Public opinion: bibliometric analysis for the systematization of trends

Abstract

This paper sought to identify trends in the research of “public opinion”, allowing for an analysis of the field in a systematized manner. We carried out a bibliometric study of 2,536 articles selected from the Web of Science. With the aid of the CiteSpace software, we aimed to characterize the research front and intellectual base of the field. In relation to the research front, we noted an increase in publications between 1945 and 2016; we identified Robert Shapiro and Lawrence Jacobs as the most productive authors; among the most referenced articles were those by Gamson and Modigliani (1989) and Page and Shapiro (1983). We also identified that the majority of articles are: by North American authors; were published in the journals Public Opinion Quarterly and Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniya; are indexed in the categories of Government & Law and Political Science and represented by the keywords public opinion, attitudes, support, policy, the United States and politics. With regard to the intellectual base in the journal co-citation network, the Public Opinion Quarterly, American Political Science Review and American Journal of Political Science stood out. In the author co-citation network the most prominent authors were Page and Zaller. In the analysis of the references co-citation, the most frequent texts in the network were by Zaller (1992) and Page and Shapiro (1992). We concluded that scientific output on public opinion is on the increase, with a dynamic expansion of the research front and intellectual base.