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Subfield · Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Forestry research

Forestry is a subfield of Agricultural and Biological Sciences. Science Explorer counts 96k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: science and craft of creating, managing, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits.

Research works
96k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
9.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
7
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-4%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Brazil
41% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Forestry

What is Forestry research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are Agroforestry, Economic Analysis, Environmental Impact, Sustainable Agriculture, Forest Biomass, Wood Residues. Gaining share since 2011-15: Forest Health, Medicinal Plants, Livestock, Rangelands, Biodiversity Conservation. Losing share: Grazing Management, Perennial Pastures, Forest Biomass, Wood Residues.

▲ 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 21 words, with their numbers
  1. Agroforestry14k▲ 1.35×3 topics
  2. Economic Analysis14k▼ 0.86×3 topics
  3. Environmental Impact11k▼ 0.78×2 topics
  4. Sustainable Agriculture10k◆ 1.13×2 topics
  5. Forest Biomass10k▼ 0.77×1 topic
  6. Wood Residues10k▼ 0.77×1 topic
  7. Biodiversity Conservation10k▲ 1.45×2 topics
  8. Climate Resilience10k▲ 1.45×2 topics
  9. Indigenous Fruits6,349◆ 1.11×1 topic
  10. Tree Domestication6,349◆ 1.11×1 topic
  11. Biodiversity4,013▲ 1.16×1 topic
  12. Ecosystem Services4,013▲ 1.16×1 topic
  13. Forest Health3,661▲ 3.0×1 topic
  14. Medicinal Plants3,661▲ 3.0×1 topic
  15. Agriculture3,557▲ 1.28×2 topics
  16. Livestock2,558▲ 1.60×1 topic
  17. Rangelands2,558▲ 1.60×1 topic
  18. Logistics999▼ 0.84×1 topic
  19. Transportation999▼ 0.84×1 topic
  20. Grazing Management987▼ 0.42×1 topic
  21. Perennial Pastures987▼ 0.42×1 topic

Which countries lead Forestry research?

On research quality in 2022-now, the United States, China and Germany rank highest in Forestry. By volume, Brazil and Indonesia publish the most (7.3k and 3.2k works in 2022-now).

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States #1 all time 0.93× citation excellence · 1.53× journals · 100% breadth 11.9% top 10% · 1k works
  2. 2 China #5 all time 1.68× citation excellence · 1.04× journals · 100% breadth 30.2% top 10% · 609 works
  3. 3 Germany #6 all time 1.63× citation excellence · 1.40× journals · 100% breadth 15.4% top 10% · 250 works
  4. 4 France #3 all time 1.06× citation excellence · 1.25× journals · 100% breadth 6.5% top 10% · 578 works
  5. 5 Brazil #2 all time 0.87× citation excellence · 0.33× journals · 100% breadth 8.0% top 10% · 6.9k works
  6. 6 United Kingdom #7 all time 1.17× citation excellence · 1.44× journals · 100% breadth 15.7% top 10% · 214 works
  7. 7 Australia #4 all time 1.07× citation excellence · 1.19× journals · 100% breadth 11.3% top 10% · 228 works
  8. 8 Spain #8 all time 1.11× citation excellence · 0.99× journals · 100% breadth 13.6% top 10% · 251 works
  9. 9 India #12 all time 0.86× citation excellence · 0.45× journals · 100% breadth 12.7% top 10% · 940 works
  10. 10 Portugal #13 all time 1.45× citation excellence · 0.56× journals · 100% breadth 14.4% top 10% · 200 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 Forestry. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Forestry

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Brazil 7.3k works
  2. 2 Indonesia 3.2k works
  3. 3 Türkiye 1.9k works
  4. 4 United States 1.2k works
  5. 5 India 1.1k works
  6. 6 China 756 works
  7. 7 Nigeria 733 works
  8. 8 France 628 works
  9. 9 Mexico 398 works
  10. 10 Ethiopia 309 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.

