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Topic · Law

Criminal Justice and Penology

Criminal Justice and Penology is a research topic within Law. Science Explorer counts 15k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics related to criminal justice, including penal systems, social control, insecurity, delinquency, prison systems, crime prevention, victimology, restorative justice, and the impact of globalization on these issues.

  • Criminal Justice
  • Penal System
  • Social Control
  • Insecurity
  • Delinquency
  • Prison System
  • Crime Prevention
  • Victimology
  • Restorative Justice
  • Globalization
Research works
15k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-3%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Spain
20% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Criminal Justice and Penology

Which countries lead Criminal Justice and Penology research?

By volume, Spain and Ecuador publish the most (710 and 647 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Spain 710 works
  2. 2 Ecuador 647 works
  3. 3 Colombia 376 works
  4. 4 Mexico 372 works
  5. 5 Peru 331 works
  6. 6 Argentina 329 works
  7. 7 Brazil 303 works
  8. 8 Chile 231 works
  9. 9 United States 103 works
  10. 10 ?? 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.

Spain: 20.4%Ecuador: 18.6%Colombia: 10.8%Mexico: 10.7%6 others listed: 39.5%20%largest
Spain710 · 20.4%Ecuador647 · 18.6%Colombia376 · 10.8%Mexico372 · 10.7%6 others listed1,375 · 39.5%

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

Which institutions lead Criminal Justice and Penology research?

By volume in 2022-now, Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los Andes publishes the most Criminal Justice and Penology research, followed by Universidad Católica de Cuenca and Universidad Indoamérica.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los AndesEcuador 146 works
  2. 2 Universidad Católica de CuencaEcuador 95 works
  3. 3 Universidad IndoaméricaEcuador 77 works
  4. 4 Universidad César VallejoPeru 70 works
  5. 5 Universidad de Buenos AiresArgentina 66 works
  6. 6 Pontificia Universidad Católica del EcuadorEcuador 54 works
  7. 7 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 43 works
  8. 8 Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador 42 works
  9. 9 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 42 works
  10. 10 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasArgentina 40 works

Who are the leading researchers in Criminal Justice and Penology?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Criminal Justice and Penology include Michel Foucault, Noam Chomsky and James G. Scott.

  1. 1 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  2. 2 Noam Chomsky United States 141k citations
  3. 3 James G. Scott Australia 136k citations
  4. 4 Amartya Kumar Sen United States 117k citations
  5. 5 David P. Farrington United Kingdom 84k 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 Criminal Justice and Penology?

The most cited paper in Criminal Justice and Penology is "Corte Suprema de Justicia" (El Editor, 2011), with 360 citations. Next come "Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible" (340) and "La verdad y las formas jurídicas." (254).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Corte Suprema de Justicia El Editor · ECA Estudios Centroamericanos Open access 30 Sep 2011 360
2 Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible David Barrero-Barrero, Fabio Baquero Valdés · Revista Científica General José María Córdova Open access 2020 340
3 La verdad y las formas jurídicas. Michael Foucault · Revista de filosofía Open access 28 Nov 2016 254
4 Derechos fundamentales Mariano R. Brito · Revista de Derecho Público Open access 20 Oct 2016 201
5 La violencia en Colombia Benigno Mantilla Pineda · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) Open access May 1962 193
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Criminal Justice and Penology research done?

The largest centres of Criminal Justice and Penology research in 2022-now are Ambato (Ecuador), Bogotá (Colombia), Madrid (Spain) and Buenos Aires (Argentina). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Ambato, Durán and Cuenca.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 AmbatoEcuador 229 works
  2. 2 BogotáColombia 222 works
  3. 3 MadridSpain 182 works
  4. 4 Buenos AiresArgentina 167 works
  5. 5 LimaPeru 141 works
  6. 6 SantiagoChile 126 works
  7. 7 QuitoEcuador 119 works
  8. 8 CuencaEcuador 104 works
  9. 9 TrujilloPeru 100 works
  10. 10 Mexico CityMexico 96 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. AmbatoEC · 229.1 works148×
  2. Durán42.4 works122×
  3. CuencaEC · 103.8 works72×
  4. MachalaEC · 21.6 works64×
  5. TrujilloPE · 100.4 works60×
  6. QuitoEC · 119.3 works56×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Criminal Justice and Penology than the world average.

See Criminal Justice and Penology on the map

Where is the best place to study Criminal Justice and Penology?

Among universities, judged by research, Universidad Indoamérica, Catholic University of Colombia and Universidad Católica de Cuenca 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 19.72%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Catholic University …Universidad Indoamér…Pontificia Universid…Universidad Católica…
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
1Universidad IndoaméricaEcuador 73.821.2%323.4×77 +804.1%
2Catholic University of ColombiaColombia 66.337.2%301.3×18 -2.1%
3Universidad Católica de CuencaEcuador 64.413.5%141.6×95 +170.9%
4Pontificia Universidad Católica del EcuadorEcuador 63.116.4%136.6×54 +828.7%
5Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los AndesEcuador 56.45.4%213.5×146 +128.7%
6Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 56.415.1%14.6×44 +15.8%
7Alberto Hurtado UniversityChile 56.222.2%100.7×17 +50.0%
8Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador 55.117.7%159.4×42 -
9Universidad Central de ChileChile 55.132.2%142.7×10 +4.0%
10Universidad Nacional de ChimborazoEcuador 53.016.3%84.5×22 +1900.0%

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 Criminal Justice and Penology, country by country

Is Criminal Justice and Penology research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 3% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020.

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 Criminal Justice and Penology as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.020% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Criminal Justice and Penology0.015% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Criminal Justice and Penology 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%Criminal Justice and Penology9.7% 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.

Discussion

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