Early Childhood Education and Development

Early Childhood Education and Development is a research topic within Education. Science Explorer counts 50k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the multifaceted concept of school engagement, encompassing student-teacher relationships, social and emotional learning, early childhood education, academic achievement, classroom quality, educational interventions, self-regulation, and school readiness. The research emphasizes the importance of fostering positive environments and supportive relationships to enhance students' engagement and overall development.

School Engagement
Student-Teacher Relationships
Social and Emotional Learning
Early Childhood Education
Academic Achievement
Child Development
Classroom Quality
Educational Interventions
Self-Regulation
School Readiness

Research works: 50k
In the world top 10%: 5k
Top-10% rate: 10.0%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25: +22%
Largest producer: United States

Early Childhood Education and Development

Which countries lead Early Childhood Education and Development research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.5k and 902 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

1 United States 3.5k works
2 China 902 works
3 United Kingdom 759 works
4 Australia 563 works
5 Canada 387 works
6 Germany 385 works
7 Türkiye 360 works
8 Indonesia 283 works
9 India 256 works
10 Sweden 212 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 States3,457 · 45.7%China902 · 11.9%United Kingdom759 · 10.0%Australia563 · 7.4%6 others listed1,884 · 24.9%

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

Which institutions lead Early Childhood Education and Development research?

By volume, 2022-now

1 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 91 works
2 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 64 works
3 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 59 works
4 Monash UniversityAustralia 57 works
5 University of VirginiaUnited States 52 works
6 Education University of Hong KongChina 51 works
7 New York UniversityUnited States 44 works
8 Harvard UniversityUnited States 44 works
9 The Ohio State UniversityUnited States 44 works
10 The University of MelbourneAustralia 43 works

Who are the leading researchers in Early Childhood Education and Development?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Early Childhood Education and Development include George Davey Smith, Richard M. Ryan and Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta.

1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
2 Richard M. Ryan United States 395k citations
3 Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta Pakistan 371k citations
4 Albert Bandura United States 370k citations
5 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
6 Edward L. Deci United States 325k citations
7 Mika Kivimäki United Kingdom 318k citations
8 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k 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 Early Childhood Education and Development?

The most cited paper in Early Childhood Education and Development is "School Engagement: Potential of the Concept, State of the Evidence" (Jennifer A. Fredricks, Phyllis C. Blumenfeld, Alison H. Paris, 2004), with 12,369 citations. Next come "Toward an experimental ecology of human development." (10,424) and "Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: Toward an integrative model of change." (8,785).

Most cited papers
#	Paper	Released	Citations
1	School Engagement: Potential of the Concept, State of the Evidence Jennifer A. Fredricks, Phyllis C. Blumenfeld, Alison H. Paris · Review of Educational Research	Mar 2004	12,369
2	Toward an experimental ecology of human development. Urie Bronfenbrenner · American Psychologist	Jul 1977	10,424
3	Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: Toward an integrative model of change. James O. Prochaska, Carlo C. DiClemente · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology Open access	1983	8,785
4	The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions Joseph A. Durlak, Roger P. Weissberg, Allison B. Dymnicki et al. · Child Development Review	2011	8,717
5	Ecology of the family as a context for human development: Research perspectives. Urie Bronfenbrenner · Developmental Psychology	Nov 1986	6,602

All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Early Childhood Education and Development research done?

The largest centres of Early Childhood Education and Development research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Beijing (China) and Melbourne (Australia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Tai Po and Jyvaskyla.

Largest cities, 2022-now

1 LondonUnited Kingdom 171 works
2 New YorkUnited States 157 works
3 BeijingChina 149 works
4 MelbourneAustralia 145 works
5 BrisbaneAustralia 93 works
6 Chapel HillUnited States 91 works
7 Washington D.C.United States 89 works
8 ChicagoUnited States 85 works
9 ShanghaiChina 80 works
10 SydneyAustralia 80 works

Where it is the local speciality

Tai PoCN · 52.3 works31×
JyvaskylaFI · 42.0 works19×

← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Early Childhood Education and Development than the world average.

See Early Childhood Education and Development on the map

Where is the best place to study Early Childhood Education and Development?

Among universities, judged by research, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Education University of Hong Kong and Beijing Normal University 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.

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.

