Library and Information Science

The author has became interested in why the book “Medical Innovation: A Diffusion Study” by Coleman et al. (New York, Bobbs-Merill, 1966) is still cited in various articles even today, almost 30 years after its publication. Accordingly, the author conducted a survey on articles which quoted his book published in 1966.

The author used Science Citation Index, the Social Science Citation Index and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index to conduct this survey. The results of the survey suggested that this book has been cited in a total of 336 articles all over the world as of 1994. Based on these 336 articles, the author quantitatively investigated annual changes in the number of articles citing this book, the number of articles according to subject, the number of articles according to year and subject, the areas of study in which the book has been cited, the name of scientific journals in which this book has been cited, and the distribution of the nationalities of the authors citing this book.

As a result, the author was able to draw the following conclusions :

1. The annual changes in number of articles citing Coleman’s publications during the past28 years first peaked in 1971, with secondary peaks in 1979 and 1985. Although the number ofarticles citing this book subsequently decreased, it has tented to increase in recent years, againpeaking in 1993, and tented to continue to increase even now.
2. Coleman’s book has been cited most frequently in the following four areas: medicine (72articles, 21.4%) , sociology (67 articles, 19.9%) , business (48 articles, 14.3%) , and medical sociology(20 articles, 6.0%) . Articles in these areas account for about 60% of all articles citing thisbook. lt has also been frequently cited in articles in the field of library and information science(19 articles, 5.7%) and health policy (15 articles, 4.5%) . Articles in these six areas haveaccounted for about 70% of the total. ln addition, there have been citations in 12 articles in the field of psychology, 7 in pharmacology, 7 in communications and 7 in mathematical sociology.
   Articles in ten fields, these four and the above mentioned six, have accounted for about 80% ofthe total.
3. The first year the book was cited according to each subject area are as followed：
   marketing, 1967 (the year following publication); pharmacology,sociology, and library andinformation science, 1968; medicine, 1969; mathematical sociology, education and rural sociology,1970; nursing, health policy and business, 1971. The initial citation of this book in elevenfields above occurred within five years after publication. The areas in which the first citationof this book was late were geography (1978) and anthrolopology (1982).
4. The content of Coleman’s study can be roughly divided into 1) diffusion, 2) decisionmaking and 3) communication network. His study has been cited from different angles dependingon the subject of the article. The diffusion and communication network angles have beencited in diverse subject areas, while studies citing his book from the decision making angle havebeen limited to three subjects, medicine, health policy, and medical sociology.
5. Coleman has been cited in as many as 176 different source journals, suggesting that hispublication has influenced a broad range of studies. Judging from the journals, it seems to havebeen cited in journals with high standards.
6. Among the authors citing Coleman, affiliations of 278 researchers from as many as 22countries could be identified. Scholars in the United States and European countries were foundto be most interested in Coleman. Although the number of articles was small, he has also beencited by scholars from the so－called Third World, including Brazil ,Nigeria, Ethiopia, lndia,Singapore and Korea.

This study suggests that, although its value may vary among from subject to subject,Coleman’s “Medical lnnovation” is still attracting attentions as a thought-provoking study inthe fields of medicine, medical sociology, mathematical sociology and other interdisciplinaryareas throughout the world.