Journal rankings · indicator year 2008
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Subfield ranking · 2008
Political Science and International Relations journal rankings 2008
255 ranked journals · Subfield in Social Sciences
Political Science and International Relations has 255 ranked journals in 2008. The median OJR rose 0.18 on 2007 to 1.60, above the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 3.11. The top three are American Political Science Review, Foreign Affairs, and Journal of European Public Policy.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2008. Journal access status and listed APC: source snapshot September 23, 2026.
Journals whose main subfield sits in this category and that published at least 30 citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) in 2005–2007, the window the 2008 score is computed on.
The OpenJournalRank Indicator (OJR) is a free, publicly available metric of a journal’s field-normalized citation impact, computed from open OpenAlex citation data. It compares citations to a journal’s papers from the previous three years with the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so 1.00 is the world average and values can be compared across fields. It is computed with the NCI3 method.
The middle OJR among ranked journals in this category: half score higher, half lower. 1.00 is the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type.
The dot is this category, the solid tick is the median of all ranked journals and the dashed line is the world average.
Share of ranked journals in this category that are fully open access, so every paper is free to read. Hybrid journals, which sell subscriptions and open single papers for a fee, are not counted.
Median list price of the article processing charge, in US dollars, among ranked journals in this category that list a price above zero. Journals with a listed APC of $0 and journals with no known price are left out of this median. The At a glance table below gives a second median that includes the $0 prices.
Subfields of Social Sciences (22)
255 ranked journals
Filters
Rank is the position by OJR within the list on screen; 1 is the highest. | OJR is field-normalized 3-year citation impact: 1.00 is the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so values compare across fields. The badge is the journal’s quartile in this list. | Citations per paper over a two-year window, counted from OpenAlex. It is not field-normalized, so compare it only between journals of the same field. ▲ or ▼ is the change from 2007. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2005–2007, the window the 2008 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2005–2007 papers that are free to read in any open-access form. The green OA tag next to a title marks a fully open-access journal. | List price of the article processing charge in US dollars. “$0 listed” means the listed price is zero; a dash means no price is listed. | The line is the journal’s OJR from 2000 to 2008. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1American Political Science ReviewCambridge University Press · United States | 15.45Q1 | 3.25 0.36 down from 2007 | 188 | 10% | $3,550 | ||
2Foreign AffairsCouncil on Foreign Relations · United States | 11.53Q1 | 4.11 0.08 up from 2007 | 811 | 0% | — | ||
3Journal of European Public PolicyRoutledge · United Kingdom | 11.13Q1 | 3.09 0.26 down from 2007 | 216 | 21% | — | ||
4International SecurityThe MIT Press · United States | 11.05Q1 | 3.43 0.46 down from 2007 | 100 | 5% | — | ||
5Journal of European Social PolicySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 10.56Q1 | 3.53 0.51 up from 2007 | 76 | 10% | $3,650 | ||
6Political AnalysisCambridge University Press · United States | 9.62Q1 | 3.35 0.58 up from 2007 | 99 | 39% | $3,550 | ||
7European Union PoliticsSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 9.30Q1 | 2.96 0.32 up from 2007 | 75 | 63% | $3,650 | ||
8Comparative Political StudiesSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.15Q1 | 2.62 1.10 down from 2007 | 187 | 3% | $3,900 | ||
9American Journal of Political ScienceWiley · United States | 9.04Q1 | 4.44 1.76 up from 2007 | 235 | 15% | $4,100 | ||
10European Journal of International RelationsSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 8.74Q1 | 2.84 0.21 down from 2007 | 62 | 11% | $3,900 | ||
11European Foreign Affairs ReviewSpringer Nature · Netherlands | 8.57Q1 | 2.30 0.74 up from 2007 | 88 | 11% | — | ||
12Philosophy & Public AffairsWiley · United States | 7.51Q1 | 1.63 0.56 down from 2007 | 59 | 10% | $3,460 | ||
13Political StudiesSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 7.08Q1 | 2.40 0.28 down from 2007 | 145 | 11% | $3,650 | ||
