The Value of Scientometric Studies: An Introduction to a Debate on IS as a Reference Discipline

While the two sets of authors agree on certain, specific empirical results and a number of critical concepts, such as the basic point that the field is evolving into a mature discipline, they disagree on whether IS is influencing other fields. What is fascinating to scholars intrigued by the domain of scientometrics—that is, the study of the scientific process itself—is that the groups could have come to such dramatically different conclusions using large, similar datasets of roughly 70,000 articles.