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Subfield · Veterinary

Small Animals research

Small Animals is a subfield of Veterinary. Science Explorer counts 177k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: kingdom of multicellular eukaryotic organisms.

Research works
177k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
18k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
10
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+10%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
33% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Small Animals

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

What is Small Animals research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2021-25, its most used keywords are Animal Welfare, Emotional State, Stress Indicators, Epidemiology, Pain Assessment, Anthelmintic Resistance. Gaining share since 2011-15: Emotional State, Stress Indicators, Animal Welfare. Losing share: Brachyspira, Proliferative Enteropathy.

▲ 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 23 words, with their numbers
  1. Animal Welfare11k◆ 1.15×2 topics
  2. Emotional State8,370▲ 1.23×1 topic
  3. Stress Indicators8,370▲ 1.23×1 topic
  4. Epidemiology6,073◆ 0.87×2 topics
  5. Pain Assessment5,452◆ 1.02×2 topics
  6. Anthelmintic Resistance4,280◆ 0.87×1 topic
  7. Nematodes4,280◆ 0.87×1 topic
  8. Oomycetes3,693◆ 0.90×1 topic
  9. Retroviruses3,693◆ 0.90×1 topic
  10. ARRIVE Guidelines3,116◆ 0.93×1 topic
  11. Animal Research Reporting3,116◆ 0.93×1 topic
  12. Anesthesia2,979◆ 0.97×1 topic
  13. Tramadol2,979◆ 0.97×1 topic
  14. Acute Phase Proteins2,882◆ 1.09×1 topic
  15. Veterinary Diagnosis2,882◆ 1.09×1 topic
  16. Canine2,473◆ 1.09×1 topic
  17. Orthopedic2,473◆ 1.09×1 topic
  18. Chronic Kidney Disease2,328◆ 1.13×1 topic
  19. Obesity2,328◆ 1.13×1 topic
  20. Brachyspira1,819▼ 0.74×1 topic
  21. Proliferative Enteropathy1,819▼ 0.74×1 topic
  22. Brucellosis1,794◆ 0.89×1 topic
  23. Zoonosis1,794◆ 0.89×1 topic

Which countries lead Small Animals research?

On research quality in 2022-now, the United States, the United Kingdom and China rank highest in Small Animals. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (6.1k and 2.5k works in 2022-now).

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States #1 all time 0.97× citation excellence · 1.52× journals · 100% breadth 10.7% top 10% · 5.2k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom #2 all time 1.45× citation excellence · 1.45× journals · 100% breadth 14.4% top 10% · 1.4k works
  3. 3 China #4 all time 1.63× citation excellence · 1.05× journals · 100% breadth 19.8% top 10% · 2k works
  4. 4 Germany #3 all time 1.40× citation excellence · 1.40× journals · 100% breadth 11.4% top 10% · 964 works
  5. 5 Switzerland #7 all time 1.32× citation excellence · 1.87× journals · 100% breadth 12.3% top 10% · 337 works
  6. 6 Australia #5 all time 1.39× citation excellence · 1.19× journals · 100% breadth 14.4% top 10% · 634 works
  7. 7 Canada #8 all time 1.34× citation excellence · 1.20× journals · 100% breadth 13.3% top 10% · 667 works
  8. 8 France #6 all time 0.97× citation excellence · 1.26× journals · 100% breadth 8.5% top 10% · 847 works
  9. 9 Netherlands #9 all time 1.50× citation excellence · 1.45× journals · 100% breadth 15.6% top 10% · 321 works
  10. 10 Spain #10 all time 1.24× citation excellence · 0.99× journals · 100% breadth 11.9% top 10% · 625 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 30 countries ranked in Small Animals. Ranked on the quality score for 2022-now; the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Small Animals

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 6.1k works
  2. 2 China 2.5k works
  3. 3 Brazil 2k works
  4. 4 India 1.8k works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 1.7k works
  6. 6 Germany 1.1k works
  7. 7 France 978 works
  8. 8 Italy 930 works
  9. 9 Japan 840 works
  10. 10 Canada 781 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: 32.7%China: 13.2%Brazil: 10.6%India: 9.7%6 others listed: 33.8%33%largest
United States6,135 · 32.7%China2,469 · 13.2%Brazil1,983 · 10.6%India1,820 · 9.7%6 others listed6,345 · 33.8%

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

Which institutions lead Small Animals research?

