Journal of Democracy

Hopkins Press does not require potential contributors to pay an article submission fee in order to be considered for publication in any of the Journals that we publish. Any other website that purports to be affiliated with a Hopkins Press Journal and that requires you to pay an article submission fee is fraudulent. Do not provide payment information. Instead, we ask that you contact William Breichner, Hopkins Press Journals Publisher: wbreich1@jh.edu.

Manuscripts must be typed, double-spaced, and should not exceed 6,500 words including references. All references must be in the form of numbered endnotes and should be strictly limited in number. Please include an abstract of no more than 100 words, as well as a brief biography of no more than 50 words. The abstract should include as many keywords from your essay as possible. The biography should include a current academic or professional affiliation and any recent publications or activities. The Journal will not consider manuscripts submitted simultaneously to other journals.

Manuscripts may be submitted to the editors electronically to Journal of Democracy or via regular mail, though electronic submissions are strongly encouraged and greatly appreciated. Manuscripts submitted via e-mail should take the form of attachments formatted in Microsoft Word and should be e-mailed to Journal of Democracy. For print submissions, please mail one copy to: The Editors, Journal of Democracy, 1025 F Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20004.

The Hopkins Press Journals Ethics and Malpractice Statement can be found at the ethics-and-malpractice page.

Peer Review Policy

Although the majority of its articles are commissioned by the Editors, the Journal of Democracy also welcomes unsolicited submissions. Every unsolicited manuscript is read and evaluated by at least two members of the editorial staff. Many unsolicited manuscripts are rejected at this stage, often for reasons of focus, timing, style, or space that do not necessarily reflect on their scholarly merits. The Journal is not formally peer-reviewed, but in some cases manuscripts are sent to outside scholars or specialists for comments and evaluation.

Because of our small staff, we are regrettably unable to provide individualized critiques of most of the manuscripts that we reject. We immediately confirm receipt of unsolicited manuscripts as soon as they arrive, and we make every effort to convey our decision to the author within eight weeks. The Journal will not consider manuscripts submitted simultaneously to other journals.

Editors 

William Dobson and Tarek Masoud 

Editorial Board 

Co-Chairs 

Steven R. Levitsky  

Lucan A. Way  

Anne Applebaum 

Anne-Marie Brady 

Sheri Berman 

Nancy Bermeo 

Ladan Boroumand 

Daniel Brumberg 

Thomas Carothers 

Ronald Deibert

Michele Dunne

Jo~ao Carlos Espada

Abdou Filali-Ansary 

M. Steven Fish 

Francis Fukuyama 

±Sumit Ganguly 

Anna Grzyma³a-Busse 

E. Gyimah-Boadi 

Richard Joseph 

Robert Kagan 

Rachel Kleinfeld 

Ivan Krastev 

Peter Lewis 

Tarek Masoud 

Cynthia McClintock 

Jennifer McCoy

Michael McFaul

Alina Mungiu-Pippidi

Andrew J. Nathan 

Ghia Nodia 

Minxin Pei 

Thitinan Pongsudhirak 

Benjamin Reilly 

Rachel Beatty Riedl 

Andreas Schedler 

Dan Slater 

Amy Erica Smith 

Victoria Tin-bor Hui 

Joshua A. Tucker 

Laurence Whitehead 

Executive Editor 

Philip J. Costopoulos 

Senior Editor 

Tracy Brown 

Managing Editor 

Brent Kallmer 

Assistant Editor 

Justin Daniels 

Vice President for Studies and Analysis, NED 

Christopher Walker 

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE 

Martin C.M. Lee 

Arend Lijphart 

Pratap Bhanu Mehta 

Adam Michnik 

Leonardo Morlino

Condoleezza Rice

Olivier Roy

Philippe C. Schmitter

Lourdes Sola

Hung-mao Tien

Send books for review to:

Book Review Editor / JOD
National Endowment for Democracy
1025 F Street, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20004

Please send book review copies to the address above. Review copies received by the Johns Hopkins University Press office will be discarded.

