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SPA Distinguished Scholar Ken Meier Named Top Public Affairs Researcher

SPA Distinguished Scholar in Residence Ken Meier

American University’s School of Public Affairs Distinguished Scholar in Residence Ken Meier was recently highlighted as the most productive political science researcher, out of a study of nearly 50,000 academics.

The article, “Patterns of Publishing in Political Science Journals: An Overview of Our Profession Using Bibliographic Data and a Co-Authorship Network,” draws upon 67,000 political science papers published by more than 47,000 authors between 1990 and 2013. The study found that Meier authored or co-authored 95 papers in that time, while few other authors in the group have published more than two political science papers. Second to Meier is Ron Johnson, a professor at Penn State University, who authored 75.

Meier is currently serving as Distinguished Visiting Scholar for SPA this Spring. He is the Charles H. Gregory Chair in Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. While at SPA, he is teaching a graduate seminar on publication for SPA Ph.D. students. He is also working on research projects with SPA faculty and graduate students.

Meier uses a multi-disciplinary approach combining empirical and normative questions. Common themes in his studies include representation, institutional governance, equity, and institutional interaction. He has researched these themes in a wide variety of policy areas including education, insurance regulation, access to abortion and family planning, gay rights, drug and alcohol policy, government corruption, agricultural policy, political patronage, public health policies, antitrust policy, child support enforcement, gun control, tobacco, sexual assault, gender and bureaucracy, just to name a few.

“Those of us in the field know well that Ken is a renowned and highly accomplished scholar,” said SPA Dean Barbara S. Romzek. “Having him on campus is a great example of our program to host top-notch scholars from around the world to interact with faculty and students.”