Misinformation and Its Impacts

Misinformation and Its Impacts is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 30k research works in it since 1951. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the spread of misinformation, fake news, and conspiracy theories through social media platforms. It explores topics such as infodemics, fact-checking, rumor detection, online credibility, and the impact of misinformation on public health and political polarization.

Misinformation
Fake News
Social Media
Infodemic
Conspiracy Theories
Fact-Checking
Rumor Detection
Online Credibility
Polarization
Health Misinformation

Research works: 30k
In the world top 10%: 3k
Top-10% rate: 9.9%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25: +68%
Largest producer: United States

Misinformation and Its Impacts

Which countries lead Misinformation and Its Impacts research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.3k and 1.6k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

1 United States 3.3k works
2 China 1.6k works
3 India 1.5k works
4 United Kingdom 791 works
5 Germany 602 works
6 Brazil 525 works
7 Spain 501 works
8 Italy 429 works
9 Canada 398 works
10 Türkiye 395 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 States3,333 · 33.2%China1,612 · 16.1%India1,453 · 14.5%United Kingdom791 · 7.9%6 others listed2,851 · 28.4%

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

Which institutions lead Misinformation and Its Impacts research?

By volume, 2022-now

1 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 57 works
2 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 48 works
3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 46 works
4 SRM Institute of Science and TechnologyIndia 46 works
5 Stanford UniversityUnited States 45 works
6 University of WashingtonUnited States 43 works
7 Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 41 works
8 Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States 41 works
9 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 40 works
10 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 39 works

Who are the leading researchers in Misinformation and Its Impacts?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Misinformation and Its Impacts include David Moher, Ali H. Mokdad and Richard M. Ryan.

1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
2 Ali H. Mokdad United States 429k citations
3 Richard M. Ryan United States 395k citations
4 John P. A. Ioannidis United States 317k citations
5 Elie A. Akl Canada 313k citations
6 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
7 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
8 Bach Xuan Tran Vietnam 263k citations
9 Florian Fischer Germany 257k 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 Misinformation and Its Impacts?

The most cited paper in Misinformation and Its Impacts is "The spread of true and false news online" (Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Kumar Roy, Sinan Aral, 2018), with 8,825 citations. Next come "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election" (6,749) and "What is Twitter, a social network or a news media?" (6,728).

Most cited papers
#	Paper	Released	Citations
1	The spread of true and false news online Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Kumar Roy, Sinan Aral · Science	8 Mar 2018	8,825
2	Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election Hunt Allcott, Matthew Aaron Gentzkow · The Journal of Economic Perspectives	May 2017	6,749
3	What is Twitter, a social network or a news media? Haewoon Kwak, Changhyun Lee, Hosung Park et al. Conference paperOpen access	26 Apr 2010	6,728
4	The Matthew Effect in Science Robert Κ. Merton · Science	5 Jan 1968	6,530
5	Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception Heinz Wimmer · Cognition	1983	6,373

All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Misinformation and Its Impacts research done?

The largest centres of Misinformation and Its Impacts research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom), Madrid (Spain) and New York (United States).

Largest cities, 2022-now

1 BeijingChina 313 works
2 LondonUnited Kingdom 181 works
3 MadridSpain 136 works
4 New YorkUnited States 135 works
5 ChennaiIndia 126 works
6 Washington D.C.United States 116 works
7 ShanghaiChina 112 works
8 SingaporeSingapore 105 works
9 Hong KongChina 103 works
10 IstanbulTürkiye 102 works

See Misinformation and Its Impacts on the map

Where is the best place to study Misinformation and Its Impacts?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Amsterdam, Nanyang Technological University and University of Cambridge 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.

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.

