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Subfield · Neuroscience

Sensory Systems research

Sensory Systems is a subfield of Neuroscience. Science Explorer counts 105k 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: ability to interpret the surrounding environment using light in the visible spectrum.

Research works
105k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
10k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
3
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+5%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
29% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Sensory Systems

What is Sensory Systems research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are COVID-19, Olfactory Dysfunction, Cochlear Neuropathy, Hearing Loss, Calcium Signaling, Ion Channels. Losing share: Calcium Signaling, Ion Channels.

▲ 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. COVID-1910k◆ 1.12×1 topic
  2. Olfactory Dysfunction10k◆ 1.12×1 topic
  3. Cochlear Neuropathy7,994◆ 1.00×1 topic
  4. Hearing Loss7,994◆ 1.00×1 topic
  5. Calcium Signaling2,858▼ 0.71×1 topic
  6. Ion Channels2,858▼ 0.71×1 topic

Which countries lead Sensory Systems research?

On research quality in 2022-now, the United States, China and the United Kingdom rank highest in Sensory Systems. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.9k and 3.3k works in 2022-now).

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States #1 all time 1.17× citation excellence · 1.98× journals · 100% breadth 11.5% top 10% · 3.4k works
  2. 2 China #4 all time 1.31× citation excellence · 0.84× journals · 100% breadth 15.5% top 10% · 2.8k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom #3 all time 1.37× citation excellence · 1.51× journals · 100% breadth 13.6% top 10% · 640 works
  4. 4 Germany #2 all time 1.11× citation excellence · 1.44× journals · 100% breadth 9.4% top 10% · 868 works
  5. 5 France #5 all time 1.03× citation excellence · 1.31× journals · 100% breadth 7.2% top 10% · 500 works
  6. 6 Netherlands #7 all time 1.08× citation excellence · 1.41× journals · 100% breadth 11.6% top 10% · 240 works
  7. 7 Australia #8 all time 1.14× citation excellence · 1.11× journals · 100% breadth 12.6% top 10% · 319 works
  8. 8 Canada #9 all time 1.04× citation excellence · 1.16× journals · 100% breadth 9.8% top 10% · 311 works
  9. 9 Spain #10 all time 1.17× citation excellence · 0.94× journals · 100% breadth 10.8% top 10% · 324 works
  10. 10 Italy #11 all time 1.29× citation excellence · 0.64× journals · 100% breadth 13.6% top 10% · 526 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 17 countries ranked in Sensory Systems. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Sensory Systems

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 3.9k works
  2. 2 China 3.3k works
  3. 3 Japan 1.1k works
  4. 4 Germany 989 works
  5. 5 India 891 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 724 works
  7. 7 South Korea 605 works
  8. 8 Italy 599 works
  9. 9 France 558 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 520 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: 29.5%China: 25.1%Japan: 8.2%Germany: 7.5%6 others listed: 29.7%29%largest
United States3,876 · 29.5%China3,297 · 25.1%Japan1,080 · 8.2%Germany989 · 7.5%6 others listed3,897 · 29.7%

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

Which institutions lead Sensory Systems research?

Harvard University (United States) ranks first in Sensory Systems on research quality in 2022-now, followed by National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University.

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard University United States · Cambridge · #1 all time 20.7% top 10% · 120 works
  2. 2 National Institutes of Health United States · Bethesda · #4 all time 16.9% top 10% · 71 works
  3. 3 Johns Hopkins University United States · Baltimore · #3 all time 16.4% top 10% · 98 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #24 all time 18.3% top 10% · 71 works
  5. 5 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China · Shanghai · #36 all time 17.8% top 10% · 79 works
  6. 6 Fudan University China · Shanghai · #49 all time 13.2% top 10% · 77 works
  7. 7 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France · Paris · #18 all time 6.7% top 10% · 130 works
  8. 8 Capital Medical University China · Beijing 6.2% top 10% · 79 works
  9. 9 Russian Academy of Sciences Russia · Moscow 2.1% top 10% · 79 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 9 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Sensory Systems.

Top 100 Sensory Systems institutions

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 142 works
  2. 2 Harvard UniversityUnited States 136 works
  3. 3 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 111 works
  4. 4 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 91 works
  5. 5 Fudan UniversityChina 90 works
  6. 6 Capital Medical UniversityChina 90 works
  7. 7 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 88 works
  8. 8 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 81 works
  9. 9 National Institutes of HealthUnited States 78 works
  10. 10 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 64 works

Who are the leading researchers in Sensory Systems?

