2025/11/01 by Geoboo Song, Gwen Arnold, Melissa K. Merry +12 · 2 voices
Social Sciences · Environmental Science · #Policy Transfer and Learning #Sustainability and Climate Change Governance #Participatory Visual Research Methods
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/psj.70090
openalex publication_date 2025/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/11/15 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
As we close another productive year for the Policy Studies Journal (PSJ), we are reminded of the journal's ongoing development and the strength of the policy scholar community that sustains it. The past year has been defined by innovation, collaboration, and collective achievement. We have continued to refine our editorial operations, expand our intellectual reach, and strengthen the bridges between theory and practice that define the journal's mission. The November 2025 issue captures this spirit of renewal, presenting a diverse set of articles that advance policy theory, deepen our understanding of the policy process, and explore the many ways in which institutions, actors, and narratives shape collective governance. As part of our continued efforts to enhance PSJ's operations and support structure, we have made several changes to the editorial team. We are deeply grateful for the dedication and contributions of every member of this team and look forward to building upon this collaborative foundation. Dr. Gwen Arnold (University of California, Davis), Dr. Melissa K. Merry (University of Louisville), and Dr. Saba N. Siddiki (Syracuse University) will serve as senior associate editors, with Dr. Arnold continuing to lead our short articles peer review process and Dr. Siddiki overseeing our PSJ Blog. Dr. Holly L. Peterson (Louisiana State University) and Dr. Creed Tumlison (California State University, Bakersfield) will continue their excellent service as associate editors. The managing editors include Dr. Eric Button, Dr. Ben Galloway, Ms. Erica Ivins (as blog managing editor), and Ms. Camille Gilmore (as digital managing editor), all of whom have contributed tirelessly to keeping the journal's many moving parts aligned. Our editorial associates, Mr. Victor Kwaku Akakpo and Ms. Rinjisha Roy, and our editorial assistants, Ms. Izehi Oriaghan, Ms. Annette Nyoni, Mr. Travis Wagher, Mr. Ryan Ramaker, Mr. Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, Ms. Rachel Britton, and Mr. Isaac Owusu, each play an essential role in PSJ's daily operations. Their professionalism and dedication make our collective work possible. We are also pleased to announce the establishment of an Advisory Board of Editors Emeriti, a new initiative honoring the lasting contributions of PSJ's editorial leadership. This board brings together all former editors of PSJ since the Policy Studies Organization (PSO)/PSJ reform era in the 1990s, both to recognize their service and to ensure their insights continue to inform the journal's trajectory. While primarily consultative, the board will contribute to strategic planning, special initiatives, and the journal's long-term positioning within the global policy studies community. The inaugural members, Dr. Hank Jenkins-Smith (University of Oklahoma), Dr. Chris Weible (University of Colorado Denver), Dr. Edella Schlager (University of Arizona), and Dr. Michael D. Jones (Clemson University), have each played transformative roles in shaping PSJ and the broader field of policy process research. This honorific appointment both acknowledges their leadership and strengthens our institutional continuity. Another milestone worth celebrating is PSJ's impressive standing in both the Scopus and Clarivate Analytics citation metrics. The 2025 Scopus CiteScore reached 12.3, placing the journal #20 of 1497 in the sociology and political science category and #2 of 242 in the public administration category. If PSJ were also listed under the political science and international relations category, it would rank similarly at #2 out of 739 journals. Meanwhile, according to Clarivate's 2024 Journal Citation Reports (JCR), PSJ achieved a two-year impact factor of 4.9 and a five-year impact factor of 5.6, positioning it firmly among the top journals in both political science and public administration worldwide. Together, these indicators reflect PSJ's consistent growth and influence across bibliometric systems. This accomplishment is a collective one, made possible by the creativity, rigor, and perseverance of our authors, reviewers, and editorial team members. It also underscores PSJ's position as a leading venue for theoretically informed and empirically grounded policy scholarship. We are also thrilled to celebrate the release of the inaugural issue of Policy Theory & Practice (PT&P), PSJ's rolling special issue series. This initiative, originally envisioned by former Editor-in-Chief Dr. Michael D. Jones, aims to bridge theoretical development and real-world application, promoting dialogue between academic researchers and policy practitioners. Years of effort, sustained collaboration, and institutional support from the PSO and Wiley have brought this vision to life. We are confident that PT&P will further amplify the journal's impact and strengthen the intellectual infrastructure of our field. The November 2025 issue of PSJ continues this commitment to advancing rigorous and relevant policy scholarship. The articles collectively trace the full arc of the policy process, from agenda setting and attention dynamics to collaboration, collective action, implementation, and methodological innovation. Each contribution deepens our understanding of how institutions, ideas, and actors interact within complex governance systems. The issue begins with several studies that explore the dynamics of agenda setting, attention, and political change. Mortensen and Shannon (2025) examine how agenda instability unfolds in American local politics, using an extraordinary dataset spanning over a century of Austin City Council agendas. Their findings illuminate how shifts in institutional routines and political