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Subfield · Social Sciences

Geography, Planning and Development research

Geography, Planning and Development is a subfield of Social Sciences. Science Explorer counts 180k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: science that studies the terrestrial surface, the societies that inhabit it and the territories, landscapes, places or regions that form it when interacting with each other.

Research works
180k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
18k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
15
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+16%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Indonesia
41% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Geography, Planning and Development

What is Geography, Planning and Development research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are Rural Development, Community Empowerment, Local Government, Village Fund, Globalization, Tourism. Gaining share since 2011-15: Local Government, Village Fund, Community Empowerment, Rural Development, Economic Development. Losing share: Public Administration, Spatial Planning, Geospatial Crowdsourcing, Volunteered Geographic Information.

▲ 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 39 words, with their numbers
  1. Rural Development18k▲ 4.4×2 topics
  2. Community Empowerment17k▲ 5.8×2 topics
  3. Local Government16k▲ 8.8×1 topic
  4. Village Fund16k▲ 8.8×1 topic
  5. Globalization11k▲ 1.30×3 topics
  6. Tourism10k▲ 1.40×3 topics
  7. Economic Development8,812▲ 1.61×1 topic
  8. Policy8,812▲ 1.61×1 topic
  9. Geography8,418◆ 0.96×2 topics
  10. Space8,086◆ 1.05×2 topics
  11. Affect7,242◆ 1.06×1 topic
  12. Multispecies Ethnography7,242◆ 1.06×1 topic
  13. Cultural Geography6,052▼ 0.77×2 topics
  14. Geospatial Crowdsourcing5,258▼ 0.41×1 topic
  15. Volunteered Geographic Information5,258▼ 0.41×1 topic
  16. Pilgrimage5,208▼ 0.75×1 topic
  17. Religious Tourism5,208▼ 0.75×1 topic
  18. Pacific Islands3,265▼ 0.64×1 topic
  19. settlement3,265▼ 0.64×1 topic
  20. Geography Education2,273▼ 0.73×1 topic
  21. Spatial Thinking2,273▼ 0.73×1 topic
  22. Cultural Heritage2,054▼ 0.64×2 topics
  23. Geodesy1,649▼ 0.51×1 topic
  24. Map Projections1,649▼ 0.51×1 topic
  25. Public Administration1,264▼ 0.35×1 topic
  26. Spatial Planning1,264▼ 0.35×1 topic
  27. Territorial Cohesion1,183▼ 0.56×1 topic
  28. Urban Planning1,183▼ 0.56×1 topic
  29. Academic Discourse1,175▼ 0.60×1 topic
  30. Public Policy1,175▼ 0.60×1 topic
  31. Sustainable Development974▼ 0.73×2 topics
  32. National Identity871▼ 0.79×1 topic
  33. Regional Development871▼ 0.79×1 topic
  34. Heterotopia844◆ 0.94×1 topic
  35. Spatial Turn844◆ 0.94×1 topic
  36. Qualitative Research471▼ 0.69×1 topic
  37. Teoría Fundamentada471▼ 0.69×1 topic
  38. Global Development103▼ 0.46×1 topic
  39. Policy Analysis103▼ 0.46×1 topic

Which countries lead Geography, Planning and Development research?

On research quality in 2022-now, the United States, the United Kingdom and China rank highest in Geography, Planning and Development. By volume, Indonesia and Hungary publish the most (15k and 6k works in 2022-now).

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States #1 all time 0.85× citation excellence · 1.52× journals · 100% breadth 9.8% top 10% · 4.2k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom #2 all time 1.24× citation excellence · 1.44× journals · 100% breadth 14.0% top 10% · 2k works
  3. 3 China #6 all time 1.42× citation excellence · 1.04× journals · 100% breadth 21.0% top 10% · 1.6k works
  4. 4 Hungary #8 all time 1.02× citation excellence · 0.60× journals · 100% breadth 9.6% top 10% · 5.7k works
  5. 5 Germany #4 all time 1.07× citation excellence · 1.39× journals · 100% breadth 10.2% top 10% · 1.1k works
  6. 6 Spain #5 all time 1.28× citation excellence · 1.00× journals · 100% breadth 9.9% top 10% · 1.2k works
  7. 7 Australia #3 all time 1.23× citation excellence · 1.19× journals · 100% breadth 14.2% top 10% · 911 works
  8. 8 France #9 all time 0.77× citation excellence · 1.25× journals · 100% breadth 5.0% top 10% · 1.1k works
  9. 9 Netherlands #10 all time 1.21× citation excellence · 1.45× journals · 100% breadth 14.4% top 10% · 391 works
  10. 10 Canada #7 all time 0.88× citation excellence · 1.20× journals · 100% breadth 9.6% top 10% · 740 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 28 countries ranked in Geography, Planning and Development. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Geography, Planning and Development

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Indonesia 15k works
  2. 2 Hungary 6k works
  3. 3 United States 4.8k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 2.2k works
  5. 5 China 1.9k works
  6. 6 Poland 1.4k works
  7. 7 Spain 1.4k works
  8. 8 Germany 1.3k works
  9. 9 France 1.2k works
  10. 10 Australia 1k 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.

