International Development and Aid

International Development and Aid is a research topic within Development. Science Explorer counts 39k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the complex relationship between foreign aid, development policies, and economic growth. It delves into topics such as the effectiveness of aid, the impact of IMF programs, aid allocation strategies, governance issues, poverty reduction efforts, China's engagement in Africa, the role of NGOs, and the concept of conditionality in aid distribution.

Foreign Aid
Development Policies
IMF Programs
Aid Allocation
Governance
Poverty Reduction
China-Africa Relations
NGOs
Conditionality
Economic Growth

Research works: 39k
In the world top 10%: 4k
Top-10% rate: 10.2%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25: +13%
Largest producer: United States

International Development and Aid

Which countries lead International Development and Aid research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.2k and 623 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

1 United States 1.2k works
2 China 623 works
3 United Kingdom 603 works
4 Germany 519 works
5 Brazil 349 works
6 South Africa 342 works
7 India 292 works
8 Indonesia 217 works
9 Türkiye 202 works
10 Australia 198 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.

United States1,163 · 25.8%China623 · 13.8%United Kingdom603 · 13.4%Germany519 · 11.5%6 others listed1,600 · 35.5%

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

Which institutions lead International Development and Aid research?

By volume in 2022-now, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy publishes the most International Development and Aid research, followed by University of Johannesburg and University of Oxford.

By volume, 2022-now

1 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 96 works
2 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 77 works
3 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 51 works
4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 47 works
5 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 43 works
6 Australian National UniversityAustralia 40 works
7 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 39 works
8 London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 38 works
9 King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 35 works
10 University of GhanaGhana 35 works

Who are the leading researchers in International Development and Aid?

The most-cited researchers publishing on International Development and Aid include Christopher J L Murray, Simon Iain Hay and Ali H. Mokdad.

1 Christopher J L Murray United States 583k citations
2 Simon Iain Hay United States 452k citations
3 Ali H. Mokdad United States 429k citations
4 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k 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 International Development and Aid?

The most cited paper in International Development and Aid is "International regimes, transactions, and change: embedded liberalism in the postwar economic order" (John Gerard Ruggie, 1982), with 4,470 citations. Next come "The Eclectic Paradigm of International Production: A Restatement and Some Possible Extensions" (4,343) and "Does Oil Hinder Democracy?" (3,423).

Most cited papers
#	Paper	Released	Citations
1	International regimes, transactions, and change: embedded liberalism in the postwar economic order John Gerard Ruggie · International Organization Open access	1982	4,470
2	The Eclectic Paradigm of International Production: A Restatement and Some Possible Extensions John H. Dunning · Journal of International Business Studies Open access	Mar 1988	4,343
3	Does Oil Hinder Democracy? Michael L. Ross · World Politics	Apr 2001	3,423
4	An institution-based view of international business strategy: a focus on emerging economies Mike W. Peng, Denis Y. L. Wang, Yi Jiang · Journal of International Business Studies Open access	3 Apr 2008	3,260
5	Our common future: report of the World Commission on Environment and Development Robert H. Cassen · International Affairs	1987	3,234

All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is International Development and Aid research done?

The largest centres of International Development and Aid research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Beijing (China), Hamburg (Germany) and Washington D.C. (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Johannesburg, Yaoundé and Accra.

Largest cities, 2022-now

1 LondonUnited Kingdom 188 works
2 BeijingChina 185 works
3 HamburgGermany 133 works
4 Washington D.C.United States 129 works
5 MoscowRussia 128 works
6 JohannesburgSouth Africa 126 works
7 ShanghaiChina 90 works
8 ParisFrance 80 works
9 New DelhiIndia 77 works
10 TokyoJapan 77 works

Where it is the local speciality

JohannesburgZA · 126.0 works13×
YaoundéCM · 25.0 works13×
AccraGH · 50.0 works12×

← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in International Development and Aid than the world average.

See International Development and Aid on the map

Where is the best place to study International Development and Aid?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oxford, University of Glasgow and Stockholm University 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.

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.

