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Topic · Political Science and International Relations

Political and Social Issues

Political and Social Issues is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 19k research works in it since 1950. 10.7% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the Tunisian Revolution, its impact on global development goals, democratic transition, rural and territorial dynamics, digital innovation, and social sustainability. It delves into the role of media, communication, and social movements in shaping the political economy of post-revolution Tunisia.

  • Tunisian Revolution
  • Global Development Goals
  • Social Movements
  • Territorial Dynamics
  • Digital Innovation
  • Democratic Transition
  • Rural Development
  • Media and Communication
  • Political Economy
  • Social Sustainability
Research works
19k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.7%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-23%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
France
62% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Political and Social Issues

Which countries lead Political and Social Issues research?

By volume, France and Germany publish the most (1.5k and 193 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 France 1.5k works
  2. 2 Germany 193 works
  3. 3 United States 161 works
  4. 4 Canada 111 works
  5. 5 Morocco 90 works
  6. 6 Algeria 89 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 81 works
  8. 8 ?? 76 works
  9. 9 Brazil 62 works
  10. 10 Belgium 61 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.

France: 61.6%Germany: 8.0%United States: 6.7%Canada: 4.6%6 others listed: 19.1%62%largest
France1,485 · 61.6%Germany193 · 8.0%United States161 · 6.7%Canada111 · 4.6%6 others listed460 · 19.1%

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

Which institutions lead Political and Social Issues research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Political and Social Issues research, followed by Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and Université de Lyon.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 376 works
  2. 2 Institut d'Etudes Politiques de ParisFrance 58 works
  3. 3 Université de LyonFrance 50 works
  4. 4 Université de LorraineFrance 43 works
  5. 5 Université Paris NanterreFrance 41 works
  6. 6 Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneFrance 37 works
  7. 7 Université Lille Nord de FranceFrance 37 works
  8. 8 Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 36 works
  9. 9 École des hautes études en sciences socialesFrance 35 works
  10. 10 Université Grenoble AlpesFrance 32 works

Who are the leading researchers in Political and Social Issues?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Political and Social Issues include Pierre Bourdıeu, Wolfgang K. Huber and Michel Foucault.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Wolfgang K. Huber Germany 239k citations
  3. 3 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  4. 4 David P. Bartel United States 200k citations
  5. 5 Marc Humbert France 161k citations
  6. 6 Noam Chomsky United States 141k citations
  7. 7 Claude Leroy Canada 132k citations
  8. 8 D. G. Charlton Israel 130k citations
  9. 9 Bruno Latour France 129k citations
  10. 10 Jean Bousquet France 119k 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 Political and Social Issues?

The most cited paper in Political and Social Issues is "Strategy and Structure:" (Lynn Harold Vogel, Irma Patterson, 1986), with 3,529 citations. Next come "9. "Comparative Studies in Society and History"" (577) and "Die Ordnung des Diskurses" (509).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Strategy and Structure: Lynn Harold Vogel, Irma Patterson · Administration in Social Work 18 Jul 1986 3,529
2 9. "Comparative Studies in Society and History" Sylvia L. Thrupp · Political Research Organization and Design Jul 1958 577
3 Die Ordnung des Diskurses Michael Sellhoff · J.B. Metzler eBooks Book chapter 2014 509
4 Sexual Orientation: Fritz Klein, Barry Sepekoff, Timothy Wolf · Journal of Homosexuality 25 Sep 1985 505
5 On Qualculation, Agency, and Otherness Michel Callon, John Easton Law · Environment and Planning D Society and Space Oct 2005 444
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Political and Social Issues research done?

The largest centres of Political and Social Issues research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Lyon (France), Nanterre (France) and Montreal (Canada). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Nanterre.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 593 works
  2. 2 LyonFrance 70 works
  3. 3 NanterreFrance 57 works
  4. 4 MontrealCanada 51 works
  5. 5 LilleFrance 50 works
  6. 6 ToulouseFrance 43 works
  7. 7 StrasbourgFrance 40 works
  8. 8 MarseilleFrance 38 works
  9. 9 BrusselsBelgium 32 works
  10. 10 NantesFrance 29 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. NanterreFR · 57.1 works72×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Political and Social Issues than the world average.

See Political and Social Issues on the map

Where is the best place to study Political and Social Issues?

Among universities, judged by research, Philipps University of Marburg, Université de Lorraine and Université de Lyon 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%mean 13.79%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Philipps University …University of LausanneUniversité de LorraineUniversité de Lyon
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
1Philipps University of MarburgGermany 63.335.4%11.5×8 +26.5%
2Université de LorraineFrance 58.98.2%45.0×43 +26.1%
3Université de LyonFrance 58.83.6%31.2×50 +30.1%
4University of LausanneSwitzerland 57.120.0%11.1×13 -6.8%
5Université Paris NanterreFrance 55.38.7%78.9×41 +4.3%
6University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 55.218.3%2.3×8 +74.2%
7Université Libre de BruxellesBelgium 52.117.4%12.4×10 +51.9%
8Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneFrance 51.49.5%89.6×37 -27.0%
9Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 51.06.9%21.0×36 -16.7%
10Université Paris Sciences et LettresFrance 51.09.9%21.7×21 -18.4%

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 Political and Social Issues, country by country

Is Political and Social Issues research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 23% 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 Political and Social Issues as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.013% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Political and Social Issues0.0078% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Political and Social Issues 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%Political and Social Issues9.8% 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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