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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. 25.2% 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%
30k
per year above
Top-10% rate
25.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
7
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+54%
the tick is no change

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

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Meta-Analysis, Self-Regulation, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Internet-based Interventions, Social Support. Gaining share since 2009–13: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Internet-based Interventions, Hope Theory, Optimism. 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 2019–23 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2009–13. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 16 words, with their numbers
  1. Meta-Analysis14k▼ 0.78×2 topics
  2. Self-Regulation11k▼ 0.82×1 topic
  3. Theory of Planned Behaviour11k▼ 0.82×1 topic
  4. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy11k▲ 2.3×1 topic
  5. Internet-based Interventions11k▲ 2.3×1 topic
  6. Social Support5,691◆ 1.08×2 topics
  7. Hope Theory5,512▲ 1.16×1 topic
  8. Optimism5,512▲ 1.16×1 topic
  9. Training Motivation2,719▼ 0.65×1 topic
  10. Training Transfer2,719▼ 0.65×1 topic
  11. Psychological Testing1,112▼ 0.38×1 topic
  12. Rorschach Comprehensive System1,112▼ 0.38×1 topic
  13. Coaching Psychology769▼ 0.48×1 topic
  14. Executive Coaching769▼ 0.48×1 topic
  15. Human Motivation178▼ 0.35×1 topic
  16. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs178▼ 0.35×1 topic

Which countries lead Applied Psychology research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, China and the United Kingdom rank highest in Applied Psychology. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (7.5k and 2.5k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 22.4% top 10% · 7.5k works
  2. 2 China · #5 all time 35.0% top 10% · 2.5k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #2 all time 28.1% top 10% · 2.1k works
  4. 4 Germany · #4 all time 27.7% top 10% · 1.7k works
  5. 5 Australia · #3 all time 33.4% top 10% · 1.1k works
  6. 6 Canada · #6 all time 25.6% top 10% · 1.1k works
  7. 7 India · #12 all time 14.8% top 10% · 1.6k works
  8. 8 Italy · #8 all time 31.1% top 10% · 574 works
  9. 9 Netherlands · #7 all time 32.4% top 10% · 689 works
  10. 10 South Korea · #13 all time 30.4% top 10% · 466 works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 32 countries ranked in Applied Psychology. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Applied Psychology

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 7.5k works
  2. 2 China 2.5k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 2.1k works
  4. 4 Germany 1.7k works
  5. 5 India 1.6k works
  6. 6 Australia 1.1k works
  7. 7 Canada 1.1k works
  8. 8 Türkiye 808 works
  9. 9 Indonesia 705 works
  10. 10 Netherlands 689 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: 37.8%China: 12.6%United Kingdom: 10.4%Germany: 8.7%6 others listed: 30.5%38%largest
United States7,482 · 37.8%China2,484 · 12.6%United Kingdom2,057 · 10.4%Germany1,726 · 8.7%6 others listed6,026 · 30.5%

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 2022–2025, followed by Stanford University and University College London.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Harvard University United States · Cambridge · #4 all time 39.5% top 10% · 101 works
  2. 2 Stanford University United States · Stanford · #1 all time 38.6% top 10% · 72 works
  3. 3 University College London United Kingdom · London · #3 all time 34.9% top 10% · 84 works
  4. 4 The University of Melbourne Australia · Melbourne · #20 all time 35.2% top 10% · 78 works
  5. 5 King's College London United Kingdom · London · #29 all time 31.8% top 10% · 84 works
  6. 6 University of Toronto Canada · Toronto · #14 all time 32.0% top 10% · 95 works
  7. 7 The University of Sydney Australia · Sydney · #31 all time 38.9% top 10% · 68 works
  8. 8 University of Washington United States · Seattle · #5 all time 30.4% top 10% · 80 works
  9. 9 University of British Columbia Canada · Vancouver · #26 all time 30.3% top 10% · 64 works
  10. 10 Pennsylvania State University United States · State College · #13 all time 27.6% top 10% · 71 works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 13 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Applied Psychology.

