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Reformation and Early Modern Christianity

Reformation and Early Modern Christianity is a research topic within History. Science Explorer counts 43k research works in it since 1950. 8.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers encompasses a wide range of topics related to the Reformation, Calvinism, religious controversy, church history, and social and cultural dynamics in Early Modern Europe. It explores the theological, political, and societal implications of the Reformation movement and its influence on various aspects of European life during that period.

  • Reformation
  • Calvinism
  • Religious Controversy
  • Church History
  • Early Modern Europe
  • Theology
  • Biblical Scholarship
  • Political Polarization
  • Social History
  • Cultural Identity
Research works
43k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
8.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
-1%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Reformation and Early Modern Christianity research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.7k and 866 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 1.7k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 866 works
  3. 3 Germany 467 works
  4. 4 France 316 works
  5. 5 Netherlands 200 works
  6. 6 Italy 192 works
  7. 7 Canada 161 works
  8. 8 Australia 112 works
  9. 9 Switzerland 105 works
  10. 10 Belgium 95 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: 40.0%United Kingdom: 20.7%Germany: 11.1%France: 7.5%6 others listed: 20.6%40%largest
United States1,679 · 40.0%United Kingdom866 · 20.7%Germany467 · 11.1%France316 · 7.5%6 others listed865 · 20.6%

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

Which institutions lead Reformation and Early Modern Christianity research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of Oxford publishes the most Reformation and Early Modern Christianity research, followed by University of Cambridge and Durham University.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 91 works
  2. 2 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 71 works
  3. 3 Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom 54 works
  4. 4 Film IndependentUnited States 42 works
  5. 5 Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 40 works
  6. 6 Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 34 works
  7. 7 Vanderbilt UniversityUnited States 33 works
  8. 8 University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 31 works
  9. 9 KU LeuvenBelgium 30 works
  10. 10 Yale UniversityUnited States 28 works

Who are the leading researchers in Reformation and Early Modern Christianity?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Reformation and Early Modern Christianity include Robert West and David L. Smith.

  1. 1 Robert West United States 3k citations
  2. 2 David L. Smith United States 2.9k citations

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

Where is Reformation and Early Modern Christianity research done?

The largest centres of Reformation and Early Modern Christianity research in 2022–2025 are London (United Kingdom), Paris (France), Oxford (United Kingdom) and Cambridge (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Durham and Venice.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 136 works
  2. 2 Paris France 114 works
  3. 3 Oxford United Kingdom 103 works
  4. 4 Cambridge United Kingdom 75 works
  5. 5 New York United States 63 works
  6. 6 Los Angeles United States 58 works
  7. 7 Durham United Kingdom 55 works
  8. 8 Utrecht Netherlands 54 works
  9. 9 Amsterdam Netherlands 50 works
  10. 10 Moscow Russia 49 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. DurhamGB · 54.7 works30×
  2. VeniceIT · 40.9 works25×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Reformation and Early Modern Christianity than the world average.

See Reformation and Early Modern Christianity on the map

Where is the best place to study Reformation and Early Modern Christianity?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Salzburg, University of Kent and University of Oxford 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 18.4%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Salzburg: 9, 29.4%University of Kent: 12, 16.3%University of Oxford: 91, 10.6%Aarhus University: 17, 31.8%University of Cambridge: 71, 10.0%University of Tübingen: 15, 19.4%Leiden University: 26, 17.8%University of York: 22, 14.4%Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München: 21, 16.3%Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam: 20, 18.0%Aarhus UniversityUniversity of SalzburgUniversity of KentUniversity of Oxford
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 SalzburgAustria 66.429.4%15.3×9
2 University of KentUnited Kingdom 65.816.3%16.8×12 +313.6%
3 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 65.610.6%14.4×91 -5.3%
4 Aarhus UniversityDenmark 65.031.8%4.9×17 +115.2%
5 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 64.610.0%13.2×71 +21.0%
6 University of TübingenGermany 64.319.4%8.1×15 +471.1%
7 Leiden UniversityNetherlands 62.117.8%15.7×26 +0.6%
8 University of YorkUnited Kingdom 61.714.4%14.4×22 +89.9%
9 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 60.816.3%6.9×21 +190.9%
10 Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 60.218.0%10.4×20 -4.2%

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 Reformation and Early Modern Christianity research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 1% lower than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2017. The fastest-growing topics are Reformation and Early Modern Christianity.

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.