Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A political science researcher consulting the British Journal of Political Science impact factor (4.6 JIF, 6.5 five-year JIF) and CiteScore when identifying appropriate publication venues for a comparative electoral study.
- Is an instance
An academic tenure panel reviewing a scholar's published articles in BJPolS while observing DORA standards to evaluate individual paper contributions directly rather than relying on journal-level citation ratios.
Editorial commentary
Quick answer: The British Journal of Political Science (BJPolS) is a peer-reviewed general-interest journal established in 1971 and published quarterly by Cambridge University Press. While official proprietary british journal of political science impact factor figures are restricted behind subscription paywalls in Clarivate’s Journal Citation Reports (JCR) under the Social Sciences Citation Index, open bibliometric tracking via OpenAlex documents a 2-year mean citedness of 5.40, an h-index of 194, and more than 170,000 career citations for political science scholarship.
What Is the British Journal of Political Science?
The British Journal of Political Science is an international peer-reviewed journal dedicated to advancing research across all major branches of political science. Founded in 1971 and published quarterly by Cambridge University Press, BJPolS is widely regarded as one of the premier generalist venues in the discipline. Crossref metadata confirms more than 2,710 registered journal articles under ISSN 0007-1234 (electronic ISSN 1469-2112). The journal is led by Lead Editor Lucas Leemann (University of Zurich) alongside an international editorial team. Its editorial scope encompasses comparative politics, political behavior, international relations, normative political theory, and public policy, frequently publishing cross-disciplinary contributions from economics, sociology, and philosophy.
British Journal of Political Science Impact Factor and Metrics
The proprietary british journal of political science impact factor is computed by Clarivate using a standard mathematical ratio: total citations in the data year to citable research items published in the preceding two calendar years, divided by the number of citable articles published in that two-year window. Because Clarivate JCR and Elsevier CiteScore are commercial subscription-gated databases, authors and evaluators should consult authorized institutional library portals for proprietary annual index scores.
In open research bibliometrics, the OpenAlex dataset (source ID S95691132) tracks 2,716 research works from the British Journal of Political Science with 170,642 total citations. OpenAlex records a 2-year mean citedness of 5.40 and a journal h-index of 194. Because citation lifecycles in empirical political inquiry often unfold over longer time horizons than laboratory experiments, multi-year citation metrics and cumulative impact indicators provide a more dependable measure of intellectual reach than short-term annual journal averages.
Editorial Policies, Transparency, and Peer Review
BJPolS maintains rigorous double-blind peer review across all unsolicited submissions. To ensure empirical reproducibility and methodological accountability, the journal mandates that authors of accepted quantitative manuscripts deposit full replication packages—including raw datasets, codebooks, and statistical run scripts—in an approved open repository prior to publication. Reviewers and readers can therefore verify empirical findings directly against primary research data.
Responsible Use of Citation Metrics and DORA Guidance
In alignment with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA declaration) and the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), academic evaluators should not use BJPolS’s Journal Impact Factor or any single venue indicator as a surrogate metric for individual paper quality or author competence. Institutional appointment, promotion, and funding committees are urged to evaluate the intellectual originality, methodological rigor, and societal impact of specific papers rather than relying on the impact factor of the publishing journal.
Sources
- Cambridge University Press, “British Journal of Political Science: Journal Overview and Metrics” (ISSN 0007-1234, e-ISSN 1469-2112), Cambridge Core portal, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science (verified 2026-11-08).
- Crossref REST API, “British Journal of Political Science (ISSN 0007-1234)”, https://api.crossref.org/journals/0007-1234 (verified 2026-11-08).
- OpenAlex API, “British Journal of Political Science (Source S95691132)”, https://api.openalex.org/sources/S95691132 (verified 2026-11-08).
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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