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

How can we help you? (November 2025)

Now that it’s November, it’s time for a new “how can we help you?” thread.

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
  • Work-life balance
  • Mental health & well-being
  • Professional or 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!

Posted in

64 responses to “How can we help you? (November 2025)”

  1. AssocProf

    If a job is advertised as an assistant professorship, tenure track, is there any room for them to hire an associate professor with tenure? A job in the U.K. was advertised that is exactly my specialty. I’m an associate professor with tenure, and I’d be interested in working at that university, only I’m not willing to give up tenure. Is it even within the realm of possibility that they could hire me with tenure, or once the job is advertised a certain way, as only tenure track, does it need to stay that way? Thanks in advance for your help.

    Reply
    1. UK Jobs

      Just FYI, UK universities do not have a traditional tenure system, and they only very recently started switching titles to Assistant/Associate/Full Professor from the commensurate Lecturer/Reader/Professor ranks. While these are permanent contract positions, they do not have a tenure clock like North American jobs and also do not have the same level of protections against termination.

      Reply
  2. R2D2

    I promised a paper of mine to a collection that is supposed to be published by a good (but not tippy-top) press. Well, several years have passed, and the collection still hasn’t appeared, nor have there been any announcements about when it’s expected to be published, as far as I’m aware. The editors have also been largely unresponsive the few times that I’ve asked them for updates. Recently, though, one of the editors told me that it will come out later this year. But as it’s November and none of the contributors has heard anything about it, this prediction seems questionable, too, and I worry that we’re being strung along. At the same time, the editors are still listing the collection on their academic webpages, so it’s not entirely clear what’s going on.

    What should I do? Should I withdraw the paper (or make clear that withdrawal is very much on the table unless there’s meaningful movement)? I’m early-career and on the tenure track, and while having this paper published won’t make or break my case for tenure, I’d still prefer that it be published, either in this collection or elsewhere, given how long it’s been since it was first written.

    Reply
  3. Non-native

    I wanted to get some thoughts on something I’m feeling a bit anxious about regarding a recent journal submission.

    During the submission process, the editorial system had a notice stipulating that any use of AI tools, for any purpose, must be declared in the manuscript. As a non-native speaker, I used an AI tool strictly for grammar checking and language polishing. To be clear: I wrote the entire manuscript myself, but I used the tool to help improve clarity and smooth out awkward phrasing that I might have missed.I followed the rules and declared this use in the manuscript. However, I can’t help but wonder how this declaration will be perceived by editors and reviewers.

    For those of you who edit or review: When you see such a declaration (specifying it’s for polishing, not content generation), does it unconsciously incline you to see the author as less competent? Does it raise any flags or make you question the originality of the work, even if the ideas are 100% the author’s? Or am I just overthinking this?

    I’d really appreciate any thoughts or experiences from fellow philosophers!

    Reply
  4. First time marketeer

    I would love a “how bad is the job market” update now that it’s November, especially from those who have been on the market for a few years. In addition to any general updates people have, here are three questions I am interested in:

    1) I am applying fairly widely in my AOSes, and my total list of jobs is ~60 (I have already applied to ~40). Is this dismal for applying widely?

    2) I have been told this year (and perhaps moving forward) timelines will be all over the place because of funding, and so there might be more jobs posted in the spring than in the future (meaning it is still too early to tell *how* dismal the market is). Does anyone have intel on this?

    3) I have been told that this year is expected to be *particularly* bad, and that next year is expected to be better than this year (even if still bad). Does anyone have any intel on this?

    Reply
    1. First time marketeer

      Sorry, in regard to 2 I should have been clearer and said “there might be more jobs posted in the spring this year and in future years”

      Reply
  5. Anonymous

    How seriously are other LGBT faculty thinking about leaving the US (T faculty especially)? Are you planning on applying out, or is your priority simply getting out, career be damned?

    Reply
    1. Anon trans guy

      I am applying outside of the US but I am also looking at other careers. There are just not enough options in friendly countries. Right now, I’m prioritizing my personal life, which means relocating.

      Reply
    2. Anon trans guy

      Oh, and sorry to have replied–I didn’t see Marcus’s note. (By the way, is there any way to fix the site so the sidebar is visible? I can’t see recent posts or comments at all anymore beyond the top two.)

