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Subfield · Materials Science

General Materials Science research

General Materials Science is a subfield of Materials Science. Science Explorer counts 67k research works in it since 1950. 13.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: research, discovery and design of physical materials (especially solids).

Research works
67k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
9.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
13.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
3
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+29%
the tick is no change

What is General Materials Science research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics, Polymer Composite Materials, Alloys, Phase Diagrams, Engineering, Materials Science. Gaining share since 2009–13: Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics, Polymer Composite Materials. Losing share: Alloys, Phase Diagrams, Engineering, Materials Science.

▲ 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 6 words, with their numbers
  1. Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics10k▲ 1.34×1 topic
  2. Polymer Composite Materials10k▲ 1.34×1 topic
  3. Alloys1,154▼ 0.36×1 topic
  4. Phase Diagrams1,154▼ 0.36×1 topic
  5. Engineering708▼ 0.55×1 topic
  6. Materials Science708▼ 0.55×1 topic

Which countries lead General Materials Science research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, Russia and India rank highest in General Materials Science. By volume, Russia and China publish the most (2.7k and 1.3k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #3 all time 17.9% top 10% · 1.3k works
  2. 2 Russia · #2 all time 7.1% top 10% · 2.7k works
  3. 3 India · #10 all time 14.1% top 10% · 411 works
  4. 4 Ukraine · #7 all time 10.9% top 10% · 698 works
  5. 5 United States · #1 all time 5.7% top 10% · 862 works
  6. 6 Poland · #9 all time 17.9% top 10% · 230 works
  7. 7 Germany · #6 all time 11.9% top 10% · 222 works
  8. 8 Japan · #5 all time 6.7% top 10% · 252 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 8 countries ranked in General Materials Science. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in General Materials Science

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Russia 2.7k works
  2. 2 China 1.3k works
  3. 3 United States 862 works
  4. 4 Ukraine 698 works
  5. 5 India 411 works
  6. 6 Japan 252 works
  7. 7 Poland 230 works
  8. 8 Germany 222 works
  9. 9 Uzbekistan 198 works
  10. 10 France 163 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.

Russia: 38.4%China: 18.2%United States: 12.3%Ukraine: 10.0%6 others listed: 21.1%38%largest
Russia2,685 · 38.4%China1,275 · 18.2%United States862 · 12.3%Ukraine698 · 10.0%6 others listed1,475 · 21.1%

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

Which institutions lead General Materials Science research?

Moscow Aviation Institute (Russia) ranks first in General Materials Science on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Bauman Moscow State Technical University and Volgograd State Technical University.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Moscow Aviation Institute Russia · Moscow · #3 all time 16.0% top 10% · 75 works
  2. 2 Bauman Moscow State Technical University Russia · Moscow · #2 all time 6.6% top 10% · 82 works
  3. 3 Volgograd State Technical University Russia · Volgograd · #36 all time 2.5% top 10% · 79 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 3 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in General Materials Science.

Top 100 General Materials Science institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Bauman Moscow State Technical University Russia 82 works
  2. 2 Volgograd State Technical University Russia 79 works
  3. 3 Moscow Aviation Institute Russia 75 works
  4. 4 Weatherford College United States 60 works
  5. 5 Kurchatov Institute Russia 53 works
  6. 6 National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” Ukraine 52 works
  7. 7 Russian Academy of Sciences Russia 48 works
  8. 8 Kazan State Technological University Russia 44 works
  9. 9 Saint-Petersburg State University of Technology and Design Russia 44 works
  10. 10 Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University Russia 43 works

Who are the leading researchers in General Materials Science?

Among the most productive authors in General Materials Science, Michael F. Ashby, John W. Hutchinson and A.G. Evans rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Michael F. Ashby United Kingdom · #174 worldwide 2.6k citations · 152 works
  2. 2 John W. Hutchinson United States · #1,071 worldwide 3.2k citations · 110 works
  3. 3 A.G. Evans United States · #1,647 worldwide 3.2k citations · 161 works
  4. 4 Ryogo Kubo Japan · #2,978 worldwide 4.1k citations · 66 works
  5. 5 Alain Dufresne France · #3,187 worldwide 2.2k citations · 140 works
  6. 6 Alex Zunger United States · #4,092 worldwide 4.7k citations · 278 works
  7. 7 B. L. Mordike Germany · #4,402 worldwide 1.7k citations · 78 works
  8. 8 Alexander Vilenkin United States · #5,474 worldwide 2k citations · 88 works
  9. 9 F. Erdoğan United States · #6,440 worldwide 1.8k citations · 57 works
  10. 10 В. В. Соколов Russia · #6,679 worldwide 1.1k citations · 60 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 3,527 highest-output authors in General Materials Science. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 General Materials Science researchers

Where is General Materials Science research done?

The largest centres of General Materials Science research in 2022–2025 are Moscow (Russia), Kyiv (Ukraine), Saint Petersburg (Russia) and Beijing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Komsomol'skiy, Tomsk and Volgograd.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Moscow Russia 879 works
  2. 2 Kyiv Ukraine 247 works
  3. 3 Saint Petersburg Russia 242 works
  4. 4 Beijing China 214 works
  5. 5 Tashkent Uzbekistan 113 works
  6. 6 Kharkiv Ukraine 111 works
  7. 7 Kazan’ Russia 110 works
  8. 8 Yekaterinburg Russia 99 works
  9. 9 Minsk Belarus 96 works
  10. 10 Volgograd Russia 88 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Komsomol'skiyRU · 36.0 works62×
  2. TomskRU · 24.5 works58×
  3. VolgogradRU · 88.1 works40×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See General Materials Science on the map

General Materials Science research by country

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

Where is the best place to study General Materials Science?

Among universities, judged by research, Lublin University of Technology, Moscow Aviation Institute and National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute" 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 19.24%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Lublin University of Technology: 19, 36.8%Moscow Aviation Institute: 75, 16.0%National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute": 36, 18.1%Kostroma State University named after N A Nekrasov: 10, 31.9%Bauman Moscow State Technical University: 82, 6.6%Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University: 43, 10.5%National Aerospace University – Kharkiv Aviation Institute: 23, 18.6%Belarusian National Technical University: 30, 9.9%Tashkent State Transport University: 24, 24.1%Saint Petersburg Mining University: 13, 19.9%Lublin University of…Kostroma State Unive…National Technical U…Moscow Aviation Inst…
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
1Lublin University of Technology Poland 78.736.8%23.3×19 +180.3%
2Moscow Aviation Institute Russia 72.816.0%53.8×75 +646.7%
3National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute" Ukraine 67.918.1%38.3×36 +174.0%
4Kostroma State University named after N A Nekrasov Russia 67.631.9%51.9×10 +200.0%
5Bauman Moscow State Technical University Russia 66.46.6%49.4×82 +279.8%
6Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University Russia 63.710.5%152.9×43 +257.2%
7National Aerospace University – Kharkiv Aviation Institute Ukraine 63.318.6%46.0×23 +159.0%
8Belarusian National Technical University Belarus 62.49.9%75.9×30 +217.6%
9Tashkent State Transport University Uzbekistan 61.024.1%43.7×24 —
10Saint Petersburg Mining University Russia 60.819.9%25.0×13 +931.5%

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 General Materials Science research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 29% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Material Properties and Applications and Engineering and Material Science Research.

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. Material Properties and Applications+112%
  2. Engineering and Material Science Research+16%
  3. Metallurgical and Alloy Processes-24%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does General Materials Science include?