Science Explorer Interactive view Map
Subfield · Medicine

Rehabilitation research

Rehabilitation is a subfield of Medicine. Science Explorer counts 195k research works in it since 1950. 16.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: process to return a person to their formerly existing mental and health condition.

Research works
195k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
31k
per year above
Top-10% rate
16.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
7
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+32%
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 Rehabilitation research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Motor Recovery, Neural Plasticity, Regeneration, Wound Healing, Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress, Muscle-Derived Interleukin-6. Gaining share since 2009–13: Regeneration, Wound Healing. Losing share: Honokiol, Magnolia Family, Medical Education, Musculoskeletal Medicine.

▲ 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 14 words, with their numbers
  1. Motor Recovery18k◆ 1.13×1 topic
  2. Neural Plasticity18k◆ 1.13×1 topic
  3. Regeneration12k▲ 1.21×1 topic
  4. Wound Healing12k▲ 1.21×1 topic
  5. Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress7,024▼ 0.79×1 topic
  6. Muscle-Derived Interleukin-67,024▼ 0.79×1 topic
  7. Elbow Injuries5,598◆ 0.93×1 topic
  8. Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction5,598◆ 0.93×1 topic
  9. Medical Education3,304▼ 0.75×1 topic
  10. Musculoskeletal Medicine3,304▼ 0.75×1 topic
  11. Musculoskeletal Problems1,334▼ 0.76×1 topic
  12. Playing-Related Disorders1,334▼ 0.76×1 topic
  13. Honokiol663▼ 0.58×1 topic
  14. Magnolia Family663▼ 0.58×1 topic

Which countries lead Rehabilitation research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and the United Kingdom rank highest in Rehabilitation. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (8.2k and 7.3k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 29.4% top 10% · 7.3k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 11.7% top 10% · 8.2k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #3 all time 13.8% top 10% · 2k works
  4. 4 Italy · #7 all time 19.8% top 10% · 1.2k works
  5. 5 Australia · #4 all time 18.7% top 10% · 1k works
  6. 6 India · #14 all time 9.8% top 10% · 2.4k works
  7. 7 South Korea · #12 all time 16.1% top 10% · 1.2k works
  8. 8 Germany · #5 all time 13.0% top 10% · 1.4k works
  9. 9 Spain · #9 all time 16.0% top 10% · 946 works
  10. 10 Canada · #6 all time 15.5% top 10% · 1.1k 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 36 countries ranked in Rehabilitation. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Rehabilitation

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 8.2k works
  2. 2 China 7.3k works
  3. 3 India 2.4k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 2k works
  5. 5 Japan 1.6k works
  6. 6 Germany 1.4k works
  7. 7 Brazil 1.3k works
  8. 8 South Korea 1.2k works
  9. 9 Italy 1.2k works
  10. 10 Canada 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.

United States: 29.7%China: 26.2%India: 8.5%United Kingdom: 7.1%6 others listed: 28.5%30%largest
United States8,214 · 29.7%China7,260 · 26.2%India2,361 · 8.5%United Kingdom1,950 · 7.1%6 others listed7,873 · 28.5%

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

Which institutions lead Rehabilitation research?

Sichuan University (China) ranks first in Rehabilitation on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Sun Yat-sen University.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Sichuan University China · Chengdu · #2 all time 46.4% top 10% · 118 works
  2. 2 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China · Shanghai · #20 all time 35.7% top 10% · 85 works
  3. 3 Sun Yat-sen University China · Guangzhou · #37 all time 36.8% top 10% · 62 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College China · Beijing · #80 all time 28.2% top 10% · 74 works
  5. 5 Harvard University United States · Cambridge · #1 all time 20.5% top 10% · 80 works
  6. 6 Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong · Hong Kong · #42 all time 24.0% top 10% · 65 works
  7. 7 Stanford University United States · Stanford · #3 all time 16.9% top 10% · 62 works
  8. 8 University of Toronto Canada · Toronto · #6 all time 14.7% top 10% · 79 works
  9. 9 University of Miami United States · Coral Gables · #13 all time 18.5% top 10% · 60 works
  10. 10 Yonsei University South Korea · Seoul 15.6% top 10% · 62 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 20 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Rehabilitation.

