Political Science under Pressure: Competition and Collaboration in a Growing Discipline, 2003–23

Political scientists face a persistent tension between calls for methodological and topical pluralism and the pressures of “publish or perish.” To assess how professional incentives have reshaped the discipline, we analyzed more than 140,000 articles published across 174 political science journals between 2003 and 2023. Our analyses show that publication volume has tripled during that time, driven by new entrants and increasing collaboration. The field has become increasingly quantitative but remains substantively diverse, even though individual papers have become more topically focused. Younger scholars publish more articles but fewer books and book chapters, signaling strategic adaptation to institutional rewards. Although novel research attracts, on average, more citations over time, it does not consistently translate into higher journal placement, encouraging safer, incremental publication strategies. Together, these patterns depict a discipline that is larger and more productive than ever yet is increasingly organized around measurable outputs, rather than intellectual risk-taking or theoretical innovation.