Professor Leonardo Morlino the honoree of the 2020 IAPSS Politikon Best Article Award

In 2020, the IAPSS Politikon Best Article Award Committee consisted of Honorary Chair Professor Leonardo Morlino (LUISS University, IPSA Past President), Senior Members Professor Sabine Saurugger (Sciences Po Grenoble, ECPR EC Training Subcommittee Member and 2021 Futures Lab Host) and Professor Stephen Sawyer (American University of Paris, Associate Editor of International Political Science Abstracts), and Junior Member Dana Rice (University of Tasmania, Editor of IAPSS Politikon).

According to the Committee: "While all articles displayed a high standard, the Award Committee chose ‘Social Media and Crowdsourced Election Monitoring: Prospects for Election Transparency in Sub-Saharan Africa' by Francesca Sassetti (Vol. 42) as this year's recipient. The Committee agreed that Sassetti's article stood out for its impressive use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Writing on an important but rarely analysed topic, Sassetti's article made a significant contribution to understanding the effects of crowdsourced election monitoring on the transparency and quality of elections in Sub-Saharan states. 

An honourable mention goes to ‘Tunisia's Institutional Change after the Revolution: Politics, Institutions and Change Agents' by Luigi Cino (Vol. 43). Applying Thelen and Mahoney's gradual change model to Tunisia's institutional reforms after the revolution, Cino's article displayed clear methodology and careful process tracing. His work offered contributions to Political Science both topically - by enriching knowledge of post-revolution Tunisia - and theoretically - by further developing Mahoney and Thelen's model."

We congratulate to both authors and express sincere gratitude to the members of the Award Committee for their dedication and engagement!

Here’s what the authors said in receiving the honors:

Francisca Sassetti (MSc, London School of Economics and Political Science): "I had never imagined I would have the chance to publish my first paper so early in my research career, much less winning Best Article Award. I attended IAPSS' 2018 Academic Convention in Singapore, where I presented my original piece of research. With some encouragement and great feedback, I submitted a manuscript to Politikon: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science as I had learnt it was a good venue for young scholars like myself wanting to publish their work. 

From submitting the paper to being published, the process was a valuable learning journey. I was able to experience the process of academic publishing through a very supportive and professional team of editors and reviewers. They provided high-quality feedback on my manuscript with the aim of improving it in every step of the way, which allowed me to improve the rigour, validity and quality of my research work. This experience gave the confidence to pursue a career in research. I believe IAPSS Politikon is a fantastic journal for all Political Science young scholars like myself, whether they are recent graduates, current Political Science students, or working in research in academia or outside.

I am grateful to the team behind IAPSS Politikon, to all editors and peer reviewers, for helping me achieve the quality research I am proud to have authored, and to the IAPSS Politikon Award Committee for awarding my paper the Best Article Award 2020."

Luigi Cino (PhD, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa): “IAPSS Politikon is one of the few international journals that allows young researchers to start publishing their researches. At the same time, it is a serious journal with high selection and review standards, which permit to select excellent contributions and make the journal one of the best in the political science area of study. For these reasons I decided to publish in IAPSS Politikon my paper on institutional change in Tunisia, which represents an adaptation of part of my doctoral thesis. The comments and opinions received during the review process allowed me to have constructive feedbacks, contributing to the development of the research, and to disclose part of the results of my research. Given the importance of the members of the selection commission, receiving this honorable mention was a source of great professional satisfaction and an unexpected recognition of my scientific production.“