Political Elites in the Focus of Scientific Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of the study is to analyze the body of scientific publications devoted to political, ruling, and power elites using bibliometric methods. Special attention is paid to identifying the dynamics of publication activity, as well as the geographical and disciplinary structure of research in the context of global socio-political transformations of 2020-2025. Methods. The research is based on bibliometric analysis methods using data from the Scopus database (search queries «political elite», «ruling elite», «power elite») and the Google Trends tool to assess the dynamics of public interest in the subject. The analysis covers the time range of 2020-2025, with a retrospective comparison dating back to 1947. Methods of content analysis and comparative analysis of publication arrays were used. Results. It has been established that contemporary elite studies are in an acceleration phase: approximately 39% of the total volume of publications accumulated since 1947 has been accumulated in the years 2020-2025 alone. The geographical distribution indicates a high concentration of research in Global North countries, primarily the United States (19.78%) and Great Britain (13%). The disciplinary structure shows the dominance of the social sciences (71.25%), along with a significant presence of the humanities, medicine (8.23%), and health professions (5.41%). The latter is explained by the increased attention to the role of medical and managerial elites during the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of the top 10 most cited works (with a citation range of 309 to 473) revealed the main thematic directions: polarization and democratic decline, elites in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, inequality and meritocracy, and technological and scientific elites.Conclusions. Elite studies demonstrate dynamic growth, responding sensitively to global crises – the pandemic, authoritarian tendencies, and geopolitical conflicts. The research field remains largely concentrated within the English-language academic space, which creates challenges for the integration of scholars from countries outside this core, particularly Ukraine.