Trackademia

Welcome to Trackademia

The idea behind Trackademia is to build on existing academic databases like Google Scholar and OpenAlex so that you can trust the data and use it for whatever you want. That comes down to two things.

More data, and more ways to use it. We aggregate publication data from every major source into a single dataset and add information pulled from faculty CVs. Then we let you slice it however you want: choose which sources to build from, write your own formulas, weight journals, adjust for department size.

More accurate, and honest about where it isn’t. We focus on a smaller set of schools so we can verify everything carefully. Faculty lists come from department websites rather than being inferred from publication records, so we know who should be in the data before we go looking. When we can’t find data on someone, we record the gap instead of dropping them. Every number comes with a coverage rate you can check against ground truth.

Everything in Trackademia is built from seven units. AI merges duplicate records across sources and tags each publication so these categories hold up:

  • Publication — citation counts, authors, journal, peer review status, and more
  • Publication group — versions of the same work combined into one entity, such as a working paper and the article it became
  • Academic
  • Department
  • University
  • Field
  • Journal

There are two modes. In Database mode you browse the underlying records and filter by any of the seven units. In Analytics mode you get graphs and comparisons, and you switch views to compare two departments, compare one department against the average of the others, or see them all at once. Tabs let you focus on a particular level of the data.
Trackademia
Back to the list
Academic

Alastair Iain Johnston

close

Academic

RankResearch
As of2026 · CV
DepartmentHarvard Government
UniversityHarvard
FieldPolitical Science
Scholarprofile

Totals

Publications46
Citations10,644
h-index42 · Scholar
Citations per year in post322.5
Years in post33 from the CV positions

Coverage

Works with a count39 of 46
Share85%

Positions

Research Professor (emeritus), Harvard Univer…2026–
Professor of Government, Harvard University1999–2026
Associate Professor of Government, Harvard Un…1996–1999
Assistant Professor of Government, Harvard Un…1993–1996
Instructor, Harvard University1992–1993
The Governor James Albert Noe and Linda Noe L…—

Top venues 21 venues

The 8 holding the most of these works; 13 more hold at least one.

International Security9
The China Quarterly4
Asian Survey2
Annual Review of Political Science1
Arms control today1
Cambridge Review of International Affairs1
Harvard Asia Pacific review1
International Organization1

Publications per year

Works this academic published in each year, by the year each work appeared; an undated work is in no year, and a work two colleagues wrote counts for each of them. The kind, works and year filters decide which works are here at all.

Citations per year

Citations received in each year, from this academic’s verified Scholar profile, which counts every citation to everything they ever wrote: no publication filter reaches this line - not the kinds, not the works switch, not the year window on publication - and no journal weight either. It is a profile total, so it does not match the works listed below.

Publications 46 works

Every work these filters select, most cited first and the works with no count at the end: a work nobody has a figure for is unknown, never a zero to be ranked among the works that have one, and it prints an em dash. Each figure is that work’s own citations - Scholar’s count where there is one, else OpenAlex’s - and is not weighted.

