Voluntaristics Research-Information Centers, University Departments, and Schools/Colleges in Universities Worldwide: Quantitative Evidence of an Emergent Academic Discipline

The interdisciplinary research field of nonprofit and voluntary/third/nonprofit/civil society sector studies first became formally organized with the founding of ARNOVA (www.arnova.org) in 1971 by Smith (2003). In the subsequent 43 years the field has developed greatly worldwide, as has been shown by the formation of about 50 researcher associations and 100 academic journals (Smith 2013). Now termed voluntaristics by Smith (ibid.), the field’s development is also evidenced by the formation of about 200 voluntaristics research-information centers worldwide, as studied and discussed in this paper. Further evidence is presented of the development of voluntaristics into an emergent academic discipline in its own right, with both some university departments and even schools in this field. By six objective criteria that define an academic discipline, voluntaristics now qualifies as such.