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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. 16.4% 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%
17k
per year above
Top-10% rate
16.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
3
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+20%
the tick is no change

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

By the world's output in 2019–23, 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 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 6 words, with their numbers
  1. COVID-1910k◆ 1.14×1 topic
  2. Olfactory Dysfunction10k◆ 1.14×1 topic
  3. Cochlear Neuropathy7,621◆ 0.97×1 topic
  4. Hearing Loss7,621◆ 0.97×1 topic
  5. Calcium Signaling3,022▼ 0.75×1 topic
  6. Ion Channels3,022▼ 0.75×1 topic

Which countries lead Sensory Systems research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and the United Kingdom rank highest in Sensory Systems. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.4k and 2.8k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #3 all time 21.8% top 10% · 2.8k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 17.5% top 10% · 3.4k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #2 all time 21.5% top 10% · 640 works
  4. 4 Germany · #4 all time 15.7% top 10% · 868 works
  5. 5 Italy · #6 all time 21.5% top 10% · 526 works
  6. 6 South Korea · #15 all time 13.7% top 10% · 538 works
  7. 7 Japan · #5 all time 8.0% top 10% · 973 works
  8. 8 France · #7 all time 13.3% top 10% · 500 works
  9. 9 Australia · #9 all time 17.5% top 10% · 319 works
  10. 10 India · #19 all time 7.5% top 10% · 738 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 17 countries ranked in Sensory Systems. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Sensory Systems

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 3.4k works
  2. 2 China 2.8k works
  3. 3 Japan 973 works
  4. 4 Germany 868 works
  5. 5 India 738 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 641 works
  7. 7 South Korea 538 works
  8. 8 Italy 526 works
  9. 9 France 500 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 440 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: 29.6%China: 24.3%Japan: 8.6%Germany: 7.7%6 others listed: 29.8%30%largest
United States3,358 · 29.6%China2,758 · 24.3%Japan973 · 8.6%Germany868 · 7.7%6 others listed3,382 · 29.8%

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

Which institutions lead Sensory Systems research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Johns Hopkins University publishes the most Sensory Systems research, followed by Harvard University and University of Chicago.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Johns Hopkins University United States 59 works
  2. 2 Harvard University United States 54 works
  3. 3 University of Chicago United States 45 works
  4. 4 University College London United Kingdom 45 works
  5. 5 Dr. S.R. Chandrasekhar Institute of Speech and Hearing India 42 works
  6. 6 The University of Tokyo Japan 41 works
  7. 7 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China 41 works
  8. 8 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France 41 works
  9. 9 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil 40 works
  10. 10 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States 39 works

Who are the leading researchers in Sensory Systems?

Among the most productive authors in Sensory Systems, Salim S. Virani, Simon Baron‐Cohen and Solomon H. Snyder rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Salim S. Virani United States · #125 worldwide 3.9k citations · 163 works
  2. 2 Simon Baron‐Cohen United Kingdom · #719 worldwide 3.8k citations · 212 works
  3. 3 Solomon H. Snyder United States · #1,095 worldwide 2.8k citations · 168 works
  4. 4 Pushmeet Kohli United Kingdom · #1,147 worldwide 3.5k citations · 99 works
  5. 5 Heiko Braak Germany · #1,274 worldwide 2.9k citations · 90 works
  6. 6 Jes Olesen Denmark · #1,420 worldwide 1.6k citations · 145 works
  7. 7 Luigi Ferrucci United States · #1,649 worldwide 5.3k citations · 345 works
  8. 8 Thomas Vogt Germany · #2,082 worldwide 1.2k citations · 92 works
  9. 9 Ronald Melzack Canada · #2,248 worldwide 2.3k citations · 75 works
  10. 10 Mark R. Rosenzweig United States · #2,521 worldwide 2.1k citations · 158 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 3,535 highest-output authors in Sensory Systems. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Sensory Systems researchers

Where is Sensory Systems research done?

The largest centres of Sensory Systems research in 2022–2025 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, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 467 works
  2. 2 Shanghai China 290 works
  3. 3 Tokyo Japan 288 works
  4. 4 Seoul South Korea 259 works
  5. 5 Paris France 186 works
  6. 6 London United Kingdom 178 works
  7. 7 Guangzhou China 171 works
  8. 8 New York United States 143 works
  9. 9 Hangzhou China 128 works
  10. 10 Nanjing China 115 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. OldenburgDE · 28.8 works9.0×
← 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, Beijing Technology and Business University, Medical University of South Carolina and Medizinische Hochschule Hannover 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%25%50%75%mean 28.44%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Beijing Technology and Business University: 20, 67.8%Medical University of South Carolina: 33, 22.1%Medizinische Hochschule Hannover: 35, 11.9%Harvard University: 54, 31.0%University of Oxford: 30, 41.7%Johns Hopkins University: 59, 19.9%University College London: 45, 22.9%Technische Universität Dresden: 33, 10.1%Semmelweis University: 19, 25.1%Duke University: 32, 31.9%Beijing Technology a…Harvard UniversityMedical University o…Medizinische Hochsch…
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
1Beijing Technology and Business University China 64.467.8%6.1×20 +106.3%
2Medical University of South Carolina United States 57.822.1%9.4×33 +100.9%
3Medizinische Hochschule Hannover Germany 52.311.9%10.7×35 +15.6%
4Harvard University United States 48.531.0%2.8×54 +15.1%
5University of Oxford United Kingdom 45.041.7%1.5×30 +23.1%
6Johns Hopkins University United States 43.319.9%3.5×59 -2.1%
7University College London United Kingdom 43.222.9%2.1×45 +28.5%
8Technische Universität Dresden Germany 42.010.1%4.5×33 +96.6%
9Semmelweis University Hungary 42.025.1%6.2×19 +4.2%
10Duke University United States 40.331.9%2.9×32 +2.5%

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 Sensory Systems research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 20% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2021. The fastest-growing topics are Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies, Hearing, Cochlea, Tinnitus, Genetics and Ion Channels and Receptors.

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. Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies+52%
  2. Hearing, Cochlea, Tinnitus, Genetics+46%
  3. Ion Channels and Receptors+38%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Sensory Systems include?