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Topic · Political Science and International Relations

Social Sciences and Humanities

Social Sciences and Humanities is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 1.8k research works in it since 1960. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics including political ecology, social movements, gender studies, environmental justice, globalization, indigenous rights, education policy, sustainable development, colonialism, and feminist theory. The papers provide insights into the complex interactions between politics, society, and the environment in Latin America and beyond.

  • Political Ecology
  • Social Movements
  • Gender Studies
  • Environmental Justice
  • Globalization
  • Indigenous Rights
  • Education Policy
  • Sustainable Development
  • Colonialism
  • Feminist Theory
Research works
1.8k
fractional, since 1960
In the world top 10%
184
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+6%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Argentina
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Social Sciences and Humanities

Which countries lead Social Sciences and Humanities research?

By volume, Argentina and Spain publish the most (115 and 92 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Argentina 115 works
  2. 2 Spain 92 works
  3. 3 Mexico 85 works
  4. 4 Colombia 76 works
  5. 5 Chile 36 works
  6. 6 France 27 works
  7. 7 United States 23 works
  8. 8 Brazil 22 works
  9. 9 Ecuador 16 works
  10. 10 Iran 12 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.

Argentina: 22.9%Spain: 18.3%Mexico: 16.9%Colombia: 15.0%6 others listed: 26.8%23%largest
Argentina115 · 22.9%Spain92 · 18.3%Mexico85 · 16.9%Colombia76 · 15.0%6 others listed135 · 26.8%

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

Which institutions lead Social Sciences and Humanities research?

By volume in 2022-now, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas publishes the most Social Sciences and Humanities research, followed by Universidad de Buenos Aires and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasArgentina 25 works
  2. 2 Universidad de Buenos AiresArgentina 19 works
  3. 3 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 13 works
  4. 4 Universidad Nacional de La PlataArgentina 11 works
  5. 5 Universidad Nacional de CórdobaArgentina 10 works
  6. 6 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 10 works
  7. 7 Universidad de AntioquiaColombia 9 works
  8. 8 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 8 works
  9. 9 Universidad Nacional de ColombiaColombia 7 works
  10. 10 University of ChileChile 6 works

What are the most cited papers in Social Sciences and Humanities?

The most cited paper in Social Sciences and Humanities is "Colonialidad y género" (María Lugones, 2008), with 919 citations. Next come "«Mundos y conocimientos de otro modo». El programa de investigación de modernidad/colonialidad latinoamericano" (166) and "Figures de la domination" (124).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Colonialidad y género María Lugones · Tabula rasa Open access 30 Dec 2008 919
2 «Mundos y conocimientos de otro modo». El programa de investigación de modernidad/colonialidad latinoamericano Arturo Escobar · Tabula rasa Open access 2003 166
3 Figures de la domination Danilo Martuccelli · Revue Française de Sociologie Open access Jul 2004 124
4 Anti-sexism or anti-racism? A false dilemma Christine Delphy · Cairn.info 2006 108
5 The New Alternative Masculinities and the Overcoming of Gender Violence Ramón Flecha, Lídia Puigvert, Oriol Ríos González · International and Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences Open access 30 Mar 2013 91
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Social Sciences and Humanities research done?

The largest centres of Social Sciences and Humanities research in 2022-now are Buenos Aires (Argentina), Mexico City (Mexico), Bogotá (Colombia) and Madrid (Spain). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Buenos Aires, Bogotá and Mexico City.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 Buenos AiresArgentina 46 works
  2. 2 Mexico CityMexico 36 works
  3. 3 BogotáColombia 34 works
  4. 4 MadridSpain 31 works
  5. 5 SantiagoChile 15 works
  6. 6 MedellínColombia 14 works
  7. 7 La PlataArgentina 11 works
  8. 8 CórdobaArgentina 11 works
  9. 9 ParisFrance 9 works
  10. 10 LimaPeru 7 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Buenos AiresAR · 46.1 works41×
  2. BogotáCO · 34.3 works33×
  3. Mexico CityMX · 36.2 works19×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Social Sciences and Humanities on the map

Where is the best place to study Social Sciences and Humanities?

Among universities, judged by research, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Universidad de Buenos Aires 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%30%mean 11.2333%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Universidad Complute…Universidad Nacional…Universidad Nacional…Universidad de Bueno…
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
1Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 55.313.5%25.4×13 +100.2%
2Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 53.024.4%21.1×10 +14.8%
3Universidad de Buenos AiresArgentina 39.96.6%87.3×19 -13.6%
4Universidad Nacional de CórdobaArgentina 27.27.6%109.8×10 +40.4%
5Universidad de AntioquiaColombia 25.710.1%69.5×9 +42.2%
6Universidad Nacional de La PlataArgentina 15.05.2%110.9×11 -26.3%

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 Sciences and Humanities, country by country

Is Social Sciences and Humanities research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Social Sciences and Humanities.

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 Sciences and Humanities as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0017% in 2024.

still counting0.0010%0.0020%0.0030%Social Sciences and Humanities0.0028% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Social Sciences and Humanities 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 Sciences and Humanities10.8% in 202520102020

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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