Political science faculty rank high for research productivity

The Department of Political Science in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis ranks second in the nation in a new study of faculty research productivity published by the American Political Science Association.

Conducted by Michael Peress, an associate professor of political science at Stony Brook University, the study used citations in Google Scholar to track the quantity, quality and impact of political science research published by individual faculty at the nation’s top 47 political science departments as ranked by U.S. News & World Report.

James Gibson
Gibson

In considering the productivity of departments as a whole, Washington University’s second-place ranking placed it just behind Columbia University and just ahead of Stanford University in research impact. The department’s strong showing was led by James L. Gibson, the Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government in Arts & Sciences, who ranked first in the nation in two categories.

“A major reason for this is the remarkable performance of Professor James Gibson,” said Matthew Gabel, political science chair. “The same study identified him as the top scholar in the entire discipline for research output in the most impactful and selective journals.”