A Topical History of JMR

Using subject indexes and text mining of author abstracts, the authors track the evolution of content in Journal of Marketing Research since its inception 50 years ago. These data reveal that the journal has expanded beyond its initial emphasis on marketing research methods and advertising to increase its coverage of other substantive topics and consumer behavior. Moreover, a joint space of topics and editors reveals that editorial orientations appear largely evolutionary rather than revolutionary and that a major shift in journal coverage occurs at the time Marketing Science began publication. The authors conclude their analysis with several policy recommendations.