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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Asian Studies and History

Asian Studies and History is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 24k research works in it since 1950. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the democratization and decentralization processes in Indonesia, addressing topics such as political Islam, ethnic tensions, civil society, religious nationalism, gender equality, corruption, and economic development. It explores the complex interplay between democracy, governance, and societal dynamics in the Indonesian context.

  • Indonesia
  • democratization
  • decentralization
  • political Islam
  • ethnic tensions
  • civil society
  • religious nationalism
  • gender equality
  • corruption
  • economic development
Research works
24k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+37%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Indonesia
63% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Asian Studies and History

Which countries lead Asian Studies and History research?

By volume, Indonesia and Malaysia publish the most (3.7k and 664 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Indonesia 3.7k works
  2. 2 Malaysia 664 works
  3. 3 United States 424 works
  4. 4 Australia 249 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 188 works
  6. 6 China 160 works
  7. 7 India 147 works
  8. 8 Singapore 139 works
  9. 9 ?? 124 works
  10. 10 Netherlands 111 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: 62.8%Malaysia: 11.2%United States: 7.1%Australia: 4.2%6 others listed: 14.7%63%largest
Indonesia3,723 · 62.8%Malaysia664 · 11.2%United States424 · 7.1%Australia249 · 4.2%6 others listed869 · 14.7%

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

Which institutions lead Asian Studies and History research?

By volume in 2022-now, Universitas Gadjah Mada publishes the most Asian Studies and History research, followed by University of Indonesia and Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University Yogyakarta.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Universitas Gadjah MadaIndonesia 188 works
  2. 2 University of IndonesiaIndonesia 175 works
  3. 3 Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University YogyakartaIndonesia 117 works
  4. 4 Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia 113 works
  5. 5 National University of MalaysiaMalaysia 86 works
  6. 6 University of MalayaMalaysia 86 works
  7. 7 Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University JakartaIndonesia 76 works
  8. 8 Hasanuddin UniversityIndonesia 75 works
  9. 9 National University of SingaporeSingapore 74 works
  10. 10 National Research and Innovation AgencyIndonesia 66 works

Who are the leading researchers in Asian Studies and History?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Asian Studies and History include Christopher D. Manning, Noam Chomsky and Nicholas John White.

  1. 1 Christopher D. Manning United States 179k citations
  2. 2 Noam Chomsky United States 141k citations
  3. 3 Nicholas John White Thailand 138k citations
  4. 4 Anthony Giddens United States 121k citations
  5. 5 Francis Fukuyama United States 110k 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 Asian Studies and History?

The most cited paper in Asian Studies and History is "Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali" (Clifford Geertz, 1980), with 1,653 citations. Next come "Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia" (1,571) and "Constructing Ethnicity: Creating and Recreating Ethnic Identity and Culture" (1,346).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali Clifford Geertz 1980 1,653
2 Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia Terry McGee · Pacific Affairs Jun 1988 1,571
3 Constructing Ethnicity: Creating and Recreating Ethnic Identity and Culture Joane Nagel · Social Problems Feb 1994 1,346
4 Patron-Client Politics and Political Change in Southeast Asia James C. Scott · American Political Science Review Open access Mar 1972 1,246
5 Articulating Indigenous Identity in Indonesia: Resource Politics and the Tribal Slot Tania Murray Li · Comparative Studies in Society and History Open access 2000 1,029
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Asian Studies and History research done?

The largest centres of Asian Studies and History research in 2022-now are Yogyakarta (Indonesia), Jakarta (Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Bandung (Indonesia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Padang, Ciputat and Bandar Seri Begawan.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 YogyakartaIndonesia 506 works
  2. 2 JakartaIndonesia 390 works
  3. 3 Kuala LumpurMalaysia 275 works
  4. 4 BandungIndonesia 230 works
  5. 5 SurabayaIndonesia 193 works
  6. 6 MedanIndonesia 190 works
  7. 7 DepokIndonesia 183 works
  8. 8 SemarangIndonesia 173 works
  9. 9 MakassarIndonesia 166 works
  10. 10 MalangIndonesia 156 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Padang22.0 works35×
  2. CiputatID · 75.6 works35×
  3. Bandar Seri BegawanBN · 38.4 works32×
  4. Kota KinabaluMY · 48.1 works30×
  5. KuchingMY · 30.6 works25×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Asian Studies and History than the world average.

See Asian Studies and History on the map

Where is the best place to study Asian Studies and History?

Among universities, judged by research, Australian National University, Singapore Management University and The University of Melbourne 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%20%40%mean 19.05%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Singapore Management…Australian National …The University of Me…Universitas Gadjah M…
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.

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
1Australian National UniversityAustralia 74.326.3%17.5×53 +24.9%
2Singapore Management UniversitySingapore 66.732.3%14.4×9 +43.2%
3The University of MelbourneAustralia 65.424.6%6.4×42 -5.8%
4Universitas Gadjah MadaIndonesia 64.710.0%32.8×188 +31.0%
5National University of SingaporeSingapore 61.715.1%10.4×74 -7.8%
6University of IndonesiaIndonesia 60.48.0%24.9×175 +24.3%
7Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University YogyakartaIndonesia 59.69.7%39.9×117 +162.9%
8Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia 59.510.1%13.5×114 +149.8%
9Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 58.619.6%7.5×35 -38.2%
10University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 58.534.8%1.8×13 +7.9%

Universities only. The score blends 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 Asian Studies and History, country by country

Is Asian Studies and History research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 37% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Asian Studies and History.

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 Asian Studies and History as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.033% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Asian Studies and History0.033% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Asian Studies and History 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%Asian Studies and History9.9% 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.

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