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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Religion, Ecology, and Ethics

Religion, Ecology, and Ethics is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 12k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the influence of various religious beliefs, values, and practices on environmental concern, activism, and attitudes towards climate change. It delves into the ethical considerations, conservation efforts, and sustainability initiatives within different religious contexts, particularly Christianity and Islam.

  • Religion
  • Environment
  • Climate Change
  • Ethics
  • Conservation
  • Sustainability
  • Christianity
  • Islam
  • Environmental Ethics
  • Public Perception
Research works
12k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+32%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
34% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Religion, Ecology, and Ethics

Which countries lead Religion, Ecology, and Ethics research?

By volume, the United States and Indonesia publish the most (615 and 347 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 615 works
  2. 2 Indonesia 347 works
  3. 3 India 244 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 216 works
  5. 5 Germany 78 works
  6. 6 Canada 75 works
  7. 7 Italy 72 works
  8. 8 South Africa 64 works
  9. 9 Australia 62 works
  10. 10 China 57 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: 33.6%Indonesia: 18.9%India: 13.3%United Kingdom: 11.8%6 others listed: 22.3%34%largest
United States615 · 33.6%Indonesia347 · 18.9%India244 · 13.3%United Kingdom216 · 11.8%6 others listed408 · 22.3%

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

Which institutions lead Religion, Ecology, and Ethics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Bengkulu publishes the most Religion, Ecology, and Ethics research, followed by University of Oxford and University of Pretoria.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia 23 works
  2. 2 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 18 works
  3. 3 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 14 works
  4. 4 Jakarta Theological SeminaryIndonesia 13 works
  5. 5 University of TorontoCanada 12 works
  6. 6 Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University YogyakartaIndonesia 12 works
  7. 7 Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 12 works
  8. 8 Universitas Gadjah MadaIndonesia 11 works
  9. 9 Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University JakartaIndonesia 10 works
  10. 10 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 10 works

Who are the leading researchers in Religion, Ecology, and Ethics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Religion, Ecology, and Ethics include David Tilman, F. Stuart Chapin and Carl Folke.

  1. 1 David Tilman United States 209k citations
  2. 2 F. Stuart Chapin United States 185k citations
  3. 3 Carl Folke Sweden 182k citations
  4. 4 Bruno Latour France 129k 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 Religion, Ecology, and Ethics?

The most cited paper in Religion, Ecology, and Ethics is "The shallow and the deep, long‐range ecology movement. A summary∗" (Arne Næss, 1973), with 2,397 citations. Next come "The Case For Animal Rights" (1,904) and "Why protect nature? Rethinking values and the environment" (1,767).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The shallow and the deep, long‐range ecology movement. A summary∗ Arne Næss · Inquiry 1973 2,397
2 The Case For Animal Rights Tom Regan Book chapterOpen access 1987 1,904
3 Why protect nature? Rethinking values and the environment Kai M. A. Chan, Patricia Balvanera, Karina Benessaiah et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open access 9 Feb 2016 1,767
4 Sustainability and sustainable development Desta Mebratu · Environmental Impact Assessment Review Nov 1998 1,355
5 The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement: A Summary Professor Alan Drengson Book chapter 2005 1,250
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Religion, Ecology, and Ethics research done?

The largest centres of Religion, Ecology, and Ethics research in 2022-now are Jakarta (Indonesia), Yogyakarta (Indonesia), London (United Kingdom) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Pretoria.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 JakartaIndonesia 42 works
  2. 2 YogyakartaIndonesia 39 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 35 works
  4. 4 New YorkUnited States 32 works
  5. 5 RomeItaly 26 works
  6. 6 PretoriaSouth Africa 25 works
  7. 7 BengkuluIndonesia 25 works
  8. 8 MedanIndonesia 22 works
  9. 9 BandungIndonesia 21 works
  10. 10 OxfordUnited Kingdom 21 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PretoriaZA · 25.1 works7.6×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Religion, Ecology, and Ethics than the world average.

See Religion, Ecology, and Ethics on the map

Where is the best place to study Religion, Ecology, and Ethics?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oxford, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Bengkulu and University of Pretoria 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%10%20%mean 9.05%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of OxfordUniversity of PretoriaInstitut Agama Islam…Vrije Universiteit A…
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 OxfordUnited Kingdom 79.818.6%5.2×18 -8.8%
2Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia 62.78.3%6.9×23 +681.2%
3University of PretoriaSouth Africa 54.910.6%13.7×14 -6.7%
4Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 51.93.0%11.9×12 +236.9%
5University of TorontoCanada 47.78.6%2.6×12 +51.2%
6University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 42.68.0%3.5×10 -28.4%
7Jakarta Theological SeminaryIndonesia 42.56.8%46.7×12 +237.5%
8University of South AfricaSouth Africa 42.411.1%10.0×10 +3.8%
9Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University YogyakartaIndonesia 42.36.6%9.8×12 -
10Universitas Gadjah MadaIndonesia 42.38.9%4.8×11 +185.9%

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 Religion, Ecology, and Ethics, country by country

Is Religion, Ecology, and Ethics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 32% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Religion, Ecology, and Ethics.

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 Religion, Ecology, and Ethics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0096% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Religion, Ecology, and Ethics0.013% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Religion, Ecology, and Ethics 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%Religion, Ecology, and Ethics10.6% 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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