CHANGES IN THE MOST-CITED SCHOLARS IN MAJOR INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS BETWEEN 1986-90 AND 1991-95

Abstract

We determined the most-cited scholars in 1991–95 in the major criminology journals of the major countries of the English-speaking world: British Journal of Criminology (BJC), Criminology (CRIM), Canadian Journal of Criminology (CJC) and Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology (ANZ). We also compared the results with those obtained in a similar analysis for 1986–90. The scholars with the most citations in 1991–95 were Patricia M. Mayhew (BJC), Travis Hirschi (CRIM), Murray A. Straus (CJC) and John Braithwaite (ANZ). However, Anthony N. Doob was cited in a larger number of different CJC articles than Murray A. Straus, and we concluded that this measure (termed the prevalence of citations) was a better measure of wide-ranging influence than the total number of citations. On a combined score, the five most-cited scholars in al four journals in 1991–95 were Travis Hirschi, David P. Farrington, Michael R. Gottfredson, Alfred Blumstein and John Braithwaite. Whereas the most-cited works of the most-cited scholars in the earlier period tended to be concerned with criminal career research and measuring crime, the most-cited works of the most-cited scholars in the later period were more concerned with criminological theories.