A recent analysis of political science departments across the country confirms the high standing of Rochester's own department. This analysis is described in "The Good, the Better, and the Best in Political Science" in the December 1998 issue of the journal PS: Political Science and Politics.
Rochester ranks third (behind California Institute of Technology and SUNY at Stony Brook) among the Top 50 departments in "research performance" as measured by publications in the most highly regarded professional journals, and adjusting for faculty size. Rochester's department is about half the size of many other university programs.
"This article confirms the excellence and eminence of the department here," said Harold W. Stanley, department chair. The department has held a top-ranked national reputation in the field since the 1970s.
In their survey, authors Michael J. Ballard and Neil J. Mitchell of the University of New Mexico point out that the top five departments in the list "do separate quite clearly from the rest."