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Subfield · Arts and Humanities

Classics research

Classics is a subfield of Arts and Humanities. Science Explorer counts 78k research works in it since 1950. 11.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: study of classical antiquity such as ancient Greece and ancient Rome.

Research works
78k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
9.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
11.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
5
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+27%
the tick is no change

What is Classics research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are History, Literature, Culture, Religion, Cultural Exchange, Manuscripts. Gaining share since 2009–13: Byzantium, Eastern Mediterranean, Cultural Exchange. Losing share: Anglo-Saxon, Monasticism, Culture, Religion.

▲ 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 17 words, with their numbers
  1. History9,094▼ 0.84×3 topics
  2. Literature9,094▼ 0.84×3 topics
  3. Culture7,425▼ 0.82×2 topics
  4. Religion7,425▼ 0.82×2 topics
  5. Cultural Exchange7,392▲ 1.25×2 topics
  6. Manuscripts6,833▼ 0.82×2 topics
  7. Medieval6,833▼ 0.82×2 topics
  8. Byzantium5,723▲ 1.37×1 topic
  9. Eastern Mediterranean5,723▲ 1.37×1 topic
  10. Anglo-Saxon5,164▼ 0.78×1 topic
  11. Monasticism5,164▼ 0.78×1 topic
  12. Cultural History3,034◆ 1.06×1 topic
  13. Medieval Literature3,034◆ 1.06×1 topic
  14. Art2,261◆ 0.91×1 topic
  15. Renaissance2,261◆ 0.91×1 topic
  16. Cantigas de Santa Maria1,669◆ 0.97×1 topic
  17. Iberian1,669◆ 0.97×1 topic

Which countries lead Classics research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany rank highest in Classics. By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (2.2k and 1.4k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 11.0% top 10% · 2.2k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom · #2 all time 11.0% top 10% · 1.4k works
  3. 3 Germany · #3 all time 8.7% top 10% · 1.4k works
  4. 4 Spain · #4 all time 14.3% top 10% · 916 works
  5. 5 Italy · #7 all time 8.9% top 10% · 821 works
  6. 6 Russia · #8 all time 13.0% top 10% · 507 works
  7. 7 France · #6 all time 7.0% top 10% · 1.3k works
  8. 8 Türkiye · #15 all time 18.2% top 10% · 360 works
  9. 9 Poland · #11 all time 14.1% top 10% · 391 works
  10. 10 Switzerland · #12 all time 9.3% top 10% · 258 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 11 countries ranked in Classics. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Classics

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 2.2k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 1.4k works
  3. 3 Germany 1.4k works
  4. 4 France 1.3k works
  5. 5 Spain 916 works
  6. 6 Italy 821 works
  7. 7 Russia 507 works
  8. 8 Poland 391 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 360 works
  10. 10 Canada 273 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: 22.8%United Kingdom: 14.9%Germany: 14.6%France: 13.6%6 others listed: 34.2%23%largest
United States2,180 · 22.8%United Kingdom1,420 · 14.9%Germany1,395 · 14.6%France1,299 · 13.6%6 others listed3,268 · 34.2%

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

Which institutions lead Classics research?

University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) ranks first in Classics on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by University of Oxford and Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of Cambridge United Kingdom · Cambridge · #1 all time 12.6% top 10% · 107 works
  2. 2 University of Oxford United Kingdom · Oxford · #2 all time 9.8% top 10% · 194 works
  3. 3 Universidad Complutense de Madrid Spain · Madrid · #8 all time 14.7% top 10% · 95 works
  4. 4 Film Independent United States · Los Angeles · #50 all time 11.8% top 10% · 65 works
  5. 5 Ca' Foscari University of Venice Italy · Venice · #67 all time 6.9% top 10% · 101 works
  6. 6 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela Spain · Santiago de Compostela · #34 all time 12.3% top 10% · 66 works
  7. 7 University of Edinburgh United Kingdom · Edinburgh · #13 all time 7.4% top 10% · 81 works
  8. 8 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Germany · Munich · #28 all time 8.4% top 10% · 60 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 8 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Classics.

