Are the Top International Journals of Criminology and Criminal Justice More International than Ten Years Ago?

Abstract

[Abstract] For criminologists and legal scholars, the globalisation of crime and justice is perhaps the defining event of recent decades. In this context, international criminology and criminal justice journals should provide an appropriate forum for scholars from around the world to communicate. However, our 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. We concluded that they still function as vehicles of communication between the Anglo-American community and from this community to the rest of the world. We argue that 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. The self-sufficiency of the Anglo-American framework as an epistemological position is less acceptable today than it was in the past. But despite the existing criticisms, this chapter shows that there has been no serious change in the pattern of publication in the criminal sciences in recent years. We find that Anglo-American dominance is significant and persistent across the dimensions examined in the top ten international criminology and criminal justice journals between 2012 and 2022, 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 slight shifts between the main actors in the field. Internationalisation remains an unfinished task.