2.2 Terrorism Research

This is one of the classic examples we analyzed with CiteSpace. The released package of CiteSpace provides a sample project of this data set so that you can test drive with this data set as a way to learn various controls and how to interpret resultant visualizations and patterns.

The study reveals that the broadly defined terrorism research essentially consists of three patches, which are equally known as continents, islands, communities, or simply clusters. Each patch of publications represents a group of landmark works. For example, the green cluster on the right is representative of terrorist bombing. The yellow-orange cluster on the left underlines health care. The orange cluster at the bottom of the visualization characterizes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially in association with the terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001.

The structure at this level is self-evident even though one may not have any prior knowledge of any part of the research. To further clarify the research development as an adaptive system, CiteSpace draws our attention to how these clusters are interconnected through gatekeepers, or intellectual turning points. For example, the connection between the green and the yellow-orange clusters is essentially represented by Mallonee's article in 1996; similarly, Galea 2002 and North 1999 hold the key to understand the connections between the three major clusters. The study includes cross-validations through questionnaires and phone interviews with domain experts whose works are positioned at various turning points.