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Theory and Society
H-index 10

Theory and Society

0304-2421

Published by: Springer

https://www.springer.com/journal/11186

Ranking & Metrics

Discipline name Position Best Scientists Publications D-Index
Social Sciences and Humanities 693 16 19 7

Additional Metrics

Number of Best Scientists*: 28
Documents by Best Scientists*: 33
Top 100 Ranked Scientists*: 2
SCIMAGO H-index: 94
SCIMAGO SJR: 1.047
Impact Factor: 1.4

Overview

Top Research Topics at Theory and Society?

The scientific interests tackled in Theory and Society are Politics, Epistemology, Political economy, Social science and State (polity). The journal features research on Politics in an attempt to reinforce studies in the field of Law. The journal features Epistemology research that overlaps with concepts in Social psychology.

The Political economy works featured in Theory and Society incorporate elements from Development economics and Elite. The Social science research dealing mostly with Social theory is the focus of Theory and Society.

  • Politics (25.57%)
  • Epistemology (18.68%)
  • Political economy (17.82%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

  • Social capital and economic development: Toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework (3775 citations)
  • Path dependence in historical sociology (2179 citations)
  • The narrative constitution of identity: A relational and network approach (1686 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at Theory and Society:

The journal articles focus on Social science, Politics, Epistemology, Political economy and Humanities. Issues in Social science were discussed in the most cited papers, taking into consideration concepts from other disciplines like Social change, Modernity and Positive economics. The featured Politics studies in the published papers mainly concentrate on State (polity) but also cover areas of interest in Economy.

What topics the last edition of the journal is best known for?

  • World War II
  • Law
  • Politics

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

The discussions in Theory and Society mainly cover the fields of Political economy, Epistemology, Politics, Scholarship and State (polity). The work on Political economy tackled in the journal brings together disciplines like Authoritarianism, Agency (sociology), Immigration, Nation state and Populism. Research on Epistemology addressed in Theory and Society frequently intersections with the field of Field (Bourdieu).

The concepts on Politics presented in the journal can also apply to other research fields, including Speech act, Subject (philosophy), Narrative, Turkish and Performativity. It holds forums on State (polity) that merges themes from other disciplines such as Context (language use), Normalization (sociology), Ideology, Mainstream and Criminology. In it, Social science, Schools of economic thought and Sympathy are investigated in conjunction with one another to address concerns in Elite research.

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

  • Prisons as porous institutions (6 citations)
  • The case for an inhabited institutionalism in organizational research: interaction, coupling, and change reconsidered (6 citations)
  • Agency in historical institutionalism coalitional work in the creation, maintenance, and change of institutions (3 citations)

Papers citation over time

A key indicator for each journal is its effectiveness in reaching other researchers with the papers published at that venue.

The chart below presents the interquartile range (first quartile 25%, median 50% and third quartile 75%) of the number of citations of articles over time.

The top authors publishing in Theory and Society (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Charles Tilly (14 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Ivan Szelenyi (9 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition,
  • David L. Swartz (9 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Alvin W. Gouldner (9 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Richard Swedberg (9 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition.

The overall trend for top authors publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top authors.

Only papers with recognized affiliations are considered

The top affiliations publishing in Theory and Society (based on the number of publications) are:

  • University of California, Berkeley (48 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition, 5 less than at the previous edition,
  • University of California, Los Angeles (46 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 2 more than at the previous edition,
  • University of Michigan (33 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition,
  • University of California, San Diego (31 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition the same number as at the previous edition,
  • University of Amsterdam (28 papers) absent at the last edition.

The overall trend for top affiliations publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top affiliations.

Publication chance based on affiliation

The publication chance index shows the ratio of articles published by the best research institutions in the journal edition to all articles published within that journal. The best research institutions were selected based on the largest number of articles published during all editions of the journal.

The chart below presents the percentage ratio of articles from top institutions (based on their ranking of total papers).Top affiliations were grouped by their rank into the following tiers: top 1-10, top 11-20, top 21-50, and top 51+. Only articles with a recognized affiliation are considered.

