An Analysis of the Current Status of Special Education Research and Journal Outlets

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Abstract
The present article characterizes the quality of research and journal outlets in the field of special education. Randomly selected data based and nondata based articles (reviews of literature) on exceptional children from special education and nonspecial education related journals were compared on a number of criteria. In addition, these journals were ranked in terms of research sophistication, prestige, and citations of articles of their review board members. A few distinctions in favor of articles published in nonspecial education compared to those in special education related journals were found. The majority of data based and review of literature articles were lacking in research sophistication. Journals for which the articles were sampled varied extensively in terms of quality, prestige, and scientific recognition of review board members. Some general implications related to special education research are provided.