Science Explorer Interactive view Map
Subfield · Social Sciences

Transportation research

Transportation is a subfield of Social Sciences. Science Explorer counts 256k research works in it since 1950. 23.6% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: human-directed movement of things or people between locations.

Research works
256k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
60k
per year above
Top-10% rate
23.6%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
9
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+53%
the tick is no change

What is Transportation research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Travel Behavior, Legal Regulation, Transport Policy, Active Travel, Built Environment, Public Transport. Gaining share since 2009–13: Legal Regulation, Transport Policy, GPS Data, Human Mobility, Active Travel. Losing share: European Transport Policy, Sustainable Development, Disaster Management, Urban Resilience.

▲ 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 21 words, with their numbers
  1. Travel Behavior26k▼ 0.85×2 topics
  2. Legal Regulation24k▲ 1.82×1 topic
  3. Transport Policy24k▲ 1.82×1 topic
  4. Active Travel18k◆ 1.15×1 topic
  5. Built Environment18k◆ 1.15×1 topic
  6. Public Transport17k▼ 0.63×2 topics
  7. Urban Mobility17k▼ 0.63×2 topics
  8. Route Choice16k▼ 0.69×1 topic
  9. Service Quality16k▼ 0.69×1 topic
  10. GPS Data10k▲ 1.39×1 topic
  11. Human Mobility10k▲ 1.39×1 topic
  12. Cruise Tourism5,255▼ 0.77×1 topic
  13. Environmental Impact5,255▼ 0.77×1 topic
  14. Disaster Recovery2,192▼ 0.48×1 topic
  15. Urban Reconstruction2,192▼ 0.48×1 topic
  16. Maritime Security1,878▼ 0.80×1 topic
  17. Piracy1,878▼ 0.80×1 topic
  18. Disaster Management1,116▼ 0.40×1 topic
  19. Urban Resilience1,116▼ 0.40×1 topic
  20. European Transport Policy943▼ 0.26×1 topic
  21. Sustainable Development943▼ 0.26×1 topic

Which countries lead Transportation research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and the United Kingdom rank highest in Transportation. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (11k and 11k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 28.4% top 10% · 11k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 12.9% top 10% · 11k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom · #3 all time 26.9% top 10% · 1.8k works
  4. 4 India · #14 all time 15.5% top 10% · 2.5k works
  5. 5 Hong Kong · #10 all time 46.4% top 10% · 552 works
  6. 6 Australia · #4 all time 29.8% top 10% · 1.1k works
  7. 7 Italy · #8 all time 28.7% top 10% · 1k works
  8. 8 Spain · #9 all time 29.2% top 10% · 946 works
  9. 9 Germany · #7 all time 17.0% top 10% · 1.7k works
  10. 10 Canada · #5 all time 26.0% 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 51 countries ranked in Transportation. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Transportation

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 11k works
  2. 2 China 11k works
  3. 3 Ukraine 5k works
  4. 4 Japan 4.1k works
  5. 5 Russia 3.1k works
  6. 6 India 2.5k works
  7. 7 Indonesia 2k works
  8. 8 Brazil 1.8k works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 1.8k works
  10. 10 Germany 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.

United States: 25.7%China: 25.4%Ukraine: 11.2%Japan: 9.1%6 others listed: 28.6%26%largest
United States11k · 25.7%China11k · 25.4%Ukraine5,037 · 11.2%Japan4,070 · 9.1%6 others listed13k · 28.6%

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

Which institutions lead Transportation research?

Tsinghua University (China) ranks first in Transportation on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Beijing Jiaotong University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Tsinghua University China · Beijing · #10 all time 38.6% top 10% · 190 works
  2. 2 Beijing Jiaotong University China · Beijing · #11 all time 27.4% top 10% · 452 works
  3. 3 Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong · Hong Kong · #9 all time 45.9% top 10% · 187 works
  4. 4 Tongji University China · Shanghai · #25 all time 30.7% top 10% · 328 works
  5. 5 University of Hong Kong Hong Kong · Pok Fu Lam · #12 all time 47.7% top 10% · 139 works
  6. 6 Peking University China · Beijing · #17 all time 45.0% top 10% · 166 works
  7. 7 Human Growth Foundation United States · New York · #86 all time 6.9% top 10% · 1.9k works
  8. 8 Weatherford College United States · Weatherford · #56 all time 3.9% top 10% · 2.9k works
  9. 9 Wuhan University China · Wuhan · #37 all time 40.1% top 10% · 143 works
  10. 10 Southeast University China · Nanjing · #16 all time 32.5% top 10% · 287 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 132 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Transportation.

Top 100 Transportation institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Weatherford College United States 2.9k works
  2. 2 Human Growth Foundation United States 1.9k works
  3. 3 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil 1k works
  4. 4 The University of Tokyo Japan 547 works
  5. 5 Beijing Jiaotong University China 452 works
  6. 6 Max Planck Society Germany 426 works
  7. 7 Tongji University China 328 works
  8. 8 University of Tikrit Iraq 304 works
  9. 9 Southeast University China 287 works
  10. 10 State University "Kyiv Aviation Institute" Ukraine 270 works

Who are the leading researchers in Transportation?

