Reviewing the literature in the IS field: Two bibliometric techniques to guide readings and help the interpretation of the literature

Abstract

In this article, we show how to apply profitably bibliometric analysis in IS research as a way to help review and highlight patterns in the literature, and complement traditional methods to do so. This approach can help guide researchers to interpret a more traditional literature review by highlighting important texts to investigate in priority and more particularly. We propose specifically to use two techniques in a complementary manner, co-citation analysis of references and bibliographic coupling analysis of documents, which are described while highlighting the main methodological steps and relevant issues. We illustrate and demonstrate the value of the complementary use of both techniques in a dense and well-established research domain within the IS field: Strategic alignment.