Can RANK be used to generate a reliable author list for cocitation studies?

This study investigates the possibility of using DIALOG's RANK command to generate a list of prominent authors for use in cocitation studies. The emerging field of biodiversity is used primarily because it represents a new and rapidly expanding field of study. The results indicate that RANK does not effectively retrieve a quality set of prominent authors for use in cocitation studies. Highly cited authors of general texts on biodiversity cause the derived author map to present a misaligned picture of specialization within the field. By limiting citations to only journal articles, a clearer and more accurate picture of the field should emerge.