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Subfield · Health Professions

Occupational Therapy research

Occupational Therapy is a subfield of Health Professions. Science Explorer counts 127k research works in it since 1950. 15.6% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: therapy to increase skills related to work or independent living.

Research works
127k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
20k
per year above
Top-10% rate
15.6%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
8
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+66%
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 Occupational Therapy research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Quality of Life, Ergonomics, Workplace Safety, Health Management, Productivity Improvement, Risk Assessment. Gaining share since 2009–13: Health Management, Productivity Improvement, Ergonomics, Workplace Safety. Losing share: Antineoplastic Drugs, Health Care Workers, Occupational Exposure, Occupational 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 21 words, with their numbers
  1. Quality of Life17k▼ 0.70×4 topics
  2. Ergonomics17k▲ 2.7×2 topics
  3. Workplace Safety17k▲ 2.7×2 topics
  4. Health Management12k▲ 7.0×1 topic
  5. Productivity Improvement12k▲ 7.0×1 topic
  6. Risk Assessment9,055▼ 0.81×2 topics
  7. Occupational Exposure5,613▼ 0.63×2 topics
  8. Occupational Health4,714◆ 1.05×1 topic
  9. Teleworking4,714◆ 1.05×1 topic
  10. Pressure Ulcers4,340▼ 0.65×1 topic
  11. Prevention4,340▼ 0.65×1 topic
  12. Emergency Responders4,336▼ 0.66×1 topic
  13. Firefighters4,336▼ 0.66×1 topic
  14. Mental Health4,326◆ 0.99×1 topic
  15. Occupational Stress4,326◆ 0.99×1 topic
  16. Assistive Technology4,174▼ 0.64×1 topic
  17. Augmentative and Alternative Communication4,174▼ 0.64×1 topic
  18. Occupational Science4,024▼ 0.63×1 topic
  19. Therapy Practice4,024▼ 0.63×1 topic
  20. Antineoplastic Drugs1,276▼ 0.57×1 topic
  21. Health Care Workers1,276▼ 0.57×1 topic

Which countries lead Occupational Therapy research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, the United States, China and the United Kingdom rank highest in Occupational Therapy. By volume, Indonesia and the United States publish the most (12k and 4.6k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States · #1 all time 18.8% top 10% · 4.6k works
  2. 2 China · #6 all time 32.4% top 10% · 1.1k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #2 all time 24.6% top 10% · 1.1k works
  4. 4 Australia · #3 all time 32.2% top 10% · 818 works
  5. 5 Canada · #4 all time 24.0% top 10% · 738 works
  6. 6 Indonesia · #10 all time 2.7% top 10% · 12k works
  7. 7 Brazil · #5 all time 7.1% top 10% · 4k works
  8. 8 Spain · #8 all time 16.8% top 10% · 799 works
  9. 9 Italy · #12 all time 24.5% top 10% · 370 works
  10. 10 India · #13 all time 12.5% top 10% · 814 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 27 countries ranked in Occupational Therapy. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Occupational Therapy

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Indonesia 12k works
  2. 2 United States 4.6k works
  3. 3 Brazil 4k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 1.1k works
  5. 5 China 1.1k works
  6. 6 Australia 818 works
  7. 7 India 814 works
  8. 8 Spain 799 works
  9. 9 Ecuador 751 works
  10. 10 Canada 738 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: 43.9%United States: 17.6%Brazil: 15.3%United Kingdom: 4.2%6 others listed: 19.0%44%largest
Indonesia12k · 43.9%United States4,623 · 17.6%Brazil4,003 · 15.3%United Kingdom1,100 · 4.2%6 others listed4,971 · 19.0%

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

Which institutions lead Occupational Therapy research?

Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil) ranks first in Occupational Therapy on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Universidade Federal de São Carlos and University of Indonesia.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil · São Paulo · #4 all time 9.8% top 10% · 136 works
  2. 2 Universidade Federal de São Carlos Brazil · São Carlos · #34 all time 12.6% top 10% · 100 works
  3. 3 University of Indonesia Indonesia · Depok · #46 all time 4.1% top 10% · 250 works
  4. 4 Universidade de Brasília Brazil · Brasília · #41 all time 15.8% top 10% · 69 works
  5. 5 Universitas Patria Artha Indonesia · Makassar · #56 all time 2.9% top 10% · 214 works
  6. 6 Airlangga University Indonesia · Surabaya · #52 all time 3.8% top 10% · 190 works
  7. 7 Udayana University Indonesia · Denpasar · #53 all time 4.3% top 10% · 131 works
  8. 8 Bandung Islamic University Indonesia · Bandung · #62 all time 4.2% top 10% · 111 works
  9. 9 Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Brazil · Belo Horizonte · #35 all time 7.9% top 10% · 77 works
  10. 10 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Brazil · Porto Alegre · #25 all time 9.8% top 10% · 63 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 Occupational Therapy.

Top 100 Occupational Therapy institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of IndonesiaIndonesia 250 works
  2. 2 Universitas Patria ArthaIndonesia 214 works
  3. 3 Airlangga UniversityIndonesia 190 works
  4. 4 Tarumanagara UniversityIndonesia 147 works
  5. 5 University of Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jawa TimurIndonesia 141 works
  6. 6 Universitas Muslim IndonesiaIndonesia 141 works
  7. 7 Universitas Muhammadiyah GresikIndonesia 137 works
  8. 8 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 136 works
  9. 9 Sebelas Maret UniversityIndonesia 136 works
  10. 10 Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 SurabayaIndonesia 131 works

Who are the leading researchers in Occupational Therapy?

