Patterns of author cocitation in information policy: Evidence of social, collaborative and cognitive structure

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of an author cocitation study in the field of information policy. Cocitation frequencies for 21 leading authors over the period 1972–1997 were obtained from the multidisciplinary databaseSocial Sciences Citation Index. The raw cocitation counts were transformed into a matrix of Pearson correlation profiles and subsequently visualised using multidimensional scaling techniques. An initial interpretation of the structure of the field of information policy was attempted, drawing on a range of non-bibliometric evidence. The results of a customised postal questionnaire to the data subjects themselves supports the present writer's allocation of the authors into thematic clusters. These results suggest that the social, collaborative and intellectual structure of information policy scholarship are highly convergent.