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Subfield · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Developmental Biology research

Developmental Biology is a subfield of Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology. Science Explorer counts 33k research works in it since 1950. 22.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: explores the processes by which individual organisms grow and develop (ontogeny).

Research works
33k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
7.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
22.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
2
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+10%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Developmental Biology research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom rank highest in Developmental Biology. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.1k and 424 works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 18.1% top 10% · 1.1k works
  2. 2 Germany · #3 all time 30.8% top 10% · 228 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #2 all time 27.8% top 10% · 274 works
  4. 4 France · #5 all time 24.5% top 10% · 214 works
  5. 5 China · #9 all time 15.6% top 10% · 424 works
  6. 6 India · #13 all time 8.7% top 10% · 296 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 6 countries ranked in Developmental Biology. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Developmental Biology

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 1.1k works
  2. 2 China 424 works
  3. 3 India 295 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 274 works
  5. 5 Germany 228 works
  6. 6 France 214 works
  7. 7 Japan 183 works
  8. 8 Canada 177 works
  9. 9 Australia 146 works
  10. 10 Brazil 145 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.

United States: 35.2%China: 13.2%India: 9.2%United Kingdom: 8.5%6 others listed: 33.9%35%largest
United States1,132 · 35.2%China424 · 13.2%India295 · 9.2%United Kingdom274 · 8.5%6 others listed1,092 · 33.9%

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

Which institutions lead Developmental Biology research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Developmental Biology research, followed by Cornell University and University of St Andrews.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 26 works
  2. 2 Cornell UniversityUnited States 26 works
  3. 3 University of St AndrewsUnited Kingdom 24 works
  4. 4 University of ViennaAustria 16 works
  5. 5 University of ZurichSwitzerland 15 works
  6. 6 Kyoto UniversityJapan 15 works
  7. 7 University of California, Los AngelesUnited States 14 works
  8. 8 Adam Mickiewicz University in PoznańPoland 13 works
  9. 9 University of Maryland, College ParkUnited States 12 works
  10. 10 University of WashingtonUnited States 12 works

Who are the leading researchers in Developmental Biology?

Among the most productive authors in Developmental Biology, Kewal Krishan, Tanuj Kanchan and John Maynard Smith rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Kewal Krishan India · #1,159 worldwide 3.6k citations · 86 works
  2. 2 Tanuj Kanchan India · #1,503 worldwide 2.7k citations · 82 works
  3. 3 John Maynard Smith United Kingdom · #1,820 worldwide 2.2k citations · 83 works
  4. 4 David A. Wheeler United States · #2,355 worldwide 2k citations · 75 works
  5. 5 W. Walkowiak United Kingdom · #2,759 worldwide 8.4k citations · 427 works
  6. 6 Evan E. Eichler United States · #3,415 worldwide 1.3k citations · 94 works
  7. 7 Subhransu Maji United States · #3,477 worldwide 2.7k citations · 71 works
  8. 8 Michael J. Franklin United States · #4,089 worldwide 1.4k citations · 67 works
  9. 9 Innes C. Cuthill United Kingdom · #5,570 worldwide 1.7k citations · 65 works
  10. 10 Philip Leder United States · #5,844 worldwide 1.6k citations · 65 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 2,557 highest-output authors in Developmental Biology. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Developmental Biology researchers

Where is Developmental Biology research done?

The largest centres of Developmental Biology research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Paris (France), New York (United States) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in St Andrews.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 81 works
  2. 2 Paris France 77 works
  3. 3 New York United States 60 works
  4. 4 Tokyo Japan 54 works
  5. 5 London United Kingdom 41 works
  6. 6 Moscow Russia 36 works
  7. 7 Vienna Austria 35 works
  8. 8 Washington D.C. United States 29 works
  9. 9 São Paulo Brazil 28 works
  10. 10 Berlin Germany 27 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. St AndrewsGB · 23.7 works24×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Developmental Biology on the map

Developmental Biology research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Developmental Biology?

Among universities, judged by research, University of St Andrews, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and Cornell 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 36.26%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of St Andrews: 24, 42.0%University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna: 8, 46.1%Cornell University: 26, 27.7%University of Zurich: 15, 42.5%University of Exeter: 10, 35.2%University of Tübingen: 10, 43.5%Dalhousie University: 11, 36.6%University of Vienna: 16, 31.8%University of Turin: 9, 43.9%University of New Hampshire: 10, 13.3%University of Veteri…University of ZurichUniversity of St And…Cornell 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 University of St AndrewsUnited Kingdom 75.442.0%23.8×24 +9.1%
2 University of Veterinary Medicine ViennaAustria 69.646.1%32.5×8 +79.9%
3 Cornell UniversityUnited States 58.827.7%5.7×26 +36.4%
4 University of ZurichSwitzerland 58.042.5%6.1×15 +1.4%
5 University of ExeterUnited Kingdom 55.435.2%5.5×10 +98.2%
6 University of TübingenGermany 55.143.5%5.9×10 +47.9%
7 Dalhousie UniversityCanada 52.836.6%6.9×11 +29.9%
8 University of ViennaAustria 52.731.8%7.0×16 -11.3%
9 University of TurinItaly 46.843.9%4.0×9 +38.0%
10 University of New HampshireUnited States 46.113.3%23.4×10 +47.8%

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 Developmental Biology research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 10% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior and Congenital limb and hand anomalies.

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.

What does Developmental Biology include?