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Subfield · Neuroscience

Developmental Neuroscience research

Developmental Neuroscience is a subfield of Neuroscience. Science Explorer counts 82k 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: scientific study of the nervous system.

Research works
82k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
8.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
3
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
33% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Developmental Neuroscience

What is Developmental Neuroscience research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are Brain Development, Anesthesia, Neurotoxicity, Adult Stem Cells, Neurogenesis, Neurodevelopmental Disorders.

▲ 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 7 words, with their numbers
  1. Brain Development13k◆ 0.99×2 topics
  2. Anesthesia6,906◆ 1.09×1 topic
  3. Neurotoxicity6,906◆ 1.09×1 topic
  4. Adult Stem Cells5,893◆ 0.90×1 topic
  5. Neurogenesis5,893◆ 0.90×1 topic
  6. Neurodevelopmental Disorders869◆ 1.12×1 topic
  7. Williams Syndrome869◆ 1.12×1 topic

Which countries lead Developmental Neuroscience research?

On research quality in 2022-now, the United States, China and Germany rank highest in Developmental Neuroscience. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3k and 2.6k works in 2022-now).

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States #1 all time 1.08× citation excellence · 1.69× journals · 100% breadth 10.8% top 10% · 2.4k works
  2. 2 China #3 all time 1.34× citation excellence · 0.89× journals · 100% breadth 14.9% top 10% · 2.3k works
  3. 3 Germany #2 all time 1.26× citation excellence · 1.52× journals · 100% breadth 11.9% top 10% · 406 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom #4 all time 1.17× citation excellence · 1.39× journals · 100% breadth 11.4% top 10% · 364 works
  5. 5 Canada #5 all time 1.17× citation excellence · 1.25× journals · 100% breadth 11.9% top 10% · 280 works
  6. 6 France #6 all time 1.01× citation excellence · 1.50× journals · 100% breadth 8.5% top 10% · 254 works
  7. 7 Italy #13 all time 1.39× citation excellence · 0.69× journals · 100% breadth 13.4% top 10% · 284 works
  8. 8 Spain #11 all time 0.97× citation excellence · 0.86× journals · 100% breadth 8.8% top 10% · 250 works
  9. 9 South Korea #17 all time 1.00× citation excellence · 0.73× journals · 100% breadth 9.9% top 10% · 230 works
  10. 10 Japan #14 all time 0.61× citation excellence · 0.65× journals · 100% breadth 5.1% top 10% · 457 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 14 countries ranked in Developmental Neuroscience. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Developmental Neuroscience

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 3k works
  2. 2 China 2.6k works
  3. 3 Japan 539 works
  4. 4 India 524 works
  5. 5 Germany 492 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 441 works
  7. 7 Russia 345 works
  8. 8 Italy 343 works
  9. 9 Canada 338 works
  10. 10 France 311 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: 33.3%China: 29.4%Japan: 6.0%India: 5.9%6 others listed: 25.4%33%largest
United States2,976 · 33.3%China2,625 · 29.4%Japan539 · 6.0%India524 · 5.9%6 others listed2,270 · 25.4%

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

Which institutions lead Developmental Neuroscience research?

Harvard University (United States) ranks first in Developmental Neuroscience on research quality in 2022-now, followed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard University United States · Cambridge · #1 all time 16.7% top 10% · 121 works
  2. 2 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China · Shanghai · #39 all time 14.0% top 10% · 70 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of Sciences Russia · Moscow 0.9% top 10% · 105 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 3 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Developmental Neuroscience.

Top 100 Developmental Neuroscience institutions

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 144 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 115 works
  3. 3 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 79 works
  4. 4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 72 works
  5. 5 University of TorontoCanada 71 works
  6. 6 Capital Medical UniversityChina 68 works
  7. 7 Sichuan UniversityChina 63 works
  8. 8 Fudan UniversityChina 63 works
  9. 9 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 63 works
  10. 10 Zhejiang UniversityChina 61 works

Who are the leading researchers in Developmental Neuroscience?

Counting only their work in Developmental Neuroscience, Fred H. Gage, Arturo Álvarez-Buylla and John L.R. Rubenstein have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

