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Political Science Research Guide: Is it a Political Science journal?

Political Science journals

This page goes over some search strategies that can help you find articles published in Political Science journals. 

 

Cover of Policy Studies Journal

 ✅  The journal pictured above, Policy Studies Journal, is an example of a Political Science journal. Some Political Science journals have the words "political science" or "policy" in the title, but many do not. Using the TLU Library databases or Google Scholar, you can access hundreds of Political Science journals. If the full text of an article is not available through the databases or on the open web, you can request the full text through Interlibrary Loan. 
 

Finding Political Science journals in Academic Search Complete

Academic Search Complete

The Academic Search Complete database is a good place to find scholarly articles. It searches journals in many disciplines, not just Political Science. Despite its name, it is not a "complete" collection of all the journals to which the library subscribes, but it is a good collection of high-quality journals.

Use two or more search boxes (Advanced Search).

Brainstorm alternate keywords

  • You can combine synonyms with OR. You can keep words together as a phrase with quotation marks. For example: "pay gap" OR "wage gap"

There is no exact way to limit your search to Political Science journals. Here is a "hack" you can use to find some Political Science journals, although it may exclude some relevant journals and include some irrelevant ones. Put this string of terms into a box, using the SO Journal Title drop-down: 

  • political OR policy OR politics OR government OR international OR electoral

 

Evaluating results - Looking for Political Science journals

Look at the journal title. Often it will have a descriptive name like American Political Science Review or The Journal of Politics. 

 If you are not sure whether this is a Political Science journal, try searching for the journal's website.

Another thing to try: See whether the database record lists the author's academic department. Or do a Web search for the author to see where they work.