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Topic · Genetics

Genetics and Physical Performance

Genetics and Physical Performance is a research topic within Genetics. Science Explorer counts 9.9k 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 explores the genetic influence on human athletic performance, focusing on genes such as ACTN3 and ACE, and their association with endurance performance, muscle strength, and exercise training. The research delves into genomic predictors, elite athletes, and the impact of genetic variation on physical activity and performance.

  • ACTN3 Genotype
  • ACE Gene
  • Endurance Performance
  • Muscle Strength
  • Genetic Variation
  • Elite Athletes
  • Physical Activity
  • Exercise Training
  • Genomic Predictors
  • Athletic Genetics
Research works
9.9k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+16%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
30% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Genetics and Physical Performance

Which countries lead Genetics and Physical Performance research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (397 and 255 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 397 works
  2. 2 China 255 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 119 works
  4. 4 Germany 110 works
  5. 5 Brazil 95 works
  6. 6 Spain 85 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 76 works
  8. 8 Australia 66 works
  9. 9 Russia 62 works
  10. 10 India 57 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: 30.1%China: 19.3%United Kingdom: 9.0%Germany: 8.3%6 others listed: 33.4%30%largest
United States397 · 30.1%China255 · 19.3%United Kingdom119 · 9.0%Germany110 · 8.3%6 others listed441 · 33.4%

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

Which institutions lead Genetics and Physical Performance research?

By volume in 2022-now, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen publishes the most Genetics and Physical Performance research, followed by Witten/Herdecke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Justus-Liebig-Universität GießenGermany 21 works
  2. 2 Witten/Herdecke UniversityGermany 21 works
  3. 3 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 16 works
  4. 4 Harvard UniversityUnited States 12 works
  5. 5 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 11 works
  6. 6 Gdansk University of Physical Education and SportPoland 9 works
  7. 7 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 8 works
  8. 8 Universidade Federal de São PauloBrazil 8 works
  9. 9 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 8 works
  10. 10 Beijing Sport UniversityChina 8 works

Who are the leading researchers in Genetics and Physical Performance?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Genetics and Physical Performance include George Davey Smith, Walter Churchill Willett and Hermann Brenner.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  3. 3 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  4. 4 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  5. 5 Emelia J. Benjamin United States 341k citations
  6. 6 Mika Kivimäki United Kingdom 318k citations
  7. 7 John P. A. Ioannidis United States 317k citations
  8. 8 Gregory Y.H. Lip United Kingdom 311k citations
  9. 9 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
  10. 10 Trevor Hastie United States 301k 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 Genetics and Physical Performance?

The most cited paper in Genetics and Physical Performance is "SNPStats: a web tool for the analysis of association studies" (Xavier Solé, Elisabet Guinó, Joan Valls et al., 2006), with 2,058 citations. Next come "An assessment of maturity from anthropometric measurements" (2,056) and "GenABEL: an R library for genome-wide association analysis" (1,993).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 SNPStats: a web tool for the analysis of association studies Xavier Solé, Elisabet Guinó, Joan Valls et al. · Bioinformatics Open access 23 May 2006 2,058
2 An assessment of maturity from anthropometric measurements Robert L. Mirwald, Adam D. G. Baxter-Jones, D. A. Bailey et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Apr 2002 2,056
3 GenABEL: an R library for genome-wide association analysis Yurii S. Aulchenko, Stephan Ripke, Aaron Isaacs et al. · Bioinformatics 23 Mar 2007 1,993
4 Influences of Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Other Precursors on Cardiovascular Disease and All-Cause Mortality in Men and Women Steven N. Blair · JAMA 17 Jul 1996 1,829
5 Endurance running and the evolution of Homo Dennis M. Bramble, Daniel E. Lieberman · Nature Nov 2004 1,758
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Genetics and Physical Performance research done?

The largest centres of Genetics and Physical Performance research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), São Paulo (Brazil), Moscow (Russia) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Witten and Giessen.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 40 works
  2. 2 São PauloBrazil 28 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 24 works
  4. 4 TokyoJapan 22 works
  5. 5 GiessenGermany 21 works
  6. 6 WittenGermany 21 works
  7. 7 LondonUnited Kingdom 21 works
  8. 8 MelbourneAustralia 18 works
  9. 9 GuangzhouChina 18 works
  10. 10 MadridSpain 17 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. WittenDE · 20.9 works82×
  2. GiessenDE · 21.5 works28×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Genetics and Physical Performance than the world average.

See Genetics and Physical Performance on the map

Where is the best place to study Genetics and Physical Performance?

Among universities, judged by research, Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport, Witten/Herdecke University and Harvard University 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%10%20%mean 8.54286%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Gdansk University of…Harvard UniversityWitten/Herdecke Univ…Justus-Liebig-Univer…
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
1Gdansk University of Physical Education and SportPoland 68.221.1%296.0×9 +54.5%
2Witten/Herdecke UniversityGermany 64.79.1%123.3×21 -
3Harvard UniversityUnited States 58.816.8%2.0×12 -10.7%
4Justus-Liebig-Universität GießenGermany 48.80.6%52.3×21 -
5University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 38.01.6%4.7×16 -1.9%
6Universidade Federal de São PauloBrazil 33.87.5%10.3×8 +66.8%
7Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 15.53.1%3.5×11 -18.3%

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 Genetics and Physical Performance, country by country

Is Genetics and Physical Performance research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 16% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Genetics and Physical Performance.

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 Genetics and Physical Performance as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0086% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Genetics and Physical Performance0.0096% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Genetics and Physical Performance 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%Genetics and Physical Performance10.5% 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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