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Topic · Political Science and International Relations

Social Policy and Reform Studies

Social Policy and Reform Studies is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 44k 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 politics and economics in the context of welfare states, focusing on topics such as institutional change, globalization, income inequality, public opinion on redistribution, and the role of ideas in shaping social policies.

  • Welfare State
  • Political Economy
  • Social Policy
  • Institutional Change
  • Globalization
  • Income Inequality
  • Ideational Power
  • Public Opinion
  • Redistribution
  • Path Dependence
Research works
44k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-6%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Social Policy and Reform Studies

Which countries lead Social Policy and Reform Studies research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1k and 933 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 933 works
  3. 3 Germany 895 works
  4. 4 Italy 337 works
  5. 5 China 227 works
  6. 6 Sweden 221 works
  7. 7 Spain 216 works
  8. 8 France 214 works
  9. 9 Canada 211 works
  10. 10 Australia 209 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: 22.8%United Kingdom: 20.8%Germany: 19.9%Italy: 7.5%6 others listed: 28.9%23%largest
United States1,025 · 22.8%United Kingdom933 · 20.8%Germany895 · 19.9%Italy337 · 7.5%6 others listed1,299 · 28.9%

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

Which institutions lead Social Policy and Reform Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Social Policy and Reform Studies research, followed by London School of Economics and Political Science and University of Oxford.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 69 works
  2. 2 London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 67 works
  3. 3 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 61 works
  4. 4 University of BremenGermany 54 works
  5. 5 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 48 works
  6. 6 Leibniz AssociationGermany 43 works
  7. 7 Roskilde UniversityDenmark 39 works
  8. 8 Aarhus UniversityDenmark 38 works
  9. 9 University of BolognaItaly 37 works
  10. 10 European University InstituteItaly 35 works

Who are the leading researchers in Social Policy and Reform Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Social Policy and Reform Studies include George Davey Smith, Martin McKee and Pierre Bourdıeu.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  3. 3 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  4. 4 James Thomas United Kingdom 242k citations
  5. 5 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
  6. 6 PAUL S. F. YIP China 196k citations
  7. 7 Sanjay Basu United States 193k citations
  8. 8 Arnold B. Bakker Netherlands 189k citations
  9. 9 Christopher D. Manning United States 179k 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 Social Policy and Reform Studies?

The most cited paper in Social Policy and Reform Studies is "A PUBLIC MANAGEMENT FOR ALL SEASONS?" (Christopher Hood, 1991), with 9,741 citations. Next come "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics" (7,960) and "What Is Agency?" (5,992).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A PUBLIC MANAGEMENT FOR ALL SEASONS? Christopher Hood · Public Administration Mar 1991 9,741
2 Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics Paul Pierson · American Political Science Review Open access Jun 2000 7,960
3 What Is Agency? Mustafa Emirbayer, Ann Mische · American Journal of Sociology 1998 5,992
4 The New Governance: Governing without Government R. A. W. Rhodes · Political Studies Open access Sep 1996 4,304
5 The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life James G. March, Johan Pelck Olsen · American Political Science Review Dec 1983 4,002
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Social Policy and Reform Studies research done?

The largest centres of Social Policy and Reform Studies research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Paris (France), Berlin (Germany) and Rome (Italy). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Roskilde, Bremen and Konstanz.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 242 works
  2. 2 ParisFrance 112 works
  3. 3 BerlinGermany 107 works
  4. 4 RomeItaly 81 works
  5. 5 OxfordUnited Kingdom 74 works
  6. 6 ViennaAustria 71 works
  7. 7 New YorkUnited States 70 works
  8. 8 CopenhagenDenmark 67 works
  9. 9 BrusselsBelgium 64 works
  10. 10 OsloNorway 64 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. RoskildeDK · 39.5 works36×
  2. BremenDE · 59.6 works23×
  3. KonstanzDE · 23.0 works23×
  4. KasselDE · 23.4 works19×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Social Policy and Reform Studies than the world average.

See Social Policy and Reform Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Social Policy and Reform Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, European University Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science and University of Oxford 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%20%40%mean 22.4%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →European University …University of CanberraLondon School of Eco…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.

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
1European University InstituteItaly 80.531.9%77.8×35 +0.2%
2London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 71.017.5%47.0×67 -7.8%
3University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 71.016.2%7.2×61 -9.5%
4University of CanberraAustralia 66.427.2%16.8×16 +76.3%
5Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido CarliItaly 66.231.7%46.8×12 +86.0%
6University of BergenNorway 65.924.0%9.0×17 +21.0%
7University of AmsterdamNetherlands 63.921.1%8.2×30 -31.1%
8Lund UniversitySweden 63.717.9%8.8×30 +17.2%
9University of ViennaAustria 62.717.2%9.8×30 +5.6%
10Leiden UniversityNetherlands 62.219.3%8.0×27 -4.7%

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 Social Policy and Reform Studies, country by country

Is Social Policy and Reform Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024.

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 Social Policy and Reform Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.035% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Social Policy and Reform Studies0.028% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Social Policy and Reform Studies 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%Social Policy and Reform Studies10.0% 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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