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Subfield · Environmental Science

Environmental Engineering research

Environmental Engineering is a subfield of Environmental Science. Science Explorer counts 450k research works in it since 1950. 22.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: professional engineering discipline related to environmental science.

Research works
450k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
100k
per year above
Top-10% rate
22.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
19
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+53%
the tick is no change

What is Environmental Engineering research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Remote Sensing, Machine Learning, Forecasting, Air Quality, Environmental Impact, Climate Change. Gaining share since 2009–13: Air Pollution, GIS, Groundwater Potential, Green Roofs, Urban Heat Island. Losing share: Groundwater Flow, Transport Modeling, Reactive Transport, Satellite Observations.

▲ 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 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Remote Sensing29k◆ 1.08×4 topics
  2. Machine Learning23k◆ 1.13×3 topics
  3. Forecasting19k▲ 1.37×2 topics
  4. Air Quality18k▼ 0.85×2 topics
  5. Environmental Impact18k◆ 1.10×2 topics
  6. Climate Change17k▲ 1.54×3 topics
  7. Greenhouse Gas Emissions16k◆ 1.07×2 topics
  8. Life Cycle Assessment16k◆ 1.07×2 topics
  9. Sustainability Assessment15k◆ 0.96×2 topics
  10. Forest Carbon Stocks14k▲ 1.17×1 topic
  11. Lidar Remote Sensing14k▲ 1.17×1 topic
  12. CFD Simulation13k▼ 0.75×1 topic
  13. Urban Microclimate13k▼ 0.75×1 topic
  14. Carbon Footprint13k◆ 1.04×1 topic
  15. Water Footprint13k◆ 1.04×1 topic
  16. Reactive Transport13k▼ 0.64×2 topics
  17. Air Quality Monitoring13k▲ 1.37×1 topic
  18. Low-Cost Sensors13k▲ 1.37×1 topic
  19. Green Roofs12k▲ 1.68×1 topic
  20. Urban Heat Island12k▲ 1.68×1 topic
  21. Groundwater Flow7,399▼ 0.57×1 topic
  22. Transport Modeling7,399▼ 0.57×1 topic
  23. Extracellular Electron Transfer6,423◆ 0.98×1 topic
  24. Microbial Fuel Cells6,423◆ 0.98×1 topic
  25. Renewable Energy5,939▲ 1.63×2 topics
  26. Artificial Neural Networks5,937▲ 1.38×1 topic
  27. Hydrology5,937▲ 1.38×1 topic
  28. GIS5,843▲ 1.70×1 topic
  29. Groundwater Potential5,843▲ 1.70×1 topic
  30. Satellite Observations5,707▼ 0.67×1 topic
  31. Soil Moisture5,707▼ 0.67×1 topic
  32. CO2 Sequestration5,411▼ 0.77×1 topic
  33. Geological Storage5,411▼ 0.77×1 topic
  34. Sustainable Drainage Systems4,919▼ 0.78×1 topic
  35. Urban Stormwater Management4,919▼ 0.78×1 topic
  36. Digital Soil Mapping4,846▼ 0.68×1 topic
  37. Geostatistics4,846▼ 0.68×1 topic
  38. Emissions4,730▲ 1.31×1 topic
  39. Maritime Transportation4,730▲ 1.31×1 topic
  40. Air Pollution3,102▲ 2.4×1 topic

Which countries lead Environmental Engineering research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and India rank highest in Environmental Engineering. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (34k and 11k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 26.5% top 10% · 34k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 18.1% top 10% · 11k works
  3. 3 India · #10 all time 15.0% top 10% · 9k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom · #3 all time 24.0% top 10% · 3.1k works
  5. 5 Italy · #5 all time 22.0% top 10% · 3.2k works
  6. 6 Germany · #4 all time 20.6% top 10% · 3.2k works
  7. 7 Australia · #7 all time 25.7% top 10% · 1.9k works
  8. 8 Türkiye · #16 all time 17.5% top 10% · 2.4k works
  9. 9 Iran · #18 all time 21.5% top 10% · 2k works
  10. 10 Canada · #8 all time 19.5% top 10% · 2.3k 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 65 countries ranked in Environmental Engineering. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Environmental Engineering

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 34k works
  2. 2 United States 11k works
  3. 3 India 9k works
  4. 4 Germany 3.2k works
  5. 5 Italy 3.2k works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 3.1k works
  7. 7 France 2.6k works
  8. 8 Brazil 2.5k works
  9. 9 Türkiye 2.4k works
  10. 10 Canada 2.3k 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: 46.2%United States: 15.5%India: 12.2%Germany: 4.3%6 others listed: 21.8%46%largest
China34k · 46.2%United States11k · 15.5%India8,964 · 12.2%Germany3,206 · 4.3%6 others listed16k · 21.8%

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

Which institutions lead Environmental Engineering research?

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) ranks first in Environmental Engineering on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Tsinghua University and Wuhan University.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #5 all time 29.3% top 10% · 724 works
  2. 2 Tsinghua University China · Beijing · #7 all time 32.1% top 10% · 455 works
  3. 3 Wuhan University China · Wuhan · #19 all time 32.9% top 10% · 428 works
  4. 4 Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong · Hong Kong · #9 all time 44.2% top 10% · 299 works
  5. 5 Chongqing University China · Chongqing · #39 all time 33.6% top 10% · 352 works
  6. 6 Central South University China · Changsha · #16 all time 38.5% top 10% · 304 works
  7. 7 Harbin Institute of Technology China · Harbin · #36 all time 29.4% top 10% · 391 works
  8. 8 Peking University China · Beijing · #34 all time 33.5% top 10% · 255 works
  9. 9 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #46 all time 31.5% top 10% · 395 works
  10. 10 Tongji University China · Shanghai · #44 all time 28.1% top 10% · 423 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 315 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Environmental Engineering.

