Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

The Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (J-PART), is an international journal that is focused on evaluating and anticipating administration policy and procedure. J-PART began in 1991 and is available both in print and electronically as part of JSTOR, Business Source Complete, Political Science Complete, and other journal databases. The print journal is available at the Kent State University Library, Ohio University, and several other libraries in the Ohio Link network. J-PART is sponsored by the University of Kansas, Syracuse University, Southern California University, and Indiana University. Its editor-in-chief is from the University of Kansas, which is also the university responsible for publishing the journal. There is a long list of board editors, all of whom are affiliated with various universities, including Harvard, Princeton, and Berkeley. J-PART also credits itself with being affiliated with the Section on Public Administration Research, and the American Society for Public Administration.

According to a statement intended for contributors, the journal describes itself as an international and interdisciplinary quarterly which is devoted to building the body of knowledge relating to public administration through “empirical research and theoretical inquiry.” The articles take a look at actual public administration policy and examine it under the lens of administrative theory, in a way that is primarily interested in looking forward. Articles in the January 2000 issue, for example, are keenly interested in administration in the dawning new Millennium.

Titles taken from the index suggest that abstract topics typically covered in this journal examine bureaucracy, red tape, administrative reform, administrative organization, and the balance of power. More concrete ideas covered by articles include environmental issues, voting, health care, information technology, and budgeting all in relation to administration efficiency and strategy in the handling of these problems.

J-PART would be an appropriate resource for a student researching public administration theory, organization, reform, and policy. It is an authoritative journal that focuses on an interdisciplinary and international perspective, which would be appropriate for allowing students to link these ideas and theories with a broader world of issues connected to governmental activities and problems. The journal can also offer perspectives of how the constantly changing world directly pressures and causes changes to public administration practices and theories. It is widely available in both print and electronic form, and so it should be a very accessible resource for most college students, either through their own library or through inter-library loans.