The trajectory of symbolic politics as an area of study and research: A bibliometric analysis of the literature in Scopus

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47909/ijsmc.338

Palabras clave:

symbolic politics, bibliometric analysis, historical politics, scientific production, citation impact, authorship patterns

Resumen

Objective. This study examined the trajectory of symbolic politics as an area of study by analyzing the Scopus-indexed literature. The objective of this study was to delineate the temporal evolution, structural characteristics, authorship patterns, and citation impact of research on symbolic politics.

Design/Methodology/Approach. A descriptive bibliometric analysis was performed on 2,939 documents published from 1950 to 2024 and indexed in Scopus. The study analyzed several factors, including scientific production and growth, document types, source journals, and their distribution using Bradford’s law, authorship and collaboration patterns based on Subramanyam’s index, and citation impact. Quantitative indicators were supplemented with qualitative insights derived from highly cited documents and their main thematic areas.

Results/Discussion. The findings indicated a late but rapid acceleration in the consolidation of research on symbolic politics, with nearly three-quarters of publications appearing after 2010. The extant literature was dispersed across a wide array of journals, exhibiting a paucity of concentration of sources and a marked long-tail distribution. The prevailing authorship patterns were predominantly single-authored, though there has been a modest yet perceptible rise in collaborative endeavors in recent years. A thorough citation analysis revealed a highly skewed distribution, with influence concentrated in a small number of broad, interdisciplinary contributions. The relationship between citation impact and publication age was only moderately significant.

Conclusions. Symbolic politics has evolved into a conceptually influential yet institutionally decentralized research domain. The study underscores the notion of symbolic politics as a paradigmatic example of how interdisciplinary fields evolve and accrue influence within the contemporary scholarly communication landscape.

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Citas

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Newburn, T., & Jones, T. (2005). Symbolic politics and penal populism: The long shadow of Willie Horton. Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 1(1), 72–87. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741659005050272 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1741659005050272

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Sears, D. O., Lau, R. R., Tyler, T. R., & Allen, H. M., Jr. (1980). Self-interest vs. symbolic politics in policy attitudes and presidential voting. American Political Science Review, 74(3), 670–684. https://doi.org/10.2307/1958149 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1958149

Subramanyam, K. (1983). Bibliometric studies of research collaboration: A review. Journal of information Science, 6(1), 33–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/016555158300600105 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/016555158300600105

Swartz, D. (1996). Bridging the study of culture and religion: Pierre Bourdieu’s political economy of symbolic power. Sociology of Religion, 57(1), 71–85. https://doi.org/10.2307/3712005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3712005

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Publicado

2026-01-25

Cómo citar

Nurbayev, Z., Kiyubek, Z., & Sultangazy, G. (2026). The trajectory of symbolic politics as an area of study and research: A bibliometric analysis of the literature in Scopus. Iberoamerican Journal of Science Measurement and Communication, 6, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.47909/ijsmc.338

Número

Vol. 6 (2026): Próximos artículos

Sección

Artículo original

Licencia

Derechos de autor 2026 Zhaslan Nurbayev, Zhangylsyn Kiyubek, Gulmira Sultangazy

Creative Commons License

Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial 4.0.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0, which permits copying and redistributing the material in any medium or format, adapting, transforming, and building upon the material as long as the license terms are followed.

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