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Editorial Policies

1. Editorial decisions concerning theEncyclopedia,including decisions concerning its content, format and distribution,are made by the Principal Editor in consultation with the SeniorEditor, Associate Editors, and the members of the Editorial Board.
2. The members of the Editorial Board are selected in consultationwith the Stanford University Department of Philosophy, which serves astheEncyclopedia's Advisory Board. The Advisory Board alsoadvises the Principal Editor on the basic policies governing theoperation of theEncyclopedia.
3. Contributions to theEncyclopedia are normallysolicited by invitation from a member of the Editorial Board.However,qualified potential contributors may send, toeditors@plato.stanford.edu,anenquiry concerning the possibility of submitting apreliminary proposal to write on anEncyclopedia topic. Theeditors will then reply with a message that explains the conditionsthat must be met for us to consider a one-page‘pre-proposal’.
   • Byqualified, we mean those persons with accreditedPh.D.s in Philosophy (or a related discipline) who have publishedrefereed works on the topic of the proposed entry. Byrefereed works we mean either articles in respected,peer-reviewed journals or books which have been published by respectedpublishing houses and which have undergone the usual peer reviewprocess prior to publication. (Notes in newsletters, proceedings,unpublished dissertations, etc., do not count as much.) However, if amember of our Editorial Board is familiar with the work of thepotential contributor, the latter may be certified as qualified.
   • ByEncyclopedia topic, we mean a topic that isappropriate for a reference work in academic philosophy and is (a)either listed in our Projected Table of Contents or (b) falls withinthe area of expertise of one of the members of our Editorial Board.Since theEncyclopedia currently does not yet have subjecteditors for every specialized area of philosophy, some topics suitablefor a reference work in academic philosophy might fail condition (b)-- we reserve the right to determine whether such preliminary entryproposals (in specialized areas for which the Encyclopedia lackssubject editors) should be pursued at this time.
   The members of the Editorial Board reserve the right to compare thequalifications of any person submitting an unsolicited request withthose of other potential authors who would be qualified to writethe entry in question.
4. All entries, whether solicited or approved, will be refereed byone or more of the subject editors on our Editorial Board or by oneor more external referees who have been approved by a member of theEditorial Board. Authors are expected to engage any constructivecriticisms they receive during the referee process, prior topublication. Authors should note, however, that no matter whetherthey have been invited or approved by one of these subject editors,our goal of producing a high-quality reference work requires us toadmit the possibility that some submitted entries may not be acceptedfor publication.
5. Readers of theEncyclopedia are encouraged to contactauthors directly with comments, corrections, and other suggestionsfor improvements.
6. It remains the responsibility of authors to maintain theirentries and to keep them current. Authors are expected to revise theirentriesin a timely way both (1) in response to important newresearch on the topic of the entry and (2) in response to any validcriticism they receive, whether it comes from the subject editors onour Editorial Board, other members of the profession, or interestedreaders. In connection with (1), authors should update theBibliography and Other Internet Resources sections of their entriesregularly, to keep pace with significant new publications, both inprint and on the web. In connection with (2), the validity ofcriticism will be determined by the Principal Editor, typically inconsultation with the relevant members of the Editorial Board. Thelength of time required for a "timely" revision will be negotiable andwill both respect the author's current commitments and reflect howseriously the piece fails to accomodate new research or theseriousness of any valid criticism. Entries which are not revisedwithin the negotiated timetable may be retired from the active portionof theEncyclopedia and left in theEncyclopediaArchives until such time as the entry is revised so as to engage thevalid criticisms in question.
7. The views expressed by the authors in their entries are theirown and do not necessarily reflect those of Stanford University, theStanford University Philosophy Department, theEncyclopedia'sEditors or of anyone else associated with theEncyclopedia.
8. Policy on Course Readers.
9. The SEP does not charge authors a publication fee.

Publication Ethics

The following is adapted from theCode of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, published by the Committee on Publication Ethics, 2011.

The SEP Editors endeavor to meet the needs of its intended audience;constantly improve our reference work; have processes in place toassure the quality of the material we publish; maintain the integrityof the academic record; preclude business needs from compromisingintellectual and ethical standards; and publish corrections,clarifications, etc. as needed in a timely way. The SEP Editorsfurther endeavor to: actively welcome the views of authors, readers,reviewers, and editorial board members about ways of improving theirSEP's processes; encourage and be aware of research into peer reviewand publishing and reassessing the SEP's processes in the light of newfindings; support initiatives designed to reduce research andpublication misconduct; support initiatives to educate researchersabout publication ethics; and assess the effects of our policies onauthor and reviewer behavior and revising policies, as required, toencourage responsible behavior and discourage misconduct. Finally, theSEP Editors will: ensure that all entries are reviewed by suitablyqualified reviewers; adopt processes that encourage accuracy,completeness and clarity of reporting; adopt authorship orcontributorship systems that promote good practice (i.e. so thatauthorship information accurately reflects who did the work) anddiscourage misconduct (e.g. ghost and guest authors); and ensure thatconflicts of interest are handled in an appropriate manner.

Copyright Information

Copyright Notice. Authors contributing an entry or entriesto theStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, except asprovided herein, retain the copyright to their entry or entries. Bycontributing an entry or entries, authors grant to the MetaphysicsResearch Lab at Stanford University an exclusive license to publishtheir entry or entries on the Internet and the World Wide Web,including any future technologies or media that develop to supplementor replace the Internet or World Wide Web, on the terms of theLicensing Agreement set forth below. The rights granted to theMetaphysics Research Lab at Stanford University include the right toenforce such rights in any forum, administrative, judicial, orotherwise. All rights not expressly granted to the MetaphysicsResearch Lab at Stanford University, including the right to publish anentry or entries in other print media, are retained by theauthors. Copyright of theStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophyitself is held by the Metaphysics Research Lab at Stanford University.All rights are reserved. Though authors retain copyright in theirentries and reserve fixed media distribution rights, SEP entries maybe used in compliance with the Terms of Use below. The other pages inthe SEP (i.e., the non-entry pages) may not be reprinted, reproduced,stored, or utilized in any form, by any electronic, mechanical, orother means, now known or hereafter invented, including printing,photocopying, saving (on disk), broadcasting or recording, or in anyinformation storage or retrieval system, other than for purposes offair use, without written permission from the copyright holder.

