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Topic · Visual Arts and Performing Arts

Comics and Graphic Narratives

Comics and Graphic Narratives is a research topic within Visual Arts and Performing Arts. Science Explorer counts 8.9k 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 intersection of comics and medicine, examining the use of graphic narratives in medical education, patient care, and science communication. It delves into the potential of comics as a tool for teaching, storytelling, and engaging diverse audiences with health information. The papers also discuss the cultural, literary, and visual aspects of comics in portraying illness, trauma, and personal narratives.

  • Comics
  • Graphic Novels
  • Medicine
  • Narrative
  • Education
  • Visual Communication
  • Literature
  • Science Communication
  • Cultural Studies
  • Art
Research works
8.9k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
915
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+22%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Indonesia
25% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Comics and Graphic Narratives

Which countries lead Comics and Graphic Narratives research?

By volume, Indonesia and the United States publish the most (467 and 456 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Indonesia 467 works
  2. 2 United States 456 works
  3. 3 France 176 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 159 works
  5. 5 India 132 works
  6. 6 Türkiye 127 works
  7. 7 Spain 101 works
  8. 8 China 97 works
  9. 9 Germany 84 works
  10. 10 Canada 78 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.

Indonesia: 24.9%United States: 24.3%France: 9.4%United Kingdom: 8.5%6 others listed: 33.0%25%largest
Indonesia467 · 24.9%United States456 · 24.3%France176 · 9.4%United Kingdom159 · 8.5%6 others listed620 · 33.0%

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

Which institutions lead Comics and Graphic Narratives research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Comics and Graphic Narratives research, followed by Université de Lyon and University of the Arts London.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 29 works
  2. 2 Université de LyonFrance 18 works
  3. 3 University of the Arts LondonUnited Kingdom 14 works
  4. 4 Film IndependentUnited States 14 works
  5. 5 National Institute of Technology TiruchirappalliIndia 12 works
  6. 6 State University of SemarangIndonesia 12 works
  7. 7 Universitas Negeri SurabayaIndonesia 12 works
  8. 8 State University of MalangIndonesia 11 works
  9. 9 Universitas Pendidikan GaneshaIndonesia 11 works
  10. 10 Indonesia University of EducationIndonesia 10 works

Who are the leading researchers in Comics and Graphic Narratives?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Comics and Graphic Narratives include Dan J. Stein, Andrew Zisserman and James E. Gunn.

  1. 1 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
  2. 2 Andrew Zisserman United Kingdom 255k citations
  3. 3 James E. Gunn United States 136k citations
  4. 4 Norman K. Denzin United States 130k citations
  5. 5 Steve Walker United Kingdom 99k 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 Comics and Graphic Narratives?

The most cited paper in Comics and Graphic Narratives is "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art" (ALAN D. MANNING, 1998), with 3,154 citations. Next come "JFK and dark tourism: A fascination with assassination" (688) and "Stories: Big or small" (572).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art ALAN D. MANNING · IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Mar 1998 3,154
2 JFK and dark tourism: A fascination with assassination Malcolm Foley, J. John Lennon · International Journal of Heritage Studies Dec 1996 688
3 Stories: Big or small Michael Bamberg · Narrative Inquiry 29 Aug 2006 572
4 What Does the Selfie Say? Investigating a Global Phenomenon Theresa M. Senft, Nancy K. Baym · International journal of communication Open access Sep 2015 430
5 Graphic medicine: use of comics in medical education and patient care Michael J. Green, Kimberly R. Myers · BMJ 3 Mar 2010 415
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Comics and Graphic Narratives research done?

The largest centres of Comics and Graphic Narratives research in 2022-now are Bandung (Indonesia), London (United Kingdom), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Surabaya (Indonesia).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BandungIndonesia 55 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 45 works
  3. 3 JakartaIndonesia 44 works
  4. 4 SurabayaIndonesia 37 works
  5. 5 ParisFrance 32 works
  6. 6 YogyakartaIndonesia 31 works
  7. 7 IstanbulTürkiye 28 works
  8. 8 MoscowRussia 28 works
  9. 9 MedanIndonesia 27 works
  10. 10 SemarangIndonesia 26 works
See Comics and Graphic Narratives on the map

Where is the best place to study Comics and Graphic Narratives?

Among universities, judged by research, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, Université de Lyon and University of the Arts London 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%20%40%mean 12.04%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →National Institute o…Universitas Pendidik…University of the Ar…Université de Lyon
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
1National Institute of Technology TiruchirappalliIndia 77.833.3%25.1×12 +65.4%
2Université de LyonFrance 56.30.2%12.1×18 +118.3%
3University of the Arts LondonUnited Kingdom 51.14.5%164.1×14 +368.0%
4Universitas Pendidikan GaneshaIndonesia 46.911.5%11.9×11 +300.0%
5State University of SemarangIndonesia 43.411.7%6.9×12 +141.9%
6Universitas Negeri SurabayaIndonesia 42.912.6%6.8×12 +24.4%
7Sunan Gunung Djati State Islamic University BandungIndonesia 39.312.2%11.6×10 +235.3%
8Indonesia University of EducationIndonesia 38.910.9%4.4×10 +73.9%
9Ghent UniversityBelgium 38.89.2%5.2×9 +81.4%
10Universitas Komputer IndonesiaIndonesia 37.514.3%39.5×10 +78.1%

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 Comics and Graphic Narratives, country by country

Is Comics and Graphic Narratives research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 22% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Comics and Graphic Narratives.

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 Comics and Graphic Narratives as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.012% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Comics and Graphic Narratives0.012% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Comics and Graphic Narratives 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%Comics and Graphic Narratives9.8% 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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