Trends in Korean studies: A content analysis of Korea-related articles published in the Arts & Humanities Citation Index, 1990–2015

Abstract

While South Korea has become an economic and pop-cultural powerhouse in recent decades, North Korea has remained continuously in the media due to its humanitarian issues and nuclear brinkmanship. Accordingly, academic research on the Korean peninsula might have noticeably increased during the same period. To this end, a quantitative content analysis of all Korea-related articles appearing in the influential Arts and Humanities Citation Index was conducted. From 1990 to 2015, a total of 2406 articles were published, representing a noticeable increase – from just 20 articles in 1990 to 233 works by 2015. Moreover, while most articles on Korea were written by non-Korean scholars initially, the situation reversed by 2001, and that gap has continued to widen. Expectedly, the vast majority of articles have been published in typical humanities subjects such as area studies, linguistics and history (over 50%). Unexpectedly, the number of articles on North Korea has remained low, peaking at 20 in 2013.