Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Global and Planetary Change

COVID-19 impact on air quality

COVID-19 impact on air quality is a research topic within Global and Planetary Change. Science Explorer counts 9k research works in it since 1952. 10.5% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global environment, focusing on air quality, carbon emissions, sustainability, and renewable energy. It investigates the effects of lockdown measures on reducing pollution, the potential long-term implications for climate change, and the opportunities for sustainable development in a post-pandemic world.

  • COVID-19
  • pandemic
  • air quality
  • lockdown
  • environmental impact
  • sustainability
  • renewable energy
  • carbon emissions
  • climate change
  • global response
Research works
9k
fractional, since 1952
In the world top 10%
952
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.5%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+31%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
India
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
COVID-19 impact on air quality

Which countries lead COVID-19 impact on air quality research?

By volume, India and China publish the most (789 and 569 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 India 789 works
  2. 2 China 569 works
  3. 3 United States 414 works
  4. 4 Indonesia 239 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 171 works
  6. 6 Brazil 129 works
  7. 7 Malaysia 128 works
  8. 8 Türkiye 128 works
  9. 9 Bangladesh 117 works
  10. 10 Pakistan 117 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.

India: 28.2%China: 20.3%United States: 14.8%Indonesia: 8.5%6 others listed: 28.2%28%largest
India789 · 28.2%China569 · 20.3%United States414 · 14.8%Indonesia239 · 8.5%6 others listed790 · 28.2%

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

Which institutions lead COVID-19 impact on air quality research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most COVID-19 impact on air quality research, followed by University of Delhi and University of Indonesia.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 32 works
  2. 2 University of DelhiIndia 16 works
  3. 3 University of IndonesiaIndonesia 15 works
  4. 4 Indian Institute of Technology KharagpurIndia 14 works
  5. 5 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 14 works
  6. 6 University of DhakaBangladesh 14 works
  7. 7 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 14 works
  8. 8 Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 14 works
  9. 9 Ministry of Earth SciencesIndia 13 works
  10. 10 Council of Scientific and Industrial ResearchIndia 13 works

Who are the leading researchers in COVID-19 impact on air quality?

The most-cited researchers publishing on COVID-19 impact on air quality include Christopher J L Murray.

  1. 1 Christopher J L Murray United States 583k 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 COVID-19 impact on air quality?

The most cited paper in COVID-19 impact on air quality is "Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1" (Neeltje van Doremalen, Trenton Bushmaker, Dylan H. Morris et al., 2020), with 10,255 citations. Next come "Estimates and 25-year trends of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution: an analysis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2015" (6,772) and "The socio-economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19): A review" (6,554).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1 Neeltje van Doremalen, Trenton Bushmaker, Dylan H. Morris et al. · New England Journal of Medicine Open access 17 Mar 2020 10,255
2 Estimates and 25-year trends of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution: an analysis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2015 Aaron J. Cohen et al. · The Lancet Open access 10 Apr 2017 6,772
3 The socio-economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19): A review Maria Nicola, Zaid Alsafi, Catrin Sohrabi et al. · International Journal of Surgery Open access 16 Apr 2020 6,554
4 Nowcasting and forecasting the potential domestic and international spread of the 2019-nCoV outbreak originating in Wuhan, China: a modelling study Joseph Tsz Kei Wu, Kathy S. M. Leung, GM Leung · The Lancet Open access 31 Jan 2020 4,909
5 A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker) Thomas N. Hale, Noam Angrist, Rafael Burstein Goldszmidt et al. · Nature Human Behaviour Open access 8 Mar 2021 4,861
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is COVID-19 impact on air quality research done?

The largest centres of COVID-19 impact on air quality research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), New Delhi (India), Dhaka (Bangladesh) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Dhaka and Kathmandu.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 131 works
  2. 2 New DelhiIndia 95 works
  3. 3 DhakaBangladesh 76 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 48 works
  5. 5 JakartaIndonesia 40 works
  6. 6 TehranIran 39 works
  7. 7 ShanghaiChina 37 works
  8. 8 NanjingChina 35 works
  9. 9 BangkokThailand 35 works
  10. 10 ChennaiIndia 34 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. DhakaBD · 75.6 works6.6×
  2. KathmanduNP · 22.5 works5.1×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in COVID-19 impact on air quality than the world average.

See COVID-19 impact on air quality on the map

Where is the best place to study COVID-19 impact on air quality?

Among universities, judged by research, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, University of Dhaka and Imperial College London score highest, combining 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%30%mean 15.61%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Indian Institute of …Fudan UniversityImperial College Lon…University of Dhaka
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.

Citation 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
1Indian Institute of Technology KharagpurIndia 80.225.6%6.8×14 +205.2%
2University of DhakaBangladesh 63.911.5%9.1×14 +93.0%
3Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom 62.119.0%2.4×10 +115.5%
4Fudan UniversityChina 57.620.4%1.5×10 +32.9%
5University of DelhiIndia 57.06.0%5.5×16 +76.9%
6Harvard UniversityUnited States 53.123.2%0.7×9 -13.0%
7Indian Institute of Technology DelhiIndia 50.317.5%4.7×10 +36.0%
8Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 49.42.9%4.4×14 +122.9%
9Universiti Sains MalaysiaMalaysia 48.314.8%3.3×9 +40.3%
10Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 48.015.2%1.6×12 +14.9%

Universities only. The score blends citation 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 COVID-19 impact on air quality, country by country

Is COVID-19 impact on air quality research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 31% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021. The fastest-growing topics are COVID-19 impact on air quality.

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 COVID-19 impact on air quality as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.014% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%COVID-19 impact on air quality0.015% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of COVID-19 impact on air quality 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%COVID-19 impact on air quality11.0% in 202520102020

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.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about COVID-19 impact on air quality. Keep it to the research: no personal attacks, advertising or links. Any reader can report a post, which collapses it for everyone until it is opened.