Citation Age Distributions for Three Areas of Business

Abstract

The preface or introduction of virtually every revised text or readings book in business administration makes at least passing mention of the rapid rate of change which is taking place within the discipline with which the book is concerned. The justification for the publication of the new edition is very often supported by listings of new chapters or readings and revisions made in material taken from the previous edition. Authors and editors typically describe their discipline as dynamic and evolving, and as characterized by accelerating growth. The authors of an important finance text, for example, regard the work of finance scholars in recent years as having induced a knowledge explosion whose proportions and rate of increase are substantial and whose level of sophistication is unmatched by any previous experience.1 A leading management writer states in the preface of his book: Management continues to be highly dynamic. More perhaps than ever before, past beliefs about management are being modified, present concepts are being challenged and new ideas and frames of reference are being de