Intellectual Integration and Articles in Core Sociology Journals, 1960–2000

Abstract

This study builds on and extends two studies by Oromaner (J Am Soc Inf Sci, 28:34–37, 1977; Int J Inf Manage, 6:29–35, 1986) in which he examined the integrating role of sociology’s three core general journals (American Journal of Sociology (AJS), American Sociological Review (ASR), Social Forces (SF)) among both core (N = 3) and specialty (N = 7) journals. In each study he traced the number of citations received by full-length articles published in the core journals (1960, 1973) during the first 10 years after publication. The present study replicates this methodology for articles published in 1990. In addition, the present study looks at the relationship between each of the core journals and each of the ten citing journals. The percent of core articles cited has increased from 67 to 84, however, the percent cited in five or more journals has remained quite stable and low (13%, 10%, 12%). Core journal articles are more likely to be cited in core journals than they are in specialty journals, and there appears to be some relationship between specific core journals and certain specialty journals. More in depth analysis is presented for the 1990 cohort.