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Topic · Literature and Literary Theory

Autobiographical and Biographical Writing

Autobiographical and Biographical Writing is a research topic within Literature and Literary Theory. Science Explorer counts 3.2k 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 study of life writing, correspondence, and autobiographical practices, including diaries, letters, and digital forms of self-narration. It explores the intersection of identity, narrative methods, and feminist practice within the context of autotheory and ethnography.

  • Correspondence
  • Diaries
  • Autotheory
  • Epistolary
  • Narrative Methods
  • Self-narration
  • Identity
  • Feminist Practice
  • Ethnography
  • Memoirs
Research works
3.2k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
326
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+43%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
38% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Autobiographical and Biographical Writing

Which countries lead Autobiographical and Biographical Writing research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (252 and 136 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 252 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 136 works
  3. 3 Germany 74 works
  4. 4 Canada 36 works
  5. 5 Australia 36 works
  6. 6 India 33 works
  7. 7 Poland 31 works
  8. 8 France 29 works
  9. 9 China 24 works
  10. 10 Spain 17 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: 37.8%United Kingdom: 20.4%Germany: 11.0%Canada: 5.4%6 others listed: 25.4%38%largest
United States252 · 37.8%United Kingdom136 · 20.4%Germany74 · 11.0%Canada36 · 5.4%6 others listed170 · 25.4%

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

Which institutions lead Autobiographical and Biographical Writing research?

By volume in 2022-now, Sheffield Hallam University publishes the most Autobiographical and Biographical Writing research, followed by University of Cambridge and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Sheffield Hallam UniversityUnited Kingdom 8 works
  2. 2 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 7 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 7 works
  4. 4 Film IndependentUnited States 6 works
  5. 5 University of WarsawPoland 5 works
  6. 6 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 4 works
  7. 7 University of ViennaAustria 4 works
  8. 8 Hexagon (United Kingdom)United Kingdom 4 works
  9. 9 University of BirminghamUnited Kingdom 4 works
  10. 10 University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 4 works

Who are the leading researchers in Autobiographical and Biographical Writing?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Autobiographical and Biographical Writing include Norman K. Denzin.

  1. 1 Norman K. Denzin United States 130k 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 Autobiographical and Biographical Writing?

The most cited paper in Autobiographical and Biographical Writing is "Autoethnography: An Overview" (Carolyn Ellis, Tony E. Adams, Arthur P. Bochner, 2010), with 3,060 citations. Next come "Collective Memory: The Two Cultures" (1,145) and "The reality of repressed memories." (943).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Autoethnography: An Overview Carolyn Ellis, Tony E. Adams, Arthur P. Bochner · Social Science Open Access Repository (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences) Open access 24 Nov 2010 3,060
2 Collective Memory: The Two Cultures Jeffrey K. Olick · Sociological Theory Nov 1999 1,145
3 The reality of repressed memories. Elizabeth F. Loftus · American Psychologist 1993 943
4 An intellectual autobiography Hans J. Morgenthau · Society 1978 481
5 Autobiography as Defacement Paul de Man, Shai Ginsburg · MiKAN Open access 2016 364
All 101 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Autobiographical and Biographical Writing research done?

The largest centres of Autobiographical and Biographical Writing research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Paris (France) and Berlin (Germany). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in London.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 25 works
  2. 2 New YorkUnited States 14 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 12 works
  4. 4 BerlinGermany 10 works
  5. 5 WarsawPoland 9 works
  6. 6 MelbourneAustralia 9 works
  7. 7 SydneyAustralia 8 works
  8. 8 TorontoCanada 8 works
  9. 9 SheffieldUnited Kingdom 8 works
  10. 10 Los AngelesUnited States 8 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. LondonGB · 24.8 works3.0×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Autobiographical and Biographical Writing than the world average.

See Autobiographical and Biographical Writing on the map

Is Autobiographical and Biographical Writing research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 43% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Autobiographical and Biographical Writing.

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 Autobiographical and Biographical Writing as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0026% in 2024.

still counting0.0020%0.0040%0.0060%Autobiographical and Biographical Writing0.0050% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Autobiographical and Biographical Writing 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%Autobiographical and Biographical Writing9.6% 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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