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APSA Preprints is an open-access preprint server for the political science discipline. Developed through a partnership between the American Political Science Association (APSA) and Cambridge University Press, the platform operates on Cambridge Open Engage. It provides political scientists, policy scholars, and graduate students with a centralized repository to deposit and discover working papers, conference presentations, and early-stage findings prior to formal publication.
In academic workflows, preprint deposition establishes priority, gathers feedback, and accelerates research sharing across comparative politics, international relations, and public administration. Preprint dissemination connects empirical analysis with disciplinary foundations explored in our guide to what is political science and policy frameworks in what is public policy.
What it is
APSA Preprints is a disciplinary repository rather than a peer-reviewed journal. It gives political scientists an association-backed venue for rapid research dissemination. Hosted on Cambridge Open Engage, the platform facilitates immediate sharing while maintaining consistent metadata standards and disciplinary categorization.
The platform serves three primary functions in scholarly communication:
- Rapid Dissemination: Scholars share working papers and conference drafts within days of completion, avoiding multi-month journal review cycles.
- Persistent Attribution: Every approved preprint receives a permanent Crossref DOI, making the manuscript citable in academic literature and grant proposals.
- Direct Journal Pathways: Integrated submission pipelines allow authors to transfer deposited preprints directly to leading APSA journals for formal peer review.
Who runs it and what it covers
APSA Preprints is managed jointly by APSA and Cambridge University Press. APSA establishes scope, ethics policies, and academic guidelines, while Cambridge University Press maintains the digital infrastructure, hosting, and indexing on Cambridge Open Engage.
The repository organizes submissions across thirteen primary subfields reflecting political science inquiry:
- American Government and Politics: Congress, the presidency, courts, elections, and state institutions.
- Comparative Politics: Democratic transitions, regime types, political economy, and institutional design.
- International Relations: Conflict studies, security policy, international organizations, and diplomacy.
- Public Policy and Public Administration: Policy implementation and administrative governance evaluated alongside dynamics in public policy vs public administration.
- Political Methodology: Quantitative models, causal inference, experimental designs, and qualitative methods.
- Political Theory: Normative political philosophy, democratic theory, and the history of thought.
- Specialized Subfields: Streams for Race, Ethnicity, and Politics; Politics of Gender; Politics of Sexuality; Public Law and Courts; and Political Science Education.
The platform accepts working papers, conference presentations from meetings like the APSA Annual Meeting or MPSA, policy briefs, and research posters. It does not accept published journal Versions of Record, opinion articles, or student course assignments.
How to search or use it
Using APSA Preprints involves straightforward workflows for discovery and deposit:
1. Discovering Research
Researchers access the public repository at cambridge.org/engage/apsa. Users browse by subfield category or search by keyword, author, or paper title. Entries display download counts, citation metrics, abstract text, and linked conference collections.
2. Account Registration
To deposit research, authors create a user account on Cambridge Open Engage using an academic email. The system integrates with an author’s ORCID iD, ensuring deposited preprints and subsequent journal publications synchronize automatically with the author’s public scholarly record.
3. Preparing Files and Metadata
Submissions must consist of original, unpublished research written in English. Authors upload their document (typically as a PDF) along with the title, abstract, and keywords. Supplementary replication code, datasets, and appendices can be uploaded as accompanying files.
4. Choosing an Open License
Authors retain copyright over their preprints. During submission, authors select a Creative Commons license governing reuse. Common selections include CC BY (Attribution) and CC BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial), adhering to standard open-access conventions.
5. Moderation and DOI Minting
Submissions undergo screening by platform moderators before appearing online. Moderation checks that the manuscript is scholarly political science research, free of plagiarism, and compliant with ethical standards. Approvals typically take three to five business days, after which the preprint is published with a permanent Crossref DOI.
6. Updating Versions and Journal Submissions
Authors can upload revised versions of their manuscript to address feedback from colleagues. The platform tracks version history while displaying the latest iteration. Authors can also use the direct transfer tool to submit deposited preprints to APSA journals, including the American Political Science Review (APSR), Perspectives on Politics, and PS: Political Science & Politics.
