Science Explorer Interactive view Map

Social and Political Issues

Social and Political Issues is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 22k research works in it since 1950. 6.5% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of social welfare, political economy, and public policy in Brazil, focusing on topics such as assistance programs, inequality, neoliberalism, poverty, and democracy. It delves into the challenges faced by social workers and the impact of political ideologies on social welfare initiatives.

  • Social Welfare
  • Political Economy
  • Brazil
  • Assistance Programs
  • Inequality
  • Neoliberalism
  • Social Work
  • Poverty
  • Democracy
  • Public Policy
Research works
22k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
6.5%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+56%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Social and Political Issues research?

By volume, Brazil and Portugal publish the most (4.6k and 157 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Brazil 4.6k works
  2. 2 Portugal 157 works
  3. 3 United States 118 works
  4. 4 Spain 85 works
  5. 5 Mexico 49 works
  6. 6 Argentina 44 works
  7. 7 ?? 39 works
  8. 8 France 39 works
  9. 9 Chile 34 works
  10. 10 Colombia 31 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.

Brazil: 88.5%Portugal: 3.0%United States: 2.3%Spain: 1.6%6 others listed: 4.5%89%largest
Brazil4,602 · 88.5%Portugal157 · 3.0%United States118 · 2.3%Spain85 · 1.6%6 others listed236 · 4.5%

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

Which institutions lead Social and Political Issues research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Universidade de São Paulo publishes the most Social and Political Issues research, followed by Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and Universidade de Brasília.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil 117 works
  2. 2 Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Brazil 113 works
  3. 3 Universidade de Brasília Brazil 106 works
  4. 4 Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) Brazil 105 works
  5. 5 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Brazil 104 works
  6. 6 Universidade Federal Fluminense Brazil 100 works
  7. 7 Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Brazil 96 works
  8. 8 Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Brazil 95 works
  9. 9 Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo Brazil 95 works
  10. 10 Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Brazil 92 works

Who are the leading researchers in Social and Political Issues?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Social and Political Issues include Stephen J. Ball.

  1. 1 Stephen J. Ball 1.4k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Social and Political Issues research done?

The largest centres of Social and Political Issues research in 2022–2025 are São Paulo (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Brasília (Brazil) and Belo Horizonte (Brazil). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Santa Cruz do Sul, Passo Fundo and Ponta Grossa.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 São Paulo Brazil 649 works
  2. 2 Rio de Janeiro Brazil 436 works
  3. 3 Brasília Brazil 210 works
  4. 4 Belo Horizonte Brazil 197 works
  5. 5 Curitiba Brazil 154 works
  6. 6 Porto Alegre Brazil 146 works
  7. 7 Florianópolis Brazil 121 works
  8. 8 Fortaleza Brazil 113 works
  9. 9 Recife Brazil 102 works
  10. 10 Niterói Brazil 102 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Santa Cruz do SulBR · 32.2 works112×
  2. Passo FundoBR · 28.7 works68×
  3. Ponta GrossaBR · 27.3 works52×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Social and Political Issues than the world average.

See Social and Political Issues on the map

Where is the best place to study Social and Political Issues?

Among universities, judged by research, Fundação Getulio Vargas, Universidade Federal de São Paulo and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais 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 7.71%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Fundação Getulio Vargas: 24, 15.8%Universidade Federal de São Paulo: 41, 8.0%Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais: 96, 6.6%Universidade de Brasília: 106, 6.6%Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro: 113, 5.7%Universidade Federal de Goiás: 44, 5.7%Centro Universitário Cesumar: 17, 12.8%Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo: 53, 4.8%Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná: 25, 7.0%Universidade Federal do Pará: 50, 4.1%Fundação Getulio Var…Universidade Federal…Universidade Federal…Universidade de Bras…
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
1Fundação Getulio Vargas Brazil 69.615.8%46.6×24 +60.5%
2Universidade Federal de São Paulo Brazil 67.38.0%19.3×41 +178.1%
3Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Brazil 66.06.6%25.8×96 +114.4%
4Universidade de Brasília Brazil 64.76.6%36.6×106 +87.6%
5Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Brazil 64.45.7%48.0×113 +105.3%
6Universidade Federal de Goiás Brazil 64.25.7%26.1×44 +194.8%
7Centro Universitário Cesumar Brazil 64.012.8%56.7×17 +113.7%
8Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo Brazil 62.64.8%33.3×53 +176.3%
9Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná Brazil 62.67.0%35.8×25 +188.2%
10Universidade Federal do Pará Brazil 62.44.1%24.1×50 +605.4%

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 Social and Political Issues research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 56% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2020. The fastest-growing topics are Social and Political Issues.

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.