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Subfield · Environmental Science

Pollution research

Pollution is a subfield of Environmental Science. Science Explorer counts 341k research works in it since 1950. 19.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change.

Research works
341k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
67k
per year above
Top-10% rate
19.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
11
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+56%
the tick is no change

What is Pollution research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Environmental Impact, Pollution, Toxicity, Marine Environment, Microplastics, Microbial Communities. Gaining share since 2009–13: Marine Environment, Microplastics, Household Fuel Use, Indoor Air Pollution, Antibiotics. Losing share: Best Available Techniques, Integrated Pollution Prevention, Anammox Bacteria, Nitrogen-Cycling Network.

▲ 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 28 words, with their numbers
  1. Environmental Impact46k◆ 1.15×5 topics
  2. Pollution41k▲ 1.17×4 topics
  3. Toxicity22k▼ 0.81×3 topics
  4. Marine Environment18k▲ 2.5×1 topic
  5. Microplastics18k▲ 2.5×1 topic
  6. Microbial Communities18k◆ 0.95×2 topics
  7. Household Fuel Use18k▲ 2.0×1 topic
  8. Indoor Air Pollution18k▲ 2.0×1 topic
  9. Contamination17k◆ 0.87×2 topics
  10. Heavy Metals16k◆ 0.87×1 topic
  11. Soil16k◆ 0.87×1 topic
  12. Antibiotics14k▲ 1.19×1 topic
  13. Resistance Genes14k▲ 1.19×1 topic
  14. Anammox Bacteria8,667▼ 0.52×1 topic
  15. Nitrogen-Cycling Network8,667▼ 0.52×1 topic
  16. Biodegradation6,722▼ 0.62×2 topics
  17. Freshwater Salinization5,949▼ 0.62×1 topic
  18. Road Salt5,949▼ 0.62×1 topic
  19. Herbicides5,739▼ 0.69×1 topic
  20. Pesticides5,739▼ 0.69×1 topic
  21. Biosurfactants4,483▼ 0.59×1 topic
  22. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons4,483▼ 0.59×1 topic
  23. Oil Spill Detection2,238▼ 0.70×1 topic
  24. Remote Sensing2,238▼ 0.70×1 topic
  25. Best Available Techniques824▼ 0.42×1 topic
  26. Integrated Pollution Prevention824▼ 0.42×1 topic
  27. Health582▼ 0.82×1 topic
  28. Thallium582▼ 0.82×1 topic

Which countries lead Pollution research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, India and the United States rank highest in Pollution. By volume, China and India publish the most (24k and 6.8k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 23.8% top 10% · 24k works
  2. 2 India · #4 all time 17.7% top 10% · 6.8k works
  3. 3 United States · #1 all time 16.2% top 10% · 6.4k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom · #3 all time 20.3% top 10% · 2k works
  5. 5 Australia · #7 all time 26.6% top 10% · 1.2k works
  6. 6 Türkiye · #12 all time 16.3% top 10% · 1.7k works
  7. 7 Italy · #11 all time 21.0% top 10% · 1.9k works
  8. 8 Germany · #5 all time 18.3% top 10% · 1.8k works
  9. 9 Pakistan · #13 all time 21.4% top 10% · 1.1k works
  10. 10 Canada · #6 all time 17.4% top 10% · 1.5k 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 60 countries ranked in Pollution. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Pollution

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 24k works
  2. 2 India 6.8k works
  3. 3 United States 6.4k works
  4. 4 Brazil 2.7k works
  5. 5 Nigeria 2k works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 2k works
  7. 7 Italy 1.9k works
  8. 8 Spain 1.9k works
  9. 9 Germany 1.8k works
  10. 10 France 1.7k 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: 46.3%India: 13.4%United States: 12.5%Brazil: 5.4%6 others listed: 22.4%46%largest
China24k · 46.3%India6,839 · 13.4%United States6,372 · 12.5%Brazil2,740 · 5.4%6 others listed11k · 22.4%

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

Which institutions lead Pollution research?

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) ranks first in Pollution on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Harbin Institute of Technology and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #1 all time 26.5% top 10% · 562 works
  2. 2 Harbin Institute of Technology China · Harbin · #10 all time 30.3% top 10% · 299 works
  3. 3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #16 all time 27.4% top 10% · 276 works
  4. 4 Zhejiang University China · Hangzhou · #11 all time 26.6% top 10% · 299 works
  5. 5 China Agricultural University China · Beijing · #27 all time 35.9% top 10% · 171 works
  6. 6 Nankai University China · Tianjin · #28 all time 30.6% top 10% · 179 works
  7. 7 Northeast Agricultural University China · Harbin · #43 all time 37.2% top 10% · 140 works
  8. 8 Northwest A&F University China · Yangling · #31 all time 38.9% top 10% · 132 works
  9. 9 Jiangsu University China · Zhenjiang · #85 all time 37.3% top 10% · 95 works
  10. 10 State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse China · Nanjing · #24 all time 28.7% top 10% · 202 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 178 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Pollution.

