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Subfield · Arts and Humanities

Conservation research

Conservation is a subfield of Arts and Humanities. Science Explorer counts 76k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments.

Research works
76k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
7.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
6
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+21%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Indonesia
42% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Conservation

What is Conservation research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are Cultural Heritage, Traditional Architecture, Urban Design, Conservation, Climate Change, Environmental Monitoring. Gaining share since 2011-15: Traditional Architecture, Urban Design, Art Therapy, Public Health, Cultural Heritage. Losing share: Archives, Digital Preservation, Art History, Spanish Art.

▲ 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 14 words, with their numbers
  1. Cultural Heritage17k▲ 1.16×3 topics
  2. Traditional Architecture8,636▲ 2.7×1 topic
  3. Urban Design8,636▲ 2.7×1 topic
  4. Conservation8,605▼ 0.74×2 topics
  5. Climate Change5,447◆ 0.93×1 topic
  6. Environmental Monitoring5,447◆ 0.93×1 topic
  7. Art Therapy3,677▲ 1.29×1 topic
  8. Public Health3,677▲ 1.29×1 topic
  9. Art History3,158▼ 0.55×1 topic
  10. Spanish Art3,158▼ 0.55×1 topic
  11. Archives2,754▼ 0.53×1 topic
  12. Digital Preservation2,754▼ 0.53×1 topic
  13. Education1,729▼ 0.69×1 topic
  14. Interior Design1,729▼ 0.69×1 topic

Which countries lead Conservation research?

On research quality in 2022-now, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom rank highest in Conservation. By volume, Indonesia and the United States publish the most (7k and 2.5k works in 2022-now).

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Spain #2 all time 1.31× citation excellence · 0.99× journals · 100% breadth 10.7% top 10% · 1.8k works
  2. 2 United States #1 all time 0.75× citation excellence · 1.53× journals · 100% breadth 8.8% top 10% · 2.1k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom #3 all time 1.24× citation excellence · 1.44× journals · 100% breadth 12.6% top 10% · 1k works
  4. 4 China #4 all time 1.22× citation excellence · 1.03× journals · 100% breadth 18.7% top 10% · 958 works
  5. 5 Australia #5 all time 1.33× citation excellence · 1.19× journals · 100% breadth 14.6% top 10% · 375 works
  6. 6 Italy #6 all time 1.19× citation excellence · 0.67× journals · 100% breadth 11.4% top 10% · 933 works
  7. 7 Canada #7 all time 0.96× citation excellence · 1.20× journals · 100% breadth 8.1% top 10% · 424 works
  8. 8 Germany #8 all time 1.07× citation excellence · 1.39× journals · 100% breadth 11.9% top 10% · 269 works
  9. 9 France #9 all time 0.96× citation excellence · 1.25× journals · 100% breadth 7.4% top 10% · 345 works
  10. 10 Portugal #12 all time 1.11× citation excellence · 0.56× journals · 100% breadth 10.4% top 10% · 227 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 16 countries ranked in Conservation. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Conservation

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Indonesia 7k works
  2. 2 United States 2.5k works
  3. 3 Spain 1.9k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 1.2k works
  5. 5 China 1.1k works
  6. 6 Italy 1k works
  7. 7 Canada 476 works
  8. 8 Australia 422 works
  9. 9 Brazil 407 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 391 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: 42.5%United States: 15.2%Spain: 11.8%United Kingdom: 7.2%6 others listed: 23.4%42%largest
Indonesia6,980 · 42.5%United States2,488 · 15.2%Spain1,944 · 11.8%United Kingdom1,175 · 7.2%6 others listed3,836 · 23.4%

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

Which institutions lead Conservation research?

Universidad de Sevilla (Spain) ranks first in Conservation on research quality in 2022-now, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Universidad de Sevilla Spain · Seville · #4 all time 10.3% top 10% · 149 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #3 all time 7.5% top 10% · 100 works
  3. 3 Universidad Complutense de Madrid Spain · Madrid · #10 all time 9.9% top 10% · 145 works
  4. 4 Universidad de Granada Spain · Granada · #19 all time 10.3% top 10% · 90 works
  5. 5 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Spain · Madrid · #2 all time 9.3% top 10% · 78 works
  6. 6 Institut Seni Indonesia Denpasar Indonesia · Denpasar · #35 all time 4.0% top 10% · 92 works
  7. 7 National Research Council Italy · Rome · #15 all time 12.4% top 10% · 72 works
  8. 8 Universidad de Valladolid Spain · Valladolid · #26 all time 11.6% top 10% · 74 works
  9. 9 Petra Christian University Indonesia · Surabaya · #28 all time 6.8% top 10% · 66 works
  10. 10 Universitas Syiah Kuala Indonesia · Banda Aceh · #49 all time 15.6% top 10% · 83 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 31 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Conservation.

Top 100 Conservation institutions

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Tarumanagara UniversityIndonesia 270 works
  2. 2 University of Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jawa TimurIndonesia 169 works
  3. 3 Universidad de SevillaSpain 158 works
  4. 4 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 154 works
  5. 5 Universitas Gadjah MadaIndonesia 141 works
  6. 6 Diponegoro UniversityIndonesia 128 works
  7. 7 Universitas TrisaktiIndonesia 120 works
  8. 8 Bandung Institute of TechnologyIndonesia 119 works
  9. 9 Sebelas Maret UniversityIndonesia 113 works
  10. 10 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 104 works

Who are the leading researchers in Conservation?

