Topology, evolution, and network-based continuous improvement of the Quality Management Journal

Knowledge flows are ubiquitous in research and industrial practice, and sharing knowledge is essential for both innovation and solving practical problems. It is through knowledge flows that research results are translated into practice to benefit industry. In quality management, one of the primary mechanisms to facilitate these knowledge flows between executives, researchers, professionals and managers is the Quality Management Journal ( QMJ), published quarterly by the American Society for Quality (ASQ) since October 1993. The purpose of this study was to model all of the knowledge flows captured to date by the QMJ as a citation network, use the model to survey the research in quality management, and determine an appropriate measure (attachment-weighted quality) for continually improving the collection of research. Citation network analysis was chosen as the predominant methodology to avoid the biases that are inherent in citation counting methods. The citation network model was validated by assessing the goodness of fit of the empirical data with characteristic network topologies and idealized models of growth patterns in networks. The network was then used to objectively determine the most central and influential articles, as well as the relationship between the quality of the citation network and its topological characteristics.;The results from this research demonstrate how to use the citation network as a measurement system to continually improve the quality of the QMJ. Continuous improvement is necessary to ensure that important research results are readily identified, and that the research within a discipline is effectively communicated and translated into practice. For the QMJ, attachment-weighted quality can be effectively predicted by the change in nodes and edges over the time window and the average path length over the network. Although specificity of action of preferential attachment decreases over time in the QMJ citation network, the attachment-weighted quality of the network increases.