Christoph E. Müller, Dirk Tunger, Paul Reimers, Stephan Grohs
25 Years of the Journal for EvaluationPage 420–442
Topic Trends, Author Networks, and Their Contribution to the Institutionalization of Evaluation in the German-Speaking Area. A Bibliometric Analysis
Shortlink
: https://www.waxmann.com/artikelART106758
.doi: https://doi.org/10.31244/zfe.2026.02.12
Abstract
The Zeitschrift für Evaluation (ZfEv) enters its 25th volume in 2026. This article looks back on the journal‘s publication activity and documents it through bibliometric analyses. Drawing on more than 300 original and practice-oriented contributions, supplemented by the Scopus and Web of Science databases, it analyses authorships, author networks, institutional participation, and journal metrics. In addition, selected cross-cutting themes are traced by means of dictionary analyses. The results show a publication output that has remained stable over the years, alongside increasing co-authorship and authors with diverse but predominantly German-speaking institutional affiliations. Thematically, the field of education dominates, as do contributions that treat evaluation itself as the object of study. Among the cross-cutting themes, impact evaluation and causal analysis have recently gained importance. Overall, the ZfEv proves to be a stable institutional focal point and an interface between evaluation research and evaluation practice, though its international reach remains limited.
Keywords
anniversary, bibliometrics, evaluation research, institutionalisation of evaluation
APA citation
Müller, C., Tunger, D., Reimers, P. & Grohs S. (2026). 25 Jahre Zeitschrift für Evaluation: Themenkonjunkturen, Autorennetzwerke und ihr Beitrag zur Institutionalisierung von Evaluation im deutschsprachigen Raum. Eine bibliometrische Analyse. Zeitschrift für Evaluation, 25(2), 420-442. https://doi.org/10.31244/zfe.2026.02.12