Counting only their work in Conservation, Costanza Miliani, Juan Manuel Madariaga and Koen Janssens have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

  1. 1 Costanza Miliani Italy · #36,736 worldwide overall 25.1 of 42 papers here in the top 10%
  2. 2 Juan Manuel Madariaga Spain · #289,534 worldwide overall 23.8 of 49 papers here in the top 10%
  3. 3 Koen Janssens Belgium · #105,134 worldwide overall 24.4 of 56 papers here in the top 10%
  4. 4 Daisy E. Fancourt United Kingdom · #621 worldwide overall 21.1 of 27 papers here in the top 10%
  5. 5 Philippe Colomban France · #528,749 worldwide overall 24.4 of 38 papers here in the top 10%
  6. 6 Maria Perla Colombini Italy · #463,526 worldwide overall 20.4 of 44 papers here in the top 10%
  7. 7 Peter Brimblecombe United Kingdom · #466,264 worldwide overall 19.4 of 46 papers here in the top 10%
  8. 8 Robin J. H. Clark United Kingdom · #532,547 worldwide overall 12.6 of 19 papers here in the top 10%
  9. 9 Marine Cotte France · #57,904 worldwide overall 13.2 of 25 papers here in the top 10%
  10. 10 Francesca Rosi Italy · #113,728 worldwide overall 13.0 of 24 papers here in the top 10%

Ranked on their work in Conservation alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 205,807 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 Conservation researchers

What are the most cited papers in Conservation?

The most cited paper in Conservation is "A review of archival auditing research" (Mark L. DeFond, Jieying Zhang, 2014), with 3,104 citations. Next come "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (1989) 1" (2,595) and "Relationships between mindfulness practice and levels of mindfulness, medical and psychological symptoms and well-being in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program" (1,843).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A review of archival auditing research Mark L. DeFond, Jieying Zhang · Journal of Accounting and Economics Open access 28 Sep 2014 3,104
2 White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (1989) 1 Peggy McIntosh Book chapter 4 Jul 2019 2,595
3 Relationships between mindfulness practice and levels of mindfulness, medical and psychological symptoms and well-being in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program James Carmody, Ruth A. Baer · Journal of Behavioral Medicine Book chapter 24 Sep 2007 1,843
4 The need for evidence-based conservation William J. Sutherland, Andrew S. Pullin, Paul M. Dolman et al. · Trends in Ecology & Evolution Open access 10 Apr 2004 1,805
5 Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association Rui Yao · Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal 6 May 2011 1,463
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Conservation research done?

The largest centres of Conservation research in 2022-now are Jakarta (Indonesia), Bandung (Indonesia), Surabaya (Indonesia) and Madrid (Spain). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Bantul, Padangpanjang and Valladolid.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 JakartaIndonesia 1k works
  2. 2 BandungIndonesia 685 works
  3. 3 SurabayaIndonesia 641 works
  4. 4 MadridSpain 525 works
  5. 5 SemarangIndonesia 421 works
  6. 6 YogyakartaIndonesia 380 works
  7. 7 LondonUnited Kingdom 366 works
  8. 8 MedanIndonesia 314 works
  9. 9 DenpasarIndonesia 310 works
  10. 10 MakassarIndonesia 287 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BantulID · 42.2 works33×
  2. PadangpanjangID · 30.4 works32×
  3. ValladolidES · 83.1 works11×
  4. EvoraPT · 22.4 works10×
  5. BalikpapanID · 38.3 works9.7×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Conservation on the map

Conservation research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Conservation?

Among universities, judged by research, Universidad de Sevilla, University College London and Universidad Complutense de Madrid 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%30%mean 13.27%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University College L…University of the Ba…Universidad de SevillaUniversidad Complute…
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
1Universidad de SevillaSpain 78.4#1 (#4)10.3%14.3×158 -9.9%
2University College LondonUnited Kingdom 78.3- (#1)19.7%2.0×61 -12.0%
3Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 61.7#3 (#10)9.6%8.9×154 -9.0%
4University of the Basque CountrySpain 52.8- (#6)12.6%4.5×42 -5.5%
5Universidad de GranadaSpain 51.3#4 (#19)10.3%8.5×93 -0.8%
6University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUnited States 49.7- (#9)25.5%1.4×23 +10.0%
7University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 47.7- (#12)16.3%1.3×36 +35.5%
8New York UniversityUnited States 47.6- (#5)11.1%1.1×24 -6.5%
9Parahyangan Catholic UniversityIndonesia 47.2#11 (#16)5.8%52.9×91 +63.8%
10Universidad de ValladolidSpain 47.2#8 (#26)11.5%13.6×79 +14.0%

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 Conservation, country by country

Is Conservation research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 21% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Art Therapy and Mental Health, Architecture, Design, and Social History and Architectural and Urban Studies.

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 Conservation as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.10% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Conservation0.097% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Conservation 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%Conservation9.9% 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. Art Therapy and Mental Health+45%
  2. Architecture, Design, and Social History+41%
  3. Architectural and Urban Studies+37%
  4. Conservation Techniques and Studies+20%
  5. Digital and Traditional Archives Management+4%
  6. Historical Art and Architecture Studies-15%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Conservation include?

Conservation Techniques …17kConservation Techniques and Studies: 17k fractional worksArchitectural and Urban …16kArchitectural and Urban Studies: 16k fractional worksHistorical Art and Architecture Studies: 13k fractional worksDigital and Traditional Archives Management: 13k fractional worksArt Therapy and Mental Health: 9,691 fractional worksArchitecture, Design, and Social History: 7,425 fractional works

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

Share who leads Conservation

Who leads Conservation, on Science Explorer

A card with the countries and institutions that lead Conservation, 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

Discussion

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