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Medieval and Classical Philosophy

Medieval and Classical Philosophy is a research topic within Philosophy. Science Explorer counts 10k research works in it since 1950. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophy, theology, and scholarly traditions. It delves into the works of prominent figures such as Avicenna, Maimonides, and Al-Farabi, as well as the transmission of knowledge through Arabic-Latin translation, the influence of Neoplatonism, and the development of Karaite Judaism. The cluster also examines the intellectual landscape in medieval Spain and the scholarly writings in Hebrew.

  • Avicenna
  • Maimonides
  • Arabic-Latin Translation
  • Jewish Philosophy
  • Islamic Theology
  • Al-Farabi
  • Karaite Judaism
  • Medieval Spain
  • Neoplatonism
  • Hebrew Scholarly Writings
Research works
10k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+12%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
33% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Medieval and Classical Philosophy

Which countries lead Medieval and Classical Philosophy research?

By volume, the United States and Türkiye publish the most (526 and 185 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 526 works
  2. 2 Türkiye 185 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 164 works
  4. 4 Israel 129 works
  5. 5 France 118 works
  6. 6 Indonesia 117 works
  7. 7 Germany 116 works
  8. 8 Iran 108 works
  9. 9 Italy 84 works
  10. 10 Spain 70 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.

United States: 32.5%Türkiye: 11.5%United Kingdom: 10.1%Israel: 8.0%6 others listed: 37.9%33%largest
United States526 · 32.5%Türkiye185 · 11.5%United Kingdom164 · 10.1%Israel129 · 8.0%6 others listed613 · 37.9%

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

Which institutions lead Medieval and Classical Philosophy research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Medieval and Classical Philosophy research, followed by Bar-Ilan University and University of Cambridge.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 41 works
  2. 2 Bar-Ilan UniversityIsrael 35 works
  3. 3 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 23 works
  4. 4 Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 20 works
  5. 5 Ben-Gurion University of the NegevIsrael 20 works
  6. 6 Hebrew University of JerusalemIsrael 19 works
  7. 7 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 18 works
  8. 8 University of TorontoCanada 16 works
  9. 9 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 15 works
  10. 10 KU LeuvenBelgium 15 works

Who are the leading researchers in Medieval and Classical Philosophy?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Medieval and Classical Philosophy include James Thomas, Michel Foucault and Noam Chomsky.

  1. 1 James Thomas United Kingdom 242k citations
  2. 2 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  3. 3 Noam Chomsky United States 141k 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 Medieval and Classical Philosophy?

The most cited paper in Medieval and Classical Philosophy is "Epiphenomenal Qualia" (Frank Jackson, 1982), with 2,253 citations. Next come "SABISTON TEXTBOOK OF SURGERY" (875) and "Meditations on First Philosophy" (827).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Epiphenomenal Qualia Frank Jackson · The Philosophical Quarterly Apr 1982 2,253
2 SABISTON TEXTBOOK OF SURGERY David J. Dries · Shock 9 Apr 2008 875
3 Meditations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter 18 Apr 1996 827
4 Justification and truth Stewart Cohen · Philosophical Studies Nov 1984 710
5 Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed? Wael B. Hallaq · International Journal Middle East Studies Mar 1984 640
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Medieval and Classical Philosophy research done?

The largest centres of Medieval and Classical Philosophy research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Tehran (Iran), Ankara (Türkiye) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Ramat Gan, Venice and Jerusalem.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 59 works
  2. 2 TehranIran 54 works
  3. 3 AnkaraTürkiye 38 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 35 works
  5. 5 Ramat GanIsrael 35 works
  6. 6 New YorkUnited States 34 works
  7. 7 JerusalemIsrael 31 works
  8. 8 IstanbulTürkiye 27 works
  9. 9 CambridgeUnited Kingdom 27 works
  10. 10 TashkentUzbekistan 26 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Ramat GanIL · 35.1 works39×
  2. VeniceIT · 20.5 works26×
  3. JerusalemIL · 30.5 works18×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Medieval and Classical Philosophy than the world average.

See Medieval and Classical Philosophy on the map

Where is the best place to study Medieval and Classical Philosophy?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Cambridge, Bar-Ilan University and Ca' Foscari University of Venice 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 11.68%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Ludwig-Maximilians-U…Ca' Foscari Universi…University of Cambri…Bar-Ilan University
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
1University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 67.411.8%9.2×24 +47.7%
2Bar-Ilan UniversityIsrael 66.88.4%60.8×35 +14.1%
3Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 63.816.6%39.7×20 +485.6%
4Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 62.222.6%6.4×12 -20.1%
5KU LeuvenBelgium 60.519.0%7.2×15 +21.1%
6Ben-Gurion University of the NegevIsrael 51.83.9%25.2×20 +18.2%
7University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 51.08.3%5.9×18 -3.6%
8University of ChicagoUnited States 46.88.8%7.7×14 +4.5%
9Hebrew University of JerusalemIsrael 45.48.0%17.4×19 -28.0%
10University of TorontoCanada 45.39.4%3.7×16 +9.2%

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 Medieval and Classical Philosophy, country by country

Is Medieval and Classical Philosophy research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 12% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Medieval and Classical Philosophy.

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 Medieval and Classical Philosophy as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0091% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Medieval and Classical Philosophy0.011% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Medieval and Classical Philosophy 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%Medieval and Classical Philosophy9.9% 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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