Higher education research is a growing, inter-disciplinary and increasingly international field of study. This article examines the citation patterns of articles published in six leading higher education journals--three published in the United States and three published elsewhere in the world--for what they reveal about the development of this field. The analysis shows that the American journals are not only dominated by American-based authors, but that they also cite predominantly articles, books, chapters and other publications published in the United States. By contrast, the three non-American journals accommodate a much broader spread internationally of both authors and citations. Possible explanations for these patterns, and whether they matter, are discussed.