Younger Academics and Prestige Publishing

In comments on my post on Journals and Tenure, Peter Wolfendale asks, as a "junior" academic, for advice about publishing. He writes:

I know of older academics who are increasingly trying to work outside of the standard system of journals and big publishers to different degrees: writing papers mainly on request or publishing exclusively in open access journals, printing exclusively with small presses and making electronic copies of their work freely available online, etc.

It should, of course, be said that these are very different kinds of departure from established practice, and not equally healthy.

Speaking of writing on request, there are two sorts of papers that come from this.

1. One kind offers an overview of a topic for an Encyclopedia or Handbook, or for an on-line resource like Philosophy Compass. This is not meant to be wholly original; in its best form, it offers the wisdom of somebody who has participated in many dialogues, and so does something that an inexperienced person could do less well.
2. But there is also the original paper written for a collection of papers on a topic. Two problems with this: often, these papers are written on a short deadline, and are somewhat unpolished. And the volumes themselves are uneven in quality. Actually, I rather suspect that some of these volumes go forward with a few prominent contributors because the publishers hope to recoup their costs with electronic subscriptions. 

Open access journals are, of course, of many different kinds. Better to publish in Philosopher’s Imprint than in many print journals.

Finally, on-line dissemination. There’s no reason why this has to compete with publishing in a journal. You can post drafts on your webpage (though I wouldn’t do this, personally, except in rare cases)—you can also publish word-processed versions of material that is published in a journal. (Actually, aside from commercial publishers, most journals allow the published pdf to be posted privately one year or less after publication.)

Which of these practices should untenured or even unhired junior academics engage in? I would say, very simply: it’s imprudent and quixotic for you to try to change the system. Go with prestige.

That said, all of the above are perfectly fine. If you can get into a book with well-known philosophers, do so by all means. But try to avoid small presses and little-known journals. Treat on-line refereed journals the same way you would treat print journals, i.e., by their public profile.

Finally, do publish on your website and on PhilPapers, academia.edu, etc, but never put anything unpolished there.  To do so is the academic equivalent of posting indiscrete photos on Facebook. Selection committees do go to candidates' websites. If they find something from you that has holes in it and can easily be criticized, they'll blow you off. Guaranteed.