Scholarly work regarding animals and the relationships humans have with them continues to explode. One of the most exciting new contributions to the field is the Journal of Animal Ethics, which is a joint project of the University of Illinois Press and the Ferrater Mora Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. This peer-reviewed journal takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of the morality of humans’ relationship with animals.The first issue of the Journal includes such intriguing topics as “Pets or Meat? Ethics and Domestic Animals,” “Animal Ethics Based on Friendship,” and “On the Use of Animals in Emergent Embryonic Stem Cell Research for Spinal Cord Injuries.” Several of the articles are followed by a response from someone with a different point of view, which is always helpful in fully understanding the arguments surrounding a particular issue.
Journal of Animal Ethics
The Journal has issued an ongoing call for papers and is open to submissions not only from academics, whether in the humanities or sciences, but to professionals working in the field of animal protection. It’s nice to see this kind of combined scholarly and practical approach. It will publish a wide range of types of articles, from full length scholarly articles (3,000-5,000 words), to “Argument” pieces advancing a particular point of view on a current issue (1,000-2,000 words), to review articles (1,000-3,000 words) and reviews (1,000 words).
The editors of the Journal are the highly esteemed theologian Andrew Linzey, and Priscilla N. Cohn, who are, respectively, the Director and Assistant Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and who have been doing groundbreaking work for animals for years. Their participation promises to make the Journal an important contribution to current scholarship. But the success of the Journal will ultimately depend on the quality of submissions they receive. If this is your bent, you should give it consideration. Or, if you know others who might be interested in this sort of endeavor, please pass it on.