During the most recent 2021 edition, 3.77% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 19.61% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 15.69% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 11.76% of all publications and 52.94% were from other institutions.

Returning Authors Index

A very common phenomenon observed among researchers publishing scientific articles is the intentional selection of journals they have already attended in the past. In particular, it is worth analyzing the case when the authors participate in the same journal from year to year.

The Returning Authors Index presented below illustrates the ratio of authors who participated in both a given as well as the previous edition of the journal in relation to all participants in a given year.

Returning Institution Index

The graph below shows the Returning Institution Index, illustrating the ratio of institutions that participated in both a given and the previous edition of the conference in relation to all affiliations present in a given year.

The experience to innovation index

Our experience to innovation index was created to show a cross-section of the experience level of authors publishing in a journal. The index includes the authors publishing at the last edition of a journal, grouped by total number of publications throughout their academic career (P) and the total number of citations of these publications ever received (C).

The group intervals were selected empirically to best show the diversity of the authors' experiences, their labels were selected as a convenience, not as judgment. The authors were divided into the following groups:

  • Novice - P < 5 or C < 25 (the number of publications less than 5 or the number of citations less than 25),
  • Competent - P < 10 or C < 100 (the number of publications less than 10 or the number of citations less than 100),
  • Experienced - P < 25 or C < 625 (the number of publications less than 25 or the number of citations less than 625),
  • Master - P < 50 or C < 2500 (the number of publications less than 50 or the number of citations less than 2500),
  • Star - P ≥ 50 and C ≥ 2500 (both the number of publications greater than 50 and the number of citations greater than 2500).

The chart below illustrates experience levels of first authors in cases of publications with multiple authors.

Application to Theory and Society

In addition to examining the research topics, the most cited papers and the focus of the last edition of Theory and Society, it is also important to consider real-world applications and future directions for the topics studied in this journal. Several of the highlighted topics including Politics, Social Science, and Epistemology are not just academic discourses, but have direct implication on different societal sectors such as law, economics, and mental health. For instance, the understanding of Politics in the framework of law, highlighted in several issues of the journal, contributes to the field of Mental Health Counseling particularly in shaping the legislation and policies around mental health support. In Nevada, these guidelines have direct impact on professional practice. If you are interested in becoming a mental health counselor in Nevada, it is crucial to understand the [Mental health counselor requirements in Nevada] inclusive of the political, social and economic contexts, which are frequently covered in Theory and Society. This practical and applied focus highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the topics explored in Theory and Society and affirms the journal's commitment to not merely documenting research findings, but offering perspectives that directly contribute to society and improve lives. Future editions could continue to strengthen this focus, integrating more research on the applied interventions in society based on the theoretical understanding in Politics, Social Science, and Epistemology.

Top Publications

  • Dependence and precarity in the platform economy.

    Juliet B. Schor;William Attwood-Charles;Mehmet Cansoy;Isak Ladegaard

    (2020)
    415 Citations
  • Digital hyperconnectivity and the self

    Rogers Brubaker

    (2020)
    70 Citations
  • Disruption and the theory of the interaction order

    (2020)
    65 Citations
  • Violence Regimes: A Useful Concept for Social Politics, Social Analysis, and Social Theory

    (2022)
    20 Citations
  • Law, governance, and finance: introduction to the Theory and Society special issue

    Bruce G. Carruthers

    (2020)
    11 Citations
  • What is a social pattern? Rethinking a central social science term

    Hernan Mondani;Richard Swedberg

    (2021)
    9 Citations
  • For a probabilistic sociology: A history of concept formation with Pierre Bourdieu

    Michael Strand;Omar Lizardo

    (2021)
    8 Citations
  • A Marxist-Humanist perspective on Stuart Hall’s communication theory

    (2023)
    7 Citations
  • Immigration, opportunity, and assimilation in a technology economy

    Victor Nee;Lucas G. Drouhot

    (2020)
    7 Citations
  • Corporate political power and US foreign policy, 1981–2002: the role of the policy-planning network

    (2022)
    4 Citations

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Best Scientists Contributing to This Journal