A Citational Analysis of Journal
of Insurance Issues Articles
Kenneth W. Hollman* and Emily J. Norman Zietz**
Abstract: There is a paucity of articles in journals on insurance regarding citation usage
and patterns in the disciplines’s literature. The purpose of this study was to help fill
this informational gap by identifying specified characteristics of referential material
used in 20 sample issues of the JII (and its predecessor, the JIIP). Major findings were
that (a) over 80 percent of all references were to the insurance or finance area; (b) journal
articles are easily the predominant form of material cited; (c) the Journal of Risk and
Insurance is the unchallenged leader among journals cited; and (d) JII authors seem to
have depended less on newer publications in recent years.
espite the fairly well-developed nature of the insurance discipline,
there is a paucity of articles regarding citation usage and patterns in
its literature. Many of the relevant articles are not insurance specific, but
focus instead on some aspect of scholarly communication in the broader
field of finance. The research typically has dealt with ranking journals, with
measuring the “productivity” of individual contributors, with the institutions that employ the contributors, and with the institutions from which
they received their highest degree. “Productivity” is usually defined to
include output in a particular journal or group of journals. It frequently is
measured by the number of articles published and sometimes by the
number of pages published or the number of citations received (see Cox
and Gustavson, 1990; Chandy and Thornton, 1985; and Hollman, Murrey,
and Homaifar, 1991).
D
*
Kenneth W. Hollman holds the Martin Chair of Insurance at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN. He received both the MBA and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Alabama.
**
Emily J. Norman Zietz is Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance at Middle Tennessee State University. She received the MBA degree from the University of Mississippi and
the Ph.D. degree in insurance from Florida State University.
35
Journal of Insurance Issues, 1998, 21, 1, pp. 35–45.
Copyright © 1998 by the Western Risk and Insurance Association.
All rights reserved.
36
HOLLMAN AND ZIETZ
This study seeks to help fill this informational gap in insurance literature by identifying certain characteristics of referential material used in 20
sample issues of The Journal of Insurance Issues (JII), previously titled The
Journal of Insurance Issues and Practices (JIIP). The analysis includes the
subject matter of the most frequent citations, the form of materials used
(journals, books, etc.), the most frequently cited journals, and the age of
citations. Citation trends in these areas are also noted.
The study should prove beneficial in several respects. It should help
to isolate critical sources of scholarly publications that influence the dissemination of knowledge and concepts in the field of insurance. It also
should aid in discerning the academic network of insurance research and
the insurance discipline’s relationship to other areas and disciplines with
which it shares some common ground. Finally, it will help to shed light on
the roots of insurance and the discipline’s future viability.
METHODOLOGY
The data base for this study consists of the 1993 references cited by the
authors of 137 articles in 20 sample issues of the JII.1 Two years’ publications
are included in each set (hereinafter referred to as dual-year data sets) to
provide ample data for analysis. Thus, the data reflect citational trends that
took place since 1980, it being expected that patterns of citations will likely
change from year to year.
The unit of analysis in the study is a reference or citation. The reference
may be to a book, journal, unpublished work, law, or other input in the
production of insurance knowledge. In reference computations, subsequent citations to the same source in the same article are excluded, but selfcitations by authors to their own works are included.
Each of the 1,993 citations is classified at the outset as to the number
of citations per issue, area of reference (scientific discipline to which it
belongs), communications media or form (book, journal, etc.), and age
(year of publication for the cited source). To establish reliability for citation
counts and category analysis, the authors collectively categorized the
communications media and areas of reference. Journal articles were classified by looking at the article’s title, the discipline of the journal, and the
disciplinary affiliation of the author when noted. A similar procedure was
followed in classifying books, unpublished works, and magazines. In the
case of books, the preface and table of contents were consulted if the book
was available. The nature and purpose of the publishing unit were helpful
in classifying working papers and magazines.
A C ITATIONAL ANALYSIS OF JII ARTICLES
37
FINDINGS
Five basic research questions are addressed in the analysis: (a) the
number of citations per data set, (b) areas referenced in the citations both
inside and outside the discipline of insurance, (c) forms of materials cited,
(d) most frequently cited journals, and (e) age of citations. Results from
each of these areas of interest are discussed below.