Strengths and limits
Researchers evaluating APSA Preprints should consider both operational advantages and platform limits.
Strengths
- Disciplinary Alignment: Focuses specifically on political science, connecting preprints directly with relevant disciplinary audiences.
- Seamless Journal Transfer: Built-in submission pathways simplify transferring manuscripts into Cambridge-published APSA journals without re-entering metadata.
- Zero Author Charges: Depositing manuscripts, posting revisions, and reading papers is completely free.
- Conference Archive Integration: Dedicated event collections archive working papers presented at APSA and regional conferences.
Limits
- No Formal Peer Review: Moderation verifies formatting and scope but does not evaluate scientific validity; preprints remain unvetted working papers.
- Disciplinary Scope: Interdisciplinary social science projects spanning sociology or economics may find wider visibility on broad repositories such as SocArXiv.
- Prior Publication Policies: Although APSA journals support preprints, authors submitting elsewhere must confirm that prospective journals permit prior preprint posting.
Alternatives
Political scientists select among several working-paper repositories based on subfield scope and infrastructure:
| Platform | Host Organization | Disciplinary Scope | Fee Model | Key Structural Feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| APSA Preprints | APSA / Cambridge University Press | Political science and public policy | Free to deposit and read | Direct submission pathway to APSA journals on Cambridge Open Engage |
| SocArXiv | Open Science Framework (OSF) / COS | Broad social and behavioral sciences | Free to deposit and read | Non-profit open infrastructure with OSF project and data integration |
| SSRN | Elsevier | Social sciences, economics, law, management | Free to deposit; commercial host | Extensive working paper series, email alerts, and law school networks |
| Research Square | Research Square / Springer Nature | Multidisciplinary sciences and medicine | Free basic preprint; commercial host | In-review tracking for Springer Nature journals and author services |
| Institutional Repositories | Individual university libraries | All disciplines of host institution | Free for affiliated scholars | Preserves university intellectual output; limited disciplinary discovery |
FAQ
Does depositing on APSA Preprints prevent journal publication?
No. Major political science publishers—including Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Taylor & Francis, Wiley, and SAGE—permit manuscripts shared on non-commercial preprint servers. APSA’s official journals encourage authors to deposit early drafts on APSA Preprints.
Are papers on APSA Preprints peer reviewed?
No. Preprints are working papers that pass administrative screening for relevance and academic formatting, but have not undergone formal peer review. Authors can link the final journal DOI once the manuscript is formally published.
Can an author delete a preprint after posting?
Because preprints receive permanent Crossref DOIs that enter the public scholarly record, manuscripts cannot be deleted on request. In cases of serious errors or legal disputes, the paper can be formally withdrawn while a public tombstone notice remains attached to the DOI.
How does APSA Preprints compare to SocArXiv?
APSA Preprints is operated with Cambridge University Press on Cambridge Open Engage, focusing on political science subfields and APSA journal submission links. SocArXiv is hosted on the Center for Open Science OSF platform, covering the broader social sciences with open science data repository integration.
Sources
- Cambridge University Press & APSA. (2026). APSA Preprints Public Dashboard. Cambridge Open Engage. https://www.cambridge.org/engage/apsa/public-dashboard (Read 2026-11-08).
- Cambridge University Press & APSA. (2026). How to Submit to APSA Preprints. Cambridge Open Engage. https://www.cambridge.org/engage/apsa/submission-information (Read 2026-11-08).
- Cambridge University Press & APSA. (2026). About APSA Preprints and Cambridge Open Engage. Cambridge Open Engage. https://www.cambridge.org/engage/apsa/about-information (Read 2026-11-08).
- American Political Science Association (APSA). (2026). APSA Preprints Submission Guidelines & Policies. https://www.apsanet.org/RESOURCES/Preprints/Submission-Guidelines (Read 2026-11-08).
- SocArXiv. (2026). SocArXiv Open Archive of the Social Sciences. https://socarxiv.org/ (Read 2026-11-08).
