hypatia

a journal of feminist philosophy

  
   
     
 
Review Policy and Practice

The following information is also available as a pdf.

A summary of Hypatia stats and bibliometric data is also available here.

To insure the high quality of the work published in Hypatia, we rely on a peer review process designed not only to inform the editors’ decisions but to provide authors helpful and supportive feedback, even when a paper is not accepted for publication in Hypatia. 

When an essay is submitted to Hypatia, the editors do an initial review to determine that it is appropriate for the journal; fewer than 10% of manuscripts are declined at this stage and only when both editors concur. Drawing on Hypatia's extensive referee database, the editors then identify two reviewers with expertise appropriate to the essay and invite them to provide a detailed report on the manuscript and their recommendation for editorial decision. If the referees disagree in their assessment, the editors may request an additional report from a third reviewer. When all the reviews have been assembled, the editors assign the manuscript one of the following decision categories:

  • The manuscript is accepted as it stands;

  • The manuscript is accepted on condition that the author makes minor revisions (subject to review by the editors);

  • The manuscript is accepted on the condition that the author makes substantial revisions (subject to review by one external referee upon resubmission); 

  • The manuscript is declined, but the author is invited to resubmit the manuscript to Hypatia for another full review if it is substantially revised;

  • The manuscript is declined.

When the editors notify the author of their decision they attach the reviewers’ reports; these will be anonymous unless the reviewer asks to be identified.

Anonymity in the Review Process

We make every effort to ensure the anonymity of both authors and referees. When we receive a manuscript for review that is autobiographical or otherwise incorporates self-identifying references as an essential part of the text, we still request that authors anonymize the manuscript as far as possible. We will assume that, in submitting such a manuscript, the author understands that referees may be able to recognize them as the author. When we invite referees to review such a manuscript we will acknowledge that the author may be identifiable and ask if they're willing to review under these conditions. They can, of course, choose whether to identify themselves or remain anonymous as a referee.

Acceptance Rates and Response Times

Hypatia's acceptance rate for open submissions is 12%-15% and 24%-44% for special issues. Our time to initial decision typically runs 12-13 weeks for initial decisions and 6-7 weeks for decisions on revised manuscripts. With Manuscript Central (our electronic submission and review system), authors can see exactly where their manuscript is in the review process.

Time to Publication – Early View Electronic Publication

Although time to publication varies, we now have the capacity to send manuscripts into production immediately, when they are accepted, and to publish them electronically on Wiley-Blackwell’s Early View system as soon as they are copy-edited, typeset, and proofread. This means that manuscripts can appear in citable form online in 3 to 4 months from the time they have been accepted in their final form, often well before the issue in which they are scheduled to appear goes to press. The Early View publications are all assigned a DOI number (digital object number) by which they can be cited, and the date they appear online is their official publication date.

Follow this link to see manuscripts currently available in Early View.

Online Posting of Submitted Manuscripts

You are welcome to post manuscripts you submit to Hypatia on your own website, a subject-matter archive, or your university/employer's institutional repository. Our publishing agreement with Wiley-Blackwell gives them distribution rights for articles as revised for publication in Hypatia, but imposes no restriction on circulation of your original submission draft, before or after the final manuscript appears in print. See also the summary of rights and permissions.