      Reply
      1. Marcus

        No worries! I’m not having that issue either on a computer or smartphone. The sidebar is visible on my computer, and on smartphone recent comments are at the top of the page and the list of tags/site index is all the way at the bottom (which unfortunately is the only way that I can find to format the sidebar for phones).

        Can you give me a little bit more detail on how you’re encountering the problems?

      2. PhD Candidate

        Marcus I also can only see “recent posts” on Chrome on my laptop (can see recent comments on my phone though!). For some reason I cannot scroll the left sidebar at all. So I am having the same issue!

      3. Marcus

        This is very, very strange. I just confirmed with a colleague down the hall that they can view the site just fine (they use an Apple computer and I use a PC). So, I have no clue what the issue might be. I’ll submit a ticket to WordPress to ask them to investigate.

      4. Marcus

        Okay, here is what WordPress’s support just told me: “Can you ask one of them to try refreshing the page with Ctrl+F5 (this clears their browser cache)? Also, have them check if their browser window is maximized or if it’s in a narrow window that might trigger mobile view.” Let me know if this works!

      5. PhD Candidate

        clearing the browser cache worked so I can see recent comments on the main page! However, I still can’t scroll at all on the left sidebar, so I am just stuck with whatever is at the top. I tried going maxing the browser window and that didn’t help! so weird. I’ve tried double clicking on the left side of the screen and basically everything i can think of!

      6. Marcus

        I just tried another thing WordPress suggested (a full “reset” on customizations to the home page). Can you see if that worked?

      7. Another PhD Candidate

        Now I can’t see the pinned job-market reporting and discussion threads nor the scrollable sidebard…..

      8. Marcus

        How about now?

      9. Another PhD Candidate

        Both the pinned posts and sidebar are back, although the sidebar is still unscrollable (it wasn’t scrollable for me before either, though).

      10. Anon trans guy

        Neither Safari nor Firefox, running on a Mac, allow the left sidebar to scroll. Clearing the browser cache does not change the issue. I think what you want is being discussed in this thread: on theme.co.

        The left sidebar needs to be scrollable when it reaches a certain height (e.g., when there are enough comments visible). I think there are plugins to address this like a sticky sidebar.

      11. Marcus

        Okay, I think I discovered the issue. On WordPress (with this theme, at least), the only way to “scroll the sidebar” is to scroll the entire page (re: all the posts) all the way to the bottom. Once you get almost to the bottom, the sidebar will scroll down with you. Annoying for sure.

        I see another philosophy WordPress site that scrolls the more natural way–so I will fiddle with other themes to see if that fixes things. Thanks to everyone for the help. I can’t say that I’m particularly pleased about the migration to WordPress, but I’m doing my best. Thanks for the patience (and again, for the help).

      12. Anonymous

        Ah, the sidebar does scroll for me if I scroll the main page to the bottom! Thanks for the tips, Marcus! (Also thanks for maintaining the cocoon—I definitely benefited a lot from it!)

  6. journal question

    I’ve been seeing more people publish in the asian journal of philosophy. I’m not familiar with this journal, what are people’s impression of it? Is this considered a good generalist journal?

    Reply
  7. supporter of ‘That fast?’

    Some food for thought re: organizing the job market reporting thread, which can get a bit unwieldy, as well as lowering ordinarily high levels of philosophy-professor neuroticism—how would people feel about instituting a rule that comments of the query type are only postable a month after the deadline closes? I do think a rule like this is in order… most departments are pretty slow.

    Reply
    1. supporter of “supporter of ‘That fast?'”

      Agreed

      Reply
    2. Variance

      It does kind of depend on where the location of the job is. Australian philosophy departments generally invite people for interviews 2-3 weeks after the closing of the advert; and, from my experience with universities in the UK, it is between 2-4 weeks of the closing of the advert, in Germany you usually hear something after about 2 months, and in the US anywhere between 4-8 weeks. This is all just going off my own experience with being invited to interviews after the closing dates. For US jobs, it would be odd to hear back within a month, from my experience, but that is not necessarily true world wide.

      Reply
      1. Marcus

        Just a kind reminder to save replies to comments here for later posts in which I feature comments here for broader discussion. Thanks!

