Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov 17:13:960666.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.960666. eCollection 2022.

Life stories: Unraveling the academic configuration of a multifaceted and multidisciplinary field of knowledge

Rocío López-Montero  1 , Carmen García-Navarro  1 , Antonio Delgado-Baena  1 , Rocío Vela-Jiménez  1 , Antonio Sianes  1
Affiliations

Life stories: Unraveling the academic configuration of a multifaceted and multidisciplinary field of knowledge

Rocío López-Montero et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

In the field of qualitative research, life stories are consolidated as one of the most important techniques within the biographical method. However, due to the multiplicity of techniques covered by this method and the disciplines in which it is applied, the contributions and scope of life histories do not present a clear delimitation. By contrast, a considerable conceptual confusion persists and the transfer of its production remains very narrow. In this sense, this article aims to clarify the field of knowledge generated through life stories. To this end, it innovatively applies the bibliometric method. Making use of performance analysis and scientific mapping through the VosViewer application, it studies a body of 2670 articles indexed in the Web of Science. The results show how knowledge transferred from psychology through its major schools of thought occupies a central place. This leaves in a secondary position the knowledge produced by other disciplines such as sociology or anthropology, which is not transferred in the main forums of scientific impact. In this way, the conclusion points to the need to open up new lines of research to find out the differences between the different techniques and disciplines when applying this methodology.

Keywords: VOSviewer; bibliometric analysis; biographical method; life stories; scientific production.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Number of documents published per year.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Authors and number of published documents.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Keyword co-occurrence analysis.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Co-citation of authors.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Co-citation of documents.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Adam D. (2002). Citation analysis: The counting house. Nature 415 726–730. 10.1038/415726a - DOI - PubMed
    1. Adler J. M., Lodi-Smith J., Philippe F. L., Houle I. (2016). The incremental validity of narrative identity in predicting well-being: A review of the field and recommendations for the future. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Rev. 20 142–175. 10.1177/1088868315585068 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Albort-Morant G., Ribeiro-Soriano D. (2016). A bibliometric analysis of international impact of business incubator. J. Bus. Res. 69 1775–1779.
    1. Ardanuy J. (2012). Breve introducción a la bibliometría. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona.
    1. Barlow F. K. (2019). Nature vs. nurture is nonsense: On the necessity of an integrated genetic, social, developmental, and personality psychology. Aust. J. Psychol. 71 68–79. 10.1111/ajpy.12240 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources