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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Australian History and Society

Australian History and Society is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 23k research works in it since 1950. 12.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the complex interplay of British imperialism, Australian history, and national identity. It delves into topics such as colonialism, imperial networks, settler discourse, convict transportation, and the cultural turn in understanding the impact of British imperialism on Australia and beyond.

  • British imperialism
  • Australian history
  • national identity
  • colonialism
  • imperial networks
  • settler discourse
  • transnational history
  • empire and identity
  • convict transportation
  • cultural turn
Research works
23k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
12.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
-23%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Australian History and Society research?

By volume, Australia and the United States publish the most (723 and 459 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Australia 723 works
  2. 2 United States 459 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 408 works
  4. 4 Canada 111 works
  5. 5 New Zealand 51 works
  6. 6 Germany 48 works
  7. 7 France 44 works
  8. 8 India 38 works
  9. 9 China 32 works
  10. 10 Italy 24 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.

Australia: 37.3%United States: 23.7%United Kingdom: 21.0%Canada: 5.7%6 others listed: 12.2%37%largest
Australia723 · 37.3%United States459 · 23.7%United Kingdom408 · 21.0%Canada111 · 5.7%6 others listed236 · 12.2%

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

Which institutions lead Australian History and Society research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Australian National University publishes the most Australian History and Society research, followed by The University of Melbourne and The University of Queensland.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Australian National UniversityAustralia 76 works
  2. 2 The University of MelbourneAustralia 73 works
  3. 3 The University of QueenslandAustralia 59 works
  4. 4 The University of SydneyAustralia 43 works
  5. 5 Macquarie UniversityAustralia 34 works
  6. 6 Deakin UniversityAustralia 32 works
  7. 7 Australian Catholic UniversityAustralia 31 works
  8. 8 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 31 works
  9. 9 UNSW SydneyAustralia 28 works
  10. 10 Film IndependentUnited States 28 works

Where is Australian History and Society research done?

The largest centres of Australian History and Society research in 2022–2025 are Melbourne (Australia), Sydney (Australia), Brisbane (Australia) and Canberra (Australia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Canberra, Burwood and Brisbane.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Melbourne Australia 155 works
  2. 2 Sydney Australia 136 works
  3. 3 Brisbane Australia 108 works
  4. 4 Canberra Australia 98 works
  5. 5 London United Kingdom 81 works
  6. 6 Adelaide Australia 39 works
  7. 7 Perth Australia 37 works
  8. 8 Cambridge United Kingdom 35 works
  9. 9 Oxford United Kingdom 32 works
  10. 10 Los Angeles United States 32 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. CanberraAU · 97.6 works33×
  2. BurwoodAU · 31.6 works33×
  3. BrisbaneAU · 107.9 works25×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Australian History and Society on the map

Where is the best place to study Australian History and Society?

Among universities, judged by research, The University of Melbourne, Macquarie University and The University of Queensland 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%5%10%15%mean 6.8%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →The University of Melbourne: 73, 7.4%Macquarie University: 34, 9.2%The University of Queensland: 59, 5.4%Australian National University: 76, 3.8%Monash University: 28, 8.4%The University of Sydney: 43, 6.1%UNSW Sydney: 28, 7.4%University of St Andrews: 8, 12.4%Deakin University: 32, 4.5%University of Technology Sydney: 20, 3.4%Macquarie UniversityThe University of Me…The University of Qu…Australian National …
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
1 The University of MelbourneAustralia 66.87.4%35.5×73 +34.2%
2 Macquarie UniversityAustralia 65.29.2%44.2×34 +68.3%
3 The University of QueenslandAustralia 60.75.4%33.8×59 -10.5%
4 Australian National UniversityAustralia 60.23.8%72.7×76 +7.5%
5 Monash UniversityAustralia 59.08.4%15.8×28 -2.5%
6 The University of SydneyAustralia 58.46.1%20.7×43 +3.5%
7 UNSW SydneyAustralia 56.87.4%15.8×28 -14.5%
8 University of St AndrewsUnited Kingdom 55.212.4%17.4×8 +65.6%
9 Deakin UniversityAustralia 54.54.5%32.6×32 +23.7%
10 University of Technology SydneyAustralia 54.03.4%20.5×20 +51.9%

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 Australian History and Society research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 23% lower than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2014. The fastest-growing topics are Australian History and Society.

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.