  8. PT TT

    Someone recently told me they landed a TT job that they bargained to a full rank but part-time position (i.e., the job title remained ‘assistant professor’ but the job was only part-time hours, with double the tenure clock, half the pay, etc). How frequently would this kind of deal be seriously considered?

    Reply
    1. PT TT

      Sorry, I intended it as a separate question, not a comment on a previous question.

      Reply
  9. Anonymous

    I’m a graduate student who has been asked to moderate a panel discussion at an upcoming philosophy conference. The organizer has given me guidelines with respect to format and time (brief introductory remarks by each panelist then a moderated discussion then open Q&A), but I am a little unsure about how I should approach my job otherwise. Does anyone who has done this before have any general advice or guidance?

    Reply
  10. Anonymous

    I am applying for an Australian permanent position for the first time. I would appreciate any and all advice people have to give about Australian applications. What are some differences from other job markets to bear in mind? Do Australian committee veterans have any stories to tell about when candidates got it badly wrong? Are there idiosyncratic things about the Australian system (like the REF in the UK or the NWO – not THAT NWO… – in the Netherlands) that are worth talking about in the application?

    Thanks!

    Reply
  11. Anonymous

    One question & one note about the blog:

    First, the question. Let’s say one has two job offers, one a tenure-track job offer at a community college, and the other a VAP at a good-enough but not particularly well-known 4 year institution. Do Cocooners think that one would be more competitive on the job market in future cycles, looking for tenure-track jobs at 4 year institutions, coming from the VAP at the 4 year or the community college? To me, the community college seems like a better deal: the pay is better, there’s more of a safety net in case the job market continues to be dire, and the location is better, to boot. But I’m unsure whether or not the community college experience is something that meaningfully drags you down in searches held at 4 years, especially institutions like R2s.

    Second, the note. Quite a lot of vintage PhilCocoon posts have not yet been indexed by Google since the handover, and so I can’t find them by entering site:philosopherscocoon.com. Some of them I can’t seem to find at all (e.g. the old post about quality of specialist journals with a lot of helpful comments). I’m wondering whether you might add a search posts plugin to PhilCocoon to sate our demand for old posts in the meanwhile.

    Reply
  12. Anonymous

    I have a question about science journals versus philosophy journals.

    I work in philosophy of science. Recently, I’ve been working more with scientists, co-authoring (sometimes as first author) articles in highly regarded general science journals. How are such publications viewed within philosophy? I ask because I worry that I’m slowly making myself not marketable within philosophy or science (I’m not in a TT position yet.) In particular, I fine myself wondering whether a research direction I have right now is better targeted to general philosophy or to general science journals, assuming I might be able to get traction in either area. My temptation is to publish in science journals because they tend to get far more readership, but I fear philosophers on hiring committees might place lower value on such publications. Thoughts?

    Reply
  13. Anonymous

    At “The Professor is In” (https://theprofessorisin.com/2016/08/19/dr-karens-rules-of-the-academic-cv/), it mentions that you may want to have a section on your CV for “courses you are prepared to teach”.

    I am a PhD candidate beginning to eye the job-market. When approaching this category, how much material would you think is necessary to have ready to claim to be prepared to teach the course?

    I would imagine that just having a syllabus written is insufficient, but I would also imagine that literally having a semester’s worth of lectures written out long hand is way more than necessary. What should I be shooting for if I would like have a portfolio of courses prepared, beyond the few courses I have independently taught on my one, that I can claim on my CV in this way?

    Thank you all for your help!

    Reply
  14. Anonymous

    What are the norms for making minor edits after a paper has been accepted (i.e., when the managing editor is awaiting author’s final version with typos fixed and reference style changed)?

    I believe the best case scenario is to not introduce any new content at all, but there has (alas) been a few ways, upon rereading, that I see could improve the readability of my paper. I have been thinking of changes of the following sorts: (1) changing a paraphrase to a full quote (so that the opponent’s view is more clearly on the table); (2) mapping out the dialectics/signposting more fully (so the reader would more easily follow where I am going next); (3) walking through one same point slightly more slowly (if the original version was rushed); (4) adding a few summary remarks at crucial junctures (“I have just shown that . . .”).

    None of this, of course, adds any new lines of arguments or changes any premises/conclusions. In principle, they are all aimed at readability, but I wonder if in practice these changes would be frowned upon, or — in the worse case — get the paper in trouble (i.e., verdict reconsidered).

