The Journal

Episteme is an undergraduate philosophy journal that is published by Denison’s Philosophy Department. Part of what makes the journal distinctive is that Denison undergraduates (not always philosophy majors) handle all aspects of the publication process. They put out the call for papers each year, select the papers for publication, and format each issue of the journal into its final form. While one of the philosophy faculty serves as an advisor to the editorial board of the journal, his or her involvement really is minimal.

Episteme was first published in 1991, and has been published continuously since.  It is the oldest undergraduate philosophy journal in the countury. Each year submissions are received from undergraduates throughout the United States and from other countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Russia, Romania, Hungary and Germany. In a typical year, between forty and sixty submissions are received and reviewed by the Episteme’s editorial board.  This board consists of an editor-in-chief, an assistant editor, a publication chair and any students who review submissions. Usually, five or so submissions are selected for publication based on their quality.

Through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Next Generation Libraries Grant, Episteme was digitized in 2011.  Digitizing Episteme’s full catalogue increased access to the journal. It also facilitated the use of it by faculty both at Denison and at other schools. Quite simply, digitizing the journals made it a much more useful teaching tool. Of course, digitizing the journal and increasing access to it was also  significant to the long-term success of the journal.