The Places of Knowledge Production: How Political Regimes Shape Scientific Publication Patterns

This article examines how political regimes influence the balance between natural sciences and social sciences publications across 164 countries. Challenging the notion of science as universal and context-free, the study highlights how local political and institutional environments shape knowledge production. Globally, natural sciences dominate with an average Science Citation Index-Expanded to Social Sciences Citation Index (SCI-E/SSCI) ratio of 7.6 in 2024, but this varies by regime type. Full democracies have the lowest ratios, reflecting a stronger presence of social sciences, whereas authoritarian regimes show ratios more than two times higher, indicating political constraints on social sciences. Using The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index and Web of Science data, the study finds regime type significantly predicts disciplinary asymmetry. A case study of Türkiye, however, illustrates how political shifts—from military rule to competitive authoritarianism—affect publication patterns. Despite increased repression after 2016, Türkiye’s SCI-E/SSCI ratio declined, nearing levels in democracies. This paradox is linked to academic internationalization, which allows social scientists to bypass local restrictions through global networks.