View source for Economic and Political Weekly

{{Infobox journal
| title = Economic and Political Weekly
| image = File:Economic and Political Weekly logo.png
| image_size = 300
| alt = Economic and Political Weekly logo
| caption = 
| abbreviation = Econ. Political Wkly.
| formernames = Economic Weekly
| frequency = Weekly
| history = 1949–present
| publisher = Sameeksha Trust
| editor = S. Mahendra Dev
| discipline = [[Social sciences]]
| country = India
| ISSN = 0012-9976
| OCLC = 46735231
| LCCN = sa67002009
| JSTOR= econpoliweek
| website = http://www.epw.in
| link1 = https://www.epw.in/journal/epw-archive
| link1-name = Online archive
}}
The '''''Economic and Political Weekly''''' ('''EPW''') is a weekly [[peer-reviewed]] [[academic journal]] covering all [[social sciences]], and is published by the Sameeksha Trust.<ref name="Caravan2012">{{Cite web|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/essay/gentle-colossus-krishna-raj-economic-and-political-weekly|title=Krishna Raj and the Economic and Political Weekly|last=Guha|first=Ramachandra|date=December 2012|website=[[The Caravan]]|language=en|access-date=2019-12-30}}</ref> In August 2023, economist S. Mahendra Dev was named as the new [[editor-in-chief|editor]] of the journal.<ref>{{cite web | title=EPW Editor S. Mahendra Dev Is EAC-PM Chairman | website=[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]] | date=6 June 2025 | url=https://thewire.in/economy/epw-editor-s-mahendra-dev-is-eac-pm-chairman | access-date=19 July 2025|quote= In 2023, Dev was appointed editor of the Economic and Political Weekly by the Sameeksha Trust. He succeeded Gopal Guru.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=From the Editor | website=Economic and Political Weekly | date=4 August 2023 | url=https://www.epw.in/journal/2023/31/editors-desk/editor.html | access-date=19 July 2025}}</ref> He succeeded [[Gopal Guru]], who served as editor from January 2018 to July 2023.<ref>{{cite web | title=S Mahendra Dev appointed editor of EPW | website=[[ThePrint]] | date=17 July 2023 | url=https://theprint.in/india/s-mahendra-dev-appointed-editor-of-epw/1673104/ | access-date=19 July 2025|quote=Dev will succeed Professor Gopal Guru with effect from August 1. Guru, who has served EPW for five years, is completing his term at the end of July 2023.}}</ref>

The Sameeksha Trust board comprises eminent persons from academia and business, namely, [[Deepak Nayyar]] (chairman), D N Ghosh (Managing Trustee), [[Andre Beteille]], [[Deepak Parekh]], [[Romila Thapar]], [[Rajeev Bhargava]], [[Dipankar Gupta]], and Shyam Menon.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2015-06-05|title=About Us|url=http://www.epw.in/about-us.html|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|language=en|volume=50|issue=23}}</ref>

== History ==
The journal was established in 1949 as the ''Economic Weekly'' and edited by Sachin Chaudhuri.<ref>[http://www.pragoti.in/node/3103 On Sachin Choudhuri - the founder of a unique magazine/journal (Sixty years ago)] ''pragoti.in''. Retrieved 16 September 2012  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116072553/http://www.pragoti.in/node/3103 |date=January 16, 2014 }}</ref> It obtained its current name in 1966.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8dTBlFmIG98C&dq=economic+and+political+weekly&pg=PR9 Calcutta Diary] Ashok Mitra. Psychology Press, 1977 - Social Science - 206 pages</ref> It was edited by Krishna Raj for more than three decades<ref name=b-standard>[http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/epw-readies-for-second-innings-108070401028_1.html EPW readies for second innings] ''business-standard.com''. 4 July 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2014</ref> and is among the most prestigious scholarly journals in India,<ref name=goddard83>{{cite book |title=A Guide to Information Sources in the Geographical Sciences|last=Goddard |first=Stephen|year=1983|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |location=Lanham, Maryland, USA |isbn= 978-0-389-20403-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GsruJSL7OOIC&q=038920403X+%22Economic+and+Political+Weekly%22&pg=PA122 |page=122}}</ref> having had contributions from many of the country's best known scholars.<ref name=b-standard/>

Past authors include [[Amartya Sen]], [[Manmohan Singh]], [[Jagdish Bhagwati]], [[Ramachandra Guha]], [[Angus Deaton]], [[Kaushik Basu]], [[Romila Thapar]], [[Jeffrey Sachs]], [[Prannoy Roy]], [[T.N. Srinivasan]], [[Subramanian Swamy]], [[Christophe Jaffrelot]], [[Jean Drèze]], [[Mani Shankar Aiyar]], [[Andre Beteille]], [[Ashok Gulati]], and [[Nirupam Bajpai]].

