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Topic · Literature and Literary Theory

Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature

Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature is a research topic within Literature and Literary Theory. Science Explorer counts 8.6k research works in it since 1950. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of climate change, literature, and criticism, with a focus on ecocriticism, postcolonialism, and the Anthropocene. It delves into the representation of environmental issues in literature, the impact of climate change on societies, and the role of humanities in addressing environmental challenges.

  • Climate Change
  • Literature
  • Ecocriticism
  • Postcolonialism
  • Environmental Humanities
  • Anthropocene
  • Global Warming
  • Environmental Justice
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ecofeminism
Research works
8.6k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
884
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+73%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature

Which countries lead Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature research?

By volume, the United States and India publish the most (670 and 499 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 670 works
  2. 2 India 499 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 328 works
  4. 4 China 170 works
  5. 5 Germany 156 works
  6. 6 France 122 works
  7. 7 Australia 111 works
  8. 8 Canada 108 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 107 works
  10. 10 Italy 99 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: 28.3%India: 21.1%United Kingdom: 13.8%China: 7.2%6 others listed: 29.7%28%largest
United States670 · 28.3%India499 · 21.1%United Kingdom328 · 13.8%China170 · 7.2%6 others listed704 · 29.7%

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

Which institutions lead Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature research, followed by University of Oxford and Tribhuvan University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 32 works
  2. 2 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 28 works
  3. 3 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 24 works
  4. 4 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 18 works
  5. 5 Film IndependentUnited States 17 works
  6. 6 Vellore Institute of Technology UniversityIndia 15 works
  7. 7 University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 15 works
  8. 8 King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 13 works
  9. 9 G.S. Science, Arts And Commerce CollegeIndia 12 works
  10. 10 Jagiellonian UniversityPoland 11 works

Who are the leading researchers in Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature include Claudiu Trandafir Supuran.

  1. 1 Claudiu Trandafir Supuran Italy 134k 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 Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature?

The most cited paper in Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature is "171 Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin" (Donna Haraway, 2015), with 2,968 citations. Next come "The geology of mankind? A critique of the Anthropocene narrative" (1,440) and "Why it Matters How We Frame the Environment" (1,118).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 171 Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin Donna Haraway · Environmental Humanities Open access May 2015 2,968
2 The geology of mankind? A critique of the Anthropocene narrative Andreas Malm, Alf Hornborg · The Anthropocene Review 7 Jan 2014 1,440
3 Why it Matters How We Frame the Environment George P. Lakoff · Environmental Communication Open access Mar 2010 1,118
4 THE ECOLOGICAL FALLACY Steven T. Piantadosi, David P. Byar, Sylvan B. Green · American Journal of Epidemiology May 1988 840
5 Indigenous science (fiction) for the Anthropocene: Ancestral dystopias and fantasies of climate change crises Kyle Powys Whyte · Environment and Planning E Nature and Space Mar 2018 774
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature research done?

The largest centres of Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Beijing (China) and Oxford (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Kathmandu.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 65 works
  2. 2 New YorkUnited States 41 works
  3. 3 BeijingChina 35 works
  4. 4 OxfordUnited Kingdom 31 works
  5. 5 ParisFrance 31 works
  6. 6 ChennaiIndia 28 works
  7. 7 KathmanduNepal 28 works
  8. 8 Los AngelesUnited States 28 works
  9. 9 TorontoCanada 22 works
  10. 10 ShanghaiChina 22 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. KathmanduNP · 28.2 works8.7×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature than the world average.

See Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature on the map

Where is the best place to study Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oxford, Ghent University and University of Edinburgh 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%10%20%30%mean 17.79%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Ghent UniversityUniversity of Edinbu…University of Cambri…University of Oxford
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 OxfordUnited Kingdom 75.410.9%6.3×28 +144.6%
2Ghent UniversityBelgium 70.127.8%4.1×10 +58.4%
3University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 67.321.7%5.4×15 +120.6%
4University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 64.412.3%5.0×18 +111.2%
5University of ExeterUnited Kingdom 57.620.8%6.8×9 +45.4%
6King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 55.215.1%4.8×13 +134.2%
7University of CologneGermany 53.924.3%6.2×8 +84.3%
8Vellore Institute of Technology UniversityIndia 52.816.9%4.9×15 +284.2%
9University of TorontoCanada 51.627.4%1.5×10 +19.5%
10Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 50.70.7%10.3×24 +220.0%

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 Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature, country by country

Is Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 73% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature.

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 Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.011% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature0.018% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature 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%Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature10.2% 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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