Political Science Journals Research Articles

Fairness, tika and political science in Aotearoa New Zealand: Some “inconvenient evidence”

This article is a rejoinder to Annie Te One and Maria Bargh’s article, published in the previous edition of The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, exploring whether the political science discipline in Aotearoa New Zealand is keeping pace with change with respect to Māori politics content in university political science programs, the number of Māori employed in the political science profession and the content of New Zealand's Political Science journal. While acknowledging the importance of their case, an assessment of the empirical evidence and further analysis of the data and the methods used by Te One and Bargh refutes their allegations in relation to all three issues. As one of the co-editors of Political Science, I note that, from 2012 to 2022, the acceptance rate of articles on Māori politics was 91.7% and that of Māori authors submitting on a Māori topic was 100%. Recognition and change are underway.

Visualization of global research trends and future research directions of financial performance in higher education sector using bibliometric analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to undertake a bibliometric analysis of financial performance research in of higher education sector. The study examines papers over the last 2 decades and performed performance analysis, co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling and scientific mapping.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines 616 documents retrieved from the Scopus database using bibliometric analysis, performance analysis and thematic clustering. The study looked at the scientific productivity of papers, prolific authors, most influencing papers, institutions and nations, keyword cooccurrence, thematic mapping, co-citations and authorship and country collaborations. VOS viewer was employed as a tool in the research to conduct the performance analysis and thematic clustering.FindingsThis study delves into the recent advancements in financial performance research within higher education, focusing particularly on the year 2023, characterized by a peak of productivity with 46 significant articles. Notable institutions contributing substantially to this discourse include the University of Sussex (UK), and Ratio Institute Stockholm (Sweden), each referenced 227 times. The United Kingdom has emerged as a leader in financial performance research, amassing 3,850 citations from 92 publications. Key journals driving this conversation include “Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice” and “The British Journal of Political Science.” The most cited study examines the impact of business-university partnerships on innovation and financial outcomes.”Originality/valueThis is the first study that provides a performance analysis and scientific mapping of the financial performance literature in the higher education sector. In addition, this study is the initial one to do a thorough analysis and organized representation of financial performance in the higher education sector, providing an unparalleled understanding of a hitherto uninvestigated area of academic research.

Measuring transparency in the social sciences: political science and international relations.

The scientific method is predicated on transparency-yet the pace at which transparent research practices are being adopted by the scientific community is slow. The replication crisis in psychology showed that published findings employing statistical inference are threatened by undetected errors, data manipulation and data falsification. To mitigate these problems and bolster research credibility, open data and preregistration practices have gained traction in the natural and social sciences. However, the extent of their adoption in different disciplines is unknown. We introduce computational procedures to identify the transparency of a research field using large-scale text analysis and machine learning classifiers. Using political science and international relations as an illustrative case, we examine 93 931 articles across the top 160 political science and international relations journals between 2010 and 2021. We find that approximately 21% of all statistical inference papers have open data and 5% of all experiments are preregistered. Despite this shortfall, the example of leading journals in the field shows that change is feasible and can be effected quickly.

How Much Should We Trust Instrumental Variable Estimates in Political Science? Practical Advice Based on 67 Replicated Studies

Abstract Instrumental variable (IV) strategies are widely used in political science to establish causal relationships, but the identifying assumptions required by an IV design are demanding, and assessing their validity remains challenging. In this paper, we replicate 67 articles published in three top political science journals from 2010 to 2022 and identify several concerning patterns. First, researchers often overestimate the strength of their instruments due to non-i.i.d. error structures such as clustering. Second, IV estimates are often highly uncertain, and the commonly used t-test for two-stage-least-squares (2SLS) estimates frequently underestimate the uncertainties. Third, in most replicated studies, 2SLS estimates are significantly larger in magnitude than ordinary-least-squares estimates, and their absolute ratio is inversely related to the strength of the instrument in observational studies—a pattern not observed in experimental ones—suggesting potential violations of unconfoundedness or the exclusion restriction in the former. We provide a checklist and software to help researchers avoid these pitfalls and improve their practice.

Who Publishes Open Access?

ABSTRACTOpen access (OA) publishing makes scholarship more accessible to readers but also presents additional hurdles for authors. This article examines determinants of OA publishing in well-respected, subscription-based journals. We find that research funding provides the strongest explanation for OA publishing, although various aspects of authorship and an author’s affiliation with a European versus a US institution also matter. We discuss the implications of our findings for publishing in scholarly journals in political science.

