PSA2018: Call for Symposium Proposals

Twenty-Sixth Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association

November 1 – November 4, 2018

Seattle, WA

Submission is now open for proposals for symposia to be presented at the PSA2018 meeting in Seattle, WA, on November 1-4, 2018. This will be the 50th anniversary of the first biennial meeting of the PSA. The deadline for submitting symposium proposals is January 5, 2018Please note that there will be morning sessions on November 1 beginning at 9 am. PSA2018: Call for Papers is being issued separately. PSA2018 will once again include a poster forum; the call for posters will be issued separately. The call for session chairs will be sent out in late summer 2018. The PSA will once again be offering Dependent Care Subsidies of up to $200, and PSA registrants will also have access to on-site childcares services.

A symposium should involve several presenters, typically 4-5, organized around a topic of interest. Symposia may be on any topic in the philosophy of science. The PSA2018 program committee will strive for quality, variety, innovation, and diversity on the program; ideally the program will reflect the full range of current work in the philosophy of science. Symposia that make connections with, or include, working scientists, as well as symposia on topics in philosophy of science that also are of potential interest to members of the History of Science Society (HSS) – whose meeting will be held jointly with PSA2018 – are warmly invited. We will not be considering ‘Author Meets Critics’ sessions, but topical sessions that build upon recently published books are acceptable. At the time of submission, proposers may choose to have their proposals considered for the Women’s Caucus Prize Symposium; for more information please go to http://womenscaucus.philsci.org/prizes. Members of the PSA2018 Program Committee are listed here.

Proposals must include sufficient supporting material to permit the program committee to evaluate the quality and interest of the symposium. Proposals for symposia should include:

  1. The title of the proposed symposium
  2. A short descriptive summary of the proposal (100-200 words)
  3. A description of the topic and a justification of its current importance to the discipline (up to 1000 words)
  4. Titles and abstracts of all papers, with up to 500 words for the title and abstract of each paper
  5. A list of participants and either an abbreviated curriculum vitae or short biographical description (not to exceed 1 page) for each participant, including any non-presenting co-authors.
  6. Institutional affiliation and e-mail addresses for all participants, including any non-presenting co-authors.

The deadline for submitting symposium proposals is January 5, 2018. A selection of symposia will be accepted for presentation at the PSA2018 meeting. Symposium organizers will be informed of the program committee’s decision prior to the deadline for submitting contributed papers (March 1, 2018). Please see important information below on PSA policy regarding multiple submissions to PSA2018.

Proposals for symposia should be submitted to https://www.openconf.org/PSA2018/, a US-based conference management system. To submit a symposium proposal, click on PSA2018 Symposia. This is where the entire symposium proposal should be submitted, per the instructions given there. In additioneach symposium participant must click on PSA2018 Symposium Author Information and Abstracts, where they will find some additional questions and, if they are the presenting author on a paper, must also provide a short abstract of no more than 100 words; the abstract will appear in a book of abstracts for the conference if the symposium is accepted. Please note: although commentators on symposia are required to provide answers to the additional questions and are considered to be presenting authors, they do not need to submit the 100 word abstract.

After the conference, symposium presenters may submit their papers for review for publication in a supplementary issue of Philosophy of Science. The evaluation for publication will be of individual papers. Authors will be encouraged to post their symposium papers as PSA2018 Conference Papers at philsci-archive.pitt.edu (a publicly accessible digital archive) prior to the meeting. Authors who subsequently submit their paper for review for publication will also be encouraged to post their papers at philsci-archive.pitt.edu, whether or not they are accepted for publication. The submission deadline for symposium papers will be announced at a later date.

Please note that in accordance with current PSA policy:

  1. No previously published paper may be presented at the PSA meeting.
  2. No one will be permitted to present more than once at PSA2018. Thus, if a symposium proposal in which you are a presenting author is accepted, you cannot submit a contributed paper for which you are the presenting author. Commentators that are part of symposia are considered to be presenting authors. A scholar may appear as co-author on more than one paper or symposium talk, but may present at PSA2018 only once. This policy does not apply to the poster forum; a presenting author on a contributed paper or symposium paper may also present a poster in the poster forum.
  3. Any individual can be part of only one symposium proposal in which he or she is a presenting author. Note that this policy excludes the practice of being a presenting author for more than one symposium proposal and subsequently choosing to present in only one symposium if multiple proposals are accepted.
  4. If an accepted symposium subsequently loses participants, maintaining acceptance will become contingent upon the symposium organizer developing satisfactory alternatives to maintain the quality and coherence of the session.

All questions about submissions should be directed to the Chair of the PSA2018 Program Committee, Kevin Elliott, at psa2018@philsci.org.