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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Marriage and Sexual Relationships

Marriage and Sexual Relationships is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 10k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the stigma, dynamics, and outcomes of consensually non-monogamous relationships, such as polyamory, in contrast to traditional monogamous relationships. It delves into topics like relationship quality, sexual health, family functioning, gender dynamics, mental health, and the impact of cultural practices on non-monogamous relationships.

  • Consensual Nonmonogamous Relationships
  • Polyamory
  • Stigma
  • Monogamy
  • Relationship Quality
  • Sexual Health
  • Family Functioning
  • Gender
  • Mental Health
  • Cultural Practices
Research works
10k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+22%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Indonesia
31% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Marriage and Sexual Relationships

Which countries lead Marriage and Sexual Relationships research?

By volume, Indonesia and the United States publish the most (601 and 527 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Indonesia 601 works
  2. 2 United States 527 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 145 works
  4. 4 Türkiye 110 works
  5. 5 India 98 works
  6. 6 Canada 95 works
  7. 7 Malaysia 92 works
  8. 8 China 84 works
  9. 9 Pakistan 84 works
  10. 10 Iran 80 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.

Indonesia: 31.4%United States: 27.5%United Kingdom: 7.5%Türkiye: 5.8%6 others listed: 27.8%31%largest
Indonesia601 · 31.4%United States527 · 27.5%United Kingdom145 · 7.5%Türkiye110 · 5.8%6 others listed533 · 27.8%

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

Which institutions lead Marriage and Sexual Relationships research?

By volume in 2022-now, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Bengkulu publishes the most Marriage and Sexual Relationships research, followed by Islamic Azad University, Tehran and Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University Yogyakarta.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia 34 works
  2. 2 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 32 works
  3. 3 Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University YogyakartaIndonesia 22 works
  4. 4 Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera UtaraIndonesia 19 works
  5. 5 International Islamic University MalaysiaMalaysia 16 works
  6. 6 UIN Sunan Ampel SurabayaIndonesia 14 works
  7. 7 Universitas Islam Negeri Sultan Syarif Kasim RiauIndonesia 13 works
  8. 8 Sunan Gunung Djati State Islamic University BandungIndonesia 12 works
  9. 9 Airlangga UniversityIndonesia 10 works
  10. 10 National University of MalaysiaMalaysia 10 works

Who are the leading researchers in Marriage and Sexual Relationships?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Marriage and Sexual Relationships include Dan J. Stein, Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke.

  1. 1 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
  2. 2 Virginia Braun New Zealand 286k citations
  3. 3 Victoria Clarke United Kingdom 285k citations
  4. 4 Peter M. Bentler United States 233k citations
  5. 5 David A. Kenny United States 198k citations
  6. 6 Roy Frederick Baumeister United States 183k citations
  7. 7 James Jonathan Gross United States 163k 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 Marriage and Sexual Relationships?

The most cited paper in Marriage and Sexual Relationships is "A Generic Measure of Relationship Satisfaction" (Susan S. Hendrick, 1988), with 2,265 citations. Next come "Homosexual Identity Formation:" (2,185) and "Intermarriage and Homogamy: Causes, Patterns, Trends" (2,150).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A Generic Measure of Relationship Satisfaction Susan S. Hendrick · Journal of Marriage and the Family Feb 1988 2,265
2 Homosexual Identity Formation: Vivienne C. Cass · Journal of Homosexuality 24 Apr 1979 2,185
3 Intermarriage and Homogamy: Causes, Patterns, Trends Matthijs Kalmijn · Annual Review of Sociology ReviewOpen access Aug 1998 2,150
4 Ethnic and Cultural Diversity by Country* James D. Fearon · Journal of Economic Growth Jun 2003 1,844
5 Testing the ruler with item response theory: Increasing precision of measurement for relationship satisfaction with the Couples Satisfaction Index. Janette L. Funk, Ronald David Rogge · Journal of Family Psychology 2007 1,826
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Marriage and Sexual Relationships research done?

The largest centres of Marriage and Sexual Relationships research in 2022-now are Jakarta (Indonesia), Yogyakarta (Indonesia), Surabaya (Indonesia) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Bengkulu and Kuala Lumpur.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 JakartaIndonesia 49 works
  2. 2 YogyakartaIndonesia 48 works
  3. 3 SurabayaIndonesia 42 works
  4. 4 Kuala LumpurMalaysia 41 works
  5. 5 BandungIndonesia 41 works
  6. 6 MedanIndonesia 40 works
  7. 7 BengkuluIndonesia 36 works
  8. 8 IstanbulTürkiye 31 works
  9. 9 LondonUnited Kingdom 29 works
  10. 10 TehranIran 26 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BengkuluID · 35.5 works6.4×
  2. Kuala LumpurMY · 41.3 works6.3×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Marriage and Sexual Relationships than the world average.

See Marriage and Sexual Relationships on the map

Where is the best place to study Marriage and Sexual Relationships?

Among universities, judged by research, University of British Columbia, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Bengkulu and International Islamic University Malaysia 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 10.58%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Britis…University of South …International Islami…Institut Agama Islam…
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 British ColumbiaCanada 64.023.5%3.2×10 +49.3%
2Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia 57.65.3%9.8×34 +342.4%
3International Islamic University MalaysiaMalaysia 48.96.6%25.7×16 +9.5%
4University of South AfricaSouth Africa 46.617.4%7.7×8 +50.5%
5Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 46.42.3%7.8×32 -3.6%
6Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University YogyakartaIndonesia 45.52.9%18.3×22 +207.4%
7Sapienza University of RomeItaly 45.012.5%3.5×10 +128.7%
8Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University JakartaIndonesia 40.910.6%12.1×10 +32.6%
9Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera UtaraIndonesia 40.23.9%7.6×19 +351.6%
10Indiana UniversityUnited States 40.220.8%3.5×8 -35.9%

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 Marriage and Sexual Relationships, country by country

Is Marriage and Sexual Relationships research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 22% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Marriage and Sexual Relationships.

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 Marriage and Sexual Relationships as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.012% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Marriage and Sexual Relationships0.012% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Marriage and Sexual Relationships 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%Marriage and Sexual Relationships10.7% 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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