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Field · Physical Sciences

Environmental Science research

Environmental Science is a field of the Physical Sciences. Science Explorer counts 5M research works in it since 1950. 20.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: interdisciplinary field that studies human interaction with the environment.

Research works
5M
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1M
per year above
Top-10% rate
20.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
202
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+39%
the tick is no change

What is Environmental Science research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Climate Change, Remote Sensing, Environmental Impact, Sustainability, Biodiversity, Water Quality. Gaining share since 2009–13: Recycling, Human Health, Waste Management, Renewable Energy, Public Health. Losing share: Water Resources, Habitat Fragmentation, Invasive Species, Land Use Change.

▲ gaining share of this field◆ holding its share▼ losing share

Size is the world's fractional works in 2019–23 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2009–13. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Climate Change320k◆ 0.93×59 topics
  2. Remote Sensing148k◆ 0.94×22 topics
  3. Environmental Impact144k◆ 1.06×23 topics
  4. Sustainability115k◆ 0.90×28 topics
  5. Biodiversity96k◆ 1.02×17 topics
  6. Water Quality89k▼ 0.77×18 topics
  7. Renewable Energy84k▲ 1.93×17 topics
  8. Sustainable Development82k▲ 1.24×20 topics
  9. Health Effects82k◆ 0.99×13 topics
  10. Waste Management70k▲ 2.1×6 topics
  11. Invasive Species67k▼ 0.72×10 topics
  12. Biodiversity Conservation62k▲ 1.33×13 topics
  13. Land Use Change56k▼ 0.73×7 topics
  14. Recycling56k▲ 2.5×5 topics
  15. Greenhouse Gas Emissions53k▲ 1.30×7 topics
  16. Ecosystem Services52k◆ 1.00×7 topics
  17. Conservation51k▼ 0.81×10 topics
  18. Global Warming50k▲ 1.20×7 topics
  19. Heavy Metals50k▲ 1.41×6 topics
  20. Wastewater Treatment48k◆ 1.04×10 topics
  21. Machine Learning48k◆ 0.93×5 topics
  22. Water Resources48k▼ 0.70×8 topics
  23. Public Health46k▲ 1.70×7 topics
  24. Pollution44k▲ 1.46×5 topics
  25. Oxidative Stress43k◆ 1.04×3 topics
  26. Population Dynamics42k▼ 0.77×6 topics
  27. Hydrological Modeling42k▲ 1.21×3 topics
  28. Toxicity42k▼ 0.84×7 topics
  29. Microbial Communities42k▲ 1.34×3 topics
  30. Mortality40k▲ 1.53×2 topics
  31. Adsorption39k◆ 1.04×5 topics
  32. Particulate Matter39k▲ 1.46×2 topics
  33. Global Change38k◆ 0.92×3 topics
  34. Habitat Fragmentation37k▼ 0.71×3 topics
  35. Environmental Monitoring36k▲ 1.25×7 topics
  36. Biomass Estimation35k▲ 1.30×3 topics
  37. Life Cycle Assessment35k▲ 1.41×5 topics
  38. Air Quality34k▲ 1.19×5 topics
  39. Model Evaluation34k◆ 1.08×2 topics
  40. Human Health32k▲ 2.5×2 topics

Which countries lead Environmental Science research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and India rank highest in Environmental Science. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (233k and 125k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 25.7% top 10% · 233k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 18.8% top 10% · 125k works
  3. 3 India · #8 all time 17.2% top 10% · 65k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom · #3 all time 25.3% top 10% · 30k works
  5. 5 Germany · #4 all time 24.2% top 10% · 28k works
  6. 6 Australia · #5 all time 26.9% top 10% · 21k works
  7. 7 Italy · #10 all time 24.1% top 10% · 23k works
  8. 8 France · #7 all time 18.4% top 10% · 24k works
  9. 9 Canada · #6 all time 20.7% top 10% · 22k works
  10. 10 Spain · #11 all time 20.2% top 10% · 21k works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 125 countries ranked in Environmental Science. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Environmental Science

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 233k works
  2. 2 United States 125k works
  3. 3 India 65k works
  4. 4 Indonesia 55k works
  5. 5 Brazil 55k works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 30k works
  7. 7 Germany 28k works
  8. 8 Russia 25k works
  9. 9 France 24k works
  10. 10 Italy 23k works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 35.3%United States: 18.9%India: 9.8%Indonesia: 8.3%6 others listed: 27.7%35%largest
China233k · 35.3%United States125k · 18.9%India65k · 9.8%Indonesia55k · 8.3%6 others listed183k · 27.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Environmental Science research?

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) ranks first in Environmental Science on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #1 all time 31.2% top 10% · 6.9k works
  2. 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #27 all time 32.8% top 10% · 3.6k works
  3. 3 Peking University China · Beijing · #48 all time 33.4% top 10% · 1.8k works
  4. 4 Tsinghua University China · Beijing · #21 all time 31.5% top 10% · 2.2k works
  5. 5 Beijing Normal University China · Beijing · #66 all time 32.4% top 10% · 2.3k works
  6. 6 Wuhan University China · Wuhan · #75 all time 32.3% top 10% · 2k works
  7. 7 Zhejiang University China · Hangzhou · #77 all time 29.8% top 10% · 2.1k works
  8. 8 China University of Geosciences China · Wuhan 35.1% top 10% · 1.6k works
  9. 9 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #5 all time 23.7% top 10% · 2.4k works
  10. 10 Harbin Institute of Technology China · Harbin · #91 all time 30.5% top 10% · 1.8k works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 3,551 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Environmental Science.

