Women’s studies: bibliometric and content analysis of the formative years

Abstract

Women‘s studies has emerged as a recognised academic specialty in recent years. We explored the social structure of the field by analysing bibliometrically all scholarly articles (n = 1,302) and acknowledgements (n = 595) appearing in three pioneering journals over a twenty year period. We analysed authors (n = 1,504) and acknowledgees (n = 3,252) in terms of gender. We also conducted a content analysis of all editorial statements (n = 135) published by the three journals. Our results demonstrate the highly gendered nature of the field and the incompatibility of its publicly stated objectives.

Citation

Cronin, B., Martinson, A. and Davenport, E. (1997), "Women’s studies: bibliometric and content analysis of the formative years", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 53 No. 2, pp. 123-138. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000007196