Sex work and related issues

Sex work and related issues is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 29k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the global impact of sex work and trafficking, focusing on issues such as HIV/AIDS prevalence, violence against sex workers, human rights violations, stigma, health interventions, structural factors influencing risk, mental health challenges, and policy responses. The research encompasses a wide range of geographical locations and examines the complex interplay of social, economic, and cultural factors affecting individuals involved in sex work.

Sex Work
Trafficking
HIV/AIDS
Violence
Human Rights
Stigma
Health Interventions
Structural Factors
Mental Health
Policy Responses

Research works: 29k
In the world top 10%: 2.9k
Top-10% rate: 10.0%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25: +2%
Largest producer: United States

Sex work and related issues

Which countries lead Sex work and related issues research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.7k and 604 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

1 United States 1.7k works
2 United Kingdom 604 works
3 Brazil 464 works
4 Australia 301 works
5 Canada 290 works
6 India 264 works
7 Spain 222 works
8 Indonesia 220 works
9 China 206 works
10 Germany 176 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 States1,694 · 38.2%United Kingdom604 · 13.6%Brazil464 · 10.4%Australia301 · 6.8%6 others listed1,378 · 31.0%

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

Which institutions lead Sex work and related issues research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most Sex work and related issues research, followed by University of Toronto and Johns Hopkins University.

By volume, 2022-now

1 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 71 works
2 University of TorontoCanada 37 works
3 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 35 works
4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 30 works
5 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 25 works
6 Harvard UniversityUnited States 24 works
7 UNSW SydneyAustralia 24 works
8 Columbia UniversityUnited States 23 works
9 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 23 works
10 City University of New YorkUnited States 23 works

Who are the leading researchers in Sex work and related issues?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Sex work and related issues include Matthias Egger, Dan J. Stein and Virginia Braun.

1 Matthias Egger Switzerland 326k citations
2 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
3 Virginia Braun New Zealand 286k citations
4 Rakhi Dandona United States 280k citations
5 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
6 Louisa J Degenhardt Australia 269k citations
7 Lalit Dandona United States 268k citations
8 Bach Xuan Tran Vietnam 263k 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 Sex work and related issues?

The most cited paper in Sex work and related issues is "Migrant “Illegality” and Deportability in Everyday Life" (Nicholas De Genova, 2002), with 3,472 citations. Next come "Prevalence of intimate partner violence: findings from the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence" (3,212) and "Snowball Sampling: A Purposeful Method of Sampling in Qualitative Research" (2,298).

Most cited papers
#	Paper	Released	Citations
1	Migrant “Illegality” and Deportability in Everyday Life Nicholas De Genova · Annual Review of Anthropology Review	10 Sep 2002	3,472
2	Prevalence of intimate partner violence: findings from the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence Claudia García‐Moreno, Henrica A. F. M. Jansen, Mary Ellsberg et al. · The Lancet	Oct 2006	3,212
3	Snowball Sampling: A Purposeful Method of Sampling in Qualitative Research Mahin Naderifar, Hamideh Goli, Fereshteh Ghaljaie · Strides in development of medical education Open access	30 Sep 2017	2,298
4	Intimate partner violence: causes and prevention Rachel K. Jewkes · The Lancet	Apr 2002	2,018
5	Ending the HIV Epidemic Anthony S. Fauci, Robert Redfield, George Sigounas et al. · JAMA Open access	7 Feb 2019	1,528

All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Sex work and related issues research done?

The largest centres of Sex work and related issues research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Melbourne (Australia) and Chapel Hill (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Kampala.

Largest cities, 2022-now

1 LondonUnited Kingdom 157 works
2 New YorkUnited States 105 works
3 MelbourneAustralia 81 works
4 Chapel HillUnited States 72 works
5 TorontoCanada 69 works
6 São PauloBrazil 68 works
7 Washington D.C.United States 66 works
8 SydneyAustralia 60 works
9 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 58 works
10 MadridSpain 55 works

Where it is the local speciality

KampalaUG · 29.3 works9.8×

← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Sex work and related issues than the world average.

See Sex work and related issues on the map

Where is the best place to study Sex work and related issues?

Among universities, judged by research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, La Trobe University and George Washington University 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.

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.

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.

