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How are publications in science journals viewed in philosophy?

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

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?

I don’t feel particularly well-positioned to weigh in on this. But offhand, I’d guess publishing in some science journals may be fine (or even good) provided one also publishes consistently in philosophy journals–though if one is publishing primarily in science journals, that could potentially raise concerns.

What do readers think, particularly those who are better situated to give good answers?

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9 responses to “How are publications in science journals viewed in philosophy?”

  1. Anonymous

    My anecdotal experience from the job market is that science publications count for extremely little, if anything. They are never–and I do mean never–mentioned by search committees. Colleagues seem to think this work is important/interesting, but I have not seen it count for anything on the market. This is not to dissuade the OP, but merely to provide limited perspective on the issue.

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  2. Anonymous

    I suspect Marcus’s offhand comment is right, but I’d love to hear what others think.

    My own suspicions and speculations:
    If you’re publishing regularly in venues like Philosophy of Science or BJPS, then I doubt your science publications would count against you; they may even be seen as a plus. But if the science publications come at the cost of publishing in philosophy journals (or, relatedly, if you find yourself interacting with scientists *instead of* interacting with philosophers—then I suspect this could count against you in various ways. For example, it would directly count against you because you’d have fewer philosophy publications, but it might also shape how you frame your research (in interviews, job documents, etc.), making you seem more science-oriented or “not quite real philosophy” to some search committees. There may also be network effects.

    I also think it’s worth asking whether you truly want a TT job in a philosophy department rather than in STS, science communication, or another science-adjacent field. Do you enjoy working on the science-journal papers more than the philosophy-journal papers? Does the scientific community you work with value your contributions as a philosopher? A career as a philosopher of science outside a philosophy department might actually suit you better.

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  3. Anonymous

    Philosopher of science here — how much publishing in science journals would help or hurt would depend on the department. A few philsci departments would really value close work with scientists — but those departments are few and far between. I think it would be a plus in European or British departments as science journals have much better metrics than philosophy journals and that counts a lot, for instance, in the UK REF ranking. However, since you are on the market and trying to appeal to a board range of departments, you would need to establish a solid publishing record in philosophy in order to look viable at most departments. Many philosophers of science who focus too much on practice look suspicious to mainstream philosophy departments, as you might look like someone who belong in a STS department, so your publishing record must alleviate those fears.

    It is worth saying that when departments are hiring, they are judging you against their tenure requirements. Many departments have a ranking of journals for their tenure requirements. That ranking of journals will almost always be a list of philosophy journals. If you have articles in science journals that you want to count towards tenure, you may have to negotiate with your chair/department to rank those science journals along with philosophy ones. So you can see why science journals publications may be difficult for philosophy departments to make sense of. You will look weaker against a candidate that has a lot of top journal publications, unless you are in department that explicitly ranks science publications.

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  4. Anonymous

    OP here. Thanks for the replies. For context, I’ve got publications in Phil of Sci, BJPS, Synthese, etc. and then also journals like PNAS. Sounds like sticking to philosophy journals is the way to go. I had a feeling that might be the case. It’s a shame because it seems to positively discourage getting philosophy and science more integrated.

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    1. Anonymous

      I’m not sure you need to abandon your science publishing. In fact, as a philosopher of science, I really hope you don’t stop.

      Those are three good philosophy venues (congrats!). The marginal utility of additional philosophy publications in terms of your chances of getting a TT philosophy job is minimal (i.e., another one won’t change your chances much). The main concern committees will have is if your most recent philosophy publication is more than a few years old, in which case some might take you to have become “stale.” My advice at this point is to prioritize making sure the other things needed for getting a TT job are in equally good shape (teaching experience, interview skills, presentation skills, some experience with service, one or two desirable AOCs).

      A typical rate of publishing philosophy sufficient for tenure (and therefore as much as anyone could reasonably hope to see in a recent grad) is about one good paper per year (+/- depending on the department). If you keep that up AND publish in science journals, I bet you will never run into problems. And although philosophers might not in general appreciate your cross-disciplinary publishing, deans and provosts will, and they have a lot of say over hiring and tenure decisions.

      Reply
  5. Anonymous

    Another philosopher of science here. I agree with others who have weighed in: it’s probably not prudent to publish in science journals, at least not yet (wait until you bag a TT job). That said, as one philosopher of science to another, I am very impressed when my friends publish philosophical work in prestigious science journals. Think a paper on the foundations of decision theory in Theory and Decision, or work on David Lewis signaling games in a top biology journal. That’s very cool and is quite difficult to pull off.

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  6. Anonymous

    I’ll agree with the general sentiment. As a philosopher of science in the postdoc stage, I’ve been warned that scientific or interdisciplinary publications likely won’t count towards tenure requirements in North American tenure system jobs. Another issue is that you can’t use these or coauthored papers as writing samples.

    Also, as someone who is on the job market quite internationally, I’ve gotten the impression that the US is among the most conservative markets in terms of embracing interdisciplinary or methodologically innovative work. There are still folks who are suspicious even of a regular philosophy paper with two authors, something that I had to explain to my current German PI. Other places have funding or research evaluation structures that can reward interdisciplinary work. So it might be worth considering your target region of the world as well.

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  7. AGT

    Just a comment from the sideline: I think publishing in PNAC is a significant achievement and should not be discouraged in any way. Maybe it’s weight in the overall balance of publications can be dialed down in favor of philosophy publications, for the moment, anyway.

    Reply
  8. Anonymous

    Certainly in departments that houses more than one philosopher of science, publications in science journals are not going to hurt. And they are good for you professionally, at least in my opinion. (it is more likely that your philosophy of science research will be relevant to or connected with real science)
    I published and continue to publish in sociology of science and science studies journals as well. Early in my career, I got some advice from David Hull. He strongly encouraged me to continue with that empirical work, but he said I should balance it with regular publications in philosophy journals. At my first TT job it was a non-issue as I was the most productive researcher. And now I have been around long enough that it really does not matter.

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