Estabrooks, CA; Derksen, L; Winther, et al "The intellectual structure and substance of the knowledge utilization field: A longitudinal author co-citation analysis, 1945 to 2004" IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE 3. NOV 13 2008. p.NIL_1-NIL_22

[Eugene Garfield]

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E-mail: carole.estabrooks at ualberta.ca

TITLE: The intellectual structure and substance of the knowledge
      utilization field: A longitudinal author co-citation analysis, 1945 to
       2004 (Review, English)

AUTHOR: Estabrooks, CA; Derksen, L; Winther, C; Lavis, JN; 
        Scott, SD; Wallin, L; Profetto-McGrath, J 

SOURCE: IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE 3. NOV 13 2008. p.NIL_1-NIL_22
        BIOMED CENTRAL LTD, LONDON

ABSTRACT:  Background: It has been argued that science and society
are in the midst of a far-reaching renegotiation of the social contract
between science and society, with society becoming a far more active
partner in the creation of knowledge. On the one hand, new forms of
knowledge production are emerging, and on the other, both science and
society are experiencing a rapid acceleration in new forms of knowledge
utilization. Concomitantly since the Second World War, the science
underpinning the knowledge utilization field has had exponential growth.
Few in-depth examinations of this field exist, and no comprehensive
analyses have used bibliometric methods.

Methods: Using bibliometric analysis, specifically first author co-
citation analysis, our group undertook a domain analysis of the knowledge
utilization field, tracing its historical development between 1945 and
2004. Our purposes were to map the historical development of knowledge
utilization as a field, and to identify the changing intellectual
structure of its scientific domains. We analyzed more than 5,000 articles
using citation data drawn from the Web of Science (R). Search terms were
combinations of knowledge, research, evidence, guidelines, ideas,
science, innovation, technology, information theory and use, utilization,
and uptake.

Results: We provide an overview of the intellectual structure and how it
changed over six decades. The field does not become large enough to
represent with a co-citation map until the mid-1960s. Our findings
demonstrate vigorous growth from the mid-1960s through 2004, as well as
the emergence of specialized domains reflecting distinct collectives of
intellectual activity and thought. Until the mid-1980s, the major domains
were focused on innovation diffusion, technology transfer, and knowledge
utilization. Beginning slowly in the mid-1980s and then growing rapidly,
a fourth scientific domain, evidence-based medicine, emerged. The field
is dominated in all decades by one individual, Everett Rogers, and by one
paradigm, innovation diffusion.

Conclusion: We conclude that the received view that social science
disciplines are in a state where no accepted set of principles or
theories guide research (i.e., that they are pre-paradigmatic) could not
be supported for this field. Second, we document the emergence of a new
domain within the knowledge utilization field, evidence-based medicine.
Third, we conclude that Everett Rogers was the dominant figure in the
field and, until the emergence of evidence-based medicine, his
representation of the general diffusion model was the dominant paradigm
in the field.

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