Number of Citations. The first objective of the study is to explore
whether there is a trend in the number of citations. While the number of
articles per data set declined through the 17 years examined, the number
of citations grew from 216 in the first data set (1980–81) to 570 in the last
period examined (1995–96). The number of articles per set of issues examined is relatively stable, as three of the periods examined had issues
consisting of no more than seven articles, while one data set included an
issue with eight articles and another one had nine articles.
Areas of Reference. A major objective of this study is to examine the
disciplinary areas referenced in JII citations, including both insurance and
non-insurance references. As with most other disciplines, insurance draws
upon a broad sample of topic areas. Table 1 rank-orders the insurance areas
of references cited in the JII by relative frequency of usage for all data sets
combined, as well as by individual dual-year data set. The areas of references are broken down by those in the insurance area versus those in other
areas to help illustrate the intradisciplinary nature of the insurance field.
As expected, there is a heavy concentration from the insurance, finance,
economics, and statistics areas. The remaining fields are used sparingly,
neither comprising more than 2.9 percent of all citations.
The general pattern described above is consistent in each dual-year
data set. However, several notable changes did occur during the course of
the study period. As shown in Table 1, there are major shifts in research
direction over the relevant period among topics within the insurance area
itself. Risk Management, the most dominant area of reference, is in fifth
position in 1980–81 and in first position by a wide margin in both 1984–85
and 1988–89. Risk Management–related citations had slipped to fourth
position by 1992–93 before rising again to second in 1995–96. Social Security, which is in fourteenth position overall, is in second position in 1980–
81 but accounted for no references in three other data sets and for an
insignificant number in yet another one. Pricing, which is in second position overall, is in first position in three dual-year data sets, in second
position in another, and in sixth position in yet another. Sales Practices,
which is in third position overall, generally showed an increase from each
dual-year data set to the next. This fluctuant distribution pattern partially
reflects the shifting research fronts over the indicated years (Medoff, 1989).
38
HOLLMAN AND ZIETZ
An examination also was made of non-insurance areas cited. The
reference usage pattern possibly was even more erratic for non-insurance
areas than for the insurance area for the indicated period. The largest
number of non-insurance references was from the finance area, followed
by the economics and statistics areas. More than eleven percent of references for the five selected periods combined was from finance. There were
more references to accounting than any other non-insurance area in 1980–
81, but finance was in first position in each of the other four data sets.
However, the relative number of citations to finance fluctuated from one
dual-year data set to the next.
References to economics sources accounted for about one in 20 references for the five years combined, and rose, with one exception, from every
dual-year data set to the next. By 1995–96, economics sources accounted
for 7.4 percent of all non-insurance citations. The popularity of statistics,
which is in third position overall, is similarly influenced by a large concentration of cites in the last dual-year data set, where statistics accounted for
8.9 percent of total citations. While the relatively large number of citations
to statistics in 1995–96 may reflect a shift in the thematic foci of authors, it
also may indicate increasing maturity in a field where researchers are on
the frontiers of knowledge and are employing increasingly sophisticated
statistical methodologies. Marketing, management, and social sciences
experienced a decline in frequency over the study period, while management information systems, state/government, and other categories experienced an increase.
The data in Table 1 reflect a trend in JII literature away from a more
concentrated citation structure in the most recent dual-year data set. As
noted above, the proportion of references from insurance sources increased
slightly from 1980–81 to 1992–93 and then dipped sharply in 1995–96. Also,
the concentration in the two top disciplines (insurance and finance) grew
from 72.7 percent in 1980–81 to 89.8 percent in 1992–93 before falling to 56.9
percent in 1995–96. The pattern indicates similar volatility when the top
three disciplines are examined (insurance, finance, and economics), where
comparable figures are 75.0, 90.1, 84.4, 93.8, and 64.3 percent for the five
dual-year data sets, respectively. Some of the concentration in the top three
areas in the first four-year data sets is scattered among several other areas
by 1995–96. This evidence suggests
that there is an increasing dispersal rather than an increasing concentration
of references in JII articles among a few disciplines over the study period.
