Question 1

Which countries lead Social Sciences research?

Accepted Answer

On research quality in 2022-now, the United States, China and the United Kingdom rank highest in Social Sciences. By volume, Indonesia and the United States publish the most (670k and 383k works in 2022-now).

Question 2

Which institutions lead Social Sciences research?

Accepted Answer

University of Oxford (United Kingdom) ranks first in Social Sciences on research quality in 2022-now, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and University of Cambridge.

Question 3

Who are the leading researchers in Social Sciences?

Accepted Answer

Counting only their work in Social Sciences, Mark Damian Griffiths, G. John Ikenberry and John C. Campbell have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

Question 4

Where is Social Sciences research done?

Accepted Answer

The largest centres of Social Sciences research in 2022-now are Jakarta (Indonesia), Bandung (Indonesia), Medan (Indonesia) and Surabaya (Indonesia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Demak, Gresik and Sandhurst.

Question 5

Where is the best place to study Social Sciences?

Accepted Answer

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oxford, Harvard University and Stanford University score highest, combining standing in the field's ranking, excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

Question 6

Is Social Sciences research growing?

Accepted Answer

Output in 2022-2025 was 19% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are SMEs Development and Digital Marketing, Linguistic, Cultural, and Literary Studies and Legal and Regulatory Analysis.

Question 7

What are the most cited papers in Social Sciences?

Accepted Answer

The most cited paper in Social Sciences is "The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews" (Matthew James Page et al., 2021), with 105,915 citations. Next come "The theory of planned behavior" (87,913) and "Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement" (83,711).