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Subfield · Social Sciences

Communication research

Communication is a subfield of Social Sciences. Science Explorer counts 252k research works in it since 1950. 23.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: act of conveying intended meaning.

Research works
252k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
58k
per year above
Top-10% rate
23.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
16
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+38%
the tick is no change

What is Communication research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Social Media, Digital Divide, Political Participation, Communication, Mediatization, Digital Media. Gaining share since 2009–13: Communication Theory, Learning Environment, Business, Intercultural Communication, COVID-19. Losing share: Collaboration, Wikipedia, Knowledge Sharing, Virtual Communities.

▲ 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 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Social Media35k▼ 0.81×6 topics
  2. Digital Divide17k◆ 1.09×1 topic
  3. Political Participation17k◆ 1.09×1 topic
  4. Communication13k▲ 1.35×5 topics
  5. Mediatization10k◆ 0.96×2 topics
  6. Digital Media10k▲ 1.66×3 topics
  7. Content Analysis10k▼ 0.85×2 topics
  8. Digital Journalism10k▼ 0.85×2 topics
  9. Social Capital9,187▼ 0.52×2 topics
  10. Social Networks9,159▲ 2.1×2 topics
  11. Education8,783▲ 2.8×2 topics
  12. Globalization8,783▲ 2.8×2 topics
  13. Agenda Setting8,602◆ 0.92×1 topic
  14. Media Framing8,602◆ 0.92×1 topic
  15. Information Quality8,229▲ 1.27×2 topics
  16. Crisis Communication8,191▲ 1.46×2 topics
  17. Business7,745▲ 5.6×1 topic
  18. Intercultural Communication7,745▲ 5.6×1 topic
  19. Knowledge Sharing6,913▼ 0.40×1 topic
  20. Virtual Communities6,913▼ 0.40×1 topic
  21. COVID-196,362▲ 4.8×1 topic
  22. Media System6,362▲ 4.8×1 topic
  23. Journalism6,087◆ 0.98×3 topics
  24. Disaster Management5,917◆ 1.13×1 topic
  25. Public Relations5,917◆ 1.13×1 topic
  26. Cultural Intelligence4,938◆ 0.90×1 topic
  27. Intercultural Competence4,938◆ 0.90×1 topic
  28. Organizational Communication3,931▲ 2.4×2 topics
  29. Swearing2,851▲ 1.33×1 topic
  30. Taboo Language2,851▲ 1.33×1 topic
  31. Audio Storytelling2,839▲ 1.17×1 topic
  32. Podcasting2,839▲ 1.17×1 topic
  33. Research2,797◆ 0.92×1 topic
  34. Spain2,797◆ 0.92×1 topic
  35. Communication Theory2,275▲ 5.7×1 topic
  36. Learning Environment2,275▲ 5.7×1 topic
  37. Collaboration1,867▼ 0.36×1 topic
  38. Wikipedia1,867▼ 0.36×1 topic
  39. Media1,742▼ 0.65×2 topics
  40. Digital Age1,656▲ 1.30×1 topic

Which countries lead Communication research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, China and the United Kingdom rank highest in Communication. By volume, the United States and Indonesia publish the most (8.3k and 4.4k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 27.9% top 10% · 8.3k works
  2. 2 China · #4 all time 29.5% top 10% · 3.3k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #2 all time 30.5% top 10% · 2.2k works
  4. 4 Germany · #3 all time 27.4% top 10% · 2.5k works
  5. 5 Australia · #5 all time 30.9% top 10% · 1.2k works
  6. 6 Spain · #8 all time 17.3% top 10% · 3.9k works
  7. 7 Netherlands · #6 all time 45.3% top 10% · 667 works
  8. 8 Italy · #9 all time 28.8% top 10% · 808 works
  9. 9 Indonesia · #26 all time 8.8% top 10% · 4.4k works
  10. 10 Canada · #7 all time 25.9% top 10% · 928 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 53 countries ranked in Communication. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Communication

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 8.3k works
  2. 2 Indonesia 4.4k works
  3. 3 Spain 3.9k works
  4. 4 Russia 3.4k works
  5. 5 China 3.3k works
  6. 6 Brazil 2.7k works
  7. 7 Germany 2.5k works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 2.2k works
  9. 9 Türkiye 1.7k works
  10. 10 Mexico 1.3k 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: 24.7%Indonesia: 13.0%Spain: 11.6%Russia: 10.1%6 others listed: 40.7%25%largest
United States8,310 · 24.7%Indonesia4,362 · 13.0%Spain3,905 · 11.6%Russia3,385 · 10.1%6 others listed14k · 40.7%

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

Which institutions lead Communication research?

University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) ranks first in Communication on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by University of Vienna and University of Oxford.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of Amsterdam Netherlands · Amsterdam · #1 all time 56.2% top 10% · 143 works
  2. 2 University of Vienna Austria · Vienna · #25 all time 49.0% top 10% · 118 works
  3. 3 University of Oxford United Kingdom · Oxford · #8 all time 44.3% top 10% · 85 works
  4. 4 University of Zurich Switzerland · Zurich · #11 all time 43.0% top 10% · 107 works
  5. 5 The University of Texas at Austin United States · Austin · #3 all time 41.4% top 10% · 109 works
  6. 6 Stanford University United States · Stanford · #4 all time 42.7% top 10% · 66 works
  7. 7 Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong · Hong Kong · #40 all time 57.8% top 10% · 68 works
  8. 8 Michigan State University United States · East Lansing · #5 all time 41.7% top 10% · 84 works
  9. 9 University of Helsinki Finland · Helsinki · #78 all time 36.5% top 10% · 94 works
  10. 10 KU Leuven Belgium · Leuven · #57 all time 54.1% top 10% · 63 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 104 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Communication.

