Engineering Education Research in 'European Journal of Engineering Education' and 'Journal of Engineering Education': Citation and Reference Discipline Analysis

The authors, citations and content of "European Journal of Engineering Education" ("EJEE") and "Journal of Engineering Education" ("JEE") in 1973 ("JEE," 1975 "EJEE"), 1983, 1993, 2003, and available 2013 issues were analysed. Both journals transitioned from house organs to become engineering education research (EER) journals, although "JEE" transitioned first. In this process the number of citations rose, particularly of education and psychology sources; the percentage of research articles increased markedly as did the number of reference disciplines. The number of papers per issue, the number of single author papers, and the citations of science and engineering sources decreased. "EJEE" has a very broad geographic spread of authors while "JEE" authors are mainly US based. A "silo" mentality where general engineering education researchers do not communicate with EER researchers in different engineering disciplines is evident. There is some danger that EER may develop into a silo that does not communicate with technically oriented engineering professors.