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Subfield · Arts and Humanities

Museology research

Museology is a subfield of Arts and Humanities. Science Explorer counts 105k 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: study of museums.

Research works
105k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
11k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
9
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+19%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Türkiye
32% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Museology

What is Museology research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are Cultural Heritage, Folklore, Turkish Culture, Sustainability, Identity, Cultural Studies. Gaining share since 2011-15: Folklore, Turkish Culture, Cultural Heritage, Literature, Museum. Losing share: Artistic Exchange, Cultural Transfer, CSR Communication, Transmedia Storytelling.

▲ 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 22 words, with their numbers
  1. Cultural Heritage12k▲ 2.3×2 topics
  2. Folklore9,043▲ 3.5×1 topic
  3. Turkish Culture9,043▲ 3.5×1 topic
  4. Sustainability8,660◆ 0.92×3 topics
  5. Identity7,433▼ 0.76×2 topics
  6. Cultural Studies6,989▼ 0.76×2 topics
  7. Clothing5,175▼ 0.82×1 topic
  8. Fashion5,175▼ 0.82×1 topic
  9. Informal Education5,056▼ 0.81×1 topic
  10. Museum Learning5,056▼ 0.81×1 topic
  11. Artistic Exchange3,291▼ 0.55×1 topic
  12. Cultural Transfer3,291▼ 0.55×1 topic
  13. Craftivism3,153◆ 1.11×1 topic
  14. Handicraft3,153◆ 1.11×1 topic
  15. Literature2,950▲ 1.20×1 topic
  16. Museum2,950▲ 1.20×1 topic
  17. Cultural History2,258▼ 0.65×1 topic
  18. Photography2,258▼ 0.65×1 topic
  19. CSR Communication1,814▼ 0.62×1 topic
  20. Transmedia Storytelling1,814▼ 0.62×1 topic
  21. Communication Theory333◆ 1.05×1 topic
  22. Cultural Product Design333◆ 1.05×1 topic

Which countries lead Museology research?

On research quality in 2022-now, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom rank highest in Museology. By volume, Türkiye and the United States publish the most (6.6k and 3.1k works in 2022-now).

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Germany #3 all time 1.12× citation excellence · 1.39× journals · 100% breadth 9.9% top 10% · 2.1k works
  2. 2 United States #1 all time 0.74× citation excellence · 1.53× journals · 100% breadth 9.1% top 10% · 2.7k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom #2 all time 1.11× citation excellence · 1.44× journals · 100% breadth 13.8% top 10% · 1.5k works
  4. 4 Spain #4 all time 1.51× citation excellence · 0.99× journals · 100% breadth 13.7% top 10% · 1.3k works
  5. 5 China #9 all time 1.10× citation excellence · 1.03× journals · 100% breadth 15.0% top 10% · 966 works
  6. 6 France #5 all time 0.78× citation excellence · 1.25× journals · 100% breadth 5.6% top 10% · 1.1k works
  7. 7 Switzerland #8 all time 0.97× citation excellence · 1.87× journals · 100% breadth 10.2% top 10% · 286 works
  8. 8 Australia #6 all time 1.05× citation excellence · 1.19× journals · 100% breadth 13.6% top 10% · 427 works
  9. 9 Netherlands #10 all time 1.31× citation excellence · 1.45× journals · 100% breadth 19.8% top 10% · 206 works
  10. 10 Canada #7 all time 1.02× citation excellence · 1.20× journals · 100% breadth 11.7% top 10% · 386 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 23 countries ranked in Museology. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Museology

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Türkiye 6.6k works
  2. 2 United States 3.1k works
  3. 3 Germany 2.5k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 1.7k works
  5. 5 Spain 1.5k works
  6. 6 France 1.2k works
  7. 7 China 1.2k works
  8. 8 Brazil 1k works
  9. 9 India 822 works
  10. 10 Italy 714 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.