Top 100 Classics institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of Oxford United Kingdom 194 works
  2. 2 University of Cambridge United Kingdom 107 works
  3. 3 Ca' Foscari University of Venice Italy 101 works
  4. 4 Universidad Complutense de Madrid Spain 95 works
  5. 5 University of Edinburgh United Kingdom 81 works
  6. 6 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela Spain 66 works
  7. 7 Film Independent United States 65 works
  8. 8 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Germany 60 works
  9. 9 University of St Andrews United Kingdom 58 works
  10. 10 Jagiellonian University Poland 57 works

Who are the leading researchers in Classics?

Among the most productive authors in Classics, Stuart Hall, Peter Burke and Aristotle  rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Stuart Hall United Kingdom · #115 worldwide 1.9k citations · 137 works
  2. 2 Peter Burke United States · #136 worldwide 997 citations · 191 works
  3. 3 Aristotle  South Africa · #590 worldwide 659 citations · 155 works
  4. 4 David R. Matthews United Kingdom · #2,041 worldwide 4.2k citations · 74 works
  5. 5 James A. Brundage United States · #2,930 worldwide 361 citations · 99 works
  6. 6 J. A. Emerton United States · #5,198 worldwide 285 citations · 99 works
  7. 7 Wietse de Boer Netherlands · #7,009 worldwide 595 citations · 89 works
  8. 8 Nicholas Watson United Kingdom · #7,210 worldwide 511 citations · 66 works
  9. 9 Klaus Berger Germany · #7,595 worldwide 612 citations · 94 works
  10. 10 Caroline Walker Bynum United States · #7,666 worldwide 566 citations · 56 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 3,702 highest-output authors in Classics. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Classics researchers

Where is Classics research done?

The largest centres of Classics research in 2022–2025 are Paris (France), Moscow (Russia), Madrid (Spain) and Oxford (United Kingdom).

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Paris France 383 works
  2. 2 Moscow Russia 266 works
  3. 3 Madrid Spain 214 works
  4. 4 Oxford United Kingdom 213 works
  5. 5 London United Kingdom 187 works
  6. 6 New York United States 124 works
  7. 7 Rome Italy 123 works
  8. 8 Berlin Germany 121 works
  9. 9 Vienna Austria 112 works
  10. 10 Cambridge United Kingdom 111 works
See Classics on the map

Classics research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Classics?

Among universities, judged by research, Indiana University, Ca' Foscari University of Venice and University of Oxford 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%60%mean 24.09%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Indiana University: 19, 57.0%Ca' Foscari University of Venice: 101, 6.9%University of Oxford: 194, 9.8%University of Lincoln: 17, 21.8%Universidad de Huelva: 10, 47.2%University of Iceland: 16, 17.8%University of Oslo: 39, 23.4%Universidad Complutense de Madrid: 95, 14.7%University of Bergamo: 9, 35.2%University of Cologne: 45, 7.1%Indiana UniversityUniversity of LincolnUniversity of OxfordCa' Foscari Universi…
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
1Indiana University United States 63.357.0%11.3×19 -25.2%
2Ca' Foscari University of Venice Italy 61.26.9%34.2×101 +608.9%
3University of Oxford United Kingdom 60.99.8%12.6×194 +59.3%
4University of Lincoln United Kingdom 59.821.8%13.7×17 +503.3%
5Universidad de Huelva Spain 56.747.2%8.5×10 +72.5%
6University of Iceland Iceland 56.617.8%10.6×16 +175.2%
7University of Oslo Norway 55.823.4%6.6×39 +174.4%
8Universidad Complutense de Madrid Spain 55.714.7%10.3×95 +43.2%
9University of Bergamo Italy 55.735.2%7.7×9 +318.9%
10University of Cologne Germany 55.17.1%11.4×45 +161.9%

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 Classics research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 27% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2021. The fastest-growing topics are Medieval Iberian Studies, Byzantine Studies and History and Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies.

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. Medieval Iberian Studies+202%
  2. Byzantine Studies and History+168%
  3. Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies+132%
  4. Medieval Literature and History+90%
  5. Renaissance Literature and Culture+84%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Classics include?

Medieval Literature and …26kMedieval Literature and History: 26k fractional worksByzantine Studies and Hi…20kByzantine Studies and History: 20k fractional worksHistorical, Literary, and Cultural Studies: 13k fractional worksRenaissance Literature and Culture: 11k fractional worksMedieval Iberian Studies: 7,322 fractional works

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