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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Chinese history and philosophy

Chinese history and philosophy is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 105k 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 explores the religious diversity and regulation in Chinese society, covering topics such as Confucianism, Christianity, Falun Gong, the Cultural Revolution, nationalism, and the history of religion in China. It delves into the discourse of civilization, state regulation of religion, and the influence of emotions on beliefs.

  • Religion
  • China
  • Regulation
  • Confucianism
  • Christianity
  • Falun Gong
  • Cultural Revolution
  • Philosophy
  • Nationalism
  • History
Research works
105k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
11k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+28%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
51% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Chinese history and philosophy

Which countries lead Chinese history and philosophy research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (4.1k and 1.8k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 4.1k works
  2. 2 United States 1.8k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 477 works
  4. 4 France 336 works
  5. 5 Russia 311 works
  6. 6 Germany 269 works
  7. 7 Japan 231 works
  8. 8 Australia 203 works
  9. 9 Canada 201 works
  10. 10 Taiwan 162 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.

China: 50.7%United States: 22.4%United Kingdom: 5.9%France: 4.1%6 others listed: 16.9%51%largest
China4,124 · 50.7%United States1,827 · 22.4%United Kingdom477 · 5.9%France336 · 4.1%6 others listed1,376 · 16.9%

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

Which institutions lead Chinese history and philosophy research?

By volume in 2022-now, Peking University publishes the most Chinese history and philosophy research, followed by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Renmin University of China.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Peking UniversityChina 167 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of Social SciencesChina 158 works
  3. 3 Renmin University of ChinaChina 112 works
  4. 4 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 102 works
  5. 5 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 101 works
  6. 6 Wuhan UniversityChina 101 works
  7. 7 Beijing Language and Culture UniversityChina 96 works
  8. 8 Chinese University of Hong KongChina 94 works
  9. 9 Fudan UniversityChina 90 works
  10. 10 Tsinghua UniversityChina 90 works

Who are the leading researchers in Chinese history and philosophy?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Chinese history and philosophy include Xiaogang Wang and David P. Bartel.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  2. 2 David P. Bartel United States 200k 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 Chinese history and philosophy?

The most cited paper in Chinese history and philosophy is "Federalism, Chinese Style: The Political Basis for Economic Success in China" (Gabriella R. Montinola, Yingyi Qian, Barry R. Weingast, 1995), with 1,354 citations. Next come "Human Functioning and Social Justice" (1,195) and "Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China" (1,098).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Federalism, Chinese Style: The Political Basis for Economic Success in China Gabriella R. Montinola, Yingyi Qian, Barry R. Weingast · World Politics Open access Oct 1995 1,354
2 Human Functioning and Social Justice Martha C. Nussbaum · Political Theory May 1992 1,195
3 Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China Patrick E. McGovern, Juzhong Zhang, Jigen Tang et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open access 8 Dec 2004 1,098
4 Revitalization Movements Anthony F. C. Wallace · American Anthropologist Apr 1956 850
5 Policy Experimentation in China’s Economic Rise Sebastian Heilmann · Studies in Comparative International Development 26 Dec 2007 744
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Chinese history and philosophy research done?

The largest centres of Chinese history and philosophy research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Hong Kong (China) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Xinhui District and Maha Sarakham.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 1.1k works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 445 works
  3. 3 Hong KongChina 230 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 200 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 191 works
  6. 6 GuangzhouChina 164 works
  7. 7 ChengduChina 158 works
  8. 8 NanjingChina 155 works
  9. 9 HangzhouChina 146 works
  10. 10 MoscowRussia 141 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Xinhui DistrictCN · 20.1 works254×
  2. Maha SarakhamTH · 30.9 works28×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Chinese history and philosophy than the world average.

See Chinese history and philosophy on the map

Where is the best place to study Chinese history and philosophy?

Among universities, judged by research, Mahasarakham University, Chinese University of Hong Kong and University of Hong Kong 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%20%40%mean 17.47%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Mahasarakham Univers…Chinese University o…National University …University of Hong K…
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
1Mahasarakham UniversityThailand 75.037.0%36.3×31 +2031.7%
2Chinese University of Hong KongChina 73.718.1%15.7×94 +16.5%
3University of Hong KongChina 69.112.3%10.2×78 +15.4%
4National University of SingaporeSingapore 69.016.3%5.3×51 +38.4%
5City University of Hong KongChina 64.715.9%9.0×42 +0.9%
6University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 63.416.0%5.2×60 +4.7%
7Peking UniversityChina 63.09.2%9.9×166 +103.9%
8University of MacauChina 62.615.2%18.8×49 +123.5%
9Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyChina 61.525.3%6.0×20 +9.1%
10University of ChicagoUnited States 60.39.4%9.7×68 +104.8%

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 Chinese history and philosophy, country by country

Is Chinese history and philosophy research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 28% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2009. The fastest-growing topics are Chinese history and philosophy.

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 Chinese history and philosophy as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.042% in 2024.

still counting0.20%0.40%Chinese history and philosophy0.037% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Chinese history and philosophy 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%Chinese history and philosophy9.7% 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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