#	University	Score	Top 10%	Specialisation	Works	Growth
1	University of AmsterdamNetherlands	83.5	25.4%	7.0×	57	+60.8%
2	Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore	78.4	25.9%	3.8×	42	+44.6%
3	University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom	76.5	26.4%	2.4×	40	+85.7%
4	Stanford UniversityUnited States	76.3	27.9%	2.2×	45	+56.9%
5	University of ZurichSwitzerland	75.1	23.1%	4.0×	39	+107.2%
6	National University of SingaporeSingapore	72.5	24.6%	2.1×	34	+122.3%
7	University of KentUnited Kingdom	71.8	28.8%	7.5×	15	+42.9%
8	University of ViennaAustria	69.5	23.7%	4.5×	31	+95.1%
9	Northeastern UniversityUnited States	66.0	23.4%	5.1×	22	+68.0%
10	Carnegie Mellon UniversityUnited States	65.3	13.6%	6.7×	38	+38.5%
11	Hong Kong Baptist UniversityChina	65.2	20.3%	8.6×	22	+73.5%
12	University of WashingtonUnited States	64.7	16.2%	2.8×	43	+33.1%
13	University of OxfordUnited Kingdom	64.4	21.6%	1.8×	34	+7.3%
14	Cornell UniversityUnited States	64.3	19.1%	2.0×	35	+71.9%
15	University of Southern CaliforniaUnited States	63.4	19.6%	3.1×	36	+5.9%
16	Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States	63.2	18.9%	3.1×	29	+35.3%
17	The University of Western AustraliaAustralia	62.2	22.8%	2.6×	15	+30.2%
18	University of ErfurtGermany	61.8	36.3%	12.1×	9	+107.4%
19	New York UniversityUnited States	61.6	17.2%	2.1×	32	+30.5%
20	The University of SydneyAustralia	61.2	15.8%	2.1×	35	+103.7%
21	Queensland University of TechnologyAustralia	60.4	22.2%	4.5×	21	+25.1%
22	The University of Texas at AustinUnited States	60.1	15.8%	3.4×	39	+11.9%
23	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany	60.1	21.2%	1.9×	23	+61.8%
24	Johannes Gutenberg University MainzGermany	58.7	22.6%	3.3×	17	+64.4%
25	Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States	58.4	13.2%	2.8×	41	+12.9%
26	University of BristolUnited Kingdom	58.4	22.4%	2.1×	16	+53.2%
27	City University of Hong KongChina	58.3	14.4%	2.8×	22	+65.8%
28	University College LondonUnited Kingdom	58.2	15.3%	1.4×	30	+32.1%
29	Universidad Carlos III de MadridSpain	57.3	14.4%	8.8×	27	+39.1%
30	University of GuelphCanada	57.3	29.3%	2.6×	10	+135.7%
31	University of Hong KongChina	57.0	14.4%	1.9×	24	+131.8%
32	University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUnited States	56.9	11.5%	3.2×	38	+31.0%
33	University of PennsylvaniaUnited States	56.8	18.2%	2.0×	28	+12.1%
34	Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands	56.6	14.1%	3.7×	21	+66.9%
35	Macquarie UniversityAustralia	56.5	19.2%	3.7×	18	+74.6%
36	Chongqing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsChina	56.4	26.7%	3.7×	14	+517.4%
37	University of TorontoCanada	56.0	11.4%	1.2×	33	+28.7%
38	King Saud UniversitySaudi Arabia	56.0	16.8%	1.6×	21	+92.4%
39	University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States	55.9	8.6%	2.0×	48	+71.9%
40	University College DublinIreland	55.9	20.6%	2.6×	19	+115.0%
41	Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina	55.0	31.7%	0.8×	13	+470.2%
42	Chinese University of Hong KongChina	53.9	12.4%	2.2×	22	+93.2%
43	Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina	53.8	15.4%	1.5×	18	+208.7%
44	Communication University of ChinaChina	49.2	12.5%	15.4×	22	+100.3%
45	SRM Institute of Science and TechnologyIndia	48.5	3.3%	3.3×	46	+629.4%
46	Bennett UniversityIndia	47.8	11.3%	12.9×	17	+353.3%
47	RMIT UniversityAustralia	46.3	8.8%	3.4×	18	+102.5%
48	Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyChina	38.2	11.2%	1.6×	9	+446.8%
49	Uniwersytet SWPSPoland	35.8	3.7%	17.4×	15	+442.0%
50	University of Arkansas at Little RockUnited States	33.4	21.0%	24.4×	10	-37.9%
51	National School of Political Science and Public AdministrationRomania	31.9	3.6%	36.0×	15	+12.6%
52	Chittagong University of Engineering & TechnologyBangladesh	28.3	6.2%	10.2×	11	-
53	Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for WomenIndia	25.2	4.4%	10.2×	9	+517.6%

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 Misinformation and Its Impacts, country by country

Is Misinformation and Its Impacts research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 68% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Misinformation and Its Impacts.

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 Misinformation and Its Impacts as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.061% in 2024.

Fractional works of Misinformation and Its Impacts 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.

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.

Questions people ask

Who researches misinformation?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Amsterdam publishes the most Misinformation and Its Impacts research, followed by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.3k and 1.6k works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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Which countries lead Misinformation and Its Impacts research?

By volume, 2022-now

How concentrated that is

Which institutions lead Misinformation and Its Impacts research?

By volume, 2022-now

Who are the leading researchers in Misinformation and Its Impacts?

What are the most cited papers in Misinformation and Its Impacts?

Where is Misinformation and Its Impacts research done?

Largest cities, 2022-now

Where is the best place to study Misinformation and Its Impacts?

Is Misinformation and Its Impacts research growing?

Its share of all research

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Which topics inside it are moving

Related research

Questions people ask

Who researches misinformation?

Discussion