Is our peer-reviewed literature sustainable?

Abstract

This paper presents a snapshot of a content-analysis study of five years of issues for the four key technical communication journals. Using coding schemes for topics and types of research used to generate data on which conclusions are based, the authors coded all articles in the last five years of our major journals. This paper reviews the current state of the peer-reviewed literature to determine topics covered and overlooked; research methods; dominant authors (if any); the assessed level of consistency between the editorial focus of each journal as stated in its editorial mission and the peer-reviewed literature that is actually published in the journal; and the similarities and distinctions between and among the journals.