Brazil: 41.5%Indonesia: 18.2%Türkiye: 10.8%United States: 7.1%6 others listed: 22.4%41%largest
Brazil7,307 · 41.5%Indonesia3,215 · 18.2%Türkiye1,909 · 10.8%United States1,245 · 7.1%6 others listed3,941 · 22.4%

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

Which institutions lead Forestry research?

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) ranks first in Forestry on research quality in 2022-now, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement.

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #2 all time 30.1% top 10% · 61 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #1 all time 5.3% top 10% · 140 works
  3. 3 Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement France · Paris · #3 all time 6.1% top 10% · 126 works
  4. 4 Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation Brazil · Brasília · #8 all time 15.7% top 10% · 131 works
  5. 5 Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia Brazil · Belém · #24 all time 10.3% top 10% · 74 works
  6. 6 São Paulo State Technological College Brazil · São Paulo · #23 all time 5.6% top 10% · 67 works
  7. 7 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil · São Paulo · #6 all time 12.7% top 10% · 141 works
  8. 8 Universidade Federal de Viçosa Brazil · Viçosa · #4 all time 15.9% top 10% · 92 works
  9. 9 Lampung University Indonesia · Bandar Lampung · #36 all time 9.9% top 10% · 78 works
  10. 10 Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) Brazil · Campinas · #9 all time 13.6% top 10% · 66 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 48 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Forestry.

Top 100 Forestry institutions

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 IPB UniversityIndonesia 175 works
  2. 2 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 151 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 150 works
  4. 4 Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)Brazil 150 works
  5. 5 Brazilian Agricultural Research CorporationBrazil 141 works
  6. 6 Universidade Federal do ParáBrazil 141 works
  7. 7 Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'EnvironnementFrance 139 works
  8. 8 Indian Council of Agricultural ResearchIndia 127 works
  9. 9 Universidade Federal do ParanáBrazil 118 works
  10. 10 Universidade Federal do AmazonasBrazil 117 works

Who are the leading researchers in Forestry?

Counting only their work in Forestry, Wopke van der Werf, Gerardo Moreno and Frans Bongers have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

  1. 1 Wopke van der Werf Netherlands · #504,303 worldwide overall 24.7 of 28 papers here in the top 10%
  2. 2 Gerardo Moreno Spain · #72,257 worldwide overall 16.3 of 22 papers here in the top 10%
  3. 3 Frans Bongers Netherlands · #6,283 worldwide overall 14.5 of 27 papers here in the top 10%
  4. 4 Adjima Thiombiano Burkina Faso · #1,228,250 worldwide overall 20.3 of 48 papers here in the top 10%
  5. 5 P. K. R. Nair United States · #317,040 worldwide overall 15.2 of 36 papers here in the top 10%
  6. 6 Paul Burgess United Kingdom · #210,319 worldwide overall 13.1 of 24 papers here in the top 10%
  7. 7 Long Li China · #44,941 worldwide overall 10.3 of 12 papers here in the top 10%
  8. 8 Achille Ephrem Assogbadjo Benin · #2,731,344 worldwide overall 24.7 of 68 papers here in the top 10%
  9. 9 Qiang Chai China · #198,657 worldwide overall 12.2 of 15 papers here in the top 10%
  10. 10 Florence A. Volaire France · #269,256 worldwide overall 10.9 of 27 papers here in the top 10%

Ranked on their work in Forestry alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 285,404 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 Forestry researchers

What are the most cited papers in Forestry?

The most cited paper in Forestry is "The Effect of Riding as an Alternative Treatment for Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" (Guoqin Wang, Ruiqin Ma, Guangwei Qiao et al., 2015), with 18,689 citations. Next come "Vive la différence: plant functional diversity matters to ecosystem processes" (3,305) and "An overview of APSIM, a model designed for farming systems simulation" (2,901).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Effect of Riding as an Alternative Treatment for Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Guoqin Wang, Ruiqin Ma, Guangwei Qiao et al. · Integrative Medicine International ReviewOpen access 2 Apr 2015 18,689
2 Vive la différence: plant functional diversity matters to ecosystem processes Sandra M. Díaz, Marcelo Cabido · Trends in Ecology & Evolution ReviewOpen access Nov 2001 3,305
3 An overview of APSIM, a model designed for farming systems simulation B. A. Keating et al. · European Journal of Agronomy Open access 28 Dec 2002 2,901
4 Assessing the generality of global leaf trait relationships Ian J. Wright, Peter B. Reich, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen et al. · New Phytologist 3 Feb 2005 2,606
5 Phytochemical constituents of some Nigerian medicinal plants Hilary O. Edeoga, D. E. Okwu, B. O. Mbaebie · AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY Open access May 2005 2,465
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Forestry research done?

