Best Social Sciences and Humanities Universities in the World 2023

The 2nd edition of Research.com ranking of the best universities in the discipline of Social Sciences and Humanities relies os data consolidated from multiple data sources including OpenAlex and CrossRef. The bibliometric data for devising the citation-based metrics were gathered on 21-12-2022. Position in the ranking is based on a sum of D-indexes (Discipline H-index) of all ranking scholar’s affiliated with a given institution. D-index includes exclusively papers and citation metrics for an examined discipline.
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The range of our Social Sciences and Humanities research
Research.com’s best universities ranking is a trustworthy list of leading scholars from the field of Social Sciences and Humanities, created using a thorough examination of 166,880 researchers determined from multiple bibliometric data sources. For the discipline of Social Sciences and Humanities, over 15317 scientists were investigated.

What is D-index inclusion threshold for Social Sciences and Humanities
The D-index threshold for approving a researcher to be examined is placed at 30 if the majority of of their publications are in the discipline of Social Sciences and Humanities. The approval factors for scholars to be considered into the ranking of top researchers are based on the D-index, ratio of the contributions made within the selected discipline as well as the awards and achievements of the scholars. The D-index threshold for listing leading scholars is set as an increment of 10 depending on the overall number of researchers estimated for each area od study whilst ensuring that the top 1% of best scholars are incorporated into the list. We estimate a proximity of 30% or less between a researcher’s general H-index and their D-index.

Other verification rules
Since our leading mission is to make sure that only genuine scholars are listed in Research.com ranking we believe that raw data are never supposed to be an absolute tool to assess the work of researchers. Because of that we manually verify each profile and cross-correlate it against publications in a varied range of reliable sources. Although it’s not a metric contributing to a scholar’s position in our ranking, the quantity of documents published in major journals and conference proceedings should form a reliable secondary signal of their contribution to research in a given discipline. Position in the ranking is established using every scholar’s D-index with the help of information compiled from OpenAlex and CrossRef, which are the most prominent and well-established bibliometric databases of this type available to the research community. A comprehensive explanation of our research process can be found on our methodology page.

Our agenda
Our objective is to motivate researchers, companies and decision-makers worldwide to explore where leading experts are heading and to provide an opportunity for the whole scientific community to discover who the leading experts in specific fields of research, in different countries, or even within research institutions are.
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Key findings for Social Sciences and Humanities
As far as scientific affiliations are concerned, the affiliation with the highest number of leading researchers in the world is Harvard University with 110 scholars affiliated with it being listed in our Social Sciences and Humanities ranking. It is followed by University of Michigan–Ann Arbor with 94 scientists and University College London with 80 scientists.

The most prominent scholars in the area of Social Sciences and Humanities in the world are representing Collège de France, Goethe University Frankfurt, London School of Economics and Political Science, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, REACH Institute, University of Amsterdam, Maastricht University, Sciences Po, National Taiwan Normal University, École Normale Supérieure.

Harvard University is listed as the best university in the world in our ranking with a total D-index of its ranking scholars at 5668. Ranking on the second place in the world is University of Michigan–Ann Arbor with a total D-index of 4379. The third position in the world is occupied by University College London with a total D-index of 3642.

The average total D-index for the top 1% universities is 307 in comparison to an average of 307 for all 766 institutions included in Research.com ranking.

The average number of published articles within the discipline of Social Sciences and Humanities by scholars affiliated with the top 10% of scientists in the ranking is 1227 against an average of 1227 for all 766 universities.

The average number of citations of researchers affiliated with the top 1% universities is 101256 against an average of 101256 for all 766 universities.

World
National
University Details
Scholars
Σ Publications
Σ D-Index D-index (Discipline H-index) only includes papers and citation values for an examined discipline in contrast to General H-index which accounts for publications across all disciplines.
1 World 1 National
Harvard University

Harvard University

United States
Scholars 110 21,085 Σ D-index 5,668
2 World 2 National Scholars 94 13,754 Σ D-index 4,379
3 World 1 National
University College London

University College London

United Kingdom
Scholars 80 15,632 Σ D-index 3,642
4 World 3 National
Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

United States
Scholars 74 14,048 Σ D-index 3,560
5 World 4 National Scholars 78 11,704 Σ D-index 3,555
6 World 5 National
Columbia University

Columbia University

United States
Scholars 61 10,865 Σ D-index 3,027
7 World 6 National
Stanford University

