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Subfield · Psychology

Applied Psychology research

Applied Psychology is a subfield of Psychology. Science Explorer counts 121k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: application of psychological theories or findings.

Research works
121k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
12k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
7
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+35%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
37% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Applied Psychology

What is Applied Psychology research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Internet-based Interventions, Meta-Analysis, Self-Regulation, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Social Support. Gaining share since 2011-15: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Internet-based Interventions. Losing share: Human Motivation, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Psychological Testing, Rorschach Comprehensive System.

▲ gaining share of this field◆ holding its share▼ losing share

Size is the world's fractional works in 2021-25 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2011-15. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 16 words, with their numbers
  1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy15k▲ 2.3×1 topic
  2. Internet-based Interventions15k▲ 2.3×1 topic
  3. Meta-Analysis15k▼ 0.70×2 topics
  4. Self-Regulation11k▼ 0.67×1 topic
  5. Theory of Planned Behaviour11k▼ 0.67×1 topic
  6. Social Support6,227◆ 0.99×2 topics
  7. Hope Theory6,026◆ 1.06×1 topic
  8. Optimism6,026◆ 1.06×1 topic
  9. Training Motivation3,567▼ 0.80×1 topic
  10. Training Transfer3,567▼ 0.80×1 topic
  11. Psychological Testing1,185▼ 0.42×1 topic
  12. Rorschach Comprehensive System1,185▼ 0.42×1 topic
  13. Coaching Psychology1,024▼ 0.59×1 topic
  14. Executive Coaching1,024▼ 0.59×1 topic
  15. Human Motivation201▼ 0.34×1 topic
  16. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs201▼ 0.34×1 topic

Which countries lead Applied Psychology research?

On research quality in 2022-now, the United States, China and Germany rank highest in Applied Psychology. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (8.8k and 3.4k works in 2022-now).

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States #1 all time 0.90× citation excellence · 1.37× journals · 100% breadth 9.8% top 10% · 7.5k works
  2. 2 China #3 all time 1.43× citation excellence · 1.08× journals · 100% breadth 15.4% top 10% · 2.7k works
  3. 3 Germany #4 all time 1.27× citation excellence · 1.42× journals · 100% breadth 10.5% top 10% · 1.7k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom #2 all time 1.11× citation excellence · 1.35× journals · 100% breadth 12.6% top 10% · 2.1k works
  5. 5 Australia #6 all time 1.29× citation excellence · 1.05× journals · 100% breadth 14.4% top 10% · 1.1k works
  6. 6 Netherlands #5 all time 1.24× citation excellence · 1.39× journals · 100% breadth 12.7% top 10% · 689 works
  7. 7 Switzerland #7 all time 1.27× citation excellence · 1.77× journals · 100% breadth 11.6% top 10% · 370 works
  8. 8 Canada #8 all time 1.00× citation excellence · 1.03× journals · 100% breadth 10.9% top 10% · 1.1k works
  9. 9 France #9 all time 0.98× citation excellence · 1.47× journals · 100% breadth 8.3% top 10% · 400 works
  10. 10 Sweden #13 all time 1.12× citation excellence · 1.33× journals · 100% breadth 11.0% top 10% · 326 works

The track on each row is that row's top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each place's own topics predict, adds its share of papers in the Nature Index journals, and counts output and breadth too.

Of 30 countries ranked in Applied Psychology. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Applied Psychology

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 8.8k works
  2. 2 China 3.4k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 2.4k works
  4. 4 India 2k works
  5. 5 Germany 2k works
  6. 6 Australia 1.3k works
  7. 7 Canada 1.3k works
  8. 8 Türkiye 945 works
  9. 9 Indonesia 870 works
  10. 10 Netherlands 797 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 36.9%China: 14.2%United Kingdom: 10.1%India: 8.5%6 others listed: 30.3%37%largest
United States8,754 · 36.9%China3,364 · 14.2%United Kingdom2,387 · 10.1%India2,018 · 8.5%6 others listed7,197 · 30.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Applied Psychology research?