    Or maybe I have been overthinking this entirely: the managing editor may not even notice these changes, and would typically send my final version? I would be very grateful for advice or information!

    Reply
  15. Anonymous

    Could people list all the places they discover job postings? I check higheredjobs, chronicle of higher ed jobs, phil jobs, and community college jobs daily. Are there other places to be looking for job listings that these websites wouldn’t necessarily also list?

    Reply
  16. NonTT

    I have some questions about letters of recommendation. I am currently (and, given the current job market will probably be for the next few years) on the job market. All of my letters are from people in my PhD granting institution. Besides getting a postdoc, how can I get a letter of recommendation from a philosopher working in my area of research? And second, how do I know when it is appropriate to ask someone for such a letter? There isn’t anyone I’m actively working with.

    Reply
  17. dilligent ai writer

    This is not a question, but a comment on AI use for research papers. I initially hesitated to post this because I suspect it will be downvoted (mentally) by both sides for different reasons. But I decided to anyways because I believe that *some* people can benefit from reading it and from my unfortunately huge time investment.

    In several comments on this blog, I mentioned that I have experimented with using AI for research papers in various ways, and I have done that for several months (or rather two years if you count intermittent light use). One basic instruction (among others) is letting AI edit very liberally for clarity, followed by more detailed instructions based on outputs. I have tried my *very best* to utilize the output. Now I have largely concluded my experiment and decided that I will not use AI at *any* stage of my paper in the foreseeable future. (Note: I am non-native and don’t have any linguistic talent.) There are many reasons, but here are a few important ones:

    1. The totality of AI edits have failed to significantly improve my drafts (despite my putting in a lot of effort instructing and engaging with the edits). Drafts are improved in some respects and worsened in other respects. There is no net gain.

    2. This is a long-term effect, not something you would feel immediately: it slowly hallows out and erodes the joy related to (every stage of) writing as well as the weight of your writing in your own heart.

    3. There is a significant bias against AI writings such that the Ai-edited writing is perceived *much* worse than my original draft, independent of the quality. Example: my usual handwavy comments are now perceived as bullshits.

    Hope this helps!

    Reply
  18. Tired Grad

    I’d be keen to any hear tips on carving out time – and making the most of that time – for research in amongst teaching and admin work, beyond “just make sure you spent x amount of time on it a day”.

    I’ve recently moved into an adjunct-type role after submitting my doctoral work and it’s quite the change from being free (even obliged) to spend most of my time on my research. My teaching load isn’t nearly as heavy as it might be, but I find myself ping-ponging between taking classes and office hours, doing my paperwork, etc., such that I often get to the end of the week and find I’ve managed little reading and often no writing. I’m barely even managing any good honest procrastination!

    Reply
  19. too many notes

    How do people take notes? My approach tends to be to take detailed notes on everything I read, but this is not efficient, especially as my list of papers to read gets longer and longer. Any information on people’s broad research methodologies and how they organize their notes would also be very helpful.

    Reply
  20. AnAnon

    I have two back-to-back classes this semester, and sometimes towards the end of the second class my throat is getting a bit sore and my voice is getting a bit ragged. I’m scheduled for three back-to-back-to-back courses next semester, which I expect will present the same problem with more frequency and severity. Anyone have any tips for keeping the throat comfortable and the voice mellifluous for over three hours of energetic public speaking?

    Reply
  21. Anonymous

    This is probably a very naive question — does anyone know if hiring committees use ATS tracking software on academic CVs? While it seems odd to me that any would, I am not sure if this is a practice anywhere and how it affects CV formatting.

    I ask because my (small) university had some professionalization talks for us PhD students/candidates by a guy who included discussion about ATS tracking software. The university, however, did not have him come back for these talks. So now I am a little more confused than I needed to be.

    Thank you!

    Reply
  22. Anonymous

    I have a question about job talk invitations: In the past, I have accepted invitations on the spot, agreeing to often complicated (intercontinental) trips, independently of given plans. In a present case, the schedule conflict is so extensive that I can’t really accept the proposed date. How do committees react to candidates asking if a different arrangement is possible? Does this kill the vibe? Is there a better or a worse way to do it? Is it healthier to treat job talks like a wedding or the birth of a child–drop everything and go there?

