The most-cited U.S. think tanks

Posted By Blake Hounshell Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 4:51 PM Share

Via John Hood, here's a list of the most-cited U.S. think tanks in 2007, according to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a left-leaning media watchdog:

  1. Brookings Institution (2,380)
  2. Council on Foreign Relations (1,191)
  3. American Enterprise Institute (1,171)
  4. Heritage Foundation (1,168)
  5. Center for Strategic and International Studies (1,068)
  6. RAND Corporation (740)
  7. Kaiser Family Foundation (706)
  8. Center for American Progress (673)
  9. Cato Institute (640)
  10. Urban Institute (558)

Interestingly, FAIR says that the overall number of citations of think-tank experts declined by nearly 20 percent last year, a finding for which "there is no ready explanation." FAIR notes that the larger foreign-policy-oriented think tanks such as CFR saw their citations decline, while places like the Wilson Center and our own Carnegie Endowment for International Peace saw increases.

From my own experience, I'd say the rankings have as much to do with media accessibility as they do with expertise. Experts at Brookings and CFR tend to be far more responsive and accessible than, for instance, the folks at RAND. For journalists working on a deadine, that's extremely helpful.

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JOSHUA.FOUST

9:06 AM ET

March 28, 2008

Don't forget...

Don't forget the role of the internet. Blogs have done a tremendous amount both to undercut the credibility of think tankers (think of the many complaints of O'Hanlon's arbitrary Iraq metrics), and to promote their own, grass roots-style amateur pundits.

 

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