Top 100 Rehabilitation institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Sichuan UniversityChina 118 works
  2. 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 92 works
  3. 3 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 85 works
  4. 4 Harvard UniversityUnited States 80 works
  5. 5 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 80 works
  6. 6 Cairo UniversityEgypt 79 works
  7. 7 University of TorontoCanada 79 works
  8. 8 University of MichiganUnited States 77 works
  9. 9 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 74 works
  10. 10 Airlangga UniversityIndonesia 68 works

Who are the leading researchers in Rehabilitation?

Among the most productive authors in Rehabilitation, Graeme J. Hankey, Lisa Hartling and Rachelle Buchbinder rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Graeme J. Hankey Australia · #15 worldwide 7.2k citations · 205 works
  2. 2 Lisa Hartling Canada · #92 worldwide 5k citations · 144 works
  3. 3 Rachelle Buchbinder Australia · #147 worldwide 3.5k citations · 131 works
  4. 4 М. А. Пирадов Russia · #155 worldwide 2.9k citations · 122 works
  5. 5 Peter Brooks Australia · #319 worldwide 2.2k citations · 187 works
  6. 6 Valery L. Feigin New Zealand · #390 worldwide 7.9k citations · 101 works
  7. 7 Wayne D. Rosamond United States · #522 worldwide 2.2k citations · 111 works
  8. 8 Joel Stein Germany · #711 worldwide 2.4k citations · 102 works
  9. 9 Mayowa Owolabi Nigeria · #786 worldwide 6.5k citations · 92 works
  10. 10 Yannick Béjot France · #808 worldwide 3.7k citations · 94 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 4,629 highest-output authors in Rehabilitation. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Rehabilitation researchers

Where is Rehabilitation research done?

The largest centres of Rehabilitation research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Seoul (South Korea) and Tokyo (Japan).

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 902 works
  2. 2 Shanghai China 676 works
  3. 3 Seoul South Korea 518 works
  4. 4 Tokyo Japan 441 works
  5. 5 Guangzhou China 435 works
  6. 6 London United Kingdom 434 works
  7. 7 Tehran Iran 416 works
  8. 8 Chengdu China 344 works
  9. 9 New York United States 329 works
  10. 10 Nanjing China 296 works
See Rehabilitation on the map

Rehabilitation research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Rehabilitation?

Among universities, judged by research, Sichuan University, Shanghai University of Sport and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences 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%60%mean 33.9%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Sichuan University: 118, 46.4%Shanghai University of Sport: 29, 30.8%University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 31, 50.8%Xi'an Jiaotong University: 47, 42.0%Beijing Sport University: 36, 24.5%Wenzhou Medical University: 52, 36.4%Southern Medical University: 49, 37.5%Iran University of Medical Sciences: 46, 15.5%Donghua University: 31, 44.9%Riphah International University: 33, 10.2%University of Chines…Sichuan UniversityXi'an Jiaotong Unive…Shanghai University …
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 Sichuan UniversityChina 60.046.4%1.7×118 +77.7%
2 Shanghai University of SportChina 55.630.8%12.1×29 +31.1%
3 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 53.450.8%0.5×31 +414.6%
4 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 52.942.0%0.7×47 +255.3%
5 Beijing Sport UniversityChina 50.424.5%12.4×36 -20.3%
6 Wenzhou Medical UniversityChina 49.636.4%3.6×52 +66.5%
7 Southern Medical UniversityChina 46.437.5%3.3×49 +21.0%
8 Iran University of Medical SciencesIran 46.415.5%4.1×46 +445.0%
9 Donghua UniversityChina 46.144.9%2.0×31 +74.8%
10 Riphah International UniversityPakistan 45.810.2%5.6×33 +310.4%

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 Rehabilitation research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 32% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery, Wound Healing and Treatments and Musicians’ Health and Performance.

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. Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery+193%
  2. Wound Healing and Treatments+106%
  3. Musicians’ Health and Performance+86%
  4. Elbow and Forearm Trauma Treatment+83%
  5. Exercise and Physiological Responses+68%
  6. Magnolia and Illicium research+61%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Rehabilitation include?

Stroke Rehabilitation an…63kStroke Rehabilitation and Recovery: 63k fractional worksWound Healing and Treatm…46kWound Healing and Treatments: 46k fractional worksExercise and Physiological Responses: 33k fractional worksElbow and Forearm Trauma Treatment: 24k fractional worksMusculoskeletal Disorders and Rehabilitation: 19k fractional worksMusicians’ Health and Performance: 7,130 fractional worksMagnolia and Illicium research: 3,185 fractional works

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