Epistemic communities in knowledge organization: an analysis of research trends in the Knowledge Organization journal

Considering knowledge organization as a domain in a continuous process of theoretical-methodological consolidation, it becomes important to identify its epistemological configuration and “epistemic communities” in order to measure its impact on society and scholarship. As a reflection of the ISKO and knowledge organization activities, the Knowledge Organization (KO) journal was analysed for the period 1994-2014 in order to identify and characterise the core of researchers that the knowledge organization community consider as central and more impactful. In addition, we analysed the impact of this literature on the LIS scientific domain as a whole, by means of the presence of such literature also in scholarly journals other than KO. The results reveal that the consolidation process of the KO domain and the epistemic communities’ progress occur in a dynamic and well-balanced way with a strong and widespread impact on the LIS scientific context as a whole. The dynamic and evolving nature of these groups, with citations growing in number and new authors slowly emerging for each period, makes it possible to conclude that the ISKO epistemic communities and their impact are not only changing but also expanding.