Gender and Journal Authorship in Eight Prestigious Political Science Journals

How well are women authors represented in the most-recognized journals in political science? To what degree does the presence of women authors mirror women's presence in the discipline? Although a few studies have sought to provide data on the presence of women authors in political science journals (Young 1995; Kelly et al. 1994), more recent work on the visibility of women in the discipline has focused on gender and authorship of edited volumes (Mathews and Andersen 2001), on the participation of women in the APSA annual meetings (e.g., Gruberg 2006; 2004), and on the status of women in the discipline (Sarkees and McGlen 1992; 1999; Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession 2001). All are useful endeavors. This paper analyzes the presence of women authors in six volume years (1999–2004) of eight prestigious political science journals— American Political Science Review ( APSR ), American Journal of Political Science ( AJPS ), Journal of Politics ( JOP ), World Politics ( WP ), International Organization ( IO ), Comparative Politics ( CP ), Comparative Political Studies ( CPS ), and International Studies Quarterly ( ISQ ).