Does Anyone Use Sociology, Other Than Sociologists? The Interdisciplinary Relevance of ASA Journals, 2000–2023

Abstract

<p>Has sociological research attracted the attention of other fields, or are we simply talking to ourselves? In this article we assess the interdisciplinary relevance of select sociological research through a big-data bibliographic analysis of all 13 journals published by the American Sociological Association (ASA) between 2000–2023 inclusive using the complete Web of Science Raw XML Database. We find that the interdisciplinary relevance of ASA journals is steadily increasing, and that since 2002 ASA journals have been consistently cited more outside of sociology than within it. However, we also find variation across journals and over time. We speculate about the role of current affairs, intellectual trends, and journal models in explaining sociology’s interdisciplinary relevance. While scholars may disagree about what this means for the prospects of the discipline, the interdisciplinary appeal of sociological knowledge shows no signs of decline.<br></p>