The Review of Symbolic Logic

Please read the following message from the President of the Association for Symbolic Logic. The terms of office of the editors begin July 1, by then information on how to submit papers should be online at the RSL webpage (not yet functional–but the submission email is rsl@uci.edu, I can tell you that much).

Dear Colleagues,

It is a great pleasure to announce an exciting new undertaking of the ASL: a new journal, The Review of Symbolic Logic, will begin publication in June 2008.

Joining The Journal of Symbolic Logic and The Bulletin of Symbolic Logic as the third official organ of the Association, the RSL will publish research papers in

  • Philosophical logic and its applications
  • History and philosophy of logic
  • Philosophy and methodology of mathematics.

The first heading covers all areas of philosophical logic, plus applications of these logics in such fields as computer science, linguistics, game theory and decision theory, formal epistemology, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence. The second is intended to include the history of philosophy of logic, an area that overlaps substantially with what is often called ‘history of analytic philosophy’. The third area includes both the philosophy of mathematics and methodological studies of mathematical practice, past and present. These are lively and interrelated areas of contemporary research; the ASL is a natural common ground for workers in these fields, and we hope the RSL will quickly be seen as the leading outlet for publications.

The RSL is actually a successor to the Journal of Philosophical Logic. The JPL was founded in 1972; the Association assumed editorial responsibility in 1987. Since then, the editors have endured a succession of unsatisfactory relations with its various commercial publishers, most recently with Springer. In the spring of 2006, as publication of ASL books was shifting to Cambridge University Press, a CUP editor expressed interest in a joint venture, either to work with us to acquire the JPL or to start a new journal to succeed the JPL. This welcome opening presented us with the opportunity to control the publication more directly than we could ever have hoped for with Springer and to consolidate the journal and the book publishing operation ith an academic publisher of the highest quality.

In December of 2006, after a period of careful consultations among the officers, the JPL editors, the ASL Council and other experts, the Council authorized the officers to explore this possibility with CUP. Springer made no serious response to our proposal to acquire the JPL, so a contract for a new journal was negotiated and recently approved by the Council. CUP has agreed to share revenue from the journal with us, so proceeds from the The Review of Symbolic Logic will enable the ASL to support other new endeavors as well. The target date of mid-2008 for the inaugural issue of the RSL coincides with the effective date of our withdrawal from our contractual agreement with Springer for the JPL.

Founding an entirely new journal gave us the opportunity to expand the purview to include other philosophical, historical and methodological topics traditionally covered by the ASL. In light of this expanded scope, three additional editors have been appointed to join the current editors of the JPL, and a larger Advisory Board has been formed; see the attached for a complete listing of the RSL’s founding Editors and Advisors. Also included with this letter is a call for papers suitable for posting or distribution.

All of us involved in the founding of The Review of Symbolic Logic are excited about its future and keen to see it develop into the natural home for papers in these active areas of inquiry. We encourage you to spread the word about the Review, to urge your friends and colleagues to submit their best work, and to think of it first as a venue for your own research in these fields.

With all best wishes,
Penelope Maddy
President

Founding Editorial Staff of The Review of Symbolic Logic

Editors

Aldo Antonelli, Coordinating Editor
Philosophical logic, Applications of philosophical logic to artificial intelligence and computer science, History of philosophy of logic (especially Frege)

Horacio Arlo-Costa

Philosophical logic, Applications of philosophical logic to formal epistemology, game theory, and artificial intelligence

Patrick Blackburn

Philosophical logic, Applications of philosophical logic to natural language, cognitive science, and computer science

Paolo Mancosu
Philosophy and methodology of mathematics, History of logic (especially Hilbert, Bernays), Philosophy of logic, History of philosophy of logic (especially Tarski, Carnap and Quine), Philosophical logic

Ian Proops
History of philosophy of logic (especially Kant, Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein)

Greg Restall
Philosophical logic, Philosophy of logic and mathematics

Albert Visser
Philosophical logic

Richard Zach
History of logic (especially Russell, Hilbert, Bernays, Tarski and Gödel), History of philosophy of logic (especially Carnap), Philosophy of logic and mathematics, Philosophical logic

Advisory Board

Jeremy Avigad
Philosophy and methodology of mathematics, History of logic (especially twentieth century mathematical logic), Proof theory

Hartry Field
Philosophy of mathematics, Philosophy of logic, Philosophical logic

Kit Fine
Philosophical logic, Philosophy of logic and mathematics

Michael Friedman
History of philosophy of logic (especially Kant, the neo-Kantians, Frege, Wittgenstein, Carnap and Quine), Philosophy of logic and mathematics

John MacFarlane
Philosophy of logic, History of philosophy of logic (especially Kant and Frege), Philosophical logic, Philosophy of mathematics

Ruth Barcan Marcus
Philosophical logic, Philosophy of logic

D. A. Martin

Philosophy of mathematics, Philosophy of logic, Philosophical logic

Ulrike Sattler
Philosophical logic, Applications of philosophical logic to computer science and formal ontology

James Tappenden

Philosophy and methodology of mathematics, Philosophy of logic, History of philosophy of logic (especially Frege), Philosophical logic

Alasdair Urquhart
Philosophical logic, History of logic (especially Russell), Philosophy of logic and mathematics

Michiel van Lambalgen
Philosophical logic, Applications of philosophical logic to natural language and cognitive science

Mark Wilson
Philosophy of applied mathematics, Philosophy of logic, History of philosophy of logic (especially Frege)

Crispin Wright
Philosophy of mathematics, Philosophy of logic, History of philosophy of logic (especially Frege and Wittgenstein), Philosophical logic

2 thoughts on “The Review of Symbolic Logic

  1. I strongly diasgree – journals published by professional associations are almost open accees – and Association of Symbolic Logic and ACM are both splendid examples, besides – they offer reduced fees for developing countries and they are really affordable (the only drawback is – that members from developing countries sometimes are pressed to pay more for wire transfer of dues than the dues themselves).

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