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German History and Society

German History and Society is a research topic within History. Science Explorer counts 9.6k 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 memory, identity, and material culture of East Germany, focusing on topics such as Ostalgie, Stasi, Holocaust remembrance, Cold War politics, and the impact of socialism on postwar German society. It delves into the complexities of individual and collective memory in the context of historical events and political ideologies.

  • East German Memory
  • Ostalgie
  • Stasi
  • Holocaust
  • Identity
  • Cold War
  • Nostalgia
  • Socialism
  • GDR
  • Postwar Germany
Research works
9.6k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
993
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
0%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Germany
43% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
German History and Society

Which countries lead German History and Society research?

By volume, Germany and the United States publish the most (560 and 257 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Germany 560 works
  2. 2 United States 257 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 106 works
  4. 4 Poland 105 works
  5. 5 France 71 works
  6. 6 Russia 58 works
  7. 7 Austria 55 works
  8. 8 Italy 42 works
  9. 9 Spain 31 works
  10. 10 Netherlands 29 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.

Germany: 42.6%United States: 19.5%United Kingdom: 8.1%Poland: 8.0%6 others listed: 21.8%43%largest
Germany560 · 42.6%United States257 · 19.5%United Kingdom106 · 8.1%Poland105 · 8.0%6 others listed287 · 21.8%

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

Which institutions lead German History and Society research?

By volume in 2022-now, Leibniz Association publishes the most German History and Society research, followed by Freie Universität Berlin and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Leibniz AssociationGermany 34 works
  2. 2 Freie Universität BerlinGermany 18 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 17 works
  4. 4 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 16 works
  5. 5 Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinGermany 15 works
  6. 6 University of ViennaAustria 13 works
  7. 7 Goethe University FrankfurtGermany 13 works
  8. 8 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 12 works
  9. 9 University of FerraraItaly 12 works
  10. 10 University of GöttingenGermany 12 works

Who are the leading researchers in German History and Society?

The most-cited researchers publishing on German History and Society include Rob Knight, Wolfgang K. Huber and Michael J. Mack.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 Wolfgang K. Huber Germany 239k citations
  3. 3 Michael J. Mack United States 154k citations
  4. 4 J. Conway Germany 139k 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 German History and Society?

The most cited paper in German History and Society is "The Dynamics of Informational Cascades: The Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig, East Germany, 1989–91" (Susanne Lohmann, 1994), with 1,058 citations. Next come "The Politics of Regret: On Collective Memory and Historical Responsibility" (789) and "Exit, Voice, and the Fate of the German Democratic Republic: An Essay in Conceptual History" (469).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Dynamics of Informational Cascades: The Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig, East Germany, 1989–91 Susanne Lohmann · World Politics Oct 1994 1,058
2 The Politics of Regret: On Collective Memory and Historical Responsibility Jeffrey K. Olick 2007 789
3 Exit, Voice, and the Fate of the German Democratic Republic: An Essay in Conceptual History Albert O.HG Hirschman · World Politics 1993 469
4 The past as propaganda: totalitarian archaeology in Nazi Germany Bettina Arnold · Antiquity Sep 1990 318
5 The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government Aaron Lee Bachhofer · Archives of Sexual Behavior Apr 2005 300
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is German History and Society research done?

The largest centres of German History and Society research in 2022-now are Berlin (Germany), Munich (Germany), Vienna (Austria) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Frankfurt am Main.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BerlinGermany 67 works
  2. 2 MunichGermany 44 works
  3. 3 ViennaAustria 32 works
  4. 4 MoscowRussia 28 works
  5. 5 WarsawPoland 27 works
  6. 6 HamburgGermany 25 works
  7. 7 ParisFrance 24 works
  8. 8 Frankfurt am MainGermany 23 works
  9. 9 LondonUnited Kingdom 21 works
  10. 10 New YorkUnited States 20 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Frankfurt am MainDE · 23.1 works17×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in German History and Society than the world average.

See German History and Society on the map

Where is the best place to study German History and Society?

Among universities, judged by research, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 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%10%20%mean 10.63%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of MünsterLudwig-Maximilians-U…Humboldt-Universität…Freie Universität Be…
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
1Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 76.611.2%12.6×16 +80.5%
2Freie Universität BerlinGermany 65.110.1%29.7×18 +2.5%
3Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinGermany 62.410.3%29.6×15 +9.2%
4University of MünsterGermany 56.715.5%16.8×10 +35.3%
5University of WarsawPoland 55.118.3%12.9×9 +33.6%
6Friedrich Schiller University JenaGermany 52.09.6%24.3×11 +19.5%
7Universität HamburgGermany 48.37.8%10.3×11 -14.1%
8University of ViennaAustria 46.99.9%17.9×13 -45.2%
9Goethe University FrankfurtGermany 45.86.2%20.0×13 +77.1%
10University of FerraraItaly 36.77.4%49.4×12 -

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 German History and Society, country by country

Is German History and Society research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 0% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020.

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 German History and Society as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0072% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%German History and Society0.0071% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of German History and Society 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 counting10%20%German History and Society9.5% 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

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