The operationalization of a journal set for the delineation of an interdisciplinary specialty: the case of Communication Studies

[Loet Leydesdorff]

The  <http://www.leydesdorff.net/commstudies/index.htm> operationalization
of a journal set for the delineation of an interdisciplinary specialty: 
 <http://www.leydesdorff.net/commstudies/index.htm> the case of
Communication Studies


A journal set in an interdisciplinary and developing area can be determined
by including the journals classified under the most relevant ISI Subject
Categories into a journal-journal citation matrix. Despite the fuzzy
character of borders, factor analysis of the citation patterns enables us to
delineate the specific set by discarding the noise. This technique is
illustrated using communication studies as a hybrid development between
political science and social psychology. The development is visualized using
animations which support the claim that a specific journal set in
communication studies is developing, notably in the “being cited” patterns.
The resulting set of approximately 25 journals in communication studies is
much smaller and more focused than the 45 journals classified by the ISI
Subject Categories as “Communication.” 

Loet Leydesdorff
Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR), University of
Amsterdam, Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX  Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
<mailto:loet at leydesdorff.net> loet at leydesdorff.net;
<http://www.leydesdorff.net/> http://www.leydesdorff.net 

Carole Probst
Faculty of Communication Sciences, Università della Svizzera italiana,
Switzerland;  <mailto:carole.probst at lu.unisi.ch> carole.probst at lu.unisi.ch

 <http://www.leydesdorff.net/commstudies/commstudies.pdf> <click here for
pdf>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.asis.org/pipermail/sigmetrics/attachments/20081124/432c7810/attachment.html>