Modelling the diffusion of specialised knowledge

This paper reviews developments from a study of the reception of the Research Assessment Exercise 1996. Research evaluation, including the value of citation analysis and the responsibilities attaching to publication of citation analyses, is considered. The distinctions made in the communication model for analysing reception, between dissemination and diffusion and between esoteric and exoteric media and communities, are developed further. Information transfer is represented as an explicable process. Possible further developments, including the appropriate relation to disciplines with related interests in the social communication of knowledge, are anticipated.