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Catholicism and Religious Studies

Catholicism and Religious Studies is a research topic within History. Science Explorer counts 5.2k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the history, influence, and challenges faced by the Catholic Church in America. It delves into topics such as Catholic identity, Vatican II, religious ethics, education, social justice, and the interplay between Catholicism and American culture. The papers also discuss the role of the church in historical events and its impact on various aspects of American society.

  • Catholicism
  • American
  • Church
  • Vatican II
  • Religious
  • Identity
  • History
  • Ethics
  • Education
  • Social Justice
Research works
5.2k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
533
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
52% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Catholicism and Religious Studies

Which countries lead Catholicism and Religious Studies research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (291 and 58 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 291 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 58 works
  3. 3 Poland 46 works
  4. 4 Italy 33 works
  5. 5 Spain 28 works
  6. 6 Brazil 28 works
  7. 7 Canada 22 works
  8. 8 Australia 19 works
  9. 9 Germany 17 works
  10. 10 France 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: 52.2%United Kingdom: 10.3%Poland: 8.2%Italy: 5.8%6 others listed: 23.4%52%largest
United States291 · 52.2%United Kingdom58 · 10.3%Poland46 · 8.2%Italy33 · 5.8%6 others listed131 · 23.4%

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

Which institutions lead Catholicism and Religious Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Boston College publishes the most Catholicism and Religious Studies research, followed by Artistic Realization Technologies and John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Boston CollegeUnited States 19 works
  2. 2 Artistic Realization TechnologiesUnited States 11 works
  3. 3 John Paul II Catholic University of LublinPoland 10 works
  4. 4 University of Notre DameUnited States 9 works
  5. 5 Universidad de NavarraSpain 9 works
  6. 6 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 8 works
  7. 7 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 7 works
  8. 8 Santa Clara UniversityUnited States 7 works
  9. 9 University of GlasgowUnited Kingdom 6 works
  10. 10 Pontifical University of John Paul II in KrakówPoland 5 works

What are the most cited papers in Catholicism and Religious Studies?

The most cited paper in Catholicism and Religious Studies is "Democracy's discontent: America in search of a public philosophy" (Peter deLeon, 1997), with 640 citations. Next come "WHY WERE THE EARLY CHRISTIANS PERSECUTED?1" (261) and "New Catholic Encyclopedia" (246).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Democracy's discontent: America in search of a public philosophy Peter deLeon · Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 1997 640
2 WHY WERE THE EARLY CHRISTIANS PERSECUTED?1 G. E. M. de Ste. Croix · Past & Present 1963 261
3 New Catholic Encyclopedia Stuart Hannabuss · Reference Reviews May 2003 246
4 The functions of epideictic: The Boston massacre orations as exemplar Celeste Michelle Condit · Communication Quarterly Sep 1985 170
5 American Catholics: A History of the Roman Catholic Community in the United States Robert Dougherty Cross, James Hennesey · Journal of American History Sep 1982 170
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Catholicism and Religious Studies research done?

The largest centres of Catholicism and Religious Studies research in 2022-now are Boston (United States), Washington D.C. (United States), Rome (Italy) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Boston.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BostonUnited States 22 works
  2. 2 Washington D.C.United States 15 works
  3. 3 RomeItaly 15 works
  4. 4 New YorkUnited States 13 works
  5. 5 LublinPoland 12 works
  6. 6 LondonUnited Kingdom 11 works
  7. 7 Princeton MeadowsUnited States 11 works
  8. 8 MoscowRussia 11 works
  9. 9 OxfordUnited Kingdom 9 works
  10. 10 Notre DameUnited States 9 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BostonUS · 21.9 works8.8×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Catholicism and Religious Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Catholicism and Religious Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Boston College, Universidad de Navarra and University of Oxford 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%10%20%mean 12.24%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Universidad de NavarraBoston CollegeUniversity of OxfordUniversity of Notre …
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
1Boston CollegeUnited States 85.514.9%198.3×18 0.0%
2Universidad de NavarraSpain 57.920.8%53.3×9 -22.9%
3University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 39.612.4%9.7×8 +90.9%
4University of Notre DameUnited States 31.16.6%48.4×9 -50.5%
5John Paul II Catholic University of LublinPoland 28.46.5%103.0×10 +77.7%

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 Catholicism and Religious Studies, country by country

Is Catholicism and Religious Studies research growing?

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

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 Catholicism and Religious Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0023% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Catholicism and Religious Studies0.0033% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Catholicism and Religious Studies 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%Catholicism and Religious Studies9.1% 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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