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Medieval Philosophy and Theology

Medieval Philosophy and Theology is a research topic within Philosophy. Science Explorer counts 7.4k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the intersection of medieval philosophy and theology within the Christian tradition, particularly emphasizing the works of influential figures like Aquinas, Boethius, Anselm, and Scotus. It delves into topics such as virtue ethics, divine providence, natural law, and metaphysics.

  • Aquinas
  • Boethius
  • Virtue Ethics
  • Medieval Theology
  • Philosophy of Law
  • Anselm
  • Scotus
  • Natural Law
  • Divine Providence
  • Metaphysics
Research works
7.4k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
767
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-7%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
39% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Medieval Philosophy and Theology

Which countries lead Medieval Philosophy and Theology research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (379 and 113 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 379 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 113 works
  3. 3 Spain 95 works
  4. 4 Italy 91 works
  5. 5 France 84 works
  6. 6 Poland 69 works
  7. 7 Brazil 45 works
  8. 8 Germany 38 works
  9. 9 Argentina 37 works
  10. 10 Chile 31 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: 38.6%United Kingdom: 11.5%Spain: 9.7%Italy: 9.2%6 others listed: 30.9%39%largest
United States379 · 38.6%United Kingdom113 · 11.5%Spain95 · 9.7%Italy91 · 9.2%6 others listed304 · 30.9%

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

Which institutions lead Medieval Philosophy and Theology research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Medieval Philosophy and Theology research, followed by University of Oxford and Durham University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 23 works
  2. 2 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 16 works
  3. 3 Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom 16 works
  4. 4 Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 15 works
  5. 5 University of Notre DameUnited States 15 works
  6. 6 University of Modern SciencesUnited Arab Emirates 14 works
  7. 7 Universidad de NavarraSpain 12 works
  8. 8 Artistic Realization TechnologiesUnited States 12 works
  9. 9 Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in WarsawPoland 12 works
  10. 10 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 12 works

Who are the leading researchers in Medieval Philosophy and Theology?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Medieval Philosophy and Theology include Michel Foucault, James J. Collins and James Wetzel.

  1. 1 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  2. 2 James J. Collins United States 118k citations
  3. 3 James Wetzel France 98k citations
  4. 4 John Rogers Searle United States 83k citations
  5. 5 Robert M. Grant United States 81k 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 Philosophy and Theology?

The most cited paper in Medieval Philosophy and Theology is "The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason" (R. Jay Wallace, 1988), with 1,521 citations. Next come "Philosophical Perspectives 5" (766) and "Justification and truth" (710).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason R. Jay Wallace · Philosophical Books Oct 1988 1,521
2 Philosophical Perspectives 5 Brian Leftow, The Society of Christian Philosophers · Faith and Philosophy Open access 1996 766
3 Justification and truth Stewart Cohen · Philosophical Studies Nov 1984 710
4 The Elements of Moral Philosophy R. S. Downie · Philosophical Books Jul 1987 409
5 Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification Alister E. McGrath 1986 333
All 101 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Medieval Philosophy and Theology research done?

The largest centres of Medieval Philosophy and Theology research in 2022-now are Rome (Italy), Paris (France), Madrid (Spain) and Warsaw (Poland).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 RomeItaly 38 works
  2. 2 ParisFrance 33 works
  3. 3 MadridSpain 30 works
  4. 4 WarsawPoland 21 works
  5. 5 Buenos AiresArgentina 21 works
  6. 6 SantiagoChile 20 works
  7. 7 OxfordUnited Kingdom 17 works
  8. 8 DurhamUnited Kingdom 17 works
  9. 9 Washington D.C.United States 16 works
  10. 10 VeniceItaly 15 works
See Medieval Philosophy and Theology on the map

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

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oxford, University of Notre Dame and Durham University 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 10.61%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →KU LeuvenUniversity of OxfordUniversity of Notre …Durham 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 OxfordUnited Kingdom 97.012.1%10.3×16 +58.1%
2University of Notre DameUnited States 72.85.7%43.7×15 +26.5%
3Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom 71.05.2%39.3×16 +134.8%
4KU LeuvenBelgium 67.920.7%10.1×11 -6.7%
5University of Modern SciencesUnited Arab Emirates 62.89.5%762.1×14 -
6Pontifical University of the Holy CrossItaly 61.122.3%948.7×10 +137.7%
7Universidad de NavarraSpain 50.411.6%40.8×12 -60.9%
8Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 48.90.6%57.2×16 +658.3%
9University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 45.310.6%8.7×12 -20.2%
10Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in WarsawPoland 42.47.8%81.0×12 +193.6%

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 Medieval Philosophy and Theology, country by country

Is Medieval Philosophy and Theology research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 7% 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 Medieval Philosophy and Theology as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0048% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Medieval Philosophy and Theology0.0056% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Medieval Philosophy and Theology 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 Philosophy and Theology9.4% 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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