Journal of Peace Research

​​The Journal of Peace Research (JPR) celebrates 50 years in 2014. Thematically, JPR is broadly oriented. The journal encourages a wide conception of peace, but focuses on the causes of violence and conflict resolution. Over the years the journal has developed a few thematic niches, most recently the liberal peace and the relationship between environmental change and conflict. Other long-standing niches include the history of peace research, the economics of military spending, human rights, and nonviolence. The latter topic has recently experienced a remarkable renaissance, paving the way for a special issue published in 2013. While JPR is explicitly multidisciplinary and committed to methodological pluralism, it has established a particularly strong position in the statistical analysis of conflict and peace. Along with this, the journal has become a leading outlet for conflict-related datasets. JPR has also taken a leading role in establishing a strong norm among many political science and international relations journals for making replication datasets openly available.