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Topic · Literature and Literary Theory

Contemporary Literature and Criticism

Contemporary Literature and Criticism is a research topic within Literature and Literary Theory. Science Explorer counts 11k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the themes and characteristics of postmodern literature, including its engagement with cultural critique, narrative experimentation, and the impact of historical events such as 9/11. It delves into the works of prominent authors like Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace, examining their contributions to contemporary fiction and the reflection of national memory in literary culture.

  • Postmodernism
  • Contemporary Fiction
  • Thomas Pynchon
  • David Foster Wallace
  • Cultural Critique
  • Narrative
  • Metamodernism
  • 9/11
  • Literary Culture
  • National Memory
Research works
11k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+6%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Contemporary Literature and Criticism

Which countries lead Contemporary Literature and Criticism research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (398 and 236 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 398 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 236 works
  3. 3 India 192 works
  4. 4 China 142 works
  5. 5 Türkiye 94 works
  6. 6 France 92 works
  7. 7 Australia 82 works
  8. 8 Germany 75 works
  9. 9 Russia 67 works
  10. 10 Canada 66 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: 27.6%United Kingdom: 16.4%India: 13.3%China: 9.8%6 others listed: 33.0%28%largest
United States398 · 27.6%United Kingdom236 · 16.4%India192 · 13.3%China142 · 9.8%6 others listed476 · 33.0%

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

Which institutions lead Contemporary Literature and Criticism research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Contemporary Literature and Criticism research, followed by Maryville University and University College Dublin.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 20 works
  2. 2 Maryville UniversityUnited States 19 works
  3. 3 University College DublinIreland 14 works
  4. 4 Film IndependentUnited States 14 works
  5. 5 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 12 works
  6. 6 The University of SydneyAustralia 11 works
  7. 7 Universidad de ZaragozaSpain 10 works
  8. 8 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 10 works
  9. 9 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 9 works
  10. 10 University of TorontoCanada 8 works

Who are the leading researchers in Contemporary Literature and Criticism?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Contemporary Literature and Criticism include Michael Snyder, Michael J. Mack and George E. P. Box.

  1. 1 Michael Snyder United States 224k citations
  2. 2 Michael J. Mack United States 154k citations
  3. 3 George E. P. Box United States 131k citations
  4. 4 Norman K. Denzin United States 130k citations
  5. 5 Judith Butler United States 116k citations
  6. 6 Catherine Lord United States 109k 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 Contemporary Literature and Criticism?

The most cited paper in Contemporary Literature and Criticism is "Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism" (James D. Sidaway, 1995), with 1,981 citations. Next come "Time, Narrative and History" (1,177) and "Fertile Obsession: Validity After Poststructuralism" (937).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism James D. Sidaway · Journal of Rural Studies 1995 1,981
2 Time, Narrative and History SUSAN COTTS WATKINS · Palgrave studies in contemporary women's writing Book chapter 2020 1,177
3 Fertile Obsession: Validity After Poststructuralism Patti A. Lather · Sociological Quarterly Nov 1993 937
4 INTERFACIAL PHENOMENA Bruno Jirgensons, M. E. Straumanis · Elsevier eBooks Book chapter 1962 735
5 Marketing in a postmodern world A. Fuat Fırat, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Alladi Venkatesh · European Journal of Marketing 1995 568
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Contemporary Literature and Criticism research done?

The largest centres of Contemporary Literature and Criticism research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Moscow (Russia), Beijing (China) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in St Louis.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 41 works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 26 works
  3. 3 BeijingChina 26 works
  4. 4 New YorkUnited States 25 works
  5. 5 ParisFrance 24 works
  6. 6 DublinIreland 23 works
  7. 7 St LouisUnited States 21 works
  8. 8 IstanbulTürkiye 19 works
  9. 9 SydneyAustralia 18 works
  10. 10 MelbourneAustralia 18 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. St LouisUS · 21.0 works7.9×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Contemporary Literature and Criticism than the world average.

See Contemporary Literature and Criticism on the map

Where is the best place to study Contemporary Literature and Criticism?

Among universities, judged by research, The University of Sydney, Tribhuvan University and Universidad de Zaragoza 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 11%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →The University of Sy…University of SussexTribhuvan UniversityUniversidad de Zarag…
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
1The University of SydneyAustralia 69.322.2%4.5×11 +158.0%
2Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 65.817.7%7.8×12 +175.5%
3Universidad de ZaragozaSpain 62.914.8%11.2×10 +28.2%
4University of SussexUnited Kingdom 56.921.1%16.0×8 -46.1%
5University College DublinIreland 55.03.6%13.2×14 +231.9%
6Maryville UniversityUnited States 49.00.0%1874.2×19 -
7The University of MelbourneAustralia 46.712.2%3.6×8 +157.3%
8University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 45.45.1%3.4×10 +4.4%
9University of TorontoCanada 35.18.3%2.0×8 -9.9%
10Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 30.35.0%4.8×9 +113.6%

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 Contemporary Literature and Criticism, country by country

Is Contemporary Literature and Criticism research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Contemporary Literature and Criticism.

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 Contemporary Literature and Criticism as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.010% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Contemporary Literature and Criticism0.0092% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Contemporary Literature and Criticism 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%Contemporary Literature and Criticism10.1% 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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