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Topic · Religious studies

Religion, Theology, and Education

Religion, Theology, and Education is a research topic within Religious studies. Science Explorer counts 8.2k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics related to religious education, interreligious relations, Islamic religious education, migrant organizations, ethical competence, sustainable behavior, youth extremism, and social embeddedness. The papers explore the development of mediengestützter Lernangebote, the effectiveness of different explainer video formats, and the impact of the flipped classroom on student achievement. Additionally, they delve into the role of religious organizations in social welfare, the integration of Islamic religious education in Western Europe, and the challenges of teaching and understanding religious diversity.

  • Religious Education
  • Interreligious Relations
  • Islamic Religious Education
  • Mediendidaktik
  • Migrant Organizations
  • Muslimische Wohlfahrtspflege
  • Ethical Competence
  • Sustainable Behavior
  • Youth Extremism
  • Social Embeddedness
Research works
8.2k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
815
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-10%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Germany
60% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Religion, Theology, and Education

Which countries lead Religion, Theology, and Education research?

By volume, Germany and Türkiye publish the most (1.1k and 234 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Germany 1.1k works
  2. 2 Türkiye 234 works
  3. 3 Austria 144 works
  4. 4 Switzerland 122 works
  5. 5 United States 119 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 39 works
  7. 7 Indonesia 20 works
  8. 8 Italy 20 works
  9. 9 Norway 19 works
  10. 10 Russia 18 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.

Germany: 59.9%Türkiye: 12.8%Austria: 7.9%Switzerland: 6.6%6 others listed: 12.8%60%largest
Germany1,096 · 59.9%Türkiye234 · 12.8%Austria144 · 7.9%Switzerland122 · 6.6%6 others listed235 · 12.8%

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

Which institutions lead Religion, Theology, and Education research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Münster publishes the most Religion, Theology, and Education research, followed by University of Vienna and University of Bonn.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of MünsterGermany 39 works
  2. 2 University of ViennaAustria 38 works
  3. 3 University of BonnGermany 32 works
  4. 4 University of TübingenGermany 29 works
  5. 5 Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-NürnbergGermany 22 works
  6. 6 University of ZurichSwitzerland 22 works
  7. 7 Leibniz AssociationGermany 21 works
  8. 8 TU Dortmund UniversityGermany 20 works
  9. 9 Leipzig UniversityGermany 20 works
  10. 10 Goethe University FrankfurtGermany 20 works

Who are the leading researchers in Religion, Theology, and Education?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Religion, Theology, and Education include Pierre Bourdıeu, Wolfgang K. Huber and Michel Foucault.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Wolfgang K. Huber Germany 239k citations
  3. 3 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  4. 4 Geert H. Hofstede Netherlands 116k 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, Theology, and Education?

The most cited paper in Religion, Theology, and Education is "Self-interpreting animals" (Charles Taylor, 2012), with 343 citations. Next come "Things as They Are: New Directions in Phenomenological Anthropology" (330) and "Was ist guter Unterricht?" (269).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Self-interpreting animals Charles Taylor · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter 19 Jun 2012 343
2 Things as They Are: New Directions in Phenomenological Anthropology Kevin Birth · Anthropology of Consciousness Mar 1997 330
3 Was ist guter Unterricht? Hilbert Meyer · PADUA Open access 22 Mar 2014 269
4 Toleration in Conflict: Past and Present Rainer Forst Open access 25 Feb 2013 249
5 Religion and Education in Europe. Developments, Contexts and Debates Robert Max Jackson, Siebren Miedema, Wolfram Weiße et al. 2007 199
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Religion, Theology, and Education research done?

The largest centres of Religion, Theology, and Education research in 2022-now are Berlin (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Münster (Germany) and Munich (Germany). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Osnabrück and Münster.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BerlinGermany 81 works
  2. 2 ViennaAustria 73 works
  3. 3 MünsterGermany 57 works
  4. 4 MunichGermany 55 works
  5. 5 ZurichSwitzerland 45 works
  6. 6 HamburgGermany 44 works
  7. 7 AnkaraTürkiye 43 works
  8. 8 Frankfurt am MainGermany 39 works
  9. 9 CologneGermany 38 works
  10. 10 BonnGermany 35 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. OsnabrückDE · 20.4 works71×
  2. MünsterDE · 57.1 works49×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Religion, Theology, and Education on the map

Where is the best place to study Religion, Theology, and Education?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Vienna, University of Tübingen and TU Dortmund University 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%10%20%mean 11.37%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →TU Dortmund UniversityUniversity of TübingenUniversität HamburgUniversity of Vienna
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
1University of ViennaAustria 78.910.2%41.8×38 +20.1%
2University of TübingenGermany 75.211.6%38.2×30 +4.5%
3TU Dortmund UniversityGermany 70.618.2%43.3×20 -30.6%
4Universität HamburgGermany 63.611.0%14.1×19 -11.9%
5University of BaselSwitzerland 63.613.0%19.6×13 +310.0%
6Leipzig UniversityGermany 61.812.5%31.1×20 -29.0%
7University of ZurichSwitzerland 61.610.9%17.2×22 -21.5%
8University of SalzburgAustria 60.910.3%74.0×16 +35.8%
9University of MünsterGermany 59.97.6%49.9×39 -25.7%
10Universität InnsbruckAustria 59.98.4%29.6×15 +27.0%

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, Theology, and Education, country by country

Is Religion, Theology, and Education research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 10% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

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, Theology, and Education as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0083% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Religion, Theology, and Education0.0076% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Religion, Theology, and Education 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, Theology, and Education9.7% 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.

Discussion

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