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Type of site | Online encyclopedia |
|---|---|
| Created by | James Fieser |
| Editor |
|
| URL | iep |
| Launched | 1995; 30 years ago (1995) |
| ISSN | 2161-0002 |
| OCLC number | 37741658 |
TheInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP) is a scholarlyonline encyclopedia with around 900 articles aboutphilosophy,philosophers, and related topics.[1] The IEP publishes onlypeer-reviewed and blind-refereed original papers. Contribution is generally by invitation, and contributors are from 35 countries and are recognized as leading international specialists within their field.[1][2]
TheIEP was founded by philosopherJames Fieser in 1995, operating through anon-profit organization with the aim of providing accessible and scholarly information on philosophy.[3] The current general editors are philosophers James Fieser andBradley Dowden (since 1999) with a staff of thirty faculty members as subject-area editors plus numerous volunteers.[4][2] The entire website was redesigned in 2009, transitioning to theopen-sourcecontent management systemWordPress.[5] In 2025, it contained about 900 articles.[6]
The general editors supervise thirty subject-area editors, who help recruit authors and referees. The area editors supervise the blind-refereeing process. The intended audience for theIEP is philosophy students and faculty who are not specialists within the field, and thus articles are written in an accessible style. Articles consist of a brief survey or overview, followed by the body of the article, and an annotated bibliography. Articles are searchable either by an alphabetical index or through a Google-power search mechanism.[2]
During any twelve month period it receives 8.2 million unique viewers, making it the most visited encyclopedia of professionally written philosophy articles.Similarweb analytics[7] and Google Analytics say 75% of this usage is through internet searches, 18% is through direct access, and 5% through referral, with the referring websites including other reference websites and university library guides.[7]
TheIEP is included by theAmerican Library Association in its listing of Best Free Reference Sites;[8] listed as an online philosophy resource by the Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations;[9] listed by EpistemeLinks as one of the "outstanding resources" in philosophy on the internet;[10] and listed as a reliable resource in many university philosophy guides.[11]