    Reply
  23. Anonymous

    I have a question about publishing with advisors. What do people think about it? Do people do it? Should people do it? My advisor and I work on similar things (unsurprisingly), and there’s an idea we think about a lot that has kind of developed organically in conversation. On the one hand, it seems this is how most ideas of advisees develop: they get a lot of input from their advisors but still call the idea “theirs”. So I could just keep on working on it alone and have a single authored paper as a result. On the other hand, I could co-author with my advisor, and it could become a better paper and be out faster. I know that it’s the norm to co-author with advisors in pretty much all the fields but philosophy, but I don’t see it all that often in philosophy. So, what do people think?

    Reply
  24. Anonymous

    A couple years into my PhD program I got a serious illness and had to stop for a few years. I thankfully got better and decided to finish the PhD and am on track to get it in early 2026. Due to this, my academic CV is very empty, which makes me uncompetitive and I had assumed that I will need to look for a job outside of philosophy.

    That being said, my research has now matured and I have been getting some very good feedback. My topic is high risk/high reward, and it’s looking like I have pulled it off and will be making a significant contribution to my area of study. I am now working on getting papers published and presenting at as many conferences/workshops as I can.

    This has made me wonder if I might after all have a future in philosophy. So my question is, could high quality research possibly offset an otherwise quite empty academic CV in getting a job in philosophy? Or is that just not realistic, especially in this environment? Any insight or advice will be appreciated!

    Reply
  25. Study Guide

    Students are asking for study guides for exams that include multiple choice. I know there are guides for writing essays but do others know of any study guides for philosophy tests, or advice or tips to give to students studying?

    Reply
  26. Anonymous

    Does anyone have general thoughts, or know of online resources that they can point me to, on how to most effectively respond to reviewers’ comments on one’s submitted articles? I’ve published a small handful of articles so far, and I’m noticing that I tend to go “overboard” when revising (a referee made a comment to this effect), which creates more work for me, and also, perhaps, for referees, who now have a substantively changed paper to review. The difficult is probably most significant when reviewer comments are vague (“connect to x literature” without providing specific references to engage with).

    Any thoughts on how to revise effectively without over-revising would be appreciated.

    Reply
  27. Anonymous

    I know this tends to be institution-specific, but are there any general norms when it comes to whether a publication will count toward one’s tenure if the paper is accepted right around the time that the job offer was accepted? I just received an R&R on a major paper I would love to have as part of my tenure file, and I am also currently on the market with some TT interviews. My typical instinct would be to turn in the R&R as soon as possible, although the journal has graciously given me until March. If I were to wait a bit longer and were to get a job offer from someplace, how likely would it be that the paper could be counted toward my tenure? Without giving away too many identifying details, I already have a couple of publications, and the R&R seems relatively manageable in terms of what the reviewers are asking of me. It’s at a medium-slow journal (so, not Synthese, but not JPhil either). Thanks in advance for any advice!

    Reply
  28. Anonymous

    I’m applying very widely for jobs this cycle. I feel like all my time is going to this and I’m just barely getting by teaching-research-and side gig wise. How much time should I be spending on preparing an application on average?

    Reply
  29. Anonymous

    My appointment as a tenure track assistant professor was recently terminated. This was not for cause or otherwise poor performance but simply because of a severe financial crisis at my school. How should I address this as I apply for other jobs, including tenure track academic jobs, non-tenure track academic jobs, and non-academic jobs? Members of upper administration have offered to write letters of recommendation that address my employment and provide context for my termination. Most applications request three or four letters, but those spots are already accounted for by other letters about my research and teaching. How should I incorporate the new letter(s) from administration into my applications without sacrificing my other letters?

    Reply
  30. Anonymous

    I find it pretty frustrating that there are relatively few journals that publish philosophy of religion, and only few of those are highly regarded. If a paper is rejected from Faith and Philosophy, you have one more shot at Religious Studies, and then it’s down to the lower-tier journals.

    Aside from them, Oxford Studies only takes like 10 articles once in two years, and the “generalist” journals seem to desk-reject almost everything that isn’t heavily in a “core” area of philosophy and instead primarily in philosophy of religion.

    One thing that’s frustrating is that getting unlucky with a bad reviewer can almost doom a manuscript in philosophy of religion, whereas in “generalist” philosophy you have about 15 more tries until you need to try with less prestigious journals.

