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Subfield · Chemical Engineering

Catalysis research

Catalysis is a subfield of Chemical Engineering. Science Explorer counts 159k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction.

Research works
159k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
16k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
4
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+40%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
58% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Catalysis

What is Catalysis research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are Catalysis, Dehydrogenation, Oxidative, Ammonia Synthesis, Electrocatalysts, Ionic Liquids. Gaining share since 2011-15: Ammonia Synthesis, Electrocatalysts. Losing share: Dehydrogenation, Oxidative, Ionic Liquids, Solvents.

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

Size is the world's fractional works in 2021-25 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2011-15. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 9 words, with their numbers
  1. Catalysis30k◆ 0.97×3 topics
  2. Dehydrogenation11k▼ 0.74×1 topic
  3. Oxidative11k▼ 0.74×1 topic
  4. Ammonia Synthesis10k▲ 1.88×1 topic
  5. Electrocatalysts10k▲ 1.88×1 topic
  6. Ionic Liquids8,883▼ 0.82×1 topic
  7. Solvents8,883▼ 0.82×1 topic
  8. Catalytic8,657◆ 1.13×1 topic
  9. Hydrogenation8,657◆ 1.13×1 topic

Which countries lead Catalysis research?

On research quality in 2022-now, China, the United States and the United Kingdom rank highest in Catalysis. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (16k and 3k works in 2022-now).

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 China #1 all time 1.22× citation excellence · 1.17× journals · 100% breadth 12.6% top 10% · 14k works
  2. 2 United States #2 all time 0.95× citation excellence · 1.50× journals · 100% breadth 9.3% top 10% · 2.6k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom #4 all time 1.13× citation excellence · 1.43× journals · 100% breadth 10.9% top 10% · 630 works
  4. 4 Germany #3 all time 0.74× citation excellence · 1.35× journals · 100% breadth 6.7% top 10% · 1.1k works
  5. 5 Australia #10 all time 1.36× citation excellence · 1.21× journals · 100% breadth 15.9% top 10% · 419 works
  6. 6 South Korea #11 all time 0.99× citation excellence · 0.91× journals · 100% breadth 9.9% top 10% · 901 works
  7. 7 Canada #12 all time 1.22× citation excellence · 1.19× journals · 100% breadth 12.3% top 10% · 402 works
  8. 8 Netherlands #7 all time 1.17× citation excellence · 1.43× journals · 100% breadth 13.1% top 10% · 238 works
  9. 9 France #5 all time 0.70× citation excellence · 1.22× journals · 100% breadth 7.0% top 10% · 718 works
  10. 10 Spain #8 all time 0.93× citation excellence · 0.96× journals · 100% breadth 8.3% top 10% · 648 works

The track on each row is that row's top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each place's own topics predict, adds its share of papers in the Nature Index journals, and counts output and breadth too.

Of 21 countries ranked in Catalysis. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Catalysis

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 16k works
  2. 2 United States 3k works
  3. 3 India 1.9k works
  4. 4 Germany 1.3k works
  5. 5 Russia 1.2k works
  6. 6 Japan 1.2k works
  7. 7 South Korea 1.1k works
  8. 8 France 799 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 741 works
  10. 10 Spain 736 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: 57.9%United States: 10.5%India: 6.8%Germany: 4.5%6 others listed: 20.2%58%largest
China16k · 57.9%United States2,988 · 10.5%India1,937 · 6.8%Germany1,264 · 4.5%6 others listed5,740 · 20.2%

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

Which institutions lead Catalysis research?

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) ranks first in Catalysis on research quality in 2022-now, followed by Tsinghua University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #1 all time 17.7% top 10% · 1.2k works
  2. 2 Tsinghua University China · Beijing · #5 all time 20.0% top 10% · 207 works
  3. 3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #2 all time 16.8% top 10% · 256 works
  4. 4 University of Science and Technology of China China · Hefei · #11 all time 18.5% top 10% · 166 works
  5. 5 National University of Singapore Singapore · Singapore · #15 all time 24.4% top 10% · 95 works
  6. 6 Nanjing University China · Nanjing · #28 all time 15.0% top 10% · 86 works
  7. 7 Max Planck Society Germany · Munich · #4 all time 13.1% top 10% · 88 works
  8. 8 Zhejiang University China · Hangzhou · #17 all time 13.2% top 10% · 182 works
  9. 9 Nankai University China · Tianjin · #19 all time 12.3% top 10% · 128 works
  10. 10 Tianjin University China · Tianjin · #8 all time 15.3% top 10% · 284 works

The track on each row is that row's top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each place's own topics predict, adds its share of papers in the Nature Index journals, and counts output and breadth too.

Of 63 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Catalysis.

Top 100 Catalysis institutions

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 1.4k works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 643 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 441 works
  4. 4 Tianjin UniversityChina 326 works
  5. 5 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 298 works
  6. 6 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 254 works
  7. 7 Tsinghua UniversityChina 239 works
  8. 8 East China University of Science and TechnologyChina 235 works
  9. 9 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 233 works
  10. 10 Zhejiang UniversityChina 207 works

Who are the leading researchers in Catalysis?

