Journal of Experimental Political Science

The Journal of Experimental Political Science (JEPS) features research - be it theoretical, empirical, methodological, or some combination thereof - that utilizes experimental methods or experimental reasoning based on naturally occurring data. We define experimental methods broadly: research featuring random (or quasi-random) assignment of subjects to different treatments in an effort to isolate causal relationships between variables of interest. JEPS embraces all of the different types of experiments carried out as part of political science research, including survey experiments, laboratory experiments, field experiments, lab experiments in the field, natural and neurological experiments.

We invite authors to submit concise articles (around 2500 words) that immediately address the subject of the research (although in certain cases initial submissions can be longer than this limit with the understanding that if accepted the paper will be shortened within the word constraints). We do not require lengthy explanations regarding and justifications of the experimental method. Nor do we expect extensive literature reviews of pros and cons of the methodological approaches involved in the experiment unless the goal of the article is to explore these methodological issues. We expect readers to be familiar with experimental methods and therefore to not need pages of literature reviews to be convinced that experimental methods are a legitimate methodological approach. We also consider more lengthy articles in appropriate cases, as in the following examples: when a new experimental method or approach is being introduced and discussed, when a meta-analysis of existing experimental research is provided, or when new theoretical results are being evaluated through experimentation and the theoretical results are previously unpublished. Finally, we strongly encourage authors to submit null or inconsistent results from well-designed, executed, and analyzed experiments as well as replication studies of earlier experiments.