Welcome to McDougall Trust

McDougall is the independent charitable trust that promotes public understanding of electoral democracy.

McDougall Trust exists to advance knowledge and understanding of, and research into, the forms, functions and development of electoral democracy.

McDougall has developed a longstanding focus on representative institutions, voting systems and elections, whether in government at local, regional, national and international level, or in other bodies, such as political parties, companies, trade unions, community groups, charities and other voluntary organisations.

McDougall's Main Activities, through which its purposes are carried out either directly or via arrangements with others, are:

REPRESENTATION Journal of Representative Democracy is McDougall Trust's unattributed peer-reviewed journal published quarterly in association with Taylor & Francis, see: Representation | Taylor & Francis Online (tandfonline.com);

Archives and other collections : maintaining McDougall's collections of historic archives, pamphlets, books, personal correspondence and other materials on representative democracy including elections and electoral issues (this contains the Enid Lakeman electoral studies library).

In late 2023 the Trust was pleased to reach an agreement to deposit the archive collection at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. It is not currently available to the public, pending sorting and cataloguing work.

Encouraging, supporting, or providing :

research within the field of electoral democracy and the dissemination of its useful outcomes;

relevant online resources - papers and other media, including Workshop summaries and videos, plus the extensive Voting matters online resources on preferential voting systems, see: Voting matters (mcdougall.org.uk);

funding for the annual McDougall Trust Research Prize, see: McDougall Trust - Research Supported

occasional resourcing support such as grants towards projects in the fields of representative democracy and electoral studies.

McDougall's potential audiences include policy makers, legislators, election organisers, election monitors, researchers, political scientists, historians, teachers, academics, pollsters, students, reformers, campaigners, activists, journalists, commentators, leaders, members, selectors, candidates, all those in institutions and associations that aspire to democracy or use election processes, and anyone interested in how democratic societies are - or could be - governed.

McDougall Trust - Promoting public understanding of electoral democracy.

McDougall Trust is independently run and funded. It welcomes legacies and other donations in support of its charitable work.

Charity No. 212151 (Registered as Arthur McDougall Fund)

www.mcdougall.org.uk

contact@mcdougall.org.uk

News ...

22 Jun 2026

REPRESENTATION Journal of Representative Democracy receives impressive first ESCI Impact Factor

Representation Journal of Representative Democracy was established in 1908 as the newsletter of the Proportional Representation Society. Over the last 50 years it has evolved into a peer-reviewed academic journal making a key contribution, through the McDougall Trust, to debates about democratic theory and practice. Since we took over this editorship, almost three years ago, we have made it our mission to secure the journal’s first Impact Factor.

Today, we are pleased to let our academic and practitioner community know that the journal has been part of the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) since December 2025, and that it has now received its first Impact Factor. With a strong score of 1.8, the journal now sits in its rightful place among the top publications in political science and comparative politics.

This is a testament to the quality of the work of our authors, reviewers, editorial board, and wider community. We also owe this achievement to previous editorial teams, who have done an outstanding job in raising the quality of our submissions and publications.

As we move into the future, Representation will remain a trusted and rigorous space for academic research and debate around representative democracy, elections, voting systems, and the state of our democracies. At a time when democracies around the world are under strain, the journal offers a space for addressing their main challenges through high-impact and relevant research.

On behalf of our editorial board, we would like to extend our thanks to all the authors who have placed their trust in our journal over the years. We look forward to many more successes in the future.

Dr Simona Guerra and Dr Javier Sajuria, Lead Editors

"The McDougall Trust, as owners of the Journal, are pleased to see this public recognition of the quality of Representation. This is a major step forward and affirms its status as a significant academic publication in the fields of political science and democracy. We congratulate the editors and contributors whose work has been recognised. We look forward to further progress in coming years and the editors and Taylor and Francis, our publisher, have our ongoing support in developing the Journal."

Derek McAuley, Chair of Trustees

McDougall's occasional blog

The 2024 UK General Election: Results, Issues and a Commentary regarding Electoral Democracy

By: Tom Walsh

Less a Landslide than Implosion and Fragmentation

Contrary to many comments it’s not so much a Labour landslide (e.g. The Guardian headline on 5 July: “Labour landslide”) but more an implosion of the Conservative vote combined with fragmentation of parties. Thus, Labour won 63% of all seats i.e. almost double their 34% of the vote while turnout was modest at 60%, in fact down nearly 7% on 2019.Conversely the Conservative vote share at 24% exceeded their share of seats (19%) by 5% yet it almost halved from 43% of the vote in 2019 to 24% this year.

REPRESENTATION
Journal of Representative Democracy

McDougall Trust's quarterly journal published in association with Taylor & Francis

Support for Research and Information Dissemination, including grant making

McDougall Trust encourages research and information dissemination in the field of electoral democracy.

See activities supported by McDougall Trust grant making.

McDougall Trust