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Environmental law and policy

Environmental law and policy is a research topic within Law. Science Explorer counts 11k research works in it since 1951. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the legal recognition of nature's rights and the implications for environmental governance. It delves into topics such as climate change litigation, the Aarhus Convention, legal personhood for natural entities, human rights in the context of environmental protection, and the role of transnational corporations in sustainable development. The cluster also discusses global environmental constitutionalism and the intersection of indigenous rights with environmental law.

  • Rights of Nature
  • Environmental Law
  • Climate Change Litigation
  • Aarhus Convention
  • Legal Personhood
  • Human Rights
  • Transnational Corporations
  • Sustainable Development
  • Global Environmental Constitutionalism
  • Indigenous Rights
Research works
11k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
1.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+45%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
20% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Environmental law and policy

Which countries lead Environmental law and policy research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (402 and 250 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 402 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 250 works
  3. 3 India 250 works
  4. 4 China 192 works
  5. 5 Indonesia 186 works
  6. 6 France 160 works
  7. 7 Brazil 152 works
  8. 8 Germany 148 works
  9. 9 Netherlands 127 works
  10. 10 Australia 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.

United States: 20.3%United Kingdom: 12.6%India: 12.6%China: 9.7%6 others listed: 44.9%20%largest
United States402 · 20.3%United Kingdom250 · 12.6%India250 · 12.6%China192 · 9.7%6 others listed890 · 44.9%

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

Which institutions lead Environmental law and policy research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Environmental law and policy research, followed by Tilburg University and University of Amsterdam.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 36 works
  2. 2 Tilburg UniversityNetherlands 24 works
  3. 3 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 18 works
  4. 4 The University of MelbourneAustralia 15 works
  5. 5 Max Planck SocietyGermany 15 works
  6. 6 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 14 works
  7. 7 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 12 works
  8. 8 Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 11 works
  9. 9 Université Paris-SaclayFrance 11 works
  10. 10 Diponegoro UniversityIndonesia 11 works

Who are the leading researchers in Environmental law and policy?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Environmental law and policy include Xiaogang Wang, David John Hunter and Robert Costanza.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  2. 2 David John Hunter Australia 211k citations
  3. 3 Robert Costanza Australia 107k 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 law and policy?

The most cited paper in Environmental law and policy is "The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change" (Philippe Sands, 1992), with 3,629 citations. Next come "Reconceiving Environmental Justice: Global Movements And Political Theories" (1,446) and "The “Commons” Versus the “Commodity”: Alter‐globalization, Anti‐privatization and the Human Right to Water in the Global South" (770).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Philippe Sands · Review of European Community & International Environmental Law Sep 1992 3,629
2 Reconceiving Environmental Justice: Global Movements And Political Theories David Schlosberg · Environmental Politics 30 Jul 2004 1,446
3 The “Commons” Versus the “Commodity”: Alter‐globalization, Anti‐privatization and the Human Right to Water in the Global South Karen Bakker · Antipode Jun 2007 770
4 Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment Jonas Ebbesson, David Langlet · Indian Journal of Public Administration Jul 1989 731
5 The Legitimacy of International Governance: A Coming Challenge for International Environmental Law? Daniel Bodansky · American Journal of International Law Jul 1999 535
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Environmental law and policy research done?

The largest centres of Environmental law and policy research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Paris (France) 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 Tilburg.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 75 works
  2. 2 New YorkUnited States 50 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 46 works
  4. 4 Washington D.C.United States 39 works
  5. 5 BeijingChina 34 works
  6. 6 MelbourneAustralia 28 works
  7. 7 AmsterdamNetherlands 27 works
  8. 8 JakartaIndonesia 27 works
  9. 9 MoscowRussia 26 works
  10. 10 YogyakartaIndonesia 26 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. TilburgNL · 24.2 works42×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Environmental law and policy than the world average.

See Environmental law and policy on the map

Where is the best place to study Environmental law and policy?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Amsterdam, Tilburg University and University of Eastern Finland 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 19.81%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Easter…University of Amster…University of HelsinkiTilburg University
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
1University of AmsterdamNetherlands 81.322.6%10.6×18 +73.9%
2Tilburg UniversityNetherlands 72.512.2%51.8×24 +115.4%
3University of Eastern FinlandFinland 71.835.2%16.6×10 +46.4%
4University of HelsinkiFinland 53.316.0%4.8×10 +137.9%
5Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 53.124.2%5.5×11 -13.4%
6University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 51.615.7%3.5×14 -47.2%
7The University of MelbourneAustralia 51.215.5%4.7×15 -10.9%
8Chinese University of Hong KongChina 48.831.1%4.1×9 -43.1%
9Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom 44.69.1%9.6×10 +245.4%
10University College CorkIreland 44.216.5%9.5×8 -3.4%

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 Environmental law and policy, country by country

Is Environmental law and policy research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 45% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Environmental law and policy.

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 law and policy as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.012% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Environmental law and policy0.017% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Environmental law and policy 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 law and policy10.4% 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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