Disciplines and thematics of scientific research in police training (1988-2012)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the disciplines and thematic study of scientific production in police training over the period 1988-2012. Design/methodology/approach – Introduction and homogenization of keywords and assigning of descriptors to documents, thematic categorization of journals and, analysis of indicators of productivity and relationship of descriptors and thematic areas has been the used methodology. Findings – Totally, 59 different descriptors of a total of 585 assigned to the 182 articles that were published in 95 journals belonging into 20 different subject areas have been identified. The most frequent descriptors are “skills,” “management development” and “violence” and the main thematic areas have been “Criminology and Penology” and “Psychology”. Totally, 47 relationships between 30 descriptors in more than two works, 35 relationships between 20 thematic areas and, 78 relationships between 43 descriptors and eight subject areas in more than two articles have been identified. Originality/value – Characterize the disciplines and thematic of study of the articles and journals in the scientific production on police training, as well as to identify the relationships between descriptors, subject areas and among these.