Top 100 Applied Psychology institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 142 works
  2. 2 Harvard UniversityUnited States 101 works
  3. 3 University of TorontoCanada 95 works
  4. 4 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 84 works
  5. 5 King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 84 works
  6. 6 University of WashingtonUnited States 80 works
  7. 7 University of MichiganUnited States 79 works
  8. 8 The University of MelbourneAustralia 78 works
  9. 9 Stanford UniversityUnited States 72 works
  10. 10 Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States 71 works

Who are the leading researchers in Applied Psychology?

Among the most productive authors in Applied Psychology, Ronald C. Kessler, Aziz Sheikh and Deborah Estrin rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Ronald C. Kessler United States · #14 worldwide 9.8k citations · 232 works
  2. 2 Aziz Sheikh United Kingdom · #17 worldwide 5.8k citations · 274 works
  3. 3 Deborah Estrin United States · #60 worldwide 5.9k citations · 183 works
  4. 4 Josep María Haro Spain · #63 worldwide 6.4k citations · 180 works
  5. 5 Jeremy Grimshaw Canada · #68 worldwide 14k citations · 133 works
  6. 6 Lisa Hartling Canada · #92 worldwide 5k citations · 144 works
  7. 7 Philip B. Mitchell Australia · #134 worldwide 3.7k citations · 146 works
  8. 8 Till Bärnighausen Germany · #139 worldwide 5.4k citations · 123 works
  9. 9 Richard M. Ryan United States · #153 worldwide 10k citations · 118 works
  10. 10 Robert Rosenthal United States · #204 worldwide 3.8k citations · 135 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 4,090 highest-output authors in Applied Psychology. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Applied Psychology researchers

Where is Applied Psychology research done?

The largest centres of Applied Psychology research in 2022–2025 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, 2022–2025

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 550 works
  2. 2 Beijing China 421 works
  3. 3 New York United States 302 works
  4. 4 Seoul South Korea 270 works
  5. 5 Melbourne Australia 248 works
  6. 6 Toronto Canada 232 works
  7. 7 Sydney Australia 232 works
  8. 8 Boston United States 211 works
  9. 9 Shanghai China 197 works
  10. 10 Tokyo Japan 197 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. TilburgNL · 45.0 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, Tilburg University, Universität Ulm and Nottingham Trent University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 37.42%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Tilburg University: 43, 38.9%Universität Ulm: 28, 38.0%Nottingham Trent University: 24, 43.5%Harvard University: 101, 39.5%Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam: 54, 41.0%Ruhr University Bochum: 30, 46.3%The University of Melbourne: 78, 35.2%Uniwersytet SWPS: 19, 19.5%University of Zurich: 53, 40.5%King's College London: 84, 31.8%Nottingham Trent Uni…Harvard UniversityTilburg UniversityUniversität Ulm
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Tilburg UniversityNetherlands 62.238.9%8.8×43 +24.6%
2 Universität UlmGermany 61.538.0%6.3×28 +232.8%
3 Nottingham Trent UniversityUnited Kingdom 60.843.5%5.2×24 +252.0%
4 Harvard UniversityUnited States 59.739.5%2.8×101 +108.6%
5 Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 57.741.0%4.8×54 +57.6%
6 Ruhr University BochumGermany 56.646.3%2.7×30 +204.3%
7 The University of MelbourneAustralia 54.735.2%2.8×78 +104.3%
8 Uniwersytet SWPSPoland 54.419.5%10.2×19 +183.0%
9 University of ZurichSwitzerland 54.240.5%3.4×53 +55.7%
10 King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 53.631.8%3.8×84 +59.2%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Applied Psychology research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 54% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Digital Mental Health Interventions, Optimism, Hope, and Well-being and Behavioral Health and Interventions.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

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+448%
  2. Optimism, Hope, and Well-being+166%
  3. Behavioral Health and Interventions+150%
  4. Coaching Methods and Impact+90%
  5. Human Resource Development and Performance Evaluation+82%
  6. Human Behavior and Motivation+50%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. 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.