The geography of distance education - bibliographic characteristics of a journal network

Abstract

The publication of the results of research in distance education in peer-reviewed journals is an important means of communication, dissemination, discourse and reporting of practice in the field. This study is an attempt at analyzing the relationships and influences among these journals. It is based upon a sample of 1416 scholarly articles published over six years in the 12 most widely cited international distance education journals. The bibliographic description and network analysis help us to investigate the structure and patterns of information exchange within the field of distance education research. The analysis of this citation network and the similarities in citation patterns reveals a clear core/periphery structure among distance education journals. The results of this analysis help us to understand the regional, international, impact and influence factors related to publication in these journals and across the field.

Keywords:

• social network analysis
• citation analysis
• distance education journals

Notes

1Standardized values based on citations per paper

2Pearson correlation coefficients

3Calculated by Zawacki-Richter et al. (2010)