Individual Membership Benefits
Individual Membership Benefits: Become a Member of the American Political Science Association (APSA)
A membership in APSA enables access to benefits, programs, and services that will help you stay abreast with evolving methodologies, research topics, and approaches in the field and allow you to have a direct impact on the discipline.
Learn more about APSA member benefits using the APSA Member Guide that includes information about navigating APSA eJobs, accessing publications, joining Organized Sections, attending the APSA Annual Meeting and virtual events, and more!
Prefer to register by mail? APSA Individual Membership Form
Journals & Publications
APSA Journals: Access the four leading peer-reviewed political science journals. Upon membership of the APSA, members can begin to explore online the latest research in all areas of the political science discipline: American Political Science Review, Perspectives on Politics, PS: Political Science & Politics, and Journal of Political Science Education. Members also get access to APSA’s Member Magazine, Political Science Today. Organized Section members can also access specific section journals that are included with their membership.
- Cambridge Digital Archive: Get free access to all of APSA’s journals digital archive, from the 1900’s to the present.
- Political Science Today: Political Science Today is a new member magazine of the American Political Science Association. The magazine includes news about the discipline, member spotlights, association updates, and other content previously featured in PS: Political Science & Politics.
- APSA Task Force Reports: Access reports that summarize work conducted by APSA task force committees, who seek to expand the public presence of political science by sharing the best political science research on important trends and issues of public concern with society at large.
- Data on the Profession: Our APSA Research department collects, aggregates, and shares data on employment, degrees, enrollment, and curriculum regularly.
- APSA Member Newsletter: Get first-hand updates about APSA and the political science profession. We distribute a monthly newsletter for members to keep up with all APSA programs, opportunities, grants and awards, events and annual meeting updates, job listings in the field, and valuable member updates.
Organized Sections
Organized sections provide an opportunity for groups of APSA members who share a common interest in a particular subfield to organize meetings and coordinate communications under Association auspices. Sections provide the membership with outlets for research and opportunities for scholarship. Sections help encourage the study of political science. They have become a vital part of the Association by sponsoring panels at the Annual Meeting, producing informative newsletters, and recognizing scholarly achievements of their members through annual awards.
- Section Journals: Several APSA Organized Sections own, sponsor or are affiliated with other political science journals. Subscriptions to these journals are included as a part of the associated organized section’s membership benefits.
- APSA Connect: The newly updated APSA Connect allows you to search for members in the directory, upload documents, and network with members through several forums.
- Organized Section Awards: Organized Sections sponsor over 200 awards each year, recognizing members scholarship, lifetime achievements, and providing support towards member research and travel.
Meetings & Events
- APSA Annual Meeting: The APSA Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of political scientists, with over 6,500 attendees. The Annual Meeting provides attendees with the unique opportunity to network with scholars and professionals from around the world. With over one thousand panels and events, attendees are able to present their research, receive feedback and constructive criticism from their peers, and gain insight to the latest research in their field.
- APSA Teaching and Learning Conference: This unique conference which provides a highly interactive forum for scholars to share research and innovative tools for political science education. The conference focuses on promoting the scholarship of teaching and learning, equipping faculty with new techniques and resources for teaching, and enhancing the role of teaching in the discipline of political science.
- TLC at APSA: This full-day event, taking place within the APSA Annual Meeting, seeks to promote the scholarship of teaching and learning, equip faculty with new techniques and resources for teaching, and enhance the role of teaching in the discipline of political science.
Career Resources and Professional Development
- APSA eJobs: The most comprehensive database of jobs related to political science that is updated daily with new job listings and candidate CV’s. The eJobs platform is fully searchable by field of interest, employer or candidate name, region, keyword, position, salary, institution type, and most recent posting. You can also save your searches and get daily, weekly, or monthly updates via email. Individual accounts must be connected to a departmental account to post a job listing. Learn more here.
- Career Resources: APSA offers a range of information on careers in political science for both graduate students and undergraduates, including booklets, brochures, annual meeting events, and online resources for grants, scholarships, and internships.
- Interview Services: Offered at the Annual Meeting, Interview Services provides employers an opportunity to conduct interviews with job seekers while onsite.
- Career Open House: APSA provides an opportunity for APSA members to connect with departments, institutions, and organizations for informational and informal discussions about jobs in political science, and other careers that draw on political science training, both on campus and in applied/non-academic settings.
- Dissertation Workshops: APSA hosts dissertation workshops each year at the Annual Meeting. These workshops provide an opportunity for small groups of graduate students to meet, discuss their research with peers, and get feedback from leading scholars in the field.
- Teaching Resources: APSA provides a myriad of classroom resources for members, including syllabi, instructional webinars, pedagogy workshops, scholarship on teaching and learning, and more.
Fellowships, Grants and Funding Opportunities
- Congressional Fellowship Program: The Congressional Fellowship Program is a highly selective, nonpartisan program devoted to expanding knowledge and awareness of Congress. Since 1953, it has brought select political scientist and other professionals to Capitol Hill to experience Congress through fellowship placements on congressional staffs.
