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Subfield · Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Aquatic Science research

Aquatic Science is a subfield of Agricultural and Biological Sciences. Science Explorer counts 175k research works in it since 1950. 16.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: multidisciplinary study of freshwater and marine ecosystems.

Research works
175k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
28k
per year above
Top-10% rate
16.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
7
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+52%
the tick is no change

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

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Aquaculture, Conservation, Fish Feed, Nutrition, Fish, Length-Weight Relationships. Gaining share since 2009–13: Irrigation, Water Efficiency, Aquaponics, Sustainability, Seahorses. Losing share: Fish Feed, Nutrition, Fish, Length-Weight Relationships.

▲ 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 16 words, with their numbers
  1. Aquaculture25k◆ 1.00×3 topics
  2. Conservation20k◆ 1.14×2 topics
  3. Fish Feed14k▼ 0.72×1 topic
  4. Nutrition14k▼ 0.72×1 topic
  5. Fish11k▼ 0.75×1 topic
  6. Length-Weight Relationships11k▼ 0.75×1 topic
  7. Seahorses9,615▲ 2.7×1 topic
  8. Syngnathidae9,615▲ 2.7×1 topic
  9. Bioactive Compounds4,553◆ 0.93×1 topic
  10. Seaweed4,553◆ 0.93×1 topic
  11. Irrigation2,937▲ 4.9×1 topic
  12. Water Efficiency2,937▲ 4.9×1 topic
  13. Aquaponics2,133▲ 3.4×1 topic
  14. Sustainability2,133▲ 3.4×1 topic
  15. Functional Foods1,970▼ 0.78×1 topic
  16. Sea Cucumbers1,970▼ 0.78×1 topic

Which countries lead Aquatic Science research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, India and the United States rank highest in Aquatic Science. By volume, Indonesia and China publish the most (8.3k and 5.6k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 33.8% top 10% · 5.6k works
  2. 2 India · #4 all time 13.7% top 10% · 3.2k works
  3. 3 United States · #1 all time 17.5% top 10% · 2k works
  4. 4 Egypt · #16 all time 26.6% top 10% · 816 works
  5. 5 Indonesia · #17 all time 2.0% top 10% · 8.3k works
  6. 6 Portugal · #10 all time 32.7% top 10% · 366 works
  7. 7 Iran · #19 all time 23.1% top 10% · 546 works
  8. 8 Italy · #15 all time 32.3% top 10% · 419 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom · #3 all time 23.4% top 10% · 403 works
  10. 10 Australia · #11 all time 26.6% top 10% · 402 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 32 countries ranked in Aquatic Science. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Aquatic Science

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Indonesia 8.3k works
  2. 2 China 5.6k works
  3. 3 India 3.2k works
  4. 4 United States 2k works
  5. 5 Brazil 1.6k works
  6. 6 Uzbekistan 1.5k works
  7. 7 Russia 961 works
  8. 8 Türkiye 876 works
  9. 9 Egypt 816 works
  10. 10 South Korea 638 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.

Indonesia: 32.6%China: 21.9%India: 12.5%United States: 7.9%6 others listed: 25.1%33%largest
Indonesia8,293 · 32.6%China5,577 · 21.9%India3,167 · 12.5%United States2,020 · 7.9%6 others listed6,377 · 25.1%

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

Which institutions lead Aquatic Science research?

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (China) ranks first in Aquatic Science on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Ocean University of China and Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs China · Beijing · #24 all time 36.9% top 10% · 245 works
  2. 2 Ocean University of China China · Qingdao · #1 all time 34.0% top 10% · 218 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences China · Beijing · #3 all time 30.2% top 10% · 253 works
  4. 4 Ningbo University China · Ningbo · #13 all time 33.5% top 10% · 149 works
  5. 5 Guangdong Ocean University China · Zhanjiang · #15 all time 37.7% top 10% · 165 works
  6. 6 Shanghai Ocean University China · Shanghai · #9 all time 32.5% top 10% · 200 works
  7. 7 Dalian Polytechnic University China · Dalian · #44 all time 49.7% top 10% · 77 works
  8. 8 Zhejiang Ocean University China · Zhoushan · #46 all time 36.1% top 10% · 87 works
  9. 9 National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries Egypt · Alexandria · #33 all time 21.6% top 10% · 104 works
  10. 10 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #6 all time 29.7% top 10% · 98 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 67 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Aquatic Science.

Top 100 Aquatic Science institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 IPB UniversityIndonesia 358 works
  2. 2 Diponegoro UniversityIndonesia 293 works
  3. 3 University of MataramIndonesia 274 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of Fishery SciencesChina 253 works
  5. 5 University of BrawijayaIndonesia 251 works
  6. 6 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural AffairsChina 245 works
  7. 7 Riau UniversityIndonesia 235 works
  8. 8 Padjadjaran UniversityIndonesia 224 works
  9. 9 Ocean University of ChinaChina 218 works
  10. 10 Airlangga UniversityIndonesia 205 works

Who are the leading researchers in Aquatic Science?

