From disciplinary depth to interdisciplinary breadth: The case of public administration (Record no. 531352)

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fixed length control field 02569nam a22001457a 4500
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fixed length control field 250821b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100 ## - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Wagner, Caroline S. and Raadschelders, Jos C.N.
245 ## - TITLE STATEMENT
Title From disciplinary depth to interdisciplinary breadth: The case of public administration
260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (IMPRINT)
Place of publication, distribution, etc The American Review of Public Administration
300 ## - PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Extent 55(4), May, 2025: p.299-317
520 ## - SUMMARY, ETC.
Summary, etc This article examines the evolution and academic status of Public Administration (PA) as a field of study. Using bibliometric analysis of 66 PA journals from 2008–2018, the authors trace PA's development through three phases: 1) an early developmental period drawing from multiple disciplines (late nineteenth century to 1950s), 2) a more inward-focused disciplinary period establishing theoretical identity (1950s-1990s), and 3) a mature interdisciplinary phase with increased connections to other fields (2000s onward). The study employs epistemic network analysis (ENA) over time to map PA's position within the broader academic landscape. ENA is a method through which connections between various elements can be identified and codified and allows for comparison of different networks ( Shaffir et al. 2016). The authors examine cross-citation patterns, betweenness centrality rankings, and citing environments of PA journals over time. They also conduct a detailed analysis of Public Administration Review's citation patterns from 1980–2020 as a case study of PA's evolving interdisciplinary connections. The analysis reveals PA has developed a distinct disciplinary footprint while becoming more integrated with adjacent fields like political science, economics, and management. Citation patterns show PA journals are increasingly cited by and citing other disciplines. The authors argue PA has overcome past criticisms about theoretical quality and isolation, emerging as a “bridging discipline” that connects scientific, organizational, and societal knowledge. The paper concludes that PA has evolved from having little epistemic identity to establishing itself as a legitimate social science discipline, while also becoming more interdisciplinary over time. This trajectory reflects PA's dual nature as both a theoretical field and a problem-oriented, practice-focused study.- Reproduced

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02750740241303106

650 ## - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Topical term or geographic name as entry element Interdisciplinary, Disciplinarily, Epistemic identity, Citation, patterns.
9 (RLIN) 56228
773 ## - HOST ITEM ENTRY
Main entry heading The American Review of Public Administration
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Item type Articles
Holdings
Withdrawn status Lost status Source of classification or shelving scheme Damaged status Not for loan Permanent location Current location Date acquired Serial Enumeration / chronology Barcode Date last seen Koha item type
          Indian Institute of Public Administration Indian Institute of Public Administration 2025-08-21 55(4), May, 2025: p.299-317 AR137032 2025-08-21 Articles

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