Core journal literatures and persistent research themes in an emerging interdisciplinary field: Exploring the literature of evolutionary developmental biology

This paper reports two interrelated citation-based studies of the intellectual structure of Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Evo-Devo). The core journals of Evo-Devo (Evolution & Development, Development, Genes & Evolution, and Journal of Experimental Zoology, pt. B) and its supporting/parental disciplines are identified and their strong citation links mapped based on data from Journal Citation Reports, 2005–2007. Evo-Devo cites into Developmental Biology in all three years and exchanges citations with Paleontology in 2007. There are no strong connections with either general or molecular Evolution journals. Persistent, visible research themes are visualized as citing-cited networks and subnetworks of articles extracted from the Web of Science for the core Evo-Devo journals and a larger set of articles citing one or more Evo-Devo journals. Most research themes in the core set are specific to a single journal. Few highly cited core journal articles are also visible in the broader set of networks and subnetworks, although some themes (e.g., arthropod body plans, chordate genes/gene expression) are visible in both data sets.