Traditional author co-citation analysis: A discussion of the sampling problem

Drawing a sample of data that adequately represents the population from which it was drawn can be a difficult task. Biases are often introduced in this initial phase of statistical analyses. The paper addresses the sampling problem in relation to traditional author co-citation analysis. It identifies common biases (misrepresentation of different theoretical orientations within the domain of study, national differences, misrepresentation of document types, ISI data) and discusses possible alternatives (“authoritative” lists of authors, PFNETs, domain analysis). It concludes that conducting a proper domain analysis before starting the sampling procedure seems to be the only good answer to the sampling problem.