Among the most productive authors in Occupational Therapy, Wilmar B. Schaufeli, Rachelle Buchbinder and Flavia Cicuttini rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Wilmar B. Schaufeli Netherlands · #130 worldwide 5.3k citations · 157 works
  2. 2 Rachelle Buchbinder Australia · #147 worldwide 3.5k citations · 131 works
  3. 3 Flavia Cicuttini Australia · #232 worldwide 3.2k citations · 152 works
  4. 4 Reza Majdzadeh Iran · #540 worldwide 3.7k citations · 100 works
  5. 5 Mohammad Alì Mansournia Iran · #739 worldwide 4.2k citations · 95 works
  6. 6 Jos M. G. A. Schols Netherlands · #1,054 worldwide 1.7k citations · 103 works
  7. 7 Susan Michie United Kingdom · #1,534 worldwide 2.5k citations · 228 works
  8. 8 Janice M. Morse Canada · #1,758 worldwide 1.7k citations · 95 works
  9. 9 Jack M. Guralnik United States · #1,930 worldwide 1.7k citations · 108 works
  10. 10 Francesco Saverio Violante Italy · #2,065 worldwide 5.2k citations · 73 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 3,092 highest-output authors in Occupational Therapy. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Occupational Therapy researchers

Where is Occupational Therapy research done?

The largest centres of Occupational Therapy research in 2022–2025 are Jakarta (Indonesia), Surabaya (Indonesia), Makassar (Indonesia) and Bandung (Indonesia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Natick, Balikpapan and Gresik.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Jakarta Indonesia 1.6k works
  2. 2 Surabaya Indonesia 929 works
  3. 3 Makassar Indonesia 676 works
  4. 4 Bandung Indonesia 633 works
  5. 5 São Paulo Brazil 617 works
  6. 6 Medan Indonesia 603 works
  7. 7 Semarang Indonesia 562 works
  8. 8 Yogyakarta Indonesia 389 works
  9. 9 Malang Indonesia 384 works
  10. 10 Depok Indonesia 365 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. NatickUS · 24.9 works33×
  2. BalikpapanID · 139.3 works23×
  3. GresikID · 144.8 works19×
  4. Lubuk PakamID · 61.7 works17×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Occupational Therapy on the map

Occupational Therapy research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Occupational Therapy?

Among universities, judged by research, Bond University, Mercu Buana University and Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya 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 7.05%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Bond University: 20, 41.7%Mercu Buana University: 128, 3.5%Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya: 132, 1.1%Universitas Esa Unggul: 91, 4.0%Universitas Patria Artha: 214, 2.9%Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang: 112, 0.7%Universitas Teknologi Yogyakarta: 64, 5.2%Politeknik Kesehatan Kementerian Kesehatan Jakarta II: 65, 4.7%University of Indonesia: 250, 4.1%Tarumanagara University: 148, 2.6%Bond UniversityUniversitas Esa UnggulMercu Buana UniversityUniversitas 17 Agust…
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
1 Bond UniversityAustralia 70.741.7%9.2×20 +386.1%
2 Mercu Buana UniversityIndonesia 57.93.5%10.7×128 +2783.1%
3 Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 SurabayaIndonesia 56.21.1%13.6×132 +231.0%
4 Universitas Esa UnggulIndonesia 55.64.0%11.0×91 +691.5%
5 Universitas Patria ArthaIndonesia 55.42.9%7.9×214 +2738.3%
6 Universitas Muhammadiyah MalangIndonesia 54.50.7%9.7×112 +537.5%
7 Universitas Teknologi YogyakartaIndonesia 54.05.2%10.1×64 +402.4%
8 Politeknik Kesehatan Kementerian Kesehatan Jakarta IIIndonesia 53.84.7%12.9×65 +787.9%
9 University of IndonesiaIndonesia 53.44.1%6.1×250 +372.3%
10 Tarumanagara UniversityIndonesia 53.12.6%8.1×148 +3238.5%

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 Occupational Therapy research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 66% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Occupational Health and Safety Management, Occupational Health and Safety in Workplaces and Occupational Health and Burnout.

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. Occupational Health and Safety Management+2693%
  2. Occupational Health and Safety in Workplaces+312%
  3. Occupational Health and Burnout+301%
  4. Safe Handling of Antineoplastic Drugs+146%
  5. Assistive Technology in Communication and Mobility+125%
  6. Occupational Health and Performance+121%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Occupational Therapy include?

Occupational Health and Safety Management: 24k fractional worksOccupational Therapy Practice and Research: 19k fractional worksPressure Ulcer Preventio…18kPressure Ulcer Prevention and Management: 18k fractional worksAssistive Technology in …17kAssistive Technology in Communication and Mobility: 17k fractional worksOccupational Health and …17kOccupational Health and Performance: 17k fractional worksOccupational Health and …14kOccupational Health and Safety in Workplaces: 14k fractional worksOccupational Health and Burnout: 12k fractional worksSafe Handling of Antineoplastic Drugs: 6,199 fractional works

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