Science Explorer Interactive view Map
Subfield · Arts and Humanities

Music research

Music is a subfield of Arts and Humanities. Science Explorer counts 89k research works in it since 1950. 17.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: art/activity of creating art using sound.

Research works
89k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
15k
per year above
Top-10% rate
17.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
5
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+21%
the tick is no change

What is Music research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Ethnomusicology, Ecomusicology, Environmental Sustainability, Identity, Informal Learning, Music Education. Gaining share since 2009–13: Ecomusicology, Environmental Sustainability. Losing share: Musical Theory, Musicology.

▲ 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 12 words, with their numbers
  1. Ethnomusicology9,866◆ 1.01×2 topics
  2. Ecomusicology5,675▲ 1.27×1 topic
  3. Environmental Sustainability5,675▲ 1.27×1 topic
  4. Identity5,491◆ 0.97×2 topics
  5. Informal Learning4,764◆ 1.03×1 topic
  6. Music Education4,764◆ 1.03×1 topic
  7. Musical Theory4,192▼ 0.79×1 topic
  8. Musicology4,192▼ 0.79×1 topic
  9. Culture4,118◆ 1.00×1 topic
  10. Music4,118◆ 1.00×1 topic
  11. American Musical Theatre1,373◆ 0.88×1 topic
  12. Melodrama1,373◆ 0.88×1 topic

Which countries lead Music research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, China and the United Kingdom rank highest in Music. By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (3.9k and 1.7k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 16.3% top 10% · 3.9k works
  2. 2 China · #5 all time 23.1% top 10% · 1.2k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #2 all time 16.4% top 10% · 1.7k works
  4. 4 Australia · #3 all time 21.7% top 10% · 602 works
  5. 5 Spain · #7 all time 26.0% top 10% · 464 works
  6. 6 Germany · #6 all time 13.6% top 10% · 659 works
  7. 7 Canada · #4 all time 16.3% top 10% · 534 works
  8. 8 Malaysia 26.5% top 10% · 224 works
  9. 9 South Africa · #15 all time 25.9% top 10% · 226 works
  10. 10 Türkiye · #16 all time 12.9% top 10% · 685 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 19 countries ranked in Music. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Music

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 3.9k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 1.7k works
  3. 3 China 1.2k works
  4. 4 Türkiye 685 works
  5. 5 Germany 659 works
  6. 6 Brazil 655 works
  7. 7 Australia 602 works
  8. 8 France 553 works
  9. 9 Russia 535 works
  10. 10 Canada 534 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: 35.7%United Kingdom: 15.1%China: 10.6%Türkiye: 6.2%6 others listed: 32.3%36%largest
United States3,913 · 35.7%United Kingdom1,658 · 15.1%China1,165 · 10.6%Türkiye685 · 6.2%6 others listed3,538 · 32.3%

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

Which institutions lead Music research?

The University of Melbourne (Australia) ranks first in Music on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Film Independent and University of Cambridge.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 The University of Melbourne Australia · Melbourne · #3 all time 27.5% top 10% · 86 works
  2. 2 Film Independent United States · Los Angeles · #26 all time 11.7% top 10% · 107 works
  3. 3 University of Cambridge United Kingdom · Cambridge · #17 all time 11.5% top 10% · 74 works
  4. 4 Weatherford College United States · Weatherford · #96 all time 14.6% top 10% · 71 works
  5. 5 Herzen University Russia · St Petersburg · #97 all time 4.4% top 10% · 86 works
  6. 6 Transylvania University of Brașov Romania · Brasov 3.3% top 10% · 65 works
  7. 7 Medical Library Association United States · Chicago 0.0% top 10% · 67 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 7 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Music.

Top 100 Music institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Film Independent United States 107 works
  2. 2 Herzen University Russia 87 works
  3. 3 The University of Melbourne Australia 86 works
  4. 4 University of Cambridge United Kingdom 74 works
  5. 5 Weatherford College United States 71 works
  6. 6 Medical Library Association United States 67 works
  7. 7 Transylvania University of Brașov Romania 65 works
  8. 8 The University of Sydney Australia 60 works
  9. 9 University of Leeds United Kingdom 59 works
  10. 10 University of Toronto Canada 58 works

Who are the leading researchers in Music?

