Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Political Science and International Relations

International Law and Human Rights

International Law and Human Rights is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 33k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the intersection of international criminal law, human rights obligations, and global governance. It explores topics such as state responsibility, norm conflicts, transnational legal pluralism, and the role of the Security Council in addressing war crimes and human rights violations.

  • International Criminal Law
  • Human Rights
  • Global Governance
  • International Humanitarian Law
  • State Responsibility
  • Security Council
  • Norm Conflicts
  • Transnational Legal Pluralism
  • Sovereignty
  • War Crimes
Research works
33k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-13%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
29% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
International Law and Human Rights

Which countries lead International Law and Human Rights research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (834 and 568 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 834 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 568 works
  3. 3 Germany 242 works
  4. 4 Australia 193 works
  5. 5 Netherlands 191 works
  6. 6 Indonesia 185 works
  7. 7 Russia 179 works
  8. 8 France 177 works
  9. 9 China 174 works
  10. 10 India 152 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 States: 28.8%United Kingdom: 19.6%Germany: 8.4%Australia: 6.7%6 others listed: 36.5%29%largest
United States834 · 28.8%United Kingdom568 · 19.6%Germany242 · 8.4%Australia193 · 6.7%6 others listed1,058 · 36.5%

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

Which institutions lead International Law and Human Rights research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Oxford publishes the most International Law and Human Rights research, followed by University of Cambridge and Max Planck Society.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 45 works
  2. 2 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 40 works
  3. 3 Max Planck SocietyGermany 39 works
  4. 4 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 33 works
  5. 5 Human Growth FoundationUnited States 32 works
  6. 6 University of HelsinkiFinland 28 works
  7. 7 Leiden UniversityNetherlands 26 works
  8. 8 Graduate Institute of International and Development StudiesSwitzerland 26 works
  9. 9 University of CopenhagenDenmark 25 works
  10. 10 The University of SydneyAustralia 24 works

Who are the leading researchers in International Law and Human Rights?

The most-cited researchers publishing on International Law and Human Rights include Paul Elliott.

  1. 1 Paul Elliott United Kingdom 154k 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 Law and Human Rights?

The most cited paper in International Law and Human Rights is "Do Human Rights Treaties Make a Difference?" (Oona A. Hathaway, 2002), with 1,357 citations. Next come "Critique of the Power of Judgment" (1,261) and "Why Do Nations Obey International Law?" (1,186).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Do Human Rights Treaties Make a Difference? Oona A. Hathaway · The Yale Law Journal Jun 2002 1,357
2 Critique of the Power of Judgment Immanuel Kant, Paul Guyer · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter 11 Sep 2000 1,261
3 Why Do Nations Obey International Law? Harold Hongju Koh, Abram J. Chayes, Antonia Handler Chayes et al. · The Yale Law Journal Jun 1997 1,186
4 The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions are Changing World Politics Judith Blau · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews Sep 2012 1,183
5 Words, Images, Enemies: Securitization and International Politics Michael C. Williams · International Studies Quarterly 7 Nov 2003 1,143
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is International Law and Human Rights research done?

The largest centres of International Law and Human Rights research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Moscow (Russia), New York (United States) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in The Hague and Geneva.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 155 works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 102 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 97 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 70 works
  5. 5 Washington D.C.United States 64 works
  6. 6 SydneyAustralia 62 works
  7. 7 AmsterdamNetherlands 61 works
  8. 8 GenevaSwitzerland 51 works
  9. 9 OxfordUnited Kingdom 51 works
  10. 10 KyivUkraine 50 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. The HagueNL · 23.5 works20×
  2. GenevaCH · 51.2 works12×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in International Law and Human Rights than the world average.

See International Law and Human Rights on the map

Where is the best place to study International Law and Human Rights?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oxford, Australian National University and University of Amsterdam 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%mean 18.52%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Australian National …University of OxfordUniversity of Amster…Graduate Institute o…
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 OxfordUnited Kingdom 71.315.2%7.0×45 -25.4%
2Australian National UniversityAustralia 68.927.6%8.7×20 -29.0%
3University of AmsterdamNetherlands 67.813.8%12.1×33 -15.4%
4Graduate Institute of International and Development StudiesSwitzerland 65.612.5%150.1×26 +2.1%
5Tilburg UniversityNetherlands 64.416.1%23.8×18 +29.9%
6Leiden UniversityNetherlands 61.616.6%10.4×26 -43.9%
7University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 61.510.0%7.3×40 -46.9%
8University of OsloNorway 59.827.8%4.3×12 -68.2%
9The University of QueenslandAustralia 59.529.0%3.1×13 -42.3%
10Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 59.016.6%10.3×19 +1.7%

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 International Law and Human Rights, country by country

Is International Law and Human Rights research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 13% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2018.

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 International Law and Human Rights as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.024% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%International Law and Human Rights0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of International Law and Human Rights 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%International Law and Human Rights10.1% 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

Ask a question or share a note about International Law and Human Rights. Keep it to the research: no personal attacks, advertising or links. Any reader can report a post, which collapses it for everyone until it is opened.