Forms of Materials. An obvious way to categorize references is by the
form of the material that is cited. Results indicate that the most typical
A C ITATIONAL ANALYSIS OF JII ARTICLES
39
Table 1. Areas of Reference—Insurance
1980–81
1984–85
1988–89
1992–93 1995–96 All Years
Risk Management
6.5
20.8
13.2
6.5
6.7
11.0
Pricing/Actuarial
14.4
11.8
3.8
17.5
8.4
10.6
Sales Practices
2.3
4.5
6.6
5.9
5.4
5.2
Pension/Retirement
2.3
5.0
8.4
5.7
3.3
5.0
Risk Theory
2.3
4.5
3.0
10.2
3.0
4.6
Medical/Health
0.0
1.8
3.3
15.6
0.7
4.2
Insolvency
0.0
0.0
9.4
5.9
3.7
4.0
Claims
8.3
3.6
3.6
3.8
2.3
3.8
Surplus/Surplus Lines
6.0
0.0
0.8
3.0
3.7
2.4
Captives/Direct Writers
0.0
0.9
9.9
0.0
0.0
2.2
Workers Compensation
0.0
9.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
2.1
Estate Planning
7.4
1.8
3.6
0.0
0.0
1.9
Economics of Scale
0.5
1.1
3.3
0.8
2.1
1.7
13.0
0.0
0.0
1.1
0.0
1.6
4.2
0.9
0.0
1.6
1.8
1.5
Social Security
Reinsurance
Liability
0.0
4.3
0.0
0.3
1.2
1.4
Demand for Insurance
0.0
0.7
1.3
0.0
2.3
1.1
Education
2.8
0.2
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.4
1285
Total Insurance
151
315
276
289
254
% Insurance
70.0
71.2
70.2
77.9
44.6
64.7
Total All
216
442
394
371
570
1993
transmission media are books and journals, both of which have the advantage of easily being made accessible to a wide audience (see Goodman,
1979; Budd, 1990). Eleven categories are identified and a twelfth sums up
all other sources.2 Academic journals constitute the single largest category,
accounting for more than one-half of all communications media cited.
Furthermore, the proportion of references represented by journal articles
rose over the 17-year period, jumping from 39.4 percent to 65.1 percent from
1980–81 to 1995–96. Apparently, insurance researchers appreciate the currency of journal literature over books or other sources. The trend toward
heavier dependency on journals for references has been observed in other
disciplines as well (Budd, 1990).
There is a decline in the proportion of references from books, the
second largest category, in each succeeding dual-year data set. There is
40
Table 2. Most Frequently Cited Journals
1980–81
# Cites
1984–85
% Total
# Cites
1988–89
% Total
# Cites
1992–93
% Total
# Cites
1995–96
% Total # Cites
TOTALS
% Total # Cites
% Total
30.8
44
20.4
46
19.3
72
31.6
90
22.3
284
23.9
Journal of Finance
9
8.7
8
3.7
20
8.4
8
3.5
13
3.2
58
4.9
Best’s Review
1
1.0
9
4.2
8
3.4
10
4.4
26
6.5
54
4.5
Business Insurance
8
7.7
14
6.5
14
5.9
2
0.9
4
1.0
42
3.5
Journal of Ins. Issues
2
1.9
12
5.6
7
2.9
5
2.2
13
3.2
39
3.3
Journal of Business
1
1.0
4
1.9
3
1.3
9
3.9
12
3.0
29
2.4
Bell J. of Economics
1
1.0
3
1.4
3
1.3
8
3.5
12
3.0
27
2.3
J. of Financial Economics
0
0.0
2
0.9
8
3.4
1
0.4
15
3.7
26
2.2
National Underwriter
5
4.8
3
1.4
8
3.4
5
2.2
3
0.7
24
2.0
CPCU Journal
1
1.0
7
3.2
3
1.3
5
2.2
5
1.2
21
1.8
Risk Management
6
5.8
7
3.2
3
1.3
0
0.0
0
0.0
16
1.3
J. of Ins. Regulation
0
0.0
2
0.9
1
0.4
1
0.4
10
2.5
14
1.2
CLU Journal
2
1.9
2
0.9
3
1.3
0
0.0
1
0.2
8
0.7
J. of Political Economy
1
1.0
3
1.4
0
0.0
0
0.0
3
0.7
7
0.6
Am. Economic Review
0
0.0
4
1.9
0
0.0
0
0.0
1
0.2
5
0.4
Total Journal Cites
Total Frequently Cited
104
69
216
66.3%
124
238
57.4%
127
228
53.4%
126
403
55.3%
208
1189
51.6%
654
55.0%
HOLLMAN AND ZIETZ
32
Journal of Risk and Ins.
A C ITATIONAL ANALYSIS OF JII ARTICLES
41
also an overall decline (although two dual-year data sets had slight
increases) in the proportion of references from commission reports, but the
drop is less precipitous in other sources. The remaining materials are
diverse in nature and comprise only a small percent of the total number of
references. Clearly, less emphasis is being placed on informal and nonserialized methods of communication, and more on formal methods such
as academic journals.
