Journal profile
Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy
ISSN 1559-3061 · University of Southern California · United States
Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy: diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review about 24 weeks (community reports); 68 articles in 2025.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy is published by University of Southern California. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Philosophical Ethics and Theory, Political Philosophy and Ethics and Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics, together about 62.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Philosophy. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
General The Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy (JESP) is a peer-reviewed online journal in moral, social, political, and legal philosophy. The journal was founded on the principle of publisher-funded open access. There are no publication fees for authors, and public access to articles is free of charge. Articles are typically published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 license, though authors can request a different Creative Commons license if one is required for funding purposes. Funding for the journal has been made possible through the generous commitment of the Division of Arts and Humanities at New York University Abu Dhabi. JESP aspires to be the leading venue for the best new work in the fields that it covers, and it is governed by a correspondingly high editorial standard. The journal welcomes submissions of articles in any of these and related fields of research. The journal is interested in work in the history of ethics that bears directly on topics of contemporary interest but does not consider articles of purely historical interest. It is the view of the editors that the journal’s high standard does not preclude publishing work that is critical in nature, provided that it is constructive, well argued, current, and of sufficiently general interest. JESP also endorses and abides by the Barcelona Principles for a Globally Inclusive Philosophy, which seek to address the structural inequality between native and nonnative English speakers in academic philosophy. JESP publishes articles, discussion notes, and occasional symposia. Articles normally do not exceed 12,000 words (including notes and references). JESP sometimes publishes longer articles, but submissions over 12,000 words are evaluated according to a proportionally higher standard. Discussion notes, which need not engage with work that was published in JESP, should not exceed 3,000 words (including notes and references). JESP does not publish book reviews. Papers are published in PDF format. All published papers receive a permanent DOI and are archived both internally and externally. History JESP was founded in 2005 by Andrei Marmor, James Dreier, Julia Driver, and David Estlund, with the financial and technical support of the USC Gould School of Law and the USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, in which Marmor held joint appointments. Their aspiration was to provide a model for a directly university-funded, completely op
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Editor-in-chief Sarah PaulPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Philosophical Ethics and TheoryArts and Humanities34.5%
- Political Philosophy and EthicsSocial Sciences16.7%
- Epistemology, Ethics, and MetaphysicsArts and Humanities11.3%
- Ethics, Aesthetics, and ArtArts and Humanities4.9%
- Psychology of Moral and Emotional JudgmentNeuroscience4.6%
- Free Will and AgencyNeuroscience3.7%
- Feminist Epistemology and Gender StudiesSocial Sciences3.6%
- Ethics and bioethics in healthcareMedicine3.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
DOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- h-index
- 44OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 171OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.42OpenAlex ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 694 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 47 | 47 | 641 |
| 2025 | 68 | 68 | 978 |
| 2024 | 65 | 65 | 856 |
| 2023 | 81 | 81 | 778 |
| 2022 | 64 | 64 | 605 |
| 2021 | 37 | 37 | 839 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 24 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 24 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY-NC-ND | |
| LetPub | No APC | No | — | |
| Publisher website | No APC | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare4 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 12,000 words
- Reference style
- Chicago
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
Article types accepted4, with length limits
- articlesArticles: Although JESP considers (and occasionally publishes) longer pieces, the editorial team prefers articles that do not exceed 12,000 words (including not…Length not stated
- discussion notesDiscussion Notes: Discussion notes should not exceed 3,000 words (including notes and references).Length not stated
- editorialasionally publishes) longer pieces, the editorial team prefers articles that do not exceed 12,000 words (including notes and references). Article submissions lo…main text ≤ 12,000 words
- symposium proposalsSymposium Proposals: Symposium proposals should not exceed 1,000 words.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Code availability, Open access
- AI use
Policies on authorship, originality, and generative AI use. Model summary
The submission is consistent with JESP policies on authorship, originality, and the use of generative AI.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Code availability
Simultaneous submission allowed if editors informed; only original material published. Model summary
JESP will consider papers that are simultaneously under submission elsewhere, so long as the editors are informed at the time of submission, but JESP will publish only original material that has not appeared elsewhere, in whole or in part.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access
Publisher-funded open access; no publication fees for authors; free public access to articles. Model summary
The journal was founded on the principle of publisher-funded open access. There are no publication fees for authors, and public access to articles is free of charge.
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- University of Southern California
- Country or region
- United States
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1559-3061
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 31, Issue 4 (July 2026)
- Official links
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy
How long does peer review take at Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy?
Authors report an average review time of about 24 weeks. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
What are the manuscript requirements of Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Manuscript length: ≤ 12,000 words; Reference style: Chicago; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Which databases index Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy is indexed in DOAJ.
Is Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-26). Last updated: .