How Many Authors Does It Take to Publish an Article? Trends and Patterns in Political Science

Abstract

P olitical scientists have a tradition of reflecting on the evolution and state of their discipline. Numerous studies have examined rankings of departments (Klingemann 1986; Jackman and Siverson 1996; Lowery and Silver 1996; Miller, Tien, and Peebler 1996b; Morgan and Fitzgerald 1977), graduate programs (Katz and Eagles 1996), journals (Baum et al. 1976; Garand 1990; Giles and Wright 1975; Giles, Mizell, and Patterson 1989; Lester 1990), and citation rates (Cnudde 1986; Gleditsch 1993; Gleditsch 1996; Klingemann, Groffman, and Campagna 1989; Miller, Tien, and Peebler 1996a). The status of women in the profession-ascertained by, for example, counting the number of Ph.D.s granted over time-has also become a subject of study (Burton 1979; Sarkees and McGlen 1992; Kelly, Williams, and Fisher 1993; Hesli and Burrell 1995; Young 1995). We continue the self-study tradition by examining an area that has not received much attention among political scientists: trends and patterns of multiple-authored journal articles in political science over time (for an exception, see Miller, Tien, and Peebler 1996a, Table 7). In the social sciences more generally, patterns of multiple authorship have increasingly become the focus of scholarly attention and concern (Endersby 1996; Fisher et al. 1998; De Maio and Kushner 1981; Hudson 1996; Wildavsky 1986). About half of all articles published in toptiered professional social science journals are written by two or more scholars; two or three decades ago, the proportion of multiple-authored articles was one-quarter to one-third of all social science articles (Endersby 1996; Hudson 1996; Miller, Tien, and Peebler 1996a). The explanations offered for this increase in multiple authorships fall into three loosely defined categories (see Endersby 1996, Hudson 1996, Miller, Tien, and Peebler 1996a). First, the pool from which suitable collaborators can be found has