Psychology of Women Quarterly: Citation Network Analysis of its Landscape and Evolution

Psychology of Women Quarterly (PWQ) is a leading outlet for feminist psychology research. To elucidate the interrelations of PWQ publications over time, we conducted a citation network analysis of its 2,747 articles and 4,517 citation links. Of the 16 citation clusters that emerged, many echoed key elements of PWQ's scope. These included Cluster 1: feminist consciousness and sexism; Cluster 2: body image and objectification; Cluster 3: feminist psychology, epistemology, and methodology; Cluster 4: gender and educational and occupational experiences; Cluster 5: rape and sexual assault; Cluster 6: power and violence in close relationships; Cluster 7: sexual harassment and workplace discrimination; and Cluster 8: women and power with attention to race and nation. Areas of citation disconnection revealed avenues for resisting citation silos and advancing pantheoretical feminist frameworks on the continuum of patriarchal violence. Small and discontinued clusters were areas ripe for feminist revisiting (e.g., reproductive justice). PWQ articles were cited in an increasing number and breadth of journals over time. These findings can inform authors, reviewers, and editors to advance the next decades of scholarship in PWQ in ways that resist citation silos, revive research on critical domains of women's lives, and foster the feminist edge of our scholarship.

Using citation network analysis to enhance scholarship in psychological science: A case study of the human aggression literature

Researchers cannot keep up with the volume of articles being published each year. In order to develop adequate expertise in a given field of study, students and early career scientists must be strategic in what they decide to read. Here we propose using citation network analysis to characterize the literature topology of a given area. We used the human aggression literature as our example. Our citation network analysis identified 15 research communities on aggression. The five largest communities were: “media and video games”, “stress, traits and aggression”, “rumination and displaced aggression”, “role of testosterone”, and “social aggression”. We examined the growth of these research communities over time, and we used graph theoretic approaches to identify the most influential papers within each community and the “bridging” articles that linked distinct communities to one another. Finally, we also examined whether our citation network analysis would help mitigate gender bias relative to focusing on total citation counts. The percentage of articles with women first authors doubled when identifying influential articles by community structure versus citation count. Our approach of characterizing literature topologies using citation network analysis may provide a valuable resource for psychological scientists by outlining research communities and their growth over time, identifying influential papers within each community (including bridging papers), and providing opportunities to increase gender equity in the field.

The Role of Information Systems in the Sustainable Development of Enterprises: A Systematic Literature Network Analysis

Information Systems (IS) play an important role in improving the efficiency of firms’ operations and supply chains, which links to sustainability. Therefore, this study conducted a systematic literature network analysis to review 132 articles that discuss current trends in the IS discipline. Based on a citation network analysis, this study discovered three main research domains (sustainable competitive advantage, environmental sustainability, and sustainable online social communities), and two emerging research domains (the role of IS in developing countries and sustainable information infrastructures). Furthermore, a main path analysis was conducted to understand the knowledge structure of each research domain. This addresses how different trends are reflected in the IS literature related to improving firms’ competitive advantages and environmental sustainability. The results found that the sustainable competitiveness of enterprises is improved by the synergy between IS and other recourses within in the enterprises. Green IS initiatives not only solve the issues of environmental sustainability, but also enhance sustainable competitive advantage (i.e., stock price). As social media becomes the optimal enterprise communication channel, this study discusses the factors affecting sustainable online social community, such as structural dynamics (i.e., membership size, communication activity), social dynamics (the basic nature of interactions among members), participation costs, and topic consistency. Overall, the Information System literature is highly focused on three areas—economy, environment, and society, which supports Triple Bottom Line theory.

The Strong, Silent Type(ology): Examining Intersections of Alexithymia and the Drive for Muscularity

This study used latent profile analysis to explore the interrelations of drive for muscularity (DM) and alexithymia among 505 men. Four unique classes of men emerged: (1) low endorsement of DM and alexithymia, (2) moderate endorsement of alexithymia and DM, (3) moderate endorsement of alexithymia and high endorsement of attitudinal and behavioral DM, and (4) high endorsement of DM attitudes and alexithymia, and low endorsement of DM behaviors. We explored relations between class membership and avoidant attachment, social pressure to be muscular, help-seeking attitudes, and body appreciation, using Class 1 as the reference group. Alexithymia and attitudinal DM, in the absence of behavioral DM, appear to be a particularly unhealthful constellation of alexithymia and DM.