Indonesia: 41.3%Hungary: 16.6%United States: 13.3%United Kingdom: 6.2%6 others listed: 22.5%41%largest
Indonesia15k · 41.3%Hungary5,981 · 16.6%United States4,803 · 13.3%United Kingdom2,232 · 6.2%6 others listed8,111 · 22.5%

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

Which institutions lead Geography, Planning and Development research?

University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) ranks first in Geography, Planning and Development on research quality in 2022-now, followed by University of Oxford and Eötvös Loránd University.

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of Cambridge United Kingdom · Cambridge · #6 all time 18.3% top 10% · 98 works
  2. 2 University of Oxford United Kingdom · Oxford · #1 all time 20.0% top 10% · 92 works
  3. 3 Eötvös Loránd University Hungary · Budapest · #16 all time 13.4% top 10% · 492 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #5 all time 29.6% top 10% · 83 works
  5. 5 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #3 all time 5.4% top 10% · 364 works
  6. 6 Hungarian Academy of Sciences Hungary · Budapest 6.4% top 10% · 393 works
  7. 7 Corvinus University of Budapest Hungary · Budapest · #24 all time 20.5% top 10% · 224 works
  8. 8 Ludovika University of Public Service Hungary · Budapest · #12 all time 5.3% top 10% · 718 works
  9. 9 University College London United Kingdom · London · #2 all time 14.7% top 10% · 70 works
  10. 10 Budapest University of Economics and Business Hungary · Budapest · #55 all time 12.9% top 10% · 144 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 104 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Geography, Planning and Development.

Top 100 Geography, Planning and Development institutions

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Ludovika University of Public ServiceHungary 760 works
  2. 2 University of DebrecenHungary 639 works
  3. 3 Eötvös Loránd UniversityHungary 516 works
  4. 4 Hungarian Academy of SciencesHungary 413 works
  5. 5 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 399 works
  6. 6 University of PecsHungary 377 works
  7. 7 University of SzegedHungary 351 works
  8. 8 Universitas Patria ArthaIndonesia 311 works
  9. 9 University of MiskolcHungary 277 works
  10. 10 Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia 262 works

Who are the leading researchers in Geography, Planning and Development?

Counting only their work in Geography, Planning and Development, Michael Frank Goodchild, Dorian Q. Fuller and Sue O’Connor have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

  1. 1 Michael Frank Goodchild United States · #17,917 worldwide overall 35.6 of 92 papers here in the top 10%
  2. 2 Dorian Q. Fuller United Kingdom · #1,163 worldwide overall 25.9 of 38 papers here in the top 10%
  3. 3 Sue O’Connor Australia · #36,654 worldwide overall 26.5 of 64 papers here in the top 10%
  4. 4 Michael P. Richards Germany · #33,035 worldwide overall 19.5 of 34 papers here in the top 10%
  5. 4 Patrick Vinton Kirch United States · #252,024 worldwide overall 26.3 of 102 papers here in the top 10%
  6. 6 Houyuan Lü China · #27,184 worldwide overall 17.8 of 20 papers here in the top 10%
  7. 7 Peter S. Bellwood Australia · #33,961 worldwide overall 20.3 of 50 papers here in the top 10%
  8. 8 Guanghui Dong China · #23,324 worldwide overall 17.5 of 22 papers here in the top 10%
  9. 9 Alexander Zipf Germany · #148,075 worldwide overall 18.7 of 52 papers here in the top 10%
  10. 10 Dolores R. Piperno Panama · #5,646 worldwide overall 14.7 of 18 papers here in the top 10%

Ranked on their work in Geography, Planning and Development alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 396,415 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 Geography, Planning and Development researchers

What are the most cited papers in Geography, Planning and Development?

