Abstract
The technique of co-citation cluster analysis is applied to a special three-year (1972–1974) file of theSocial Sciences Citation Index. An algorithm is devised for identifying clusters which belong to a discipline based on the percentage of source documents which appear in a disciplinary journal set. Clusters in three disciplines (economics, sociology and psychology) are identified using this algorthm. Clusters in a specialty of natural science (particle physics) obtained from the 1973Science Citation Index are compared and contrasted with the three groups of social sciences clusters. Certain common structural characteristics of the social science and natural science groups suggest that knowledge is developing in parts of the social science disciplines in a manner similar to the natural sciences.
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References
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Prepared for presentation at the joint meeting of The Society for Social Studies of Science and the Research Committee on the Sociology of Science of the International Sociological Association, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, November 4–6, 1976.
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Small, H.G., Crane, D. Specialties and disciplines in science and social science: An examination of their structure using citation indexes. Scientometrics 1, 445–461 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016661
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016661