Still Marginalized? Gender and LGBTQIA+ Scholarship in Top Political Science Journals

Is political science research exploring gender and LGBTQIA+ politics still underrepresented in the discipline’s top journals? I examine publication trends in gender research and LGBTQIA+ research in five top political science journals, between 2017-2023 (inclusive). I find that gender research and LGBTQIA+ research together account for 5-7% of published research in the selected top journals, but the bulk of this research is on gender politics rather than LGBTQIA+ politics. Overall, gender research and LGBTQIA+ research largely appears in top journals when it conforms to disciplinary norms about methods and author gender. The vast majority of published gender and LGBTQIA+ research is quantitative. Men author gender research at rates nearly 3x their membership in the APSA’s Women, Gender, and Politics research section and are also overrepresented as authors of LGBTQIA+ research. I suggest that editorial teams’ signaling influences which pieces land at which journals.