Who are we? The diversity puzzle in European political science

In this study, I investigate the evolution of authorship diversity in the scientific journals of three major pan-European professional associations of political research (ECPR, EPSA and EISA), since their first issue until 2020, through an analysis of the bibliometric information of each published item. Established between 1973 and 2019, the seven periodicals under scrutiny (European Journal of Political Research, European Journal of International Relations, European Political Science, European Political Science Review, Political Research Exchange, Political Science Research & Methods and Global Affairs) cover a wide spectrum of political science and offer a convenient gateway for exploring various disciplinary dynamics, with a focus mostly on comparative politics, international relations and political methodology. The dataset includes 5281 articles and 4533 unique authors affiliated to 1029 unique institutions from 73 countries. The analysis shows that, while currently more diverse than ever, all these journals still have a large Western European and/or US core. Research is overwhelmingly produced in OECD member states and about half originates in countries where English is an official language. Although collaborations are increasingly frequent and seem to become the norm, scholars affiliated with Central and Eastern European institutions, as well as women authors are still heavily underrepresented.