Türkiye: 32.4%United States: 15.4%Germany: 12.3%United Kingdom: 8.2%6 others listed: 31.7%32%largest
Türkiye6,596 · 32.4%United States3,146 · 15.4%Germany2,510 · 12.3%United Kingdom1,669 · 8.2%6 others listed6,462 · 31.7%

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

Which institutions lead Museology research?

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) ranks first in Museology on research quality in 2022-now, followed by Ankara Sosyal Bilimler Üniversitesi and Freie Universität Berlin.

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #2 all time 4.5% top 10% · 279 works
  2. 2 Ankara Sosyal Bilimler Üniversitesi Türkiye · Ankara · #12 all time 12.0% top 10% · 185 works
  3. 3 Freie Universität Berlin Germany · Berlin · #22 all time 8.7% top 10% · 66 works
  4. 4 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Germany · Berlin · #11 all time 11.9% top 10% · 62 works
  5. 5 Leibniz Association Germany · Berlin · #7 all time 15.7% top 10% · 72 works
  6. 6 Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University Türkiye · Ankara · #52 all time 10.3% top 10% · 167 works
  7. 7 Mi̇lli̇ Eği̇ti̇m Bakanliği Türkiye · Ankara · #41 all time 8.6% top 10% · 125 works
  8. 8 Universidad Complutense de Madrid Spain · Madrid · #36 all time 11.4% top 10% · 115 works
  9. 9 Mardin Artuklu University Türkiye · Mardin 17.5% top 10% · 69 works
  10. 10 Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University Türkiye · Nevşehir · #79 all time 9.8% top 10% · 81 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 40 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Museology.

Top 100 Museology institutions

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 292 works
  2. 2 Ankara Sosyal Bilimler ÜniversitesiTürkiye 192 works
  3. 3 Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli UniversityTürkiye 177 works
  4. 4 Mi̇lli̇ Eği̇ti̇m BakanliğiTürkiye 133 works
  5. 5 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 131 works
  6. 6 Atatürk UniversityTürkiye 128 works
  7. 7 Selçuk UniversityTürkiye 125 works
  8. 8 Hacettepe UniversityTürkiye 123 works
  9. 9 Ankara UniversityTürkiye 116 works
  10. 10 Leibniz AssociationGermany 108 works

Who are the leading researchers in Museology?

Counting only their work in Museology, John H. Falk, Rungtai Lin and Daniela K. Rosner have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

  1. 1 John H. Falk United States · #36,657 worldwide overall 12.7 of 20 papers here in the top 10%
  2. 2 Rungtai Lin Taiwan · #997,392 worldwide overall 14.5 of 34 papers here in the top 10%
  3. 3 Daniela K. Rosner United States · #70,658 worldwide overall 9.9 of 14 papers here in the top 10%
  4. 4 Marilyn DeLong United States · #1,139,709 worldwide overall 11.5 of 30 papers here in the top 10%
  5. 5 Kirsi Niinimäki Finland · #272,353 worldwide overall 11.1 of 27 papers here in the top 10%
  6. 6 Julia Twigg United Kingdom · #180,640 worldwide overall 9.5 of 14 papers here in the top 10%
  7. 7 Susan B. Kaiser United States · #607,792 worldwide overall 10.2 of 27 papers here in the top 10%
  8. 8 Ingun Grimstad Klepp Norway · #159,309 worldwide overall 9.0 of 12 papers here in the top 10%
  9. 9 David P. Anderson Canada · #1,379,955 worldwide overall 9.0 of 16 papers here in the top 10%
  10. 10 Lisa S. McNeill New Zealand · #303,194 worldwide overall 7.3 of 7 papers here in the top 10%

Ranked on their work in Museology alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 226,535 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 Museology researchers

What are the most cited papers in Museology?

