Political Science Journals Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Whenever political scientists read newspapers, they are working—that is, doing their job by gathering facts and declarations related to current public affairs and trying to understand the mechanisms and formations of public opinion. But apart from these easily accessible media that reach a wide audience, there are, as in any discipline, academic journals in the field of political science.

Political science journals are distinct from political magazines and newspapers because these academic publications usually try to understand political phenomena or governance in theoretical, comparative, or historical terms. The methodological dimensions of a given research—quantitative, qualitative, or comparative—are also highlighted in every article. All manuscripts submitted to these journals are usually peer-reviewed, that is, read, evaluated, criticized, and finally approved or rejected anonymously by colleagues in the field. This evaluating process, borrowed from the exact sciences, is the guarantee for scientific accuracy and renewed knowledge in the discipline; it is seen as the best way to avoid personal conflicts and local cliques.

In terms of accessibility, hard copies of academic journals in political science typically are not found in newsstands or general bookstores, but usually in university bookstores, specialized libraries, or through subscriptions. The Internet allows potential readers to browse selected pages from a given journal at no cost through a publisher’s Web site or through a library that subscribes to a group of selected journals. Of course, readers who are willing to pay can download articles from many academic journals.

Usually, most countries with universities have at least one national political science journal, labelled as such. For example, there are the British Journal of Political Science and the Australian Journal of Political Science, but there are also many bilingual publications that offer wider perspectives like the Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, which carries articles and book reviews in English or French. The Swiss Political Science Review offers articles in four languages: French, German, English, and Italian. Even though English is not an official language in Nordic countries, the journal Scandinavian Political Studies is published in English. Of course, a national journal does not automatically exclude foreigners from submitting manuscripts to them; but in some cases, national journals are likely to prefer submissions related to their own country when coming from abroad, while considering almost any related topic from their “insider” authors.

The Rise Of Private Publishers

The last twenty years have witnessed the expansion of many private publishers, such as Routledge, Routledge, and SAGE, which compete with university presses like Cambridge, Oxford, and Duke in creating dozens of new interdisciplinary academic journals in specific domains related to globalization, public opinion, international relations, or political theory. For example, some Routledge journals such as Global Society: Journal of Interdisciplinary International Relations and Journal of Transatlantic Studies offer more intersections with other dimensions like culture and ethnicity. In recent years, some new electronic journals, such as the European Journal of American Studies, are available exclusively through the Internet, which means there is no equivalent version published in hard copy. However, these high-standard e-journals that are sometimes accessible for free often follow the same peer-reviewing process as their predecessors.

While many academic journals fight with limited resources and require efforts from volunteers, others benefit from generous financial support or are published through governmental agencies. This was the case for the journal Problems of Communism, a professional publication about communist regimes produced since 1952, with the financial help of the United States Information Agency. Copies were sent free of charge to many libraries and samples of the journal were available in some U.S. consulates. Since 1992, this publication changed its name to Problems of Post-Communism.

Some political science journals have an enviable reputation because they are considered more influential, mainly because of their severe criteria for selecting manuscripts, or because they are more often quoted by scholars. Academic journals are like the battlefields of the “publish or perish” motto that hinders many scholars. Many academics in political science are especially obsessed with the place where their articles appear— they value the journals that have an international audience, that are often quoted, that receive high levels of funding, and that emerge from prestigious universities. Some scholars even argue that an article published in a very prestigious journal is more important in terms of achievement, visibility, and promotion than if the same text had appeared in a lesser-known, peer-reviewed publication. There are even statistics relating to a journal’s visibility, its circulation, and the reference tools and databases that index its articles. As a consequence, some high-profile journals receive a very large amount of submissions and their ratio of acceptance remains minimal; this phenomenon intensifies the urge of some scholars to have their papers published in the journal that keeps only the top papers.

Distinguishing Attributes

Many political science journals also include book reviews, while others only focus on peer-reviewed articles. Because publishing peer-reviewed articles is valued in the academic community, in terms of funding and academic promotion, some other aspects related to journals are seen as less important, such as being the editor of a journal, doing peer reviews, or writing book reviews.

A scholarly journal offering a handful of trendy articles may have many strong points, but a book review section can be seen as an essential window to the academic world. Because scholars cannot buy or even read everything that is published in their domain of expertise, they can rely on the recommendation of other colleagues. Carrying a generous and diversified section of book reviews can make the difference between the average journals and some upper-grade publications. Academic journals that carry only peer-reviewed articles focusing on tiny aspects of the current research may not be as valuable for the audience; readers, students, and scholars benefit from being informed about what colleagues write and which theoretical trends they are borrowing, criticizing, or adopting. Book reviews are essential not only for the concerned authors and publishers, but also for academic life itself, as they remain the best way for a political scientist to be aware of what is going on inside the discipline and outside usual networks. Given their short format, most book reviews can provide a neutral perspective on a book, which is useful because most bookstore employees and librarians are often too busy to operate this type of preselection of ideas, essays, and thesis.

Apart from book reviews, a journal may offer review essays, comparative articles among books on a related theme or by the same author. The advantage of a review essay is that it offers multiple book reviews, followed by an evaluation of the appropriate audience for each title, providing indications about how each book may complement the others. Other journals may offer a forum section in which several scholars review one book, followed by comments written by the book’s author. Although book review sections are complicated to manage in terms of correspondence and deadlines, these examples illustrate how scholarly journals can be more than just a juxtaposition of cutting-edge articles between two covers.

Bibliography:

American Political Science Review (APSR)
Perspectives on Politics
PS: Political Science & Politics Australian Journal of Political Science
British Journal of Political Science
Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique
European Journal of American Studies
Global Society: Journal of Interdisciplinary International Relations
Journal of Transatlantic Studies
Problems of Post-Communism
Scandinavian Political Studies
Swiss Political Science Review
Journal of Information Technology and Politics
Politics & Religion
Journal of Political Science Education
The Law and Politics Book Review
Legislative Studies Quarterly
New Political Science
Party Politics
Policy Studies Journal
Political Analysis
Political Communication
Political Behavior
Politics & Gender
Publius
State Politics and Policy Quarterly
Urban Affairs Review

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