Tracing the Historical Origins of Research Methodology Issues through Referenced Publication Years Spectroscopy (RPYS)

This study, using a new method called Referenced Publication Years Spectroscopy (RPYS), examines the most important historic works written in the area of research methodology. Preliminary data of this study have been extracted from Web ob Science database through scientomerics methods. For this purpose, the references used in all the papers in the core journals in this field since 1980 to the end of 2014 were studied. Distribution of resources in the area of research methodology based on the publication year indicates that this field of study, during time interval 1900 to 1980, has seen 9 major mutations, respectively, in the years 1910, 1927, 1934, 1938, 1951, 1960, 1965, 1967, and 1979. The findings suggest a considerable influence of psychological studies (in particular, the application of statistics in psychology) on historical topics of research methodology; So that, 4 out of 5 sources related to the period 1900 to 1940, are written straight by the experts of psychology, with an emphasis on improving statistical methods and applying them in different researches. The results revealed that the share of articles out of total referred resources works presented, compared to books, was 12 to 7 which could direct us to this point that, the impact of articles in shaping the historical origins of the research methodology topics was more colorful than books.