Publications in Four Sociology Journals, 1960–2010: The Role of Discipline Demographics and Journal Mission

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Robert Perrucci*a, Carolyn Perruccia & Mangala Subramaniamaa Purdue UniversityRobert Perrucci is professor emeritus of sociology at Purdue University. He has been elected President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems and the North Central Sociological Association. He was Associate Editor of the American Sociological Review, and Editor of The American Sociologist, Social Problems, and Contemporary Sociology. He is the recipient of the Lee Founders Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the J. Milton Yinger Career Achievement Award from the North Central Sociological Association.Carolyn Perrucci is professor of sociology at Purdue University. She is the co-author of America at Risk, and Plant Closings: International Context and Social Costs, which won the Outstanding Scholarly Achievement Award of the North Central Sociological Association. She has held elected positions as President of the North Central Sociological Association, Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and member of the governing Council as well as Chair of the Section on Sex and Gender of the American Sociological Association.Mangala Subramaniam is professor of sociology and Chair & Director of the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence in the Office of the Provost at Purdue University. Her current research projects are global in scope and focus on gender politics, social movements, and development. She also studies faculty satisfaction within universities and identifies strategies to address bias. She is currently an Associate Editor of Social Problems and serves on the editorial board of Journal of World Systems Research. See https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~msubramaCONTACT Robert Perrucci perruccr@purdue.edu Department of Sociology, Purdue University, 700 West State St., Stone Hall, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2059ABSTRACTIn this paper, we focus on the stratification system impinging on scholarly publications, but we move beyond viewing gatekeeping as a product of professional idiosyncrasies or preferences for certain methodologies to give greater attention to the institutional forces shaping relations among universities, academic departments, academic journals, and individual scholars. To illustrate the operation of institutional factors, we examine data on the affiliations (elite and non-elite departments) of editors and authors over a 50-year period in four sociology journals, and our findings indicate clear evidence of over-representation by faculty from elite departments of sociology. We interpret these data through the theoretical lens of social closure, which may be shaped by discipline demographics and the “missions” of the academic journals.