From epistemic origins to journal impact factors: what do citations tell us?

In the article by Beckstead and Beckstead (this issue) one approach to the mapping of a discipline and its influences is discussed. Multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) is used to position nursing theorists in relation to their use, as expressed in their citations, of psychology (particularly personality psychologists), biology and systems theory, and existential philosophy. This approach, using citations to other papers as the raw primary data for further analysis is quantitative research of the literature, known as bibliometrics or scientometrics.