BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE JOURNAL OF SEX RESEARCH (1980-2003)

In this article, a bibliometric analysis is performed on the Journal of Sex Research during the 1980-2003 time period,providing data for the number of published articles, the authors, and the contents from the PsychINFO data base. Theanalysis shows that during this time period there were 774 articles published, of which the United States was the mostproductive with 79.32% of the published studies. A major part of the total studies are written by one, two, three, or fourauthors. The most productive authors are D.L. Mosher with 12 articles, H.S. Herold with 11, M.W. Wiederman with 11, andE.S. Byers with 10. M.W. Wiederman is also the most cited author in the last five years (70 citations). When consideringarticle content, 11.24% of the articles deal with the human sexual response, 9.94% to the investigative methodology insexuality, 9.17% to feminine sexuality, 7.36% to AIDS, and 5.81% to homosexuality. These five categories constitute almosthalf (43.52%) of the published articles during the evaluated time period. The study of the content evolution over timereflects a greater investigative interest for feminine sexuality and training and methodology subjects in sexuality, as well as aconcern for new areas associated with sexuality, such as AIDS, sexual health, risky behavior, and internet.