Criminology as an interdisciplinary journal: A content analysis of articles published from 1970-2007
Abstract
This paper presents findings from a content analysis of articles published in the journal Criminology from 1963-2007. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate criminology as an interdisciplinary field based on the content of its leading journal. Attention was given to how the discipline has developed over the last four decades in terms of journal representation of theoretical constructs, research design, and statistical techniques. Empirical articles were analyzed for authorship, discipline, subject matter, and methodology. Criminology aims to be interdisciplinary and multi-faceted by welcoming contributions from sociology and psychology as well as by covering design, systems analysis, and decision theory. Furthermore, criminology as a field is expanding its coverage of crime and deviance beyond traditional criminological theory to include biological, psychosocial, and social environmental factors. The authors explore the range of topics covered within the journal of Criminology to determine whether the criminological research published is truly interdisciplinary and represents the ever-growing field of criminology.