Harvard University (United States) ranks first in Applied Psychology on research quality in 2022-now, followed by Stanford University and University of Oxford.

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard University United States · Cambridge · #1 all time 16.3% top 10% · 198 works
  2. 2 Stanford University United States · Stanford · #2 all time 18.4% top 10% · 89 works
  3. 3 University of Oxford United Kingdom · Oxford · #13 all time 14.1% top 10% · 67 works
  4. 4 University of Toronto Canada · Toronto · #11 all time 12.9% top 10% · 152 works
  5. 5 University of Washington United States · Seattle · #14 all time 10.4% top 10% · 92 works
  6. 6 Cornell University United States · Ithaca · #9 all time 13.9% top 10% · 65 works
  7. 7 Columbia University United States · New York · #7 all time 9.4% top 10% · 63 works
  8. 8 University of Pennsylvania United States · Philadelphia · #4 all time 12.3% top 10% · 71 works
  9. 9 University College London United Kingdom · London · #3 all time 14.0% top 10% · 94 works
  10. 10 University of Michigan United States · Ann Arbor · #5 all time 11.3% top 10% · 86 works

The track on each row is that row's top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each place's own topics predict, adds its share of papers in the Nature Index journals, and counts output and breadth too.

Of 27 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Applied Psychology.

Top 100 Applied Psychology institutions

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 231 works
  2. 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 191 works
  3. 3 University of TorontoCanada 174 works
  4. 4 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 149 works
  5. 5 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 107 works
  6. 6 Stanford UniversityUnited States 104 works
  7. 7 University of WashingtonUnited States 103 works
  8. 8 King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 103 works
  9. 9 University of MichiganUnited States 100 works
  10. 10 The University of MelbourneAustralia 96 works

Who are the leading researchers in Applied Psychology?

Counting only their work in Applied Psychology, Pim Cuijpers, John Blake Torous and Gerhard Andersson have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

  1. 1 Pim Cuijpers Netherlands · #1,053 worldwide overall 70.1 of 182 papers here in the top 10%
  2. 2 John Blake Torous United States · #2,588 worldwide overall 55.5 of 168 papers here in the top 10%
  3. 3 Gerhard Andersson Sweden · #81,133 worldwide overall 55.9 of 205 papers here in the top 10%
  4. 4 Richard M. Ryan United States · #66 worldwide overall 36.0 of 52 papers here in the top 10%
  5. 5 Roy Frederick Baumeister United States · #9,804 worldwide overall 35.7 of 82 papers here in the top 10%
  6. 6 Susan G. Michie United Kingdom · #40,706 worldwide overall 34.2 of 94 papers here in the top 10%
  7. 7 David Curtis Mohr United States · #4,468 worldwide overall 30.7 of 71 papers here in the top 10%
  8. 8 Heleen M. Riper Netherlands · #18,336 worldwide overall 28.7 of 101 papers here in the top 10%
  9. 9 Per Carlbring Sweden · #54,097 worldwide overall 31.5 of 130 papers here in the top 10%
  10. 10 Helen M Christensen Australia · #15,949 worldwide overall 28.1 of 97 papers here in the top 10%

Ranked on their work in Applied Psychology alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 378,941 ranked researchers with a paper here. Each paper counts once, so many strong papers outrank one famous one, and a long record of ordinary papers does not climb. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Applied Psychology researchers

What are the most cited papers in Applied Psychology?

The most cited paper in Applied Psychology is "The theory of planned behavior" (Icek Ajzen, 1991), with 87,913 citations. Next come "Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies." (80,679) and "Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control" (40,874).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The theory of planned behavior Icek Ajzen · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Dec 1991 87,913
2 Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Philip M. Podsakoff, SCOTT B. MACKENZIE, Jeong Yeon Lee et al. · Journal of Applied Psychology 2003 80,679
3 Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control Albert Bandura, Wendy Freeman, Richard Lightsey · Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy 1999 40,874
4 The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior Edward L. Deci, Richard M. Ryan · Psychological Inquiry Oct 2000 33,752
5 Sources of Method Bias in Social Science Research and Recommendations on How to Control It Philip M. Podsakoff, SCOTT B. MACKENZIE, Nathan Philip Podsakoff · Annual Review of Psychology Review Mar 2011 15,513
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Applied Psychology research done?