Most Frequently Cited Journals. As noted above, over one-half of the
references in the indicated years are from academic journals. Because of the
crucial role of journals in the communication process in insurance, the next
logical step is to examine the number of citations from different journals to
help determine the status or direction of insurance and to assess its various
structural aspects (see Goodman, 1979; Michman and Gross, 1986; Heck
and Cooley, 1988; and Liebowitz and Palmer, 1984).
Authors in the five relevant dual-year data sets drew from a wide range
of established professional and scholarly journals. Citations are scattered
across academic and trade journals from fields as diverse as accounting,
law, and psychology. However, most of the journals are used very infrequently and some are used only one or two times each. Only 15 journals,
most among the best in their field, are cited a total of five or more times in
the volumes analyzed.
Table 2 shows the 15 most frequently cited journal titles as well as the
number of references per indicated year for the relevant dual-year data
sets.3 Data in the table indicate that most of the references are concentrated
in a few academic or trade journals that represent the core of information
useful to insurance researchers. The data also demonstrate that there is
substantial shifting in the prominence of journals over the indicated time
period.
As in most fields, insurance researchers contributing to a particular
journal have a tendency to cite precedent articles from that same journal
or other journals in the same field. The obvious leader in the number of
journal references is The Journal of Risk and Insurance (JRI). Results from this
study confirm earlier research findings that the JRI is the most highly
ranked or referenced insurance publication (see McNamara and Kolbe,
1997; Hollman, Murrey, and Homaifar, 1991; and Outreville and Malouin,
1985). The JRI accounted for 23.9 percent of all journal references, which is
approximately the proportion for the next seven journals combined. However, the proportion of citations from the JRI declined from 30.8 percent
to 22.3 percent from 1980–81 to 1995–96, indicating some increase in the
propensity of JII authors to rely on other journals. The Journal of Finance (4.9
percent), Best’s Review (4.5 percent), Business Insurance (3.5 percent), and the
Journal of Insurance Issues (3.3 percent) came in at places two through five,
42
HOLLMAN AND ZIETZ
respectively. The relatively large number of references credited to the
Journal of Finance leads one to surmise that it is in the forefront in advancing
knowledge about insurance, and that insurance and finance have much in
common methodologically. However, it is interesting to note that some
finance journals commonly held in high regard are cited infrequently. In
fact, only one other finance journal (Journal of Financial Economics) accounts
for as much as 2.2 percent of all citations in the indicated years. The
dominance of the Journal of Finance citations indicates either that the content
of its articles is of more value to JII authors or that it is more oriented to
insurance than are other finance journals.
One would expect that the close affinity of insurance and economics
would result in a large number of citations from economics journals. Such
is not the case. In fact, only one economics journal (Bell Journal of Economics)
accounted for more than 0.8 percent of all citations, and the major economics journals combined comprised only 3.3 percent of all references. Further,
with the Bell Journal of Economics an exception, the impact of economics
journals did not tend to rise or rose very slowly over the indicated period.
The most striking point emerging from the preceding analysis is the
still strong yet declining impact of the JRI from 1980–81 to 1995–96. Another
salient point is the relatively minimal influence of all finance journals
except the Journal of Finance, and it accounted for only about 20 percent as
many citations as the JRI. Also, while there is a strong linkage between
insurance and finance, there is a clear trend to use sources outside the
traditional insurance, finance, and economics areas.
Age of Citation. The age of citations in the JII is another area of examination. All citations from all sources are combined and classified by oneyear age increments. The distribution of cited materials by age rises up to
the 2–2.9 age increment, and then declines in a fairly steady pattern and
begins to level off in later years. The results reveal that 31.0 percent of the
references are to publications appearing in the literature within less than
five years of the citing article, and 62.3 percent are to items appearing
within less than 10 years.
Other interesting facts are revealed when the ages of articles are broken
down by dual-year data set. Almost 30 percent of the references in 1980–
81 are to publications less than five years old, as contrasted to a high of 38.9
percent in 1984–85 and only 27.5 percent in each of the last two data sets.
