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Topic · Epidemiology

Breastfeeding Practices and Influences

Breastfeeding Practices and Influences is a research topic within Epidemiology. Science Explorer counts 32k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores various aspects of breastfeeding, including its epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effects on both maternal and child health. It covers topics such as the impact of breastfeeding on infant and child mortality, cognitive development, infectious diseases, maternal health outcomes, and the duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Additionally, it delves into factors influencing breastfeeding practices, interventions to promote breastfeeding, and the relationship between breastfeeding and long-term health outcomes.

  • Breastfeeding
  • Infant Health
  • Maternal Health
  • Exclusive Breastfeeding
  • Breast Milk Composition
  • Child Development
  • Breastfeeding Duration
  • Breastfeeding Promotion
  • Lactation
  • Breastfeeding Support
Research works
32k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+10%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
26% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Breastfeeding Practices and Influences

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

Which countries lead Breastfeeding Practices and Influences research?

By volume, the United States and Brazil publish the most (1.4k and 1.2k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.4k works
  2. 2 Brazil 1.2k works
  3. 3 Indonesia 798 works
  4. 4 India 433 works
  5. 5 Türkiye 336 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 333 works
  7. 7 China 324 works
  8. 8 Australia 260 works
  9. 9 Spain 173 works
  10. 10 Canada 170 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: 25.9%Brazil: 22.0%Indonesia: 14.7%India: 8.0%6 others listed: 29.4%26%largest
United States1,404 · 25.9%Brazil1,192 · 22.0%Indonesia798 · 14.7%India433 · 8.0%6 others listed1,594 · 29.4%

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

Which institutions lead Breastfeeding Practices and Influences research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most Breastfeeding Practices and Influences research, followed by Politeknik Kesehatan Kemenkes Semarang and Universidade de São Paulo.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 56 works
  2. 2 Politeknik Kesehatan Kemenkes SemarangIndonesia 48 works
  3. 3 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 45 works
  4. 4 Harvard UniversityUnited States 38 works
  5. 5 University of IndonesiaIndonesia 33 works
  6. 6 Airlangga UniversityIndonesia 28 works
  7. 7 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 28 works
  8. 8 University of TorontoCanada 27 works
  9. 9 Fundação Oswaldo CruzBrazil 23 works
  10. 10 Sağlık Bilimleri ÜniversitesiTürkiye 22 works

Who are the leading researchers in Breastfeeding Practices and Influences?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Breastfeeding Practices and Influences include Christopher J L Murray, Simon Iain Hay and George Davey Smith.

  1. 1 Christopher J L Murray United States 583k citations
  2. 2 Simon Iain Hay United States 452k citations
  3. 3 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  4. 4 Ali H. Mokdad United States 429k citations
  5. 5 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  6. 6 Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta Pakistan 371k citations
  7. 7 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  8. 8 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  9. 9 Emelia J. Benjamin United States 341k citations
  10. 10 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations

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

What are the most cited papers in Breastfeeding Practices and Influences?

The most cited paper in Breastfeeding Practices and Influences is "Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect" (Cesar Gomes Victora, Rajiv Bahl, Aluísio J. D. Barros et al., 2016), with 8,227 citations. Next come "2000 CDC Growth Charts for the United States: methods and development." (3,730) and "Effect of Treatment of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus on Pregnancy Outcomes" (3,181).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect Cesar Gomes Victora, Rajiv Bahl, Aluísio J. D. Barros et al. · The Lancet Open access 2016 8,227
2 2000 CDC Growth Charts for the United States: methods and development. Robert J Kuczmarski, Cynthia L. Ogden, Shumei S Guo et al. · PubMed May 2002 3,730
3 Effect of Treatment of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus on Pregnancy Outcomes Caroline A Crowther, Janet E. Hiller, John Robert Moss et al. · New England Journal of Medicine Open access 12 Jun 2005 3,181
4 Evidence-based interventions for improvement of maternal and child nutrition: what can be done and at what cost? Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, Jai K Das, Arjumand Rizvi et al. · The Lancet 5 Jun 2013 3,139
5 Why invest, and what it will take to improve breastfeeding practices? Nigel Campbell Rollins, Nita Bhandari, Nemat Hajeebhoy et al. · The Lancet 2016 3,034
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Breastfeeding Practices and Influences research done?

The largest centres of Breastfeeding Practices and Influences research in 2022-now are São Paulo (Brazil), London (United Kingdom), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Gonder.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 São PauloBrazil 169 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 105 works
  3. 3 JakartaIndonesia 101 works
  4. 4 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 99 works
  5. 5 SemarangIndonesia 84 works
  6. 6 IstanbulTürkiye 74 works
  7. 7 Chapel HillUnited States 56 works
  8. 8 MelbourneAustralia 53 works
  9. 9 New YorkUnited States 51 works
  10. 10 BeijingChina 50 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. GonderET · 21.6 works19×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Breastfeeding Practices and Influences than the world average.

See Breastfeeding Practices and Influences on the map

Where is the best place to study Breastfeeding Practices and Influences?

Among universities, judged by research, Swansea University, University of Gondar and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine 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 26.64%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Swansea UniversityThe University of We…University of GondarLondon School of Hyg…
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.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Swansea UniversityUnited Kingdom 68.933.7%7.7×11 +59.1%
2University of GondarEthiopia 67.224.0%21.1×22 +61.9%
3London School of Hygiene & Tropical MedicineUnited Kingdom 65.120.1%12.1×13 +38.8%
4The University of Western AustraliaAustralia 62.824.7%5.7×17 +14.6%
5Harvard UniversityUnited States 59.419.6%1.7×38 -5.8%
6Peking UniversityChina 57.636.4%0.9×13 +32.0%
7Australian National UniversityAustralia 54.834.5%2.3×8 +23.4%
8University of TorontoCanada 54.624.0%1.9×27 -19.6%
9University of CopenhagenDenmark 53.825.9%1.9×13 +13.5%
10Jimma UniversityEthiopia 53.423.5%12.5×11 +45.5%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Breastfeeding Practices and Influences, country by country

Is Breastfeeding Practices and Influences research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 10% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Breastfeeding Practices and Influences.

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 Breastfeeding Practices and Influences as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.034% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Breastfeeding Practices and Influences0.033% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Breastfeeding Practices and Influences 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%Breastfeeding Practices and Influences10.4% 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.

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