#	University	Score	Top 10%	Specialisation	Works	Growth
1	University of OxfordUnited Kingdom	75.3	17.6%	5.3×	51	+33.5%
2	University of GlasgowUnited Kingdom	73.6	37.4%	4.7×	21	+66.5%
3	Stockholm UniversitySweden	67.2	29.5%	5.4×	13	+41.2%
4	Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaSpain	64.3	32.2%	2.4×	11	+124.9%
5	Utrecht UniversityNetherlands	63.8	27.0%	2.8×	14	+68.9%
6	London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom	61.6	20.0%	23.6×	38	-26.7%
7	Australian National UniversityAustralia	61.5	18.1%	11.4×	40	+2.8%
8	Maastricht UniversityNetherlands	61.2	31.2%	5.5×	15	-6.1%
9	University of JohannesburgSouth Africa	60.8	4.9%	18.2×	78	+112.9%
10	King's College LondonUnited Kingdom	60.7	14.4%	6.0×	35	+36.0%
11	University of Hong KongChina	60.4	20.7%	2.5×	16	+74.1%
12	Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore	59.5	36.2%	2.6×	14	-41.2%
13	University of FreiburgGermany	59.5	26.8%	4.4×	14	+22.9%
14	Leiden UniversityNetherlands	59.4	20.3%	5.9×	22	+7.8%
15	University College LondonUnited Kingdom	59.4	20.3%	2.0×	22	+28.0%
16	University of BathUnited Kingdom	58.0	27.0%	5.0×	8	+81.9%
17	University of Cape TownSouth Africa	57.9	10.4%	11.7×	28	+45.7%
18	University of GhanaGhana	57.4	7.3%	20.1×	35	+71.5%
19	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany	57.4	31.3%	2.0×	12	-2.5%
20	University of SussexUnited Kingdom	57.3	22.0%	12.7×	22	-7.5%
21	University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom	56.7	23.2%	2.9×	24	-27.3%
22	University of CopenhagenDenmark	54.6	20.1%	2.3×	15	+38.9%
23	University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom	54.5	27.0%	3.1×	18	-34.9%
24	Lund UniversitySweden	53.8	30.9%	3.5×	13	-16.2%
25	Cornell UniversityUnited States	53.7	19.4%	1.8×	16	+90.6%
26	University of PretoriaSouth Africa	52.5	4.9%	13.0×	39	+56.1%
27	European University InstituteItaly	52.1	20.3%	27.8×	14	-9.1%
28	Erasmus University RotterdamNetherlands	52.0	12.1%	5.3×	19	+81.5%
29	National University of SingaporeSingapore	51.6	11.5%	3.5×	28	+5.5%
30	Université de Yaoundé ICameroon	49.5	13.7%	14.7×	15	+255.2%
31	Georgetown UniversityUnited States	49.2	18.8%	5.0×	15	+0.2%
32	Roskilde UniversityDenmark	49.2	39.1%	12.3×	10	-31.8%
33	University of WaterlooCanada	49.0	20.8%	2.2×	8	+72.2%
34	University of International Business and EconomicsChina	48.7	20.4%	16.0×	10	+121.1%
35	Heidelberg UniversityGermany	47.9	17.5%	2.1×	11	+59.6%
36	University of GothenburgSweden	47.6	22.5%	3.8×	12	-8.8%
37	University of OsloNorway	47.6	28.9%	2.5×	11	-17.5%
38	Fudan UniversityChina	47.5	13.4%	2.7×	29	+2.0%
39	Université de DschangCameroon	47.4	19.3%	12.2×	8	+375.8%
40	University of LeedsUnited Kingdom	47.2	32.6%	2.7×	11	-27.1%
41	Radboud University NijmegenNetherlands	47.1	23.3%	2.1×	9	+11.5%
42	SOAS University of LondonUnited Kingdom	46.7	12.5%	44.7×	12	+7.9%
43	University of LondonUnited Kingdom	42.9	14.3%	15.1×	9	-18.3%
44	University of GenevaSwitzerland	39.9	19.0%	4.0×	12	-20.4%
45	Chinese University of Hong KongChina	32.1	5.2%	1.9×	10	+5.3%

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 International Development and Aid, country by country

Is International Development and Aid research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 13% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are International Development and Aid.

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 International Development and Aid as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.041% in 2024.

Fractional works of International Development and Aid 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.

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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Which countries lead International Development and Aid research?

By volume, 2022-now

How concentrated that is

Which institutions lead International Development and Aid research?

By volume, 2022-now

Who are the leading researchers in International Development and Aid?

What are the most cited papers in International Development and Aid?

Where is International Development and Aid research done?

Largest cities, 2022-now

Where it is the local speciality

Where is the best place to study International Development and Aid?

Is International Development and Aid research growing?

Its share of all research

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Which topics inside it are moving

Related research

Discussion