U.S. News also announced another set of grad-program rankings it doesn’t update every year, covering fields in the social science and the specialty field of library science. In the social sciences, Duke and UNC both turned in strong showings, particularly for their political science programs, which ranked seventh and 11th, respectively. [...] The two universities also notched high rankings for an assortment of sub-specialities in those fields, with Duke’s political science program showing notable across-the-board strength in the discipline.
"Rankings of doctoral programs in the social sciences and humanities," according to U.S. news & World Report, "are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to academics in each discipline. Ipsos Public Affairs conducted the surveys in fall 2016. Each school offering a doctoral program was sent two surveys per discipline. Questionnaires were sent to department heads and directors of graduate studies – or, alternatively, a senior faculty member who teaches graduate students – at schools that had granted a total of five or more doctorates in each discipline during the five-year period from 2011 through 2015, as indicated by the National Center for Education Statistics' Completions survey." The results are that Duke Political Science ranked tied for 7th nationally. In subfields, Duke Political Science ranked 6th in American Politics, 8th in Comparative Politics, 14th in International Politics, 10th in Political Methodology, and 6th in Political Theory.
Political Science