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Topic · Geography, Planning and Development

Historical Geography and Geographical Thought

Historical Geography and Geographical Thought is a research topic within Geography, Planning and Development. Science Explorer counts 5.8k research works in it since 1950. 11.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of geography and public policy within academic discourse, addressing issues such as the globalization of research, the impact of Anglo-American hegemony, the role of critical geography, and the historical development of geographical knowledge. It also delves into the interdisciplinary nature of geography and its relationship with research policy.

  • Geography
  • Public Policy
  • Academic Discourse
  • International Journals
  • Globalization
  • Research Policy
  • Critical Geography
  • Anglo-American Hegemony
  • Interdisciplinarity
  • Historical Geographies
Research works
5.8k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
650
per year above
Top-10% rate
11.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+21%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
France
25% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Historical Geography and Geographical Thought

Which countries lead Historical Geography and Geographical Thought research?

By volume, France and the United States publish the most (217 and 196 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 France 217 works
  2. 2 United States 196 works
  3. 3 Brazil 142 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 125 works
  5. 5 Germany 72 works
  6. 6 Canada 35 works
  7. 7 Italy 29 works
  8. 8 Australia 24 works
  9. 9 China 20 works
  10. 10 Portugal 19 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: 24.7%United States: 22.3%Brazil: 16.2%United Kingdom: 14.3%6 others listed: 22.5%25%largest
France217 · 24.7%United States196 · 22.3%Brazil142 · 16.2%United Kingdom125 · 14.3%6 others listed198 · 22.5%

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

Which institutions lead Historical Geography and Geographical Thought research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Historical Geography and Geographical Thought research, followed by University of Kansas and Universidade de São Paulo.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 74 works
  2. 2 University of KansasUnited States 30 works
  3. 3 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 11 works
  4. 4 Universidade do Estado do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 9 works
  5. 5 University of BolognaItaly 9 works
  6. 6 Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 9 works
  7. 7 University of GlasgowUnited Kingdom 8 works
  8. 8 Universidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 8 works
  9. 9 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do NorteBrazil 7 works
  10. 10 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 7 works

Who are the leading researchers in Historical Geography and Geographical Thought?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Historical Geography and Geographical Thought include Paul Elliott and Bruno Latour.

  1. 1 Paul Elliott United Kingdom 154k citations
  2. 2 Bruno Latour France 129k 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 Geography and Geographical Thought?

The most cited paper in Historical Geography and Geographical Thought is "Geographies of responsibility" (Doreen Massey, 2004), with 1,588 citations. Next come "Human geography without scale" (1,569) and "Between Space and Time: Reflections on the Geographical Imagination1" (1,002).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Geographies of responsibility Doreen Massey · Geografiska Annaler Series B Human Geography Mar 2004 1,588
2 Human geography without scale Sallie A. Marston, John Paul Jones, Keith Woodward · Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers Dec 2005 1,569
3 Between Space and Time: Reflections on the Geographical Imagination1 David Harvey · Annals of the Association of American Geographers Sep 1990 1,002
4 Fences and neighbours in the postmodern world: boundary narratives in political geography David P Newman, Anssi Paasi · Progress in Human Geography Apr 1998 937
5 Fatal Couplings of Power and Difference: Notes on Racism and Geography Rüth Wilson Gilmore · The Professional Geographer Feb 2002 927
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Historical Geography and Geographical Thought research done?

The largest centres of Historical Geography and Geographical Thought research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Lawrence (United States), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Lawrence and Rio de Janeiro.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 65 works
  2. 2 LawrenceUnited States 30 works
  3. 3 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 28 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 23 works
  5. 5 São PauloBrazil 19 works
  6. 6 ToulouseFrance 17 works
  7. 7 LyonFrance 12 works
  8. 8 BerlinGermany 10 works
  9. 9 Washington D.C.United States 10 works
  10. 10 LisbonPortugal 10 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. LawrenceUS · 30.3 works93×
  2. Rio de JaneiroBR · 27.6 works8.2×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Historical Geography and Geographical Thought than the world average.

See Historical Geography and Geographical Thought on the map

Where is the best place to study Historical Geography and Geographical Thought?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Glasgow, University of Bologna and University of Kansas 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 9.35714%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of BolognaUniversity of GlasgowUniversidade do Esta…University of Kansas
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 GlasgowUnited Kingdom 65.023.7%13.2×8 +112.7%
2University of BolognaItaly 63.026.1%10.9×9 -
3University of KansasUnited States 51.20.6%61.9×30 +2915.0%
4Universidade do Estado do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 33.512.0%20.2×9 +9.5%
5Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 33.30.1%13.2×9 +21.4%
6Universidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 23.11.1%10.7×8 +196.2%
7Universidade de São PauloBrazil 17.21.9%5.5×11 +5.8%

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 Geography and Geographical Thought, country by country

Is Historical Geography and Geographical Thought research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 21% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Historical Geography and Geographical Thought.

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 Geography and Geographical Thought as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0041% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%Historical Geography and Geographical Thought0.0060% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Historical Geography and Geographical Thought 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%Historical Geography and Geographical Thought9.9% 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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