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Topic · Demography

Island Studies and Pacific Affairs

Island Studies and Pacific Affairs is a research topic within Demography. Science Explorer counts 16k research works in it since 1950. 10.7% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers encompasses an interdisciplinary study of islands and island nations, focusing on their economic development, vulnerability, sustainability, governance, decolonization, and resilience. It explores the unique challenges and opportunities faced by small states and island communities, particularly in the Pacific region, and delves into the complexities of globalization, political representation, and environmental impact.

  • Islands
  • Small States
  • Vulnerability
  • Economic Development
  • Sustainability
  • Governance
  • Pacific
  • Decolonization
  • Globalization
  • Resilience
Research works
16k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.7%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+13%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Australia
25% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Island Studies and Pacific Affairs

Which countries lead Island Studies and Pacific Affairs research?

By volume, Australia and the United States publish the most (445 and 333 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Australia 445 works
  2. 2 United States 333 works
  3. 3 France 234 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 176 works
  5. 5 New Zealand 166 works
  6. 6 Indonesia 159 works
  7. 7 China 81 works
  8. 8 Canada 74 works
  9. 9 Japan 63 works
  10. 10 Germany 61 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.

Australia: 24.9%United States: 18.6%France: 13.1%United Kingdom: 9.8%6 others listed: 33.7%25%largest
Australia445 · 24.9%United States333 · 18.6%France234 · 13.1%United Kingdom176 · 9.8%6 others listed603 · 33.7%

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

Which institutions lead Island Studies and Pacific Affairs research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Island Studies and Pacific Affairs research, followed by Australian National University and The University of Melbourne.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 98 works
  2. 2 Australian National UniversityAustralia 89 works
  3. 3 The University of MelbourneAustralia 35 works
  4. 4 The University of QueenslandAustralia 33 works
  5. 5 The University of SydneyAustralia 32 works
  6. 6 University of AucklandNew Zealand 28 works
  7. 7 Victoria University of WellingtonNew Zealand 26 works
  8. 8 University of MaltaMalta 26 works
  9. 9 University of the South PacificFiji 24 works
  10. 10 Auckland University of TechnologyNew Zealand 24 works

Who are the leading researchers in Island Studies and Pacific Affairs?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Island Studies and Pacific Affairs include Christopher D. Manning, Paul Zimmet and S. Walsh.

  1. 1 Christopher D. Manning United States 179k citations
  2. 2 Paul Zimmet Australia 170k citations
  3. 3 S. Walsh France 132k 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 Island Studies and Pacific Affairs?

The most cited paper in Island Studies and Pacific Affairs is "Global Assemblages: Technology, Politics, and Ethics as Anthropological Problems" (Ulf Hannerz, 2006), with 1,933 citations. Next come "Poor Man, Rich Man, Big-man, Chief: Political Types in Melanesia and Polynesia" (1,282) and "Small island developing states and their economic vulnerabilities" (1,099).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Global Assemblages: Technology, Politics, and Ethics as Anthropological Problems Ulf Hannerz · American Anthropologist 13 Feb 2006 1,933
2 Poor Man, Rich Man, Big-man, Chief: Political Types in Melanesia and Polynesia Marshall Sahlins · Comparative Studies in Society and History Open access Apr 1963 1,282
3 Small island developing states and their economic vulnerabilities Lino Pascal Briguglio · World Development Open access Sep 1995 1,099
4 Sea Level Rise and Implications for Low-Lying Islands, Coasts and Communities Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter Feb 2022 887
5 The political economy of tourism in the third world Stephen Britton · Annals of Tourism Research 1982 883
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Island Studies and Pacific Affairs research done?

The largest centres of Island Studies and Pacific Affairs research in 2022-now are Canberra (Australia), Melbourne (Australia), Paris (France) and Sydney (Australia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Punaauia, Noumea and Suva.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 CanberraAustralia 111 works
  2. 2 MelbourneAustralia 84 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 83 works
  4. 4 SydneyAustralia 74 works
  5. 5 BrisbaneAustralia 64 works
  6. 6 AucklandNew Zealand 57 works
  7. 7 LondonUnited Kingdom 44 works
  8. 8 SuvaFiji 39 works
  9. 9 MoscowRussia 31 works
  10. 10 WellingtonNew Zealand 30 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PunaauiaPF · 20.1 works645×
  2. NoumeaNC · 27.0 works438×
  3. SuvaFJ · 38.9 works207×
  4. MsidaMT · 26.0 works67×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Island Studies and Pacific Affairs than the world average.

See Island Studies and Pacific Affairs on the map

Where is the best place to study Island Studies and Pacific Affairs?

Among universities, judged by research, Griffith University, Australian National University and The University of Adelaide 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%20%40%mean 23.75%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Griffith UniversityThe University of Ad…University of Canter…Australian National …
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
1Griffith UniversityAustralia 77.639.8%21.6×21 +41.2%
2Australian National UniversityAustralia 74.415.4%74.3×89 +23.7%
3The University of AdelaideAustralia 71.836.6%18.4×18 +202.8%
4University of CanterburyNew Zealand 67.536.4%45.7×17 +30.9%
5The University of QueenslandAustralia 65.420.5%14.6×33 +15.4%
6Fiji National UniversityFiji 63.924.8%278.2×13 +31.3%
7The University of MelbourneAustralia 59.416.8%13.3×35 +5.0%
8The University of SydneyAustralia 57.611.3%11.1×32 +23.5%
9University of OtagoNew Zealand 56.416.4%33.9×24 +20.1%
10University of AucklandNew Zealand 55.919.5%22.2×28 -13.3%

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 Island Studies and Pacific Affairs, country by country

Is Island Studies and Pacific Affairs research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 13% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Island Studies and Pacific Affairs.

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 Island Studies and Pacific Affairs as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.013% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Island Studies and Pacific Affairs0.010% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Island Studies and Pacific Affairs 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%Island Studies and Pacific Affairs10.4% 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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