Although the editorial policy has remained constant over the years, the nature of the articles published in the Journal of the Community Development Society has changed. This article analyzes the first twenty volumes (373 articles) of the Journal on three dimensions: authors' background, geographic area of focus, and methods of data collection and analysis. Results indicate that the disciplinary backgrounds of authors has narrowed to two dominant fields: sociology and economics. The local community (i.e., towns, cities, and neighborhoods) has remained the geographic focus. Although there has been an increase in articles based on information from communities in the South and the West, articles from the Midwest were still predominant. Articles emphasizing rural areas have increased over time, while the proportion of urban-based articles has not changed. Finally, the Journal has become more empirical and an increasing proportion of articles rely on survey data and multivariate statistical techniques.
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