Scientific communication in family therapy and family psychology: Study of three journals and two electronic lists using bibliometric, network and controversy analysis

The study carried out describes some specific forms of scientific communication in the fields of family therapy and family psychology. It includes as primary source of data three journals (Family Process, Journal of Family Psychology and Therapie Familiale) and two electronic lists: (1) a family studies list titled FAMLYSCI, and (2) the American Marriage and Family Therapy Association\u27s electronic list (MFTNET). The scientific communication processes analyzed included the study of forms of scientific collaboration, gender distribution of authors and the study of the development of controversial (i.e. polemical or non-consensus) research questions. The methods used included: (a) a bibliometric and citation analysis study carried out in order to characterized each journal profile and role; (b) a network analysis carried out in order to identify the most prominent research subjects and teams in each field; (c) a controversies analysis carried out with the goal of identifying the type of polemical issues selected by journal editors and the gender distribution of controversies participants. Within the frame of the mentioned methods a set of dimensions and variables and dimensions were selected accordingly to the above stated goals. Concerning the bibliometric and citational approach the variables selected were: number of articles published, average number of references per article, number and gender of first authors and co-authors, country of professional address of first authors, institutions where the research took place, key words used in the title of the articles, patterns of acknowledgment and grants and awards. The network analysis associated the research questions implied by the articles titles with the most prolific research teams in each field. Finally, the controversies analysis identified the controversies subject, the type of controversy and the participants gender. An adjunctive frame of analysis included the examination of the two mentioned electronic lists, specifying gender of participants, institutions of electronic addresses and countries involved. The results obtained point to a set of specific features of the emergence and consolidation processes of family therapy and family psychology. The analysis of the journal Therapie Familiale also demonstrates specific attributes of the dissemination of scientific information in the French speaking community of family therapists and researchers