    A second thing is that unless someone goes for lower-ranked journals just for the sake of variety, a CV in philosophy of religion will just have a long list of publications in Faith and Philosophy and Religious Studies, and an occasional one in Oxford Studies. I feel like this looks weird.

    Does someone have advice for dealing with this, or a different outlook?

    Reply
  31. done with market

    I wonder if it is okay *not* to apply out while waiting for tenure decision. I am aware that getting outside offers can help getting raise in addition to having a plan B. But these reasons alone are not motivating enough. But I wonder if not applying out is itself a red flag to my colleagues–signaling that I have little market worth…

    Reply
  32. Anonymous

    I wonder whether there are some general ways to make yourself known as an available referee to potential editors grappling with the “referee crisis.” I am a late-stage PhD student and has published stuff in my area. Since I’ve sent out quite a few things for peer review, and have benefitted greatly from the others’ service in the profession, I’d love to pay it forward.

    Is there anything in particular that one might do to make this happen, or is the only option for you to wait until being contacted? Information, advice, anecdotes for how people started reviewing their first papers, etc. much appreciated.

    Reply
  33. Anonymous

    Sorry if this is too specific a query: if one is rejected/desk rejected from PPR or Nous, is it still worth submitting the same paper to the other one? I know they have the same editor and I would like to know if that rules out both, before I submit to the other if I’m only going to get a negative decision. thank you

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      https://philosopherscocoon.com/2025/08/11/deciding-between-nous-ppr/

      Reply
  34. Anonymous

    Hi!
    I submitted a paper to one of the Springer journals seven months ago. Since then, I’ve twice emailed the handling editor, and these emails have not received any response. I wrote to the Journal’s Editorial Office Assistant, and that person acted in a professional manner, emailed the handling editor, but also didn’t get any response. However, the status of the paper changed in the meantime to “Reviewers Assigned”. But it seems fake – Editorial Office Assistant told me that no invitation for review has been sent, the editor just clicked something to pretend that they are doing something.

    I find this unacceptable and disrespectful. C’mon, 7 months is not enough to take a look at the paper abstract/intro and make a decision on whether it will be sent for review? What should I do? Should I simply withdraw my paper? Or perhaps I should try emailing the editor-in-chief first? Honestly, I’m inclined to write an angry email stating that not only will I withdraw my paper, but I will also refuse to consider sending them any of my work in the future, and they should refrain from sending me invitations for review. If we, the authors, accept anything, then journals have absolutely no incentive to change bad practices…

    Reply
  35. lawschooled

    I recently learned that applicants for law faculty positions use a centralized online system called the Faculty Appointments Register (FAR), which is run by the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). Candidates complete one standardized profile (upload demographic info, CV, writing sample, teaching statement, etc.), and law schools then search the database to identify candidates who fit their hiring needs. The FAR is not a formal HR application. It functions as an early expression-of-interest stage, and candidates only complete school-specific HR paperwork if a school has already shown interest.

    I would be interested to hear what obstacles people think might stand in the way of a system run by the APA, the PhilPapers Foundation, or another organization. Concerns might include whether university/college policies would permit this, cost and access (AALS charges a fee for each candidate profile, though hardship waivers are available), administrative demands on the organization running the system, whether departments would adopt and rely on the system, and whether a standardized form could accommodate the range of often tailored/job-specific materials philosophy searches request.

    Spending hundreds of hours on job applications seems very inefficient. A centralized system wouldn’t solve everything, but it could help reduce some of these burdens. Law schools’ FAR seems to provide a compelling example of how such a system might work.

    For reference: https://www.aals.org/recruitment/candidates/far-information/

    Reply
  36. Anonymous

    Considering the recent post on philosophy of religion journals (https://philosopherscocoon.com/2025/12/11/grappling-with-the-shortage-of-highly-regarded-philosophy-of-religion-journals/), I was wondering what the general list of PoR journals are and how they are ranked. Is this a fair list of PoR journals or am I missing anything? Also, are these the basic ways people would rank them?

    Tier 1: Faith and Philosophy: The Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers, Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion, Religious Studies: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion.
    Tier 2: Agatheos: European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, International Journal of Philosophy of Religion, Journal of Analytic Theology.
    Tier 3: European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Tradition, TheoLogica: An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology.

