About

Focus and Scope

Free & Equal aims to publish original work of the highest calibre that provides philosophical reflections on issues of public concern. The journal welcomes the submission of articles in political, social, moral, and legal philosophy. We publish both applied articles addressing current public affairs, and theoretical work investigating abstract questions relevant to understanding and theorizing these matters. Occasionally, when their conclusions are relevant for contemporary normative theory, we publish articles on the intellectual history of related questions. While we welcome work that draws on current social science, we do not publish articles whose methodology is primarily empirical or data-driven.

As a journal with a broad readership, we seek articles on topics of general interest. All submissions should be accessible to a wide philosophically informed audience, rather than written in a highly specialized or technical style.

In addition to full-length articles, the journal also welcomes submissions of:

• Review essays of recently published books or emerging topics likely to be of interest to our readers;
• Critical exchanges: pairs of submissions from scholars whose papers are in direct dialogue or debate with each other;
• Short articles: shorter articles (no more than 4,000 words) which develop a single line of argument, and need not contain an extensive list of reference.

Journal History

Free & Equal: A Journal of Ethics and Public Affairs was created in 2024 by the former editors of Philosophy and Public Affairs, which was founded in 1971 by Marshall Cohen, Thomas Nagel, and T.M. Scanlon. Free & Equal has been published by the Open Library of Humanities (OLH) since 2024.

Publication Frequency

The journal is published online as a continuous volume throughout the year. We publish two issues each year, and each article will sit within a numbered issue. Articles are made available as soon as they are ready to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays in making content publicly available.

Publication Fees

There are no publication fees. This journal is published by the OLH. Unlike many open-access publishers, the OLH does not charge any author fees. This does not mean that we do not have costs. Instead, our costs are paid by an international library consortium.

Archiving, Indexing and Citation Metrics

Free & Equal is archived and indexed according to the publisher's policy.