A Bibliometric Analysis of Marriage and Family Literature

This research demonstrates that several quantifiable characteristics of articles in the marriage and family area are substantially related to subsequent impact in the field, based on bibliometric citation analysis. Articles are more frequently cited when they are explicitly linked to prior literature in the marriage and family field, to more current ongoing research not yet published, and to contemporary theorists in gender and sex roles. Consistent with studies of other science fields, the works published by the more eminent, highly cited scholars are more likely to be cited. However, contrary to other fields, collaborative work in marriage and the family does not yield higher visibility. The implications of these results to the field are discussed, and further analyses are proposed to supplement this bibliometric assessment and to explore some tentative conclusions.