I recently started an ass prof job. The main upside, in my mind, is I like the new area and feel more excited to learn about and contribute to it. The main downsides are 1) might be some time before I can publish in it and 2) when getting letters for tenure, there might be confusion about ‘who I am’ as a researched and where my expertise lies.
    Thanks!

    Reply
  43. Keel

    I wrote a critical-notice-style piece of a recent book. After submitting it to Analysis Reviews, I was told that AR had already solicited a critical notice on the same book from another author. Now I’m wondering where else I might submit my piece. Which journals publish pieces in the style of critical notices or discussions? (What I’ve written is not really a book review, but an extended discussion of some of the book’s main claim.)

    Reply
  44. onthemarketsoon

    Thanks to AI, I’m fairly convinced that we cannot assign term papers or out of class writing assignments anymore. Online classes probably have no value whatsoever. In-class writing assignments and other AI mitigation strategies will be a part of any course I teach in the future. My question concerns whether and how I ought to express this in my teaching statement. Will search committees expect to see AI mitigation strategies somewhere in our application materials? Perhaps in our teaching statements? My inclination is to use part of the teaching statement to say something about this, but I am unsure what it should look like.

    Reply
  45. Decision pending…

    I’ve got a paper that has been stuck in “Decision in Process” status in Editorial Manager for over a month now. What gives? Is it worth emailing Springer/Elsevier/whatever to ask them to gently remind the editors?

    Reply
  46. that inexperienced

    I wasn’t following the threads recently and missed the discussion of my editor question when it was active. Here’s a follow up question. I have tried senting out a paper to a bunch of senior referees that the paper cites more or less, but have got almost no responses, even though I have followed up with emails. One gave a pretty rude decline. I am wondering if this is anything personal (namely they react to the status of the editor), or simply because they are too busy etc? If this is just about being senior, then I think I would not try to request senior ones anymore. P.S. I am not hurt, just feel inexperienced. Thanks!

    Reply

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