Abstract (150 Words)

The evaluation of research output and performance is becoming increasingly common as the field of tourism matures. This paper builds on the evaluative bibliometric work which has dominated the tourism literature by adopting a relational approach to provide insights into the intellectual structure of tourism research in North America. The study presents citation and co-citation analyses of papers authored by North American researchers in Annals of Tourism Research, JTR and Tourism Management between 1996 and 2007. A general picture of the field is drawn by examining the mostcited authors and works as well as co-citation patterns. The analysis is extended by the use of network analysis to explore the links between title words and influential works in the field. The paper also addresses the conference theme by identifying emerging themes and influences in tourism research. Results indicate that tourism research in North America has been strongly influenced by sociology and anthropology, geography, behavioural psychology and marketing. The study also identifies three major clusters or research focus: tourism and community impacts, destination image, and tourism as a socio-cultural phenomenon.

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Themes, relationships and trends in North American tourism research: A co-citation analysis of three leading journals (1996-2007)

The evaluation of research output and performance is becoming increasingly common as the field of tourism matures. This paper builds on the evaluative bibliometric work which has dominated the tourism literature by adopting a relational approach to provide insights into the intellectual structure of tourism research in North America. The study presents citation and co-citation analyses of papers authored by North American researchers in Annals of Tourism Research, JTR and Tourism Management between 1996 and 2007. A general picture of the field is drawn by examining the mostcited authors and works as well as co-citation patterns. The analysis is extended by the use of network analysis to explore the links between title words and influential works in the field. The paper also addresses the conference theme by identifying emerging themes and influences in tourism research. Results indicate that tourism research in North America has been strongly influenced by sociology and anthropology, geography, behavioural psychology and marketing. The study also identifies three major clusters or research focus: tourism and community impacts, destination image, and tourism as a socio-cultural phenomenon.