#	University	Score	Top 10%	Specialisation	Works	Growth
1	London School of Hygiene & Tropical MedicineUnited Kingdom	71.6	20.2%	23.4×	22	-16.0%
2	La Trobe UniversityAustralia	67.4	21.0%	11.5×	20	+27.4%
3	George Washington UniversityUnited States	64.5	21.8%	5.8×	14	+23.5%
4	University of AucklandNew Zealand	63.8	26.0%	3.9×	12	+33.2%
5	The University of MelbourneAustralia	63.4	24.8%	3.4×	22	+0.5%
6	Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States	60.6	17.2%	3.9×	35	-25.6%
7	University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa	60.4	24.4%	7.8×	20	-21.5%
8	Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom	60.3	22.8%	5.2×	11	+29.3%
9	Universidad Pontificia ComillasSpain	60.3	24.7%	24.2×	10	+187.5%
10	University of TorontoCanada	59.9	15.6%	3.1×	37	-9.4%
11	University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom	56.6	20.8%	2.3×	11	+19.9%
12	University College LondonUnited Kingdom	56.5	18.7%	2.5×	23	-5.9%
13	University of GhanaGhana	56.4	13.1%	10.0×	15	+84.0%
14	The University of QueenslandAustralia	56.2	19.0%	3.1×	17	+22.8%
15	University of Cape TownSouth Africa	56.2	17.0%	7.4×	15	-1.6%
16	Makerere UniversityUganda	56.1	12.2%	14.2×	15	+19.8%
17	San Diego State UniversityUnited States	56.1	17.7%	9.6×	9	+60.4%
18	Freie Universität BerlinGermany	55.4	18.0%	5.1×	12	+108.0%
19	Washington University in St. LouisUnited States	55.3	22.9%	2.8×	12	+92.1%
20	UNSW SydneyAustralia	54.9	20.1%	4.5×	24	-26.9%
21	University of British ColumbiaCanada	54.9	20.1%	2.9×	21	-28.8%
22	Indiana UniversityUnited States	54.7	23.0%	3.5×	20	-28.6%
23	University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States	54.5	4.8%	6.9×	71	-12.8%
24	Yale UniversityUnited States	53.8	15.3%	2.8×	18	+21.6%
25	Harvard UniversityUnited States	53.5	17.5%	1.3×	24	-11.1%
26	Monash UniversityAustralia	53.2	17.5%	3.6×	20	-3.5%
27	London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom	52.8	15.3%	7.6×	10	+37.5%
28	Queensland University of TechnologyAustralia	52.6	32.1%	4.5×	9	-47.8%
29	Brown UniversityUnited States	52.3	17.5%	6.2×	17	-22.1%
30	Maastricht UniversityNetherlands	52.3	18.5%	4.3×	10	+62.1%
31	University of MichiganUnited States	51.6	23.6%	1.9×	17	-13.5%
32	New York UniversityUnited States	51.5	17.2%	2.1×	14	+11.5%
33	Erasmus University RotterdamNetherlands	51.1	20.0%	2.8×	8	+25.6%
34	University of California, Los AngelesUnited States	50.5	23.3%	2.2×	15	-32.0%
35	University of AmsterdamNetherlands	50.5	24.7%	3.0×	11	-35.6%
36	Columbia UniversityUnited States	50.2	13.4%	3.7×	23	-13.3%
37	University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa	50.2	12.2%	9.3×	20	-2.0%
38	McMaster UniversityCanada	49.7	18.2%	3.1×	11	+42.2%
39	University of South FloridaUnited States	49.2	17.6%	3.6×	9	+42.7%
40	Deakin UniversityAustralia	48.3	15.1%	5.0×	13	+29.9%
41	City University of New YorkUnited States	48.1	11.2%	7.0×	23	-41.3%
42	Northumbria UniversityUnited Kingdom	43.7	11.3%	8.9×	12	-17.7%
43	University of OxfordUnited Kingdom	43.6	13.1%	2.1×	17	-16.3%
44	Universidade de São PauloBrazil	42.1	7.7%	2.1×	25	+28.3%
45	University of the Western CapeSouth Africa	41.2	8.5%	10.1×	9	+123.4%
46	Ghent UniversityBelgium	41.0	17.1%	2.0×	9	-16.7%
47	University of LiverpoolUnited Kingdom	35.9	7.7%	3.3×	11	+7.5%
48	University of Technology SydneyAustralia	32.6	12.0%	3.8×	10	-35.3%
49	National University of SingaporeSingapore	32.1	17.4%	1.2×	8	-26.6%

Universities only. The score blends 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 Sex work and related issues, country by country

Is Sex work and related issues research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Sex work and related issues.

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 Sex work and related issues as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.030% in 2024.

Fractional works of Sex work and related issues 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.

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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Which countries lead Sex work and related issues research?

By volume, 2022-now

How concentrated that is

Which institutions lead Sex work and related issues research?

By volume, 2022-now

Who are the leading researchers in Sex work and related issues?

What are the most cited papers in Sex work and related issues?

Where is Sex work and related issues research done?

Largest cities, 2022-now

Where it is the local speciality

Where is the best place to study Sex work and related issues?

Is Sex work and related issues research growing?

Its share of all research

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Which topics inside it are moving

Related research

Discussion