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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance

Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 22k 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 focuses on the analysis of organized crime, criminal networks, and their impact on society. It covers topics such as drug trafficking, money laundering, violence, law enforcement strategies, globalization's influence, corruption, and the role of gangs in criminal activities.

  • Organized Crime
  • Criminal Networks
  • Drug Trafficking
  • Money Laundering
  • Violence
  • Law Enforcement
  • Globalization
  • Corruption
  • Gangs
  • State Failure
Research works
22k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+8%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
34% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance

Which countries lead Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1k and 451 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 451 works
  3. 3 Brazil 357 works
  4. 4 India 250 works
  5. 5 China 200 works
  6. 6 Indonesia 159 works
  7. 7 Italy 155 works
  8. 8 Mexico 151 works
  9. 9 Australia 148 works
  10. 10 Canada 136 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: 33.9%United Kingdom: 14.9%Brazil: 11.8%India: 8.2%6 others listed: 31.3%34%largest
United States1,028 · 33.9%United Kingdom451 · 14.9%Brazil357 · 11.8%India250 · 8.2%6 others listed949 · 31.3%

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

Which institutions lead Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Oxford publishes the most Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance research, followed by Universidade de São Paulo and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 22 works
  2. 2 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 22 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 21 works
  4. 4 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 20 works
  5. 5 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 19 works
  6. 6 City University of New YorkUnited States 19 works
  7. 7 Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 18 works
  8. 8 University of PortsmouthUnited Kingdom 18 works
  9. 9 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 18 works
  10. 10 Institute of CriminologySlovenia 18 works

Who are the leading researchers in Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance include Ronald C. Kessler, Martin McKee and Louisa J Degenhardt.

  1. 1 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  2. 2 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  3. 3 Louisa J Degenhardt Australia 269k citations
  4. 4 Michael C. Jensen United States 203k citations
  5. 5 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations
  6. 6 Terrie E. Moffitt United Kingdom 195k citations
  7. 7 Joseph E. Stiglitz United States 167k citations
  8. 8 Daron Acemoğlu United States 164k citations
  9. 9 Robert C. Reiner United States 160k citations
  10. 10 Bryan L. Sykes United States 159k 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 Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance?

The most cited paper in Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance is "How the machine ‘thinks’: Understanding opacity in machine learning algorithms" (Jenna Burrell, 2016), with 2,806 citations. Next come "Crime in the Making" (2,773) and "Testing the Core Empirical Implications of Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime" (2,286).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 How the machine ‘thinks’: Understanding opacity in machine learning algorithms Jenna Burrell · Big Data & Society Open access 6 Jan 2016 2,806
2 Crime in the Making Robert J. Sampson, John H. Laub · Crime & Delinquency Jul 1993 2,773
3 Testing the Core Empirical Implications of Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime Harold G. Grasmick, Charles R. Tittle, Robert J. Bursik et al. · Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Feb 1993 2,286
4 HOT SPOTS OF PREDATORY CRIME: ROUTINE ACTIVITIES AND THE CRIMINOLOGY OF PLACE* Lawrence W. Sherman, Patrick R. Gartin, Michael E. Buerger · Criminology Feb 1989 2,113
5 THE EMPIRICAL STATUS OF GOTTFREDSON AND HIRSCHI'S GENERAL THEORY OF CRIME: A META‐ANALYSIS Travis C. Pratt, Francis T. Cullen · Criminology Open access Aug 2000 2,056
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance research done?

The largest centres of Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Mexico City (Mexico) and Washington D.C. (United States).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 99 works
  2. 2 New YorkUnited States 69 works
  3. 3 Mexico CityMexico 62 works
  4. 4 Washington D.C.United States 56 works
  5. 5 São PauloBrazil 53 works
  6. 6 BogotáColombia 52 works
  7. 7 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 50 works
  8. 8 MoscowRussia 47 works
  9. 9 BeijingChina 43 works
  10. 10 MilanItaly 41 works
See Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance on the map

Where is the best place to study Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Portsmouth, Charles Sturt University 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%20%40%60%mean 20.99%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Charles Sturt Univer…University of Portsm…University of OxfordFayetteville State U…
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
1University of PortsmouthUnited Kingdom 78.038.0%27.6×18 +93.9%
2Charles Sturt UniversityAustralia 69.449.5%16.3×9 +185.1%
3University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 60.117.7%3.5×22 -20.2%
4Fayetteville State UniversityUnited States 58.916.2%170.1×18 -
5Simon Fraser UniversityCanada 56.711.5%11.5×14 +38.6%
6University College LondonUnited Kingdom 55.815.5%2.7×19 -34.8%
7George Mason UniversityUnited States 55.123.6%10.5×15 -3.7%
8Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 52.96.9%5.5×18 +130.3%
9University of ChicagoUnited States 52.010.6%4.2×16 +31.2%
10Leiden UniversityNetherlands 49.820.4%4.4×10 +45.6%

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 Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance, country by country

Is Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 8% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance.

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 Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.022% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance 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%Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance10.5% 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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