Top 100 Communication institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Universidad Complutense de Madrid Spain 353 works
  2. 2 Universidad Rey Juan Carlos Spain 207 works
  3. 3 Universidad de Málaga Spain 206 works
  4. 4 Universidad de Sevilla Spain 175 works
  5. 5 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Mexico 146 works
  6. 6 University of Amsterdam Netherlands 143 works
  7. 7 Universitat de València Spain 140 works
  8. 8 University of the Basque Country Spain 129 works
  9. 9 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil 125 works
  10. 10 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Spain 124 works

Who are the leading researchers in Communication?

Among the most productive authors in Communication, Jure Leskovec, Manuel Castells and Teun A. van Dijk rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Jure Leskovec United States · #252 worldwide 4.3k citations · 142 works
  2. 2 Manuel Castells United States · #259 worldwide 1.1k citations · 160 works
  3. 3 Teun A. van Dijk Spain · #680 worldwide 2.5k citations · 107 works
  4. 4 David R. Karger United States · #696 worldwide 5.2k citations · 98 works
  5. 5 Yogesh K. Dwivedi United Kingdom · #810 worldwide 3.2k citations · 172 works
  6. 6 Richard E. Petty United States · #851 worldwide 4.2k citations · 116 works
  7. 7 Jon Kleinberg United States · #951 worldwide 3.1k citations · 119 works
  8. 8 Harold D. Lasswell United States · #1,281 worldwide 819 citations · 164 works
  9. 9 Richard M. Steers Canada · #1,468 worldwide 2.2k citations · 94 works
  10. 10 John W. Berry Canada · #1,713 worldwide 2.2k citations · 91 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 3,873 highest-output authors in Communication. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Communication researchers

Where is Communication research done?

The largest centres of Communication research in 2022–2025 are Moscow (Russia), Madrid (Spain), Beijing (China) and Jakarta (Indonesia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Villanueva de la Cañada.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Moscow Russia 1.2k works
  2. 2 Madrid Spain 957 works
  3. 3 Beijing China 624 works
  4. 4 Jakarta Indonesia 520 works
  5. 5 London United Kingdom 478 works
  6. 6 São Paulo Brazil 475 works
  7. 7 Bandung Indonesia 412 works
  8. 8 Mexico City Mexico 408 works
  9. 9 Istanbul Türkiye 372 works
  10. 10 Barcelona Spain 345 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Villanueva de la CañadaES · 20.5 works18×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Communication on the map

Communication research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Communication?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Amsterdam, University of Vienna and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos 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 28.45%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Amsterdam: 143, 56.2%University of Vienna: 118, 49.0%Universidad Rey Juan Carlos: 207, 18.7%Universitat Pompeu Fabra: 81, 30.9%Universidad de Málaga: 206, 16.8%Moscow State Institute of International Relations: 121, 7.2%Universidad Complutense de Madrid: 353, 14.7%Universidad Internacional De La Rioja: 105, 14.0%Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz: 73, 34.3%OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University: 38, 42.7%University of Amster…University of ViennaUniversitat Pompeu F…Universidad Rey Juan…
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
1University of Amsterdam Netherlands 65.956.2%4.9×143 +82.6%
2University of Vienna Austria 62.649.0%4.3×118 +149.1%
3Universidad Rey Juan Carlos Spain 57.618.7%14.2×207 +38.2%
4Universitat Pompeu Fabra Spain 56.330.9%9.2×81 +48.8%
5Universidad de Málaga Spain 56.016.8%11.6×206 +28.9%
6Moscow State Institute of International Relations Russia 55.67.2%12.4×121 +357.1%
7Universidad Complutense de Madrid Spain 54.714.7%8.4×353 +24.9%
8Universidad Internacional De La Rioja Spain 53.514.0%14.5×105 +105.1%
9Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Germany 53.434.3%4.4×73 +197.4%
10OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University Norway 53.342.7%7.2×38 +72.7%

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 Communication research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 38% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2021. The fastest-growing topics are Communication and COVID-19 Impact, Communication Studies and Media and Language, Communication, and Linguistic 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. Communication and COVID-19 Impact+891%
  2. Communication Studies and Media+730%
  3. Language, Communication, and Linguistic Studies+632%
  4. Media and Communication Studies+337%
  5. Advertising and Communication Studies+232%
  6. Social Media and Politics+212%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Communication include?

Social Media and Politics53kSocial Media and Politics: 53k fractional worksKnowledge Management and Sharing: 35k fractional worksMedia Studies and Communication: 35k fractional worksPublic Relations and Crisis Communication: 20k fractional worksInternational Student and Expatriate Challenges: 19k fractional worksLanguage, Communication, and Linguistic Studies: 15k fractional worksCommunication and COVID-19 Impact: 12k fractional worksWikis in Education and Collaboration: 10k fractional worksAdvertising and Communication Studies: 9,838 fractional worksRadio, Podcasts, and Digital Media: 9,246 fractional worksSwearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism: 8,740 fractional worksJournalism and Media Studies: 7,182 fractional works

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