Mapping the intellectual structure of information retrieval studies: an author co-citation analysis, 1987-1997

Author co-citation analysis (ACA) has been used to explore changes in the i ntellectual base of the information retrieval (LR) held over two consecutiv e time periods: 1987-1991 and 1992-1997. Thirty-nine highly cited IR resear chers were selected as the research sample. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) and clustering techniques (CT) were used to create the two-dimensional maps to display the dynamic intellectual structure of IR, based on scholars cit ing their work over these two time periods. Factor analysis (FA) has been u sed to reveal the 'breadth' of the authors' research areas. ACA offers a go od technique that contributes to the understanding of intellectual structur e in the sciences and possibly in other areas to the extent that those area s rely on formal scholarly communication such as serial publications. Nonet heless, obvious drawbacks exist in ACA. These include the subjective nature of the interpretation of results, the difficulty of readily identifying cl usters and the inability to distinguish collaborative research relationship s between authors, Thus, ACA by itself is insufficient. However, ACA can be enhanced significantly when combined with FA to give a more accurate acid useful picture of the MDS results.