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Topic · History

Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books

Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books is a research topic within History. Science Explorer counts 11k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% 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, production, distribution, and impact of books and publishing. It includes studies on ancient and medieval texts, the development of the publishing industry, the materiality of texts, historical libraries, cultural transmission through books, and the intellectual history associated with printed materials. The cluster provides insights into the evolution of written communication and its influence on societies throughout history.

  • Book History
  • Publishing Industry
  • Materiality of Texts
  • Historical Libraries
  • Cultural Transmission
  • Printed Books
  • Manuscript Studies
  • Bibliophilia
  • Book Trade
  • Intellectual History
Research works
11k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-19%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Spain
47% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books

Which countries lead Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books research?

By volume, Spain and Mexico publish the most (741 and 192 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Spain 741 works
  2. 2 Mexico 192 works
  3. 3 Argentina 153 works
  4. 4 Italy 118 works
  5. 5 France 100 works
  6. 6 United States 93 works
  7. 7 Brazil 60 works
  8. 8 Colombia 45 works
  9. 9 Chile 44 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 35 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.

Spain: 46.9%Mexico: 12.2%Argentina: 9.6%Italy: 7.4%6 others listed: 23.9%47%largest
Spain741 · 46.9%Mexico192 · 12.2%Argentina153 · 9.6%Italy118 · 7.4%6 others listed378 · 23.9%

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

Which institutions lead Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books research?

By volume in 2022-now, Universidad Complutense de Madrid publishes the most Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books research, followed by Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and Universidad de Valladolid.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 90 works
  2. 2 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 60 works
  3. 3 Universidad de ValladolidSpain 37 works
  4. 4 Universidad de SalamancaSpain 36 works
  5. 5 Universidad de SevillaSpain 34 works
  6. 6 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasArgentina 29 works
  7. 7 Universitat de BarcelonaSpain 29 works
  8. 8 Universitat de ValènciaSpain 29 works
  9. 9 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 29 works
  10. 10 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 27 works

Who are the leading researchers in Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books include Pierre Bourdıeu, Krzysztof Sliwa and Jesús F. San Miguel.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Krzysztof Sliwa Canada 142k citations
  3. 3 Jesús F. San Miguel Spain 132k citations
  4. 4 Barry S. Taylor United States 130k citations
  5. 5 Javier Herrero United Kingdom 104k 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 Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books?

The most cited paper in Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books is "La escritura de la historia" (Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein, 2004), with 452 citations. Next come "Aerocellulose: Aerogels and Aerogel‐like Materials made from Cellulose" (207) and "Revista Mexicana de Fisica" (188).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 La escritura de la historia Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein · Contrahistorias. La otra mirada de Clío 2004 452
2 Aerocellulose: Aerogels and Aerogel‐like Materials made from Cellulose Josef Innerlohinger, Hedda K. Weber, Gregor Kraft · Macromolecular Symposia Dec 2006 207
3 Revista Mexicana de Fisica J. Dí­az-Reyes, M. Galván-Arellano, Ramón Peña-Sierra et al. · conference Conference paper 2007 188
4 Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages C. H. LAWRENCE 1984 160
5 Mary's Nativity, Fulbert of Chartres, and the Stirps Jesse: Liturgical Innovation circa 1000 and Its Afterlife Margot Fassler · Speculum Apr 2000 124
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books research done?

The largest centres of Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books research in 2022-now are Madrid (Spain), Mexico City (Mexico), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Barcelona (Spain). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Valladolid, Salamanca and La Plata.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 MadridSpain 214 works
  2. 2 Mexico CityMexico 92 works
  3. 3 Buenos AiresArgentina 60 works
  4. 4 BarcelonaSpain 54 works
  5. 5 SevilleSpain 46 works
  6. 6 ValenciaSpain 43 works
  7. 7 SalamancaSpain 40 works
  8. 8 ValladolidSpain 39 works
  9. 9 SantiagoChile 30 works
  10. 10 ZaragozaSpain 28 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. ValladolidES · 38.9 works64×
  2. SalamancaES · 39.7 works59×
  3. La PlataAR · 23.6 works50×
  4. CórdobaAR · 21.3 works44×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books than the world average.

See Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books on the map

Where is the best place to study Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books?

Among universities, judged by research, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidad de Zaragoza and Universitat de València 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%10%20%mean 14.59%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Universidad de Zarag…Universidad Nacional…Universidad Complute…Universitat de Valèn…
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
1Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 63.914.5%65.3×90 -10.2%
2Universidad de ZaragozaSpain 52.623.2%38.8×26 -15.1%
3Universitat de ValènciaSpain 51.014.5%33.9×29 -5.3%
4Universidad Nacional de La PlataArgentina 48.920.0%73.4×22 -14.0%
5Universitat de BarcelonaSpain 48.711.9%24.2×29 -0.9%
6Universidad de SevillaSpain 48.210.7%38.2×34 -4.5%
7University of AlicanteSpain 48.120.8%26.0×12 -35.7%
8Universidad de SalamancaSpain 47.711.4%66.9×36 -2.5%
9Universidad de ValladolidSpain 44.47.7%80.7×37 +44.8%
10Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 42.811.2%38.5×60 -26.6%

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 Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books, country by country

Is Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 19% 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 Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0092% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books0.0069% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books 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%Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books9.7% 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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