LGBTQ Studies and Interdisciplinarity: A Citation Analysis of Master's Theses

Vince Graziano
2018 portal: Libraries and the Academy  
Emergent programs or newly established areas of study are often viewed as interdisciplinary. But how is interdisciplinarity defined or measured? The identification of research methods and the selection of objects of inquiry are significant elements in this definition. Citation analysis, however, also plays a role. Citation patterns in master's theses written at Concordia University in the field of LGBTQ studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, indicate, at first glance, that the
more » ... d is highly interdisciplinary. The field cites from different disciplines or areas of study as defined by the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) system. A closer examination reveals that 43.3 percent of all classified citations are about LGBTQ topics, leading to the conclusion that LGBTQ studies shows an average, rather than a high, level of interdisciplinarity, and that the field has a distinct disciplinary focus. This finding informs reference work, research assistance, and bibliographic instruction. 2 The Journal of Homosexuality, in a special issue published in 1993, declared that gay and lesbian studies had emerged by the early 1990s. 6 The underlying assumption in this emergence is that gay and lesbian studies, or LGBTQ studies, had become a field of study or discipline. For Karen Antell, the "emergence" of LGBTQ studies "creates the interesting challenge of providing library support to an interdisciplinary field without a long-standing body of scholarly literature." She claims that LGBTQ studies has a "very high rate of cross-disciplinary citations." 7 There are two assumptions in these statements: the lack of a long-standing body of scholarly literature and high interdisciplinarity. Many new and emerging fields are considered interdisciplinary, and many established disciplines exhibit some level of interdisciplinarity. With its recent emergence, LGBTQ studies would normally show a high level of interdisciplinarity, but this hypothesis has not been tested empirically. This study's primary goal is to measure and assess the interdisciplinarity of LGBTQ studies through an examination of 28 master's theses, with 3,243 citations, written between 1991 and 2013 at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. What do citation patterns reveal about the field? Is LGBTQ studies based on its own scholarly literature, and if so, to what degree? Or is it grounded in the scholarly literature of other disciplines, particularly since the early 1990s? In other words, do citation patterns indicate a disciplinary focus, are scattered over a large number of disciplines, or are they concentrated in a few fields of study? With at least 20 years since the emergence of LGBTQ studies, does the field now have a substantial body of literature? Are there any differences in this body of literature by document type, namely monographs, chapters in books, journal articles, and popular periodicals? Does each format display a disciplinary focus, or does interdisciplinarity vary by document type? What are the leading books, authors, journals, and popular periodicals? Does each of these display a concentration on LGBTQ studies, or are they borrowed from other disciplines? In other words, does LGBTQ studies resemble a traditional discipline with its own literature, or is it based on the literatures of other fields? The answers to these questions may inform library practice, specifically reference work, research assistance, and library instruction. Setting Concordia University is a large, comprehensive urban university, with more than 45,000 students. In 1977, the province of Quebec became the first jurisdiction in North America to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and Montreal is generally regarded as
doi:10.1353/pla.2018.0005 fatcat:rwxcvvx5k5gplisz7tjxhbz42y