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value for the stakeholders seem to be another main trend. As part of the weak signal
detected, the threat of having project management become a part of general manage-
ment may be considered. This reinforces the need to clarify the former theme. Another
trend is that the more “technical” aspects of project management are still appearing
along with softer issues (change management and the role of the teams). But it seems
that project panagement is becoming more focused on implementation of organization
strategy.
Methodologic limitations were addressed earlier. This study is based exclusively on
the EBSCO Business Source Premier Database. It is too far away to reflect on the entire
project management field, and it would be very interesting to add proceedings of con-
gresses, in-company publications, and other publications, books, theses, and unpublished
works.
However, this study demonstrates the interest of coword analysis in extracting pat-
terns of form, structure, and dynamics in the field and in identifying trends within the
discipline represented by a corpus of publications. It shows clearly that the analysis of a
discipline must combine both quantitative and qualitative methods and integrate both
synchronic and diachronic perspectives.
We hope that this brief study has shown an innovative way to gain indepth knowledge
and perception of the evolution of the project management field. Further work is under-
way to integrate this approach as part of an “International Observatory of Project
Management Practices.” This method is used as well to study the interactions between the
project management field and others disciplines and to link concepts together in the
design of educational programs and curricula.

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