Measuring the effect of highly cited papers in OR/systems journals: a survey of articles citing the work of Checkland and Jackson

Paucar-Caceres, Alberto (2003) Measuring the effect of highly cited papers in OR/systems journals: a survey of articles citing the work of Checkland and Jackson. Systems research and behavioral science, 20 (1). pp. 65-79. ISSN 1099-1743

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Abstract

The UK OR/systems community has been actively promoting the development and the use of management science methodologies (MSM) over the last decades. A number of systems thinkers have been influential in promoting them. To understand this development, this paper proposes a general framework in which four paradigms/stages are identified. To assess the influence of individuals in this development a model that attempts to 'measure’ the effects of cited work is advanced. Using the ISI database citation index for the period 1981–2000 a survey on articles citing the work of two authors representative of two stages of MSM development is conducted. The paper reports on the number of articles citing Checkland’s and Jackson’s most cited papers. The journals surveyed were a sample of OR, systems and IT refereed journals. The results suggest that, judging from the number of citations to their work, the two mentioned authors have been influential at different points of the UK OR/systems movement.