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Topic · Literature and Literary Theory

Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism is a research topic within Literature and Literary Theory. Science Explorer counts 19k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of literature and film, focusing on the theory and practice of adaptation, with a particular emphasis on the works of Shakespeare. It delves into the complexities of adapting literary works to the screen, analyzing issues of fidelity, gender representation, cultural appropriation, and the impact of new media on adaptation. The cluster also examines the geopolitical and historical dimensions of film adaptations, highlighting the evolving nature of adaptation studies in contemporary academia.

  • Adaptation
  • Film
  • Literature
  • Theory
  • Shakespeare
  • Cinema
  • Media
  • Fidelity
  • Culture
  • Gender
Research works
19k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+5%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
36% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

Which countries lead Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (856 and 522 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 856 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 522 works
  3. 3 India 174 works
  4. 4 China 154 works
  5. 5 Türkiye 144 works
  6. 6 France 118 works
  7. 7 Australia 107 works
  8. 8 Canada 106 works
  9. 9 Brazil 91 works
  10. 10 Spain 85 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: 36.3%United Kingdom: 22.1%India: 7.4%China: 6.5%6 others listed: 27.6%36%largest
United States856 · 36.3%United Kingdom522 · 22.1%India174 · 7.4%China154 · 6.5%6 others listed650 · 27.6%

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

Which institutions lead Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Oxford publishes the most Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism research, followed by Film Independent and University of Birmingham.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 40 works
  2. 2 Film IndependentUnited States 38 works
  3. 3 University of BirminghamUnited Kingdom 20 works
  4. 4 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 20 works
  5. 5 The University of SydneyAustralia 19 works
  6. 6 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 19 works
  7. 7 King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 18 works
  8. 8 University of BristolUnited Kingdom 17 works
  9. 9 Royal Holloway University of LondonUnited Kingdom 14 works
  10. 10 University of DelhiIndia 14 works

Who are the leading researchers in Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism include Gordon Brent Mills, John Hardy and Michel Foucault.

  1. 1 Gordon Brent Mills United States 265k citations
  2. 2 John Hardy United Kingdom 243k citations
  3. 3 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  4. 4 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k 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 Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism?

The most cited paper in Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism is "Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity" (Roger F. Malina, John H. Holland, 1996), with 2,510 citations. Next come "Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism" (1,981) and "THE PLASMA PROTEINS" (928).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity Roger F. Malina, John H. Holland · Leonardo 1996 2,510
2 Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism James D. Sidaway · Journal of Rural Studies 1995 1,981
3 THE PLASMA PROTEINS Harold C. Mack · Clinical Obstetrics & Gynecology Jun 1960 928
4 The Incomplete Revolution: Adapting to Women’s New Roles Janet C. Gornick · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews Nov 2010 576
5 “THE THRESHOLD OF THE VISIBLE WORLD”: Lilya Kaganovsky · Indiana University Press eBooks Book chapter 21 Feb 2019 557
All 101 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism research done?

The largest centres of Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Los Angeles (United States), Oxford (United Kingdom) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Nottingham.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 78 works
  2. 2 Los AngelesUnited States 48 works
  3. 3 OxfordUnited Kingdom 43 works
  4. 4 New YorkUnited States 42 works
  5. 5 IstanbulTürkiye 36 works
  6. 6 ParisFrance 31 works
  7. 7 BirminghamUnited Kingdom 27 works
  8. 8 SydneyAustralia 27 works
  9. 9 BeijingChina 26 works
  10. 10 MadridSpain 25 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. NottinghamGB · 24.3 works9.3×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism than the world average.

See Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism on the map

Where is the best place to study Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Ulster, University of Oxford and University of Cambridge 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%30%mean 10.08%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of UlsterUniversity of DelhiUniversity of Cambri…University of Oxford
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 UlsterUnited Kingdom 73.124.9%24.8×10 +122.4%
2University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 68.24.2%10.0×40 +13.5%
3University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 62.45.4%5.9×20 +54.1%
4University of DelhiIndia 60.116.7%7.1×14 +331.6%
5University of BristolUnited Kingdom 54.98.2%10.5×17 +71.6%
6University of NottinghamUnited Kingdom 54.910.1%6.1×13 +14.5%
7Nottingham Trent UniversityUnited Kingdom 54.09.5%29.1×13 +96.3%
8The University of SydneyAustralia 52.26.1%5.6×19 +215.7%
9University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 52.09.4%5.5×14 +99.6%
10University of BirminghamUnited Kingdom 50.26.3%11.6×20 -56.1%

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 Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism, country by country

Is Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 5% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism.

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 Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.015% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism0.013% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism 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%Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism9.8% 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.

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