A Study of Core Journals Used by Agricultural and Extension Educators.

A research study had three objectives: to identify the core journals in the agricultural and extension education discipline, determine the importance of journals as a medium of scholarly communication in agricultural and extension education, and determine the subject matter areas published in the field's "core" journal, the "Journal of Agricultural Education" (JAE). A systematic sampling of 162 articles appearing in 19 issues of JAE during the even years of the decade of the 1980s was examined to accomplish the study objectives. Eleven journals accounting for 51% of the total citations in JAE were identified as core journals of the agricultural/extension education field. Because journals were cited in JAE more frequently than books, bulletins/reports, dissertations/theses, magazines, or papers/proceedings, they were considered to be the field's most important medium of scholarly communication. The following were the most frequently covered topics: secondary agricultural education (13.5%), youth/youth development (9.7%), experiential learning (9.7%), teaching methods (9.2%), issues related to agricultural instructors (9.2%), adult and postsecondary education (8%), learning theory) (6%), and program development/curriculum (5%). It was recommended that agricultural/extension educators broaden their scope to include other subject matter areas such as extension, international agriculture, special needs, elementary agricultural education, and critical thinking. (Contains 19 references.) (MN)