Context analysis - A technique for analysing research in a field, applied to literature on the Management of R&D at the Section Level

Context analysis is a new method for appraising a body of publications. The process consists of creating a database of attributes assigned to each paper by the reviewer and then looking for interesting relationships in the data. Assigning the attributes requires an understanding of the subject matter of the papers. We present findings about one particular research field, Management of R&D at the Section Level. Our findings support the view that this body of academic publications does nor meet the needs of practitioner R&D managers. The paper discusses practical aspects of how to apply the method in other fields.