Among the most productive authors in Music, Max Weber, Richard Schechner and Morris B. Holbrook rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Max Weber United Kingdom · #687 worldwide 960 citations · 119 works
  2. 2 Richard Schechner United States · #1,792 worldwide 537 citations · 114 works
  3. 3 Morris B. Holbrook United States · #1,889 worldwide 2.2k citations · 80 works
  4. 4 Howard S. Becker United States · #2,778 worldwide 915 citations · 171 works
  5. 5 George Lipsitz United States · #3,108 worldwide 645 citations · 76 works
  6. 6 A. L. Kroeber United States · #3,778 worldwide 689 citations · 116 works
  7. 7 Claudia Goldin United States · #3,894 worldwide 777 citations · 82 works
  8. 8 W. F. Albright United States · #4,325 worldwide 560 citations · 195 works
  9. 9 William Weber United States · #5,416 worldwide 639 citations · 68 works
  10. 10 Walter J. Ong Belgium · #5,696 worldwide 605 citations · 61 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 2,212 highest-output authors in Music. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Music researchers

Where is Music research done?

The largest centres of Music research in 2022–2025 are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Paris (France) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Sackville.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 393 works
  2. 2 New York United States 240 works
  3. 3 Paris France 221 works
  4. 4 Moscow Russia 186 works
  5. 5 Los Angeles United States 181 works
  6. 6 Melbourne Australia 157 works
  7. 7 Beijing China 150 works
  8. 8 Chicago United States 142 works
  9. 9 Saint Petersburg Russia 130 works
  10. 10 Sydney Australia 125 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. SackvilleCA · 20.6 works86×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Music on the map

Music research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Music?

Among universities, judged by research, Mahasarakham University, Education University of Hong Kong and University of the Arts Helsinki 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%25%50%75%mean 41.24%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Mahasarakham University: 55, 64.3%Education University of Hong Kong: 25, 61.0%University of the Arts Helsinki: 43, 31.7%University of Huddersfield: 43, 31.7%Sultan Idris Education University: 35, 25.6%Krirk University: 11, 55.5%Norwegian Academy of Music: 14, 45.2%Gnessin Russian Academy of Music: 40, 21.4%Kabarak University: 18, 52.1%University of Music and Performing Arts Graz: 18, 23.9%Mahasarakham Univers…Education University…University of the Ar…University of Hudder…
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
1Mahasarakham University Thailand 77.264.3%31.3×55 +33.3%
2Education University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 71.061.0%10.1×25 +3.5%
3University of the Arts Helsinki Finland 69.831.7%200.2×43 +408.3%
4University of Huddersfield United Kingdom 65.131.7%23.9×43 +64.7%
5Sultan Idris Education University Malaysia 63.025.6%10.0×35 +146.8%
6Krirk University Thailand 62.755.5%14.9×11 —
7Norwegian Academy of Music Norway 62.045.2%258.1×14 +100.6%
8Gnessin Russian Academy of Music Russia 61.921.4%404.2×40 +966.7%
9Kabarak University Kenya 61.852.1%52.9×18 —
10University of Music and Performing Arts Graz Austria 60.223.9%182.6×18 +503.7%

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 Music research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 21% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Music History and Culture, Theater, Performance, and Music History and Diverse Music Education Insights.

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. Music History and Culture+128%
  2. Theater, Performance, and Music History+88%
  3. Diverse Music Education Insights+87%
  4. Diverse Musicological Studies+85%
  5. Musicology and Musical Analysis+54%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Music include?

Musicology and Musical A…22kMusicology and Musical Analysis: 22k fractional worksDiverse Musicological St…22kDiverse Musicological Studies: 22k fractional worksDiverse Music Education …21kDiverse Music Education Insights: 21k fractional worksMusic History and Culture17kMusic History and Culture: 17k fractional worksTheater, Performance, an…7,072Theater, Performance, and Music History: 7,072 fractional works

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