World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Best Female Scientists
2025
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Political Science
USA
2023

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Best Female Scientists

D-Index
141
Citations
230670
World Ranking
225
National Ranking
140

Political Science

D-Index
143
Citations
243196
World Ranking
1
National Ranking
1

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2025 - Research.com Best Female Scientists Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Political Science in United States Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Law and Political Science in United States Leader Award
  • 2009 - Nobel Prize for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons
  • 2009 - Nobel Memorial Prize laureates in Economics for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons
  • 2008 - William H. Riker Prize for Political Science For advancing the scientific study of politics through research on the institutions governing common-pool resources in political, economic and environmental contexts and for demonstrating the implications of that research for effective policy.
  • 2007 - Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
  • 2005 - James Madison Award, American Political Science Association (APSA)
  • 2001 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2001 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 1999 - Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science For her profound, empirical as well as theoretical, analysis of the nature of collective action and rational choice.

Overview

Elinor Ostrom was affiliated with Indiana University in the United States. Their research contributions were recognized through multiple prestigious awards, including the Nobel Prize in 2009 for the analysis of economic governance, especially the commons. In the same year, they received the Nobel Memorial Prize laureates in Economics for the same work.

Ostrom was also awarded the William H. Riker Prize for Political Science in 2008 for advancing the scientific study of politics with research on institutions governing common-pool resources in political, economic, and environmental contexts. Additional recognitions included being named a Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science in 2007, and receiving the James Madison Award from the American Political Science Association in 2005.

Earlier honors included being a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and election to the National Academy of Sciences, both in 2001. In 1999, Ostrom received the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science for an empirical and theoretical analysis of collective action and rational choice.

Frequent collaborators in Ostrom's work included Joanna Burger, Christopher B. Field, Richard B. Norgaard, David Policansky, and Roy S. Gardner.

Best Publications

  • Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action

    Elinor Ostrom

  • Understanding Institutional Diversity

    Elinor Ostrom

  • A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems

    Elinor Ostrom;Elinor Ostrom

  • Rules, games, and common-pool resources

    Elinor Ostrom;Roy Gardner;James Walker

  • Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms

    Elinor Ostrom

  • The Struggle to Govern the Commons

    Thomas Dietz;Elinor Ostrom;Paul C. Stern

  • A Behavioral Approach to the Rational Choice Theory of Collective Action: Presidential Address, American Political Science Association, 1997

    Elinor Ostrom

  • Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems

    Elinor Ostrom

  • Complexity of coupled human and natural systems

    Jianguo Liu;Thomas Dietz;Stephen R. Carpenter;Marina Alberti

  • Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges

    Elinor Ostrom;Joanna Burger;Christopher B. Field;Richard B. Norgaard

  • Property rights regimes and natural resources: A conceptual analysis

    E. Schlager;Elinor Ostrom

  • A diagnostic approach for going beyond panaceas

    Elinor Ostrom

  • Crossing the great divide: Coproduction, synergy, and development

    Elinor Ostrom

  • COVENANTS WITH AND WITHOUT A SWORD: SELF-GOVERNANCE IS POSSIBLE

    Elinor Ostrom;James Walker;Roy Gardner

  • Institutional Rational Choice : An Assessment of the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework

    Elinor Ostrom

  • A Framework to Analyze the Robustness of Social-ecological Systems from an Institutional Perspective

    John M. Anderies;Marco A. Janssen;Elinor Ostrom

  • A Grammar of Institutions

    Sue E. S. Crawford;Elinor Ostrom

  • Crafting Institutions for Self-Governing Irrigation Systems

    Elinor Ostrom

  • Polycentric systems for coping with collective action and global environmental change

    Elinor Ostrom;Elinor Ostrom

  • Working Together: Collective Action, the Commons, and Multiple Methods in Practice

    Amy R. Poteete;Marco A. Janssen;Elinor Ostrom

  • Background on the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework

    Elinor Ostrom

  • Institutional Incentives And Sustainable Development: Infrastructure Policies In Perspective

    Elinor Ostrom;Larry D. Schroeder;Susan G. Wynne

  • The Drama of the Commons

    Elinor Ostrom;Thomas Dietz;Nives Dolšak;Paul C. Stern

  • Social-ecological system framework: Initial changes and continuing challenges

    Michael D. McGinnis;Elinor Ostrom

  • The concept of scale and the human dimensions of global change: a survey

    Clark C. Gibson;Elinor Ostrom;T.K. Ahn

Frequent Co-Authors

Marco A. Janssen
Marco A. Janssen Arizona State University
James M. Walker
James M. Walker Indiana University
Clark C. Gibson
Clark C. Gibson University of California, San Diego
Vincent Ostrom
Vincent Ostrom Indiana University
Xavier Basurto
Xavier Basurto Duke University
Roger B. Parks
Roger B. Parks Indiana University
Paul Seabright
Paul Seabright Federal University of Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées
Robert Costanza
Robert Costanza University College London
Bobbi S. Low
Bobbi S. Low University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Arun Agrawal
Arun Agrawal University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

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Related Online Degrees & Career Pathways

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Best Scientists Citing Elinor Ostrom