Among the most productive authors in Aquatic Science, Jie He, S. Tanaka and David Dudgeon rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Jie He China · #946 worldwide 2.2k citations · 109 works
  2. 2 S. Tanaka Japan · #3,870 worldwide 2.6k citations · 65 works
  3. 3 David Dudgeon Hong Kong · #5,014 worldwide 1.4k citations · 86 works
  4. 4 Lawrence M. Page United States · #9,585 worldwide 3.7k citations · 48 works
  5. 5 Robert Ward United Kingdom · #13,455 worldwide 759 citations · 73 works
  6. 6 Fereidoon Shahidi Canada · #13,603 worldwide 2.2k citations · 188 works
  7. 7 A. D. Hawkins Poland · #13,649 worldwide 1.2k citations · 93 works
  8. 8 Bernard Jalabert France · #14,319 worldwide 1k citations · 44 works
  9. 9 Fred W. Allendorf United States · #14,892 worldwide 857 citations · 52 works
  10. 10 Melvin L. Moss United States · #16,343 worldwide 596 citations · 62 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 3,977 highest-output authors in Aquatic Science. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Aquatic Science researchers

Where is Aquatic Science research done?

The largest centres of Aquatic Science research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Jakarta (Indonesia), Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Semarang (Indonesia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Nagapattinam, Bārākpur and Turkmenabat.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 927 works
  2. 2 Jakarta Indonesia 755 works
  3. 3 Tashkent Uzbekistan 700 works
  4. 4 Semarang Indonesia 502 works
  5. 5 Qingdao China 501 works
  6. 6 Surabaya Indonesia 468 works
  7. 7 Bogor Indonesia 432 works
  8. 8 Malang Indonesia 391 works
  9. 9 Bandung Indonesia 360 works
  10. 10 Moscow Russia 354 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. NagapattinamIN · 76.9 works65×
  2. BārākpurIN · 54.8 works62×
  3. TurkmenabatTM · 80.1 works55×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Aquatic Science on the map

Aquatic Science research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Aquatic Science?

Among universities, judged by research, Kafrelsheikh University, Tashkent State Technical University named after Islam Karimov and Dalian 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%60%mean 27.28%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Kafrelsheikh University: 39, 43.0%Tashkent State Technical University named after Islam Karimov: 104, 30.5%Dalian Polytechnic University: 77, 49.7%Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers: 178, 11.8%Universiti Malaysia Terengganu: 82, 17.2%IPB University: 358, 4.1%Sylhet Agricultural University: 39, 26.2%Ocean University of China: 218, 34.0%Central Institute of Fisheries Education: 127, 23.0%University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice: 40, 33.3%Dalian Polytechnic U…Kafrelsheikh Univers…Tashkent State Techn…Tashkent Institute o…
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
1 Kafrelsheikh UniversityEgypt 69.943.0%8.8×39 +519.7%
2 Tashkent State Technical University named after Islam KarimovUzbekistan 69.030.5%36.1×104 +314.0%
3 Dalian Polytechnic UniversityChina 65.449.7%11.7×77 +20.4%
4 Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization EngineersUzbekistan 64.411.8%64.2×178 +942.1%
5 Universiti Malaysia TerengganuMalaysia 63.817.2%15.4×82 +265.4%
6 IPB UniversityIndonesia 63.14.1%16.7×358 +285.2%
7 Sylhet Agricultural UniversityBangladesh 62.826.2%35.1×39 +563.5%
8 Ocean University of ChinaChina 62.734.0%11.5×218 -23.5%
9 Central Institute of Fisheries EducationIndia 61.823.0%120.3×127 +132.0%
10 University of South Bohemia in České BudějoviceCzechia 61.833.3%18.4×40 +90.3%

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 Aquatic Science research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 52% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Aquatic life and conservation, Innovations in Aquaponics and Hydroponics Systems and Engineering and Agricultural Innovations.

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. Aquatic life and conservation+620%
  2. Innovations in Aquaponics and Hydroponics Systems+442%
  3. Engineering and Agricultural Innovations+275%
  4. Seaweed-derived Bioactive Compounds+133%
  5. Echinoderm biology and ecology+104%
  6. Fish Biology and Ecology Studies+76%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Aquatic Science include?

Aquaculture Nutrition an…65kAquaculture Nutrition and Growth: 65k fractional worksFish Biology and Ecology…47kFish Biology and Ecology Studies: 47k fractional worksAquatic life and conserv…21kAquatic life and conservation: 21k fractional worksSeaweed-derived Bioactiv…18kSeaweed-derived Bioactive Compounds: 18k fractional worksEchinoderm biology and ecology: 9,079 fractional worksEngineering and Agricultural Innovations: 7,715 fractional worksInnovations in Aquaponics and Hydroponics Systems: 6,540 fractional works

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