Publish or perish? : publications and citations of Italian political scientists in international political science journals, 1990-2002

Abstract

In this article we present data on the publications of Italian political scientists in international journals. We first introduce the reader to the specific context of Italian political science and illustrate the pattern of problematic institutionalization of this discipline in Italy. We then work on our broad set of eighty-nine journals indexed in the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) social science citation index, examined over the period 1990-2002. We present and discuss data on the publications and citations of all academics with an Italian affiliation in political science journals, and, within this set, political scientists. Judging by our data, Italian political scientists have a limited propensity to participate in the international debate - an indication of the problems encountered by political science as a possible 'European' or 'international discipline'. We also note that, when they publish, Italian political scientists do not engage with major theoretical and/or comparative topics, but prefer to write articles on Italian politics. We conclude with some ideas about how to increase the participation of Italian political scientists in the wider European and international debate.