An Empirical Analysis Of The Home Economics Research Journal

This research was undertaken to determine the nature and scope of the Home Economics Research Journal through an analysis of information provided in articles about the authors, funding sources, topics, and citations. A census was taken of all the university affiliations of authors and article topics, 1972–1980. For the citation and funding source analysis, the years 1974, 1977, and 1980 were selected for examination. The sample consisted of 1,793 citations, 210 authors, and 106 articles. Results indicated that most articles had one or two authors and that authors were predominantly female. During the years 1972–1980, the most common article topic area was clothing and textiles followed by food, nutrition and dietetics, and home economics education. The universities with twenty or more HERJ authors between 1972 and 1980 were Iowa State University, University of Minnesota, and University of Missouri–Columbia. In the three sampled years, thirty percent of the articles had stated funding sources, with the most usual sources being colleges and universities or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The mean number of citations was 16.9 over the three years studied, with a general trend towards lengthier citation listings. In regard to citations, books were used the most with journals cited next often with a trend in successive years towards more use of journals. A rank ordering of most used journals reveals the lack of compactness in home economics and the wide variety of reading and research interests of home economists.