The most cited paper in Museology is "Culture and Consumption: A Theoretical Account of the Structure and Movement of the Cultural Meaning of Consumer Goods" (Grant McCracken, 1986), with 2,834 citations. Next come "Evolution and Tinkering" (2,741) and "Consumption and Theories of Practice" (2,614).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Culture and Consumption: A Theoretical Account of the Structure and Movement of the Cultural Meaning of Consumer Goods Grant McCracken · Journal of Consumer Research Open access Jun 1986 2,834
2 Evolution and Tinkering François Jacob · Science 10 Jun 1977 2,741
3 Consumption and Theories of Practice Alan Warde · Journal of Consumer Culture 15 Jun 2005 2,614
4 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Ulla Hofmann Book chapter 2001 2,268
5 Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online Stephanie O’Donohoe · International Journal of Advertising 2010 1,999
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Museology research done?

The largest centres of Museology research in 2022-now are Ankara (Türkiye), Istanbul (Türkiye), Paris (France) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Wellfleet, Nevşehir and Takoradze.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 AnkaraTürkiye 1k works
  2. 2 IstanbulTürkiye 901 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 407 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 403 works
  5. 5 MadridSpain 394 works
  6. 6 BerlinGermany 343 works
  7. 7 IzmirTürkiye 235 works
  8. 8 New YorkUnited States 232 works
  9. 9 KonyaTürkiye 218 works
  10. 10 Mexico CityMexico 216 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. WellfleetUS · 25.8 works50×
  2. NevşehirTR · 87.9 works36×
  3. TakoradzeGH · 20.2 works35×
  4. ArdahanTR · 38.9 works34×
  5. Furtwangen im SchwarzwaldDE · 23.1 works31×
  6. MardinTR · 74.8 works30×
  7. TurkestanKZ · 27.6 works25×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Museology on the map

Museology research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Museology?

Among universities, judged by research, Ankara Sosyal Bilimler Üniversitesi, University of Cambridge and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 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%30%mean 11.69%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Manche…Ankara Sosyal Biliml…Humboldt-Universität…University of Cambri…
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
1Ankara Sosyal Bilimler ÜniversitesiTürkiye 81.2#2 (#12)11.8%46.5×192 +13.3%
2University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 78.6- (#3)9.4%2.0×60 +35.7%
3Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinGermany 77.4#4 (#11)11.1%8.8×81 +84.1%
4University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom 71.1- (#8)24.9%1.9×40 +22.2%
5University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 70.5- (#5)10.1%1.6×58 +28.8%
6University College LondonUnited Kingdom 69.1- (#4)16.2%0.8×33 -32.4%
7Freie Universität BerlinGermany 66.1#3 (#22)9.0%7.0×74 +33.5%
8University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 62.5- (#10)12.1%2.4×53 +58.7%
9Cornell UniversityUnited States 59.0- (#9)9.2%1.1×36 +33.9%
10New York UniversityUnited States 58.1- (#6)3.1%1.0×28 +1.6%

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 Museology, country by country

Is Museology research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 19% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Cultural and Communication Design Research, Crafts, Textile, and Design and Cultural and Sociopolitical 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 Museology as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.13% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Museology0.11% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Museology 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%Museology10.1% 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. Cultural and Communication Design Research+158%
  2. Crafts, Textile, and Design+56%
  3. Cultural and Sociopolitical Studies+52%
  4. Fashion and Cultural Textiles+35%
  5. Libraries and Information Services+18%
  6. Museums and Cultural Heritage+7%
  7. Historical Art and Culture Studies-9%
  8. Literature, Culture, and Aesthetics-15%
  9. Photographic and Visual Arts-23%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Museology include?

Fashion and Cultural Textiles: 19k fractional worksMuseums and Cultural Heritage: 18k fractional worksHistorical Art and Culture Studies: 17k fractional worksCultural and Sociopoliti…16kCultural and Sociopolitical Studies: 16k fractional worksLibraries and Informatio…10kLibraries and Information Services: 10k fractional worksCrafts, Textile, and Design: 9,064 fractional worksPhotographic and Visual Arts: 8,619 fractional worksLiterature, Culture, and…6,902Literature, Culture, and Aesthetics: 6,902 fractional worksCultural and Communication Design Research: 1,037 fractional works

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

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Who leads Museology, on Science Explorer

A card with the countries and institutions that lead Museology, 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

Discussion

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