An examination of tourism journal development

Academic journals are the research showcase of a field. They not only present new discoveries, but also track the development of the field. While many studies have focused on the performance of individuals and institutions in regards to journal publications, the present paper explored the development of tourism knowledge from trends in tourism journals. After reviewing 59 tourism-related journals chronologically, general trends were identified: (1) the geometric proliferation of journal numbers; (2) the diversification of overall journal disciplinary focuses; (3) the popularity of disciplines; and (4) the specialization for journal disciplinary focuses. Detailed trends and applications are discussed in the text.