CITATION ANALYSIS AND THE IMPACT OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION PUBLICATIONS [1970-1990] By MARIA ZENAIDA T. SARABIA Bachelor of Journalism Silliman University Dumaguete City, Philippines 1977 Master of Arts in Communication University of the Philippines Dillman Quezon City, Philippines 1984 submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION May, 1993 OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY CITATION ANALYSIS AND THE IMPACT OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION PUBLICATIONS [1970-1990] Thesis Approved: Dean of the Graduate College ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS calling dissertation work independent research is an oxymoron, a misnomer. A number of people had their own individual inputs to this work for it to take its final shape and form. While I take responsibility for its content and errors, I would like to gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the following: Dr. Davids. Webster, my dissertation adviser, for giving me material information which served as the main guide in the development of .the research topic; for his contagious enthusiasm and interest on the subject of academic quality rankings; for his careful review of the manuscript; and for the numerous words of encouragement; Dr. Charles A. Fleming, for clarifying issues essential to the definition of the research problem and for his patient guidance and mentoring which has earned him the respect and gratitude of his students; Dr. Connie Lawry, for her thorough critique of the paper; for her prompt attention and very reassuring nature which made it always a pleasure to call on her; Dr. Thomas A. Karman, for important suggestions which helped specify what the study was actually measuring; Dr. Charles Edgley, for injecting more realism to citation analysis by recommending a discussion on the 111 politics of citations; My friends, especially Ramu, who was always at my rescue whenever there was a computer-related problem; My family, especially my parents, who instilled in me the value of an education and whose unwavering support and trust never failed to make me do my level best; And finally to "Mahal" for providing a steadying arm even at a distance and for making almost everything possible for me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I • INTRODUCTION 1 Research Traditions ..........•........ 2 Graduate Schools ...................... 3 Diversity in JMC Schools •.....•....... 4 Statement of the Problem.............. 6 study Objectives .......•....•.....•.. 6 Conceptual and Theoretical Framework .. 8 Significance of the study ....•....... 13 Limitations of the study ............ 15 II. ACADEMIC QUALITY RANKINGS OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION PROGRAMS IN THE UNITED STATES: A SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE 18 Introduction .•......•.........•...... 18 Historical Notes •...•.............•.. 21 The Field of Mass communication.. 22 Professional Journalism Education. 23 Mass Communication Research ..... 25 Reputational Rankings of JMC schools... 26 Faculty Research Productivity Rankings. 64 Other Related studies .•.••...•..•.•... 98 I I I • METHODOLOGY . 10 3 Meanings and Purposes of Citations ••.. 103 Assumptions and Uses of Citations 105 The Politics of Citations .••.......... 106 Research Questions and Hypotheses ..... 107 Operational Definition of variables ..•. 109 The social Science Citation Index •... 110 Institutional Coverage •.••....••..•.•. 112 Time Frame . 113 Sampling Design and Procedure .•....•. 115 IV. ANALYSIS OF DATA 118 Introduction .•••••••.••••••.••...... 118 Presentation of Findings .............. 119 V V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS •. 189 Introduction . 189 summary of the study .................. 191 Discussion of Results ................. 192 Conclusions . 200 Recommendations . 206 REFERENCES ...................................... 209 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page I-A. Rankings of JMC Schools in 15 opinion sur- veys: A Comprehensive List [Part 11 ....... 49 I-B. Rankings of JMC Schools in 15 Opinion sur- veys: A Comprehensive List [Part 21 •••••••• 53 II-A. Top Ten JMC Schools in 15 Reputational Rankings . ... 59 II-B. Top Ten JMC Schools in 15 Reputational Rankings . 61 III-A. Rankings of Journalism and Mass communication Programs Based on Faculty Research Product- ivl ty [Part 11............................. 84 III-B. Rankings of Journalism and Mass Communication Programs Based on Faculty Research Product- ivity [Part 21 ............................. 87 IV-A. Top Ten Most Prolific JMC Departments in Ten Research Productivity Rankings [Part 11 .... 