A Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization of the Top 100 Cited Publications on Religious Identity

Religious identity has emerged as a critical domain in the study of social behavior, intergroup relations, and political psychology. The current bibliometric analysis explores the intellectual structure, trends, and knowledge landscape of research on religious identity.

Using data from the Scopus database, this study analyzed top 100 cited peer-reviewed documents published between 2000 and 2024. Bibliometric tools such as VOSviewer and Biblioshiny were employed to map the co-authorship, keyword co-occurrence, country collaborations, and citation patterns within this field.

The results revealed a significant growth in religious identity research over the past two decades, with notable contributions from psychology, sociology, and political science. The USA and the UK were the most productive countries, while scholars such as Verkuyten and Ysseldyk emerged as the most influential contributors. The common themes revealed were relationship between religiosity and identity, behavior (e.g., delinquency, health, volunteering), social attitudes, and measurement tools. Collaboration networks indicated increasing internationalization, though the dominance of Western scholars and institutions.

The study underscores the interdisciplinary nature of religious identity research and the growing interest in understanding its implications in diverse social and political contexts. This bibliometric review not only consolidates current knowledge but also provides a theoretical roadmap for future investigations by identifying emerging areas, research gaps, and potential interdisciplinary linkages.