Two weeks ago, the 2015 Thomson Reuters Impact Factors were released. And, I am very happy to report that the 2015 Two-Year Impact Factor for the American Journal of Political Science is 4.515. The impact factor gives the average number of citations in 2015 to articles published in the AJPS during 2013 and 2014. This figure is quite impressive, representing an increase of slightly more than 1.2 citations over the 2014 Two-Year Impact Factor (which was 3.269). But, I am especially pleased to say that the 2015 Two-Year Impact Factor puts the AJPS into first place among political science journals! The rankings for the next few journals place Political Analysis second, the Annual Review of Political Science third, and the American Political Science Review fourth, in terms of average citations to articles over the preceding two years.
The 2015 Five-Year Impact Factor for the AJPS is 5.424. Again, this represents a substantial increase over the 2014 figure of 4.506. And, the 2015 Five-Year Impact Factor ranks the Journal in third place behind the American Political Science Review (ranked first) and Political Analysis (ranked second), and just ahead of the Annual Review of Political Science (ranked fourth).
These large Impact Factors confirm that the social science research community looks to the American Journal of Political Science as a primary source for scholarship of the very highest quality. As Editor, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the AJPS authors for the great work that they have submitted to the Journal and to the referees for the rigorous standards they employ while reviewing manuscripts. The accolades that the AJPS has received provide strong evidence that these efforts pay off in tangible ways.
William G. Jacoby,
Editor, American Journal of Political Science
