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Delays at AJP?

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

What’s going on at the Australasian Journal of Philosophy? They’ve had one of my manuscripts for too many months. When I inquired after four months, I was told that it hadn’t even been assigned to an associate editor–the very first step. Several peers of mine have similar stories. I replied to ask about the median time to first decision, but the question was unsurprisingly ignored.

Judging by the data from papers recently published there, it seems to take a minimum of a year to get through their review process, and often two. One recently published paper took *three years*.

This strikes me as completely bonkers. Does anyone have more information about what’s going on at that journal? Do they have any sense of urgency about this, or are they twiddling their tenured thumbs? It’s hard not to think I should withdraw the manuscript if I find out it’s still not with external reviewers. Advice welcome.

This is a surprise to me, as I’ve always had very good experiences with the journal and had the sense that it has a good reputation for fairly quick turnaround times. Maybe, like other journals, they are dealing with vast increases in submissions (e.g., due to AI)?

Do any readers have any helpful insights to share?

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8 responses to “Delays at AJP?”

  1. Anonymous

    I have no insight into the internal workings of AJP – I can only offer my own anecdotal experience. I received an R&R after ~5 months from the journal. Like OP, I had reached out to them after four. I was told that they had just secured a second reviewer, and expected to have both reviews within a month (which they did). Perhaps I’m jaded by the academic experience, but 5 months no longer seems unusually long to hear back about a first-round decision for a submission (though three years does strike me as exceptionally long!). My best guess – and this really is a guess – is that the development of AI has resulted in academic journals being swamped with submissions; editors are struggling to keep up with the huge volume – many of which were largely generated by AI.

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  2. Anonymous

    I noticed this as a reviewer for them recently. I submitted my review report and then it took the editor another 4-5 months to get a decision to the author (I checked back a few times because I’m looking forward to citing the paper in my own work). This could of course be for a multitude of reasons, including the tardiness of the other reviewers, but it did make me have second thoughts about submitting my own work there.

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  3. Anonymous

    I have found them to be quite slow– I can’t recall precisely but like 5 months to initial move, 5 more months after the submission of an R&R and many months after that to get formally accepted.

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  4. Anonymous

    I’ve had a paper there for 3+ months with no change in status beyond “submitted”, though of course I’m aware that this status does not always reflect what’s really going on.

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  5. Anonymous

    I thought that it is normal for AJP? I submitted a paper (I believe) in 2024 and it took 13 months to get a rejection verdict. The reports were extremely detailed and helpful though. Since then I always take AJP to be a journal that delivers fair judgments and good reports (which are so rare these days) but you have to expect to wait.

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  6. Michel

    FWIW, this is the first I’ve heard of such delays there (though I haven’t checked on the status of things I’ve reviewed for them reently); historically, they’ve been very good about fairly quick turnarounds. I’ve never had to wait more than three months for a verdict.

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  7. NonTT

    I have submitted a paper to AJP in April and I am yet to get a decision. I sent my paper to them in no small part due to their reputation for quick turnaround. I inquired twice to find out what happened, once after 4 months and again one month later. The first time I was told that they still haven’t sent it out for review. After asking about it a month later, I was told that the first review is due within a month. To be fair, I have also had a good experience with them in the past, when I received a thoughtful rejection (with some helpful comments) very quickly.

    This raises a related question for me. Whom should I reach out to? I’ve been in contact with the editorial assistant who told me that an editor will follow-up with me. (They never did) Is there anyone I should reach out to next? Is it the editor-in-chief?

    Reply
  8. Anonymous

    I’m in the same boat as OP. I submitted a paper in April, and was told in early September that the editor hadn’t assigned an AE. Interested to see what other people say because I’ve also been wondering if I should pull it!

    Reply

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