Dissertation Defenses

Doctoral Dissertation Announcement

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Candidate: R. Lanai Jennings

Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Psychology

Title: Citation Analysis and Journal Impact in School Psychology from 1995 through 2004

Committee:
Dr. Alan Poling, Chair
Dr. Kristal Ehrhardt
Dr. Steve Ragotzy
Dr. Galen Alessi


Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
3715 Wood Hall

Abstract:
The present study is a citation analysis of the school psychology literature from 1995-2004.  Data from six major journals over a 10-year period were analyzed to determine the disciplines, books, and authors who most heavily impacted school psychology.  Findings suggest that school psychology is characterized by high levels of interdisciplinary collaboration, and that the school psychology literature maintains relatively low self-citation and cross-citation rates when compared to other domains of psychology.  As in previous investigations, the field of education was found to be less influential than the field of special education.  The impact of behavior analysis varied significantly by journal, and the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis was found to be the dominant behavior analytic journal in school psychology.  Best Practices in School Psychology III (Thomas and Grimes, 1995) was the most frequently cited text over the 10-year period, while A.S. Kaufman was the most frequently cited author.  The impact of contemporary works and the individual school psychology journals were discussed, as well as implications of the current findings.