- The Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs: The Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs encourages individual research, writing, and facilitates collaboration among scholars. This center offers numerous opportunities for APSA members including the Pracademic Fellowship Program, the Kenneth Sherrill Prize, the William A. Steiger Fellowship, as well as the Centennial Center Visiting Scholar Program.
- Small Research Grant Program: The APSA Small Research Grant Program provides funding opportunities for research conducted by political scientists not employed at PhD-granting departments in the field, or who are in non-tenure track or contingent positions ineligible for departmental funding.
- Travel Grants: APSA travel grants are provided to eligible members to cover the costs of travel to APSA conferences.
- APSA Awards: Presented at the APSA Annual Meeting, APSA awards recognize the best dissertations, papers and articles, books and career achievements in research, teaching, and service to the discipline.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusions Programs
APSA works to promote diversity and inclusion in political science through a number of programs. Recognizing the many differences— demographic, substantive, intellectual, pedagogical, methodological, and institutional, among others — and leveraging diversity is critical not only to the success of individual political scientists but to the strength and longevity of the disciplinary enterprise.
- Diversity Fellowship Program: The Diversity Fellows Program is a fellowship competition for individuals from underrepresented backgrounds applying to or in the early stages of doctoral programs in political science.
- Ralph Bunche Summer Institute: The Ralph Bunche Summer Institute encourages students to pursue academic careers in political science by enhancing writing, research, and analytical skills to increase competitiveness in the application and financial aid process for graduate school.
- Minority Student Recruitment Program: In collaboration with undergraduate and graduate political science departments, the Minority Student Recruitment Program identifies undergraduate students from under-represented backgrounds who show potential for or are interested in doctoral study.This recruitment information is shared with APSA member graduate departments that have enrolled in the program for their annual recruitment of doctoral students.
- Fund for Latino Scholarship: The Fund for Latino Scholarship encourages and supports the recruitment, retention and promotion of Latino/political scientists, especially students and tenure track junior faculty.
Advancing the Discipline
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- International Programs: APSA’s department of International Programs works to support and advance political science scholarship by promoting closer interaction between political scientists based in and outside the United States. The MENA and Africa workshops offer multi-year collaborations with early-career political scientists in the Arab Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa to enhance scholarly networks and support political science research.
- Advocacy for Political Science: The APSA Advocacy Program advances the discipline of political science by educating policymakers and the public about political science and by supporting robust federal funding for political science research and teaching. The program shares news with APSA members and highlights opportunities for advocacy.
- APSA Mentoring Program: APSA members are encouraged to share their expertise and experience through volunteering to be a mentor to students, scholars, and professionals who are seeking advice from within the discipline.
- External Review Database. As a resource for APSA departmental members seeking external review, the Departmental Services Program maintains a list of faculty who have volunteered to serve as reviewers. To request names of potential reviewers, please contact dsp@apsanet.org. If you would like to volunteer as a reviewer, please submit your information here.
Special Member Programs
- Member Spotlight Initiative: The APSA Member Spotlight program recognizes one member each quarter. Nominations for the award (including self-nominations) may be submitted by members and nonmembers of APSA.
Member Savings
To supplement the APSA benefits that you gain with an individual membership, APSA has partnered with numerous companies to provide our members with increased savings.
- Receive a 20% discount off the price of all books published by the Cambridge University Press.
- Discounts on Car Rental Services: Current APSA members receive a 10% discount on car rentals booked through Alamo Rent A Car. Use Contract ID number 706768 at checkout to receive your discount.
- Coupon Central: We clip and save your coupons in one place
- Office Depot/OfficeMax and other premier suppliers: APSA has partnered with Office Depot/OfficeMax and other premier suppliers to bring you significant savings on products and services you use every day.
Interdisciplinary Membership
As a member of APSA, you may join any of our sister associations at the same time that you join or renew your APSA membership. APSA has arranged with the American Historical Association (AHA), International Political Science Association (IPSA) and International Public Policy Association (IPPA), to allow multiple memberships without breaking your bank.
AHA/IPSA/IPPA members: Contact your primary membership association and join through them (so they can verify your primary membership for APSA).
Related Groups
APSA Related Groups are professional groups, engaged in the study of political science. Related groups host one or more panels at the APSA Annual Meeting. Related groups add diversity and represent a broad spectrum of civic and political issues. If you’d like to learn more on how to become a related group, contact membership@apsanet.org
APSA members are invited to join related groups that align with their interests and field of study. Related group memberships run concurrently with APSA membership and have no additional dues to join.
Joining a related group through APSA does not confer membership benefits to groups that collect separate member dues. To formally join a group that collects membership dues please contact the group directly.
Find out more about Related Groups.
Email: APSA Member Services at membership@apsanet.org. Learn about joining APSA through a Trial Membership.
APSA Refund Policy: Membership may be cancelled by contacting the APSA membership department by e-mail at membership@apsanet.org or by mail; however, APSA does not offer refunds for cancelled memberships.
