Outline of academic disciplines
An academic discipline, or field of study, is a branch of knowledge which is taught or researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined and recognised by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned societies and academic departments or faculties to which their practitioners belong.
Fields of study usually have several sub-disciplines or branches, and the distinguishing lines between these are often both arbitrary and ambiguous.
In medieval Europe, there were only four faculties in a university: Theology, Medicine, Jurisprudence and Arts, with the last one having a somewhat lower status. Current-day university disciplines have their roots in the mid- to late-19th century secularization of universities, when the traditional curriculum was supplemented by non-classical languages and literatures, and by science and technology disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering.
In the early 20th century, new disciplines such as education, sociology, and psychology were added. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was an explosion of new disciplines focusing on specific themes, such as media studies, women's studies, and Black studies. Many disciplines designed as preparation for careers and professions, such as nursing, hospitality management, corrections, also emerged in the universities. Finally, the visibility of such interdisciplinary scientific fields as biochemistry and geophysics increased, as their contribution to knowledge became widely recognized.
A "*" denotes a field whose academic status is debated. Note that the area into which some fields should be classified is debated, such as whether anthropology and linguistics are social sciences disciplines or humanities disciplines. Note that some people, particularly critical theorists are critical of the division of disciplines, and virtually every division of disciplines, as well as the structure of the concept of disciplines in general, is disputed by some.
- American history
- Ancient history
- Chinese history
- Diplomatic history
- Ethnohistory
- European history
- History of science and technology
- Military history
- Modern history
- Intellectual history
- Cultural history
- Economic history
- World history
- See also Branches of history
- See also Branches of philosophy
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- See also List of religions
Languages and linguistics
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- Astrobiology
- Astronomy
- Astrophysics
- Observational astronomy
- See also Branches of astronomy
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- See also Branches of earth sciences
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- See also List of biology disciplines
- Analytical chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Materials science
- Cheminformatics
- Computational chemistry
- Quantum chemistry
- Inorganic chemistry
- Organic chemistry
- Physical chemistry
- Theoretical chemistry
- Interface and Colloid Science
- See also Branches of chemistry
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- See also Branches of physics
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- See also Branches of mathematics and AMS Mathematics Subject Classification
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- See also Branches of computer science and ACM Computing Classification System
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Agriculture and forestry
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- See also Branches of engineering
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- See also Branches of medicine
Journalism, media and communication
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See also
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External links
- Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP 2000): Developed by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics to provide a taxonomic scheme that will support the accurate tracking, assessment, and reporting of fields of study and program completions activity.
- Complete JACS (Joint Academic Classification of Subjects) from Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) in the United Kingdom