Licensing Agreement. By contributing an entry or entries totheStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy authors grant to theMetaphysics Research Lab at Stanford University a perpetual,exclusive, worldwide right to copy, distribute, transmit and publishtheir contribution on the Internet and World Wide Web. The authorsalso grant to the Metaphysics Research Lab at Stanford University aperpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide right to copy, distribute,transmit and publish any and all derivative works prepared or modifiedby the Editors from the original contribution, in whole or in part, byany variety of methods on all types of publication and broadcast mediaother than the Internet, now known or hereafter invented. Authors alsogrant to the Metaphysics Research Lab at Stanford University aperpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide right to translate theircontribution, as well as any modified or derivative works, into anyand all languages for the same purposes of copying, distributing,transmitting and publishing their work.

Statement of Liability and Indemnity. By contributing anentry or entries to theStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophyauthors grant, to the Co-Principal Editors, the Associate andAssistant Editors, members of the Advisory and Editorial Boards, theMetaphysics Research Lab, Philosophy Department, Stanford Universityand its officers, trustees, agents and employees (“StanfordParties”), immunity from all liability arising from theirwork. All authors are responsible for securing permission to use anycopyrighted material, including graphics, quotations, and photographs,within their entries. The Co-Principal Editors, Associate andAssistant Editors, members of the Advisory and Editorial Boards,Philosophy Department, and the Stanford Parties therefore disclaim anyand all responsibility for copyright violations and any other form ofliability arising from the content of theEncyclopedia or from any material linked to theEncyclopedia. Authors agree to indemnify and holdthe Stanford Parties harmless from any claims of copyrightinfringement or other alleged wrongdoing in connection with theauthor's entries.

Take Down Policy. Every effort has been made by the individual contributing authors todiscover and contact copyright holders of artwork and content used inthis website. To the extent that a copyright holder could not befound or an inadvertent permissions or copyright error was made, theStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy stands ready to removecontent upon notice and request by a copyright holder. Allegedcopyright violations should be brought to the attention of the authorand the Principal Editor, so that such issues may be dealt withpromptly.

Terms of Use

Preamble. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) is anedited open access work produced by a collaborative community ofscholars. SEP entries (i.e., the articles contributed by SEP authors)are regularly revised—although fixed version are available from ourArchives. In order to preserve the integrity of the SEP—to sustain itas a free resource for the long term and to ensure clarity regardingwhat content is current—some distribution rights are limited.

1. User Rights. The Board of Trustees of the Leland StanfordJunior University (“Stanford”) grants each individual user(“User”) a royalty-free non-exclusive limited license toread, download, make copies, print, search, or link to the full textof each SEP entry; to crawl each entry for indexing (subject toreasonable network usage constraints); and to distribute each entryonly as permitted below provided that the purpose of the distributionis non-commercial.
2. Limited Electronic Distribution Rights.
   1. A User may electronically distribute an SEP entry to computers andmobile devices that are owned and controlled by the User.
   2. A User may electronically distribute an SEP entry to others onlyfor private electronic correspondence. This includes communicationsbetween the User and an individual, and communications, postings orfile-sharing to closed, invitation-only groups of individuals with noarchives publicly available, provided that the group consists of nogreater than 30 individuals.
   3. A User may electronically distribute a link to an SEPentry.
   4. No other electronic distribution rights are granted.
3. Limited Fixed-Media Distribution Rights. Users may distributeprinted copies or copies on fixed media (e.g., CD-ROM) only with priorwritten permission of the author of the SEP entry.
4. Course Reader Policy. Since students should have freeaccess to all entries at the SEP websitehttps://plato.stanford.edu/,we encourage instructors to distribute a link to the relevant content on oursite to their students instead of distributing copies of SEP entries in coursereaders.  Students (a) may prefer toread SEP entries on their electronic devices without incurring any costs, and(b) may be able to print SEP entries for themselves more cheaply than theamount charged for reproducing those pages in a course reader. Despite thisrecommendation, the inclusion of SEP entries in course readers is allowed underthe following conditions:
   1. If the course reader containing an SEP entry is to be distributedin fixed-media (e.g., print), permission of the author must besecured.
   2. If a course reader containing an SEP entry is to be distributedelectronically, it must be done in compliance with 2(b).
5. General. The SEP, Stanford, its trustees, officers,faculty, staff and students (including affiliates) are not liable forindirect consequential, incidental, special, punitive, exemplarydamages, including lost profits. Failure to enforce these terms of usedoes not constitute a waiver. Entries are provided “as-is”and Stanford disclaims all warranties with respect to the SEP websiteand SEP entries, including express warranties, and implied warrantiesof merchantibility, fitness for purpose, title andnon-infringement. No warranty is provided that the website or SEPentries or access to them, are secure, uninterrupted, timely,accurate, error-free or virus-free. These terms of use and any disputethat may arise out of them, SEP entries or the website may only bebrought in State or Federal court located in Santa Clara County,California, United States.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy iscopyright © 2025 byThe Metaphysics Research Lab, Department of Philosophy, Stanford University

Library of Congress Catalog Data: ISSN 1095-5054