JOURNAL HISTORY
“Political Preferences” was established in 2010 by researchers from the Institute of Political Science, University of Silesia in Katowice. In the next years, Editorial Board was enlarged to include political scientists from other valued research centers. Until 2015 the journal has been published as “Preferencje Polityczne” ([p]ISSN: 2083-327X, [e]ISSN: 2449-9064). Starting with number 6/2013, Political Preferences has functioned as a parallel title of the journal. Between 2010 and 2016, articles published in the journal have presented the results of nationwide empirical research “Political Preferences. Attitudes-Identifications-Behaviours”.
The beginnings of the Political Preferences Journal can be traced back to 2009, when Agnieszka Turska-Kawa, the Editor-in-Chief, and Waldemar Wojtasik noticed a need for conducting more empirical research projects in social science in Poland. They have initiated a research project that involved the cooperation of many Polish universities. It aimed to create a set of representative empirical data that would inspire the scientific community to write papers based on empirical research. The first project involved a diagnosis of public attitudes and opinions on important for Polish society political and social issues. Beside researchers from Silesian University in Katowice also those from other higher education institutions participated, from cities like Bielsko-Biała, Bydgoszcz, Olsztyn, Szczecin, Toruń and Wroclaw. The project started to play an important role in promoting empirical research in Poland. At the same time, it facilitated the integration of the scientific community from the most important Polish universities. Soon, other universities joined in the collaboration (among others, Warsaw and Lublin). The idea of cyclical research into the attitudes and opinions of citizens started to be appreciated. In the years 2009-2015, seven country-wide surveys of a representative sample of Poles have been conducted. Researchers that have started the project decided to modify it and create a scientific journal that would promote empirical research and socio-political analyses. This is how a local research project idea evolved into a journal created and run by people full of passion for science and empirical analysis.
Our journal has a well-established position among Polish scientific journals, and it is well-received in Central and Eastern Europe. Our 9/2014 issue can be seen as the expression of the journal’s opening to the international audience. It was devoted to European Parliament elections in Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Slovenia, Czech Republic, and Croatia. Now we are trying to ground our work and position by publishing papers in English exclusively.
Journal is committed to empirical research and significant advances in knowledge and understanding of political behavior. The geographical area concerned is Central and Eastern Europe. Determinants of participation of individuals in politics and their motivation to take part in the political life of the society are crucial for the proper functioning of civil society. One of its most important expressions is participation in elections. The Editorial Board is open to cooperation with researchers who represent different academic disciplines and are interested in the empirical analysis of elections from multifarious perspectives.
