DEVELOPMENT STUDIES RESEARCH 1975-2014 IN ACADEMIC JOURNAL ARTICLES: THE END OF ECONOMICS? Investigación sobre estudios de desarrollo 1975-2014 en artículos de revistas académicas: ¿el fin de la economía? Mike Thelwall and Sam Thelwall Mike Thelwall is the head of the Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group at the University of Wol- verhampton, UK. He has developed a wide range of software for gathering and analysing web data, including hyperlink analysis, sentiment analysis and content analysis for Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, blogs and the Web in general. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6065-205X Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group, School of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Wolverhampton Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1LY, United Kingdom
[email protected] Sam Thelwall is an undergraduate studying the history of economics in the School of Arts, Langua- ges and Cultures, University of Manchester. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6447-4497 University of Manchester, School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Manchester, United Kingdom
[email protected] Abstract The field of development studies analyses causes and potential solutions for global poverty and inequality. Since the Second World War there have been major changes in theories about the root causes of global poverty and the strategies necessary to tackle it. This article views the history of development studies from the perspective of the role of economics during 1975- 2014. A topic modelling analysis of published journal articles fromScopus suggests that there has been a relative decline in research that focuses on economics, and particularly for research concerned with firms and growth. In parallel, the analysis suggests that there has been a relatively slow increase in interest in the environment, a lack of scholarly interest in BRICS and dependency theory, and a relatively homogeneous treatment of gender issues.