Are the Top International Journals of Criminology and Criminal Justice More International than Before?

• In Event: Global and Comparative CJ Education and Reseach Dissemination

Abstract

International criminology and criminal justice journals should provide an appropriate forum for scholars from around the world to communicate. Previous research has shown that they do not function this way. Top international journals have low levels of international participation, with high proportions of Anglo-American authors, data, and editorial board members. They still function as vehicles of communication between the Anglo-American community and from this community to the rest of the world. However, the process of internationalisation offers an opportunity to develop scholarly approaches that are not only more evenly distributed in geopolitical terms, but also better scientifically substantiated. This paper shows that, in spite of appeals to build indigenous, counter-colonial, decolonial, anticolonial or Southern perspectives, Anglo-American dominance is significant and persistent across the dimensions studied in the top ten international journals of criminology and criminal justice, with the dimension of editorial membership being the most pronounced, followed by the authorship dimension. Instead of a more inclusive national diversity, we see only soft shifts between the main actors in the field. Internationalisation remains an unfinished task.

Authors

• Patricia Faraldo Cabana, Universidade da Coruña

• Pablo Andrés Pinochet Ábalos, Universitat de Barcelona

• Rocío Fraga Sáenz, Universidade da Coruña