Counting only their work in Sensory Systems, M. Charles Liberman, Charles J. Spence and Bernd Nilius have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

  1. 1 M. Charles Liberman United States · #7,359 worldwide overall 38.4 of 80 papers here in the top 10%
  2. 2 Charles J. Spence United Kingdom · #146,262 worldwide overall 44.1 of 137 papers here in the top 10%
  3. 3 Bernd Nilius Belgium · #100,646 worldwide overall 30.2 of 86 papers here in the top 10%
  4. 4 Edmund T. Rolls United Kingdom · #3,373 worldwide overall 25.7 of 47 papers here in the top 10%
  5. 5 Renjie Chai China · #18,404 worldwide overall 26.0 of 63 papers here in the top 10%
  6. 6 Christine Petit France · #129,834 worldwide overall 27.2 of 88 papers here in the top 10%
  7. 7 Thomas Voets Belgium · #76,238 worldwide overall 26.4 of 97 papers here in the top 10%
  8. 8 David J. Julius United States · #5,535 worldwide overall 19.3 of 30 papers here in the top 10%
  9. 9 David E. Clapham United States · #6,495 worldwide overall 18.2 of 27 papers here in the top 10%
  10. 10 Albert James Hudspeth United States · #68,369 worldwide overall 21.2 of 61 papers here in the top 10%

Ranked on their work in Sensory Systems alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 406,960 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 Sensory Systems researchers

What are the most cited papers in Sensory Systems?

The most cited paper in Sensory Systems is "Measuring emotion: The self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential" (Margaret M. Bradley, Peter J. Lang, 1994), with 9,653 citations. Next come "The capsaicin receptor: a heat-activated ion channel in the pain pathway" (9,220) and "The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework" (6,855).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Measuring emotion: The self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential Margaret M. Bradley, Peter J. Lang · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry Mar 1994 9,653
2 The capsaicin receptor: a heat-activated ion channel in the pain pathway Michael J. Caterina, Mark A. Schumacher, Makoto Tominaga et al. · Nature Oct 1997 9,220
3 The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework Stephen Kaplan · Journal of Environmental Psychology Sep 1995 6,855
4 Inositol trisphosphate and calcium signalling Michael John Berridge · Nature 1993 6,606
5 Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments Roger S. Ulrich, Robert F. Simons, Barbara D. Losito et al. · Journal of Environmental Psychology Sep 1991 5,933
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Sensory Systems research done?

The largest centres of Sensory Systems research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Tokyo (Japan) and Seoul (South Korea). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Oldenburg.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 540 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 336 works
  3. 3 TokyoJapan 318 works
  4. 4 SeoulSouth Korea 290 works
  5. 5 ParisFrance 210 works
  6. 6 LondonUnited Kingdom 203 works
  7. 7 GuangzhouChina 198 works
  8. 8 New YorkUnited States 166 works
  9. 9 HangzhouChina 149 works
  10. 10 NanjingChina 132 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. OldenburgDE · 34.1 works9.2×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Sensory Systems on the map

Sensory Systems research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Sensory Systems?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University and University of Oxford 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 17.09%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of OxfordHarvard UniversityUniversity College L…Johns Hopkins Univer…
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
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 79.7#1 (#1)20.0%2.6×136 -19.5%
2Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 65.8#3 (#3)16.0%4.5×111 +3.9%
3University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 48.3- (#5)21.2%1.6×36 -45.1%
4University College LondonUnited Kingdom 48.0- (#7)16.6%2.5×64 -16.2%
5Stanford UniversityUnited States 47.8- (#6)14.9%2.3×55 -4.3%
6Yale UniversityUnited States 46.4- (#8)14.4%2.1×38 +18.0%
7Columbia UniversityUnited States 44.4- (#13)15.4%2.8×50 +15.4%
8University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 40.6- (#12)17.5%2.6×30 -0.2%
9Duke UniversityUnited States 40.0- (#14)17.8%3.2×42 -9.7%
10Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 39.7#5 (#36)17.1%2.0×91 +4.8%

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 Sensory Systems, country by country

Is Sensory Systems research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 5% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021. The fastest-growing topics are Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies and Hearing, Cochlea, Tinnitus, Genetics.

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 Sensory Systems as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.073% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Sensory Systems0.073% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Sensory Systems 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%Sensory Systems10.0% 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. Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies+7%
  2. Hearing, Cochlea, Tinnitus, Genetics+7%
  3. Ion Channels and Receptors-9%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Sensory Systems include?

Share who leads Sensory Systems

Who leads Sensory Systems, on Science Explorer

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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

Discussion

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