Triple-masked peer review is GO!

We are very pleased to announce that the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science has adopted a triple-masked system for peer review, whereby neither the referees nor the editors know the identity of the author(s), and vice versa.

Recent discussion in the corner of the blogosphere carved out by philosophers (here, here, and here, to cite but a few) has made clear the ways in which bias, implicit or otherwise, and outright bad behaviour can undermine the main mechanism we have for underwriting the integrity of the discipline. We’d like to think we are free of all explicit biases and bad behaviour here at the BJPS (in an editorial context at least!), but the data on implicit biases is pretty compelling and the technology we use makes it an easy enough change to implement. As editors, it also protects us from accusations of unfair behaviour based on personal prejudices against an author. A rare win-win!