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Topic · Literature and Literary Theory

Literature, Culture, and Criticism

Literature, Culture, and Criticism is a research topic within Literature and Literary Theory. Science Explorer counts 26k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% 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 Lusophone studies, including literature, culture, postcolonialism, identity, and the historical connections between Brazil, Portugal, and African countries. It explores the impact of colonialism, the representation of Lusophone identities, and the cultural exchanges within the Portuguese-speaking world.

  • Lusophone
  • Literature
  • Culture
  • Postcolonial
  • Identity
  • Brazil
  • Portuguese
  • Colonialism
  • Africa
  • History
Research works
26k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-21%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Brazil
84% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Literature, Culture, and Criticism

Which countries lead Literature, Culture, and Criticism research?

By volume, Brazil and Portugal publish the most (4.5k and 286 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Brazil 4.5k works
  2. 2 Portugal 286 works
  3. 3 United States 165 works
  4. 4 Spain 97 works
  5. 5 France 86 works
  6. 6 Chile 52 works
  7. 7 Mexico 42 works
  8. 8 Italy 42 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 41 works
  10. 10 Argentina 40 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.

Brazil: 84.2%Portugal: 5.3%United States: 3.1%Spain: 1.8%6 others listed: 5.6%84%largest
Brazil4,532 · 84.2%Portugal286 · 5.3%United States165 · 3.1%Spain97 · 1.8%6 others listed304 · 5.6%

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

Which institutions lead Literature, Culture, and Criticism research?

By volume in 2022-now, Universidade de São Paulo publishes the most Literature, Culture, and Criticism research, followed by Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 326 works
  2. 2 Universidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 195 works
  3. 3 Universidade do Estado do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 170 works
  4. 4 Universidade Federal FluminenseBrazil 129 works
  5. 5 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do SulBrazil 122 works
  6. 6 Universidade Federal de Minas GeraisBrazil 122 works
  7. 7 Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)Brazil 106 works
  8. 8 Universidade de BrasíliaBrazil 94 works
  9. 9 Universidade Federal de Santa CatarinaBrazil 91 works
  10. 10 Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)Brazil 86 works

Who are the leading researchers in Literature, Culture, and Criticism?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Literature, Culture, and Criticism include Michel Foucault, David Hume and Sigmund Freud.

  1. 1 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  2. 2 David Hume Australia 107k citations
  3. 3 Sigmund Freud Brazil 97k citations
  4. 4 Donna Haraway United States 73k citations
  5. 5 Jeremy N. Rich United States 62k 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 Literature, Culture, and Criticism?

The most cited paper in Literature, Culture, and Criticism is "Bakhtin: conceitos-chave" (Maria Francisca Mendes, 2007), with 691 citations. Next come "“DISCURSO SOBRE O COLONIALISMO (1950)”" (586) and "1492: o encobrimento do outro - a origem do mito da modernidade" (495).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Bakhtin: conceitos-chave Maria Francisca Mendes · Revista Brasileira de Educação Open access Apr 2007 691
2 “DISCURSO SOBRE O COLONIALISMO (1950)” Mariana Affonso Penna, Marcos Rafael Andrade de Melo · Revista de Estudos de Cultura Open access 27 Jan 2022 586
3 1492: o encobrimento do outro - a origem do mito da modernidade Armindo Armando 12 Dec 2019 495
4 Sobre o autoritarismo brasileiro Melissa Probst · Horizontes Open access 14 Aug 2020 369
5 Literatura e Sociedade Ananda Maisa Coelho de Souza, Odenildo Queiroz de Sousa · REVELL - REVISTA DE ESTUDOS LITERÁRIOS DA UEMS Open access 31 Aug 2024 345
All 101 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Literature, Culture, and Criticism research done?

The largest centres of Literature, Culture, and Criticism research in 2022-now are São Paulo (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and Porto Alegre (Brazil). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Providencia, Paranavaí and Montes Claros.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 São PauloBrazil 734 works
  2. 2 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 536 works
  3. 3 Belo HorizonteBrazil 214 works
  4. 4 Porto AlegreBrazil 174 works
  5. 5 LisbonPortugal 139 works
  6. 6 BrasíliaBrazil 137 works
  7. 7 CuritibaBrazil 134 works
  8. 8 NiteróiBrazil 129 works
  9. 9 SalvadorBrazil 129 works
  10. 10 RecifeBrazil 114 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. ProvidenciaCL · 32.8 works110×
  2. ParanavaíBR · 23.7 works75×
  3. Montes ClarosBR · 36.4 works71×
  4. CáceresBR · 29.8 works62×
  5. NiteróiBR · 129.5 works51×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Literature, Culture, and Criticism than the world average.

See Literature, Culture, and Criticism on the map

Where is the best place to study Literature, Culture, and Criticism?

Among universities, judged by research, Universidade de São Paulo, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro and Universidade Federal de Lavras 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%10%20%mean 13.04%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Universidade Federal…University of Trás-o…Universidade BrasilUniversidade de São …
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
1Universidade de São PauloBrazil 61.010.6%33.6×326 -22.4%
2University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto DouroPortugal 58.818.1%16.9×8 +173.3%
3Universidade Federal de LavrasBrazil 58.720.4%10.9×9 +26.9%
4Universidade BrasilBrazil 56.714.2%26.4×14 +12.5%
5Universidade do Estado do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 55.811.4%76.6×170 -8.2%
6Universidad San PedroPeru 55.313.0%75.8×17 +21.9%
7Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)Brazil 53.112.6%23.9×86 -46.7%
8University of LisbonPortugal 52.811.6%14.8×55 -5.7%
9Universidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 52.410.0%53.0×195 -15.7%
10Universidade Federal FluminenseBrazil 52.08.5%56.6×129 -7.6%

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 Literature, Culture, and Criticism, country by country

Is Literature, Culture, and Criticism research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 21% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020.

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 Literature, Culture, and Criticism as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.026% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Literature, Culture, and Criticism0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Literature, Culture, and Criticism 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%Literature, Culture, and Criticism9.5% 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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