Assessing the Scholarly Reach of Terman’s Work

Abstract

Lewis M. Terman’s Genetic Studies of Genius stands as one of the landmark studies of the 20th century in the educational and psychological sciences. This longitudinal study of individuals in the top 1% of general cognitive ability has sparked interest and debate among scholars for nearly 100 years. In this study, we examine how Terman’s Genetic Studies of Genius has influenced academia through a bibliometric citation analysis. We gathered all scholarly works that cited one of the volumes of Terman’s Genetic Studies of Genius and appeared in academic journals and mapped out the growth of scholarly citations within differing academic fields. We found that the influence of Terman’s studies extends beyond the field of education and psychology into business, medicine, and the sciences.