A Bibliometric Study on the Publications Investigating Democracy in Turkey

Abstract

This study investigates the bibliometric characteristics of publications on democracy in Turkey, a country arguably having recently gone through a particular democratic backsliding. Focusing on SSCI and A&HCI between 1980 and 2019, a total of 691 publications were found: articles (83.79%) and book reviews (11.43%), with a particular increase of publications starting with the late 2000s. Most of the publications were written in English (95%), under the research category of Political Science. Turkish Studies was the journal where most of the publications appeared. The phrases that were mostly used within abstracts were the Justice and Development Party, the European Union, the Middle East, and democracy in Turkey. The results show that publications on democracy tend to appear mostly in regionally focused journals, be written mostly in the Political Science research category and in English, highlight the contemporary democratic advances and deficiencies of the countries, and be mostly within comparative frameworks.