Korean Studies in North America 1977-1996: A Bibliometric Study

This research is a descriptive bibliometric study of the literature of the field of Korean studies. Its goal is to quantitatively describe the literature and serve as a model for such research in other area studies fields. This study analyzed 193 source articles and 7,166 citations in the articles in four representative Korean and Asian studies journals published in North America from 1977 to 1996. The journals included in this study were Korean Studies (KS), the Journal of Korean Studies (JKS), the Journal of Asian Studies (JAS), and the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (HJAS). Subject matters and author characteristics of the source articles were examined, along with various characteristics such as the form, date, language, country of origin, subject, key authors, and key titles of the literature cited in the source articles. Research in Korean studies falls within fourteen broad disciplines, but concentrated in a few disciplines. Americans have been the most active authors in Korean studies, followed closely by authors of Korean ethnicity. Monographic literature was used most. The mean age of publications cited was 20.87 and the median age of publications cited was 12. The Price Index of Korean studies as a whole is 21.9 percent. Sources written in English were most cited (47.1%) and references to Korean language sources amounted to only 34.9% of all sources. In general, authors preferred sources published in their own countries. Sources on history were cited most by other disciplines. No significant core authors were identified. No significant core literature were identified either. This study indicates that Korean studies is still evolving. Some ways of promoting research in less studied disciplines and of facilitating formal communication between Korean scholars in Korea and Koreanists in North America need to be sought in order to promote well-balanced development in the field. This study suggests that as many and as great a variety of titles in all formats as possible need to be collected to support research in Korean studies.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

1999

Author dc:creator

• Chun, Kyungmi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cleveland, Donald B., 1935-
• Hastings, Samantha Kelly
• Cleveland, Ana D.
• Swigger, Kathleen M.

• Korea -- Study and teaching -- North America.
• Bibliometrics.
• Asian studies
• bibliometric research

Statement dc:rights

• Public
• Copyright
• Chun, Kyungmi
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 47103294
untcat: b2298822
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2254/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc2254

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc2254