Contrasting views of software engineering journals: Author cocitation choices and indexer vocabulary assignments

Linda S. Marion and Katherine W. McCain

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2001, vol. 52, issue 4, 297-308

Abstract: We explore the intellectual subject structure and research themes in software engineering through the identification and analysis of a core journal literature. We examine this literature via two expert perspectives: that of the author, who identified significant work by citing it (journal cocitation analysis), and that of the professional indexer, who tags published work with subject terms to facilitate retrieval from a bibliographic database (subject profile analysis). The data sources are SCISEARCH (the on‐line version of Science Citation Index), and INSPEC (a database covering software engineering, computer science, and information systems). We use data visualization tools (cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling, and PFNets) to show the “intellectual maps” of software engineering. Cocitation and subject profile analyses demonstrate that software engineering is a distinct interdisciplinary field, valuing practical and applied aspects, and spanning a subject continuum from “programming‐in‐the‐small” to “programming‐in‐the‐large.” This continuum mirrors the software development life cycle by taking the operating system or major application from initial programming through project management, implementation, and maintenance. Object orientation is an integral but distinct subject area in software engineering. Key differences are the importance of management and programming: (1) cocitation analysis emphasizes project management and systems development; (2) programming techniques/languages are more influential in subject profiles; (3) cocitation profiles place object‐oriented journals separately and centrally while the subject profile analysis locates these journals with the programming/languages group.

Date: 2001
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