Political science subject guide

• International Relations: The Key Concepts (ebook)

• The Palgrave Handbook of critical international political economy (ebook)

• The Oxford Handbook of international political theory (print)

• International relations theory: a primer (print)

• A new A-Z of international relations theory (print)

• International relations theory: the essentials (print)

• International relations theory: a critical introduction (print)

What is peer review?

Peer review is a system used to decide if an article should be published in a peer-reviewed journal. Each paper submitted to a peer-reviewed journal is read and evaluated by experts in the article’s subject area.

The reviewers assess the article’s validity, importance, and originality, and then recommend whether it should be printed in the journal. The reviewers’ suggestions are considered by the journal’s editor, who makes the final decision about whether to accept or reject the article.

Peer review ensures that quality papers are published in the journal. The reviewers confirm that articles do not contain technical problems, ethical issues or significant errors.

They also verify that the authors used the appropriate study methodology, analyzed and interpreted the results correctly, and provided enough evidence to support their conclusions. Since peer review filters out work that is poorly done and makes sure that the manuscript is accurate, publication in a peer reviewed journal shows that the article is trustworthy.

Please note that there are number of types of peer reviewed articles, which included blinded peer review.  See the publishing company's Whiley's overview of Types of Peer Review. 

What is open access? 

“Open-access literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. What makes it possible is the internet and the consent of the author or copyright-holder." Peter Suber, A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access

This means open access journals can be read online by anyone, without paying to access the articles.

Use the following two directories:

Ulrich's Periodicals Directory  

DOAJ: Directiory of Open Access Journals 

Seven Steps: Checking the open access and peer review status of journal articles

1. Search the journal article databases (i.e. Political Science Complete) for articles on your topic using keywords.

2. Choose article titles that are relevant to your topic.

3. Identify the journal titles, from the articles you have selected. The journal title often appears after the article title. It may be found in the “source” area.  

4. Search for the journal title in Ulrich's Periodicals Directory 

5. Identify if the journal title is a) peer reviewed/ refereed and b) open access. 

• The dark book/shirt shape means that the journal is peer reviewed /refereed 

• The open lock means that the journal is open access

6.  If the journal is peer reviewed/refereed and not open access, go to the journal website. On the journal’s website, you should be able to identify whether the journal has a blind peer review process (i.e. single or double blind). Look for “journal information” or “instructions for authors” for more about the publishing process. 

7. If the journal is open access in Ulrich’s, you will need to check the title further in the DOAJ: Directiory of Open Access Journals . Based on this quality check and your assignment instructions, decide whether or not to include the article in question in your assignment.  

• Canadian Politics & Government Information (Library and Archives Canada)
• Canadian Interest Groups & Think Tanks (Queen's University Library)
• Canadian Global Affairs Institute (Canadian Global Affaris Institute)
  
• Centre for International Policy Studies (University of Ottawa)
  
• iPolitics (iPolitics)
  
• Institute for Research on Public Policy - independent, national, bilingual organization researching Canadian policy
• POLTEXT - collection of textual data sources used for policy analysis in Canada (ULaval) English & French

• Political Database of the Americas centralized information about institutions, political processes, national constitutions, branches of government, elections, political constitutional studies of the Americas (Georgetown University)
• Council on Foreign Relations Resources in international affairs focusing on 12 policy areas and searchable by region and issue.
• Country Indicators for Foreign Policy (CIFP) includes global political and demographic indicators related to political stability.
• EuroDocs - primary sources for European history
• Foreign Affairs Online (University of Virginia)
• IDEA: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
  Reports on: electoral processes, political parties, constitution-building, democracy and gender, and conflict assessment.
• Transparency International - reports, statistics, and analysis of global corruption.

• Center for International Development and Conflict Management (University of Maryland)
  • International Crisis Behavior Project
  • Minorities at Risk Project
• Freedom in the World reports - comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties.
• Human Rights Watch
• National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
  • Global Terrorism Database
  • Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
• World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples
  • Peoples under threat online map