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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering

Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 15k 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 multilevel perspectives on prosocial behavior, volunteering, and the nonprofit sector. It covers topics such as philanthropy, accountability in NGOs, the impact of social capital on charitable giving, and organizational effectiveness in nonprofit organizations.

  • Prosocial Behavior
  • Volunteering
  • Nonprofit Sector
  • Philanthropy
  • Accountability
  • Charitable Giving
  • NGOs
  • Social Capital
  • Community Involvement
  • Organizational Effectiveness
Research works
15k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-7%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
47% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering

Which countries lead Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (945 and 235 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 945 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 235 works
  3. 3 China 202 works
  4. 4 Germany 151 works
  5. 5 Australia 138 works
  6. 6 Canada 105 works
  7. 7 Italy 59 works
  8. 8 Netherlands 58 works
  9. 9 France 52 works
  10. 10 Norway 50 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: 47.4%United Kingdom: 11.8%China: 10.1%Germany: 7.6%6 others listed: 23.1%47%largest
United States945 · 47.4%United Kingdom235 · 11.8%China202 · 10.1%Germany151 · 7.6%6 others listed461 · 23.1%

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

Which institutions lead Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research?

By volume in 2022-now, Indiana University publishes the most Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research, followed by George Mason University and Pennsylvania State University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Indiana UniversityUnited States 32 works
  2. 2 George Mason UniversityUnited States 14 works
  3. 3 Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States 12 works
  4. 4 The University of QueenslandAustralia 12 works
  5. 5 Center for Effective PhilanthropyUnited States 11 works
  6. 6 Lund UniversitySweden 11 works
  7. 7 Aarhus UniversityDenmark 11 works
  8. 8 Arizona State UniversityUnited States 11 works
  9. 9 Erasmus University RotterdamNetherlands 11 works
  10. 10 University of BaselSwitzerland 11 works

Who are the leading researchers in Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering include Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási, Kimberly D. Miller and F. Stuart Chapin.

  1. 1 Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási United States 223k citations
  2. 2 Kimberly D. Miller United States 200k citations
  3. 3 F. Stuart Chapin United States 185k 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 Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering?

The most cited paper in Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering is "Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches" (Mark C. Suchman, 1995), with 12,673 citations. Next come "Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept" (7,873) and "Survey response rate levels and trends in organizational research" (3,452).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches Mark C. Suchman · Academy of Management Review Jul 1995 12,673
2 Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept Paul S. Adler, Seok‐Woo Kwon · Academy of Management Review 2002 7,873
3 Survey response rate levels and trends in organizational research Yehuda Baruch, Brooks C. Holtom · Human Relations Aug 2008 3,452
4 Relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behaviors: Do fairness perceptions influence employee citizenship? Robert H. Moorman · Journal of Applied Psychology Dec 1991 3,191
5 THEORIZING CHANGE: THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF INSTITUTIONALIZED FIELDS. Royston Greenwood, C. R. Hinings, Roy Suddaby · Academy of Management Journal Feb 2002 2,846
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research done?

The largest centres of Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Beijing (China), New York (United States) and Sydney (Australia).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 43 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 38 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 33 works
  4. 4 SydneyAustralia 29 works
  5. 5 SeoulSouth Korea 28 works
  6. 6 MelbourneAustralia 28 works
  7. 7 OsloNorway 26 works
  8. 8 MoscowRussia 24 works
  9. 9 BerlinGermany 24 works
  10. 10 Washington D.C.United States 24 works
See Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering on the map

Where is the best place to study Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering?

Among universities, judged by research, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The University of Queensland and Indiana University 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%30%mean 14.72%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Erasmus University R…The University of Qu…Pennsylvania State U…Indiana 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.

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
1Erasmus University RotterdamNetherlands 59.926.1%8.0×11 -20.9%
2The University of QueenslandAustralia 57.925.6%4.8×12 +38.2%
3Indiana UniversityUnited States 51.210.2%12.9×32 -38.1%
4Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States 44.121.5%4.2×12 +31.8%
5Aarhus UniversityDenmark 41.614.7%5.0×11 +2.6%
6George Mason UniversityUnited States 41.17.6%17.7×14 +15.8%
7University of Hong KongChina 38.311.6%3.9×9 +80.3%
8Lund UniversitySweden 36.77.7%7.7×11 +100.5%
9University of BaselSwitzerland 34.35.3%11.0×11 +51.6%
10City University of New YorkUnited States 34.016.9%7.0×10 -9.0%

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 Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering, country by country

Is Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 7% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

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 Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.012% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering0.011% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering 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%Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering10.3% 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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