Stanford University

United States
Scholars 64 9,749 Σ D-index 3,011
8 World 1 National Scholars 60 10,325 Σ D-index 2,834
9 World 7 National Scholars 55 9,124 Σ D-index 2,638
10 World 2 National
University of Oxford

University of Oxford

United Kingdom
Scholars 53 10,742 Σ D-index 2,466
11 World 8 National Scholars 53 8,373 Σ D-index 2,409
12 World 9 National
Duke University

Duke University

United States
Scholars 48 8,430 Σ D-index 2,328
13 World 10 National Scholars 48 7,051 Σ D-index 2,199
14 World 11 National
New York University

New York University

United States
Scholars 48 9,003 Σ D-index 2,113
15 World 3 National
University of Manchester

University of Manchester

United Kingdom
Scholars 48 9,466 Σ D-index 2,096
16 World 12 National Scholars 45 7,449 Σ D-index 2,087
17 World 13 National
University of Washington

University of Washington

United States
Scholars 49 6,433 Σ D-index 2,074
18 World 1 National Scholars 47 9,732 Σ D-index 2,060
19 World 4 National Scholars 37 10,280 Σ D-index 2,029
20 World 2 National Scholars 46 7,537 Σ D-index 2,026
21 World 2 National Scholars 45 10,263 Σ D-index 1,993
22 World 14 National Scholars 38 7,183 Σ D-index 1,824
23 World 15 National
University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

United States
Scholars 43 6,840 Σ D-index 1,815
24 World 16 National
Arizona State University

Arizona State University

United States
Scholars 39 6,523 Σ D-index 1,734
25 World 5 National
King's College London

King's College London

United Kingdom
Scholars 37 8,094 Σ D-index 1,730
26 World 17 National Scholars 37 6,102 Σ D-index 1,693
27 World 18 National
Indiana University

Indiana University

United States
Scholars 36 5,532 Σ D-index 1,692
28 World 19 National
Yale University

Yale University

United States
Scholars 34 5,933 Σ D-index 1,665
29 World 20 National
Northwestern University

Northwestern University

United States
Scholars 36 5,858 Σ D-index 1,646
30 World 1 National
Utrecht University

Utrecht University

Netherlands
Scholars 35 5,865 Σ D-index 1,615
31 World 21 National Scholars 38 5,327 Σ D-index 1,568
32 World 22 National
Cornell University

Cornell University

United States
Scholars 37 5,442 Σ D-index 1,531
33 World 2 National Scholars 32 6,567 Σ D-index 1,523
34 World 3 National Scholars 33 5,923 Σ D-index 1,508
35 World 3 National
Maastricht University

Maastricht University

Netherlands
Scholars 33 6,222 Σ D-index 1,479
36 World 23 National Scholars 34 4,461 Σ D-index 1,460
37 World 6 National Scholars 30 6,149 Σ D-index 1,401
38 World 24 National Scholars 34 4,071 Σ D-index 1,399
39 World 3 National Scholars 27 6,273 Σ D-index 1,367
40 World 25 National
Princeton University

Princeton University

United States
Scholars 24 4,907 Σ D-index 1,345
41 World 7 National
University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

United Kingdom
Scholars 28 4,696 Σ D-index 1,323
42 World 26 National
University of Chicago

University of Chicago

United States
Scholars 25 4,573 Σ D-index 1,305
43 World 4 National Scholars 25 5,551 Σ D-index 1,301
44 World 27 National Scholars 26 4,472 Σ D-index 1,275
45 World 28 National Scholars 29 4,634 Σ D-index 1,260
46 World 29 National Scholars 30 4,148 Σ D-index 1,199
47 World 30 National
Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University

United States
Scholars 29 3,960 Σ D-index 1,182
48 World 8 National
University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

United Kingdom
Scholars 26 4,945 Σ D-index 1,174
49 World 4 National
Monash University

Monash University

Australia
Scholars 27 6,093 Σ D-index 1,149
50 World 31 National Scholars 28 4,793 Σ D-index 1,147
51 World 9 National
University of York

University of York

United Kingdom
Scholars 24 5,009 Σ D-index 1,136
52 World 32 National Scholars 17 4,066 Σ D-index 1,131
53 World 10 National
University of Sheffield

University of Sheffield

United Kingdom
Scholars 24 5,059 Σ D-index 1,113
54 World 33 National
University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh

