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French Historical and Cultural Studies

French Historical and Cultural Studies is a research topic within History. Science Explorer counts 24k research works in it since 1950. 11.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of historical and sociopolitical topics related to France, including the Vichy regime, gender studies, resistance movements, cultural life during the occupation, eugenics, and philanthropy. The papers delve into various aspects of French history and society from the late 19th century to the postwar era.

  • France
  • History
  • Sociopolitical
  • Occupation
  • Gender
  • Resistance
  • Vichy Regime
  • Cultural Life
  • Eugenics
  • Philanthropy
Research works
24k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
11.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-6%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
France
61% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
French Historical and Cultural Studies

Which countries lead French Historical and Cultural Studies research?

By volume, France and the United States publish the most (2.1k and 417 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 France 2.1k works
  2. 2 United States 417 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 276 works
  4. 4 Canada 147 works
  5. 5 ?? 115 works
  6. 6 Germany 100 works
  7. 7 Italy 81 works
  8. 8 Spain 71 works
  9. 9 Belgium 71 works
  10. 10 Switzerland 60 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.

France: 60.8%United States: 12.2%United Kingdom: 8.1%Canada: 4.3%6 others listed: 14.6%61%largest
France2,077 · 60.8%United States417 · 12.2%United Kingdom276 · 8.1%Canada147 · 4.3%6 others listed498 · 14.6%

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

Which institutions lead French Historical and Cultural Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most French Historical and Cultural Studies research, followed by Université de Lyon and Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 484 works
  2. 2 Université de LyonFrance 73 works
  3. 3 Institut d'Etudes Politiques de ParisFrance 68 works
  4. 4 Université de LorraineFrance 65 works
  5. 5 Université Paris NanterreFrance 64 works
  6. 6 Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 64 works
  7. 7 Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneFrance 54 works
  8. 8 Université Lille Nord de FranceFrance 51 works
  9. 9 Université Rennes 2France 43 works
  10. 10 Université Paris CitéFrance 43 works

Who are the leading researchers in French Historical and Cultural Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on French Historical and Cultural Studies include Pierre Bourdıeu, Michel Foucault and David H. Weinberg.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  3. 3 David H. Weinberg United States 146k citations
  4. 4 Noam Chomsky United States 141k citations
  5. 5 Claude Leroy Canada 132k 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 French Historical and Cultural Studies?

The most cited paper in French Historical and Cultural Studies is "Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body." (Mimi Nichter, Susan Bordo, 1995), with 5,047 citations. Next come "TIME, WORK-DISCIPLINE, AND INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM" (3,783) and "Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970" (1,016).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body. Mimi Nichter, Susan Bordo · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews 1995 5,047
2 TIME, WORK-DISCIPLINE, AND INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM E. P. Thompson · Past & Present 1967 3,783
3 Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 Peter Gabriel Filene, John D’Emilio · Journal of American History Dec 1983 1,016
4 Coercion, capital, and European states, 990–1990 Peter Baldwin · History of European Ideas 1992 886
5 Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 Rhonda R. Rivera, John D’Emilio · University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1984 678
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is French Historical and Cultural Studies research done?

The largest centres of French Historical and Cultural Studies research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Lyon (France), Rennes (France) and Nanterre (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Aubervilliers, Caen and Nanterre.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 755 works
  2. 2 LyonFrance 121 works
  3. 3 RennesFrance 84 works
  4. 4 NanterreFrance 78 works
  5. 5 ToulouseFrance 72 works
  6. 6 LondonUnited Kingdom 62 works
  7. 7 LilleFrance 61 works
  8. 8 StrasbourgFrance 47 works
  9. 9 NantesFrance 44 works
  10. 10 MontrealCanada 42 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. AubervilliersFR · 26.9 works129×
  2. Caen20.5 works78×
  3. NanterreFR · 77.7 works72×
  4. AubièreFR · 26.5 works64×
  5. AmiensFR · 32.7 works45×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in French Historical and Cultural Studies than the world average.

See French Historical and Cultural Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study French Historical and Cultural Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Durham University, Sorbonne Université and Université de Lyon 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%60%mean 13.01%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Durham UniversityUniversité de LyonSorbonne UniversitéUniversité de Lorraine
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
1Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom 64.854.4%6.9×9 +62.5%
2Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 59.25.0%27.5×64 +48.7%
3Université de LyonFrance 58.45.1%33.6×73 +17.2%
4Université de LorraineFrance 54.34.0%50.3×65 +67.7%
5Université Paris NanterreFrance 52.85.3%92.2×64 +29.4%
6University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 50.925.7%3.3×16 +88.6%
7Université Lille Nord de FranceFrance 49.64.7%36.7×51 +7.0%
8Université Paris Sciences et LettresFrance 48.44.9%17.0×22 +24.1%
9Université Paris CitéFrance 48.06.0%16.5×42 -5.9%
10University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 47.815.0%4.2×17 +65.7%

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 French Historical and Cultural Studies, country by country

Is French Historical and Cultural Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2018.

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 French Historical and Cultural Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.018% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%French Historical and Cultural Studies0.013% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of French Historical and Cultural 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%French Historical and Cultural Studies10.0% 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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