Changes in the Research Trends of JKSC through Time Series Network Analysis

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze research trends of the studies published in the Journal of the Korean Society of Costume (JKSC). Time series network analysis and word cloud analysis were employed to examine the articles published from 2008 to 2019. The findings revealed that fashion design and aesthetics research accounted the highest proportion of published articles as well as the highest citation impact, indicating that this field of study was the core research area and specificity of JKSC during the study period. The history of costume research showed a decreasing trend, while fashion marketing and psychology research showed an increase in the number of published articles. Word cloud analysis identified that keywords related to the history of costume research was another specificity of the journal. However, degree centrality value of the keywords related to the history of costume decreased in time series network analysis, indicating that the specificity faded. The importance of keywords related to fashion marketing and psychology has increased, revealing that the research interests shifted from fundamental studies to practical studies on the general apparel industry. The analysis is used as a basis to suggest future research directions to journals and researchers in clothing and textile studies.