AGATHEOS: European Journal for Philosophy of Religion
This entry comes with a caution that the others do not need, and it is worth stating first, because it concerns a trap a careful researcher can still fall into.
The journal
AGATHEOS — European Journal for Philosophy of Religion is a peer-reviewed international journal published quarterly under the auspices of the Nordic Society for Philosophy of Religion, in collaboration with the University of Gävle and Uppsala University, in Sweden. It appears on Publicera, the publishing platform of the National Library of Sweden.
Review is double-blind, access is open, and the journal charges no publication fees of any kind. Its stated aim is to welcome work across philosophical methods while favouring papers that pose a clear question, defend a definite thesis and argue for it.
The warning
A website at the address philosophy-of-religion.eu continues to carry the title European Journal for Philosophy of Religion and the old ISSN. It is not published by the Nordic Society, and its recent contents include papers on religious tourism, on talent management in a Jordanian bank, and on Asian lion-dance styles — material with no relation to philosophy of religion. The site also advertises publishing services to prospective authors.
Those are the standard marks of a journal that has been taken over and is trading on an established name. Anyone citing from that site, or considering submitting to it, should look closely first.
Why it works as a source
Because the editorial line that matters survived the hijacking and is now published transparently, by named institutions, with no fees and with a review process stated in detail. Those are the things to check in any journal, and they are the reason this one can be used with confidence.
A general lesson about sources
A title, an ISSN and a professional-looking site prove nothing on their own. What proves something is a named publisher, an identifiable editorial board, a described review process, and contents that match the stated scope. Checking those four things takes two minutes and prevents the kind of citation that quietly discredits an entire bibliography.
Image: Jacob’s Dream, Jusepe de Ribera, 1639. Museo del Prado, Madrid, public domain. The ladder between earth and heaven (Gen 28.12), the ground on which philosophy of religion works.
