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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. 10.1% 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%
1.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+34%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Criminal Justice and Penology research?

By volume, Spain and Ecuador publish the most (679 and 634 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Spain 679 works
  2. 2 Ecuador 634 works
  3. 3 Colombia 366 works
  4. 4 Mexico 350 works
  5. 5 Argentina 317 works
  6. 6 Peru 316 works
  7. 7 Brazil 279 works
  8. 8 Chile 225 works
  9. 9 United States 95 works
  10. 10 ?? 72 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: 19.0%Colombia: 11.0%Mexico: 10.5%6 others listed: 39.1%20%largest
Spain679 · 20.4%Ecuador634 · 19.0%Colombia366 · 11.0%Mexico350 · 10.5%6 others listed1,304 · 39.1%

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

Which institutions lead Criminal Justice and Penology research?

By volume in 2022–2025, 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, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Universidad Regional Autónoma de Los AndesEcuador 145 works
  2. 2 Universidad Católica de CuencaEcuador 92 works
  3. 3 Universidad IndoaméricaEcuador 75 works
  4. 4 Universidad César VallejoPeru 66 works
  5. 5 Universidad de Buenos AiresArgentina 61 works
  6. 6 Pontificia Universidad Católica del EcuadorEcuador 54 works
  7. 7 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 42 works
  8. 8 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 41 works
  9. 9 Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador?? 40 works
  10. 10 Universitat de ValènciaSpain 36 works

Who are the leading researchers in Criminal Justice and Penology?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Criminal Justice and Penology include Loïc Wacquant.

  1. 1 Loïc Wacquant United States 3.1k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Criminal Justice and Penology research done?

The largest centres of Criminal Justice and Penology research in 2022–2025 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, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Ambato Ecuador 226 works
  2. 2 Bogotá Colombia 215 works
  3. 3 Madrid Spain 175 works
  4. 4 Buenos Aires Argentina 159 works
  5. 5 Lima Peru 138 works
  6. 6 Santiago Chile 123 works
  7. 7 Quito Ecuador 117 works
  8. 8 Cuenca Ecuador 101 works
  9. 9 Mexico City Mexico 93 works
  10. 10 Trujillo Peru 93 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. AmbatoEC · 226.5 works147×
  2. Durán40.2 works139×
  3. CuencaEC · 101.1 works72×
  4. MachalaEC · 21.6 works68×
  5. QuitoEC · 116.8 works58×
  6. TrujilloPE · 92.7 works57×
← 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, Catholic University of Colombia, Universidad Indoamérica and Universitat de Girona 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 22.77%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Catholic University of Colombia: 18, 38.4%Universidad Indoamérica: 75, 25.6%Universitat de Girona: 8, 26.7%Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador: 40, 26.5%Universitat de València: 36, 14.8%Universidad Católica de Cuenca: 92, 16.6%Universidad Diego Portales: 16, 26.1%Universidad Internacional De La Rioja: 12, 18.5%Universidad de Granada: 25, 18.1%Universidad de la República de Uruguay: 20, 16.4%Catholic University …Universitat de GironaUniversidad Bolivari…Universidad Indoamér…
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 Catholic University of ColombiaColombia 70.238.4%276.7×18 +58.7%
2 Universidad IndoaméricaEcuador 68.325.6%289.3×75 —
3 Universitat de GironaSpain 64.726.7%18.8×8 +170.3%
4Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador?? 63.126.5%138.9×40 —
5 Universitat de ValènciaSpain 62.514.8%19.1×36 +142.6%
6 Universidad Católica de CuencaEcuador 61.716.6%126.4×92 —
7 Universidad Diego PortalesChile 60.726.1%74.8×16 +45.4%
8 Universidad Internacional De La RiojaSpain 60.418.5%25.9×12 +314.3%
9 Universidad de GranadaSpain 59.618.1%12.9×25 +83.1%
10 Universidad de la República de UruguayUruguay 59.516.4%24.9×20 +96.2%

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 Criminal Justice and Penology research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 34% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2020. The fastest-growing topics are Criminal Justice and Penology.

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.