Top 100 Pollution institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 563 works
  2. 2 Zhejiang UniversityChina 299 works
  3. 3 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 299 works
  4. 4 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 276 works
  5. 5 Beijing University of TechnologyChina 244 works
  6. 6 Hohai UniversityChina 224 works
  7. 7 Tongji UniversityChina 220 works
  8. 8 State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource ReuseChina 202 works
  9. 9 Ocean University of ChinaChina 202 works
  10. 10 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural AffairsChina 197 works

Who are the leading researchers in Pollution?

Among the most productive authors in Pollution, Lídia Morawska, Michelle L. Bell and C. A. Edwards rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Lídia Morawska Australia · #114 worldwide 6.4k citations · 210 works
  2. 2 Michelle L. Bell United States · #210 worldwide 5.1k citations · 114 works
  3. 3 C. A. Edwards United States · #262 worldwide 4.6k citations · 190 works
  4. 4 Irwin Fridovich United States · #1,216 worldwide 4.1k citations · 87 works
  5. 5 Michael Bräuer Canada · #1,380 worldwide 3.8k citations · 171 works
  6. 6 James N. Galloway United States · #1,677 worldwide 2.3k citations · 100 works
  7. 7 Johannes Lehmann United States · #2,116 worldwide 2.2k citations · 94 works
  8. 8 Keywan Riahi Austria · #2,233 worldwide 2.2k citations · 98 works
  9. 9 Bruce P. Lanphear Canada · #2,689 worldwide 1.3k citations · 103 works
  10. 10 John D. Spengler United States · #2,876 worldwide 2.2k citations · 96 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 4,985 highest-output authors in Pollution. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Pollution researchers

Where is Pollution research done?

The largest centres of Pollution research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Guangzhou (China) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Dessau and Monterotondo.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 4.9k works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 1.6k works
  3. 3 Guangzhou China 1.3k works
  4. 4 Shanghai China 1.2k works
  5. 5 Hangzhou China 927 works
  6. 6 Wuhan China 890 works
  7. 7 Tianjin China 730 works
  8. 8 Qingdao China 712 works
  9. 9 Xi'an China 671 works
  10. 10 Harbin China 618 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. DessauDE · 21.2 works18×
  2. MonterotondoIT · 33.1 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Pollution on the map

Pollution research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Pollution?

Among universities, judged by research, Northwest A&F University, Northeast Agricultural University and China Agricultural 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 31.27%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Northwest A&F University: 132, 38.9%Northeast Agricultural University: 140, 37.2%China Agricultural University: 171, 35.9%Government College University, Faisalabad: 48, 30.1%South China Agricultural University: 162, 30.4%King Khalid University: 38, 31.8%University of Technology Sydney: 71, 36.8%Czech University of Life Sciences Prague: 58, 20.0%Hohai University: 224, 24.9%Qatar University: 56, 26.7%Northwest A&F Univer…Northeast Agricultur…China Agricultural U…Government College U…
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 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 64.438.9%4.2×132 +171.8%
2 Northeast Agricultural UniversityChina 59.137.2%6.5×140 +20.8%
3 China Agricultural UniversityChina 54.635.9%3.8×171 +33.7%
4 Government College University, FaisalabadPakistan 53.830.1%3.7×48 +392.9%
5 South China Agricultural UniversityChina 53.530.4%5.7×162 +22.0%
6 King Khalid UniversitySaudi Arabia 51.631.8%1.3×38 +341.6%
7 University of Technology SydneyAustralia 50.936.8%2.0×71 +70.3%
8 Czech University of Life Sciences PragueCzechia 50.720.0%7.0×58 +103.2%
9 Hohai UniversityChina 50.524.9%5.0×224 +27.8%
10 Qatar UniversityQatar 50.126.7%2.4×56 +285.8%

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 Pollution research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 56% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Energy and Environment Impacts, Microplastics and Plastic Pollution and Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts.

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. Energy and Environment Impacts+398%
  2. Microplastics and Plastic Pollution+231%
  3. Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts+152%
  4. Heavy metals in environment+87%
  5. Oil Spill Detection and Mitigation+80%
  6. Thallium and Germanium Studies+60%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Pollution include?

Heavy metals in environment: 62k fractional worksMicroplastics and Plastic Pollution: 48k fractional worksEnergy and Environment I…44kEnergy and Environment Impacts: 44k fractional worksWastewater Treatment and…44kWastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal: 44k fractional worksPharmaceutical and Antib…43kPharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts: 43k fractional worksPesticide and Herbicide …32kPesticide and Herbicide Environmental Studies: 32k fractional worksSmart Materials for Construction: 26k fractional worksMicrobial bioremediation and biosurfactants: 23k fractional worksOil Spill Detection and Mitigation: 12k fractional worksEnvironmental Policies and Emissions: 4,870 fractional worksThallium and Germanium Studies: 3,395 fractional works

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