International Studies Quarterly

• 1. Introduction

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  International Studies Quarterly has been shaping how scholars think about world affairs since 1959. It is the official journal of the International Studies Association, a body whose name signals the breadth of the field it represents. Published by Oxford University Press, the journal appears four times a year and brings peer-reviewed research to specialists and generalists who want rigorous answers to questions about how nations, institutions, and people interact across borders. What makes a journal like this endure across decades? And who decides what gets in? Those questions sit at the heart of what the journal does.

• 2. Impact and Reach

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  As of September 2024, Oxford Academic reports that International Studies Quarterly carries an impact factor of 2.4. That single number represents how often other researchers cite the journal's articles within a given period, and in a field as wide as international studies, a score like that signals genuine influence. The five-year impact factor, which smooths out year-to-year variation, stands at 3.4 as of 2024. That gap between the annual and five-year figures suggests the journal's work tends to be cited more heavily over time than it is immediately after publication, a pattern common in disciplines where theoretical arguments take years to fully enter the conversation.

• 3. Editorial Leadership

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  Sam R. Bell, Elena McLean, and Jeffrey Pickering serve as the Lead Editors. In a peer-reviewed journal, the lead editors are the people who shape the intellectual direction of the publication: they decide which manuscripts go out for review, who reviews them, and ultimately which pieces appear in print. Three editors sharing that role suggests a collaborative model, one that can draw on different areas of expertise within the broad landscape of international studies. The journal's connection to the International Studies Association means those editors are also, in effect, curating a conversation that belongs to an entire scholarly community.