Top 100 Environmental Engineering institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China 724 works
  2. 2 Tsinghua University China 455 works
  3. 3 Wuhan University China 428 works
  4. 4 Tongji University China 423 works
  5. 5 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China 395 works
  6. 6 Harbin Institute of Technology China 391 works
  7. 7 Chongqing University China 352 works
  8. 8 Hohai University China 350 works
  9. 9 Zhejiang University China 339 works
  10. 10 China University of Mining and Technology China 334 works

Who are the leading researchers in Environmental Engineering?

Among the most productive authors in Environmental Engineering, Lídia Morawska, George Em Karniadakis and Shanshan Li rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Lídia Morawska Australia · #114 worldwide 6.4k citations · 210 works
  2. 2 George Em Karniadakis United States · #151 worldwide 6.3k citations · 268 works
  3. 3 Shanshan Li Australia · #263 worldwide 3.7k citations · 160 works
  4. 4 Yuming Guo Australia · #599 worldwide 3.8k citations · 150 works
  5. 5 Jozef Deckers Belgium · #849 worldwide 2.8k citations · 132 works
  6. 6 Vipin Kumar United States · #864 worldwide 3.9k citations · 115 works
  7. 7 Jean‐François Lamarque United States · #1,188 worldwide 2.6k citations · 134 works
  8. 8 Markus Reichstein Germany · #1,232 worldwide 3.2k citations · 155 works
  9. 9 Michael Bräuer Canada · #1,380 worldwide 3.8k citations · 171 works
  10. 10 Robert Costanza Australia · #1,631 worldwide 3.2k citations · 158 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 5,758 highest-output authors in Environmental Engineering. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Environmental Engineering researchers

Where is Environmental Engineering research done?

The largest centres of Environmental Engineering research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Shanghai (China) and Wuhan (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Kirkkonummi.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 7.9k works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 2.3k works
  3. 3 Shanghai China 2.1k works
  4. 4 Wuhan China 1.9k works
  5. 5 Xi'an China 1.3k works
  6. 6 Guangzhou China 1.3k works
  7. 7 Chengdu China 1k works
  8. 8 Hangzhou China 915 works
  9. 9 Qingdao China 862 works
  10. 10 Tehran Iran 857 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. KirkkonummiFI · 20.4 works19×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Environmental Engineering on the map

Environmental Engineering research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Environmental Engineering?

Among universities, judged by research, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China University of Geosciences and China University of Petroleum, East China 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 35.18%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Hong Kong Polytechnic University: 299, 44.2%China University of Geosciences: 285, 34.6%China University of Petroleum, East China: 209, 31.0%King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals: 160, 32.5%Aerospace Information Research Institute: 126, 27.1%Hong Kong University of Science and Technology: 107, 40.7%Northwest A&F University: 140, 36.8%National University of Singapore: 181, 38.4%Wuhan University: 428, 32.9%Chongqing University: 352, 33.6%Hong Kong Polytechni…China University of …King Fahd University…China University of …
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
1Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong 64.844.2%3.1×299 +36.6%
2China University of Geosciences China 58.134.6%5.6×285 +42.3%
3China University of Petroleum, East China China 57.031.0%4.0×209 +302.7%
4King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Saudi Arabia 56.832.5%4.1×160 +132.4%
5Aerospace Information Research Institute China 56.727.1%9.7×126 —
6Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong 55.740.7%2.5×107 +84.1%
7Northwest A&F University China 54.136.8%3.2×140 +152.3%
8National University of Singapore Singapore 53.638.4%1.7×181 +65.5%
9Wuhan University China 53.332.9%3.2×428 +53.1%
10Chongqing University China 53.033.6%2.9×352 +73.1%

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 Environmental Engineering research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 53% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Environmental and Industrial Safety, Urban Heat Island Mitigation and Groundwater and Watershed Analysis.

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. Environmental and Industrial Safety+365%
  2. Urban Heat Island Mitigation+322%
  3. Groundwater and Watershed Analysis+299%
  4. Microbial Applications in Construction Materials+281%
  5. Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability+268%
  6. Environmental Impact and Sustainability+260%
  7. Environmental and Air Quality Management-26%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Environmental Engineering include?

Wind and Air Flow Studies57kWind and Air Flow Studies: 57k fractional worksRemote Sensing and LiDAR…44kRemote Sensing and LiDAR Applications: 44k fractional worksAir Quality Monitoring and Forecasting: 40k fractional worksEnvironmental Impact and…40kEnvironmental Impact and Sustainability: 40k fractional worksGroundwater flow and con…39kGroundwater flow and contamination studies: 39k fractional worksUrban Heat Island Mitigation: 34k fractional worksSoil Moisture and Remote Sensing: 26k fractional worksSoil Geostatistics and M…24kSoil Geostatistics and Mapping: 24k fractional worksCO2 Sequestration and Geologic Interactions: 22k fractional worksMicrobial Fuel Cells and Bioremediation: 21k fractional worksHydrological Forecasting Using AI: 18k fractional worksUrban Stormwater Management Solutions: 18k fractional works

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