American Journal of Political Science

American Journal of Political Science
Title	American Journal of Political Science
Discipline	Political science
Abbreviation	Am. J. Polit. Sci.
Publisher	Wiley on behalf of the Midwest Political Science Association
Country	United States
History	1957–present
Frequency	Quarterly

Contents

American Journal of Political Science The American Journal of Political Science is a peer-reviewed academic journal publishing research in United States, political behavior, comparative politics, international relations, and public policy topics. Founded in the mid-20th century, the journal is associated with the Midwest Political Science Association and distributed by Wiley-Blackwell; it has played a central role alongside journals such as American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, and Comparative Political Studies in shaping contemporary debate. Contributors have included scholars linked to institutions like Harvard University, Princeton University, Stanford University, Yale University, and University of Chicago.

History

The journal was established in 1957 during a period of expansion for scholarly societies including the Midwest Political Science Association and in the context of postwar developments involving Cold War era funding priorities and institutional growth at universities such as Columbia University, University of Michigan, University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Cornell University. Early editors and contributors were associated with networks involving figures from Kenneth Arrow-linked economics, Gabriel Almond's comparative community, and methodological innovators at Princeton University and Harvard University. The journal’s editorial practices evolved alongside changes at organizations like the American Political Science Association and trends exemplified by publications such as Public Opinion Quarterly and Political Methodology.

The journal publishes articles on topics spanning electoral studies connected to cases like United States presidential elections, comparative analyses referencing nations such as United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and India, and international relations research engaging with events including the Vietnam War, Gulf War, and post-Cold War institutions like the United Nations and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It covers methodological advances in fields related to scholars affiliated with RAND Corporation, Brookings Institution, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and university departments at Columbia University and University of Chicago. The journal also appears alongside policy-oriented outlets like Foreign Affairs, International Organization, and Policy Studies Journal.

Editorial leadership historically has drawn editors and editorial boards from departments such as Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Stanford University, and University of Michigan. The peer review process mirrors standards used by journals such as American Political Science Review, employing double-blind review and editorial assessment by associate editors with methodological expertise comparable to contributors from Institute for Advanced Study-affiliated scholars and quantitative groups at Carnegie Mellon University and University of California, Berkeley. The journal’s governance interacts with professional societies like the Midwest Political Science Association and practices adopted by editorial offices at commercial publishers including Wiley-Blackwell and formerly Blackwell Publishing.

Published on a quarterly schedule, the journal is distributed through channels used by major academic publishers linked to Wiley-Blackwell and stocked in libraries at institutions such as Library of Congress, Harvard University Library, Bodleian Library, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and German National Library. It is indexed in bibliographic services like Web of Science, Scopus, JSTOR, EBSCOhost, and ProQuest, and is compared in citation metrics with journals including American Political Science Review, Journal of Conflict Resolution, World Politics, and European Journal of Political Research.

The journal has been cited in scholarship by leading figures such as Robert Dahl, Samuel Huntington, Elinor Ostrom, Theda Skocpol, Sidney Verba, Donald Stokes, and John Kingdon, and it is evaluated in impact-factor listings and ranking exercises alongside outlets like Journal of Politics and Comparative Political Studies. Its contributions have been discussed in reviews in venues such as Perspectives on Politics and referenced in policy debates at institutions like the Brookings Institution and Council on Foreign Relations. Debates around replication and methodological transparency that have affected journals like American Political Science Review and Political Analysis have also shaped editorial policies and community expectations for this journal.

Notable contributions published in the journal have addressed topics comparable to seminal works by scholars associated with Kenneth Arrow, Anthony Downs, Charles Tilly, Robert Putnam, Hannah Arendt, James Coleman, Mancur Olson, Samuel Huntington, Elinor Ostrom, and Gary King. Articles have advanced quantitative techniques linked to practitioners at Harvard University, Princeton University, and Stanford University, and substantive findings bearing on events such as United States presidential elections and international crises like the Cuban Missile Crisis and institutional studies of bodies including the European Union, United Nations, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Over time the journal has published work that influenced electoral law debates, comparative welfare-state research tied to Sweden and Germany, and analyses of democratization processes in regions such as Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Category:Political science journals