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Topic · Cultural Studies

Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

Archaeology and Cultural Heritage is a research topic within Cultural Studies. Science Explorer counts 8.1k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the management, conservation, and utilization of cultural heritage in the context of tourism, with a focus on topics such as the value of cultural heritage, the relationship between tourism and heritage, and the impact of development on cultural landscapes. It also delves into issues related to archaeological practices, memory, and the preservation of historical sites.

  • Cultural Heritage
  • Tourism
  • Patrimonio Cultural
  • Gestión
  • Turismo
  • Arqueología
  • Desarrollo
  • Conservación
  • Memoria
  • Paisaje
Research works
8.1k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
805
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-5%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Spain
34% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

Which countries lead Archaeology and Cultural Heritage research?

By volume, Spain and Argentina publish the most (580 and 262 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Spain 580 works
  2. 2 Argentina 262 works
  3. 3 Mexico 197 works
  4. 4 Brazil 194 works
  5. 5 Colombia 105 works
  6. 6 Peru 104 works
  7. 7 Ecuador 73 works
  8. 8 United States 67 works
  9. 9 Chile 67 works
  10. 10 Portugal 51 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.

Spain: 34.1%Argentina: 15.4%Mexico: 11.6%Brazil: 11.4%6 others listed: 27.4%34%largest
Spain580 · 34.1%Argentina262 · 15.4%Mexico197 · 11.6%Brazil194 · 11.4%6 others listed466 · 27.4%

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

Which institutions lead Archaeology and Cultural Heritage research?

By volume in 2022-now, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas publishes the most Archaeology and Cultural Heritage research, followed by Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Universidad de Sevilla.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasArgentina 67 works
  2. 2 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 53 works
  3. 3 Universidad de SevillaSpain 35 works
  4. 4 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 32 works
  5. 5 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 30 works
  6. 6 Universidad de Buenos AiresArgentina 30 works
  7. 7 Patrimonio NacionalSpain 29 works
  8. 8 Universidad de GranadaSpain 28 works
  9. 9 Universidad Nacional de La PlataArgentina 24 works
  10. 10 National University of San MarcosPeru 21 works

Who are the leading researchers in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Archaeology and Cultural Heritage include Peter K. Smith.

  1. 1 Peter K. Smith United Kingdom 64k 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 Archaeology and Cultural Heritage?

The most cited paper in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage is "Identidad cultural un concepto que evoluciona" (L Olga Luc u EDa Molano, 2007), with 251 citations. Next come "Prehistoric Intensive Agriculture in the Mayan Lowlands" (194) and "A World History of Nineteenth-Century Archaeology. Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Past" (168).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Identidad cultural un concepto que evoluciona L Olga Luc u EDa Molano · Opera 5 Nov 2007 251
2 Prehistoric Intensive Agriculture in the Mayan Lowlands B. L. Turner · Science 12 Jul 1974 194
3 A World History of Nineteenth-Century Archaeology. Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Past Lúcio Menezes Ferreira, Pedro Paulo A. Funari · Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia Open access 9 Dec 2008 168
4 Archaeology. The discipline of things Julián Salazar · Comechingonia Revista de Arqueología Open access Dec 2013 160
5 The prehistoric agricultural landscape of the central Maya lowlands: An examination of local variability in a regional context Scott L. Fedick, Anabel Ford · World Archaeology Jun 1990 125
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Archaeology and Cultural Heritage research done?

The largest centres of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage research in 2022-now are Madrid (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Mexico City (Mexico) and Seville (Spain). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in La Plata.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 MadridSpain 181 works
  2. 2 Buenos AiresArgentina 101 works
  3. 3 Mexico CityMexico 79 works
  4. 4 SevilleSpain 62 works
  5. 5 LimaPeru 57 works
  6. 6 BogotáColombia 49 works
  7. 7 SantiagoChile 38 works
  8. 8 São PauloBrazil 36 works
  9. 9 GranadaSpain 30 works
  10. 10 BarcelonaSpain 29 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. La PlataAR · 27.2 works53×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage than the world average.

See Archaeology and Cultural Heritage on the map

Where is the best place to study Archaeology and Cultural Heritage?

Among universities, judged by research, Universidad de Sevilla, Universidad de Granada and Universidad de Huelva 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%20%40%mean 15.68%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Universidad de HuelvaUniversidad de SevillaUniversidad de GranadaUniversidad Complute…
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
1Universidad de SevillaSpain 65.812.3%36.4×35 +12.2%
2Universidad de GranadaSpain 64.210.1%28.8×28 +28.5%
3Universidad de HuelvaSpain 61.131.9%61.2×10 -8.5%
4Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 58.48.1%20.1×30 -4.8%
5Universitat de BarcelonaSpain 57.628.3%11.4×15 -20.5%
6Universidad de Buenos AiresArgentina 54.89.8%42.9×30 -13.7%
7Universidad de ValladolidSpain 53.025.5%23.6×12 -24.8%
8Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 51.19.4%18.8×32 -10.7%
9Universidad Nacional de La PlataArgentina 49.313.6%71.0×24 -22.8%
10Universidad de la República de UruguayUruguay 48.07.8%30.7×13 +38.4%

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 Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, country by country

Is Archaeology and Cultural Heritage research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 5% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020.

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 Archaeology and Cultural Heritage as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0084% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Archaeology and Cultural Heritage0.0088% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 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%Archaeology and Cultural Heritage9.8% 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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