Science Explorer Interactive view Map
Subfield · Social Sciences

Development research

Development is a subfield of Social Sciences. Science Explorer counts 96k research works in it since 1950. 17.6% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: detailed developed land.

Research works
96k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
17k
per year above
Top-10% rate
17.6%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
8
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+57%
the tick is no change

What is Development research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Knowledge Clusters, Climate Change, Regional Development, Innovation, Sustainable Development, Economic Development. Gaining share since 2009–13: Economic Development, Global Economy, Regional Development, Innovation, Sustainable Development. Losing share: Garment Industry, Labor Conditions, Local Economic Growth, Territorial Innovation.

▲ 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 26 words, with their numbers
  1. Knowledge Clusters14k▲ 4.1×2 topics
  2. Climate Change14k▲ 4.1×3 topics
  3. Regional Development14k▲ 4.2×2 topics
  4. Innovation14k▲ 4.2×2 topics
  5. Sustainable Development14k▲ 4.2×2 topics
  6. Economic Development13k▲ 4.2×1 topic
  7. Global Economy13k▲ 4.2×1 topic
  8. Poverty Reduction9,005▼ 0.64×2 topics
  9. Development Policies8,919▼ 0.64×1 topic
  10. Foreign Aid8,919▼ 0.64×1 topic
  11. Rural Development5,237▼ 0.62×2 topics
  12. Social Capital5,237▼ 0.62×2 topics
  13. Knowledge Management4,452▼ 0.54×2 topics
  14. Local Economic Growth4,361▼ 0.53×1 topic
  15. Territorial Innovation4,361▼ 0.53×1 topic
  16. Social Change974◆ 0.87×2 topics
  17. Development888▼ 0.85×1 topic
  18. Globalization888▼ 0.85×1 topic
  19. Health876▲ 2.9×1 topic
  20. Urbanization876▲ 2.9×1 topic
  21. Garment Industry341▼ 0.16×1 topic
  22. Labor Conditions341▼ 0.16×1 topic
  23. Environmental Policy91▲ 1.21×1 topic
  24. Sustainable Development Goals91▲ 1.21×1 topic
  25. Engineering Education86◆ 1.14×1 topic
  26. Latin America86◆ 1.14×1 topic

Which countries lead Development research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, the United Kingdom and China rank highest in Development. By volume, Russia and the United States publish the most (5.8k and 1.9k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 19.0% top 10% · 1.9k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom · #2 all time 30.7% top 10% · 734 works
  3. 3 China · #6 all time 23.8% top 10% · 959 works
  4. 4 Russia · #3 all time 9.3% top 10% · 5.8k works
  5. 5 Germany · #4 all time 21.9% top 10% · 625 works
  6. 6 Ukraine · #20 all time 12.1% top 10% · 755 works
  7. 7 Australia · #7 all time 26.4% top 10% · 240 works
  8. 8 Canada · #5 all time 24.6% top 10% · 240 works
  9. 9 Brazil · #14 all time 8.6% top 10% · 891 works
  10. 10 South Africa · #9 all time 18.1% top 10% · 374 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 22 countries ranked in Development. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Development

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Russia 5.8k works
  2. 2 United States 1.9k works
  3. 3 China 959 works
  4. 4 Brazil 891 works
  5. 5 Mexico 865 works
  6. 6 Ukraine 755 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 734 works
  8. 8 Germany 625 works
  9. 9 Spain 556 works
  10. 10 Colombia 465 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.

Russia: 42.7%United States: 13.9%China: 7.1%Brazil: 6.6%6 others listed: 29.7%43%largest
Russia5,762 · 42.7%United States1,869 · 13.9%China959 · 7.1%Brazil891 · 6.6%6 others listed4,001 · 29.7%

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

Which institutions lead Development research?

Financial University (Russia) ranks first in Development on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by National Research University Higher School of Economics and Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Financial University Russia · Moscow · #5 all time 12.9% top 10% · 410 works
  2. 2 National Research University Higher School of Economics Russia · Moscow · #17 all time 17.5% top 10% · 111 works
  3. 3 Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Russia · Moscow · #25 all time 9.2% top 10% · 222 works
  4. 4 Moscow State Institute of International Relations Russia · Moscow · #35 all time 16.9% top 10% · 107 works
  5. 5 The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Russia · Moscow · #26 all time 8.2% top 10% · 185 works
  6. 6 University of Johannesburg South Africa · Johannesburg · #38 all time 20.2% top 10% · 80 works
  7. 7 Lomonosov Moscow State University Russia · Moscow · #37 all time 12.8% top 10% · 136 works
  8. 8 Institute of Economics Russia · Yekaterinburg · #40 all time 18.8% top 10% · 96 works
  9. 9 Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University Russia · Saint Petersburg · #20 all time 17.2% top 10% · 69 works
  10. 10 Russian Academy of Sciences Russia · Moscow · #29 all time 12.8% top 10% · 86 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 21 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Development.

