Science Explorer Interactive view Map

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. 35.1% 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%
5.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
35.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+13%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (861 and 216 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 861 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 216 works
  3. 3 China 147 works
  4. 4 Germany 142 works
  5. 5 Australia 129 works
  6. 6 Canada 98 works
  7. 7 Netherlands 55 works
  8. 8 Italy 53 works
  9. 9 France 48 works
  10. 10 Norway 47 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: 48.0%United Kingdom: 12.0%China: 8.2%Germany: 7.9%6 others listed: 23.9%48%largest
United States861 · 48.0%United Kingdom216 · 12.0%China147 · 8.2%Germany142 · 7.9%6 others listed429 · 23.9%

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

Which institutions lead Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research?

By volume in 2022–2025, George Mason University publishes the most Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research, followed by Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis and Pennsylvania State University.

By volume, 2022–2025

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

Who are the leading researchers in Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering include Jean Hartley.

  1. 1 Jean Hartley United Kingdom 3.1k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research done?

The largest centres of Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research in 2022–2025 are London (United Kingdom), Beijing (China), Melbourne (Australia) and Sydney (Australia).

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 39 works
  2. 2 Beijing China 34 works
  3. 3 Melbourne Australia 27 works
  4. 4 Sydney Australia 26 works
  5. 5 Seoul South Korea 26 works
  6. 6 New York United States 25 works
  7. 7 Oslo Norway 24 works
  8. 8 Berlin Germany 23 works
  9. 9 Brisbane Australia 21 works
  10. 10 Moscow Russia 21 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, University of Basel, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis and George Mason 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%20%40%60%mean 38.6%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Basel: 10, 52.6%Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis: 12, 37.9%George Mason University: 14, 28.2%Lund University: 11, 39.5%Erasmus University Rotterdam: 9, 46.6%The University of Queensland: 11, 54.8%Brock University: 8, 39.1%Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey: 9, 40.5%Aarhus University: 11, 29.3%Copenhagen Business School: 9, 17.5%University of BaselLund UniversityIndiana University –…George Mason Univers…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 University of BaselSwitzerland 77.052.6%14.6×10 +56.7%
2 Indiana University – Purdue University IndianapolisUnited States 66.537.9%15.3×12 +74.8%
3 George Mason UniversityUnited States 64.428.2%16.8×14 +16.7%
4 Lund UniversitySweden 62.339.5%7.5×11 +70.8%
5 Erasmus University RotterdamNetherlands 62.146.6%12.1×9 +11.7%
6 The University of QueenslandAustralia 60.054.8%5.1×11 +57.5%
7 Brock UniversityCanada 55.239.1%28.2×8 +51.6%
8 Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyUnited States 48.740.5%5.7×9 +124.1%
9 Aarhus UniversityDenmark 46.529.3%6.0×11 +5.4%
10 Copenhagen Business SchoolDenmark 43.217.5%20.4×9 +33.7%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 13% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2021. The fastest-growing topics are Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

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.