How Influential Are Demography Journals?

This article examines, by means of citation analysis for the years 1991–95, the process of knowledge dissemination in demography journals and the intellectual exchange of demography journals with neighboring social sciences. In addition, it investigates the degree of uncitedness in demography journals. It turns out that a considerable percentage of articles are left uncited: 36 percent of the articles published in demography journals between 1990 and 1992 remained uncited in the five years following their publication. However, these overall uncitedness rates conceal large variations between journals. General-oriented demography journals from the US are well cited. Within the set of demography journals, knowledge flows from general to specialized journals and to a lesser extent the other way round. Specialized journals play a minor role in the construction and exchange of fundamental demographic knowledge. They do, however, influence specific audiences in neighboring social sciences.