Changes in Scholarly Influence in Major International Criminology Journals, 1986–2005

Abstract

Changes in scholarly influence in four major international criminology journals (CJC—Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice; CRIM—Criminology; BJC—British Journal of Criminology; ANZ—Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology) were measured by determining the most-cited scholars in 2001–2005 and comparing them with the most-cited scholars in 1996–2000, 1991–1995, and 1986–1990. The number of cited authors increased by over 90% between 1986–1990 and 2001–2005. The most-cited scholars in 2001–2005 were Julian V. Roberts in CJC, Robert J. Sampson in CRIM, John Braithwaite in BJC, and Lawrence W. Sherman in ANZ. There was clear concordance between CJC and CRIM, and between BJC and ANZ, in the most-cited authors. The analyses reveal the increasing scholarly influence of some authors over this 20-year time period, the decreasing scholarly influence of others, and the continuing high influence of others. A list of the most-cited works of the most-cited authors showed that some scholars were specialized, with a large number of citations of one or two seminal works, usually books and often theoretical in nature. Other scholars were versatile: they had many different works cited a few times each.