Longitudinal author cocitation mapping: The changing structure of macroeconomics

Author cocitation analysis was used to investigate changes in the intellectual structure of Macroeconomics over two consecutive time periods, 1972–1977 and 1978–1983. Profile analysis, nonmetric multidimensional scaling and clustering techniques were used to create two‐dimensional maps displaying the changing relationships among 41 authors as perceived by scholars citing their work over the two time periods. Clusters of points on the map, representing authors, correspond to theory groups or research areas. Authors in Rational Expectations Theory, Implicit Contracts, and a general group labeled “Post‐Monetarist” show a marked increase in mean cocitation rate. The first is a school of thought emerging as a new focal point of scholarly activity in Macroeconomics. Two types of scholarly “migration” are observed, based on patterns of significant increases and decreases in correlations among authors—“active migration” (the individual refocussing of a scholar's efforts) and “passive migration” (the result of reevaluation of an author's previous contributions in the context of the rise of new problem areas).