Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health

Child Abuse and Related Trauma

Child Abuse and Related Trauma is a research topic within Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health. Science Explorer counts 11k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the identification, evaluation, and prevention of child abuse, particularly related to traumatic brain injury, retinal hemorrhage, skeletal fractures, and bruising patterns. It also addresses the challenges in distinguishing inflicted injuries from accidental trauma and the role of various diagnostic imaging techniques. Additionally, it explores the psychological aspects of medical child abuse and Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy.

  • Abusive Head Trauma
  • Child Physical Abuse
  • Shaken Baby Syndrome
  • Inflicted Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Nonaccidental Trauma
  • Retinal Hemorrhage
  • Skeletal Fractures
  • Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
  • Bruising Patterns
  • Medical Child Abuse
Research works
11k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+14%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
42% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Child Abuse and Related Trauma

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Child Abuse and Related Trauma research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (621 and 143 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 621 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 143 works
  3. 3 India 134 works
  4. 4 China 122 works
  5. 5 Germany 100 works
  6. 6 Türkiye 84 works
  7. 7 Canada 73 works
  8. 8 Japan 69 works
  9. 9 Australia 69 works
  10. 10 Italy 68 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: 41.8%United Kingdom: 9.7%India: 9.0%China: 8.2%6 others listed: 31.2%42%largest
United States621 · 41.8%United Kingdom143 · 9.7%India134 · 9.0%China122 · 8.2%6 others listed463 · 31.2%

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

Which institutions lead Child Abuse and Related Trauma research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Child Abuse and Related Trauma research, followed by All India Institute of Medical Sciences and University of Toronto.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 21 works
  2. 2 All India Institute of Medical SciencesIndia 15 works
  3. 3 University of TorontoCanada 14 works
  4. 4 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 11 works
  5. 5 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 11 works
  6. 6 The Ohio State UniversityUnited States 10 works
  7. 7 Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaUnited States 9 works
  8. 8 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 9 works
  9. 9 University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 8 works
  10. 10 University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 8 works

Who are the leading researchers in Child Abuse and Related Trauma?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Child Abuse and Related Trauma include Julian P. T. Higgins, Ronald C. Kessler and Jost Bruno Jonas.

  1. 1 Julian P. T. Higgins United Kingdom 390k citations
  2. 2 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  3. 3 Jost Bruno Jonas Germany 350k citations
  4. 4 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
  5. 5 Ted R. Miller United States 279k citations
  6. 6 Patrick M. Bossuyt Netherlands 270k citations
  7. 7 Kaj Blennow Sweden 247k 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 Child Abuse and Related Trauma?

The most cited paper in Child Abuse and Related Trauma is "Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults" (Vincent J. Felitti, Robert F. Anda, Dale F. Nordenberg et al., 1998), with 18,997 citations. Next come "Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire" (6,512) and "The effect of multiple adverse childhood experiences on health: a systematic review and meta-analysis" (5,313).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults Vincent J. Felitti, Robert F. Anda, Dale F. Nordenberg et al. · American Journal of Preventive Medicine Open access May 1998 18,997
2 Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire David P. Bernstein, Judith A. Stein, Michael D. Newcomb et al. · Child Abuse & Neglect Feb 2003 6,512
3 The effect of multiple adverse childhood experiences on health: a systematic review and meta-analysis Karen E Hughes, Mark A Bellis, Katherine A. Hardcastle et al. · The Lancet Public Health ReviewOpen access 31 Jul 2017 5,313
4 Family history of subarachnoid haemorrhage: supplemental value of scrutinizing all relatives. Paut Greebe, Jacoline E. C. Bromberg, G. J. E. Rinkel et al. · Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry Open access Mar 1997 4,146
5 Initial reliability and validity of a new retrospective measure of child abuse and neglect David P. Bernstein, Ludwig Fink, Leonard Handelsman et al. · American Journal of Psychiatry Aug 1994 3,606
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Child Abuse and Related Trauma research done?

The largest centres of Child Abuse and Related Trauma research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Philadelphia (United States), New York (United States) and Istanbul (Türkiye). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Philadelphia.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 39 works
  2. 2 PhiladelphiaUnited States 28 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 28 works
  4. 4 IstanbulTürkiye 22 works
  5. 5 BostonUnited States 22 works
  6. 6 TokyoJapan 22 works
  7. 7 ParisFrance 21 works
  8. 8 BeijingChina 21 works
  9. 9 TorontoCanada 20 works
  10. 10 AnkaraTürkiye 16 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PhiladelphiaUS · 28.1 works5.2×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Child Abuse and Related Trauma than the world average.

See Child Abuse and Related Trauma on the map

Where is the best place to study Child Abuse and Related Trauma?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, University of Toronto and University College London 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 15.0444%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University College L…University of Pennsy…University of TorontoHarvard University
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
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 76.815.4%3.6×21 +34.6%
2University of TorontoCanada 70.518.3%3.8×14 +24.5%
3University College LondonUnited Kingdom 57.124.6%3.6×11 -23.9%
4University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 56.121.0%4.3×8 +8.3%
5University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 54.322.0%6.1×8 +17.9%
6Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 52.114.0%3.9×11 +44.6%
7The Ohio State UniversityUnited States 44.511.8%4.5×10 +68.4%
8All India Institute of Medical SciencesIndia 33.23.5%7.2×15 -1.6%
9University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 33.04.8%2.7×9 +25.0%

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 Child Abuse and Related Trauma, country by country

Is Child Abuse and Related Trauma research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 14% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Child Abuse and Related Trauma.

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 Child Abuse and Related Trauma as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0076% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Child Abuse and Related Trauma0.0091% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Child Abuse and Related Trauma 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%Child Abuse and Related Trauma10.1% 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.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Child Abuse and Related Trauma. Keep it to the research: no personal attacks, advertising or links. Any reader can report a post, which collapses it for everyone until it is opened.