Most cited papers from African Studies Centre

African Studies Centre

What are the most cited papers from African Studies Centre?

The most cited paper from African Studies Centre is "From Louvain to Leiden: guaranteeing well-connected communities" (V. A. Traag, L. Waltman, Nees Jan van Eck, 2019), with 5,618 citations. Next come "Explaining African Economic Performance" (1,311) and "Exploring the Frontier of Livelihoods Research" (704).

Published TypeFieldAccessCitations

Showing 50 of 60 papers. Every paper with more than 114 citations is listed.

Most cited papers, sortable by citations and release date
#	Paper
1	From Louvain to Leiden: guaranteeing well-connected communities V. A. Traag, L. Waltman, Nees Jan van Eck · Scientific Reports Open access	26 Mar 2019	5,618
2	Explaining African Economic Performance Paul Collier, Jan Willem Gunning · Journal of Economic Literature	Mar 1999	1,311
3	Exploring the Frontier of Livelihoods Research Leo de Haan, Annelies Zoomers · Development and Change	2005	704
4	The Scramble in Africa: Reorienting Rural Livelihoods Deborah Fahy Bryceson · World Development	May 2002	686
5	Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa Stephen Ellis · American Anthropologist	25 May 2006	567
6	Differential susceptibility to rearing environment depending on dopamine-related genes: New evidence and a meta-analysis Marian J. Bakermans‐Kranenburg, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn · Development and Psychopathology Review	24 Jan 2011	530
7	New bibliometric tools for the assessment of national research performance: Database description, overview of indicators and first applications Henk F. Moed, Renger Evert De Bruin, Thed N. van Leeuwen · Scientometrics	Jul 1995	513
8	Deagrarianization and rural employment in sub-Saharan Africa: A sectoral perspective Deborah Fahy Bryceson · World Development	1996	475
9	Reconstructing Prehistoric African Population Structure Pontus Skoglund et al. · Cell Open access	Sep 2017	464
10	The Leiden ranking 2011/2012: Data collection, indicators, and interpretation Ludo Waltman, Clara Calero‐Medina, Joost Kosten et al. · Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology	6 Nov 2012	456
11	Rethinking Patrimonialism and Neopatrimonialism in Africa Anne Pitcher, Mary Hurley Moran, Michael O. Johnston · African Studies Review	Apr 2009	415
12	China's Social Credit System: An Evolving Practice of Control Rogier J. E. H. Creemers · SSRN Electronic Journal PreprintOpen access	2018	383
13	Climate migration myths Ingrid Boas et al. · Nature Climate Change Open access	26 Nov 2019	369
14	Cortisol and externalizing behavior in children and adolescents: Mixed meta‐analytic evidence for the inverse relation of basal cortisol and cortisol reactivity with externalizing behavior Lenneke R. A. Alink, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, Marian J. Bakermans‐Kranenburg et al. · Developmental Psychobiology Open access	12 Jun 2008	359
15	African rural labour, income diversification & livelihood approaches: a long‐term development perspective Deborah Fahy Bryceson · Review of African Political Economy Open access	Jun 1999	300
16	Ethnic-based federalism and ethnicity in Ethiopia: reassessing the experiment after 20 years Jon G. Abbink · Journal of Eastern African Studies Open access	Nov 2011	300
17	Democratization, sequencing, and state failure in Africa: Lessons from Kenya Daniel Branch, Nic Cheeseman · African Affairs	28 Nov 2008	292
18	Disabling Globalization: Places of Power in Post-Apartheid South Africa Ineke van Kessel, Gillian Hart · Africa	2004	276
19	Climate change, violent conflict and local institutions in Kenya’s drylands Wario R. Adano, Ton J. Dietz, Karen Witsenburg et al. · Journal of Peace Research Open access	2012	265
20	Discomfiture of democracy? The 2005 election crisis in Ethiopia and its aftermath Jon G. Abbink · African Affairs Open access	Apr 2006	259
21	Pedagogy in Process: The letters to Guinea-Bissau Christopher Fyfe · African Affairs	1979	223
22	Scientists have most impact when they're free to move Cassidy R. Sugimoto, Nicolás Robinson‐García, Dakota Murray et al. · Nature Open access	29 Sep 2017	222
23	Multiplex livelihoods in rural Africa: recasting the terms and conditions of gainful employment Deborah Fahy Bryceson · The Journal of Modern African Studies	Mar 2002	211
24	Religion and politics in Sub-Saharan Africa Stephen Ellis, Gerrie ter Haar · The Journal of Modern African Studies Open access	Jun 1998	208
