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Topic · Applied Psychology

Behavioral Health and Interventions

Behavioral Health and Interventions is a research topic within Applied Psychology. Science Explorer counts 41k research works in it since 1951. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores theories and techniques related to behavior change, self-regulation, and the psychology of habit formation. It covers topics such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour, self-control, ego depletion, health behavior interventions, regulatory focus, implementation intentions, fear appeals, and meta-analytic reviews.

  • Theory of Planned Behaviour
  • Self-Regulation
  • Behavior Change Techniques
  • Ego Depletion
  • Health Behavior Interventions
  • Regulatory Focus
  • Habit Formation
  • Implementation Intentions
  • Fear Appeals
  • Meta-Analysis
Research works
41k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
4.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
37% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Behavioral Health and Interventions

Which countries lead Behavioral Health and Interventions research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (2.4k and 1.2k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 2.4k works
  2. 2 China 1.2k works
  3. 3 Germany 741 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 598 works
  5. 5 Australia 388 works
  6. 6 Canada 348 works
  7. 7 Netherlands 290 works
  8. 8 Japan 220 works
  9. 9 Spain 180 works
  10. 10 France 179 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: 36.5%China: 18.4%Germany: 11.3%United Kingdom: 9.2%6 others listed: 24.6%37%largest
United States2,385 · 36.5%China1,202 · 18.4%Germany741 · 11.3%United Kingdom598 · 9.2%6 others listed1,605 · 24.6%

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

Which institutions lead Behavioral Health and Interventions research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most Behavioral Health and Interventions research, followed by Pennsylvania State University and University of Toronto.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 67 works
  2. 2 Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States 39 works
  3. 3 University of TorontoCanada 36 works
  4. 4 Ghent UniversityBelgium 33 works
  5. 5 The Ohio State UniversityUnited States 33 works
  6. 6 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 32 works
  7. 7 The University of QueenslandAustralia 31 works
  8. 8 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 28 works
  9. 9 University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 28 works
  10. 10 University of MichiganUnited States 28 works

Who are the leading researchers in Behavioral Health and Interventions?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Behavioral Health and Interventions include David Moher, George Davey Smith and Walter Churchill Willett.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  3. 3 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  4. 4 Daniel J. Kahneman United States 395k citations
  5. 5 Richard M. Ryan United States 395k citations
  6. 6 Julian P. T. Higgins United Kingdom 390k citations
  7. 7 Albert Bandura United States 370k citations
  8. 8 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  9. 9 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  10. 10 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k 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 Behavioral Health and Interventions?

The most cited paper in Behavioral Health and Interventions is "The theory of planned behavior" (Icek Ajzen, 1991), with 87,913 citations. Next come "Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies." (80,679) and "Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control" (40,874).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The theory of planned behavior Icek Ajzen · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Dec 1991 87,913
2 Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Philip M. Podsakoff, SCOTT B. MACKENZIE, Jeong Yeon Lee et al. · Journal of Applied Psychology 2003 80,679
3 Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control Albert Bandura, Wendy Freeman, Richard Lightsey · Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy 1999 40,874
4 The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior Edward L. Deci, Richard M. Ryan · Psychological Inquiry Oct 2000 33,752
5 Sources of Method Bias in Social Science Research and Recommendations on How to Control It Philip M. Podsakoff, SCOTT B. MACKENZIE, Nathan Philip Podsakoff · Annual Review of Psychology Review Mar 2011 15,513
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Behavioral Health and Interventions research done?

The largest centres of Behavioral Health and Interventions research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom), Seoul (South Korea) and Shanghai (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 197 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 127 works
  3. 3 SeoulSouth Korea 102 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 92 works
  5. 5 TokyoJapan 80 works
  6. 6 New YorkUnited States 79 works
  7. 7 MelbourneAustralia 77 works
  8. 8 BrisbaneAustralia 77 works
  9. 9 Chapel HillUnited States 64 works
  10. 10 AmsterdamNetherlands 63 works
See Behavioral Health and Interventions on the map

Where is the best place to study Behavioral Health and Interventions?

Among universities, judged by research, The University of Queensland, University of Leeds and Stanford University 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%30%mean 19.03%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →The University of Qu…Shenzhen UniversityStanford UniversityUniversity of Leeds
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
1The University of QueenslandAustralia 73.127.6%4.2×31 +13.2%
2University of LeedsUnited Kingdom 60.413.9%5.1×22 +45.3%
3Stanford UniversityUnited States 59.916.4%2.4×27 +0.3%
4Shenzhen UniversityChina 58.624.1%2.0×12 +50.2%
5Griffith UniversityAustralia 58.018.7%7.4×24 +0.9%
6University of MacauChina 57.614.8%6.4×16 +144.1%
7Hainan UniversityChina 57.124.8%2.6×9 +319.7%
8Beijing Normal UniversityChina 56.013.3%4.6×28 +88.8%
9Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 55.918.6%2.7×17 +4.7%
10University of GroningenNetherlands 55.618.1%4.9×26 -28.3%

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 Behavioral Health and Interventions, country by country

Is Behavioral Health and Interventions research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

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 Behavioral Health and Interventions as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.035% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Behavioral Health and Interventions0.031% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Behavioral Health and Interventions 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%Behavioral Health and Interventions9.8% 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.

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