The most cited paper in Geography, Planning and Development is "Influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals" (Michael J. DeNiro, Samuel Abraham Epstein, 1981), with 6,154 citations. Next come "The New Mobilities Paradigm" (5,546) and "Influence of diet on the distribution of carbon isotopes in animals" (4,882).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals Michael J. DeNiro, Samuel Abraham Epstein · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta Mar 1981 6,154
2 The New Mobilities Paradigm Mimí Sheller, John Urry · Environment and Planning A Economy and Space Feb 2006 5,546
3 Influence of diet on the distribution of carbon isotopes in animals Michael J. DeNiro, Samuel Abraham Epstein · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta May 1978 4,882
4 Status of land cover classification accuracy assessment Giles M. Foody · Remote Sensing of Environment Apr 2002 4,605
5 Citizens as sensors: the world of volunteered geography Michael Frank Goodchild · GeoJournal 19 Nov 2007 4,543
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Geography, Planning and Development research done?

The largest centres of Geography, Planning and Development research in 2022-now are Budapest (Hungary), Jakarta (Indonesia), Surabaya (Indonesia) and Makassar (Indonesia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Lihue, Dunaújváros and Sopron.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BudapestHungary 3.4k works
  2. 2 JakartaIndonesia 1.2k works
  3. 3 SurabayaIndonesia 932 works
  4. 4 MakassarIndonesia 857 works
  5. 5 BandungIndonesia 830 works
  6. 6 MedanIndonesia 786 works
  7. 7 DebrecenHungary 663 works
  8. 8 MalangIndonesia 608 works
  9. 9 YogyakartaIndonesia 567 works
  10. 10 SemarangIndonesia 517 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. LihueUS · 83.5 works134×
  2. DunaújvárosHU · 26.2 works72×
  3. SopronHU · 98.6 works59×
  4. EgerHU · 90.5 works58×
  5. MiskolcHU · 286.5 works50×
  6. DebrecenHU · 662.7 works47×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Geography, Planning and Development on the map

Geography, Planning and Development research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Geography, Planning and Development?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and Eötvös Loránd University 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 15.58%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of OxfordUniversity of Cambri…University College L…Eötvös Loránd Univer…
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
1University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 81.2#2 (#1)19.1%1.8×104 +17.8%
2University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 68.9#1 (#6)17.1%2.2×109 +13.3%
3Eötvös Loránd UniversityHungary 63.8#3 (#16)13.3%40.8×516 +32.7%
4University College LondonUnited Kingdom 63.4#9 (#2)14.3%1.2×80 -18.4%
5Ludovika University of Public ServiceHungary 57.6#8 (#12)5.4%163.0×760 +59.3%
6Corvinus University of BudapestHungary 57.0#7 (#24)20.4%60.7×239 +1.0%
7University of California, Santa BarbaraUnited States 53.7- (#4)20.9%2.3×30 -36.1%
8The University of MelbourneAustralia 52.5#12 (#7)15.9%1.7×80 -23.4%
9Australian National UniversityAustralia 51.4#11 (#13)10.0%4.9×105 +4.9%
10National University of SingaporeSingapore 51.1- (#10)19.4%0.9×44 +10.5%

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 Geography, Planning and Development, country by country

Is Geography, Planning and Development research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 16% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Local Governance and Development, Spatial and Cultural Studies and Hungarian Social, Economic and Educational Studies.

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 Geography, Planning and Development as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.20% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%0.30%Geography, Planning and Development0.20% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Geography, Planning and Development 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%Geography, Planning and Development9.9% 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. Local Governance and Development+49%
  2. Spatial and Cultural Studies+37%
  3. Hungarian Social, Economic and Educational Studies+27%
  4. Global socioeconomic and cultural dynamics+26%
  5. Historical Geography and Geographical Thought+21%
  6. Geography Education and Pedagogy+15%
  7. Galician and Iberian cultural studies-2%
  8. Geographic Information Systems Studies-6%
  9. Geography and Environmental Studies in Latin America-20%
  10. Local Governance and Planning-30%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Geography, Planning and Development include?

Geographic Information Systems Studies: 30k fractional worksLocal Governance and Development: 26k fractional worksGeographies of human-ani…21kGeographies of human-animal interactions: 21k fractional worksHungarian Social, Econom…21kHungarian Social, Economic and Educational Studies: 21k fractional worksReligious Tourism and Spaces: 19k fractional worksPacific and Southeast Asian Studies: 17k fractional worksHistorical Geography and…10kHistorical Geography and Cartography: 10k fractional worksGeography Education and Pedagogy: 9,503 fractional worksLocal Governance and Planning: 6,347 fractional worksHistorical Geography and Geographical Thought: 5,825 fractional worksGalician and Iberian cultural studies: 5,190 fractional worksNationalism and Cultural Identity: 3,057 fractional works

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

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Who leads Geography, Planning and Development, on Science Explorer

A card with the countries and institutions that lead Geography, Planning and Development, 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

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