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Subfield · Medicine

Nephrology research

Nephrology is a subfield of Medicine. Science Explorer counts 241k research works in it since 1950. 15.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: medical specialty that concerns itself with the kidneys.

Research works
241k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
38k
per year above
Top-10% rate
15.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
7
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+26%
the tick is no change

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

What is Nephrology research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Chronic Kidney Disease, Cardiovascular Disease, Hemodialysis, Inflammation, Dialysis, Mortality. Losing share: Bicarbonate Therapy, Metabolic Acidosis.

▲ 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 19 words, with their numbers
  1. Chronic Kidney Disease40k◆ 0.98×5 topics
  2. Cardiovascular Disease20k◆ 1.01×2 topics
  3. Hemodialysis19k◆ 1.06×2 topics
  4. Inflammation16k◆ 1.06×2 topics
  5. Dialysis12k◆ 1.03×1 topic
  6. Mortality12k◆ 1.03×1 topic
  7. Diabetic Nephropathy8,769◆ 0.97×1 topic
  8. Glomerular Filtration Rate8,769◆ 0.97×1 topic
  9. FGF238,547◆ 0.95×1 topic
  10. phosphate8,547◆ 0.95×1 topic
  11. Glomerular Diseases8,063◆ 1.01×1 topic
  12. Nephrotic Syndrome8,063◆ 1.01×1 topic
  13. Cardiovascular Risk7,950◆ 0.94×2 topics
  14. Acute Kidney Injury7,535◆ 1.09×1 topic
  15. Biomarkers7,535◆ 1.09×1 topic
  16. Hyperuricemia4,618◆ 1.12×1 topic
  17. Uric Acid4,618◆ 1.12×1 topic
  18. Bicarbonate Therapy3,332▼ 0.77×1 topic
  19. Metabolic Acidosis3,332▼ 0.77×1 topic

Which countries lead Nephrology research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and the United Kingdom rank highest in Nephrology. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (10k and 8.6k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 23.4% top 10% · 10k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 13.8% top 10% · 8.6k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #3 all time 17.0% top 10% · 1.6k works
  4. 4 Italy · #6 all time 19.8% top 10% · 1.3k works
  5. 5 Germany · #4 all time 15.6% top 10% · 1.3k works
  6. 6 Australia · #8 all time 21.1% top 10% · 854 works
  7. 7 Japan · #9 all time 9.0% top 10% · 2.4k works
  8. 8 France · #7 all time 16.2% top 10% · 1k works
  9. 9 Canada · #5 all time 16.2% top 10% · 908 works
  10. 10 India · #16 all time 6.2% top 10% · 2.2k 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 35 countries ranked in Nephrology. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Nephrology

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 10k works
  2. 2 United States 8.6k works
  3. 3 Japan 2.4k works
  4. 4 India 2.2k works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 1.6k works
  6. 6 Italy 1.3k works
  7. 7 Germany 1.3k works
  8. 8 Spain 1.2k works
  9. 9 Brazil 1.1k works
  10. 10 South Korea 1.1k 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: 32.4%United States: 27.8%Japan: 7.7%India: 7.2%6 others listed: 25.0%32%largest
China9,996 · 32.4%United States8,557 · 27.8%Japan2,366 · 7.7%India2,216 · 7.2%6 others listed7,700 · 25.0%

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

Which institutions lead Nephrology research?

Sichuan University (China) ranks first in Nephrology on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College and West China Hospital of Sichuan University.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Sichuan University China · Chengdu · #49 all time 27.1% top 10% · 142 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College China · Beijing · #71 all time 22.2% top 10% · 176 works
  3. 3 West China Hospital of Sichuan University China · Chengdu · #73 all time 27.6% top 10% · 103 works
  4. 4 Central South University China · Changsha · #82 all time 28.6% top 10% · 120 works
  5. 5 Huazhong University of Science and Technology China · Wuhan 30.0% top 10% · 94 works
  6. 6 Harvard University United States · Cambridge · #1 all time 26.8% top 10% · 98 works
  7. 7 Peking University China · Beijing · #57 all time 18.4% top 10% · 136 works
  8. 8 Southern Medical University China · Guangzhou 27.4% top 10% · 103 works
  9. 9 Zhejiang Chinese Medical University China · Hangzhou 27.4% top 10% · 88 works
  10. 10 Capital Medical University China · Beijing 21.7% top 10% · 128 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 63 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Nephrology.

