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Public Relations and Crisis Communication

Public Relations and Crisis Communication is a research topic within Communication. Science Explorer counts 20k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on crisis communication, particularly the use of social media, in managing and responding to various crises such as natural disasters, organizational crises, and public health emergencies. It explores the role of public relations, stakeholder engagement, and dialogic communication in shaping effective crisis management strategies. The papers also delve into the impact of social media on organizational reputation, community engagement, and emergency response.

  • Crisis Communication
  • Social Media
  • Public Relations
  • Disaster Management
  • Stakeholder Engagement
  • Emergency Response
  • Organizational Reputation
  • Dialogic Communication
  • Risk Communication
  • Community Engagement
Research works
20k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+29%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
33% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Public Relations and Crisis Communication

Which countries lead Public Relations and Crisis Communication research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.3k and 624 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.3k works
  2. 2 China 624 works
  3. 3 Germany 401 works
  4. 4 Türkiye 389 works
  5. 5 Indonesia 304 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 247 works
  7. 7 India 235 works
  8. 8 Australia 153 works
  9. 9 Spain 121 works
  10. 10 Nigeria 117 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: 32.7%China: 16.2%Germany: 10.4%Türkiye: 10.1%6 others listed: 30.6%33%largest
United States1,262 · 32.7%China624 · 16.2%Germany401 · 10.4%Türkiye389 · 10.1%6 others listed1,178 · 30.6%

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

Which institutions lead Public Relations and Crisis Communication research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Alabama publishes the most Public Relations and Crisis Communication research, followed by Aarhus University and University of Maryland, College Park.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of AlabamaUnited States 20 works
  2. 2 Aarhus UniversityDenmark 20 works
  3. 3 University of Maryland, College ParkUnited States 19 works
  4. 4 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 18 works
  5. 5 Lund UniversitySweden 18 works
  6. 6 University of ViennaAustria 17 works
  7. 7 Marmara UniversityTürkiye 17 works
  8. 8 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 16 works
  9. 9 The University of Texas at AustinUnited States 16 works
  10. 10 University of GeorgiaUnited States 16 works

Who are the leading researchers in Public Relations and Crisis Communication?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Public Relations and Crisis Communication include Marko Sarstedt, Zahid A Butt and Mike J Clarke.

  1. 1 Marko Sarstedt Germany 221k citations
  2. 2 Zahid A Butt Canada 198k citations
  3. 3 Mike J Clarke United Kingdom 175k citations
  4. 4 John T. Cacioppo United States 168k 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 Public Relations and Crisis Communication?

The most cited paper in Public Relations and Crisis Communication is "Compliance, identification, and internalization three processes of attitude change" (Herbert C. Kelman, 1958), with 3,798 citations. Next come "Framing as a Theory of Media Effects" (3,316) and "Framing Theory" (3,058).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Compliance, identification, and internalization three processes of attitude change Herbert C. Kelman · Journal of Conflict Resolution Mar 1958 3,798
2 Framing as a Theory of Media Effects Dietram A. Scheufele · Journal of Communication Mar 1999 3,316
3 Framing Theory Dennis Chong, James N. Druckman · Annual Review of Political Science Review 4 May 2007 3,058
4 Protecting Organization Reputations During a Crisis: The Development and Application of Situational Crisis Communication Theory W Timothy Coombs · Corporate Reputation Review Open access Sep 2007 2,782
5 Framing, Agenda Setting, and Priming: The Evolution of Three Media Effects Models Dietram A. Scheufele, David H. Tewksbury · Journal of Communication 9 Nov 2006 2,564
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Public Relations and Crisis Communication research done?

The largest centres of Public Relations and Crisis Communication research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Istanbul (Türkiye), London (United Kingdom) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Tuscaloosa.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 118 works
  2. 2 IstanbulTürkiye 94 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 58 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 57 works
  5. 5 AnkaraTürkiye 57 works
  6. 6 JakartaIndonesia 55 works
  7. 7 MoscowRussia 43 works
  8. 8 New YorkUnited States 40 works
  9. 9 KyivUkraine 39 works
  10. 10 Hong KongChina 38 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. TuscaloosaUS · 20.2 works12×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Public Relations and Crisis Communication than the world average.

See Public Relations and Crisis Communication on the map

Where is the best place to study Public Relations and Crisis Communication?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Amsterdam, University of Alabama and University of Maryland, College Park 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 25.16%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of AlabamaUniversity of Maryla…University of Amster…Lund 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.

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
1University of AmsterdamNetherlands 81.825.1%5.6×18 +9.9%
2University of AlabamaUnited States 77.227.5%14.5×20 -5.3%
3University of Maryland, College ParkUnited States 76.927.5%6.1×19 +2.4%
4Lund UniversitySweden 76.221.4%5.8×18 +30.6%
5University of GeorgiaUnited States 73.822.3%6.7×16 +53.8%
6Michigan State UniversityUnited States 70.635.1%3.6×14 +94.7%
7University of ViennaAustria 69.017.4%6.4×18 +43.6%
8University of ZurichSwitzerland 66.621.6%3.8×14 +11.0%
9The University of Texas at AustinUnited States 64.526.9%3.5×16 -20.6%
10Clemson UniversityUnited States 63.626.8%7.7×12 +32.7%

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 Public Relations and Crisis Communication, country by country

Is Public Relations and Crisis Communication research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 29% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Public Relations and Crisis Communication.

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 Public Relations and Crisis Communication as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.022% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Public Relations and Crisis Communication0.026% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Public Relations and Crisis Communication 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%Public Relations and Crisis Communication10.5% 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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