There is a similar trend with regard to citations that are less than 10 years
old, where there is an increase from 59.1 percent in 1980–81 to 71.7 percent
in 1984–85 prior to successive drops to 64.8 percent, 58.7 percent, and 57.0
in the next dual-year data sets. Corroboration for the increasing age of
citations is found in the fact that the average age of articles shrank from 8.9
years in 1980–81 to 7.4 years in 1984–85 before rising slightly in the last
A C ITATIONAL ANALYSIS OF JII ARTICLES
43
three data sets, ending up at 9.7 years in 1995–96. Thus, JII researchers in
the last three dual-year data sets seem to have depended less on newer
publications in favor of the older body of literature.
One possible explanation for the increasing age of JII citations over the
study period is the shifting nature of the articles therein. Articles that deal
with reviews of the literature will naturally cite older articles that are a part
of the incremental development of the field. In the same way, articles
dealing with court cases, law, or history will have more aged citations than
articles dealing with practical or applied studies using empirical data and
articles that use statistical techniques to synthesize research. Hence, the
shifting focus after 1988–89 to Pricing, for example, which is rich with legal
and economic history, helped to account for more older citations.
It is interesting to note the percent of all references in insurance articles
that cite literature published in the past five years as compared to articles
in other disciplines. This figure varies greatly between disciplines, generally being higher for the natural sciences (60–70 percent), somewhat lower
for the social sciences (40–50 percent), and significantly lower for the
humanities (less than 10 percent for the fine arts) (Tankard, Chang, and
Tsang, 1984). By comparison, this study shows that 31.0 percent of all
references in the JII in the relevant five periods are five years old or less.
Thus insurance, by this bibliographic measure, behaves similarly to the
social sciences.
SUMMARY
The purpose of this study was to classify some of the characteristics of
references and to discern reference-usage patterns in the JII from 1980 to
1996. Findings show that insurance is a broad-based and diverse field
which borrows extensively from related disciplines. Hence, a rich literature
is available to insurance researchers, much of it from other areas. The
finance discipline serves as the dominant non-insurance area for references.
Academic journals are shown to be the main instruments through that
insurance scholars communicate with each other. The most frequently cited
journal by a wide margin is the JRI, followed by the Journal of Finance, Best’s
Review, Business Insurance, and JII. The average age of citations edged
downward from 1980–81 to 1984–85 and then rose over each dual-year data
set thereafter. Findings of the study indicate that there is a substantial
interdisciplinary dimension in insurance literature. As a result, insurance
articles build on one another less than do articles in other business fields.
44
HOLLMAN AND ZIETZ
ENDNOTES
1
Given the mass of citations per year, the authors concluded that a sampling of every other
year would provide ample data to allow valid conclusions. Furthermore, the authors chose
to examine years in pairs of two (giving five dual-year data sets) to avoid any “outlier”
issues and to ensure that each data set included a relatively consistent number and pattern
of citations. Consequently, 20 journals were examined from every other two years, beginning with 1980. Data since 1980 were collected to alleviate the lag-time problem (between
the time period evaluated and the period of data collection; see Colquitt, 1997) as well as to
avoid using the two start-up years of publication. Since data were collected in 1997, 1995–
1996 was the last interval for which data were available. Thus, only one year rather than two
was skipped between the last two dual-year data sets.
Feature articles, rejoinders, and articles in the “Issues” section were included. Editorials
were not included. There were no invited articles, presidential addresses, notes, comments,
replies, or book reviews included in the issues surveyed.
Twenty issues of JII were selected for study, covering a 17-year period, 1980–1996. The
included years and issues were Volume 3, Nos. 2 and 3, Winter and Summer, 1980; Volume 4,
Nos. 1 and 2, January and June, 1981; Volume 7, Nos. 1 and 2, January and June, 1984; Volume 8, Nos. 1 and 2, January and June, 1985; Volume 11, Nos. 1 and 2, January and June,
1988; Volume 12, Nos. 1 and 2, January and June, 1989; Volume 15, Nos. 1 and 2, January and
July, 1992; Volume 16, Nos. 1 and 2, January and July, 1993; Volume 18, Nos. 1 and 2, March
and September, 1995; and Volume 19, Nos. 1 and 2, Spring and Fall, 1996.
2
The eleven categories of communications media were academic journals, books, trade journals, technical reports (non-government), commissioned reports (government), law, proceedings, unpublished works, newspapers, dissertations, and magazines.
3
The discussion in this section includes academic as well as trade journals. Trade journals
are included in the analysis because of the influential number of trade journal references in
the JII in each of the years examined.
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