Most cited papers in Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
What are the most cited papers in Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices?
The most cited paper in Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices is "Naturalistic inquiry" (Yvonna S. Lincoln, Egon G. Guba, Joseph J. Pilotta, 1985), with 36,480 citations. Next come "Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice" (3,370) and "The Psychology of Religion and Spirituality? Yes and No" (771).
Showing 50 of 100 papers. Every paper with more than 120 citations is listed.
| # | Paper | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naturalistic inquiry Yvonna S. Lincoln, Egon G. Guba, Joseph J. Pilotta · International Journal of Intercultural Relations | 1985 | 36,480 |
| 2 | Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice James V. Spickard, Catherine Bell · Sociology of Religion | 1993 | 3,370 |
| 3 | The Psychology of Religion and Spirituality? Yes and No Kenneth I. Pargäment · International Journal for the Psychology of Religion | 1999 | 771 |
| 4 | The mommy myth the idealization of motherhood and how it has undermined all women Susan Jane Douglas, Meredith W. Michaels | 2005 | 730 |
| 5 | Spiritual But Not Religious? Beyond Binary Choices in the Study of Religion Nancy Tatom Ammerman · Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | Jun 2013 | 695 |
| 6 | The Terrorist Threat Ulrich Beck · Theory Culture & Society | Aug 2002 | 666 |
| 7 | The Better Angels in Our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and Its Causes Douglas Bulloch · Global Policy | May 2012 | 650 |
| 8 | Rethinking the animate, re-animating thought Tim Ingold · Ethnos | Mar 2006 | 628 |
| 9 | Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion Monty L. Lynn, David O. Moberg | 1999 | 595 |
| 10 | A Revised Paranormal Belief Scale Jerome Tobacyk · International Journal of Transpersonal Studies | 2004 | 521 |
| 11 | Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession Ralph A. Luebben, I. M. Lewis · Sociological Analysis | 1991 | 514 |
| 12 | Religiosity and mental health: A critical reevaluation and meta-analysis. Allen E. Bergin · Professional Psychology Research and Practice | Apr 1983 | 490 |
| 13 | Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television Richard Butsch, Jeffrey Sconce · Journal of American History | Dec 2001 | 469 |
| 14 | Place and Experience: A Philosophical Topography David Macarthur, Jeff Malpas · The Philosophical Review | Oct 2001 | 464 |
| 15 | The Inner American: A Self-Portrait from 1957 to 1976 Paul Anthony Schwartz, Joseph Veroff, Elizabeth Ann Malcolm Douvan et al. · Sociological Analysis | 1982 | 433 |
| 16 | Why aren’t we all hutterites? Richard H. Sosis · Human Nature | Jun 2003 | 418 |
| 17 | Clinical psychologists' religious and spiritual orientations and their practice of psychotherapy. Edward P. Shafranske, H. Newton Malony · Psychotherapy | 1990 | 415 |
| 18 | Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience Robert H. Sharf · Numen | 1995 | 397 |
| 19 | Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Views Joseph F. Byrnes, David M. Wulff · Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | Jun 1993 | 397 |
| 20 | Universal Aspects of Symbolic Healing: A Theoretical Synthesis JAMES W. DOW · American Anthropologist | Mar 1986 | 390 |
| 21 | A tradition of natural kinds Ian Hacking · Philosophical Studies | Feb 1991 | 375 |
| 22 | Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality. Charles Senn Taylor · Philosophical Books | Oct 1983 | 375 |
| 23 | Understanding the Relationship between Religion Online and Offline in a Networked Society Heidi A. Campbell · Journal of the American Academy of Religion | 8 Nov 2011 | 347 |
| 24 | The technocratic body: American childbirth as cultural expression Robbie Davis‐Floyd · Social Science & Medicine | Apr 1994 | 325 |