14British Journal of Political ScienceOACambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 7.06Q1 | 2.38 0.03 down from 2007 | 114 | 26% | $3,550 | ||
15Comparative European PoliticsPalgrave Macmillan · United Kingdom | 6.87Q1 | 1.56 0.32 down from 2007 | 65 | 9% | $3,290 | ||
16Scandinavian Political StudiesWiley · United Kingdom | 6.79Q1 | 3.02 2.15 up from 2007 | 64 | 5% | $2,950 | ||
17Quarterly Journal of Political ScienceNow Publishers · United States | 6.72Q1 | 2.43 0.31 up from 2007 | 35 | 24% | — | ||
18Public Opinion QuarterlyOxford University Press · United States | 6.60Q1 | 2.58 0.32 up from 2007 | 166 | 16% | $3,969 | ||
19Journal of Education PolicyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 6.48Q1 | 2.38 0.28 down from 2007 | 120 | 8% | — | ||
20West European PoliticsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 6.39Q1 | 2.31 0.66 up from 2007 | 152 | 17% | — | ||
21International AffairsOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 6.39Q1 | 1.51 0.25 down from 2007 | 200 | 8% | $4,936 | ||
22Party PoliticsSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 6.28Q1 | 1.75 0.99 down from 2007 | 106 | 2% | $3,650 | ||
23Journal of democracyJohns Hopkins University Press · United States | 6.24Q1 | 1.77 0.35 up from 2007 | 220 | 2% | — | ||
24Comparative EducationTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 6.19Q1 | 1.48 0.11 up from 2007 | 87 | 16% | — | ||
25JCMS Journal of Common Market StudiesWiley · United Kingdom | 6.18Q1 | 2.44 0.39 up from 2007 | 233 | 17% | $4,170 | ||
26Journal of Political PhilosophyWiley · United Kingdom | 6.16Q1 | 2.67 0.88 up from 2007 | 87 | 11% | $4,030 | ||
27European Journal of Political ResearchOAWiley · United Kingdom | 5.87Q1 | 1.80 0.18 down from 2007 | 227 | 10% | $3,550 | ||
28The China QuarterlyCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 5.82Q1 | 1.68 0.54 up from 2007 | 141 | 7% | $3,550 | ||
29The Journal of PoliticsUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 5.57Q1 | 1.49 0.37 down from 2007 | 314 | 4% | — | ||
30GovernanceWiley · United Kingdom | 5.55Q1 | 1.82 0.62 down from 2007 | 108 | 17% | $3,730 | ||
31Journal of Social PolicyCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 5.51Q1 | 1.63 0.34 down from 2007 | 121 | 16% | $3,550 | ||
32Higher EducationSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 5.19Q1 | 1.74 0.08 down from 2007 | 250 | 15% | $2,290 | ||
33International Political Science ReviewSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 4.98Q1 | 1.45 0.16 up from 2007 | 67 | 12% | $3,650 | ||
34Government Information QuarterlyElsevier BV · United States | 4.87Q1 | 2.50 1.35 up from 2007 | 195 | 2% | $4,360 | ||
35Police QuarterlySAGE Publishing · United States | 4.85Q1 | 1.36 0.16 up from 2007 | 71 | 3% | $3,650 | ||
36American Politics ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 4.84Q1 | 1.16 0.18 down from 2007 | 115 | 9% | $3,650 | ||
37Foreign Policy AnalysisOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 4.76Q1 | 1.65 0.48 up from 2007 | 54 | 9% | $4,320 | ||
38Journal of European IntegrationTaylor & Francis · Netherlands | 4.71Q1 | 1.18no change | 81 | 18% | — | ||
39EthnopoliticsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 4.57Q1 | 1.70 1.33 up from 2007 | 95 | 0% | — | ||
40Ethics & International AffairsCambridge University Press · United States | 4.54Q1 | 0.60 1.26 down from 2007 | 126 | 8% | $3,550 | ||
41Acta PoliticaPalgrave Macmillan · United Kingdom | 4.53Q1 | 1.36 0.22 up from 2007 | 113 | 14% | $3,190 | ||
42Higher Education QuarterlyWiley · United Kingdom | 4.45Q1 | 1.80 0.51 up from 2007 | 87 | 13% | $2,900 | ||
43Social Policy and AdministrationWiley · United Kingdom | 4.35Q1 | 1.86 0.74 up from 2007 | 167 | 11% | $4,330 | ||
44European Law JournalWiley · United Kingdom | 4.34Q1 | 1.55 0.18 down from 2007 | 144 | 8% | $3,570 | ||
45Studies in Comparative International DevelopmentSpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 4.34Q1 | 1.03 0.60 down from 2007 | 57 | 19% | $3,390 | ||
46Politics Philosophy & EconomicsSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 4.34Q1 | 1.94 0.87 up from 2007 | 48 | 13% | $3,650 | ||
47British PoliticsPalgrave Macmillan · United Kingdom | 4.33Q1 | 1.48 0.67 up from 2007 | 65 | 28% | $2,990 | ||
48Policing & SocietyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 4.30Q1 | 1.57 0.23 up from 2007 | 62 | 10% | — | ||
49Security StudiesTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 4.30Q1 | 1.16 0.46 up from 2007 | 63 | 8% | — | ||
50Government and OppositionOACambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 4.25Q1 | 1.43 0.41 up from 2007 | 80 | 11% | $3,550 |
Subfields of Social Sciences, with Political Science and International Relations highlighted.
