The landscape of cultural-historical psychology in BRICS+ countries: a bibliometric analysis

Context and relevance. The active development of cultural-historical psychology within the framework of international research demonstrates a significant expansion in the geographical distribution of publications over the past two decades, notably driven by the increasing contributions of BRICS+ countries. Nevertheless, the dynamics of publication activity, the structure of international collaboration, and the thematic evolution of cultural-historical psychology remain underexplored from a bibliometric perspective. Objective.This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the publication landscape in cultural-historical psychology between 2005 and 2024, with particular attention to the contribution of BRICS+ countries. Research Questions.The study examined: 1) the dynamics and geographical distribution of publication activity in the field of cultural-historical psychology, including the contribution of BRICS+ countries, over the period 2005—2024; 2) the structure of international scientific collaboration and the distribution of scientific influence; 3) the thematic structure of the field and its transformation over the past two decades; and 4) the contribution of the journal Cultural-Historical Psychology to the development and internationalisation of scientific communication. Methods and materials. The study incorporates: 1) a corpus of 4,332 publications identified through key terms relevant to the cultural-historical approach; 2) 947 publications from the journal Cultural-Historical Psychology; and 3) 949 publications citing articles from the same journal, sыourced from Scopus, OpenAlex, and eLibrary.ru. The bibliometric analysis employed PRISMA protocols, R (bibliometrix), VOSviewer, and Python-based analytical tools. Results. The findings reveal a steady and, in some cases, accelerating growth in publication activity across BRICS+ countries: sevenfold in Russia, 3,7 times in Brazil, and 4,8 times in China over the study period. Publications from BRICS+ countries display a thematic shift towards educational and developmental issues. Despite increasing international citations, scientific collaboration within the BRICS+ bloc remains limited. The journal Cultural-Historical Psychology, which will mark its twentieth anniversary in 2025, occupies a central position in the publication landscape: it brings together authors from 49 countries, is cited in works from 61 countries, and more than one-third of citing publications appear in top-tier journals (Q1, International Scientific Journal & Country Ranking 2024). Conclusions. The publication landscape of cultural-historical psychology is characterised by global growth, with BRICS+ countries assuming an increasingly prominent role. Strengthening international cooperation within the BRICS+ bloc and fostering sustainable transnational networks represent key prospects for further advancement. The journal Cultural-Historical Psychology continues to serve as a major international scientific platform and contributes to the consolidation of the publication core within the field.

Supplemental data.Datasets available from https://doi.org/10.48612/MSUPE/uhaz-hhne-d3ux

Appendix

Appendix A. PRISMA flow diagram for the selection of publications on the topic of cultural-historical psychology: «*» — The analysis included publications of the document type «article» and/or «review» published in journals during the period from 2005 to 2024.

Appendix B. Sankey diagram of the ratio of the five most frequent subject area categories of publications on the topic of cultural-historical psychology in different periods from 2005 to 2024 in different countries: when hovering the cursor over any element of the interactive diagram, the corresponding data is displayed. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2025000004a

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