Counting only their work in Catalysis, Jens K. Nørskov, Buxing Han and Israel E. Wachs have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

  1. 1 Jens K. Nørskov Denmark · #52 worldwide overall 48.5 of 92 papers here in the top 10%
  2. 2 Buxing Han China · #44,581 worldwide overall 55.1 of 200 papers here in the top 10%
  3. 3 Israel E. Wachs United States · #8,562 worldwide overall 47.0 of 128 papers here in the top 10%
  4. 4 Douglas Robert MacFarlane Australia · #47,491 worldwide overall 46.4 of 158 papers here in the top 10%
  5. 5 Tao Zhang China · #17,944 worldwide overall 40.9 of 123 papers here in the top 10%
  6. 6 Jinlong Gong China · #14,767 worldwide overall 38.3 of 99 papers here in the top 10%
  7. 7 Alexis T. Bell United States · #21,027 worldwide overall 42.5 of 143 papers here in the top 10%
  8. 8 Dingsheng S. Wang China · #108 worldwide overall 33.4 of 64 papers here in the top 10%
  9. 9 Edward Hartley Sargent Canada · #247 worldwide overall 29.4 of 39 papers here in the top 10%
  10. 10 Enrique Iglesia United States · #18,568 worldwide overall 35.0 of 100 papers here in the top 10%

Ranked on their work in Catalysis alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 426,346 ranked researchers with a paper here. Each paper counts once, so many strong papers outrank one famous one, and a long record of ordinary papers does not climb. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Catalysis researchers

What are the most cited papers in Catalysis?

The most cited paper in Catalysis is "Density-functional thermochemistry. III. The role of exact exchange" (Axel D. Becke, 1993), with 104,174 citations. Next come "VESTA 3 for three-dimensional visualization of crystal, volumetric and morphology data" (26,132) and "Toward reliable density functional methods without adjustable parameters: The PBE0 model" (19,412).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Density-functional thermochemistry. III. The role of exact exchange Axel D. Becke · The Journal of Chemical Physics Apr 1993 104,174
2 VESTA 3 for three-dimensional visualization of crystal, volumetric and morphology data Koichi Momma, Fujio Izumi · Journal of Applied Crystallography 28 Oct 2011 26,132
3 Toward reliable density functional methods without adjustable parameters: The PBE0 model Carlo Adamo, Vincenzo Barone · The Journal of Chemical Physics Apr 1999 19,412
4 Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: Solvents for Synthesis and Catalysis. 2 Jason Patrick Hallett, Tom Welton · Chemical Reviews Review 6 Apr 2011 12,587
5 Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids. Solvents for Synthesis and Catalysis Tom Welton · Chemical Reviews Review 7 Jul 1999 11,843
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Catalysis research done?

The largest centres of Catalysis research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Tianjin (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Mülheim and South Park Township.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 2.8k works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 1k works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 760 works
  4. 4 TianjinChina 729 works
  5. 5 HangzhouChina 631 works
  6. 6 Xi'anChina 607 works
  7. 7 WuhanChina 521 works
  8. 8 DalianChina 492 works
  9. 9 QingdaoChina 492 works
  10. 10 ChengduChina 444 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. MülheimDE · 32.3 works17×
  2. South Park TownshipUS · 20.2 works14×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Catalysis on the map

Catalysis research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Catalysis?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University and Tianjin University score highest, combining standing in the field's ranking, citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 15.79%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Tsinghua UniversityUniversity of Scienc…University of Chines…Tianjin University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Standingthis field's institution ranking, three quarters all time and a quarter 2022-now
50%
Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
20%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
5%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
15%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
5%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
5%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreRank in field (all time)Top 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 86.0#3 (#2)15.9%5.7×298 +46.1%
2Tsinghua UniversityChina 80.1#2 (#5)18.8%3.3×239 +63.5%
3Tianjin UniversityChina 70.7#10 (#8)14.4%8.4×326 +28.0%
4University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 70.5#4 (#11)17.8%5.2×196 +133.6%
5National University of SingaporeSingapore 70.3#5 (#15)22.3%3.0×113 +90.5%
6ETH ZurichSwitzerland 64.4- (#3)13.1%3.2×69 +3.1%
7Zhejiang UniversityChina 60.1#8 (#17)12.9%2.4×207 +36.7%
8Nankai UniversityChina 59.0#9 (#19)12.2%6.9×150 +106.4%
9Hunan UniversityChina 56.6#13 (#22)17.5%3.8×85 +115.2%
10Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 55.2#12 (#33)13.0%4.6×254 +137.6%

Universities only. The score blends standing (50%), citation excellence (20%), size (15%), specialisation (5%), growth (5%), international reach (5%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise. Standing is the score in this field's institution ranking, three quarters over all time and a quarter 2022-now; excellence averages the two windows too. Four years alone undercount fields such as AI, where many conference and arXiv papers from 2022 on carry no affiliation in the data.

Every institution in Catalysis, country by country

Is Catalysis research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 40% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction, Catalysts for Methane Reforming and Catalysis and Oxidation Reactions.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Catalysis as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.15% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%Catalysis0.16% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Catalysis over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Catalysis9.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

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. Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction+103%
  2. Catalysts for Methane Reforming+46%
  3. Catalysis and Oxidation Reactions+18%
  4. Ionic liquids properties and applications+18%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2018-21 to 2022-25. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Catalysis include?

Catalysis and Oxidation …64kCatalysis and Oxidation Reactions: 64k fractional worksIonic liquids properties…36kIonic liquids properties and applications: 36k fractional worksCatalysts for Methane Reforming: 30k fractional worksAmmonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction: 29k fractional works

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

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Who leads Catalysis, on Science Explorer

A card with the countries and institutions that lead Catalysis, for a post or a slide.

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1200 × 630 PNG, sized for social posts, drawn from the latest snapshot.

The leading institutions' badges6Each links to that institution's page and updates with every snapshot

Questions people ask

Who leads catalysis research?

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) ranks first in Catalysis on research quality in 2022-now, followed by Tsinghua University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. On research quality in 2022-now, China, the United States and the United Kingdom rank highest in Catalysis. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (16k and 3k works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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