Among the most productive authors in Transportation, Moshe Ben‐Akiva, David Banister and Hai Yang rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 Moshe Ben‐Akiva United States · #2,168 worldwide 2.9k citations · 153 works
  2. 2 David Banister United Kingdom · #7,155 worldwide 1.2k citations · 99 works
  3. 3 Hai Yang Hong Kong · #17,543 worldwide 1.5k citations · 138 works
  4. 4 Tao Zhou China · #26,167 worldwide 2.1k citations · 304 works
  5. 5 Patricia L. Mokhtarian United States · #32,081 worldwide 873 citations · 105 works
  6. 6 Robert Cervero United States · #33,425 worldwide 830 citations · 94 works
  7. 7 Masahiro Asada Japan · #33,667 worldwide 649 citations · 168 works
  8. 8 Shuichi Wakimoto Japan · #36,227 worldwide 508 citations · 171 works
  9. 9 Chandra R. Bhat United States · #43,862 worldwide 1.3k citations · 135 works
  10. 10 Joon-Sung Park South Korea · #46,065 worldwide 485 citations · 187 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 1,513 highest-output authors in Transportation. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Transportation researchers

Where is Transportation research done?

The largest centres of Transportation research in 2022–2025 are Weatherford (United States), Beijing (China), New York (United States) and Kyiv (Ukraine). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Kuwait City and Tripoli.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Weatherford United States 2.9k works
  2. 2 Beijing China 2.8k works
  3. 3 New York United States 2.2k works
  4. 4 Kyiv Ukraine 1.6k works
  5. 5 Tokyo Japan 1.5k works
  6. 6 São Paulo Brazil 1.1k works
  7. 7 Moscow Russia 1.1k works
  8. 8 Shanghai China 1k works
  9. 9 Nanjing China 787 works
  10. 10 Seoul South Korea 696 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Kamianets-Podilskyi31.2 works67×
  2. Kuwait City234.2 works62×
  3. Tripoli190.0 works62×
  4. Khmelnytskyi180.9 works60×
  5. Odesa39.5 works45×
  6. Lviv53.9 works43×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Transportation on the map

Transportation research by country

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

Where is the best place to study Transportation?

Among universities, judged by research, Weatherford College, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique de Tunisie and Beijing Jiaotong 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%25%50%mean 16.46%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Weatherford College: 2,938, 3.9%Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique de Tunisie: 219, 1.0%Beijing Jiaotong University: 452, 27.4%Universidade de São Paulo: 1,009, 1.9%Pedagogical University: 118, 3.1%School of Planning and Architecture Delhi: 46, 19.6%Chinese University of Hong Kong: 64, 57.5%Hong Kong Polytechnic University: 187, 45.9%Bohdan Khmelnytskyi National Academy of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine: 142, 4.3%Basic Education College: 234, 0.0%Beijing Jiaotong Uni…Weatherford CollegeUniversidade de São …Institut National de…
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
1Weatherford College United States 63.43.9%31.9×2,938 +212.3%
2Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique de Tunisie Tunisia 59.21.0%50.2×219 +244.5%
3Beijing Jiaotong University China 55.827.4%10.7×452 +6.9%
4Universidade de São Paulo Brazil 54.61.9%8.5×1,009 +310.7%
5Pedagogical University Mozambique 54.13.1%17.3×118 +508.0%
6School of Planning and Architecture Delhi India 52.919.6%16.9×46 +282.4%
7Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 52.357.5%1.4×64 +130.6%
8Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong 50.245.9%3.1×187 +32.5%
9Bohdan Khmelnytskyi National Academy of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine ?? 49.14.3%62.9×142 +481.8%
10Basic Education College ?? 48.90.0%65.6×234 +486.7%

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 Transportation research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 53% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis, Legal and Regulatory Analysis and transportation and logistics systems.

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. Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis+617%
  2. Legal and Regulatory Analysis+341%
  3. transportation and logistics systems+264%
  4. Urban Transport and Accessibility+235%
  5. Maritime Security and History+155%
  6. Energy and Environmental Systems+126%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

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

What does Transportation include?

Legal and Regulatory Ana…69kLegal and Regulatory Analysis: 69k fractional worksTransportation Planning …57kTransportation Planning and Optimization: 57k fractional worksUrban Transport and Accessibility: 51k fractional worksHuman Mobility and Location-Based Analysis: 26k fractional worksCruise Tourism Development and Management: 17k fractional worksEarthquake and Disaster Impact Studies: 16k fractional worksMaritime Security and History: 7,257 fractional workstransportation and logistics systems: 6,545 fractional worksEnergy and Environmental Systems: 5,232 fractional works

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