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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Religion, Society, and Development

Religion, Society, and Development is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 38k 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 explores the role and impact of faith-based organizations in providing social services, contributing to community development, and engaging in international development and humanitarian efforts. It delves into the relationship between religion, spirituality, and development, as well as the comparison between faith-based and secular organizations in delivering welfare and aid. The papers also discuss the challenges, opportunities, and controversies surrounding the involvement of faith-based organizations in various aspects of development and social welfare.

  • Faith-Based Organizations
  • Social Services
  • Religion
  • Development
  • Humanitarianism
  • NGOs
  • Community Development
  • Civil Society
  • International Aid
  • Welfare
Research works
38k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+4%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
40% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Religion, Society, and Development

Which countries lead Religion, Society, and Development research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.8k and 671 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.8k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 671 works
  3. 3 South Africa 406 works
  4. 4 Indonesia 397 works
  5. 5 Germany 266 works
  6. 6 Nigeria 262 works
  7. 7 Canada 222 works
  8. 8 Australia 205 works
  9. 9 Kenya 190 works
  10. 10 India 178 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: 39.6%United Kingdom: 14.5%South Africa: 8.8%Indonesia: 8.6%6 others listed: 28.6%40%largest
United States1,837 · 39.6%United Kingdom671 · 14.5%South Africa406 · 8.8%Indonesia397 · 8.6%6 others listed1,323 · 28.6%

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

Which institutions lead Religion, Society, and Development research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of South Africa publishes the most Religion, Society, and Development research, followed by University of Pretoria and North-West University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 95 works
  2. 2 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 79 works
  3. 3 North-West UniversitySouth Africa 54 works
  4. 4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 48 works
  5. 5 University of the Free StateSouth Africa 41 works
  6. 6 Stellenbosch UniversitySouth Africa 35 works
  7. 7 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 32 works
  8. 8 Baylor UniversityUnited States 31 works
  9. 9 University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 30 works
  10. 10 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 27 works

Who are the leading researchers in Religion, Society, and Development?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Religion, Society, and Development include George Davey Smith, Aziz Sheikh and Michel Foucault.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 Aziz Sheikh United Kingdom 214k citations
  3. 3 Michel Foucault France 208k 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, Society, and Development?

The most cited paper in Religion, Society, and Development is "Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation" (David A. Snow, E. Burke Rochford, Steven K. Worden et al., 1986), with 6,567 citations. Next come "Handbook of Religion and Health" (3,270) and "Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications" (2,410).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation David A. Snow, E. Burke Rochford, Steven K. Worden et al. · American Sociological Review Aug 1986 6,567
2 Handbook of Religion and Health Harold George Koenig, Michael E. McCullough, David B. Larson · American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry May 2004 3,270
3 Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications Harold George Koenig · ISRN Psychiatry Open access 16 Dec 2012 2,410
4 Sacred and secular religion and politics worldwide Pippa Norris, Ronald F. Inglehart 2004 2,254
5 US Food Aid and Civil Conflict Nathan Nunn, Nancy Qian · American Economic Review Open access 28 May 2014 2,044
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Religion, Society, and Development research done?

The largest centres of Religion, Society, and Development research in 2022-now are Pretoria (South Africa), London (United Kingdom), Nairobi (Kenya) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Limuru.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 PretoriaSouth Africa 178 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 144 works
  3. 3 NairobiKenya 106 works
  4. 4 New YorkUnited States 79 works
  5. 5 Washington D.C.United States 75 works
  6. 6 ParisFrance 62 works
  7. 7 PotchefstroomSouth Africa 54 works
  8. 8 YogyakartaIndonesia 50 works
  9. 9 OsloNorway 48 works
  10. 10 OxfordUnited Kingdom 48 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. LimuruKE · 23.8 works201×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Religion, Society, and Development on the map

Where is the best place to study Religion, Society, and Development?

Among universities, judged by research, London Metropolitan University, Baylor University and University of South Africa score highest, combining citation 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 18.9%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →London Metropolitan …University College L…Baylor UniversityUniversity of South …
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.

Citation 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
1London Metropolitan UniversityUnited Kingdom 70.936.7%31.0×10 +104.3%
2Baylor UniversityUnited States 65.621.8%28.7×31 +24.7%
3University of South AfricaSouth Africa 63.38.1%35.7×95 +51.7%
4University College LondonUnited Kingdom 62.122.5%1.9×18 +67.0%
5University of PretoriaSouth Africa 56.89.4%29.6×79 -3.7%
6University of GhanaGhana 56.412.8%13.6×21 +56.6%
7University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 56.418.7%4.7×18 +52.2%
8North-West UniversitySouth Africa 55.917.3%31.5×54 -15.0%
9Heidelberg UniversityGermany 54.822.4%1.7×8 +71.5%
10University of BirminghamUnited Kingdom 54.219.3%6.9×26 -2.2%

Universities only. The score blends citation 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, Society, and Development, country by country

Is Religion, Society, and Development research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 4% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Religion, Society, and Development.

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, Society, and Development as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.034% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Religion, Society, and Development0.029% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Religion, Society, and Development 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, Society, and Development10.0% 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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