Studies of Political Science publishers rankings This document is a brief summary of three studies that seek to rank the quality or importance of publishers in the field of Political Science. Key tables of data from the studies are reproduced. These studies should inform the library s collection policy and approval plans for the subject, ensuring that we collect the all relevant works from the key publishers. N.B. No Canadian publishers are included in these studies. Key tables: The tables below list the number of political science prizes won by universities, university presses, and commercial publishers in the 1990s (Wiberley 2004, 509, 512). Political Science prizes by publisher Princeton 26 Yale 15 Harvard 13 Cambridge 12 Chicago 12 Cornell 10 Oxford 7 Kansas 5 Michigan 5 Temple 4 Johns Hopkins 4 Routledge 2 California 2 Basic Books 2 SUNY 2 Minnesota 1 Russell Sage 1 Illinois 1 Westview 1 Texas 1 Prepared by Megan Fitzgibbons December 11, 2007 1
APSA prizes by institution Harvard 11 Yale 11 UC-San Diego 8 Stanford 8 UCLA 7 Colorado 5 Wisconsin 5 Duke 5 Princeton 5 Columbia 4 Rutgers 4 UC-Davis 3 Indiana 3 UC-Berkeley 2 Chicago 2 Northwestern 2 Minnesota 2 Michigan 1 Pennsylvania 1 Texas 1 UC-Santa Cruz 1 Goodson, Dillman, and Hira (1999) tabulated political scientists rankings and familiarity with publishers. The top 35 are shown below (258-259): Political Scientists' Rankings of Publishers Rank Publisher 1 Cambridge University Press 2 Princeton University Press t3 Oxford University Press t3 University of Chicago Press 5 Yale University Press 6 Harvard University Press 7 University of California Press 8 Cornell University Press Prepared by Megan Fitzgibbons December 11, 2007 2
9 University of Michigan Press 10 MIT Press 11 Stanford University Press 12 Johns Hopkins University Press 13 Brookings Institution 14 Columbia University Press 15 Congressional Quarterly Press 16 Basic Books t17 W.W. Norton and Company t17 Blackwell Publishers 19 Routledge t20 Sage Publications, Inc. t20 St. Martin's Press 22 University of North Carolina Press t23 Duke University Press t23 University of Wisconsin Press 25 Penguin Putnam Inc. 26 Westview Press 27 Houghton Mifflin Company 28 Chatham House Publishers 29 New York University Press t30 University of Pittsburgh Press t30 Random House, Inc. t30 Rowman & Littlefield t33 Indiana University Press t33 HarperCollins College Publishers t35 Lynne Rienner Publishers t35 Simon and Schuster Political Scientists Familiarity with Publishers Rank Publisher Familiarity (Percentage) 1 Cambridge University Press 92.51% 2 Oxford University Press 87.61% 3 Harvard University Press 87.03% 4 University of Chicago Press 86.17% 5 Brookings Institution 84.44% t6 University of California Press 81.56% t6 Sage Publications, Inc. 81.56% 8 Yale University Press 80.98% Prepared by Megan Fitzgibbons December 11, 2007 3
9 Basic Books 80.69% 10 Princeton University Press 80.40% 11 Westview Press 79.54% 12 St. Martin's Press 77.52% T13 Cornell University Press 76.37% T13 Columbia University Press 76.37% 15 Johns Hopkins University Press 75.50% 16 Chatham House Publishers 74.06% 17 Congressional Quarterly Press 71.76% 18 Routledge 70.61% 19 University of Michigan Press 70.03% t20 Blackwell Publishers 67.72% t20 HarperCollins College Publishers 67.72% 22 McGraw-Hill, Inc. 65.71% 23 W.W. Norton and Company 65.13% 24 Prentice Hall 63.98% 25 Houghton Mifflin Company 63.69% t26 MIT Press 63.40% t26 Macmillan 63.40% 28 Greenwood Publishing Group 63.11% 29 Random House, Inc. 61.10% t30 Longman Publishing Group 60.81% t30 Harcourt Brace College Publishers 60.81% 32 Stanford University Press 60.23% 33 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. 59.37% 34 Duke University Press 58.21% 35 Lynne Rienner Publishers 57.06% The following table from Lewis (2000) compares Political Science librarians ( LPSS ) opinions of publisher quality with that of political scientists ( APSA ) in the Goodson, Dillman, and Hira study (1999). Again, selected data for the top 35 are listed here. APSA Rank Comparison of APSA and LPSS Rankings for Publisher Quality Publisher LPSS Rank Ranking Differential 1 Cambridge University Press 2-1 2 Princeton University Press 9-7 t3 Oxford University Press 1 2 t3 University of Chicago Press 6-3 5 Yale University Press 5 0 6 Harvard University Press 3 3 Prepared by Megan Fitzgibbons December 11, 2007 4
7 University of California Press 15-8 8 Cornell University Press 8 0 9 University of Michigan Press t21-12 10 MIT Press 10 0 11 Stanford University Press 12-1 12 Johns Hopkins University Press 4 8 13 Brookings Institution 14 Columbia University Press 7 7 15 Congressional Quarterly Press 13 2 16 Basic Books 45-29 t17 W.W. Norton and Company 44-27 t17 Blackwell Publishers 29-12 19 Routledge t21-2 t20 Sage Publications, Inc. t38-18 t20 St. Martin s Press 31-11 22 University of North Carolina Press 14 8 t23 Duke University Press t17 6 t23 University of Wisconsin Press 16 7 25 Penguin Putnam Inc. 47-22 26 Westview Press 20 6 27 Houghton Mifflin Company 52-25 28 Chatham House Publishers 50-22 29 New York University Press 11 18 t30 University of Pittsburgh Press t24 6 t30 Random House, Inc. 56-26 t30 Rowman & Littlefield 34-4 t33 Indiana University Press 23 10 t33 HarperCollins College Publishers 60-27 t35 Lynne Rienner Publishers 33 2 t35 Simon and Schuster 48-13 Summary: The top publishers in each of the studies included Cambridge, Harvard, Oxford, Princeton, University of Chicago, and Yale. We currently receive automatically all titles published by those institutions. However, some of the other top presses to seek out include John Hopkins It is also important to note the perceived quality of commercial presses, namely Congressional Quarterly, Blackwell, Routledge, Westview and St. Martin (Lewis 2000, 321). Prepared by Megan Fitzgibbons December 11, 2007 5
The Lewis study (2000) also points to differences in perception of quality by librarians versus political scientists. More specifically, political scientists tended to rank textbook publishers and more popular commercial presses (aimed at lay ) more highly. Perhaps the library should consider acquiring more popular titles on current topics and textbooks in selected high-use subject areas. Two additional areas of inquiry include rankings of Canadian publishers as well as rankings according to the subfields of political science. References: Goodson, L. P., B. Dillman, and A. Hira. "Ranking the Presses: Political Scientists' Evaluations of Publisher Quality." PS: Political Science and Politics 32, no. 2 (1999): 257-62. Lewis, J. S. "An Assessment of Publisher Quality by Political Science Librarians." College & Research Libraries 61, no. 4 (2000): 313-23. Wiberley Jr, S. E. "The Social Sciences: Who Won the 90s in Scholarly Book Publishing." College & Research Libraries 65, no. 6 (2004): 505-23. Prepared by Megan Fitzgibbons December 11, 2007 6