Journal as markers of intellectual space: Journal co-citation analysis of information Retrieval area, 1987-1997

A journal co-citation analysis of fifty journals and other publications in the information retrieval (IR) discipline was conducted over three periods spanning the years of 1987 to 1997. Relevant data retrieved from the Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) are analysed according to the highly cited journals in various disciplines, especially in the Library gi Information Science area. The results are compared with previous research that covered the data only from the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). The analysis reveals that there is no distinct difference between these two sets of results. The results of current study show that IR speciality is multi-disciplinary with broad relations with other specialities. The field of IR is a mature field, as the journals used for research communication remained quite stable during the study period.