Two decades of scientific communication: a bibliometric analysis of the journals of the Catalan Communication Society (1989-2009)

Abstract

Through bibliometric techniques and a thematic analysis based on UN ESCO ’s thesaurus, this article characterises the scientific production published in the journals by the Societat Catalana de Comunicació (Catalan Communication Society) between 1989 and 2009. Four hundred and ninety-eight articles are analysed to measure this production, establishing three clear periods in the two decades studied. Analysis shows limited co-authorship and a predominance of the Catalan language, qualified according to the journals among which significant differences can be found. The results also quantify the primary and secondary topics of the articles, the sectors studied and the theoretical areas explored, as well as their evolution through these parameters over the three periods under analysis.

Keywords: communication research, scientific journals, scientific production, bibliometrics, Catalonia, Catalan Communication Society.