Abstracting & Indexing Databases

• Clarivate Analytics
  • Current Contents
  • Web of Science
• De Gruyter Saur
  • Dietrich's Index Philosophicus
  • IBZ - Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur
  • Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur
• EBSCOhost
  • Academic Search Alumni Edition, 6/1/1996-
  • Academic Search Complete, 6/1/1996-
  • Academic Search Elite, 6/1/1996-
  • Academic Search Premier, 6/1/1996-
  • Academic Search Ultimate, 6/1/1996-
  • American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (Online), 1990-, dropped
  • Biography Index: Past and Present (H.W. Wilson), vol.5, 1994-vol.21, no.4, 2010
  • Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), Jan.1994-
  • Current Abstracts, 1/1/2000-
  • International Political Science Abstracts Database
  • Middle Eastern & Central Asian Studies, 1/1/1990-
  • OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), 1/1/1994-
  • Poetry & Short Story Reference Center, 1/1/1991-
  • Political Science Complete, 6/1/1996-
  • Public Affairs Index, 1/1/1991-
  • Social Sciences Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), 1/1/1994-
  • Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson), 1/1/1994-
  • SocINDEX, 1/1/1991-
  • SocINDEX with Full Text, 1/1/1991-
  • TOC Premier (Table of Contents), 6/1/1996-
• Elsevier BV
  • Scopus, 1996-
• Gale
  • Advanced Placement Government and Social Studies, 01/1994-
  • Book Review Index Plus
  • Gale Academic OneFile
  • Gale Academic OneFile Select, 01/1994-01/2016
  • Gale General OneFile, 01/1994-01/2016
  • Gale OneFile: Criminal Justice, 01/1994-01/2016
  • InfoTrac Custom, 1/1994-1/2016
• H.W. Wilson
  • Social Sciences Index, 1994/01-
  • Wilson Business Abstracts, vol.20, no.1, 2009 - vol.20, no.1, 2009
• OCLC
  • ArticleFirst, vol.5, no.3, 1994-vol.22, no.2, 2011
  • Electronic Collections Online, vol.6, no.1, 1995-vol.22, no.2, 2011
  • Periodical Abstracts, v.6, n.1, 1995-v.22, n.2, 2011
  • Sociological Abstracts (Online), Selective
  • Wilson Business Abstracts, vol.20, no.1, 2009 - vol.20, no.1, 2009
• Ovid
  • International Political Science Abstracts Database
• Periodica Islamica, 1993-
• Personal Alert (E-mail)
• ProQuest
  • Art, Design & Architecture Collection, 01/01/1995-
  • Arts & Humanities Database, 01/01/1995-
  • Arts Premium Collection, 1/1/1995-
  • International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, Core
  • Military Database, 01/01/1995-
  • PAIS Index (Public Affairs Information Service), Selective
  • Periodicals Index Online, 1/1/2000-10/1/2000
  • Political Science Database, 01/01/1995-
  • Politics Collection, 1/1/1995-
  • Professional ProQuest Central, 01/01/1995-
  • ProQuest 5000, 01/01/1995-
  • ProQuest 5000 International, 01/01/1995-
  • ProQuest Central, 01/01/1995-
  • Research Library, 01/01/1995-
  • SciTech Premium Collection, 1/1/1995-, dropped
  • Social Science Database, 1/1/1995-
  • Social Science Premium Collection, 01/01/1995-
  • Social Services Abstracts, Selective
  • Sociological Abstracts (Online), Selective
  • Technology Collection, 1/1/1995-, dropped
  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, Core

Abstracting & Indexing Sources

• Electronic Current Contents of Periodicals on the Middle East   (Researched / Unresolved)  (Print)

5.9 (2024)
5.8 (Five-Year Impact Factor)
0.00538 (Eigenfactor™ Score)

Rank in Category (by Journal Impact Factor):
4 of 322 journals, in “Political Science”

© Clarivate Analytics 2025

Published quarterly

Readers include: Government policy analysts, political scientists, scholars, educators, and all those interested in human rights, international affairs, foreign policy, and comparative politics

Print circulation: 398

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July Issue - May 15

October Issue - August 15

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"The Journal of Democracy is far and away the most important forum for current debates about the nature and spread of liberal democracy around the world, and an indispensable tool for anybody interested in comparative politics or international relations. It is a model for how to present serious intellectual content in a clear and accessible way, and a standing rebuke to both the slop that often passes for political journalism and the irrelevant gibberish that often passes for social science."

–Gideon Rose, managing editor Foreign Affairs

"The Journal of Democracy has shown a consistent devotion to high standards of scholarship in its efforts to promote an understanding of what makes democracy work and what makes it fail."

–The Times Literary Supplement

"The Journal of Democracy is an invaluable resource for those struggling to achieve democracy abroad and those who endeavor to aid in their efforts in this country."

–The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan

"I rely on the Journal of Democracy to provide me with first rate articles on the manifold aspects of democracy. I know of no other journal that fulfills this important purpose."

–Robert A. Dahl, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Yale University

"No printed media has done more for promoting the values of democracy, for diffusing relevant information about it, and for housing interesting and intelligent reflections on this topic. Justifiably, in Latin America the Journal of Democracy is widely read and discussed, not only among academics but also policy-makers and advisors."

–Guillermo O’Donnell, Senior Faculty Fellow of the Kellog Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame

“The Journal of Democracy has become the premier destination both for academic specialists on democracy and for practitioners trying to secure basic human rights and build democratic institutions. It is here where all of the most important ideas start.”

–Francis Fukuyama, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies

"TheJournal of Democracy is a vital tool in the global enhancement of democracy...unique for its treatment in depth of democracy's prospects, difficulties, and philosophical significance."

–Zbigniew Brzezinski, counselor and trustee at the Center for Strategic & International Studies

"The Journal of Democracy is indispensable to all students and supporters of democracy around the world. The Journal brings together the best of current scholarship and the wisest of political advocacy to create a mix that informs the mind and stirs the conscience. Everywhere I go to speak someone mentions a recent Journal article he or she has read. I cannot think of another journal of which the same may be said."

–Jean Bethke Elshtain, Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, The University of Chicago

“The Journal of Democracy is unique in dealing with the democratic transformation of societies on both the philosophical and policy levels. Following the collapse of communism, it became the leading forum for discussion of the major challenges facing the post-totalitarian world, and it has played a crucial role in forming a community of scholars and policy makers concerned with both political and economic reform.”

–Lilia Shevtsova, Senior Associate, Russian Domestic Politics and Political Institutions Program Co-Chair, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

“I can write about the Journal of Democracy as a contributor, a reader, and a subscriber. This journal gave me a chance to be a part of the global community of researchers involved in intellectually exciting and practically important dialogue. . . . [A]s one of the very few subscribers to the Journal in Georgia I know that the copy that is kept in the library of my organization constitutes the object of great interest—and sometimes envy—for fellow-researchers and students in my country, and as some people have said to me, of the treasures of our small library. . . . [The] Journal of Democracy is an extremely successful project. . . . [I]t managed to gather thoughtful people from all over the globe: It gave voice to diversity of insights and perspectives. . . . [The Journal also] succeeded in being highly professional without excluding laymen through purely academic jargon. It is this combination of true universalism, reader-friendliness, and scholarly rigor that makes it such an indispensable resource for so many people of different cultural or professional backgrounds.”

–Ghia Nodia, Chairman of the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development, Georgia

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