Top 100 Development institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Financial University Russia 410 works
  2. 2 Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Russia 222 works
  3. 3 The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Russia 185 works
  4. 4 Lomonosov Moscow State University Russia 136 works
  5. 5 Samara State University of Economics Russia 130 works
  6. 6 National Research University Higher School of Economics Russia 111 works
  7. 7 Moscow State Institute of International Relations Russia 107 works
  8. 8 State University of Management Russia 100 works
  9. 9 Institute of Economics Russia 96 works
  10. 10 Moscow State University Tajikistan 93 works

Who are the leading researchers in Development?

Among the most productive authors in Development, Michael E. Porter, Francis Fukuyama and William Diebold rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Michael E. Porter United States · #19 worldwide 4.7k citations · 226 works
  2. 2 Francis Fukuyama United States · #30 worldwide 4.1k citations · 158 works
  3. 3 William Diebold United States · #33 worldwide 3.8k citations · 208 works
  4. 4 Paúl Krugman United States · #35 worldwide 4.4k citations · 167 works
  5. 5 Robert J. Barro United States · #36 worldwide 7.9k citations · 165 works
  6. 6 Joseph E. Stiglitz United States · #43 worldwide 7.4k citations · 383 works
  7. 7 G. John Ikenberry United States · #57 worldwide 3k citations · 159 works
  8. 8 Richard N. Cooper United States · #109 worldwide 2.7k citations · 185 works
  9. 9 Immanuel Wallerstein United States · #111 worldwide 1.7k citations · 232 works
  10. 10 Lawrence H. Summers United States · #195 worldwide 3.9k citations · 125 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 3,239 highest-output authors in Development. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Development researchers

Where is Development research done?

The largest centres of Development research in 2022–2025 are Moscow (Russia), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Yekaterinburg (Russia) and Beijing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Lyubertsy, Marshall and Makhachkala.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Moscow Russia 2.6k works
  2. 2 Saint Petersburg Russia 405 works
  3. 3 Yekaterinburg Russia 261 works
  4. 4 Beijing China 255 works
  5. 5 Kyiv Ukraine 248 works
  6. 6 London United Kingdom 238 works
  7. 7 Mexico City Mexico 228 works
  8. 8 Samara Russia 218 works
  9. 9 Bogotá Colombia 202 works
  10. 10 Buenos Aires Argentina 174 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. LyubertsyRU · 22.9 works81×
  2. MarshallUS · 30.6 works37×
  3. MakhachkalaRU · 55.7 works30×
  4. BlagoveshchenskRU · 48.7 works28×
  5. GroznyRU · 38.0 works26×
  6. TulaRU · 34.7 works26×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Development on the map

Development research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Development?

Among universities, judged by research, Moscow State University, Financial University and European University Institute 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 16.91%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Moscow State University: 93, 11.3%Financial University: 410, 12.9%European University Institute: 15, 43.9%Plekhanov Russian University of Economics: 222, 9.2%Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University: 69, 17.2%State University of Management: 100, 12.4%Lomonosov Moscow State University: 136, 12.8%West Ukrainian National University: 26, 21.1%Moscow Aviation Institute: 53, 13.2%N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod: 39, 15.1%European University …Financial UniversityMoscow State Univers…Plekhanov Russian Un…
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
1Moscow State University Tajikistan 67.611.3%16.8×93 +322.2%
2Financial University Russia 66.912.9%88.0×410 +670.7%
3European University Institute Italy 64.743.9%9.3×15 +189.7%
4Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Russia 62.39.2%84.8×222 +1869.8%
5Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University Russia 60.517.2%16.0×69 +2003.5%
6State University of Management Russia 59.312.4%67.5×100 +713.1%
7Lomonosov Moscow State University Russia 58.312.8%7.7×136 +379.9%
8West Ukrainian National University Ukraine 56.621.1%14.1×26 +1083.3%
9Moscow Aviation Institute Russia 56.113.2%16.4×53 +670.8%
10N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod Russia 55.615.1%14.2×39 +404.9%

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 Development research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 57% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2021. The fastest-growing topics are Economic and Technological Developments in Russia, Medical and Agricultural Research Studies and 21st Century Education and Governance.

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. Economic and Technological Developments in Russia+1159%
  2. Medical and Agricultural Research Studies+462%
  3. 21st Century Education and Governance+420%
  4. Engineering Education and Global Impact+182%
  5. Development, Ethics, and Society+143%
  6. Regional Development and Innovation+114%
  7. Software Engineering and Design Patterns-54%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Development include?

International Developmen…39kInternational Development and Aid: 39k fractional worksEconomic and Technologic…25kEconomic and Technological Developments in Russia: 25k fractional worksRegional Development and…20kRegional Development and Innovation: 20k fractional worksSoftware Engineering and Design Patterns: 4,974 fractional worksDevelopment, Ethics, and Society: 3,560 fractional worksMedical and Agricultural Research Studies: 2,100 fractional worksEngineering Education and Global Impact: 405 fractional works21st Century Education and Governance: 328 fractional works

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