World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
World Development
H-index 54

World Development

Ranking & Metrics

Discipline name Position Best Scientists Publications D-Index
Political Science 16 52 64 23
Economics and Finance 17 148 204 40
Business and Management 537 8 8 5

Additional Metrics

Number of Best Scientists*: 427
Documents by Best Scientists*: 457
Top 100 Ranked Scientists*: 25
SCIMAGO H-index: 233
SCIMAGO SJR: 2.161
Impact Factor: 4.8

Overview

Top Research Topics at World Development?

The scientific interests tackled in World Development are Economic growth, Developing country, Development economics, Poverty and Agriculture. Issues in Economic growth were discussed, taking into consideration concepts from other disciplines like Livelihood, Rural area, Latin Americans, Government and Politics. Some problems in Developing country that were presented in the journal overlapped with concepts under Public economics, International trade and International economics.

Agriculture and Agricultural economics are closely related fields of research discussed in World Development.

  • Economic growth (22.41%)
  • Developing country (17.74%)
  • Development economics (14.76%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

  • Returns to investment in education: A global update (2308 citations)
  • Enchantment and Disenchantment: The Role of Community in Natural Resource Conservation (2114 citations)
  • The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (2047 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at World Development:

The most cited papers focus on Economic growth, Developing country, Development economics, Poverty and Agriculture. The published papers with studies in Economic growth featured incorporate elements of Livelihood, Rural area, Government, Sustainability and Politics. The most cited publications deal with Developing country in conjunction with International economics and similar fields in Foreign direct investment.

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

  • World War II
  • Law
  • China

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

World Development aims to foster the development of research in Demographic economics, Context (language use), Economic growth, Development economics and Latin Americans. The studies on Demographic economics discussed can also contribute to research in the domains of Cash, Low and middle income countries, Entrepreneurship and Refugee. It facilitates discussions on Context (language use) that incorporate concepts from other fields like Land titling, Land tenure, Formality, Coca and Criticism.

In the journal, Workfare, Public health and Peasant are investigated in conjunction with one another to address concerns in Economic growth research. The journal explores research in Poverty and overlapping concepts in Resource mobilization, Kenya, Profit (economics) and Agriculture to expand the discourse in Development economics. World Development focuses on Latin Americans but the discussions also offer insight into other areas such as Developing country, Demography and Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

  • The ‘Sustainable Public Health Index’: What if public health and sustainable development are compatible? (1 citations)
  • Coastal dilemma: Climate change, public assistance and population displacement (0 citations)
  • Starting points matter: Cash plus training effects on youth entrepreneurship, skills, and resilience during an epidemic (0 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 World Development (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Christopher B. Barrett (34 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Guy Gran (34 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Paul Streeten (30 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Klaus Deininger (23 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Sanjaya Lall (22 papers) absent 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 World Development (based on the number of publications) are:

  • World Bank (494 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition, 13 less than at the previous edition,
  • International Food Policy Research Institute (227 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • University of Oxford (197 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Harvard University (155 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • University of Sussex (145 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 2022 edition, 40.91% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 15.38% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 0.00% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 30.77% of all publications and 53.85% 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.

Education and World Development

As highlighted in this article, some of the major topics in World Development research include Economic growth, Developing countries, Development Economics, Poverty, and Agriculture. But another key aspect that often affects all of these factors is Education. In many countries, the quality of education can directly influence economic stability, development, and other socio-economic factors. Understanding the education policies and systems in different nations can contribute to more robust and holistic research in World Development.

For instance, the study of best accounting programs in Louisiana can provide insights into the role of specialized educational programs in the economic development of specific regions. Continued research into the intersection of education and world development is critical to developing strategies for global economic growth and sustainability.

Education-themed articles in World Development often tackle a range of issues such as access to quality education in developing nations, education strategies for poverty reduction, the role of education in agricultural development, and the connection between education and economic growth. They often span across different disciplines including sociology, economics, politics, and sustainable development.

The impact of education on World Development cannot be overstated. Therefore, researchers, policymakers, educators, and other stakeholders continually study and devise innovating strategies to improve educational systems worldwide, with the hope of fostering socio-economic growth and sustainable development.

Top Publications

  • Sustainability and development after COVID-19

    Edward B. Barbier;Joanne C. Burgess

    (2020)
    379 Citations
  • The Impact of Climate Vulnerability on Firms’ Cost of Capital and Access to Finance

    Gerhard Kling;Gerhard Kling;Ulrich Volz;Ulrich Volz;Victor Murinde;Sibel Ayas

    (2021)
    316 Citations
  • COVID-19 and the case for global development

    Johan A. Oldekop;Rory Horner;David Hulme;Roshan Adhikari

    (2020)
    288 Citations
  • Remote-learning, time-use, and mental health of Ecuadorian high-school students during the COVID-19 quarantine

    Igor Asanov;Francisco Flores;David J. Mckenzie;Mona Mensmann

    (2020)
    224 Citations
  • Remittances and economic growth: A meta-analysis

    Alina Cazachevici;Tomas Havranek;Roman Horvath;Roman Horvath

    (2020)
    213 Citations

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Best Scientists Contributing to This Journal