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Topic · Small Animals

Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies

Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies is a research topic within Small Animals. Science Explorer counts 37k research works in it since 1950. 20.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the assessment of animal welfare across various species, including stress indicators, emotional state, environmental enrichment, cognitive bias, hormone measurement, farm animal welfare, captive animals, lameness in animals, and behavioural assessment.

  • Animal Welfare
  • Stress Indicators
  • Emotional State
  • Environmental Enrichment
  • Cognitive Bias
  • Hormone Measurement
  • Farm Animal Welfare
  • Captive Animals
  • Lameness in Animals
  • Behavioural Assessment
Research works
37k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
7.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
20.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+39%
the tick is no change

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

Which countries lead Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.3k and 513 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 1.3k works
  2. 2 China 513 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 448 works
  4. 4 Brazil 312 works
  5. 5 France 300 works
  6. 6 Germany 292 works
  7. 7 Canada 264 works
  8. 8 Australia 250 works
  9. 9 Italy 232 works
  10. 10 India 196 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: 32.3%China: 12.4%United Kingdom: 10.8%Brazil: 7.5%6 others listed: 37.0%32%largest
United States1,341 · 32.3%China513 · 12.4%United Kingdom448 · 10.8%Brazil312 · 7.5%6 others listed1,533 · 37.0%

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

Which institutions lead Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Wageningen University & Research publishes the most Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies research, followed by Aarhus University and University of Guelph.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Wageningen University & Research Netherlands 61 works
  2. 2 Aarhus University Denmark 60 works
  3. 3 University of Guelph Canada 51 works
  4. 4 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Sweden 50 works
  5. 5 Kansas State University United States 47 works
  6. 6 Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement France 42 works
  7. 7 Animal Welfare Institute United States 40 works
  8. 8 Iowa State University United States 40 works
  9. 9 North Carolina State University United States 39 works
  10. 10 University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Austria 38 works

Who are the leading researchers in Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies include George Davey Smith.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith 4.9k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies research done?

The largest centres of Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Paris (France), Aarhus (Denmark) and Washington D.C. (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Saint-Gilles and Carlow.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 121 works
  2. 2 Paris France 104 works
  3. 3 Aarhus Denmark 78 works
  4. 4 Washington D.C. United States 75 works
  5. 5 São Paulo Brazil 75 works
  6. 6 Wageningen Netherlands 63 works
  7. 7 Vienna Austria 59 works
  8. 8 Uppsala Sweden 55 works
  9. 9 London United Kingdom 54 works
  10. 10 Guelph Canada 53 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Saint-GillesFR · 21.6 works355×
  2. CarlowIE · 20.9 works50×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies than the world average.

See Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Wageningen University & Research, University of Guelph and Aarhus 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%20%40%mean 30.16%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Wageningen University & Research: 61, 28.3%University of Guelph: 51, 26.6%Aarhus University: 60, 23.4%China Agricultural University: 31, 30.6%University of Bern: 24, 27.5%Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences: 50, 24.3%University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna: 38, 23.1%University of Georgia: 26, 44.7%Scotland's Rural College: 20, 27.9%South China Agricultural University: 23, 45.2%China Agricultural U…Wageningen Universit…University of GuelphAarhus 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
1Wageningen University & Research Netherlands 68.328.3%26.7×61 -20.7%
2University of Guelph Canada 67.426.6%28.4×51 +71.2%
3Aarhus University Denmark 67.123.4%13.6×60 +19.7%
4China Agricultural University China 66.830.6%8.8×31 +211.3%
5University of Bern Switzerland 66.827.5%9.4×24 +148.8%
6Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Sweden 65.524.3%51.5×50 -22.0%
7University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Austria 64.923.1%111.3×38 +33.3%
8University of Georgia United States 64.144.7%9.5×26 +27.3%
9Scotland's Rural College United Kingdom 63.827.9%148.1×20 +77.6%
10South China Agricultural University China 62.745.2%10.7×23 +16.2%

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 Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 39% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies.

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.