NCJ Number
222309
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 36 Issue: 1 Dated: March/April 2008 Pages: 11-21
Date Published
March 2008
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study investigated changes in scholarly influence by identifying the most-cited scholars in 20 criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) journals.
Abstract
The research identified the most-cited scholars in 20 journals: 5 American criminology journals, 5 American criminal justice journals, 5 international criminology journals, and 5 international criminal justice journals. The most cited scholars were also reported. Expanding the number of CCJ journals to 20 identified many of the same most-cited scholars found in other research involving a smaller number of journals. However, it improved the rankings of some international scholars and some scholars working in less mainstream CJ areas. The use of additional journals has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of increased coverage were to some extent counteracted by the disadvantages of including progressively less mainstream CCJ journals. Expanding the analysis to even more journals would continue to dilute the coverage of mainstream CCJ topics by including more peripheral or specialized journals. However, it would increase the visibility of scholars who publish in more specialized fields. In order to make comparisons over the years, the study focused primarily on the total number of citations as a method of determining scholarly influence, but also reported prevalence for the most-cited scholars. Some scholars were identified as specialized because their influence was based primarily on one or two highly cited works; others were identified as versatile because many of their works were cited a few times each. An increasing trend of more citations by younger scholars and less by older scholars was also discovered. A concern has risen from the use of citation analysis as a measure of scholarly prestige and influence and that the possibility that this type of research may result in undesirable changes in how scholars cite each other. Tables, references