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Topic · Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

Environmental and Social Impact Assessments

Environmental and Social Impact Assessments is a research topic within Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law. Science Explorer counts 11k research works in it since 1954. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the conceptualization, principles, and methodologies of sustainability assessment and impact evaluation, including environmental, social, health, and strategic dimensions. It explores the integration of assessment frameworks, public participation, and decision-making theory in the context of policy development and implementation.

  • Sustainability Assessment
  • Environmental Impact Assessment
  • Social Impact Assessment
  • Strategic Environmental Assessment
  • Health Impact Assessment
  • Public Participation
  • Integrated Assessment
  • Cumulative Effects Assessment
  • Policy Making
  • Decision-Making Theory
Research works
11k
fractional, since 1954
In the world top 10%
1.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+11%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
18% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Environmental and Social Impact Assessments

Which countries lead Environmental and Social Impact Assessments research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (234 and 233 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 234 works
  2. 2 United States 233 works
  3. 3 Brazil 140 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 137 works
  5. 5 India 118 works
  6. 6 Canada 111 works
  7. 7 Australia 99 works
  8. 8 Italy 90 works
  9. 9 France 71 works
  10. 10 South Africa 71 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.

China: 17.9%United States: 17.9%Brazil: 10.8%United Kingdom: 10.5%6 others listed: 42.9%18%largest
China234 · 17.9%United States233 · 17.9%Brazil140 · 10.8%United Kingdom137 · 10.5%6 others listed560 · 42.9%

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

Which institutions lead Environmental and Social Impact Assessments research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Environmental and Social Impact Assessments research, followed by North-West University and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 19 works
  2. 2 North-West UniversitySouth Africa 15 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 14 works
  4. 4 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 13 works
  5. 5 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 12 works
  6. 6 University of British ColumbiaCanada 9 works
  7. 7 Aalborg UniversityDenmark 9 works
  8. 8 The University of QueenslandAustralia 9 works
  9. 9 University of LiverpoolUnited Kingdom 8 works
  10. 10 Maharshi Dayanand UniversityIndia 7 works

Who are the leading researchers in Environmental and Social Impact Assessments?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Environmental and Social Impact Assessments include Guangming Zeng, Michelle Lee Bell and Joanne E. McKenzie.

  1. 1 Guangming Zeng China 204k citations
  2. 2 Michelle Lee Bell United States 197k citations
  3. 3 Joanne E. McKenzie Australia 188k citations
  4. 4 Michael D Brauer Canada 187k citations
  5. 5 Annette Peters Germany 176k 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 Environmental and Social Impact Assessments?

The most cited paper in Environmental and Social Impact Assessments is "An ecological risk index for aquatic pollution control.a sedimentological approach" (Lars Håkanson, 1980), with 9,700 citations. Next come "Human Development Report" (9,192) and "Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" (5,636).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 An ecological risk index for aquatic pollution control.a sedimentological approach Lars Håkanson · Water Research 1980 9,700
2 Human Development Report James A. Church · Journal of Government Information May 2001 9,192
3 Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Anson W. Mackay · Journal of Environmental Quality Open access 23 Oct 2008 5,636
4 ReCiPe2016: a harmonised life cycle impact assessment method at midpoint and endpoint level Mark A. J. Huijbregts, Zoran J. N. Steinmann, Pieter M. F. Elshout et al. · The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Open access 12 Dec 2016 4,403
5 Stakeholder participation for environmental management: A literature review Mark S. Reed · Biological Conservation 7 Sep 2008 4,254
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Environmental and Social Impact Assessments research done?

The largest centres of Environmental and Social Impact Assessments research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom), São Paulo (Brazil) and Rome (Italy).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 61 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 32 works
  3. 3 São PauloBrazil 30 works
  4. 4 RomeItaly 25 works
  5. 5 ParisFrance 21 works
  6. 6 Washington D.C.United States 20 works
  7. 7 OttawaCanada 16 works
  8. 8 MelbourneAustralia 16 works
  9. 9 MoscowRussia 16 works
  10. 10 PotchefstroomSouth Africa 15 works
See Environmental and Social Impact Assessments on the map

Where is the best place to study Environmental and Social Impact Assessments?

Among universities, judged by research, North-West University, The University of Queensland and University of British Columbia 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 12.9333%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →The University of Qu…North-West UniversityUniversity of Britis…Universidade de São …
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
1North-West UniversitySouth Africa 78.720.3%27.1×16 +10.1%
2The University of QueenslandAustralia 53.128.5%4.5×9 -53.3%
3University of British ColumbiaCanada 44.714.9%3.6×9 +4.3%
4Universidade de São PauloBrazil 31.65.8%3.1×13 -13.2%
5Sapienza University of RomeItaly 30.92.0%5.1×12 +477.5%
6Aalborg UniversityDenmark 28.56.1%7.5×9 +9.0%

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 Environmental and Social Impact Assessments, country by country

Is Environmental and Social Impact Assessments research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 11% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Environmental and Social Impact Assessments.

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 Environmental and Social Impact Assessments as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0094% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Environmental and Social Impact Assessments0.010% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Environmental and Social Impact Assessments 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%Environmental and Social Impact Assessments11.1% 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.

Discussion

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