The Gender Gap and Academic Publishing in Political Science: Evidence from Canada

ABSTRACT The underrepresentation of women-authored scholarship in political science journals remains a persistent issue. Studies confirm that a gender gap exists in many leading American and European journals and that a key contributing factor is the lack of supply from women authors. To what extent is this gap present in the Canadian Journal of Political Science (CJPS), given the Canadian Political Science Association’s efforts to promote gender equality? To answer this question, we analyze an original dataset of CJPS submissions from 2008 to 2022. We find that a modest gender gap does exist; women tend to submit fewer manuscripts and publish fewer articles in the CJPS relative to men. On the other hand, we find no evidence of bias against women authors during the review process. In fact, they fare as well or better than men across editorial teams and regardless of the handling editor’s gender.

Cybersecurity in Political Studies: A Scoping Review

In recent years the increasing prevalence of technology has elevated cybersecurity from being a niche focus of interest for a small group of specialised computer scientists to a macro-level concern, attracting the attention of scholars and practitioners in political science and international relations. Today governments and military bodies view aspects of cybersecurity—ranging from preparations for cyberwar (a facet of digital geopolitics) to managing responses to cyber events (a facet of strategic communications)—as critical to their national security. However, while this mounting interest among academics has led to a rise in publications in political science and international relations journals, such rapid growth also results in literature fragmentation, where many studies do not sufficiently communicate with each other, and theoretical development remains relatively limited. In this paper, by reviewing the 113 cybersecurity papers published in 53 prominent journals in political science and international relations, I aim to provide an overview of the current state of research in this domain. Overall, this study has implications for the political science and international relations fields, especially the literature on strategic communications and digital geopolitics.

Legal research as a collective enterprise: an examination of data availability in empirical legal scholarship

Abstract While most social sciences confronted data sharing, transparency, and reproducibility sometime in the last two decades, the legal academy has largely been absent from these discussions. In this study, we examine the degree to which the information underlying empirical studies is available. Using an original dataset of every empirical study published in top law journals from 2010 to 2022, we find that 15% have a dataset that is readily available. We compare these low rates with a dataset of every empirical article published in the top economics, political science, and interdisciplinary journals from 2018 to 2022. The vast majority of these articles (99%) make their data available. Additional analysis demonstrates that disciplinary norms enforced by journals drive when authors make their data available. Given the discrepancy between law and other social sciences, we advocate for a disciplinary and cultural shift in law that embraces data accessibility and identify concrete steps to improve data availability. (JEL K00, K1, K10)

The role of hyperparameters in machine learning models and how to tune them

Abstract Hyperparameters critically influence how well machine learning models perform on unseen, out-of-sample data. Systematically comparing the performance of different hyperparameter settings will often go a long way in building confidence about a model's performance. However, analyzing 64 machine learning related manuscripts published in three leading political science journals (APSR, PA, and PSRM) between 2016 and 2021, we find that only 13 publications (20.31 percent) report the hyperparameters and also how they tuned them in either the paper or the appendix. We illustrate the dangers of cursory attention to model and tuning transparency in comparing machine learning models’ capability to predict electoral violence from tweets. The tuning of hyperparameters and their documentation should become a standard component of robustness checks for machine learning models.

THE ISSUE OF NATION-BUILDING IN INDEPENDENT KAZAKHSTAN IN THE WORKS OF DOMESTIC SCIENTISTS: A POLITICAL ANALYSIS

in this paper Kazakh researches literature review conducted on the topic of nation building in Kazakhstan. Based on articles, books and monographs published in «Bulletin of the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University», «Journal of Philosophy, Culture and Political Science» of the al-Farabi Kazakh National University, «Kazakhstan-Spectr» of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and e-library of the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University. The purpose of the article is to identify issues of nation-building that have not been considered by Kazakh scientists. The results of the article will serve as the basis for further and in-depth study of aspects of nation building in Kazakhstan. This article provides an overview of studies of kazakh scientists dedicated to issues of nation-building in the period after the country gained independence. The work highlights the diversity of aspects associated with the formation of national identity, including both the state-forming ethnic group (Kazakhs) and other ethnic groups living in Kazakhstan. The focus of research in the early 90s was the formation of nations around national identity. In the following years scientists paid attention to the strategies of nation building - civil or ethnic, as well as the influence of the Internet, globalization and ideology through the education system. Noted that different researchers have identified different aspects, such as strengthening the Kazakh language and economic development as key elements of nation-building. However, in the reviewed works not all aspects supported by empirical data, and the vastness of the topic makes it difficult to formulate specific conclusions. Some studies rely on regulations and government programs that, which creates difficulties in assessing the nation-building process. In conclusion, it is emphasized that in the 90s a new stage of research into nation-building began in post-Soviet countries, including Kazakhstan. Despite the extensive study of certain aspects, questions remain unresolved about the formation of a nation, the role of the state language, the interest of other ethnic groups in the language, the impact of the education system and the development of the film industry on national identity.

