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Philosophy of Science: What are the Key Journals in the Field?

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Abstract

By means of a citation analysis I aim to determine which scholarly journals are most important in the sub-field of philosophy of science. My analysis shows that the six most important journals in the sub-field are Philosophy of Science, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Journal of Philosophy, Synthese, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, and Erkenntnis. Given the data presented in this study, there is little evidence that there is such a field as the history and philosophy of science (HPS). Rather, philosophy of science is most properly conceived of as a sub-field of philosophy.

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Notes

  1. Incidentally, in the first half of the 20th century, Erkenntnis was perceived as a potential threat to the journal Philosophy of Science, competing with it for both submissions and readers (see Reisch 2005, pp. 104–105).

  2. The 2003 journal list has 32 journals listed (see ISI 2003). A subsequent list has 36 journals listed.

  3. It is worth noting that there is no longer a Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Princeton.

  4. Kuhn continued to maintain that the two fields are distinct (see Kuhn 2000, p. 316).

  5. Ironically, in the next issue of Isis the philosopher of science Steven French engages history of science and its relationship to the philosophy of science more directly than either Richardson or Friedman did in their pieces, in his contribution to a focus on the theme of counterfactuals and the historian of science (see French 2008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, State University of New York, 211 Campus Center, Oswego, New York, 13126, USA

    K. Brad Wray

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  1. K. Brad Wray
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Correspondence to K. Brad Wray.

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Wray, K.B. Philosophy of Science: What are the Key Journals in the Field?. Erkenn 72, 423–430 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-010-9214-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-010-9214-6

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