Comparing Median Citation Differences Among National Communication Association Areas of Specialization Using Scopus Data
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62477/xv7j0837Keywords:
knowledge management, academic specialization, article title vs. abstract, bibliometrics, communication studies, digital media citations, Kruskal Wallis H Test, metadata visibility, scholarly impact metrics, Scopus citation analysis, search engine optimization (SEO) for researchersAbstract
This study analyzed the impact of academic specialization and search visibility on Scopus citation counts across two tiers of communication research. Utilizing data from 440 articles (N=200 for Tier 1; N=240 for Tier 2), Kruskal-Wallis H tests and Median Tests were used to evaluate four hypotheses. Results indicate a significant citation advantage for Tier 1 specializations (Mdn = 191.5) compared to Tier 2 (Mdn = 75.5). Furthermore, articles identified via title searches significantly outperformed those identified via abstract searches in both tiers (p < .001), with digital media emerging as the highest-impact specialization (ƞ 2 H ≈ 0.55). While Tier 1 displayed high internal variance between fields, Tier 2 specializations showed a more homogenous citation landscape (ƞ 2 H ≈ 0.045). These findings suggest that both disciplinary hierarchy and metadata placement (title vs. abstract) are critical determinants of scholarly impact and discoverability.
