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Subfield · Social Sciences

Human Factors and Ergonomics research

Human Factors and Ergonomics is a subfield of Social Sciences. Science Explorer counts 57k 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: study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body and its cognitive abilities.

Research works
57k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
5.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
3
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+81%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Indonesia
82% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Human Factors and Ergonomics

What is Human Factors and Ergonomics research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are Job Satisfaction, Organizational Culture, Activity Theory, Workplace Learning, Disability Divide, Web Accessibility. Gaining share since 2011-15: Job Satisfaction, Organizational Culture. Losing share: Activity Theory, Workplace Learning, Disability Divide, Web Accessibility.

▲ 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 6 words, with their numbers
  1. Job Satisfaction24k▲ 3.4×1 topic
  2. Organizational Culture24k▲ 3.4×1 topic
  3. Activity Theory3,173▼ 0.23×1 topic
  4. Workplace Learning3,173▼ 0.23×1 topic
  5. Disability Divide1,974▼ 0.25×1 topic
  6. Web Accessibility1,974▼ 0.25×1 topic

Which countries lead Human Factors and Ergonomics research?

On research quality in 2022-now, the United States, the United Kingdom and China rank highest in Human Factors and Ergonomics. By volume, Indonesia and the United States publish the most (19k and 1.3k works in 2022-now).

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States #1 all time 1.00× citation excellence · 1.53× journals · 100% breadth 12.1% top 10% · 1k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom #2 all time 1.14× citation excellence · 1.44× journals · 100% breadth 11.9% top 10% · 444 works
  3. 3 China #4 all time 1.82× citation excellence · 1.03× journals · 100% breadth 22.2% top 10% · 236 works
  4. 4 Australia #3 all time 1.29× citation excellence · 1.19× journals · 100% breadth 13.8% top 10% · 239 works
  5. 5 Indonesia #9 all time 0.87× citation excellence · 0.06× journals · 100% breadth 8.6% top 10% · 18k works
  6. 6 India #13 all time 0.88× citation excellence · 0.45× journals · 100% breadth 12.2% top 10% · 349 works
  7. 7 Malaysia #15 all time 1.48× citation excellence · 0.15× journals · 100% breadth 17.4% top 10% · 349 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 7 countries ranked in Human Factors and Ergonomics. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Human Factors and Ergonomics

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Indonesia 19k works
  2. 2 United States 1.3k works
  3. 3 ?? 552 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 532 works
  5. 5 India 469 works
  6. 6 Malaysia 398 works
  7. 7 China 302 works
  8. 8 Australia 286 works
  9. 9 Philippines 247 works
  10. 10 Brazil 222 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.

Indonesia: 82.0%United States: 5.4%??: 2.3%United Kingdom: 2.2%6 others listed: 8.1%82%largest
Indonesia19k · 82.0%United States1,272 · 5.4%??552 · 2.3%United Kingdom532 · 2.2%6 others listed1,923 · 8.1%

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

Which institutions lead Human Factors and Ergonomics research?

Universitas Patria Artha (Indonesia) ranks first in Human Factors and Ergonomics on research quality in 2022-now, followed by Universitas Bhayangkara Jakarta Raya and Universitas Esa Unggul.

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Universitas Patria Artha Indonesia · Makassar · #1 all time 7.8% top 10% · 896 works
  2. 2 Universitas Bhayangkara Jakarta Raya Indonesia · Jakarta · #4 all time 17.4% top 10% · 178 works
  3. 3 Universitas Esa Unggul Indonesia · Jakarta · #7 all time 16.9% top 10% · 143 works
  4. 4 Universitas Pamulang Indonesia · Tangerang · #2 all time 9.0% top 10% · 366 works
  5. 5 Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Kalbe Indonesia · Jakarta · #10 all time 11.6% top 10% · 127 works
  6. 6 Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara Indonesia · Medan · #3 all time 22.4% top 10% · 68 works
  7. 7 Mercu Buana University Indonesia · Jakarta · #6 all time 12.2% top 10% · 268 works
  8. 8 Institut Agama Islam Negeri Bengkulu Indonesia · Bengkulu · #9 all time 11.1% top 10% · 137 works
  9. 9 Indonesia Open University Indonesia · Jakarta · #13 all time 8.7% top 10% · 168 works
  10. 10 University of Sarjanawiyata Tamansiswa Indonesia · Yogyakarta · #15 all time 8.9% top 10% · 163 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 89 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Human Factors and Ergonomics.

Top 100 Human Factors and Ergonomics institutions

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Universitas Patria ArthaIndonesia 965 works
  2. 2 Universitas PamulangIndonesia 418 works
  3. 3 Universitas Informatika dan Bisnis IndonesiaIndonesia 292 works
  4. 4 Mercu Buana UniversityIndonesia 282 works
  5. 5 Universitas Nusa BangsaIndonesia 265 works
  6. 6 Universitas Muhammadiyah SidoarjoIndonesia 227 works
  7. 7 State University of PadangIndonesia 216 works
  8. 8 University of IndonesiaIndonesia 216 works
  9. 9 Universitas TrisaktiIndonesia 212 works
  10. 10 State University of MakassarIndonesia 201 works

Who are the leading researchers in Human Factors and Ergonomics?

