Weavers of Influence: The Structure of Contemporary Geographic Research

Citation analysis has been increasingly employed to explore various facets of the organization of the discipline. Drawing on the rich data base furnished by the Science Citation Index (SCI) and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), this study examines the structure and distribution of influence in geography between 1984 and 1988. Both physical and human geographers are included. Coverage is restricted primarily to four English-speaking countries. The results confirm that the frequency distribution for citations is heavily skewed with half of all citations accruing to 5 per cent of the population. This heavily-cited minority are the master weavers. Within this group, human geographers outnumber physical geographers by almost three to one. In human geography, the data suggest substantial changes are occurring in the distribution of influence, with the increasing visibility of a political economy perspective and a retreat of positivist spatial science. British influence has grown markedly. In physical geography, veteran authors remain highly influential and the distribution of influence suggests a long era of 'normal science'. A further contrast between human and physical geography is brought out in examining the source of citations. Human geographers receive a higher proportion in the 'core' journals in geography and relatively few in the core literatures in other disciplines. Geography's greatest external impact is in geology and biology. Some of the limitations of citation analysis and some possibilities for further studies are outlined in the conclusion.