This is a general description of the editorial process at Philosophy and the Mind Sciences (PhiMiSci). Statistics for individual years are published as part of the annual reports in the “Announcement” section (which can be found here). The editorial process at PhiMiSci involves the following steps.
1. New submission
PhiMiSci is open for submission of stand-alone articles throughout the year. Submissions can also be made to ongoing special issues (see individual calls for papers in the “Announcement” section for the respective deadlines). Our guidelines for new submissions can be found here.
2. Editorial assignment & first decision
The submitted manuscript is initially assigned to an editor. The article is read and a first editorial recommendation is made (desk rejection or send to review). After this initial decision, the editorial board assigns suitable handling editors; note that handling editors may recommend desk rejection even if the initial recommendation was “send to review”. We generally do not provide comments on submissions that are rejected without review. The first decision is usually made within 2-3 weeks. Authors can track the status of their submission after logging in. If no initial decision has been made after 4 weeks, they may contact the assigned editor.
3. Review
If the submission is sent out for review, the handling editor (this may be an editor-in-chief, an associate editor, or a guest editor for a special issue) invites suitable reviewers; at least two reviewers are assigned to each manuscript. (Exceptions include editorial introductions, précis for book symposia by the author, as well as commentaries for book symposia.) Potential reviewers are chosen based on their expertise and may include members of the editorial advisory board. Reviewers are generally given 1 week to accept or decline a review request. After acceptance, they are allowed 4 weeks to complete their review. However, we grant extensions of the review deadline upon request.
We aim for a double blind review procedure, unless reviewers wish to disclose their identity; we assign at least 2 reviewers per submission; 1 rejection recommendation usually leads to rejection; as a rule, 2 clear endorsements are required for publication; in general, max. 2 rounds of review are allowed.
Please note that the editors-in-chief reserve the right to veto the acceptance for publication of individual articles at any point.
4. Editorial comments, formatting, and acceptance
Editorial comments for provisionally accepted manuscript are provided in addition to reviewer comments. Authors may be asked to send the manuscript to a professional proofreader (PhiMiSci can recommend someone, but potential costs must be paid by authors). After acceptance, we require authors to format their own manuscripts, figures and references exactly according to our guidelines; they must also provide evidence that copyrights have been obtained for all figures. This process may be more time-consuming than for other journals; however, the support of our authors is needed to keep the journal free-of-cost. Failure to comply with guidelines can lead to rejection of provisionally accepted manuscripts.
5. Production and publication
When an accepted manuscript has been formatted by the authors, it is type-set and proofs are created. Authors are asked to carefully check the proofs. When all remaining issues have been resolved, the final article is published immediately if it is a stand-alone article. Special issue articles are published according to the plans of the responsible guest editors (see the respective call for papers).