Counting only their work in Human Factors and Ergonomics, Stephen Richard Billett, Yrjö Engeström and Jufrizen Jufrizen have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

  1. 1 Stephen Richard Billett Australia · #134,144 worldwide overall 20.0 of 50 papers here in the top 10%
  2. 2 Yrjö Engeström Finland · #92,677 worldwide overall 14.6 of 24 papers here in the top 10%
  3. 3 Jufrizen Jufrizen Indonesia · #275,091 worldwide overall 13.8 of 23 papers here in the top 10%
  4. 4 Jacob O. Wobbrock United States · #26,176 worldwide overall 10.5 of 14 papers here in the top 10%
  5. 5 Dewiana Novitasari Indonesia · #421,419 worldwide overall 11.9 of 24 papers here in the top 10%
  6. 6 Wajdi Aljedaani United States · #107,059 worldwide overall 10.8 of 14 papers here in the top 10%
  7. 7 Jeffrey P. Bigham United States · #68,592 worldwide overall 10.2 of 22 papers here in the top 10%
  8. 8 Janice Light United States · #98,558 worldwide overall 9.9 of 18 papers here in the top 10%
  9. 9 Elly de Bruijn Netherlands · #1,118,476 worldwide overall 8.8 of 19 papers here in the top 10%
  10. 10 Denok Sunarsi Indonesia · #409,800 worldwide overall 11.3 of 30 papers here in the top 10%

Ranked on their work in Human Factors and Ergonomics alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 104,504 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 Human Factors and Ergonomics researchers

What are the most cited papers in Human Factors and Ergonomics?

The most cited paper in Human Factors and Ergonomics is "Toward a Theory of Social Practices" (Andreas Reckwitz, 2002), with 5,470 citations. Next come "The Action Research Planner: Doing Critical Participatory Action Research" (3,417) and "Journal of Universal Computer Science" (3,394).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Toward a Theory of Social Practices Andreas Reckwitz · European Journal of Social Theory May 2002 5,470
2 The Action Research Planner: Doing Critical Participatory Action Research Stephen Kemmis, Robin McTaggart, Rhonda Nixon 12 Nov 2013 3,417
3 Journal of Universal Computer Science Arto K. Salomaa, Cristian S. Calude, Hermann A. Maurer · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) Open access 7 Apr 2020 3,394
4 Vygotsky and the Social Formation of Mind Alex Kozulin, James V. Wertsch · The American Journal of Psychology 1987 3,358
5 Design-Based Research: Putting a Stake in the Ground Sasha Alexander Barab, Kurt D. Squire · Journal of the Learning Sciences 2004 2,610
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Human Factors and Ergonomics research done?

The largest centres of Human Factors and Ergonomics research in 2022-now are Jakarta (Indonesia), Makassar (Indonesia), Bandung (Indonesia) and Medan (Indonesia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Sumedang Utara, Bekasi and Probolinggo.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 JakartaIndonesia 2.9k works
  2. 2 MakassarIndonesia 1.7k works
  3. 3 BandungIndonesia 1.3k works
  4. 4 MedanIndonesia 1.2k works
  5. 5 SurabayaIndonesia 1.2k works
  6. 6 SemarangIndonesia 654 works
  7. 7 TangerangIndonesia 636 works
  8. 8 YogyakartaIndonesia 625 works
  9. 9 MalangIndonesia 601 works
  10. 10 PadangIndonesia 566 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Sumedang UtaraID · 90.5 works51×
  2. Bekasi70.2 works42×
  3. ProbolinggoID · 43.5 works31×
  4. JakartaID · 178.5 works27×
  5. Bandung101.9 works25×
  6. Samarinda40.1 works23×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Human Factors and Ergonomics than the world average.

See Human Factors and Ergonomics on the map

Human Factors and Ergonomics research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Human Factors and Ergonomics?

Among universities, judged by research, Universitas Patria Artha, Universitas Pamulang and Universitas Bhayangkara Jakarta Raya 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 12.38%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Universitas Muhammad…Universitas Bhayangk…Universitas PamulangUniversitas Patria A…
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
1Universitas Patria ArthaIndonesia 78.9#1 (#1)7.8%53.4×965 +50.2%
2Universitas PamulangIndonesia 66.9#4 (#2)8.9%45.2×418 +58.0%
3Universitas Bhayangkara Jakarta RayaIndonesia 63.8#2 (#4)16.9%37.1×189 +662.6%
4Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera UtaraIndonesia 60.4#6 (#3)21.9%13.5×71 -8.4%
5Universitas Esa UnggulIndonesia 56.7#3 (#7)16.1%29.6×162 +187.1%
6Mercu Buana UniversityIndonesia 56.4#7 (#6)12.0%35.4×282 +58.5%
7Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis KalbeIndonesia 49.3#5 (#10)11.3%30.4×138 +755.6%
8Institut Agama Islam Negeri BengkuluIndonesia 47.4#8 (#9)11.0%4.3×142 +51.6%
9Universitas Nusa BangsaIndonesia 46.9#11 (#12)9.2%25.8×265 +272.1%
10Indonesia Open UniversityIndonesia 45.1#9 (#13)8.7%29.4×178 +214.9%

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 Human Factors and Ergonomics, country by country

Is Human Factors and Ergonomics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 81% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Employee Performance and Management, Digital Accessibility for Disabilities and Innovative Education and Learning Practices.

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 Human Factors and Ergonomics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.11% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Human Factors and Ergonomics0.12% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Human Factors and Ergonomics 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%Human Factors and Ergonomics9.7% 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. Employee Performance and Management+102%
  2. Digital Accessibility for Disabilities+26%
  3. Innovative Education and Learning Practices+19%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Human Factors and Ergonomics include?

Share who leads Human Factors and Ergonomics

Who leads Human Factors and Ergonomics, on Science Explorer

A card with the countries and institutions that lead Human Factors and Ergonomics, 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' badges6Each links to that institution's page and updates with every snapshot

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