Scientific and philosophical publication: the current state of affairs

There seems to be increasing interest in publication practices amongst philosophers of science, as they recognize the important role that publication plays in their professional lives and the responsibilities they have for maintaining some control over the process and practices.The increase in interest is manifested in two ways.First, philosophers of science are talking about publication practices more-practices such as open access, transformative journals, and predatory publishing-and they are talking about how these practices impact on our community, authors and readers.Recently, for example, David Teira, Chiara Lisciandra, and Sophia Cruwell organized an online conference on open access and transformative journals.The session included a roundtable discussion involving four editors of journals who serve the history and philosophy of science community, broadly conceived.The discussion made it clear that there are at least two ways of approaching this issue.On the one hand, the publishers have their plans about where journal publishing is going.And open access fits into their vision in a certain way.On the other hand, the various editors have their own ideas about the role of open access in the future of our profession.To be clear, the various editors involved were not all of one mind, nor did they share the same concerns and hopes.But concerns were expressed that the interests of the publishers may not always align with the interests of the community of researchers whose work is being published in these journals.A recent development that was not discussed at the conference, but one deserving the attention of philosophers of science, is the marked rise in predatory publishers.I will not name names, but each week I receive numerous invitations to publish in journals that promise very quick review times, and equally quick production times.So, if I were a scholar in need of a quick publication, say, in one month from now, the opportunities appear to be almost endless.How do I know these are predatory journals?The invitation letters often begin with something like "Dear Esteemed Scholar", or they express an urgency that is quite foreign to the slow pace of the publication norms in philosophy.