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Topic · Philosophy

Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices

Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices is a research topic within Philosophy. Science Explorer counts 16k research works in it since 1950. 13.6% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of occult beliefs, spiritual practices, and esoteric traditions with modernity. It delves into topics such as occultism, spiritualism, psychical research, neo-paganism, and theosophy, shedding light on the historical, cultural, and philosophical dimensions of these phenomena.

  • Occultism
  • Spiritualism
  • Esotericism
  • Psychical Research
  • Neo-Paganism
  • Religious Studies
  • Theosophy
  • Alchemy
  • Psychic Phenomena
  • New Religions
Research works
16k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
13.6%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+22%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (729 and 277 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 729 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 277 works
  3. 3 Russia 257 works
  4. 4 China 131 works
  5. 5 Germany 105 works
  6. 6 France 90 works
  7. 7 India 88 works
  8. 8 Hungary 86 works
  9. 9 Canada 84 works
  10. 10 Poland 64 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: 38.1%United Kingdom: 14.5%Russia: 13.4%China: 6.9%6 others listed: 27.1%38%largest
United States729 · 38.1%United Kingdom277 · 14.5%Russia257 · 13.4%China131 · 6.9%6 others listed517 · 27.1%

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

Which institutions lead Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of Vienna publishes the most Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices research, followed by University of Cambridge and Film Independent.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of ViennaAustria 20 works
  2. 2 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 18 works
  3. 3 Film IndependentUnited States 17 works
  4. 4 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 17 works
  5. 5 Weatherford CollegeUnited States 16 works
  6. 6 St Petersburg UniversityRussia 12 works
  7. 7 Pázmány Péter Catholic UniversityHungary 12 works
  8. 8 Universität HamburgGermany 11 works
  9. 9 University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 11 works
  10. 10 Eötvös Loránd UniversityHungary 11 works

Where is Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices research done?

The largest centres of Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices research in 2022–2025 are Moscow (Russia), Budapest (Hungary), London (United Kingdom) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Budapest.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Moscow Russia 87 works
  2. 2 Budapest Hungary 62 works
  3. 3 London United Kingdom 43 works
  4. 4 Paris France 36 works
  5. 5 Saint Petersburg Russia 34 works
  6. 6 New York United States 34 works
  7. 7 Beijing China 33 works
  8. 8 Oxford United Kingdom 27 works
  9. 9 Vienna Austria 26 works
  10. 10 Los Angeles United States 24 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BudapestHU · 61.8 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices than the world average.

See Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices on the map

Where is the best place to study Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Vienna, Pázmány Péter Catholic University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam 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 14%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Vienna: 20, 18.1%Pázmány Péter Catholic University: 12, 15.7%Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam: 9, 14.5%Ca' Foscari University of Venice: 8, 17.5%University of Szeged: 10, 15.5%University of Cambridge: 18, 9.1%University of Amsterdam: 11, 13.4%Durham University: 9, 12.0%Universität Hamburg: 11, 11.8%University of Oxford: 17, 12.4%University of ViennaCa' Foscari Universi…Pázmány Péter Cathol…Vrije Universiteit A…
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 ViennaAustria 98.818.1%15.1×20 +254.8%
2 Pázmány Péter Catholic UniversityHungary 66.415.7%90.1×12 +100.0%
3 Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 63.314.5%8.2×9 +143.2%
4 Ca' Foscari University of VeniceItaly 62.117.5%12.3×8 —
5 University of SzegedHungary 58.515.5%14.3×10 +14.3%
6 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 56.49.1%6.3×18 +66.1%
7 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 55.113.4%7.7×11 +18.9%
8 Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom 55.112.0%9.4×9 +55.8%
9 Universität HamburgGermany 53.011.8%7.5×11 —
10 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 52.712.4%4.9×17 +23.0%

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 Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 22% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2020. The fastest-growing topics are Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices.

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.