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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. 17.3% 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%
28k
per year above
Top-10% rate
17.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
4
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+19%
the tick is no change

What is Catalysis research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Catalysis, Dehydrogenation, Oxidative, Ionic Liquids, Solvents, Ammonia Synthesis. Gaining share since 2009–13: Ammonia Synthesis, Electrocatalysts. Losing share: Dehydrogenation, Oxidative.

▲ 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 9 words, with their numbers
  1. Catalysis25k◆ 0.97×3 topics
  2. Dehydrogenation9,901▼ 0.76×1 topic
  3. Oxidative9,901▼ 0.76×1 topic
  4. Ionic Liquids8,219◆ 0.96×1 topic
  5. Solvents8,219◆ 0.96×1 topic
  6. Ammonia Synthesis7,232▲ 1.60×1 topic
  7. Electrocatalysts7,232▲ 1.60×1 topic
  8. Catalytic6,980◆ 1.13×1 topic
  9. Hydrogenation6,980◆ 1.13×1 topic

Which countries lead Catalysis research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and India rank highest in Catalysis. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (14k and 2.6k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 19.5% top 10% · 14k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 14.0% top 10% · 2.6k works
  3. 3 India · #11 all time 11.2% top 10% · 1.6k works
  4. 4 Australia · #8 all time 23.5% top 10% · 419 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom · #4 all time 16.7% top 10% · 630 works
  6. 6 Germany · #3 all time 10.8% top 10% · 1.1k works
  7. 7 South Korea · #13 all time 15.8% top 10% · 901 works
  8. 8 Japan · #5 all time 8.6% top 10% · 1k works
  9. 9 France · #6 all time 10.4% top 10% · 718 works
  10. 10 Italy · #10 all time 15.5% top 10% · 544 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 22 countries ranked in Catalysis. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Catalysis

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 14k works
  2. 2 United States 2.6k works
  3. 3 India 1.6k works
  4. 4 Germany 1.1k works
  5. 5 Russia 1.1k works
  6. 6 Japan 1k works
  7. 7 South Korea 901 works
  8. 8 France 718 works
  9. 9 Spain 648 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 631 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: 56.6%United States: 10.9%India: 6.8%Germany: 4.6%6 others listed: 21.1%57%largest
China14k · 56.6%United States2,589 · 10.9%India1,615 · 6.8%Germany1,103 · 4.6%6 others listed5,040 · 21.1%

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 2022–2025, followed by Tsinghua University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #1 all time 24.9% top 10% · 407 works
  2. 2 Tsinghua University China · Beijing · #3 all time 29.2% top 10% · 194 works
  3. 3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #7 all time 22.4% top 10% · 256 works
  4. 4 Tianjin University China · Tianjin · #4 all time 19.8% top 10% · 248 works
  5. 5 University of Science and Technology of China China · Hefei · #11 all time 24.6% top 10% · 166 works
  6. 6 Xi'an Jiaotong University China · Xi'an · #39 all time 22.1% top 10% · 208 works
  7. 7 Beijing University of Chemical Technology China · Beijing · #22 all time 18.8% top 10% · 171 works
  8. 8 East China University of Science and Technology China · Shanghai · #36 all time 15.7% top 10% · 204 works
  9. 9 Zhejiang University China · Hangzhou · #15 all time 20.5% top 10% · 160 works
  10. 10 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China · Shanghai · #69 all time 22.8% top 10% · 129 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 60 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Catalysis.

Top 100 Catalysis institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 407 works
  2. 2 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 256 works
  3. 3 Tianjin UniversityChina 247 works
  4. 4 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 208 works
  5. 5 East China University of Science and TechnologyChina 204 works
  6. 6 Tsinghua UniversityChina 194 works
  7. 7 Taiyuan University of TechnologyChina 174 works
  8. 8 Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 171 works
  9. 9 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 166 works
  10. 10 Zhejiang UniversityChina 160 works

Who are the leading researchers in Catalysis?

Among the most productive authors in Catalysis, Jens K. Nørskov, John P. Perdew and Donald G. Truhlar rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Jens K. Nørskov Denmark · #84 worldwide 9.8k citations · 144 works
  2. 2 John P. Perdew United States · #161 worldwide 9.9k citations · 119 works
  3. 3 Donald G. Truhlar United States · #255 worldwide 8.4k citations · 315 works
  4. 4 Michael J. S. Dewar United States · #993 worldwide 4.3k citations · 217 works
  5. 5 David L. Davies United Kingdom · #995 worldwide 2.8k citations · 97 works
  6. 6 Thomas F. Jaramillo United States · #1,020 worldwide 5.5k citations · 98 works
  7. 7 Michaël Grätzel Switzerland · #1,491 worldwide 13k citations · 436 works
  8. 8 Carlo Adamo France · #1,615 worldwide 3.3k citations · 100 works
  9. 9 Ib Chorkendorff Denmark · #1,950 worldwide 3.7k citations · 136 works
  10. 10 Mark D. Allendorf United States · #2,996 worldwide 2.4k citations · 76 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 5,049 highest-output authors in Catalysis. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Catalysis researchers

Where is Catalysis research done?

The largest centres of Catalysis research in 2022–2025 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 Villigen.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 2.4k works
  2. 2 Shanghai China 886 works
  3. 3 Nanjing China 641 works
  4. 4 Tianjin China 621 works
  5. 5 Hangzhou China 534 works
  6. 6 Xi'an China 498 works
  7. 7 Wuhan China 440 works
  8. 8 Dalian China 423 works
  9. 9 Qingdao China 398 works
  10. 10 Chengdu China 381 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. MülheimDE · 28.7 works18×
  2. VilligenCH · 32.1 works12×
← 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, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology and Ningxia 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 21.93%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →King Abdullah University of Science and Technology: 59, 21.9%Beijing University of Chemical Technology: 171, 18.8%Ningxia University: 74, 11.8%East China University of Science and Technology: 204, 15.7%Taiyuan University of Technology: 174, 15.2%Qingdao University of Science and Technology: 131, 15.4%King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals: 73, 22.4%The University of Adelaide: 25, 39.0%University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 256, 22.4%University of Electronic Science and Technology of China: 52, 36.7%King Abdullah Univer…Beijing University o…East China Universit…Ningxia University
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 King Abdullah University of Science and TechnologySaudi Arabia 58.021.9%7.0×59 +140.6%
2 Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 57.218.8%13.0×171 +0.9%
3 Ningxia UniversityChina 56.911.8%12.3×74 +171.8%
4 East China University of Science and TechnologyChina 55.815.7%13.5×204 -2.8%
5 Taiyuan University of TechnologyChina 55.515.2%13.7×174 +17.6%
6 Qingdao University of Science and TechnologyChina 54.715.4%11.7×131 +31.8%
7 King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 54.722.4%6.9×73 +82.1%
8 The University of AdelaideAustralia 53.939.0%2.0×25 +284.2%
9 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 53.822.4%5.1×256 +58.0%
10 University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 53.136.7%1.5×52 +533.0%

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 Catalysis research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 19% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Catalysts for Methane Reforming, Ionic liquids properties and applications and Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction.

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. Catalysts for Methane Reforming+90%
  2. Ionic liquids properties and applications+85%
  3. Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction+75%
  4. Catalysis and Oxidation Reactions+10%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. 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.