The largest centres of Applied Psychology research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Beijing (China), New York (United States) and Seoul (South Korea). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Tilburg.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 640 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 500 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 367 works
  4. 4 SeoulSouth Korea 320 works
  5. 5 MelbourneAustralia 285 works
  6. 6 TorontoCanada 268 works
  7. 7 SydneyAustralia 267 works
  8. 8 BostonUnited States 249 works
  9. 9 ShanghaiChina 242 works
  10. 10 TokyoJapan 232 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. TilburgNL · 51.7 works8.3×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Applied Psychology than the world average.

See Applied Psychology on the map

Applied Psychology research by country

The best places for Applied Psychology research inside each country, with that country's researchers and world standing.

Where is the best place to study Applied Psychology?

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

0%10%20%mean 13.44%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Stanford UniversityHarvard UniversityUniversity College L…University of Toronto
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Standingthis field's institution ranking, three quarters all time and a quarter 2022-now
50%
Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
20%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
5%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
15%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
5%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
5%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreRank in field (all time)Top 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 88.6#1 (#1)16.4%2.3×231 +11.1%
2Stanford UniversityUnited States 79.0#2 (#2)17.7%2.3×104 +27.9%
3University College LondonUnited Kingdom 67.4#9 (#3)13.6%2.2×107 +9.5%
4University of TorontoCanada 62.4#4 (#11)12.7%2.8×174 +22.7%
5University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 59.5#8 (#4)12.2%2.4×79 -3.8%
6University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 59.0#3 (#13)13.9%1.8×77 +13.0%
7Cornell UniversityUnited States 58.3#6 (#9)14.3%1.9×77 +18.5%
8New York UniversityUnited States 58.0#11 (#6)12.8%2.3×82 +17.8%
9University of MichiganUnited States 57.8#10 (#5)11.3%2.1×100 -0.6%
10Columbia UniversityUnited States 56.4#7 (#7)9.5%2.3×77 +11.8%

Universities only. The score blends standing (50%), citation excellence (20%), size (15%), specialisation (5%), growth (5%), international reach (5%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise. Standing is the score in this field's institution ranking, three quarters over all time and a quarter 2022-now; excellence averages the two windows too. Four years alone undercount fields such as AI, where many conference and arXiv papers from 2022 on carry no affiliation in the data.

Every institution in Applied Psychology, country by country

Is Applied Psychology research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 35% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Digital Mental Health Interventions, Human Resource Development and Performance Evaluation and Coaching Methods and Impact.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Applied Psychology as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.14% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%Applied Psychology0.16% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Applied Psychology over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Applied Psychology10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

  1. Digital Mental Health Interventions+88%
  2. Human Resource Development and Performance Evaluation+48%
  3. Coaching Methods and Impact+30%
  4. Optimism, Hope, and Well-being+27%
  5. Psychological Testing and Assessment+0%
  6. Human Behavior and Motivation-2%
  7. Behavioral Health and Interventions-2%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2018-21 to 2022-25. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Applied Psychology include?

Behavioral Health and In…41kBehavioral Health and Interventions: 41k fractional worksDigital Mental Health In…31kDigital Mental Health Interventions: 31k fractional worksOptimism, Hope, and Well…17kOptimism, Hope, and Well-being: 17k fractional worksHuman Resource Developme…14kHuman Resource Development and Performance Evaluation: 14k fractional worksPsychological Testing and Assessment: 10k fractional worksCoaching Methods and Impact: 4,292 fractional worksHuman Behavior and Motivation: 1,898 fractional works

Area is fractional works in that topic. Every name below is a page of its own.

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Who leads Applied Psychology, on Science Explorer

A card with the countries and institutions that lead Applied Psychology, for a post or a slide.

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1200 × 630 PNG, sized for social posts, drawn from the latest snapshot.

The leading institutions' badges6Each links to that institution's page and updates with every snapshot

Discussion

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