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Topic · Philosophy

Study and Philosophy of Religion

Study and Philosophy of Religion is a research topic within Philosophy. Science Explorer counts 2.3k 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 encompasses a wide range of topics related to the theoretical and comparative study of religion, including philosophy, methodology, cultural discourse, sacred space, historical research, social constructionism, and ethics. It explores the complexities of religious phenomena from various perspectives and aims to advance the understanding of religion as a cultural and social construct.

  • Religion
  • Comparative Method
  • Philosophy
  • Theory
  • Cultural Discourse
  • Methodology
  • Sacred Space
  • Historical Research
  • Social Constructionism
  • Ethics
Research works
2.3k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
232
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+25%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
43% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Study and Philosophy of Religion

Which countries lead Study and Philosophy of Religion research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (152 and 47 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 152 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 47 works
  3. 3 Germany 43 works
  4. 4 India 24 works
  5. 5 Canada 18 works
  6. 6 Netherlands 17 works
  7. 7 China 15 works
  8. 8 France 13 works
  9. 9 Austria 12 works
  10. 10 Norway 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.

United States: 43.2%United Kingdom: 13.3%Germany: 12.3%India: 6.9%6 others listed: 24.5%43%largest
United States152 · 43.2%United Kingdom47 · 13.3%Germany43 · 12.3%India24 · 6.9%6 others listed86 · 24.5%

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

Which institutions lead Study and Philosophy of Religion research?

By volume in 2022-now, Ruhr University Bochum publishes the most Study and Philosophy of Religion research, followed by University of Oxford and University of Vienna.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Ruhr University BochumGermany 14 works
  2. 2 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 8 works
  3. 3 University of ViennaAustria 6 works
  4. 4 Centre for the Study of Culture and SocietyIndia 6 works
  5. 5 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 5 works
  6. 6 University of ChicagoUnited States 4 works
  7. 7 Film IndependentUnited States 3 works
  8. 8 Aarhus UniversityDenmark 3 works
  9. 9 Arizona State UniversityUnited States 3 works
  10. 10 University of GöttingenGermany 3 works

Who are the leading researchers in Study and Philosophy of Religion?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Study and Philosophy of Religion include David Hume.

  1. 1 David Hume Australia 107k 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 Study and Philosophy of Religion?

The most cited paper in Study and Philosophy of Religion is "Exploring the natural foundations of religion" (Justin L. Barrett, Justin L. Barrett, 2000), with 786 citations. Next come "Rethinking the animate, re-animating thought" (628) and "The Naturalness of Religious Ideas: A Cognitive Theory of Religion" (547).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Exploring the natural foundations of religion Justin L. Barrett, Justin L. Barrett · Trends in Cognitive Sciences Review 2000 786
2 Rethinking the animate, re-animating thought Tim Ingold · Ethnos Open access Mar 2006 628
3 The Naturalness of Religious Ideas: A Cognitive Theory of Religion Justin L. Barrett, Pascal Boyer · Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Dec 1996 547
4 Religion and nationalism: four approaches * Rogers Brubaker · Nations and Nationalism 3 Nov 2011 392
5 The Scientific Study of Religion Bruce E. Kuhre, J. Milton Yinger · Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 1971 366
All 101 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Study and Philosophy of Religion research done?

The largest centres of Study and Philosophy of Religion research in 2022-now are Bochum (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Oxford (United Kingdom) and Paris (France).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BochumGermany 14 works
  2. 2 ViennaAustria 9 works
  3. 3 OxfordUnited Kingdom 9 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 7 works
  5. 5 LondonUnited Kingdom 7 works
  6. 6 ChicagoUnited States 6 works
  7. 7 BengaluruIndia 6 works
  8. 8 New YorkUnited States 5 works
  9. 9 MoscowRussia 4 works
  10. 10 Los AngelesUnited States 4 works
See Study and Philosophy of Religion on the map

Where is the best place to study Study and Philosophy of Religion?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oxford and Ruhr University Bochum 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.

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 OxfordUnited Kingdom 60.08.0%13.2×8 +73.2%
2Ruhr University BochumGermany 40.02.4%76.2×14 +611.1%

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 Study and Philosophy of Religion, country by country

Is Study and Philosophy of Religion research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 25% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Study and Philosophy of Religion.

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 Study and Philosophy of Religion as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0016% in 2024.

still counting0.0020%0.0040%0.0060%Study and Philosophy of Religion0.0027% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Study and Philosophy of Religion 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%Study and Philosophy of Religion10.0% 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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