Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Literature and Literary Theory

Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies

Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies is a research topic within Literature and Literary Theory. Science Explorer counts 19k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the pervasiveness and persistence of fairy tales in culture, focusing on their impact on gender roles, children's literature, and the transmission of cultural values. It delves into the social history, mythology, and feminist perspectives related to fairy tales and folklore, highlighting their significance as a form of oral tradition and literary analysis.

  • Fairy Tales
  • Folklore
  • Children's Literature
  • Gender Roles
  • Cultural Transmission
  • Mythology
  • Social History
  • Literary Analysis
  • Feminism
  • Oral Tradition
Research works
19k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+13%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies

Which countries lead Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies research?

By volume, the United States and Russia publish the most (604 and 387 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 604 works
  2. 2 Russia 387 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 300 works
  4. 4 China 225 works
  5. 5 France 132 works
  6. 6 India 131 works
  7. 7 Indonesia 127 works
  8. 8 Canada 94 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 90 works
  10. 10 Australia 85 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: 27.8%Russia: 17.8%United Kingdom: 13.8%China: 10.4%6 others listed: 30.3%28%largest
United States604 · 27.8%Russia387 · 17.8%United Kingdom300 · 13.8%China225 · 10.4%6 others listed659 · 30.3%

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

Which institutions lead Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Film Independent.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 112 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 31 works
  3. 3 Film IndependentUnited States 27 works
  4. 4 Hungarian Academy of SciencesHungary 20 works
  5. 5 North-Eastern Federal UniversityRussia 19 works
  6. 6 Institute of Lithuanian Literature and FolkloreLithuania 18 works
  7. 7 University of HelsinkiFinland 18 works
  8. 8 University of TartuEstonia 16 works
  9. 9 Weatherford CollegeUnited States 16 works
  10. 10 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 16 works

Who are the leading researchers in Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies include Jin Li and Norman K. Denzin.

  1. 1 Jin Li China 132k citations
  2. 2 Norman K. Denzin United States 130k 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 Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies?

The most cited paper in Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies is "Professional Vision" (Charles Goodwin, 1994), with 3,090 citations. Next come "Deep play: notes on the Balinese cockfight" (1,127) and "Verbal Art as Performance1" (1,124).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Professional Vision Charles Goodwin · American Anthropologist Sep 1994 3,090
2 Deep play: notes on the Balinese cockfight Clifford Geertz · Daedalus Open access Sep 2005 1,127
3 Verbal Art as Performance1 Richard W Bauman · American Anthropologist Jun 1975 1,124
4 The mommy myth the idealization of motherhood and how it has undermined all women Susan Jane Douglas, Meredith W. Michaels 2005 730
5 The Socio‐Cultural Context of Rape: A Cross‐Cultural Study Peggy Reeves Sanday · Journal of Social Issues Oct 1981 567
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies research done?

The largest centres of Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies research in 2022-now are Moscow (Russia), London (United Kingdom), Saint Petersburg (Russia) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Yakutsk, Tartu and Vilnius.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 MoscowRussia 107 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 53 works
  3. 3 Saint PetersburgRussia 44 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 43 works
  5. 5 BeijingChina 42 works
  6. 6 BudapestHungary 40 works
  7. 7 Los AngelesUnited States 36 works
  8. 8 VilniusLithuania 35 works
  9. 9 New YorkUnited States 34 works
  10. 10 TartuEstonia 33 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. YakutskRU · 30.8 works65×
  2. TartuEE · 33.0 works39×
  3. VilniusLT · 35.0 works17×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies than the world average.

See Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Helsinki, University of Tartu and University of Oxford 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 16.19%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Indiana UniversityUniversity of HelsinkiUniversity of TartuUniversity 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.

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
1University of HelsinkiFinland 70.117.0%8.5×18 -25.8%
2University of TartuEstonia 69.416.8%27.0×16 +2.0%
3University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 66.516.2%3.8×16 +37.3%
4Indiana UniversityUnited States 62.921.6%3.9×12 +27.4%
5Eötvös Loránd UniversityHungary 61.232.1%9.0×8 +50.3%
6University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 59.912.1%3.6×13 +12.0%
7North-Eastern Federal UniversityRussia 51.46.3%77.0×19 +13.3%
8University of GlasgowUnited Kingdom 51.412.6%5.7×11 +275.2%
9Weatherford CollegeUnited States 50.99.5%4.0×16 +68.9%
10University of LjubljanaSlovenia 49.417.7%8.4×10 +99.1%

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 Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies, country by country

Is Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 13% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies.

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 Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.017% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies0.013% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies 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%Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies10.4% 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

Ask a question or share a note about Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies. Keep it to the research: no personal attacks, advertising or links. Any reader can report a post, which collapses it for everyone until it is opened.