== Political position ==
The journal is known for taking [[left-leaning]] positions in its editorials, which were occasionally critical of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] government in [[West Bengal]] for not being radical enough.<ref name="Kohli 1990">{{cite book |last=Kohli |first=Atul |title=Democracy and Discontent: India's Growing Crisis of Governability |year=1990 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9780521396929 |page=150 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y_jy1S-77c4C&q=left+leaning+%22Economic+and+Political+Weekly%22&pg=PA150}}</ref> According to ''[[The Hindu]]'', the journal takes strong editorial stance with a "social conscience".<ref name="epw1">[https://web.archive.org/web/20100203064722/http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/31/stories/2010013160110900.htm EPW plans editions in Indian languages] ''hindu.com''. 31 January 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2014</ref> ''[[The Caravan]]'' notes the journal's "obsession with intra-[[Marxist]] debate" and that its contributors "range from free-market liberals on one side to [[Naxalite]] sympathisers on the other".<ref name="Caravan2012"/> The journal was harshly critical of some of the policies of the [[Indira Gandhi]] government during the [[Emergency (India)|Emergency]], as well as of state complicity in the [[2002 Gujarat riots]].<ref name=nm_bg>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/india/story/0,12559,1149681,00.html |title=Krishna Raj |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=17 February 2004 |access-date=1 May 2010}}</ref>

== Abstracting and indexing ==
The journal is abstracted and indexed in [[CAB Abstracts]]<ref name= CABAB>{{cite web |url=https://www.cabi.org/publishing-products/online-information-resources/cab-abstracts/ |title=Serials cited |work=[[CAB Abstracts]] |publisher=[[CABI (organisation)|CABI]] |access-date=2015-07-31}}</ref> and [[Scopus]].<ref name=Scopus>{{cite web |url=https://www.elsevier.com/online-tools/scopus/content-overview |title=Content overview |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |work=Scopus |access-date=2015-07-31}}</ref>

== Licensing ==
EPW has licensed its material for non-exclusive use to 3 content aggregators - ''Contify'', ''[[Factiva]]'' and ''[[JSTOR]]''.

''Contify'' disseminates EPW content to ''[[LexisNexis]]'', ''[[Thomson Reuters]]'', ''Securities.com'', ''[[Gale Cengage]]'', ''AcquireMedia'' and ''[[NewsBank]]''.

''Factiva'' and ''JSTOR'' have EPW content on their databases for their registered users.

== Controversy ==
In 2016, C. Rammanohar Reddy quit as editor in a controversial move which led to several academics expressing concern in an open letter,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thewire.in/19389/a-letter-to-the-sameeksha-trust-from-the-epw-community/|title=A Letter to the Sameeksha Trust, from the 'EPW Community'|date=15 January 2016|website=TheWire.in}}</ref> and at least one board member, [[Jean Dreze]], resigning from the board.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/801807/epw-editor-ram-reddy-to-step-down-from-the-prestigious-journal-after-a-decade-in-the-chair|title=EPW editor Ram Reddy to step down from the prestigious journal after a decade in the chair|date=13 January 2016|website=Scroll.in}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://newsclick.in/former-epw-editor-ram-reddys-2016-letter-sameeksha-trust|title=Former EPW Editor Ram Reddy's 2016, Letter to the Sameeksha Trust|date=21 July 2017|website=Newsclick}}</ref> Shortly after, his successor [[Paranjoy Guha Thakurta]] also quit in 2017 after a controversial article about the [[Adani Group]] was removed from the website amidst reasons that many felt were unclear or unjustified.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thewire.in/159090/adani-group-slapps-epw-editor-job/|title=Adani Group 'SLAPP' Pushes EPW Editor Out of His Job|date=18 July 2017|website=TheWire.in}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/paranjoy-guha-thakurta-quits-as-epw-editor/article19302912.ece|title=Paranjoy Guha Thakurta quits as EPW editor|date=18 July 2017|newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref> In its defence, the Trust posted a statement on the EPW website stating that Guha Thakurta had violated his position by responding to a legal notice sent by the Adani Group without informing the Trust.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.epw.in/statement-issued-sameeksha-trust-2-august-2017|title=Statement issued by the Sameeksha Trust: 2 August 2017|date=2 August 2017|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|pages=7–8|archive-date=3 November 2023|access-date=30 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103145937/https://www.epw.in/statement-issued-sameeksha-trust-2-august-2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> This once again led to various scholars and commentators questioning the Sameeksha Trust that runs the journal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/epw-economic-and-political-weekly-sameeksha-trust-paranjoy-guha-thakurta-4779547/|title=Reinventing EPW|date=3 August 2017|website=The Indian Express}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://thewire.in/165632/murdering-epw-paranjoy-reddy/|title=Murdering a Great Journal, One Editor at a Time|date=8 August 2017|website=TheWire.in}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://thewire.in/163160/epw-sameeksha-trust-partha-chatterjee/|title=An Open Letter to EPW's Trustees from Partha Chatterjee|date=31 July 2017|website=TheWire.in}}</ref>

Eventually professor and scholar Gopal Guru was appointed as the new editor in January 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thewire.in/210893/epw-gopal-guru-sameeksha-trust/|title=Political Scientist Gopal Guru Appointed New Editor of EPW|date=5 January 2018|website=TheWire.in}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.epw.in/}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Weekly journals]]
[[Category:Academic journals established in 1949]]
[[Category:1949 establishments in India]]
[[Category:English-language journals]]
[[Category:Multidisciplinary social science journals]]
[[Category:Academic journals published in India]]