YearTitleVenueKindCitations
1995Thinking About Strategic Culture.International Securityarticle1,867
2001Treating International Institutions as Social EnvironmentsInternational Studies Quarterlyarticle1,716
2003Is China a Status Quo Power?International Securityarticle1,583
2006Identity as a VariablePerspectives on Politicsarticle1,195
2013How New and Assertive is China’s New AssertivenessInternational Securityarticle1,051
2019China in a World of OrdersInternational Securityarticle426
1995China's New 'Old Thinking': The Concept of Limited Deterrence.International Securityarticle301
2016Is Chinese Nationalism Rising? Evidence from BeijingInternational Securityarticle282
2005Conclusions and Extensions: Toward Mid-range Theorizing and Beyond EuropeInternational Organizationarticle275
2012What (If Anything) Does East Asia Tell Us About International Relations Theory?Annual Review of Political Sciencearticle209
1999Strategic Culture Revisited: Reply to Colin GrayReview of International Studiesarticle202
2014Debating China's AssertivenessInternational Securityarticle181
1996Learning Versus Adaptation: Explaining Change in Chinese Arms Control Policy.The China Journalarticle179
1998China’s Militarized Interstate Dispute Behavior, 1949-1992: A First Cut at the DataThe China Quarterlyarticle174
2017Can China Back Down? Crisis De-Escalation in the Shadow of Popular OppositionInternational Securityarticle158
2004Chinese Middle Class Attitudes Towards International Affairs: Nascent Liberalization?The China Quarterlyarticle157
2019The Failures of the ‘Failure of Engagement’ with ChinaThe Washington Quarterlyarticle122
2019Memes, Narratives, and the Emergent US–China Security DilemmaCambridge Review of International Affairsarticle112
2001TREATING IDENTITY AS A VARIABLE: MEASURING THE CONTENT, INTENSITY, AND CONTESTATION OF IDENTITY—article105
1996Prospects for Chinese Nuclear Force Modernization: Limited Deterrence versus Multilateral Arms ControlThe China Quarterlyarticle101
2016The Evolution of Interstate Security Crisis-Management Theory and Practice in ChinaNaval War College reviewarticle71
2011Stability and Instability in Sino-US Relations: A Response to Yan Xuetong's Superficial Friendship TheoryThe Chinese Journal of International Politicsarticle51
1984Changing Army-Party Relations in China, 1979-1984.Asian Surveyarticle33
1987Party Rectification in the Peoples Liberation Army, 1983-1987.The China Quarterlyarticle16
2019Shaky Foundations: The ‘Intellectual Architecture’ of Trump’s China PolicySurvivalarticle15
1987China Enters the Arms Control Arena.Arms control todayarticle14
1983Chinese Nuclear Force Modernization: Implications for Arms ControlJournal of Northeast Asian Studiesarticle11
1993Independence Through Unification: On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Across the Taiwan Straits—article9
2021The Effect of Imagined Social Contact on Chinese Students’ Perceptions of Japanese PeopleJournal of Conflict Resolutionarticle7
2019China In a World of Orders: Rethinking Compliance and Challenge in Beijing’s International RelationsInternational Securityarticle7
2024Racism and Security DilemmasInternational Politicsarticle6
2024Foreign Policy Orientation without Party Cues: A Case Study of TaiwanAsian Surveyarticle4
1997Engaging Myths: Misconceptions About China and Its Global RoleHarvard Asia Pacific reviewarticle4
2026Public alignment orientation under US–China competition: Hierarchy, identity, and the Japanese caseInternational Relations of the Asia-Pacificarticle0
2009Measuring Identity Content and Comparing Social IdentitiesZenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)article0
2002《简论国际组织对国家⾏为的影响》[A sketch of theoretical research on the impact of international institutions on the behavior of states]—article0
2001The Pros and Cons of Cooperation: Beijing Weighs its Options—article0
1999《中国参与国际体制的若⼲思考》 [Some thoughts on China’s participation in international institutions)—article0
1989《弱国怎样⾯对强国》 [How small states manage large states]—article0
2019網⺠看兩岸（1）：社群媒體，政黨傾向，和對兩岸關係的看法 (with George Yin) [Formosa Magazine, Netizens View Cross-Strait Relations 1: Views on Social Media, Political Party Orientation, a…—article—
2018美麗島2018兩岸關係⺠調（⼀）: ⼤多數台灣⺠眾是否只認同台灣，不認同中國？ [Formosa Magazine, “2018 Survey of Cross-Strait Relations 1: Do The Vast Majority of Taiwanese People only Identify Wit…—article—
2018美麗島2018兩岸關係⺠調（⼆）：此綠⾮彼綠？台灣年輕世代對中國的觀感 (with George Yin) [Formosa Magazine, “2018 Survey of Cross-Strait Relations 2: This Green Is Not That Green? Perception of…—article—
2006中国外交政策研究:理论趋势及⽅法辨析［Trends in Theory and Method in the Study of Chinese Foreign Policy]—article—
2001《美国学者对于中国与国际组织关系研究概述》 [A general explication of US scholarship concerning China's relationship with international organizations]—article—
1992《暴⼒与⾮暴⼒》 [Violence and non-violence]—article—
1991《当代学术对中国传统军事思想理解的⼏个问题》 [Some problems in contemporary interpretations of traditional Chinese military thought]—article—