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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. 17.6% 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%
6.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
17.6%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+18%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Religion, Society, and Development research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.7k and 635 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 1.7k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 635 works
  3. 3 South Africa 391 works
  4. 4 Indonesia 362 works
  5. 5 Germany 256 works
  6. 6 Nigeria 228 works
  7. 7 Canada 210 works
  8. 8 Australia 197 works
  9. 9 Kenya 177 works
  10. 10 India 167 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: 14.6%South Africa: 9.0%Indonesia: 8.3%6 others listed: 28.4%40%largest
United States1,718 · 39.6%United Kingdom635 · 14.6%South Africa391 · 9.0%Indonesia362 · 8.3%6 others listed1,235 · 28.4%

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

Which institutions lead Religion, Society, and Development research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of South Africa publishes the most Religion, Society, and Development research, followed by University of Pretoria and North-West University.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 92 works
  2. 2 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 77 works
  3. 3 North-West UniversitySouth Africa 51 works
  4. 4 University of the Free StateSouth Africa 41 works
  5. 5 Stellenbosch UniversitySouth Africa 34 works
  6. 6 Baylor UniversityUnited States 30 works
  7. 7 University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 29 works
  8. 8 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 29 works
  9. 9 University of BirminghamUnited Kingdom 25 works
  10. 10 University of Notre DameUnited States 23 works

Where is Religion, Society, and Development research done?

The largest centres of Religion, Society, and Development research in 2022–2025 are Pretoria (South Africa), London (United Kingdom), Nairobi (Kenya) and Washington D.C. (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Limuru.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Pretoria South Africa 173 works
  2. 2 London United Kingdom 134 works
  3. 3 Nairobi Kenya 98 works
  4. 4 Washington D.C. United States 71 works
  5. 5 New York United States 67 works
  6. 6 Paris France 59 works
  7. 7 Potchefstroom South Africa 51 works
  8. 8 Yogyakarta Indonesia 46 works
  9. 9 Oxford United Kingdom 46 works
  10. 10 Oslo Norway 46 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. LimuruKE · 22.9 works202×
← 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, University of South Africa, North-West University 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%20%40%mean 28.73%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of South Africa: 92, 31.9%North-West University: 51, 38.0%University of Pretoria: 77, 25.2%University of Zimbabwe: 9, 37.0%University of the Western Cape: 9, 33.9%Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology: 22, 13.6%University of the Free State: 41, 20.2%University of Ghana: 18, 26.6%Jakarta Theological Seminary: 12, 26.1%Australian Catholic University: 9, 34.8%North-West UniversityUniversity of ZimbabweUniversity of South …University of Pretoria
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 South AfricaSouth Africa 79.131.9%32.5×92 +38.2%
2 North-West UniversitySouth Africa 77.938.0%27.6×51 -0.8%
3 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 72.325.2%28.0×77 +12.8%
4 University of ZimbabweZimbabwe 71.037.0%19.9×9 +100.0%
5 University of the Western CapeSouth Africa 68.933.9%8.9×9 +195.6%
6 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and TechnologyGhana 66.313.6%17.2×22 +448.9%
7 University of the Free StateSouth Africa 64.520.2%26.6×41 +37.4%
8 University of GhanaGhana 64.526.6%12.8×18 +41.8%
9 Jakarta Theological SeminaryIndonesia 63.226.1%16.1×12 +183.3%
10 Australian Catholic UniversityAustralia 61.334.8%12.7×9 +6.2%

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 Religion, Society, and Development research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 18% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Religion, Society, and Development.

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.