Outline of academic disciplines

An academic discipline or field of study is a branch of knowledge that is taught and researched as part of higher education.
A scholar's discipline is commonly defined and recognized by the university faculties and learned societies to which he or she belongs and the academic journals in which he or she publishes research. However, there exist no formal criteria for the status of an academic discipline. Disciplines vary between well-established ones that exist in almost all universities and have well-defined rosters of journals and conferences and nascent ones supported by only a few universities and publications.
A discipline may have branches, and these are often called sub-disciplines.
The University of Paris in 1231 consisted of four faculties: Theology, Medicine, Canon Law and Arts. Most academic disciplines have their roots in the mid-to-late-19th century secularization of universities, when the traditional curricula were supplemented with non...