United States
Scholars 25 3,442 Σ D-index 1,094
55 World 11 National
University of Bristol

University of Bristol

United Kingdom
Scholars 20 4,824 Σ D-index 1,078
56 World 5 National Scholars 25 6,446 Σ D-index 1,076
57 World 34 National Scholars 26 3,315 Σ D-index 1,042
58 World 1 National Scholars 21 3,944 Σ D-index 1,027
59 World 12 National
Lancaster University

Lancaster University

United Kingdom
Scholars 22 3,933 Σ D-index 1,022
60 World 1 National Scholars 22 5,969 Σ D-index 1,019
61 World 35 National Scholars 22 3,568 Σ D-index 991
62 World 13 National
University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow

United Kingdom
Scholars 22 4,393 Σ D-index 985
63 World 6 National Scholars 22 4,575 Σ D-index 962
64 World 14 National
University of Nottingham

University of Nottingham

United Kingdom
Scholars 21 3,819 Σ D-index 930
65 World 36 National Scholars 21 2,950 Σ D-index 929
66 World 2 National
KU Leuven

KU Leuven

Belgium
Scholars 21 5,115 Σ D-index 925
67 World 15 National
University of Warwick

University of Warwick

United Kingdom
Scholars 23 3,758 Σ D-index 915
68 World 37 National
MIT

MIT

United States
Scholars 21 2,902 Σ D-index 914
69 World 38 National
Emory University

Emory University

United States
Scholars 20 3,478 Σ D-index 906
70 World 16 National
Cardiff University

Cardiff University

United Kingdom
Scholars 20 3,661 Σ D-index 904
71 World 4 National Scholars 21 3,626 Σ D-index 887
72 World 39 National
Brown University

Brown University

United States
Scholars 19 3,173 Σ D-index 866
73 World 5 National Scholars 19 3,236 Σ D-index 864
74 World 40 National Scholars 20 2,801 Σ D-index 849
75 World 17 National
University of Sussex

University of Sussex

United Kingdom
Scholars 16 3,348 Σ D-index 844
76 World 41 National
Boston University

Boston University

United States
Scholars 21 3,464 Σ D-index 838
77 World 18 National
Newcastle University

Newcastle University

United Kingdom
Scholars 17 3,685 Σ D-index 822
78 World 42 National
University of Georgia

University of Georgia

United States
Scholars 17 2,546 Σ D-index 799
79 World 19 National
University of Exeter

University of Exeter

United Kingdom
Scholars 19 3,178 Σ D-index 794
80 World 7 National Scholars 18 4,455 Σ D-index 791
81 World 43 National
University of Florida

University of Florida

United States
Scholars 20 2,409 Σ D-index 787
82 World 8 National
Deakin University

Deakin University

Australia
Scholars 17 3,759 Σ D-index 781
83 World 6 National Scholars 18 2,706 Σ D-index 779
84 World 1 National Scholars 18 3,337 Σ D-index 767
85 World 20 National
Loughborough University

Loughborough University

United Kingdom
Scholars 20 2,667 Σ D-index 763
86 World 44 National Scholars 18 2,715 Σ D-index 763
87 World 21 National
University of Surrey

University of Surrey

United Kingdom
Scholars 15 3,155 Σ D-index 751
88 World 45 National Scholars 18 2,634 Σ D-index 749
89 World 1 National Scholars 17 3,002 Σ D-index 746
90 World 46 National Scholars 18 2,502 Σ D-index 735
91 World 5 National Scholars 17 2,915 Σ D-index 734
92 World 22 National
University of Leeds

University of Leeds

United Kingdom
Scholars 15 2,598 Σ D-index 721
93 World 47 National Scholars 17 2,641 Σ D-index 717
94 World 9 National
Curtin University

Curtin University

Australia
Scholars 13 3,447 Σ D-index 703
95 World 48 National
University of Arizona

University of Arizona

United States
Scholars 16 2,264 Σ D-index 700
96 World 49 National
University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky

United States
Scholars 15 2,400 Σ D-index 677
97 World 50 National
Boston College

Boston College

United States
Scholars 13 2,293 Σ D-index 676
98 World 7 National Scholars 17 3,068 Σ D-index 673
99 World 6 National Scholars 17 2,673 Σ D-index 654
100 World 10 National Scholars 13 3,240 Σ D-index 646

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