| 25 | Healing the American Indian Soul Wound Eduardo Durán, Bonnie Duran, Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart et al. | 1998 | 318 |
| 26 | Self-Transcendence as a Human Phenomenon VIKTOR EMIL FRANKL · Journal of Humanistic Psychology | Apr 1966 | 316 |
| 27 | THE CHRISTIANITY OF ANTHROPOLOGY* Fenella Cannell · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute | 10 May 2005 | 307 |
| 28 | Leading scientists still reject God Edward J. Larson, Larry A. Witham · Nature | 23 Jul 1998 | 300 |
| 29 | The pagan holy man in late antique society Garth Fowden · The Journal of Hellenic Studies | Nov 1982 | 282 |
| 30 | WHAT IS NEW MATERIALISM? Christopher N. Gamble, Joshua Stanley Hanan, Thomas Nail · Angelaki | 2 Nov 2019 | 281 |
| 31 | Beginnings in Ritual Studies William H. Norman, Ronald L. Grimes · Sociological Analysis | 1983 | 277 |
| 32 | Pagans and Christians P. H. Sawyer | 16 Feb 2010 | 272 |
| 33 | Believe It Or Not: Religious and Other Paranormal Beliefs in the United States Tom W. Rice · Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | 12 Feb 2003 | 271 |
| 34 | Paranormal beliefs, education, and thinking styles Kia Aarnio, Marjaana Lindeman · Personality and Individual Differences | 6 Jul 2005 | 271 |
| 35 | DWARFISM IN THE AMISH. II. CARTILAGE-HAIR HYPOPLASIA. V A McKusick, Roswell Eldridge, John A. Hostetler et al. · PubMed | May 1965 | 269 |
| 36 | MULTIPLE MODERNITIES: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism in a Globalizing Age Robert William Hefner · Annual Review of Anthropology | Oct 1998 | 266 |
| 37 | Family Rituals Steven J. Wolin, Linda A. Bennett · Family Process | Sep 1984 | 265 |
| 38 | Introduction: death and the regeneration of life Maurice E. F. Bloch, Jonathan P. Parry · Cambridge University Press eBooks | 30 Dec 1982 | 257 |
| 39 | Survey of subjective "God encounter experiences": Comparisons among naturally occurring experiences and those occasioned by the classic psychedelics psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, or DMT Roland R. Griffiths, Ethan S. Hurwitz, Alan K. Davis et al. · PLoS ONE | 23 Apr 2019 | 253 |
| 40 | The Social Meanings of Suicide Madeline H. Engel, Jack D. Douglas · Sociological Analysis | 1968 | 252 |
| 41 | SSSR Presidential Address Public Religions and the Postsecular: Critical Reflections James A. Beckford · Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | Mar 2012 | 251 |
| 42 | Apocalyptic AI: Religion and the Promise of Artificial Intelligence Robert M. Geraci · Journal of the American Academy of Religion | 28 Jan 2008 | 233 |
| 43 | Spirituality: The Emergence of a New Cultural Category and its Challenge to the Religious and the Secular Boaz Huss · Journal of Contemporary Religion | 2 Jan 2014 | 232 |
| 44 | Bad Endings: American Apocalypsis Kathleen Stewart, Susan Harding · Annual Review of Anthropology | Oct 1999 | 226 |
| 45 | Measuring superstitious belief: why lucky charms matter Richard J. Wiseman, Caroline A. Watt · Personality and Individual Differences | 13 Mar 2004 | 221 |
| 46 | The origin and mission of Material Religion Birgit Meyer, David O. Morgan, Crispin Paine et al. · Religion | 2 Apr 2010 | 220 |
| 47 | The Experimental Use of Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy Walter N. Pahnke · JAMA | 15 Jun 1970 | 218 |
| 48 | The Victorian Conflict between Science and Religion: A Professional Dimension Frank M. Turner · Isis | Sep 1978 | 214 |
| 49 | Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets Fritz Graf, Sarah Iles Johnston | 22 Jun 2007 | 207 |
| 50 | After Strange Gods: A Primer of Modern Heresy (1934) Jewel Spears Brooker · Cambridge University Press eBooks | 10 May 2004 | 197 |
Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for a field when OpenAlex files it under one of the field's topics; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.