Abstract
The current study used citation data and relied on network analysis to determine centrality scores for 24 communication journals and the authors of their publications during the years 2007–2011. Scores were used to rank journals and authors across the discipline. The results of centrality rankings reveal that Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Communication Research Reports, Human Communication Research, and Communication Studies are the central most journals in the citation network. Across these 24 journals, the top 1 % of central most scholars are presented in rank based on the placement of their publications. An additional list ranks the 14 central most (1 %) of scholars who published in the five central most journals. These centrality rankings for the journals and authors are discussed in comparison to previous ranking methods. The results for the central most journals mirror the findings of other network analysis research relying on various citation data. However, the findings for author centrality rankings revealed that traditional methods (e.g., summing total publications) for ranking communication scholars yield drastically different results when compared to centrality rankings (incorporating breadth of publications across journals). Future attempts to situate prolific authors should consider the conceptual utility of relying on network analysis methods to analyze citation data. The limitations of this study are also discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbasi, A., Altmann, J., & Hossain, L. (2011). Identifying the effects of co-authorship networks on the performance of scholars: A correlation and regression analysis of performance measures and social network analysis measures. Journal of Informetrics, 5, 594–607.
Bar-Ilan, J. (2008). Which h-index?—A comparison of WoS, Scopus and Google Scholar. Scientometrics, 74, 257–271.
Barnett, G. A., Danowski, J. A., Feeley, T. H., & Stalker, J. (2010). Measuring quality in communication doctoral education using network analysis of faculty-hiring patterns. Journal of Communication, 60, 388–411.
Boissevain, J. (1979). Network analysis: A reappraisal. Current anthropology, 20, 392–394.
Bolkan, S., Griffin, D. J., Holmgren, J. L., & Hickson, M. (2012). Prolific scholarship in communication studies: Five years in review. Communication Education, 61, 380–394.
Bonacich, P. (1972). Factoring and weighting approaches to status scores and clique identification. Journal of Mathematical Sociology, 2, 113–120.
Borgatti, S., & Everett, M. G. (1997). Network analysis of 2-mode data. Social Networks, 19, 243–269.
Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G., & Freeman, L. C. (2002). UCINET for windows: Software for social network analysis (version 6434). Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies.
Bunz, U. (2005). Publish or perish: A limited author analysis of ICA and NCA journals. Journal of Communication, 55, 703–720.
Egghe, L. (2006). An improvement of the H-index: The g-index. ISSI Newsletter, 2, 8–9.
Feeley, T. H. (2008). A bibliometric analysis of communication journals from 2002 to 2005. Human Communication Research, 34, 505–520.
Feeley, T. H., LaVail, K. H., & Barnett, G. A. (2011). Predicting faculty job centrality in communication. Scientometrics, 87, 303–314.
Feeley, T. H., & Moon, S. I. (2010). Update on journal impact ratings in communication: 2006–2008. Communication Research Reports, 27, 355–364.
Freeman, L. C. (1979). Centrality in social networks conceptual clarification. Social Networks, 1, 215–239.
Hickson, M., Bodon, J., & Turner, J. (2004). Research productivity in communication: An analysis, 1915–2001. Communication Quarterly, 52, 323–333.
Hickson, M., Self, W. R., Johnston, J. R., Peacock, C., & Bodon, J. (2009). Prolific research in communication studies: Retrospective and prospective views. Communication Research Reports, 26, 337–346.
Hickson, M., Stacks, D. W., & Amsbary, J. H. (1993). Active prolific scholars in communication studies: Analysis of research productivity, II. Communication Education, 42, 224–233.
Judge, T. A., Cable, D. M., Colbert, A. E., & Rynes, S. L. (2007). What causes a management article to be cited—Article, author, or journal? Academy of Management Journal, 50, 491–506.
Kim, J. N., Park, S. C., Yoo, S. W., & Shen, H. (2010). Mapping health communication scholarship: Breadth, depth, and agenda of published research in Health Communication. Health Communication, 25, 487–503.
Lagoe, C. A., Atkin, D. J., & Mou, Y. (2012). Predicting the prominence of scholarship for prolific communication scholars. Electronic Journal of Communication, 22. Retrieved from http://www.cios.org/getfile/022126_EJC.
Levine, T. R. (2010). Rankings and trends in citation patterns of communication journals. Communication Education, 59, 41–51.
Levine, T. R. (2013). Quantitative communication research: Review, trends, and critique. Review of Communication, 1, 69–84.
Lusseau, D. (2003). The emergent properties of a dolphin social network. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 270, 186–188.
Otte, E., & Rousseau, R. (2002). Social network analysis: A powerful strategy, also for the information sciences. Journal of Information Science, 28, 441–453.
Perianes-Rodríguez, A., Olmeda-Gómez, C., & Moya-Anegón, F. (2010). Detecting, identifying and visualizing research groups in co-authorship networks. Scientometrics, 82, 307–319.
Rice, R. E., Borgman, C. L., & Reeves, B. (1988). Citation networks of communication journals, 1977–1985 cliques and positions, citations made and citations received. Human Communication Research, 15, 256–283.
Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Social network analysis: Methods and applications (Vol. 8). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wellman, B., & Whitaker, M. (1974). Community, network, communication: An annotated bibliography. Toronto: Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto.
Yoshikane, F., Nozawa, T., & Tsuji, K. (2006). Comparative analysis of co-authorship networks considering authors’ roles in collaboration: Differences between the theoretical and application areas. Scientometrics, 68, 643–655.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Griffin, D.J., Bolkan, S., Holmgren, J.L. et al. Central journals and authors in communication using a publication network. Scientometrics 106, 91–104 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1774-4
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1774-4