Cornell University (United States) ranks first in Small Animals on research quality in 2022-now, followed by University of Pennsylvania and The University of Melbourne.

By research quality, 2022-now

  1. 1 Cornell University United States · Ithaca · #2 all time 10.0% top 10% · 125 works
  2. 2 University of Pennsylvania United States · Philadelphia · #5 all time 9.9% top 10% · 100 works
  3. 3 The University of Melbourne Australia · Melbourne · #10 all time 19.2% top 10% · 67 works
  4. 4 University of Copenhagen Denmark · Copenhagen · #18 all time 11.8% top 10% · 82 works
  5. 5 University of Liverpool United Kingdom · Liverpool · #53 all time 19.4% top 10% · 67 works
  6. 6 University of California, Davis United States · Davis · #9 all time 10.1% top 10% · 156 works
  7. 7 North Carolina State University United States · Raleigh · #29 all time 14.5% top 10% · 114 works
  8. 8 Colorado State University United States · Fort Collins · #24 all time 9.7% top 10% · 120 works
  9. 9 University of Edinburgh United Kingdom · Edinburgh · #4 all time 10.2% top 10% · 88 works
  10. 10 Wageningen University & Research Netherlands · Wageningen · #7 all time 18.3% top 10% · 82 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 48 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Small Animals.

Top 100 Small Animals institutions

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'EnvironnementFrance 201 works
  2. 2 University of California, DavisUnited States 180 works
  3. 3 Indian Council of Agricultural ResearchIndia 166 works
  4. 4 University of GuelphCanada 162 works
  5. 5 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 151 works
  6. 6 Cornell UniversityUnited States 146 works
  7. 7 Colorado State UniversityUnited States 141 works
  8. 8 Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)Brazil 137 works
  9. 9 Royal Veterinary CollegeUnited Kingdom 133 works
  10. 10 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 131 works

Who are the leading researchers in Small Animals?

Counting only their work in Small Animals, Daniel Martin Weary, M.A.G. von Keyserlingk and B. Duncan X. Lascelles have the most papers in the world top 10% for their subfield and year beyond the 10% expected.

  1. 1 Daniel Martin Weary Canada · #205,876 worldwide overall 59.9 of 148 papers here in the top 10%
  2. 2 M.A.G. von Keyserlingk Canada · #167,822 worldwide overall 50.1 of 118 papers here in the top 10%
  3. 3 B. Duncan X. Lascelles United States · #242,767 worldwide overall 32.5 of 94 papers here in the top 10%
  4. 4 B. Kemp Netherlands · #252,075 worldwide overall 33.0 of 115 papers here in the top 10%
  5. 5 Christine Janet Nicol United Kingdom · #243,458 worldwide overall 24.6 of 78 papers here in the top 10%
  6. 6 David W. Denning United Kingdom · #53,157 worldwide overall 24.3 of 63 papers here in the top 10%
  7. 7 David Whyte Macdonald United Kingdom · #59,647 worldwide overall 23.3 of 68 papers here in the top 10%
  8. 8 Malcolm Robert Macleod United Kingdom · #19,604 worldwide overall 19.7 of 36 papers here in the top 10%
  9. 9 Thomas Härtung Germany · #91,748 worldwide overall 23.1 of 70 papers here in the top 10%
  10. 10 Hanno Würbel Switzerland · #44,625 worldwide overall 20.2 of 42 papers here in the top 10%

Ranked on their work in Small Animals alone: how many more of their papers here reached the world top 10% for their subfield and year than the 10% expected, among 610,423 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 Small Animals researchers

What are the most cited papers in Small Animals?

