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Topic · Molecular Biology

Diffusion and Search Dynamics

Diffusion and Search Dynamics is a research topic within Molecular Biology. Science Explorer counts 7.2k research works in it since 1950. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the dynamics of protein-DNA interactions, including facilitated diffusion, stochastic resetting, search strategies, and Lévy walk patterns. It explores how proteins find their specific sites on DNA, the kinetics of target site localization, and the behavior of transcription factors at the single-molecule level in living cells.

  • Protein-DNA Interaction
  • Facilitated Diffusion
  • Stochastic Resetting
  • Search Strategies
  • Lévy Walk Patterns
  • Target Localization
  • Transcription Factor Dynamics
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Kinetics of Protein-DNA Interaction
  • Single-Molecule Measurements
Research works
7.2k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
736
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+6%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Diffusion and Search Dynamics

Which countries lead Diffusion and Search Dynamics research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (217 and 179 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 217 works
  2. 2 China 179 works
  3. 3 France 133 works
  4. 4 Germany 88 works
  5. 5 India 77 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 73 works
  7. 7 Italy 54 works
  8. 8 Japan 49 works
  9. 9 Spain 36 works
  10. 10 Israel 35 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: 23.1%China: 19.1%France: 14.1%Germany: 9.3%6 others listed: 34.5%23%largest
United States217 · 23.1%China179 · 19.1%France133 · 14.1%Germany88 · 9.3%6 others listed325 · 34.5%

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

Which institutions lead Diffusion and Search Dynamics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Diffusion and Search Dynamics research, followed by University of Utah and Tel Aviv University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 59 works
  2. 2 University of UtahUnited States 15 works
  3. 3 Tel Aviv UniversityIsrael 12 works
  4. 4 Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom 11 works
  5. 5 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 11 works
  6. 6 Max Planck SocietyGermany 10 works
  7. 7 Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 10 works
  8. 8 Université Paris-SaclayFrance 10 works
  9. 9 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 9 works
  10. 10 Tata Institute of Fundamental ResearchIndia 9 works

Who are the leading researchers in Diffusion and Search Dynamics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Diffusion and Search Dynamics include Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási, Harry Eugene Stanley and Peter Donnelly.

  1. 1 Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási United States 223k citations
  2. 2 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations
  3. 3 Peter Donnelly United Kingdom 175k citations
  4. 4 H. Vincent Poor United States 165k citations
  5. 5 Martin Karplus United States 160k 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 Diffusion and Search Dynamics?

The most cited paper in Diffusion and Search Dynamics is "Cuckoo Search via Lévy flights" (Xin‐She Yang, Suash Deb, 2009), with 6,178 citations. Next come "Understanding individual human mobility patterns" (6,165) and "Optimal foraging, the marginal value theorem" (5,460).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Cuckoo Search via Lévy flights Xin‐She Yang, Suash Deb Conference paper 2009 6,178
2 Understanding individual human mobility patterns Marta Claudia González, César A. Hidalgo, Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási · Nature Open access 4 Jun 2008 6,165
3 Optimal foraging, the marginal value theorem Eric L. Charnov · Theoretical Population Biology Apr 1976 5,460
4 Equilibria and kinetics of lac repressor-operator interactions by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis Michael Gregory Fried, Donald M. Crothers · Nucleic Acids Research Open access 1981 2,859
5 Random Walks on Lattices. II Elliott W. Montroll, George H. Weiss · Journal of Mathematical Physics Feb 1965 2,799
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Diffusion and Search Dynamics research done?

The largest centres of Diffusion and Search Dynamics research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Paris.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 63 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 33 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 19 works
  4. 4 TokyoJapan 18 works
  5. 5 Mexico CityMexico 16 works
  6. 6 RomeItaly 16 works
  7. 7 Salt Lake CityUnited States 15 works
  8. 8 MoscowRussia 14 works
  9. 9 MumbaiIndia 14 works
  10. 10 Gif-sur-YvetteFrance 13 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. ParisFR · 62.5 works6.0×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Diffusion and Search Dynamics than the world average.

See Diffusion and Search Dynamics on the map

Where is the best place to study Diffusion and Search Dynamics?

Among universities, judged by research, Tel Aviv University, University of Utah and University of Potsdam 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 18.225%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Tel Aviv UniversityUniversity of PotsdamUniversité Paris-Sac…University of Utah
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
1Tel Aviv UniversityIsrael 74.531.4%14.1×12 +0.5%
2University of UtahUnited States 66.014.6%20.9×15 +10.5%
3University of PotsdamGermany 64.924.5%33.5×9 +52.5%
4Université Paris-SaclayFrance 60.220.0%14.2×10 +31.7%
5Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 56.317.4%13.6×10 +49.3%
6Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom 52.210.8%10.6×11 +159.8%
7Tata Institute of Fundamental ResearchIndia 50.222.3%73.5×9 +160.8%
8Sapienza University of RomeItaly 24.24.8%8.8×11 +21.8%

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 Diffusion and Search Dynamics, country by country

Is Diffusion and Search Dynamics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Diffusion and Search Dynamics.

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 Diffusion and Search Dynamics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0048% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Diffusion and Search Dynamics0.0048% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Diffusion and Search Dynamics 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%Diffusion and Search Dynamics10.2% 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.

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