Topic · Political Science and International Relations

Islamic Studies and History

Islamic Studies and History is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 38k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the politics of Islamic reform, including topics such as secularism, hermeneutics, empire, feminism, and gender equality in the context of the Middle East, with a focus on the Ottoman Empire and Iran. It delves into the complex interplay between religious traditions, modernity, and political dynamics in the region.

Islamic reform
Middle East
Ottoman Empire
Feminism
Iran
Secularism
Hermeneutics
Empire
Gender equality
Arab nationalism

Research works: 38k
In the world top 10%: 4k
Top-10% rate: 10.4%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25: +15%
Largest producer: Türkiye

Islamic Studies and History

Which countries lead Islamic Studies and History research?

By volume, Türkiye and the United States publish the most (1.6k and 1.5k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

1 Türkiye 1.6k works
2 United States 1.5k works
3 Indonesia 799 works
4 Pakistan 528 works
5 United Kingdom 519 works
6 Iran 485 works
7 Iraq 477 works
8 France 328 works
9 Germany 298 works
10 India 293 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.

Türkiye1,550 · 22.8%United States1,530 · 22.5%Indonesia799 · 11.7%Pakistan528 · 7.8%6 others listed2,400 · 35.3%

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

Which institutions lead Islamic Studies and History research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Islamic Studies and History research, followed by Islamic Azad University, Tehran and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 113 works
2 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 86 works
3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 70 works
4 International Islamic University MalaysiaMalaysia 68 works
5 University of AnbarIraq 67 works
6 Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University YogyakartaIndonesia 66 works
7 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 60 works
8 University of TehranIran 59 works
9 Marmara UniversityTürkiye 58 works
10 Weatherford CollegeUnited States 58 works

Who are the leading researchers in Islamic Studies and History?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Islamic Studies and History include George Davey Smith, Aziz Sheikh and Michel Foucault.

1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
2 Aziz Sheikh United Kingdom 214k citations
3 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
4 David Alan Bennett United States 190k 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 Islamic Studies and History?

The most cited paper in Islamic Studies and History is "Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject" (Salwa Ismail, 2006), with 4,088 citations. Next come "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others" (2,357) and "the romance of resistance: tracing transformations of power through Bedouin women" (2,329).

Most cited papers
#	Paper	Released	Citations
1	Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject Salwa Ismail · American Anthropologist	26 Jul 2006	4,088
2	Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others Lila Abu‐Lughod · American Anthropologist	Sep 2002	2,357
3	the romance of resistance: tracing transformations of power through Bedouin women Lila Abu‐Lughod · American Ethnologist	Feb 1990	2,329
4	Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity Michael Lambek · American Anthropologist	23 May 2005	2,190
5	Feminist Theory, Embodiment, and the Docile Agent: Some Reflections on the Egyptian Islamic Revival Saba Mahmood · Cultural Anthropology Open access	May 2001	1,348

All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Islamic Studies and History research done?

The largest centres of Islamic Studies and History research in 2022-now are Istanbul (Türkiye), Ankara (Türkiye), Tehran (Iran) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Herndon, Mardin and Qom.

Largest cities, 2022-now

1 IstanbulTürkiye 279 works
2 AnkaraTürkiye 260 works
3 TehranIran 229 works
4 ParisFrance 181 works
5 MoscowRussia 133 works
6 LondonUnited Kingdom 126 works
7 Kuala LumpurMalaysia 121 works
8 TashkentUzbekistan 115 works
9 IslamabadPakistan 111 works
10 YogyakartaIndonesia 109 works

Where it is the local speciality

HerndonUS · 21.9 works66×
MardinTR · 31.1 works35×
QomIR · 47.4 works32×
RamadiIQ · 68.9 works32×

← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Islamic Studies and History on the map

Where is the best place to study Islamic Studies and History?

