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Topic · Anthropology

Historical and Literary Studies

Historical and Literary Studies is a research topic within Anthropology. Science Explorer counts 33k research works in it since 1950. 11.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics related to the economy and society in ancient Rome, including living standards, urban workshops, artisan clusters, production technology, and the use of encyclopedias. It also delves into the archaeological exploration of Pompeii and its relevance to understanding Roman lifestyles. The papers provide insights into various aspects of economic activities, social structures, and material culture in ancient Rome.

  • Roman Economy
  • Urban Workshops
  • Pompeii
  • Archaeology
  • Living Standards
  • Artisans
  • Lifestyles
  • Production Technology
  • Encyclopedism
  • Social Progress
Research works
33k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
11.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-15%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
France
55% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Historical and Literary Studies

Which countries lead Historical and Literary Studies research?

By volume, France and the United States publish the most (2.2k and 494 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 France 2.2k works
  2. 2 United States 494 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 260 works
  4. 4 Italy 204 works
  5. 5 Canada 202 works
  6. 6 Russia 134 works
  7. 7 Germany 124 works
  8. 8 Spain 121 works
  9. 9 ?? 115 works
  10. 10 Belgium 105 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: 55.4%United States: 12.6%United Kingdom: 6.6%Italy: 5.2%6 others listed: 20.3%55%largest
France2,180 · 55.4%United States494 · 12.6%United Kingdom260 · 6.6%Italy204 · 5.2%6 others listed800 · 20.3%

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

Which institutions lead Historical and Literary Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Historical and Literary Studies research, followed by Université de Lyon and Sorbonne Université.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 547 works
  2. 2 Université de LyonFrance 111 works
  3. 3 Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 98 works
  4. 4 Université Lille Nord de FranceFrance 70 works
  5. 5 Université Paris NanterreFrance 62 works
  6. 6 Université Sorbonne NouvelleFrance 60 works
  7. 7 Université Grenoble AlpesFrance 59 works
  8. 8 Université de LorraineFrance 56 works
  9. 9 Université Toulouse - Jean JaurèsFrance 55 works
  10. 10 Université Paris Sciences et LettresFrance 43 works

Who are the leading researchers in Historical and Literary Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Historical and Literary Studies include Pierre Bourdıeu and Michel Foucault.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Michel Foucault France 208k 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 Historical and Literary Studies?

The most cited paper in Historical and Literary Studies is "Kinematics of the western Mediterranean" (John Frederick Dewey, Mark Helman, Steven D. Knott et al., 1989), with 1,641 citations. Next come "Meaning and understanding in the history of ideas" (1,132) and "1911 Encyclopedia Britannica" (1,038).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Kinematics of the western Mediterranean John Frederick Dewey, Mark Helman, Steven D. Knott et al. · Geological Society London Special Publications 1989 1,641
2 Meaning and understanding in the history of ideas Quentin Skinner · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter 4 Aug 2010 1,132
3 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica Jetta Carol Culpepper · Reference Reviews Apr 2006 1,038
4 A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal Thomas G. Palaima, E. Courtney · The Classical World Open access 1982 455
5 Separate Spheres and Public Places: Reflections on the History of Science Popularization and Science in Popular Culture Roger Cooter, Stephen Pumfrey · History of Science Sep 1994 432
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Historical and Literary Studies research done?

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

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 730 works
  2. 2 LyonFrance 188 works
  3. 3 ToulouseFrance 93 works
  4. 4 NanterreFrance 78 works
  5. 5 LilleFrance 65 works
  6. 6 MoscowRussia 56 works
  7. 7 NantesFrance 55 works
  8. 8 MontrealCanada 54 works
  9. 9 LondonUnited Kingdom 50 works
  10. 10 Saint-Martin-d'HèresFrance 48 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. NanterreFR · 78.3 works60×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Historical and Literary Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Historical and Literary Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Durham University, University of Oxford and Ca' Foscari University of Venice 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%20%40%mean 14.84%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Durham UniversityUniversity of OxfordCa' Foscari Universi…Université de Lyon
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
1Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom 62.223.1%12.4×19 +35.8%
2University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 61.221.3%5.5×32 +6.2%
3Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 59.817.5%38.6×38 +387.2%
4Université de LyonFrance 58.94.8%42.5×111 +34.3%
5University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 58.423.9%3.8×19 -38.9%
6Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 55.15.1%35.1×98 +1.4%
7University College LondonUnited Kingdom 51.530.7%1.2×8 +0.7%
8Université Lille Nord de FranceFrance 47.74.8%41.8×70 -2.2%
9Université de LorraineFrance 46.94.0%36.3×56 +17.3%
10Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneFrance 46.813.2%57.0×38 -16.5%

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 Historical and Literary Studies, country by country

Is Historical and Literary Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 15% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022.

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 Historical and Literary Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.022% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Historical and Literary Studies0.011% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Historical and Literary 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%Historical and Literary Studies9.5% 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.

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