The most cited paper in Small Animals is "Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing by a Standardized Single Disk Method" (Alfred W. Bauer, William M. M. Kirby, J. C. Sherris et al., 1966), with 18,626 citations. Next come "Superoxide dismutase: Improved assays and an assay applicable to acrylamide gels" (12,959) and "Ethical guidelines for investigations of experimental pain in conscious animals" (7,814).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing by a Standardized Single Disk Method Alfred W. Bauer, William M. M. Kirby, J. C. Sherris et al. · American Journal of Clinical Pathology Apr 1966 18,626
2 Superoxide dismutase: Improved assays and an assay applicable to acrylamide gels Charles Beauchamp, Irwin Fridovich · Analytical Biochemistry Nov 1971 12,959
3 Ethical guidelines for investigations of experimental pain in conscious animals Manfred Zimmermann · Pain Jun 1983 7,814
4 Improving Bioscience Research Reporting: The ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research Carol Kilkenny, William J. Browne, Innes C. Cuthill et al. · PLoS Biology Open access 29 Jun 2010 7,456
5 A simple practice guide for dose conversion between animals and human Anroop Balachandran Nair, Shery Jacob · Journal of Basic and Clinical Pharmacy Open access 2016 6,160
All 97 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Small Animals research done?

The largest centres of Small Animals research in 2022-now are São Paulo (Brazil), Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Gentilly, Newmarket and Solihull.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 São PauloBrazil 453 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 433 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 346 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 284 works
  5. 5 TokyoJapan 249 works
  6. 6 New YorkUnited States 239 works
  7. 7 Washington D.C.United States 206 works
  8. 8 DavisUnited States 188 works
  9. 9 MoscowRussia 186 works
  10. 10 BangkokThailand 178 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. GentillyFR · 21.3 works100×
  2. NewmarketGB · 23.0 works99×
  3. SolihullGB · 55.5 works97×
  4. Saint-GillesFR · 26.4 works94×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Small Animals on the map

Small Animals research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Small Animals?

Among universities, judged by research, Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania and Wageningen University & Research 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 13.65%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Wageningen Universit…Harvard UniversityCornell UniversityUniversity of Pennsy…
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
1Cornell UniversityUnited States 84.7#1 (#2)9.8%4.2×146 +31.7%
2University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 72.0#2 (#5)9.6%4.0×112 +10.7%
3Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 71.0#10 (#7)18.0%9.5×91 +16.5%
4Harvard UniversityUnited States 70.0- (#1)17.2%0.5×46 +9.6%
5University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 66.0#9 (#4)10.3%4.3×101 -15.5%
6University of California, DavisUnited States 65.4#6 (#9)10.6%8.4×180 -1.6%
7The University of MelbourneAustralia 63.7#3 (#10)18.1%2.7×80 -25.1%
8University of CopenhagenDenmark 60.5#4 (#18)12.6%3.9×96 +11.7%
9Ghent UniversityBelgium 60.1#18 (#17)16.6%5.2×108 +28.6%
10Swedish University of Agricultural SciencesSweden 59.8#14 (#16)13.7%26.0×106 +1.9%

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 Small Animals, country by country

Is Small Animals research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 10% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, Veterinary Orthopedics and Neurology and Animal health and immunology.

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 Small Animals as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.12% in 2024.

still counting0.20%0.40%Small Animals0.13% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Small Animals 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%Small Animals10.2% 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. Veterinary Medicine and Surgery+28%
  2. Veterinary Orthopedics and Neurology+22%
  3. Animal health and immunology+16%
  4. Veterinary Pharmacology and Anesthesia+14%
  5. Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies+12%
  6. Animal testing and alternatives+11%
  7. Helminth infection and control-1%
  8. Veterinary medicine and infectious diseases-8%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Small Animals include?

Animal Behavior and Welf…37kAnimal Behavior and Welfare Studies: 37k fractional worksHelminth infection and control: 26k fractional worksInfectious Diseases and …20kInfectious Diseases and Mycology: 20k fractional worksAnimal testing and alter…18kAnimal testing and alternatives: 18k fractional worksVeterinary Pharmacology and Anesthesia: 17k fractional worksAnimal health and immunology: 15k fractional worksVeterinary medicine and …13kVeterinary medicine and infectious diseases: 13k fractional worksVeterinary Orthopedics and Neurology: 11k fractional worksVeterinary Medicine and Surgery: 11k fractional worksBrucella: diagnosis, epidemiology, treatment: 8,731 fractional works

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

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Who leads Small Animals, on Science Explorer

A card with the countries and institutions that lead Small Animals, for a post or a slide.

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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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