ABSTRACT

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the journal Distance Education (DE), this study explores the position of this journal in a network of open and distance education, educational technology and learning design publications. A citation network analysis was undertaken to explore the scholarly communication network of distance education, using articles published in DE from 1980 onwards (n = 656), alongside references cited in those articles (n = 16,729), as well as articles (n = 6003) and associated references (n = 164,444) published in 22 leading journals indexed in the Web of Science between 2014 and 2019. A distinction is made between a narrower (intra-DE) and a wider (inter-journal) distance education network. The study reveals DE’s relationship to the wider educational technology community over time and identifies the most prolific journals and authors in this network.

摘要

在远程教育（DE）杂志40周年之际，本研究探讨了该期刊在开放和远程教育，教育技术和学习设计出版物网络中的地位。进行了引文网络分析，以探索远程教育的学术交流网络，使用1980年以来在DE上发表的文章（n = 656），以及这些文章中引用的参考文献（n = 16,729），以及文章（n = 6003） ）和相关参考资料（n2014年至2019年在22种领先的期刊上被Web of Science收录（共164,444张）。在较窄的（DE内）和较广泛的（期刊间）远程教育网络之间有区别。该研究揭示了随着时间的推移，DE与更广泛的教育技术社区之间的关系，并确定了该网络中最多产的期刊和作者。