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Topic · History and Philosophy of Science

Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis

Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis is a research topic within History and Philosophy of Science. Science Explorer counts 56k research works in it since 1950. 11.0% 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 history of science and technology, including scientific institutions, technological development, innovation, intellectual exchange, and the cultural impact of scientific advancements. It explores historical narratives, cross-disciplinary studies, and the transmission of knowledge on a global scale.

  • Scientific History
  • Technological Development
  • Innovation
  • Intellectual Exchange
  • Cultural Impact
  • Global Perspectives
  • Scientific Institutions
  • Historical Narratives
  • Cross-disciplinary Studies
  • Knowledge Transmission
Research works
56k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
6.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
11.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-23%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
France
43% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis

Which countries lead Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis research?

By volume, France and the United States publish the most (3.5k and 2.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 France 3.5k works
  2. 2 United States 2.3k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 822 works
  4. 4 Canada 626 works
  5. 5 Germany 241 works
  6. 6 Italy 191 works
  7. 7 ?? 181 works
  8. 8 Switzerland 156 works
  9. 9 Belgium 145 works
  10. 10 Russia 136 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: 42.6%United States: 27.4%United Kingdom: 9.9%Canada: 7.5%6 others listed: 12.6%43%largest
France3,544 · 42.6%United States2,280 · 27.4%United Kingdom822 · 9.9%Canada626 · 7.5%6 others listed1,050 · 12.6%

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

Which institutions lead Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis research?

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

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 960 works
  2. 2 Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 129 works
  3. 3 Université de LyonFrance 123 works
  4. 4 Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneFrance 102 works
  5. 5 École des hautes études en sciences socialesFrance 100 works
  6. 6 Université de LorraineFrance 93 works
  7. 7 Université Paris NanterreFrance 87 works
  8. 8 Université Lille Nord de FranceFrance 78 works
  9. 9 Institut d'Etudes Politiques de ParisFrance 71 works
  10. 10 Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'EnvironnementFrance 70 works

Who are the leading researchers in Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis include Pierre Bourdıeu, Jean‐Louis Vincent and Michel Foucault.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Jean‐Louis Vincent Belgium 262k citations
  3. 3 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  4. 4 David P. Bartel United States 200k 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 Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis?

The most cited paper in Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis is "Historical events as transformations of structures: Inventing revolution at the Bastille" (William H. Sewell, 1996), with 1,374 citations. Next come "making empire respectable: the politics of race and sexual morality in 20th‐century colonial cultures" (810) and "Knowledge in Transit" (765).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Historical events as transformations of structures: Inventing revolution at the Bastille William H. Sewell · Theory and Society Dec 1996 1,374
2 making empire respectable: the politics of race and sexual morality in 20th‐century colonial cultures Ann Laura Stoler · American Ethnologist Open access Nov 1989 810
3 Knowledge in Transit James Andrew Secord · Isis Dec 2004 765
4 An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States Victor Wallis · Socialism and Democracy 2 Jan 2015 622
5 Bacteremia at Boston City Hospital: Occurrence and Mortality during 12 Selected Years (1935-1972), with Special Reference to Hospital-Acquired Cases John E. McGowan, M. W. Barnes, Maxwell Finland · The Journal of Infectious Diseases Sep 1975 507
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis research done?

The largest centres of Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Lyon (France), London (United Kingdom) and Montreal (Canada). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Mont-Saint-Aignan, Aubervilliers and Nancy.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 1.3k works
  2. 2 LyonFrance 213 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 152 works
  4. 4 MontrealCanada 132 works
  5. 5 New YorkUnited States 118 works
  6. 6 NanterreFrance 112 works
  7. 7 ToulouseFrance 108 works
  8. 8 RennesFrance 106 works
  9. 9 Los AngelesUnited States 93 works
  10. 10 LilleFrance 84 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Mont-Saint-Aignan22.0 works156×
  2. AubervilliersFR · 59.5 works120×
  3. Nancy30.3 works71×
  4. AubièreFR · 57.0 works58×
  5. NanterreFR · 112.0 works43×
  6. ArrasFR · 22.6 works43×
  7. Paris29.1 works35×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis than the world average.

See Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis on the map

Where is the best place to study Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Cambridge, University of Antwerp and Queen's University Belfast 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 27.83%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Queen's University B…University of ViennaUniversity of AntwerpUniversity of Cambri…
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 CambridgeUnited Kingdom 67.420.3%6.4×62 -1.4%
2University of AntwerpBelgium 61.628.0%4.2×12 +31.8%
3Queen's University BelfastUnited Kingdom 61.149.0%3.2×9 +10.7%
4University of ViennaAustria 60.831.6%3.4×14 +64.0%
5University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 60.212.0%5.1×58 +14.7%
6Newcastle UniversityUnited Kingdom 59.937.2%3.3×13 +0.2%
7Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 59.06.8%23.2×129 +1.2%
8University of WarwickUnited Kingdom 57.730.3%6.1×23 -6.4%
9Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom 57.523.5%11.2×33 -11.7%
10University of StrathclydeUnited Kingdom 56.539.6%3.8×8 +48.5%

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 Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis, country by country

Is Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 23% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2019.

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 Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.042% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis0.026% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis 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 Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis10.0% 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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