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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. 21.6% 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%
17k
per year above
Top-10% rate
21.6%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
6
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+60%
the tick is no change

What is Conservation research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Cultural Heritage, Conservation, Traditional Architecture, Urban Design, Climate Change, Environmental Monitoring. Gaining share since 2009–13: Traditional Architecture, Urban Design, Cultural Heritage, Art Therapy, Public Health. Losing share: Archives, Digital Preservation, Education, Interior Design.

▲ 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 14 words, with their numbers
  1. Cultural Heritage16k▲ 1.29×3 topics
  2. Conservation8,478▼ 0.85×2 topics
  3. Traditional Architecture7,191▲ 3.3×1 topic
  4. Urban Design7,191▲ 3.3×1 topic
  5. Climate Change5,075◆ 0.97×1 topic
  6. Environmental Monitoring5,075◆ 0.97×1 topic
  7. Art History3,404▼ 0.71×1 topic
  8. Spanish Art3,404▼ 0.71×1 topic
  9. Art Therapy3,046▲ 1.21×1 topic
  10. Public Health3,046▲ 1.21×1 topic
  11. Archives2,570▼ 0.50×1 topic
  12. Digital Preservation2,570▼ 0.50×1 topic
  13. Education1,371▼ 0.50×1 topic
  14. Interior Design1,371▼ 0.50×1 topic

Which countries lead Conservation research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, Italy and the United Kingdom rank highest in Conservation. By volume, Indonesia and the United States publish the most (6.4k and 2.1k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #5 all time 33.7% top 10% · 900 works
  2. 2 Italy · #3 all time 34.5% top 10% · 933 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #2 all time 29.8% top 10% · 1k works
  4. 4 United States · #1 all time 16.7% top 10% · 2.1k works
  5. 5 Spain · #4 all time 13.0% top 10% · 1.8k works
  6. 6 Indonesia · #10 all time 5.4% top 10% · 6.4k works
  7. 7 Australia · #6 all time 28.7% top 10% · 375 works
  8. 8 Canada · #8 all time 19.6% top 10% · 424 works
  9. 9 Germany · #11 all time 21.9% top 10% · 269 works
  10. 10 France · #7 all time 18.6% top 10% · 345 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 17 countries ranked in Conservation. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Conservation

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Indonesia 6.4k works
  2. 2 United States 2.1k works
  3. 3 Spain 1.8k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 1k works
  5. 5 Italy 933 works
  6. 6 China 900 works
  7. 7 Canada 424 works
  8. 8 Australia 375 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 345 works
  10. 10 France 345 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: 43.9%United States: 14.4%Spain: 12.3%United Kingdom: 6.9%6 others listed: 22.6%44%largest
Indonesia6,445 · 43.9%United States2,114 · 14.4%Spain1,806 · 12.3%United Kingdom1,007 · 6.9%6 others listed3,322 · 22.6%

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

Which institutions lead Conservation research?

Sapienza University of Rome (Italy) ranks first in Conservation on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Universidad de Sevilla and Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Sapienza University of Rome Italy · Rome · #5 all time 32.6% top 10% · 60 works
  2. 2 Universidad de Sevilla Spain · Seville · #8 all time 12.3% top 10% · 149 works
  3. 3 Universidad Complutense de Madrid Spain · Madrid · #13 all time 10.2% top 10% · 145 works
  4. 4 Universidad de Granada Spain · Granada · #16 all time 13.0% top 10% · 89 works
  5. 5 Universitas Gadjah Mada Indonesia · Yogyakarta · #20 all time 11.6% top 10% · 124 works
  6. 6 University of Indonesia Indonesia · Depok · #32 all time 14.6% top 10% · 91 works
  7. 7 Diponegoro University Indonesia · Semarang · #14 all time 8.6% top 10% · 119 works
  8. 8 Binus University Indonesia · Jakarta · #33 all time 10.4% top 10% · 69 works
  9. 9 Tarumanagara University Indonesia · Jakarta · #38 all time 1.5% top 10% · 266 works
  10. 10 Bandung Institute of Technology Indonesia · Bandung · #29 all time 6.5% top 10% · 110 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 28 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Conservation.