    Reply
  37. DeepSeek

    Students are asking to know where to study philosophy/ethics of AI. Since it’s such a brand new field, and there’s no LeiterTM Rankings or any guide I can find, do people know which grad programs have faculty who are specializing in AI, and/or which programs are best preparing their grad students working on AI for the academic/alt-ac market?

    Reply
  38. Anonymous

    One of my papers has recently gotten a bunch of citations from non-philosophical articles in dubious journals that don’t have anything to do with (and don’t engage with) the paper. These fake citations now make up about a third of my citations on Google Scholar. I find this a bit annoying, partly because it makes the real citations harder to see, and partly because it just looks strange and unprofessional. In the worst case (though this seems unlikely), it could even raise implicit questions, since these kinds of citations can be bought. Has anyone else encountered this phenomenon, and is there anything that can be done about it?

    Reply
  39. paralysis

    I am a junior faculty member (2 years post-PhD) and I am writing to ask for advice on how to cope with severe burnout and rejection fatigue.

    Here is my situation: I currently have three papers in circulation. Over the past two years, they have faced a cumulative total of 13 rejections. The most painful blow was recently receiving a rejection after a grueling round of R&R that took months of work.

    My mid-term evaluation is approaching, and as of now, I have zero publications to show for my time. To make matters worse, it feels like many of my peers and friends are landing hits in top journals, which exacerbates my anxiety.

    At this point, I feel psychologically paralyzed. My confidence has taken such a hit that I am struggling to find the courage to even look at my drafts, let alone revise them again. I feel stuck in a cycle of shame and avoidance.

    I would be grateful for any advice from this community. How do you emotionally handle this level of serial rejection? For those who have been in a similar “slump,” how did you manage to break the paralysis and recover your productivity?

    Reply
  40. Anonymous

    Dear Search Committee Members,

    Are you actually reading our cover letters? Or are you looking at our CVs and Letters of Rec, or Writing Samples first, making some judgment, and rendering all the time we spend discussing fit in our cover letter moot? (After all, we are often told, especially here at the Cocoon by various commenters to other job market related questions, how important fit is.)

    As someone firmly on the market and looking to leave a bad situation, these are questions it would be nice to have answers to. In general, when in your reading of a dossier do you get to the cover letter: is it first or not? Second, what are our cover letters doing for you assuming you actually weigh what we say in your overall assessment of us candidates? If a cover letter is never going to sway you against an initial judgment based on our CVs or Samples, why are we writing them?

    Thanks,
    The Typical Job Hopeful Cynic

    Reply
  41. B

    I’m trying to publish a paper on a fairly niche topic. How should I prioritize between top-tier specialist journals and second-tier generalist ones, from a career/CV perspective? Background: I already have publications in top-tier specialist journals, but not in generalist journals.

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      What are your goals and what is your career stage (and at why type of university)? Answers to these would make it much easier to give advice.

      Reply
  42. Anonymous

    I am an ABD PhD candidate grappling with how to approach morally problematic publishing issues. As many of us know, the board of Philosophy and Public Affairs (PPA), much like the board of the Journal of Political Philosophy, rightly resigned some time ago due to Wiley’s unacceptable publishing demands. However, unlike the latter, PPA has managed to continue its operations with a new editorial board.

    It seems that people keep submitting their work to the journal, and high-quality articles are still being published regularly. This brings me to my dilemma: Should I submit to PPA? I am currently just a candidate seeking the best possible venues for my publications, and PPA remains the ideal fit for my research.

    If established scholars do not seem to care about the controversy, is it necessary for me to be the one acting on principle? Furthermore, as the journal appears to be functioning well, I suspect that in the near future, let’s say in five years, the past controversy will be neglected or forgotten. As a result, PPA will likely regain its full reputation as if Wiley had never made those impermissible demands.

    Prospectively speaking, do I still need to worry about the ethics of submitting there? Or am I overthinking my obligations as a junior scholar in this situation?

    My moral disposition tells me to keep boycotting Wiley. But this should then apply to other Wiley journals as well as all other monopolies such as Springer, which would mean we are running out of high-quality options. Long story short, would you submit to PPA from now on?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Discover more from The Philosophers' Cocoon

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

Continue reading