This is our best attempt at a comprehensive guide for journals that publish in philosophy of social science. If we have either misrepresented or omitted a journal and you are on the editorial board for that journal, please contact Kareem Khalifa.
We’ve grouped the journals into three rough-and-ready categories:
- Journals that regularly publish in philosophy of the social sciences
- Social-scientific journals that are open to philosophically oriented work
- Philosophy journals that sometimes publish in philosophy of the social sciences
Two thoughts about choosing where to submit your work. First, be mindful of what is best for you professionally, ideally by consulting mentors, colleagues, and peers. Second, we would very much like to raise the profile of philosophy of social science, so consider whether your manuscript would be apt for a general philosophy journal.
Journals that regularly publish in the philosophy of the social sciences:
Philosophy of the Social Sciences
- Arguably the specialist journal for philosophy of social science.
- Publishes papers from annual conferences in POSS-RT, ANPOSS, & ENPOSS.
- Topics: methodology, rationality, individualism vs holism, theory-testing, history of social science, etc.
The remaining journals in this category are listed alphabetically.
Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie (Archives for Philosophy of Law & Social Philosophy)
- More European / continental tradition; often multilingual.
- Topics: philosophy of law, social philosophy, social institutions, rights, justice.
- Open access journal aiming to link economics and philosophy.
- Topics: methodology and epistemology of economics, the foundations of decision theory and game theory, the nature of rational choice in general, historical work on economics with a philosophical purpose, ethical issues in economics, the use of economic techniques in ethical theory
European Journal of Social Theory
- More on the social theory side than pure philosophy, but very relevant for philosophy of social science.
- Covers theoretical social-science debates, critical social theory, and philosophical reflection on major social issues.
- Devoted to the theory and philosophy of history.
- Topics: critical philosophy of history; speculative philosophy of history; historiography; history of historiography; historical methodology; critical theory; time and culture; history and related disciplines.
- Official journal of the Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences; interdisciplinary
- Topics: logic of inquiry, methodology, epistemology and foundational issues in human sciences, with a primary focus on phenomenological perspectives.
Journal of Economic Methodology (JEM)
- Publishes research from diverse perspectives on economic methodology and philosophy, including historical and sociological approaches to economic inquiries.
- Topics: methodological analysis of the theory and practice of contemporary economics; the philosophical foundations of economics (either traditional or recent); the methodological writings and practice of early economic theorists; original contributions and new interpretations of traditional debates in economic methodology; traditional topics in the philosophy of science (e.g. causality, explanation, testing, confirmation, etc.) that are relevant to debates within economic methodology; recent developments in the philosophy of science, science studies or other scientific disciplines that have significant bearing on economic knowledge; studies that take a rhetorical, sociological, science studies or economic approach to methodological questions about economics; developments in the tools, instruments and technologies of research in economics that have potential methodological implications.
Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy (JESP)
- Open-access, no publication fees
- Topics: Normative philosophy, ethics, social justice, political philosophy, legal philosophy.
- Interdisciplinary journal devoted to social ontology and collective intentionality; open access journal supported by International Social Ontology Society and the University of Vienna.
- Publishes full-length articles, shorter discussion articles, and book reviews.
- Topics: nature and (presumed) existence of social phenomena, such as cooperation, institutions, laws, social collectives, and social categories (e.g., gender and race).
- Good for normative social philosophy, justice, social institutions, social values, etc.
- Topics: social philosophy, broadly conceived: ethical, political, social-theoretical issues.
Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour
- More interdisciplinary; combines social psychology, behavior theory, philosophical analysis
- Topics: social action, agency, social structures, and methodological issues.
- Topics: socially engaged normative theory; moral, legal, social, and political philosophy; institutional critique; public philosophy.
- Interdisciplinary, historically informed, often normative or critical analysis of social structures.
- Topics: critical theory, continental social philosophy, social and political thought.
- Publishes philosophical and social scientific work that discusses the production, assessment and validation of knowledge.
- Topics: epistemic Injustice; knowledge, Technology, and AI; testimony and trust; collective epistemology; social dimensions of knowledge
- Annual journal, tied to the North American Society for Social Philosophy
- Topics: social issues, moral/social theory, and philosophical reflections on social life.
- Topics: theoretical and applied questions in social, political, legal, economic, educational, and moral philosophy, including critical studies of classical and contemporary social philosophers.
- Explores research on decision-making across and between different disciplines, with special attention to experimentation in decision-making and its links to the cognitive sciences.
- Topics: preference and belief modeling, experimental decision-making under risk or uncertainty, decision analysis, multi-criteria decision modeling, game theory, negotiation theory, collective decision making, social choice, rationality, cognitive processes and interactive decision-making, and methodology of the decision sciences.
Social-scientific journals that are receptive to philosophical work:
- Seeks to strengthen anthropological theorizing in different areas of the world; generate new insights into theoretical issues in anthropology and broader social theory.
- Topics: analyses of particular and important concepts in anthropological theory; arguments for and against particular theories; metatheory; theorists and traditions; history of the development of theoretical positions.
Journal of Cognition and Culture
- Interdisciplinary journal dedicated to exploring the mental foundations of culture and the cultural foundations of mental life.
- Publishes articles, commentaries, reports of experiments, and book reviews.
- Topics: explanations of cultural phenomena in terms of acquisition, representation and transmission involving cognitive capacities without excluding the study of cultural differences.
Œconomia – History, Methodology, Philosophy
- Quarterly bilingual (French/English) open-access journal.
- Topics: history of economic thought, economic methodology and economic philosophy, normative economics, economic history in relation to history of economic thought
Perspectives on Psychological Science
- One of several journals associated with the Association for Psychological Science
- Topics: reviews of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research programs; new theoretical ideas and fruitful research designs, reviews of controversies and scientific debates; major issues in methodology and philosophy of science; historical and political reflections and metascience; applied and translational science
- Published for the American Sociological Association,
- Topics: full range of topics in sociological theory.
- Focuses on theoretical and meta-theoretical analysis in psychology.
- Topics: theoretical developments within and across cognitive, social, personality, developmental, clinical, perceptual, and biological psychology; conceptual frameworks and foundations of psychology; history of psychology; philosophy of science and psychology; cognition and intentionality; forms of explanation in psychology; criteria of theory evaluation; the social basis of psychological knowledge; the history of psychological theories and methods; the utilization of psychological knowledge; critical theory and methods in psychology; feminist theory and methods in psychology; and rhetoric and argumentation in psychological theory.
- Interdisciplinary journal
- Topics: critical theory; social theory; politics, law, and the state; political economy; inequality; globalization; cultural theory and identity; sociology of knowledge; technology and digital society
Journals that don’t specialize in philosophy of social science per se, but publish articles in this area:
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
European Journal for Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Social Science Roundtable 