  1. 1 Fred H. Gage United States · #884 worldwide overall 64.7 of 130 papers here in the top 10%
  2. 2 Arturo Álvarez-Buylla United States · #533 worldwide overall 38.0 of 57 papers here in the top 10%
  3. 3 John L.R. Rubenstein United States · #1,194 worldwide overall 31.1 of 56 papers here in the top 10%
  4. 4 PASKO T. RAKIC United States · #5,724 worldwide overall 31.2 of 64 papers here in the top 10%
  5. 5 Magdalena Götz Germany · #10,942 worldwide overall 30.7 of 68 papers here in the top 10%
  6. 6 Arnold R. Kriegstein United States · #2,080 worldwide overall 26.3 of 39 papers here in the top 10%
  7. 7 Gerd Kempermann Germany · #15,865 worldwide overall 28.0 of 66 papers here in the top 10%
  8. 8 Klaus‐Armin Nave Germany · #9,350 worldwide overall 24.3 of 50 papers here in the top 10%
  9. 9 Robin J.M. Franklin United Kingdom · #29,937 worldwide overall 27.6 of 85 papers here in the top 10%
  10. 10 José Manuel García‐Verdugo Spain · #38,320 worldwide overall 25.2 of 68 papers here in the top 10%

Ranked on their work in Developmental Neuroscience alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 403,590 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 Developmental Neuroscience researchers

What are the most cited papers in Developmental Neuroscience?

The most cited paper in Developmental Neuroscience is "Epigenetic Regulations of GABAergic Neurotransmission: Relevance for Neurological Disorders and Epigenetic Therapy" (Shikshya Shrestha, Steven M. Offer, 2016), with 8,958 citations. Next come "Preconditioning with ischemia: a delay of lethal cell injury in ischemic myocardium." (7,857) and "Ethical guidelines for investigations of experimental pain in conscious animals" (7,814).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Epigenetic Regulations of GABAergic Neurotransmission: Relevance for Neurological Disorders and Epigenetic Therapy Shikshya Shrestha, Steven M. Offer · Medical Epigenetics Open access 23 Mar 2016 8,958
2 Preconditioning with ischemia: a delay of lethal cell injury in ischemic myocardium. Charles E. Murry, Robert B. Jennings, K A Reimer · Circulation Open access Nov 1986 7,857
3 Ethical guidelines for investigations of experimental pain in conscious animals Manfred Zimmermann · Pain Jun 1983 7,814
4 Neurogenesis in the adult human hippocampus Peter S. Eriksson, Ekaterina Perfilieva, Thomas Björk‐Eriksson et al. · Nature Medicine Nov 1998 6,370
5 Cerebral organoids model human brain development and microcephaly Madeline A. Lancaster, Magdalena Renner, Carol-Anne Martin et al. · Nature Open access 27 Aug 2013 5,545
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Developmental Neuroscience research done?

The largest centres of Developmental Neuroscience research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Guangzhou (China) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Zunyi, Nantong and Xuzhou.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 306 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 236 works
  3. 3 GuangzhouChina 166 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 156 works
  5. 5 MoscowRussia 154 works
  6. 6 ParisFrance 151 works
  7. 7 TokyoJapan 144 works
  8. 8 New YorkUnited States 130 works
  9. 9 BostonUnited States 120 works
  10. 10 SeoulSouth Korea 120 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. ZunyiCN · 24.1 works9.5×
  2. NantongCN · 39.2 works6.8×
  3. XuzhouCN · 23.4 works5.6×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Developmental Neuroscience on the map

Developmental Neuroscience research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Developmental Neuroscience?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, Stanford University and University of California, San Francisco 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 13.83%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Harvard UniversityStanford UniversityUniversity of Califo…Johns Hopkins Univer…
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
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 88.7#1 (#1)16.9%4.2×144 -5.2%
2Stanford UniversityUnited States 64.9- (#2)15.3%3.3×53 -4.5%
3University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 60.6- (#3)14.4%5.0×39 -2.3%
4Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 56.3- (#5)14.2%3.8×63 -6.2%
5Yale UniversityUnited States 53.6- (#7)16.2%3.3×38 -2.1%
6University of TorontoCanada 53.3- (#8)13.9%3.3×71 -3.3%
7Washington University in St. LouisUnited States 51.6- (#9)13.8%4.4×34 +7.8%
8University College LondonUnited Kingdom 47.4- (#10)10.7%2.8×47 -18.0%
9Columbia UniversityUnited States 47.3- (#12)11.7%3.0×36 +0.2%
10University of California San DiegoUnited States 45.8- (#11)11.2%2.9×30 +0.4%

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 Developmental Neuroscience, country by country

Is Developmental Neuroscience research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Williams Syndrome Research and Anesthesia and Neurotoxicity Research.

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 Developmental Neuroscience as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.047% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Developmental Neuroscience0.052% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Developmental Neuroscience 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%Developmental Neuroscience10.0% 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. Williams Syndrome Research+12%
  2. Anesthesia and Neurotoxicity Research+4%
  3. Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms-2%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Developmental Neuroscience include?

Share who leads Developmental Neuroscience

Who leads Developmental Neuroscience, on Science Explorer

A card with the countries and institutions that lead Developmental Neuroscience, 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' badges3Each links to that institution's page and updates with every snapshot

Discussion

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