Ronald John Johnston, OBE, AcSS, FBA (born 30 March 1941[1] in Swindon,[2] England) is a British human geographer, noted for elaborating his discipline's foundations, particularly its history and nature, and for his contributions to urban social geography and electoral geography. His broad scope is illustrated by the fact that he makes extensive use of quantitative methods, while critically dealing with subjects of social and political relevance.[2] Johnston also is an exceptionally productive author: As of December 2009, he has authored or co-authored more than 50 books and 800 papers, and edited or co-edited a further more than 40 books (if translated and revised editions are counted separately).[3][4] To students, he might be best known as the managing editor for the first four editions of The Dictionary of Human Geography.
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After receiving his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Manchester in 1962 and 1964, respectively, he moved to Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. There, Johnston obtained a Ph.D. degree, and came in contact with what has become known as the quantitative revolution of geography.[2] He also wrote his first paper on urban social geography during that time. From 1967–1974, he was part of the academic staff at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, where his interest in electoral geography began to develop. Johnston then was appointed professor at the University of Sheffield. In 1979, Geography and Geographers, which he has updated and expanded every few years since then, and whose various editions have been translated into four languages,[4] was published. Johnston became co-editor of the two journals Progress in Human Geography and Environment and Planning A that same year. In 1981, the first edition of The Dictionary of Human Geography, to which Johnston has contributed hundreds of articles,[4] was published. It has maintained its status as the discipline's authoritative dictionary ever since.[5] After serving as pro-vice-chancellor for academic affairs of the University of Sheffield, he became vice-chancellor of the University of Essex in 1992.[6] Since 1995, Johnston has been professor at the University of Bristol. He resigned from the editorial boards of both Progress in Human Geography and Environment and Planning A in 2006.
Johnston has been one of the most cited geographers for decades. For instance, in an analysis of citation records based on the SSCI and the SCI, he was identified as the second most cited geographer for 1981–1985, and the third most cited one for 1986–1990.[7] In another citation count that covered more than 20 years (1981–October 2002), this time based on the SSCI and the A&HCI, Johnston was listed as one of twelve geographers who had been cited more than 1000 times.[8]
Among the most prestigious awards Johnston has received are the Murchison Award (1985) and the Victoria Medal (1990) by the Royal Geographical Society, the Prix Vautrin Lud at the International Geography Festival 1999, and a lifetime achievement award from the Association of American Geographers (2009).[3] Furthermore, he holds honorary doctorates from the University of Essex (D.Univ. 1996),[6] Monash University (LL.D. 1999),[9] the University of Sheffield (Litt.D. 2002)[10] and the University of Bath (Litt.D. 2005),[11] is a founding member of the Academy of Social Sciences, and was elected an ordinary fellow of the British Academy in 1999.[1]
Johnston was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to scholarship.[12]