pressures generate cycles of stability and disruption in local policymaking. Liu et al. (2025) analyze bureaucratic access and centrality in national agenda setting processes, revealing how bureaucratic networks shape issue attention and participation across policy subsystems. Complementing these, Becker and Bodin (2025) investigate how political attention affects collaborative environmental governance among municipal street-level bureaucrats, finding that attention dynamics influence both coordination and the sustainability of interorganizational collaboration. Butler and Shybalkina (2025) contribute a methodological innovation to this line of inquiry by developing a novel approach for detecting punctuations in bureaucratic decision-making. Their work not only enhances empirical precision but also enriches theoretical debates surrounding punctuated equilibrium and the politics of attention. A second group of articles centers on policy processes and collaboration. Yuan et al. (2025) adopt a sensemaking perspective to explain how contextual factors shape collaborative behavior, advancing our understanding of how meaning and interpretation drive joint problem-solving. Hedlund et al. (2025) employ a network motif approach to uncover strategies for coordinating interdependent policy issues, offering new tools for the analysis of complex policy networks. Pollert et al. (2025) analyze collaborative diffusion across US interstate compacts during the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating how intergovernmental collaboration influences policy outputs under crisis conditions. Finally, Sullivan et al. (2025) introduce an integrative framework for assessing different government roles (leading, linking, or leveraging) in collaborative governance. Their comparative analysis highlights the diversity of state roles in shaping governance outcomes across political systems. The third set of contributions turns toward collective action, narratives, and policy change. Mastroianni and Profeti (2025) examine leaders' narrative strategies during the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Italy and France, identifying how political leaders construct and deploy crisis narratives to shape public trust and compliance. Hornung et al. (2025) revisit the concepts of devil and angel shifts within advocacy coalitions, calling for theoretical integration and refinement to better explain the cognitive and relational dynamics of conflict and cooperation in collective action settings. Together, these studies remind us that the stories actors tell, and the relationships they build, are central to understanding both policy change and stability. Issues of implementation and bureaucracy are examined in the next two articles. Aimo and Cuomo (2025) analyze capacity-building efforts among street-level bureaucrats engaged in problem gambling prevention, highlighting the mechanisms through which local capacity can be cultivated and sustained. Micatka (2025) explores the long-term political effects of adolescent welfare participation, showing how early experiences with social policy can shape voting behavior and civic engagement in adulthood. These studies collectively underscore the importance of bureaucratic discretion, learning, and socialization in the policy implementation process. The Perspectives articles of this issue continue PSJ's tradition of offering concise, provocative essays that engage theoretical and normative questions central to policy studies. Koski (2025) reflects on what another term of a Trump administration could mean for policy process research, inviting scholars to consider how political contexts shape theoretical agendas. Felicetti (2025) broadens the discussion by rethinking the forms and sites of democratic life, offering a conceptual framework that links participation, deliberation, and democratic innovation. Meanwhile, Ling and Yan (2025) introduce the concept of “algorithmic meta-capital” to the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), opening new avenues for integrating digital politics and narrative analysis. These contributions stimulate reflection on the evolving boundaries of policy scholarship and the multiple epistemic communities it engages. Finally, the Research Notes articles highlight empirical and methodological innovation across a range of pressing policy topics. Connors et al. (2025) show how indirect restrictions can demobilize supporters of abortion rights, revealing subtle ways that institutional design affects political participation. Israel-Trummel et al. (2025) continue this line of inquiry by investigating how proximity to deportation threats mobilizes or suppresses political participation, offering critical insights into the politics of fear and belonging. Joshi (2025) examines the implementation of gender provisions within Colombia's 2016 peace agreement, illustrating how inclusion mechanisms influence the execution of post-conflict policies. Each of these short article contributions provides a focused, data-driven advancement, which enriches ongoing debates in comparative and behavioral policy research. Collectively, the studies in this issue capture the richness and diversity of contemporary policy scholarship. They demonstrate that progress in the policy sciences comes from theoretical refinement, methodological creativity, comparative engagement, and empirical breadth. As we reflect on the growing intellectual community that PSJ represents, we are grateful for the authors, reviewers, and readers who continue to make this endeavor possible. In these uncertain times, marked by political turbulence, social division, and the rapid transformation of public discourse, we are reminded of the importance of meaningful policy scholarship that is both critical and compassionate. The studies published here reaffirm the potential of policy research to illuminate, connect, and care. We hope that this PSJ issue serves as both a testament to the vitality of our field and a gentle reminder to take care of one another as we navigate the challenges of our shared world. Take care!