Report 2021

Overall aims:

  • Promote high-quality work at the interface between philosophy and the empirical mind sciences
  • Publish high-quality contributions free of charge for authors and readers

Editorial team:

  • Editors-in-chief (3 [1 female]) 
  • Editorial advisory board (26 [8 female])
  • Guest editors (responsible for Special Issues) (2 [1 female]) (NEW)
  • Associate editors (support Editors-in-chief in all steps of the editorial process) (6 [3 female]) (NEW)

In our 2020 report, we identified the appointment of Associate editors as an important strategy for increasing visibility and submissions, and for improving the editorial process at all steps.

Procedure:

Submission of stand-alone articles and articles for SIs

  • Initial submission: all submissions (including invited submissions) are read by at least 2 editors (for stand-alone articles, these are editors-in-chief and/or associate editors; for SIs, this includes the guest editors); 2 clear endorsements are required to send an article to review.
  • Review: double blind, unless reviewers wish to disclose their identity; we solicit at least 2 reviewers per submission (authors may exclude reviewers); 1 rejection recommendation usually leads to rejection; 2 clear endorsements are required for publication; generally, max. 2 rounds of review are allowed.
  • Editorial comments: provided for all accepted articles in addition to reviewer comments.
  • Rejection & formatting: rejection is possible at any stage and acceptance is conditional upon correct formatting and following reviewer and editorial recommendations. In particular, we require authors to format their manuscripts, figures and references exactly according to our guidelines. The support of our authors in this process is needed to keep the journal free-of-cost.

Published articles & Special Issues:

In our second year, we published 1 Special Issue and 2 stand-alone articles, with 2 more stand-alone articles accepted. 

Special Issue:

  1. Neural correlates of consciousness, Part 2, edited by Sascha Benjamin Fink & Ying-Tung Lin
  • 7 articles (14 authors [2 female]) plus editorial introduction (2 authors [1 female])
  • 1 rejected in review (1 author [0 female]) 

We note that the first part of this SI was published in 2020; as submissions for both parts of the SI closed in 2020, the majority of rejection decisions were made and reported in 2020.

Total submissions and rejections for Parts 1 and 2: 

19 submissions (30 authors [4 female], 2 desk rejections [1 with female (co-)authorship], 3 rejected in review [1 with female (co-)authorship])

Stand-alone articles:

  • 2 articles published (7 authors [3 female])
  • 2 articles accepted (4 authors [2 female])
  • 17 submissions (26 authors [5 female], 11 desk rejections [2 with female (co-)authorship], 2 rejected in review [1 with female (co-)authorship])

Duration:

Special Issue: on average 16 days to first decision, 128 days to final decision.

Stand-alone: on average 12 days to first decision, 89 days to final decision.

One of our Editors-in-chief was on parental leave throughout 2021, leading to delays.

Planned Special Issues:

For 2022:

“Book symposium on Chris Letheby’s Philosophy of Psychedelics”, editors: Chiara Ciaporusco & Sascha Fink https://doi.org/10.33735/phimisci.2022.9659 

“Models, Networks, and Multiple Factors in the Philosophy of Psychiatry”, editors: Lena Kästner & Henrik Walter

For 2023: 

“Dreaming and mind wandering: Spontaneous thought across the sleep-wake cycle”, editors: Thomas Andrillon, Manuela Kirberg & Jennifer Windt

“Successful and Unsuccessful Remembering and Imagining”, editors: Ying-Tung Lin, Chris McCarroll, Kourken Michaelian, Mike Stuart 

Aims and strategies for 2022:

Aims

  • Increase impact and visibility
  • Increase visibility on social media (NEW)
  • Increase submission of stand-alone articles
  • Increase publication of special issues handled by guest editors
  • Decrease the time to first decisions and publication
  • Increase participation of female scholars on all levels
  • Increase participation of early career researchers

Strategies:

  • Increase participation of existing associate editors
  • Increase our network of associate editors 
  • Consult with social media expert (NEW)
  • Actively solicit special issues and stand-alone articles (NEW)
  • Actively solicit book symposia
  • Actively solicit participation of female and early career researchers as (co-)authors, reviewers, authors and commentators for book symposia, associate editors, and guest editors of special issues (where possible, at least 30% of female scholars at all levels).

We welcome suggestions for suitable candidates and expressions of interest.