Promoting Reproducibility and Replicability in Political Science

This article reviews and summarizes current reproduction and replication practices in political science. We first provide definitions for reproducibility and replicability. We then review data availability policies for 28 leading political science journals and present the results from a survey of editors about their willingness to publish comments and replications. We discuss new initiatives that seek to promote and generate high-quality reproductions and replications. Finally, we make the case for standards and practices that may help increase data availability, reproducibility, and replicability in political science.

Towards a fairer and more ‘tika’ political science and politics: Are political science programs equipping students adequately for Aotearoa realities?

Social and political change is occurring in Aotearoa New Zealand and tikanga, mātauranga, te reo Māori (the Māori language) and Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) are increasingly being recognised in diverse political and legal contexts. This article explores whether the political science discipline is keeping pace with these political changes, whether research and course content is adequately reflecting these new realities, and if students are appropriately equipped to participate. In particular, we examine the state of university politics programs and outline the form and quantity of Māori politics in the teaching and research of these programs. From the assessment of the current state of politics programs, we make some observations about what changes may be required to ensure politics programs, their students and academics are fully equipped to work in the unique political and legal landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand. Approximately 1% of political science lecturers are Māori, 1% of content taught can be classified as Māori politics and approximately 1% of publications in the New Zealand Political Science journal can be classified as kaupapa Māori politics. This 1–1–1 crisis provides a bleak picture of the existing arrangements in politics programs in Aotearoa New Zealand and must change.

Erratum to “The Well‐Ordered Society under Crisis: A Formal Analysis of Public Reason vs. Convergence Discourse” American Journal of Political Science, Volume 64, Issue 1, January 2020, pp. 82–101

Erratum to “The Well‐Ordered Society under Crisis: A Formal Analysis of Public Reason vs. Convergence Discourse” <i>American Journal of Political Science</i>, Volume 64, Issue 1, January 2020, pp. 82–101

Surviving in a male academia: gender gap, publication strategies and career stage in South European political science journals

Women’s underrepresentation in top political science journals has been a central concern of both the American Political Science Association and the European Consortium of Political Research, which have promoted studies to assess the extent and features of the gender gap. However, so far in Southern Europe, research on this topic has been scarce. Our work adds to the literature by presenting new data on three journals: the Italian Political Science Review, the Spanish Political Science Review and South European Society and Politics. The research has three main goals: to gauge the gender gap in the three journals; to examine whether gender influences publication preferences; and to investigate how career intersects with gendered publication strategies. The analysis is built on a database of almost 800 articles and about 1400 authors, published in these three journals in 2011–2022. Our main findings are that South European journals reveal a gender gap similar to other international journals, where just one-third of authors are women; that this publication gap is accompanied by gendered publication strategies; and that the routes men and women follow to succeed in academic publishing diverge at every career stage. Finally, we argue that women's preferred strategies may not offer the optimum path to career success.

Discursive Fluctuations of the School Library Program in Chile: A Critical Policy Analysis

Abstract In Latin America, school libraries were founded based on the hopes of fostering democracy and reducing social and educational inequalities. Nevertheless, current dominant discourses relate school libraries more closely to the demand to improve academic results. In this article, we explore what we consider to be an intensification of neoliberal discourses about school libraries by studying the case of the Learning Resource Centres (Centros de Recursos para el Aprendizaje, CRA) in Chile, a program that has been exemplary compared to other Latin American countries. With a Critical Policy Analysis (Bacchi 2009. Analysing Policy: What’s the Problem Represented to be? Australia: Pearson, 2012. Engaging with Carol Bacchi. Strategic Interventions and Exchanges. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press, 2015. “The Turn to Problematization: Political Implications of Contrasting Interpretive and Poststructural Adaptations.” Open Journal of Political Science 5 (1): 1–12), we question the problems that the CRA produce and aim to solve and their transformations through time. We focus on four public policy documents tracing how school libraries are related to the global educational reforms of the late 1980s and the 1990s and how they are assessed in the 2010s. We read the documents sketching out three exclusions that, we argue, lay the foundation for a neoliberal intensification of the CRA program: the exclusions of pedagogical innovation, of other learning resources beyond books, and of the local community.