Top 100 Nephrology institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College China 176 works
  2. 2 Sichuan University China 142 works
  3. 3 Peking University China 136 works
  4. 4 Sun Yat-sen University China 129 works
  5. 5 Capital Medical University China 128 works
  6. 6 Ain Shams University Egypt 120 works
  7. 7 Central South University China 120 works
  8. 8 Nanjing Medical University China 119 works
  9. 9 University of Alabama at Birmingham United States 109 works
  10. 10 Johns Hopkins University United States 106 works

Who are the leading researchers in Nephrology?

Among the most productive authors in Nephrology, Vivekanand Jha, Giuseppe Remuzzi and Alberto Ortíz rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Vivekanand Jha India · #18 worldwide 5.8k citations · 232 works
  2. 2 Giuseppe Remuzzi Italy · #34 worldwide 8.1k citations · 312 works
  3. 3 Alberto Ortíz Spain · #52 worldwide 5.9k citations · 191 works
  4. 4 Josef Coresh United States · #72 worldwide 5.3k citations · 204 works
  5. 5 Jasvinder A. Singh United States · #79 worldwide 4.7k citations · 154 works
  6. 6 Juan Jesús Carrero Sweden · #138 worldwide 6.5k citations · 120 works
  7. 7 Muthiah Vaduganathan United States · #183 worldwide 4k citations · 158 works
  8. 8 Marcello Tonelli Canada · #200 worldwide 5.9k citations · 113 works
  9. 9 Piotr Ponikowski Poland · #225 worldwide 4.1k citations · 218 works
  10. 10 Darren K. McGuire United States · #257 worldwide 3.6k citations · 123 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 4,710 highest-output authors in Nephrology. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Nephrology researchers

Where is Nephrology research done?

The largest centres of Nephrology research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Guangzhou (China), Shanghai (China) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Bad Homburg and Vicenza.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 1.3k works
  2. 2 Guangzhou China 804 works
  3. 3 Shanghai China 743 works
  4. 4 Tokyo Japan 654 works
  5. 5 Seoul South Korea 588 works
  6. 6 London United Kingdom 476 works
  7. 7 Nanjing China 460 works
  8. 8 New York United States 455 works
  9. 9 Chengdu China 449 works
  10. 10 Hangzhou China 409 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Bad HomburgDE · 43.1 works41×
  2. VicenzaIT · 25.1 works29×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Nephrology on the map

Nephrology research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Nephrology?

Among universities, judged by research, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University and Zhejiang Chinese Medical University 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 27.66%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine: 76, 28.6%Southern Medical University: 103, 27.4%Zhejiang Chinese Medical University: 88, 27.4%Beijing University of Chinese Medicine: 56, 32.4%Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College: 176, 22.2%Sichuan University: 142, 27.1%Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine: 61, 30.6%Nanchang University: 56, 30.5%Anhui Medical University: 75, 28.7%Capital Medical University: 128, 21.7%Beijing University o…Guangzhou University…Southern Medical Uni…Zhejiang Chinese Med…
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
1Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine China 70.828.6%9.4×76 +232.2%
2Southern Medical University China 61.427.4%6.5×103 +126.6%
3Zhejiang Chinese Medical University China 57.827.4%7.9×88 +48.4%
4Beijing University of Chinese Medicine China 56.232.4%7.4×56 +51.5%
5Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College China 54.422.2%4.2×176 +79.5%
6Sichuan University China 52.227.1%1.9×142 +125.8%
7Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine China 52.230.6%7.1×61 +5.1%
8Nanchang University China 52.030.5%2.6×56 +282.2%
9Anhui Medical University China 51.628.7%5.8×75 +38.4%
10Capital Medical University China 50.021.7%5.1×128 +25.5%

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 Nephrology research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 26% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Gout, Hyperuricemia, Uric Acid, Acute Kidney Injury Research and Chronic Kidney Disease and Diabetes.

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. Gout, Hyperuricemia, Uric Acid+144%
  2. Acute Kidney Injury Research+114%
  3. Chronic Kidney Disease and Diabetes+77%
  4. Parathyroid Disorders and Treatments+72%
  5. Dialysis and Renal Disease Management+70%
  6. Renal Diseases and Glomerulopathies+61%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Nephrology include?

Dialysis and Renal Disea…51kDialysis and Renal Disease Management: 51k fractional worksParathyroid Disorders and Treatments: 41k fractional worksRenal Diseases and Glomerulopathies: 37k fractional worksChronic Kidney Disease a…37kChronic Kidney Disease and Diabetes: 37k fractional worksAcute Kidney Injury Rese…29kAcute Kidney Injury Research: 29k fractional worksRenal function and acid-base balance: 28k fractional worksGout, Hyperuricemia, Uric Acid: 18k fractional works

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