Top 100 Conservation institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Tarumanagara University Indonesia 266 works
  2. 2 University of Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jawa Timur Indonesia 159 works
  3. 3 Universidad de Sevilla Spain 149 works
  4. 4 Universidad Complutense de Madrid Spain 145 works
  5. 5 Universitas Gadjah Mada Indonesia 124 works
  6. 6 Diponegoro University Indonesia 119 works
  7. 7 Universitas Trisakti Indonesia 116 works
  8. 8 Bandung Institute of Technology Indonesia 110 works
  9. 9 Sebelas Maret University Indonesia 105 works
  10. 10 Institut Seni Indonesia Denpasar Indonesia 92 works

Who are the leading researchers in Conservation?

Among the most productive authors in Conservation, Peter Burke, P. D. Jones and Rudolf Arnheim rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Peter Burke United States · #136 worldwide 997 citations · 191 works
  2. 2 P. D. Jones United Kingdom · #1,948 worldwide 3.4k citations · 191 works
  3. 3 Rudolf Arnheim United States · #4,386 worldwide 489 citations · 145 works
  4. 4 Paul T. Jaeger United States · #6,652 worldwide 618 citations · 104 works
  5. 5 Antonio Mestre Spain · #9,032 worldwide 471 citations · 54 works
  6. 6 Brian W. Matthews United States · #9,263 worldwide 1.5k citations · 151 works
  7. 7 Erwin Panofsky Nigeria · #9,784 worldwide 226 citations · 71 works
  8. 8 Woodrow Borah United States · #11,660 worldwide 192 citations · 91 works
  9. 9 Alan D. Deyermond United Kingdom · #13,502 worldwide 153 citations · 74 works
  10. 10 Roberto Scopigno Italy · #13,829 worldwide 810 citations · 99 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 2,693 highest-output authors in Conservation. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Conservation researchers

Where is Conservation research done?

The largest centres of Conservation research in 2022–2025 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, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Jakarta Indonesia 959 works
  2. 2 Bandung Indonesia 635 works
  3. 3 Surabaya Indonesia 576 works
  4. 4 Madrid Spain 486 works
  5. 5 Semarang Indonesia 383 works
  6. 6 Yogyakarta Indonesia 342 works
  7. 7 London United Kingdom 313 works
  8. 8 Medan Indonesia 288 works
  9. 9 Denpasar Indonesia 284 works
  10. 10 Makassar Indonesia 269 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BantulID · 38.8 works32×
  2. PadangpanjangID · 27.2 works30×
  3. ValladolidES · 77.9 works12×
  4. EvoraPT · 20.8 works11×
  5. BalikpapanID · 36.0 works10×
  6. GorontaloID · 98.8 works10×
  7. SevilleES · 186.9 works10.0×
← 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, University of Évora, Tel Hai Academic College and Universidad de Sevilla 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 24.02%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Évora: 21, 31.2%Tel Hai Academic College: 11, 52.0%Universidad de Sevilla: 149, 12.3%Tarumanagara University: 266, 1.5%Universitas Syiah Kuala: 83, 10.8%Politecnico di Milano: 51, 38.9%Universidad de Valladolid: 74, 6.9%Universitas Trisakti: 116, 2.8%University of Haifa: 28, 40.8%Lesley University: 11, 43.0%Tel Hai Academic Col…University of ÉvoraUniversidad de SevillaTarumanagara Univers…
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
1University of Évora Portugal 67.431.2%11.9×21 +268.9%
2Tel Hai Academic College Israel 62.052.0%18.4×11 +39.9%
3Universidad de Sevilla Spain 61.012.3%14.5×149 +99.5%
4Tarumanagara University Indonesia 60.91.5%26.0×266 +2284.0%
5Universitas Syiah Kuala Indonesia 59.610.8%9.8×83 +534.4%
6Politecnico di Milano Italy 58.938.9%3.7×51 +192.1%
7Universidad de Valladolid Spain 58.36.9%15.5×74 +182.0%
8Universitas Trisakti Indonesia 57.22.8%14.1×116 +6993.5%
9University of Haifa Israel 56.840.8%6.4×28 +93.3%
10Lesley University United States 56.443.0%89.6×11 +35.0%

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 Conservation research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 60% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Architectural and Urban Studies, Art Therapy and Mental Health and Historical Art and Architecture Studies.

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. Architectural and Urban Studies+1126%
  2. Art Therapy and Mental Health+266%
  3. Historical Art and Architecture Studies+207%
  4. Conservation Techniques and Studies+195%
  5. Digital and Traditional Archives Management+82%
  6. Architecture, Design, and Social History+54%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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