Top 100 Environmental Science institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China 6.9k works
  2. 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 3.6k works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France 2.4k works
  4. 4 Beijing Normal University China 2.3k works
  5. 5 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil 2.2k works
  6. 6 Hohai University China 2.2k works
  7. 7 Tsinghua University China 2.2k works
  8. 8 Zhejiang University China 2.1k works
  9. 9 Central South University China 2.1k works
  10. 10 Wuhan University China 2k works

Who are the leading researchers in Environmental Science?

Among the most productive authors in Environmental Science, Lídia Morawska, Michelle L. Bell and Shanshan Li rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Lídia Morawska Australia · #114 worldwide 6.4k citations · 210 works
  2. 2 Michelle L. Bell United States · #210 worldwide 5.1k citations · 114 works
  3. 3 Shanshan Li Australia · #263 worldwide 3.7k citations · 160 works
  4. 4 Yuming Guo Australia · #599 worldwide 3.8k citations · 150 works
  5. 5 Pierre Legendre Canada · #722 worldwide 3.5k citations · 113 works
  6. 6 Carl Folke Sweden · #745 worldwide 3.2k citations · 102 works
  7. 7 Yang Liu United States · #805 worldwide 3.2k citations · 110 works
  8. 8 Jozef Deckers Belgium · #849 worldwide 2.8k citations · 132 works
  9. 9 Vipin Kumar United States · #864 worldwide 3.9k citations · 115 works
  10. 10 W. Neil Adger United Kingdom · #934 worldwide 3.7k citations · 100 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 5,840 highest-output authors in Environmental Science. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Environmental Science researchers

Where is Environmental Science research done?

The largest centres of Environmental Science research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Shanghai (China) and Wuhan (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in La Crosse and Thetford.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 54k works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 15k works
  3. 3 Shanghai China 11k works
  4. 4 Wuhan China 11k works
  5. 5 Guangzhou China 10k works
  6. 6 Moscow Russia 9.3k works
  7. 7 São Paulo Brazil 7.4k works
  8. 8 Paris France 7.4k works
  9. 9 Xi'an China 7.1k works
  10. 10 Hangzhou China 6.5k works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. La Crosse24.9 works15×
  2. ThetfordGB · 45.5 works15×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Environmental Science than the world average.

See Environmental Science on the map

Environmental Science research by country

The best places for Environmental Science research inside each country, with that country's researchers and world standing.

Where is the best place to study Environmental Science?

Among universities, judged by research, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Wageningen University & Research and Hong Kong Polytechnic University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 33.47%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences: 920, 31.1%Wageningen University & Research: 1,484, 33.3%Hong Kong Polytechnic University: 870, 41.0%Aerospace Information Research Institute: 523, 30.6%University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 3,646, 32.8%Beijing Normal University: 2,345, 32.4%China University of Geosciences: 1,575, 35.1%Czech University of Life Sciences Prague: 539, 25.2%ETH Zurich: 1,017, 37.5%University of Hong Kong: 867, 35.7%Hong Kong Polytechni…Wageningen Universit…Swedish University o…Aerospace Informatio…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Sweden 53.531.1%5.8×920 +9.4%
2Wageningen University & Research Netherlands 52.633.3%4.0×1,484 +2.1%
3Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong 51.241.0%1.0×870 +39.4%
4Aerospace Information Research Institute China 51.030.6%4.4×523 +1328.2%
5University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 50.532.8%2.2×3,646 +14.7%
6Beijing Normal University China 48.832.4%3.3×2,345 -8.7%
7China University of Geosciences China 47.935.1%3.4×1,575 -15.5%
8Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Czechia 47.525.2%5.2×539 +87.3%
9ETH Zurich Switzerland 47.437.5%1.5×1,017 +17.2%
10University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 47.335.7%1.0×867 +41.7%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Environmental Science research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 39% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Flood Risk Assessment and Management, Land Use and Ecosystem Services and Adsorption and biosorption for pollutant removal.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

  1. Flood Risk Assessment and Management+243%
  2. Land Use and Ecosystem Services+238%
  3. Adsorption and biosorption for pollutant removal+208%
  4. Recycling and Waste Management Techniques+169%
  5. Membrane Separation Technologies+158%
  6. Species Distribution and Climate Change+144%
  7. Isotope Analysis in Ecology-2%
  8. Water Quality Monitoring and Analysis-26%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Environmental Science include?

Air Quality and Health Impacts: 84k fractional worksClimate variability and models: 79k fractional worksFish Ecology and Management Studies: 77k fractional worksEcology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies: 76k fractional worksBacteriophages and microbial interactions: 73k fractional worksMethane Hydrates and Rel…70kMethane Hydrates and Related Phenomena: 70k fractional worksWater Quality Monitoring and Analysis: 67k fractional worksHydrology and Watershed Management Studies: 67k fractional worksWildlife Ecology and Con…66kWildlife Ecology and Conservation: 66k fractional worksAtmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics: 64k fractional worksMarine and fisheries research: 63k fractional worksHeavy metals in environm…62kHeavy metals in environment: 62k fractional works

Area is fractional works in that topic. Every name below is a page of its own.