In This Story
Originally published on August 4, 2020
A new survey of U.S. public policy schools’ research publication output finds George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government ranked as the No. 2 best public policy school in the Washington, D.C., region and in the Top 20 best public policy schools overall, as well as within a number of sub-categories.
The “Research-Based Ranking of Public Policy Schools” was conducted by Zurich-based scholar Elliott Ash and Miguel Urquiola, chairman of the economics department at Columbia University, for Switzerland’s SpringerLink. They calculated the published research by some 5,000 faculty members at 44 U.S. universities in bibliographic databases beginning in 2016. The survey considers not only the quantity of the output but also the quality of the academic publications.
The Schar School faculty ranked No. 6 in the country for quantity of book and book chapter publications and No. 13 for citations in books and book chapters. The Schar School ranked No. 10 in the U.S. for appearances in journals documenting the natural sciences, No. 20 for appearances in “elite” academic publications, and No. 15 for total number of published journal articles.
“These rankings speak highly of the scholarly output of our faculty who, as this study demonstrates, are among the most productive in the country,” said Schar School Dean Mark J. Rozell. “Our students are learning from some of the very top scholars in the various disciplines represented in the Schar School.”
George Mason University is one of the top research universities in the nation, holding an R1 designation from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. By earning the “very high research”—or R1—designation, Mason, the largest public research university in Virginia, is among an elite group of 120 institutions known for performing at the highest research level in terms of research productivity and impact. Mason, which first attained the tier one research ranking in 2016, is the youngest independent university listed.
ABOUT THE SCHAR SCHOOL
The Schar School of Policy and Government is one of the 10 schools and colleges of George Mason University with approximately 2,000 students, 90 full-time faculty members, and 23 degree and certificate programs offered on Mason’s campuses in Fairfax and Arlington, Va. Among the degree programs are government and international affairs, public policy, public administration, political science, international security, and international commerce and policy. The Schar School prepares undergraduate and graduate students to be leaders and managers who solve problems and advance the public good in all sectors and levels of government—in the United States and throughout the world. For more, contact Communications Manager Buzz McClain at bmcclai2@gmu.edu.
A dynamic education for an evolving world.