- Sociology and Political Science861
- Education443
- Political Science and International Relations255
- Public Administration48
- Gender Studies44
- Communication43
- Library and Information Sciences36
- Health35
- Linguistics and Language35
- Law34
- Safety Research34
- Anthropology33
- Demography29
- Urban Studies28
- Transportation27
- Geography, Planning and Development18
- Cultural Studies9
- Development3
- General Social Sciences2
- Human Factors and Ergonomics1
- Archeology0
- Life-span and Life-course Studies0
Journals
Citations made in 2008. Corpus-wide, 71.1% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
70 additional Political Science and International Relations journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2005–2007, at least 80% of them with a subfield, and a positive world-average expectation. Ranks are within the whole category; filters hide rows without re-ranking. OJR excludes self-citations.
At a glance
Indicator year: 2008. Publication window: 2005–2007. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 255
- Window papers (baseline)
- 148,869 +21.9% from indicator year 2005
- Median OJR
- 1.603 +22.5% from indicator year 2005
- Rising journals (2025)
- 18
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2005–2007 in all journals of the world-average baseline, including non-core journals, counted by each paper’s own subfield. They are not the papers of the ranked journals alone.
| Measure | Year series | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranked journals | 185 | 187 | 198 | 211 | 222 | 236 | 243 | 248 | 255 | 260 | 270 | 279 | 287 | 287 | 294 | 301 | 308 | 318 | 321 | 326 | 332 | 333 | 339 | 334 | 334 | 322 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 87,090 | 92,551 | 99,427 | 106,761 | 113,825 | 122,173 | 130,947 | 139,764 | 148,869 | 159,463 | 170,900 | 180,910 | 191,534 | 201,200 | 210,369 | 223,416 | 235,982 | 245,820 | 247,938 | 251,957 | 262,579 | 278,323 | 289,523 | 291,064 | 289,519 | 294,162 | |
| Median OJR | 0.81 | 0.99 | 0.90 | 1.09 | 1.12 | 1.31 | 1.27 | 1.42 | 1.603 | 1.68 | 1.77 | 1.74 | 1.73 | 1.78 | 1.69 | 1.83 | 1.92 | 1.87 | 1.723 | 1.85 | 1.67 | 1.71 | 1.602 | 1.63 | 1.52 | 1.718 |
How to read these rankings
- OJR, the OpenJournalRank Indicator
- A field-normalized 3-year citation impact, computed from OpenAlex with the NCI3 method. It divides the citations a journal’s papers received by the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so 1.00 is the world average and 2.00 means twice as many citations as expected. Because it is normalized, it can be compared across fields. Read the methodology
- Quartiles
- Q1 to Q4 split the ranked journals of the list you are viewing into four equal groups by OJR. A journal’s quartile depends on the list: the same journal can be Q1 in its subfield and Q2 among all journals.
- Impact factor (2-year)
- Citations per paper over a two-year window, counted from OpenAlex. It is easy to compare with familiar impact factors but is not field-normalized, so compare it only within a field. It is not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. Why it differs from the Journal Impact Factor
- Rank ranges
- Each rank in the latest year carries a likely range from 1,000 resamples of the journal’s papers. Where two journals’ ranges overlap, the data cannot tell them apart, so treat neighbouring ranks as ties.