93 IV-B. Top Ten Most Prolific JMC Departments in Ten Research Productivity Rankings [Part 21 ••• 95 v. Comparative Ranking of JMC Departments Based on Frequency of Top Ten Listing in Reputa- tional and Research Productivity studies 97 VI. Citation Productivity of 25 High Ranking JMC Schools Plus Ties in 1970 ............. 132 VII. Citation Productivity of 25 High Ranking JMC Schools Plus Ties in 1975 ............. 134 VIII. Citation Productivity of 25 High Ranking JMC Schools in 1980 •...................... 135 IX. Citation Productivity of 25 High Ranking JMC Departments Plus Ties in 1985 ......... 137 x. Citation Productivity of 25 High Ranking vii JMC schools in 1990 ....................... 139 XI. comparative Institutional Rankings By Year .. 141 XII. Ranking of JMC Departments Based on Percent­ age Share of Citations By Most Published Authors ................................... 143 XIII. Ranking of JMC Departments BY Professors 145 XIV. Ranking of Top 25 JMC Schools Based on Percentage Share of Citations By Associate Professors ...................... 146 xv. Rankings of Top 25 JMC Schools by Assistant Professors . 148 XVI. comparative Departmental Rankings By sample Group . 150 XVII. overall Ranking of Top 25 JMC Departments by Faculty Sample ............... ~ ......... 152 XVIII. comparative Ranking of JMC Departments by Special and Faculty Samples ..........•...• 158 IX. Most Frequently Cited JMC Authors Per sample Group . .. 162 xx. Top 25 Most Cited JMC Authors Plus Ties in 1970 . 166 XXI. Top 25 Most Cited JMC Authors in 1975 167 XXII. Top 25 Most Cited JMC Authors in 1980 168 XXIII. Top 25 Most Cited JMC Authors in 1985 169 XXIV. Top 25 Most Cited JMC Authors in 1990 170 XXV. Overall Ranking of the Top 100 Most Frequent­ ly Cited JMC Authors: Their Yearly Citation Productivity and University Affiliation 173 XXVI. comparative Yearly Citation Record of the Highest Ranking JMC Departments ........•.. 180 XXVII. Relative standing of JMC Departments By Ranking Method .............••.•....•..• 184 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page I. Total Citations By Year 120 II. Percentage Distribution of Citations By Sample Group . 122 III. Percentage Distribution of Citations by Faculty Sample . 123 IV. Annual Citation Productivity of Most Published Authors ........................ 125 v. Annual Citation Productivity of Professors . 127 VI. Annual citation Productivity of Associate Professors ..................... 129 VII. Annual citation Productivity of Assistant Professors ..................... 131 ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Journalism and mass communication [JMCJ schools, which produce a substantial part of what are known as "media studies," have been around since the early 1900s. - After nearly a century of existence in the academic research arena legitimately as a field of study or marginally in the fringes of the social sciences -- both the schools and their research output can be said to have come of age •. The number of journalism departments in the United .states has burgeoned from th~ original four [Illin6is - 1904; Wisconsin - 1905; Missouri - 1908; and the Columbia School of Journalism - 19121 to 455 by the mid -30s and 652 by 1953. In the late 1960s, 1,148 out of 2,313, or 50\ of institutions of higher learning offered some form of journalism education [Katzen, 1975). This boom era of mass media education also witnessed an upward spiral in student.enrollments which even sur­ passed national university averages for growth in under­ graduate and graduate degrees awarded, and the era witnessed a parallel growth in research production. In succeeding years, however, the number of journalism 1 2 inBtitutionB began to decline until only about 343 remained [Weaver and Wilhoit, 19881. The size of the student body, while reaching a high of 147,000 in 1988 [Becker, 19891 still continued to increase, but at a diminiBhing rate. soon enough, it reached a Bteady Btate like many other disciplines. The ten largest schools in terms of student popu­ lation are Michigan State, University of Texas-Austin, Syracuse, Boston, California state [Fullerton], University of Florida, Alabama, Ohio University, Texas Tech, and Wisconsin~Madison [Peterson, 19871. Research Traditions over the years, a distinctive research tradition has been developed in the various schools leaving indelible imprints in the methodologies and theoretical orientations applied here and elsewhere in the world. The "Columbia School," for instance, has been concerned with attitude formation studies as well as "tools and theories of measurement and analysis." Using mainly survey research, this generation of empirical scholars looked at "the impact and effect of media messages on individuals, which in turn, has led to the development of various theories about society and culture" [Dennis, 1988, p.91. central to the research agenda of the "Chicago school," on the other hand, were "problems related to the sociology of work and knowledge as well as organizational