Information Visualization is Growing

Abstract

Information Visualization (2002) 1, 159 – 164. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ivs.9500022 I am delighted to introduce this double issue of the journal of Information Visualization (IVS). This is also the completion of the first volume of a young and ambitious journal. It comes at the time when we are witnessing a number of encouraging signs of the growth of information visualization as a field of study and as a scientific community. Never has there been so many researchers, practitioners, students, and vendors who are so involved in information visualization. They are studying information visualization and solving real-world problems with information visualization, not only as visually appealing tools but also as a way of thinking. The journal’s submission rate has been increasing steadily and so has the quality. Figure 1 shows that, as of the end of October 2002, IVS has received submissions from eight countries. This would not have been possible without the extensive support from our dedicated editorial board members and our diligent peers in this vibrant community. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you. In this issue we acknowledge paper editors and reviewers who have anonymously reviewed articles for this volume. And we will continue to do so in the last issue of each volume. We have even more reasons to be cheerful. Information visualization, as a field of study, is growing. Before I introduce the research articles featured in this issue, I would like to include a lightweight scientometric analysis of the growth of information visualization. According to Derek DeSolla Price and Diana Crane, the numbers of new publications in a field provide an important indicator of the growth of a field. The growth of such numbers characterizes one of the four stages: