Network in Network Here's the Question?

Abstract

The analysis of social networks has been spreading, increasingly in new spaces and forms of communication, especially in the way of interacting and expanding knowledge. The study aimed to analyze which co-authorship connections of interinstitutional scientific publications are established by authors who study social networks. This article is relevant, as it fills gaps in the literature, as there are no bibliometric studies in the area of accounting, with a view to knowing whether those who analyze social networks form a social network in the publications of journals in Accounting. The methodology used was descriptive analysis. The sample consisted of articles published in 15 journals in the accounting area between 2000 and 2020. Statistical tests were performed using Microsoft Office Excel, Ucinet 6,531, Netdraw 2,153 and Wordclouds software. Researchers who analyze networks in accounting journals establish connections with researchers from other institutions, albeit timidly. However, despite the drop in production in recent years, some research groups have been since 2007 without interruption, disclosing their studies to the community. As a contribution, the study brings a new reflection on the scope of research that analyze the social interrelations in scientific publications in accounting, thus instigating new network research in other areas of knowledge. The study also contributes to highlight the current stage in research in social network analysis in the area of accounting, as well as to indicate a posteriori, which are the geodetic paths, for future connections between researchers.