25	A gloomy picture: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials reveals disappointing effectiveness of programs aiming at preventing child maltreatment Saskia Euser, Lenneke R. A. Alink, Marije Stoltenborgh et al. · BMC Public Health ReviewOpen access	18 Oct 2015	194
26	Pairing attachment theory and social learning theory in video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting Femmie Juffer, Marian J. Bakermans‐Kranenburg, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn · Current Opinion in Psychology ReviewOpen access	3 Apr 2017	182
27	Exploring why global health needs are unmet by research efforts: the potential influences of geography, industry and publication incentives Alfredo Yegros, Wouter van de Klippe, María Francisca Abad García et al. · Health Research Policy and Systems Open access	15 May 2020	174
28	Professional and citizen bibliometrics: complementarities and ambivalences in the development and use of indicators—a state-of-the-art report Loet Leydesdorff, Paul F. Wouters, Lutz Bornmann · Scientometrics Open access	3 Oct 2016	174
29	Ideophones and the nature of the adjective word class in Ewe Felix K. Ameka · Typological studies in language Book chapterOpen access	19 Dec 2001	174
30	Hair Story: Untangling The Roots of Black Hair in America Cheryl R. Rodriguez · Transforming Anthropology	Jul 2003	172
31	Urban Languages in Africa Rose Marie Beck · Africa Spectrum Open access	Dec 2010	172
32	Frontier transformations: development visions, spaces and processes in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia Jason Mosley, Elizabeth E. Watson · Journal of Eastern African Studies	2 Jul 2016	171
33	The Role of Religion in Development: Towards a New Relationship between the European Union and Africa Gerrie ter Haar, Stephen Ellis · European Journal of Development Research Open access	Sep 2006	171
34	The Bakassi Boys: fighting crime in Nigeria Johannes Harnischfeger · The Journal of Modern African Studies	Mar 2003	168
35	LIBERIA 1989–1994 A STUDY OF ETHNIC AND SPIRITUAL VIOLENCE Stephen Ellis · African Affairs Open access	Apr 1995	167
36	Searching for a Weapon of Mass Production in Rural Africa: Unconvincing Arguments for Land Reform John Sender, Deborah Johnston · Journal of Agrarian Change Open access	19 Dec 2003	166
37	From Camp To Encompassment: Discourses of Transsubjectivity in the Ghanaian Pentecostal Diaspora1 Rijk A. Van Dijk · Journal of Religion in Africa	1997	160
38	Petro-Insurgency or Criminal Syndicate? Conflict & Violence in the Niger Delta Michael John Watts · Review of African Political Economy Open access	2007	160
39	When households run out of fuel: Responses of rural households to decreasing fuelwood availability, Ntcheu District, Malawi Inge D. Brouwer, Jan C. Hoorweg, Marti J. van Liere · World Development Open access	Feb 1997	153
40	WRITING HISTORIES OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICA Stephen Ellis · The Journal of African History Open access	Mar 2002	150
41	Akan vowel harmony the word structure conditions and the floating vowels John Stewart · Studies in African Linguistics Open access	Aug 1983	145
42	Understanding the Political Motivations That Shape Rwanda's Emergent Developmental State Laura Mann, Marie E. Berry · New Political Economy Open access	20 May 2015	142
43	The Domestic Turn: Business Process Outsourcing and the Growing Automation of Kenyan Organisations Laura Mann, Mark J Graham · The Journal of Development Studies Open access	22 Mar 2016	140
44	Religion and politics: taking African epistemologies seriously Stephen Ellis, Gerrie ter Haar · The Journal of Modern African Studies	16 Jul 2007	139
45	West Africa's International Drug Trade S.D. Ellis · African Affairs Open access	9 Mar 2009	137
46	Of elephants and men: politics and nature conservation in South Africa Stephen Ellis · Journal of Southern African Studies Open access	Mar 1994	135
47	The insurgents : David Petraeus and the plot to change the American way of war Fred Kaplan	2013	135
48	In a fix: Africa’s place in the Belt and Road Initiative and the reproduction of dependency Ian Taylor, Tim Zajontz · South African Journal of International Affairs Open access	2 Jul 2020	134
49	Niger-Congo Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal, Anne Storch · Oxford University Press eBooks Book chapter	11 Feb 2016	133
50	Hijacking civil society: the inside story of the Bakassi Boys vigilante group of south-eastern Nigeria Kate Meagher · The Journal of Modern African Studies	2007	131

Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for an institution when any of its authors gave it as an affiliation; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.