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Adult and Continuing Education Topics

Adult and Continuing Education Topics is a research topic within Education. Science Explorer counts 6k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the theory and practice of transformative learning in adult education, emphasizing critical perspectives, emotional and cognitive aspects, identity development, and its role in fostering social change. It encompasses a wide range of topics such as reflective practice, professional development, experiential learning, and the intersection with critical theory.

  • Transformative Learning
  • Adult Education
  • Critical Theory
  • Emotion
  • Identity
  • Professional Development
  • Reflective Practice
  • Social Change
  • Experiential Learning
  • Cognitive Development
Research works
6k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
610
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+29%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
38% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Adult and Continuing Education Topics

Which countries lead Adult and Continuing Education Topics research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (390 and 121 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 390 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 121 works
  3. 3 South Africa 111 works
  4. 4 Canada 93 works
  5. 5 Indonesia 67 works
  6. 6 India 65 works
  7. 7 Australia 65 works
  8. 8 Germany 39 works
  9. 9 China 39 works
  10. 10 Italy 28 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: 38.3%United Kingdom: 11.9%South Africa: 10.9%Canada: 9.2%6 others listed: 29.8%38%largest
United States390 · 38.3%United Kingdom121 · 11.9%South Africa111 · 10.9%Canada93 · 9.2%6 others listed303 · 29.8%

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

Which institutions lead Adult and Continuing Education Topics research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of South Africa publishes the most Adult and Continuing Education Topics research, followed by Kathmandu University and University of Toronto.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 14 works
  2. 2 Kathmandu UniversityNepal 14 works
  3. 3 University of TorontoCanada 9 works
  4. 4 Columbia UniversityUnited States 8 works
  5. 5 University of the Free StateSouth Africa 7 works
  6. 6 North-West UniversitySouth Africa 7 works
  7. 7 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 7 works
  8. 8 University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa 7 works
  9. 9 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 7 works
  10. 10 Rhodes UniversitySouth Africa 7 works

Who are the leading researchers in Adult and Continuing Education Topics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Adult and Continuing Education Topics include Étienne Wenger, Norman K. Denzin and Robert J. Sternberg.

  1. 1 Étienne Wenger United States 146k citations
  2. 2 Norman K. Denzin United States 130k citations
  3. 3 Robert J. Sternberg United States 94k citations
  4. 4 Jean Lave United States 88k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Adult and Continuing Education Topics?

The most cited paper in Adult and Continuing Education Topics is "A Critical Theory of Adult Learning and Education" (Jack Mezirow, 1981), with 2,203 citations. Next come "Cultural Ways of Learning: Individual Traits or Repertoires of Practice" (2,165) and "Experiential Learning Theory: Previous Research and New Directions" (2,164).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A Critical Theory of Adult Learning and Education Jack Mezirow · Adult Education Sep 1981 2,203
2 Cultural Ways of Learning: Individual Traits or Repertoires of Practice Kris D. Gutiérrez, Barbara Rogoff · Educational Researcher Jun 2003 2,165
3 Experiential Learning Theory: Previous Research and New Directions David Alan Kolb, Richard Eleftherios Boyatzis, Charalampos Mainemelis Book chapter 8 Apr 2014 2,164
4 Transformative Learning as Discourse Jack Mezirow · Journal of Transformative Education 2003 1,685
5 Andragogy and Self‐Directed Learning: Pillars of Adult Learning Theory Sharan B. Merriam · New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education Mar 2001 1,415
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Adult and Continuing Education Topics research done?

The largest centres of Adult and Continuing Education Topics research in 2022-now are Kathmandu (Nepal), Pretoria (South Africa), London (United Kingdom) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Kathmandu and Pretoria.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 KathmanduNepal 21 works
  2. 2 PretoriaSouth Africa 20 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 19 works
  4. 4 New YorkUnited States 17 works
  5. 5 MelbourneAustralia 16 works
  6. 6 JohannesburgSouth Africa 15 works
  7. 7 TorontoCanada 15 works
  8. 8 Washington D.C.United States 14 works
  9. 9 BrisbaneAustralia 12 works
  10. 10 DurbanSouth Africa 10 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. KathmanduNP · 21.1 works14×
  2. PretoriaZA · 20.1 works10×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Adult and Continuing Education Topics than the world average.

See Adult and Continuing Education Topics on the map

Where is the best place to study Adult and Continuing Education Topics?

Among universities, judged by research, Kathmandu University, Columbia University and University of South Africa score highest, combining 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 11.45%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Columbia UniversityKathmandu UniversityUniversity of South …University of Toronto
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.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Kathmandu UniversityNepal 61.814.6%52.3×14 +46.3%
2Columbia UniversityUnited States 53.818.8%5.4×8 +5.4%
3University of South AfricaSouth Africa 48.58.6%23.7×14 +12.5%
4University of TorontoCanada 27.03.8%3.3×9 +81.8%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Adult and Continuing Education Topics, country by country

Is Adult and Continuing Education Topics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 29% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Adult and Continuing Education Topics.

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 Adult and Continuing Education Topics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0062% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%Adult and Continuing Education Topics0.0077% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Adult and Continuing Education Topics 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%Adult and Continuing Education Topics10.4% 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.

Discussion

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