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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. 26.4% 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%
5.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
26.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+25%
the tick is no change

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

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (921 and 418 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 921 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 418 works
  3. 3 Brazil 298 works
  4. 4 India 221 works
  5. 5 China 160 works
  6. 6 Italy 140 works
  7. 7 Australia 138 works
  8. 8 Indonesia 138 works
  9. 9 Mexico 133 works
  10. 10 Canada 124 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: 34.2%United Kingdom: 15.5%Brazil: 11.1%India: 8.2%6 others listed: 30.9%34%largest
United States921 · 34.2%United Kingdom418 · 15.5%Brazil298 · 11.1%India221 · 8.2%6 others listed833 · 30.9%

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

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

By volume in 2022–2025, University of Oxford publishes the most Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance research, followed by University College London and Fayetteville State University.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 20 works
  2. 2 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 18 works
  3. 3 Fayetteville State UniversityUnited States 18 works
  4. 4 University of PortsmouthUnited Kingdom 17 works
  5. 5 Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 17 works
  6. 6 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 16 works
  7. 7 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 15 works
  8. 8 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 15 works
  9. 9 Institute of CriminologySlovenia 15 works
  10. 10 George Mason UniversityUnited States 14 works

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

The largest centres of Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance research in 2022–2025 are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Mexico City (Mexico) and Bogotá (Colombia).

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 91 works
  2. 2 New York United States 64 works
  3. 3 Mexico City Mexico 56 works
  4. 4 Bogotá Colombia 48 works
  5. 5 Washington D.C. United States 47 works
  6. 6 Moscow Russia 45 works
  7. 7 São Paulo Brazil 42 works
  8. 8 Beijing China 41 works
  9. 9 Rio de Janeiro Brazil 38 works
  10. 10 Milan Italy 37 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 Essex 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%25%50%75%mean 43.33%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Portsmouth: 17, 47.7%Charles Sturt University: 9, 65.3%University of Essex: 9, 33.7%Northumbria University: 9, 32.8%Macquarie University: 12, 53.9%BI Norwegian Business School: 10, 33.2%University of Oxford: 20, 51.8%Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore: 12, 47.6%London School of Economics and Political Science: 10, 41.0%Universiti Teknologi MARA: 17, 26.3%Charles Sturt Univer…University of Portsm…University of EssexNorthumbria University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 University of PortsmouthUnited Kingdom 73.347.7%25.0×17 +15.5%
2 Charles Sturt UniversityAustralia 71.065.3%14.7×9 +118.5%
3 University of EssexUnited Kingdom 65.033.7%12.8×9 +232.8%
4 Northumbria UniversityUnited Kingdom 63.632.8%9.4×9 +316.5%
5 Macquarie UniversityAustralia 63.253.9%7.7×12 +34.0%
6 BI Norwegian Business SchoolNorway 62.733.2%52.0×10 +130.2%
7 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 62.551.8%3.6×20 +49.4%
8 Università Cattolica del Sacro CuoreItaly 60.547.6%9.8×12 -25.7%
9 London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 59.341.0%9.9×10 +19.1%
10 Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 56.826.3%5.0×17 +347.7%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 25% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

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.