Among universities, judged by research, International Islamic University Malaysia, Marmara University and Peking 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	International Islamic University MalaysiaMalaysia	60.3	15.3%	29.7×	68	+47.2%
2	Marmara UniversityTürkiye	55.6	11.8%	18.5×	58	+50.3%
3	Peking UniversityChina	55.2	57.5%	0.6×	10	+95.7%
4	Gulf University for Science & TechnologyKuwait	54.8	30.5%	34.1×	10	+612.5%
5	Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University YogyakartaIndonesia	54.2	9.5%	15.0×	66	+240.0%
6	Ankara UniversityTürkiye	53.5	15.3%	10.6×	42	+30.6%
7	Istanbul UniversityTürkiye	53.1	13.0%	13.5×	46	+22.1%
8	Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia	52.3	15.2%	4.2×	53	+483.3%
9	UIN Sunan Ampel SurabayaIndonesia	52.3	12.1%	16.6×	47	+575.3%
10	University of Islamic StudiesPakistan	52.1	5.4%	162.8×	51	+54.3%
11	Princeton UniversityUnited States	51.5	14.6%	8.1×	32	+27.7%
12	Weatherford CollegeUnited States	51.2	9.5%	4.9×	58	+142.8%
13	Georgetown UniversityUnited States	50.3	6.5%	10.9×	43	+41.9%
14	Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt UniversityTürkiye	49.7	13.5%	21.2×	32	+39.3%
15	University of AnbarIraq	49.0	1.4%	37.7×	67	+336.8%
16	Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik IbrahimIndonesia	48.8	11.6%	12.0×	38	+726.7%
17	Utrecht UniversityNetherlands	48.6	17.7%	3.5×	23	+74.2%
18	Sunan Gunung Djati State Islamic University BandungIndonesia	48.4	14.5%	9.1×	29	+1107.2%
19	Mardin Artuklu UniversityTürkiye	47.7	13.4%	40.2×	31	+79.0%
20	Qatar UniversityQatar	47.7	15.7%	9.5×	24	+5.0%
21	Necmettin Erbakan UniversityTürkiye	47.5	14.1%	14.2×	30	+115.7%
22	University of AmsterdamNetherlands	47.4	27.6%	3.1×	17	+5.4%
23	University of OxfordUnited Kingdom	47.2	11.2%	4.8×	60	-20.7%
24	Ankara Sosyal Bilimler ÜniversitesiTürkiye	47.2	7.2%	27.8×	41	+32.3%
25	Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University JakartaIndonesia	47.1	9.5%	13.0×	39	+100.9%
26	Islamic UniversityBangladesh	47.0	8.9%	17.8×	26	+49.7%
27	Charles Sturt UniversityAustralia	47.0	28.5%	10.8×	13	+19.2%
28	University of HaifaIsrael	46.4	12.4%	15.6×	31	+4.5%
29	International Islamic University, IslamabadPakistan	46.2	2.5%	44.9×	45	+16.2%
30	Hamad bin Khalifa UniversityQatar	46.1	15.0%	15.0×	16	+76.4%
31	Salahaddin University-ErbilIraq	46.0	0.5%	37.8×	58	+241.0%
32	University of CopenhagenDenmark	45.7	28.9%	1.8×	16	+63.8%
33	University of MalayaMalaysia	45.1	14.3%	5.1×	25	+16.4%
34	University of ChicagoUnited States	45.0	8.6%	4.1×	31	+21.1%
35	Bar-Ilan UniversityIsrael	45.0	9.5%	11.0×	27	+30.6%
36	Hakkari UniversityTürkiye	44.3	30.8%	34.8×	10	+78.6%
37	University of SharjahUnited Arab Emirates	43.7	11.9%	8.0×	19	+183.8%
38	University of JordanJordan	43.1	6.6%	10.9×	26	+51.5%
39	Yale UniversityUnited States	43.0	6.1%	2.9×	28	+80.5%
40	Istanbul Medeniyet UniversityTürkiye	42.9	15.9%	17.3×	19	+15.5%
41	University of TehranIran	42.1	5.9%	11.3×	59	-42.3%
42	Islamic Azad University, TehranIran	40.9	1.4%	5.8×	86	-51.6%
43	London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom	39.8	42.2%	5.1×	11	-41.3%
44	University of LondonUnited Kingdom	37.6	14.7%	19.9×	16	-15.5%
45	Moscow State UniversityTajikistan	35.2	5.2%	4.6×	11	+105.9%
46	Iğdır ÜniversitesiTürkiye	35.0	27.2%	14.8×	9	-9.6%
47	Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz UniversitySaudi Arabia	32.5	7.8%	4.6×	10	+434.1%
48	Imam Mohammad ibn Saud Islamic UniversitySaudi Arabia	32.0	4.8%	6.2×	10	+195.2%
49	Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique de TunisieTunisia	29.4	0.1%	29.8×	17	-25.2%
50	Universidad de LondresMexico	28.5	17.2%	22.3×	8	-28.6%
51	The University of MelbourneAustralia	28.0	31.2%	0.9×	9	-50.8%
52	The Ohio State UniversityUnited States	23.5	35.2%	0.8×	9	-35.8%
53	Abdul Wali Khan University MardanPakistan	21.7	2.4%	11.1×	9	-8.1%

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 Islamic Studies and History, country by country

Is Islamic Studies and History research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 15% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Islamic Studies and History.

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 Islamic Studies and History as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.043% in 2024.

Fractional works of Islamic Studies and History 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 Islamic Studies and History research?

By volume, 2022-now

How concentrated that is

Which institutions lead Islamic Studies and History research?

By volume, 2022-now

Who are the leading researchers in Islamic Studies and History?

What are the most cited papers in Islamic Studies and History?

Where is Islamic Studies and History research done?

Largest cities, 2022-now

Where it is the local speciality

Where is the best place to study Islamic Studies and History?

Is Islamic Studies and History 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