Where Are the Most Influential Articles in Political Science Published?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Where are the most influential articles in political science published? Drawing on citation data from the Web of Science, this article identifies the most-cited political science journal articles each decade from the 1940s through the 2020s. The results depict a changing discipline: the American Political Science Review still leads the field, but its once-dominant position has attenuated as a wider range of journals have become homes for highly cited work. Methodological papers now account for a substantial share of the discipline’s most influential research, reflecting the growing centrality of technical innovation.