#	University	Score	Top 10%	Specialisation	Works	Growth
1	Chinese University of Hong KongChina	76.5	26.2%	4.1×	29	+92.5%
2	Education University of Hong KongChina	75.1	20.7%	36.8×	52	+34.0%
3	Beijing Normal UniversityChina	74.8	19.9%	7.7×	59	+83.4%
4	Sapienza University of RomeItaly	72.9	30.0%	2.3×	26	+296.8%
5	University of VirginiaUnited States	72.1	21.1%	8.7×	52	-7.5%
6	Zhejiang Normal UniversityChina	70.0	27.9%	6.4×	18	+977.6%
7	UNSW SydneyAustralia	69.8	28.5%	2.6×	23	+45.5%
8	Dublin City UniversityIreland	67.8	28.0%	8.2×	14	+53.9%
9	University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom	67.3	18.7%	2.9×	33	+19.8%
10	University College LondonUnited Kingdom	67.2	11.9%	4.2×	64	+11.6%
11	The University of QueenslandAustralia	67.2	22.6%	3.2×	30	+44.7%
12	University of Hong KongChina	66.0	17.2%	3.3×	30	+22.0%
13	Shaanxi Normal UniversityChina	65.5	24.5%	5.4×	14	+180.6%
14	Harvard UniversityUnited States	65.4	14.1%	1.4×	44	+23.6%
15	University of JyväskyläFinland	64.8	12.9%	23.5×	41	+73.8%
16	Stanford UniversityUnited States	64.0	15.1%	2.1×	30	-4.1%
17	University of ChicagoUnited States	63.9	13.6%	4.2×	35	+55.2%
18	Yale UniversityUnited States	63.6	20.2%	2.4×	26	+28.9%
19	University of StavangerNorway	62.8	16.0%	17.8×	26	+53.1%
20	University of TorontoCanada	61.6	14.0%	1.9×	38	+12.9%
21	University of Wisconsin–MadisonUnited States	60.7	15.5%	3.7×	33	+5.3%
22	University of California, BerkeleyUnited States	60.3	14.4%	2.7×	24	+24.5%
23	University of OxfordUnited Kingdom	59.7	11.3%	2.6×	35	+21.4%
24	University of MissouriUnited States	58.9	15.5%	7.2×	29	+37.6%
25	University of MichiganUnited States	58.7	12.9%	2.6×	38	-8.1%
26	New York UniversityUnited States	58.3	11.8%	4.0×	44	-10.4%
27	Monash UniversityAustralia	57.9	12.3%	6.1×	57	-6.3%
28	University of OsloNorway	57.5	14.9%	4.0×	25	+57.8%
29	University of California, IrvineUnited States	57.4	19.7%	4.3×	26	-14.5%
30	University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom	57.3	17.3%	3.1×	26	+18.8%
31	The University of MelbourneAustralia	57.2	16.9%	4.0×	43	-10.0%
32	University of PittsburghUnited States	56.7	16.4%	3.6×	28	-8.1%
33	University of Maryland, College ParkUnited States	56.5	15.1%	5.1×	29	+9.9%
34	Australian Catholic UniversityAustralia	56.1	19.0%	19.4×	19	+9.5%
35	Deakin UniversityAustralia	55.8	14.3%	7.0×	30	+4.9%
36	Shanghai Normal UniversityChina	55.8	14.4%	12.3×	20	+307.7%
37	Central China Normal UniversityChina	55.8	20.5%	5.2×	13	+141.9%
38	Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States	55.3	13.5%	1.9×	28	+1.0%
39	Stockholm UniversitySweden	55.2	8.7%	9.0×	30	+28.9%
40	East China Normal UniversityChina	55.2	13.4%	5.9×	28	+65.2%
41	University of BolognaItaly	53.9	22.5%	1.1×	9	+105.8%
42	University of MacauChina	53.7	14.3%	4.1×	13	+12.1%
43	University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States	52.7	5.4%	5.2×	91	-31.8%
44	The Ohio State UniversityUnited States	51.1	11.0%	3.7×	44	+4.0%
45	Curtin UniversityAustralia	48.3	28.5%	2.8×	8	-19.1%
46	National University of SingaporeSingapore	47.6	23.1%	0.8×	9	+91.8%
47	University of BambergGermany	46.0	17.2%	13.0×	12	+1.5%
48	Kean UniversityUnited States	45.6	16.5%	25.3×	8	+114.1%
49	Queen Maud University CollegeNorway	44.3	13.2%	226.4×	10	+42.8%
50	Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina	43.9	20.0%	1.3×	11	-16.1%
51	Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore	43.1	5.0%	2.5×	19	+26.3%
52	University of South-Eastern NorwayNorway	42.8	11.5%	11.7×	11	+36.7%
53	University of Massachusetts BostonUnited States	41.8	9.5%	10.7×	11	+16.4%
54	University of IcelandIceland	38.2	1.8%	10.3×	13	+155.8%
55	University of ZambiaZambia	34.3	4.8%	6.5×	9	+29.5%
56	RMIT UniversityAustralia	20.1	2.9%	2.1×	8	-27.8%

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 Early Childhood Education and Development, country by country

Is Early Childhood Education and Development research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 22% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Early Childhood Education and Development.

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 Early Childhood Education and Development as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.048% in 2024.

Fractional works of Early Childhood Education and Development 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.

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.

Questions people ask

Who researches early childhood education?

By volume in 2022-now, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most Early Childhood Education and Development research, followed by University College London and Beijing Normal University. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.5k and 902 works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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Which countries lead Early Childhood Education and Development research?

By volume, 2022-now

How concentrated that is

Which institutions lead Early Childhood Education and Development research?

By volume, 2022-now

Who are the leading researchers in Early Childhood Education and Development?

What are the most cited papers in Early Childhood Education and Development?

Where is Early Childhood Education and Development research done?

Largest cities, 2022-now

Where it is the local speciality

Where is the best place to study Early Childhood Education and Development?

Is Early Childhood Education and Development research growing?

Its share of all research

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Which topics inside it are moving

Related research

Questions people ask

Who researches early childhood education?

Discussion