โ Scribed by Doreian, Patrick
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Most clustering representations of journal-to-journal networks are static and pay little attention to the intellectual state of a discipline(s). The status-role hypothesis is no exception, notwithstanding its substantive grounding and confirmation for both psychological-and sociological-journal networks at distinct time points. A critical test of this hypothesis is provided in a pair of geographical-journal networks for 1970-1972 and for 1980-1982. The latter was generated after a period of great change and intellectual ferment. As expected, the status-role hypothesis was confirmed for 1970-1972 but not for 1980-1982. This result indicates the need to consider wider disciplinary conditions when interpreting clustering representation of journal networks. It also implies a need to consider the time scale of the social processes of science. A related hypothesis of a centerperiphery structure for journal networks was confirmed for both periods, Since the pioneering work of Garfield [l] and of Price [2] the conceptualization of a network made up of scientific papers and the citations between them has become commonplace. This conceptualization is foundational in the construction of databases such as the Science Citation Index and The Social Science Citation Index. Fundamental to science is the communication of research findings so that by means of citation analysis [3] and cocitation analysis [4] the intellectual structure of science can be explored. Part of the structure revealed by such analyses is a fragmentation into disciplines and specialties that occupy different niches in an intellectual space with information and ideas flowing between disciplines and specialties. The intellectual structure revealed by procedures such as citation and cocitation analysis are part of a stratified system [5]. At any point in time disciplines have differential im-*Author's note: The comments of this journal's reviewers were very helpful to me in revising the manuscript. Of course, any remaining errors are my responsibility.
๐ SIMILAR VOLUMES