Is Political Science (Still) Ignoring Religion? An Analysis of Journal Publications, 2011–2020

ABSTRACTPolitical scientists involved in the study of religion have expressed concerns that religious themes have yet to be fully integrated into the mainstream of the discipline. According to a study of articles published in leading political science journals during the first decade of the twenty-first century, papers engaging with religion were relatively few in number and highly concentrated in only a few thematic and disciplinary areas. This article presents an updated analysis of the extent to which political science has engaged with the topic of religion by examining journal outputs for the period 2011–2020. The study finds no significant change in the patterns identified by the earlier research. Despite an overall increase in the quantity of political science articles on the subject of religion, the overall proportion has been relatively static, and the thematic and disciplinary focus of outputs remains narrow.

Publishing Trends in Political Science: How Publishing Houses, Geographical Positions, and International Collaboration Shapes Academic Knowledge Production

Even though political science is one of the most extensive research fields within the social sciences, there is little scholarly knowledge about its publishing trends and the internationalization of the discipline. This paper analyzes international publishing by taking a close look at publishers, Scopus-indexed journals, articles, and author collaboration networks. The results show that the number of political science journals almost tripled between 2000 and 2022. Our descriptive analysis also reveals that only a few Western commercial international publishers, and Taylor & Francis in particular, dominate the publication of political science journals, and Western authors account for the majority of both academic papers and citations. Additionally, our research explores that the most prolific country in terms of publication within political science is still the United States, but the BRICS countries, especially India, Russia, and China, have achieved remarkable growth in their publication outputs. Finally, our network analysis suggests that the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia occupy central positions in international collaborations among political scientists, but Asian, Eastern European and Latin-American regional networks have been developing in the last decade.

Vietnam’s Online Newspaper Development Trend in the Context of Social Media

According to statistics from the Ministry of Information and Communications, as of December 2022, the whole country has 127 news agencies; 670 journal agencies (there are 327 journals of political theory and science, 72 journals of literature and art); 72 radio and television agencies. Personnel operating in the field of journalism are about 41,000 people, of which the radio and television sector is approximately 16,500 people. Compared with 2021, personnel is relatively stable and the number of personnel granted journalist cards increases significantly. There have been 19,356 cases of being granted journalist cards. It is easy for the public to check the names of long-term online newspapers and major readers such as “VnExpress,” “Dan Tri,” “Vietnamplus,” “VietNamNet,” etc. The emergence of multimedia journalism is an important step towards shaping the new type of digital storytelling and the future of journalism. In the process of renovation, the Vietnamese press is also gradually transforming and approaching new media products (Long-form/E-Magazine/Megastory) that show long, in-depth stories and multi-purpose writing, photos, audio, video, photographers, etc. According to “Vietnamplus” – a press agency leading this trend, when you first bring this type of work to the public, it is unexpected that these works are received more strongly than other types of media. We use questionnaires to build public perceptions and observations as journalists working for five major online newspapers in Vietnam. The data is taken from in-depth interviews with journalists, editors, editorial staff, and editors-in-chief of five major online newspapers in Vietnam. We choose the sample according to the sampling method of the case. In the context of social media, Vietnam’s online newspapers have developed and changed significantly. These findings will enrich and have a typical impact by clarifying two main contradictions that exist in Vietnam’s online newspapers. Those are conflicts between news products, regular articles and media products, e-magazines, megastory and conflicts in organizations producing online newspapers. From there, the article looks at how Vietnam’s online newspaper is going to grow, how it uses visual reporting, and how excited journalists and press managers are about it.

Addressing the “Hidden Curriculum” in Political Science Publishing

Across the academy, there is growing concern over diversity within academic institutions. According to recent research published in three top political science journals, members of historically marginalized groups remain underrepresented and marginalized in submissions, publications, and even reviewer pools (Ayoub 2022; Bell et al. 2020; Reinhardt, Windsor, and King 2022). Expectations that scholars, especially early career researchers (ECRs), “publish or perish” thus exacerbate intersectional inequalities within the discipline (Briscoe-Palmer and Mattocks 2021; McKenzie 2017; Steinþórsdóttir et al. 2018). Further, the overwhelming pressure to publish at all costs can commodify knowledge production and foster a toxic, competitive environment based on peer rivalry rather than collaboration for the sake of advancing knowledge (Horta and Li 2023, 269–70, 271–72).

Issue Information

Personnel PsychologyVolume 76, Issue 2 p. 1-2 ISSUE INFORMATIONFree Access Issue Information First published: 08 May 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12460AboutRelatedInformationPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessClose modalShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume76, Issue2Summer 2023Pages 1-2 RelatedInformation RecommendedIssue Definition, Information Processing, and the Politics of Global WarmingB. Dan Wood, Arnold Vedlitz, American Journal of Political Science