About Me

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Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019) and AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021).

Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Journal of Evolution and Technology currently closed for submissions

The Journal of Evolution and Technology (for which I am editor-in-chief) is now closed for submissions until the beginning of 2017. This is to give us a chance to get our backlog under control.

Unlike most other open-access journals, we do not charge a publication fee. Nor are we able to make money by selling subscriptions to university libraries. We need to operate with the very limited resources that can be provided by our publishing organisation, the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET). And as a result, JET depends mainly on volunteer labour - in particular, I don't receive any payment for editing the journal, so I have to fit it in around other projects as best I can.

At the same time, we strive to match the editorial and scholarly standards of the best academic journals. Accomplishing this with rather thin resources is a continual challenge, and something has to give. The "something" is often our ability to keep up with submissions. There's a tendency for delays and backlogs to occur. Until such a time as the IEET receives a large infusion of funds, closing JET for submissions from time to time, in order to catch up with ourselves, seems to be the best solution.

It did work quite well this time last year, enabling us to focus on getting material through the pipeline. See JET's front page for the full issue that we have already published this year (issue 26(1)) and the material published so far toward the issue currently in progress (26(2)).

You can, of course, always donate to the IEET to help it carry out its programs!

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