Mapping the Literature in Forensic Sciences: A Bibliometric Study of North-American Journals from 1980 to 2005

The present study was designed to describe the evolution of forensic literature in North-American journals over more than 25 years. From 1980 to 2005, the number of articles per year and the average number of authors per article have both increased almost twofold, while the relative contribution of other countries in comparison to the United States has increased from 19.2% to 61.0%. The contributions to the forensic literature of anthropology and biology/DNA have significantly increased, while the contribution of questioned documents and ballistics decreased. Finally, the number of studies using the scientific method has significantly increased through the years, passing from 10.5% to 40.7%. This better knowledge of our body of literature as a whole could help us assess our strengths and weaknesses, and help us to position ourselves on literature ethical issues.