Abstract
The analysis of citations makes it possible to identify influential scholars and topics during particular time periods. The advantages and problems of using citations are reviewed, and it is concluded that they provide a reasonably valid measure of the influence and prestige of scholars. The number of different articles (or books) in which a scholar is cited, however, may be a better measure than the total number of citations. The most-cited authors in six major American criminology and criminal justice journals in 1986–1990 (excluding self-citations) were determined. Travis Hirschi was most-cited in Criminology and Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Marvin E. Wolfgang in Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Francis T. Cullen in Justice Quarterly, Robert M. Regoli in Journal of Criminal Justice, and Edwin I. Megargee in Criminal Justice and Behavior. Over all six journals, the most-cited authors were Marvin E. Wolfgang, Michael J. Hindelang, and Alfred Blumstein. Their influence was connected with the perceived importance of criminal career research and the longitudinal method, measuring crime and delinquency, and the prestigious National Academy of Sciences panel reports.
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