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Photography and Visual Culture

Photography and Visual Culture is a research topic within History. Science Explorer counts 7.6k 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 history, cultural impact, and evolving implications of photography, encompassing topics such as digital images, social media, visual culture, artistic collaboration, ethics of representation, memory and identity, documentary practices, and global influence.

  • Photography
  • Digital Images
  • Cultural History
  • Social Media
  • Visual Culture
  • Artistic Collaboration
  • Ethics of Representation
  • Memory and Identity
  • Documentary Practices
  • Global Influence
Research works
7.6k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
780
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-9%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
34% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Photography and Visual Culture

Which countries lead Photography and Visual Culture research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (362 and 170 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 362 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 170 works
  3. 3 France 106 works
  4. 4 Brazil 91 works
  5. 5 Germany 66 works
  6. 6 Canada 55 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 55 works
  8. 8 Australia 55 works
  9. 9 Italy 50 works
  10. 10 Spain 43 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: 34.4%United Kingdom: 16.2%France: 10.1%Brazil: 8.6%6 others listed: 30.8%34%largest
United States362 · 34.4%United Kingdom170 · 16.2%France106 · 10.1%Brazil91 · 8.6%6 others listed325 · 30.8%

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

Which institutions lead Photography and Visual Culture research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Photography and Visual Culture research, followed by Film Independent and Universidade de São Paulo.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 22 works
  2. 2 Film IndependentUnited States 11 works
  3. 3 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 9 works
  4. 4 The University of MelbourneAustralia 8 works
  5. 5 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 8 works
  6. 6 University of the Arts LondonUnited Kingdom 7 works
  7. 7 University of TorontoCanada 6 works
  8. 8 York UniversityCanada 6 works
  9. 9 New York UniversityUnited States 6 works
  10. 10 University of VirginiaUnited States 5 works

Who are the leading researchers in Photography and Visual Culture?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Photography and Visual Culture include Andrew Zisserman, Michael J. Mack and Norman K. Denzin.

  1. 1 Andrew Zisserman United Kingdom 255k citations
  2. 2 Michael J. Mack United States 154k citations
  3. 3 Norman K. Denzin United States 130k citations
  4. 4 Bruno Latour France 129k citations
  5. 5 Catherine Lord United States 109k citations
  6. 6 Nader Rifai United States 105k 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 Photography and Visual Culture?

The most cited paper in Photography and Visual Culture is "9. The Generation Of Postmemory" (Marianne Hirsch, 2008), with 1,930 citations. Next come "Art and Agency An Anthropological Theory" (1,119) and "The Image of Objectivity" (1,075).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 9. The Generation Of Postmemory Marianne Hirsch · Poetics Today Open access Mar 2008 1,930
2 Art and Agency An Anthropological Theory Stephanie Takaragawa · Visual Anthropology Review Sep 1998 1,119
3 The Image of Objectivity Lorraine Daston, Peter Galison · Representations 1992 1,075
4 JFK and dark tourism: A fascination with assassination Malcolm Foley, J. John Lennon · International Journal of Heritage Studies Dec 1996 688
5 Colour as a Secondary Quality1 Paul Artin Boghossian, J. David Velleman · Mind 1989 397
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Photography and Visual Culture research done?

The largest centres of Photography and Visual Culture research in 2022-now are Paris (France), London (United Kingdom), New York (United States) and São Paulo (Brazil).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 41 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 39 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 24 works
  4. 4 São PauloBrazil 22 works
  5. 5 Los AngelesUnited States 17 works
  6. 6 TorontoCanada 17 works
  7. 7 MelbourneAustralia 17 works
  8. 8 SydneyAustralia 13 works
  9. 9 MadridSpain 13 works
  10. 10 Washington D.C.United States 12 works
See Photography and Visual Culture on the map

Where is the best place to study Photography and Visual Culture?

Among universities, judged by research, The University of Melbourne and Universidade de São Paulo 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.

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
1The University of MelbourneAustralia 68.229.9%5.7×8 +12.6%
2Universidade de São PauloBrazil 32.59.0%3.4×9 -10.0%

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 Photography and Visual Culture, country by country

Is Photography and Visual Culture research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 9% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2019.

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 Photography and Visual Culture as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0060% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%Photography and Visual Culture0.0058% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Photography and Visual Culture 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%Photography and Visual Culture9.7% 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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