The largest centres of Forestry research in 2022-now are São Paulo (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Brasília (Brazil) and Belém (Brazil). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Daloa, Korhogo and Müncheberg.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 São PauloBrazil 779 works
  2. 2 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 376 works
  3. 3 BrasíliaBrazil 373 works
  4. 4 BelémBrazil 361 works
  5. 5 CuritibaBrazil 254 works
  6. 6 JakartaIndonesia 241 works
  7. 7 RecifeBrazil 239 works
  8. 8 BogorIndonesia 231 works
  9. 9 ManausBrazil 220 works
  10. 10 FortalezaBrazil 194 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. DaloaCI · 55.2 works85×
  2. KorhogoCI · 37.3 works73×
  3. MünchebergDE · 50.8 works65×
  4. ParakouBJ · 34.3 works50×
  5. CarlowIE · 61.1 works39×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Forestry on the map

Forestry research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Forestry?

Among universities, judged by research, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Universidade de São Paulo and Wageningen University & Research 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 12.43%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Wageningen Universit…Universidade Federal…Universidade Estadua…Universidade de São …
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
1Universidade Federal de ViçosaBrazil 76.9#8 (#4)15.6%17.9×96 -39.8%
2Universidade de São PauloBrazil 74.0#7 (#6)12.5%3.5×151 -9.4%
3Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 71.8- (#5)27.9%2.9×22 +19.2%
4Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)Brazil 60.8#10 (#9)13.4%4.4×70 -60.8%
5Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)Brazil 57.4#25 (#11)9.3%8.5×150 -33.9%
6Universidade Federal de LavrasBrazil 55.8#19 (#16)16.7%20.7×72 -46.5%
7Universidade Federal Rural da AmazôniaBrazil 53.1#5 (#24)10.1%77.2×79 -34.3%
8São Paulo State Technological CollegeBrazil 49.2#6 (#23)5.6%66.1×85 -39.9%
9Universidade Federal do TocantinsBrazil 48.6#14 (#18)7.0%25.4×75 -42.3%
10Université d'Abomey-CalaviBenin 47.9#15 (#28)6.2%43.9×88 -2.8%

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 Forestry, country by country

Is Forestry research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 4% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020. The fastest-growing topics are Agroforestry and silvopastoral systems, African Botany and Ecology Studies and Forest Ecology and Conservation.

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 Forestry as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.095% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Forestry0.094% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Forestry 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%Forestry10.4% 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. Agroforestry and silvopastoral systems+41%
  2. African Botany and Ecology Studies+24%
  3. Forest Ecology and Conservation+21%
  4. Pasture and Agricultural Systems+20%
  5. Agricultural and Rural Development Research+4%
  6. Logistics and Infrastructure Analysis-24%
  7. Agricultural and Food Sciences-30%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Forestry include?

Agricultural and Food Sc…38kAgricultural and Food Sciences: 38k fractional worksAfrican Botany and Ecolo…20kAfrican Botany and Ecology Studies: 20k fractional worksAgroforestry and silvopa…13kAgroforestry and silvopastoral systems: 13k fractional worksForest Ecology and Conse…7,344Forest Ecology and Conservation: 7,344 fractional worksPasture and Agricultural Systems: 7,119 fractional worksAgricultural and Rural Development Research: 6,667 fractional worksLogistics and Infrastructure Analysis: 3,691 fractional works

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

Share who leads Forestry

Who leads Forestry, on Science Explorer

A card with the countries and institutions that lead Forestry, for a post or a slide.

Download the card

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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