Theology in the global research and educational realm

Abstract

The article addresses the role of theology in the modern international research and educational realm in terms of its presence in the global university rankings such as QS World University Rankings and THE World University Rankings, the number of educational programs offered by the world’s leading universities and theology degrees awarded, as well as the positions of the journals publishing the results of research in the field of theology in the Scopus bibliometric database. The analysis of the data collected and generalized, during the preparation of the article, clearly demonstrates the importance of theology in modern secular higher education. Theology is taught in a significant part of the world’s leading universities which offer a wide range of educational programs and provide the opportunity to choose an educational path and to continue education taking into account both the future career expectations of the students and the religious tradition they are interested in. The first and second quartiles (Q1 and Q2) of the Scopus database include a significant number of journals publishing the results of research in theology, primarily in the field of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. In addition, the analysis of the SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) rating shows an upward trend in the number of periodicals in religious studies, including publications in theology, and provides grounds to predict an increase in their number over the coming decades.

Keywords:

theology, higher education, world university rankings, educational programs, academic degrees, religion and science