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Topic · Water Science and Technology

Geography and Environmental Studies

Geography and Environmental Studies is a research topic within Water Science and Technology. Science Explorer counts 25k research works in it since 1950. 1.6% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the management and conservation of water resources, including topics such as hydrographic basins, environmental conservation, geospatial analysis, climatology, land use planning, erosion control, geoinformatics, sustainable development, remote sensing, and biodiversity preservation.

  • Hydrographic Basins
  • Environmental Conservation
  • Geospatial Analysis
  • Climatology
  • Land Use Planning
  • Erosion Control
  • Geoinformatics
  • Sustainable Development
  • Remote Sensing
  • Biodiversity Preservation
Research works
25k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
406
per year above
Top-10% rate
1.6%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+15%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Geography and Environmental Studies research?

By volume, Brazil and the United States publish the most (4.2k and 157 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Brazil 4.2k works
  2. 2 United States 157 works
  3. 3 Portugal 94 works
  4. 4 Spain 68 works
  5. 5 France 36 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 29 works
  7. 7 ?? 28 works
  8. 8 Mexico 19 works
  9. 9 Colombia 17 works
  10. 10 Argentina 16 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.

Brazil: 90.0%United States: 3.4%Portugal: 2.0%Spain: 1.5%6 others listed: 3.1%90%largest
Brazil4,209 · 90.0%United States157 · 3.4%Portugal94 · 2.0%Spain68 · 1.5%6 others listed146 · 3.1%

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

Which institutions lead Geography and Environmental Studies research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco publishes the most Geography and Environmental Studies research, followed by Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) and Universidade Federal do Pará.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Universidade Federal de PernambucoBrazil 121 works
  2. 2 Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)Brazil 120 works
  3. 3 Universidade Federal do ParáBrazil 89 works
  4. 4 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do SulBrazil 76 works
  5. 5 Universidade Federal de Minas GeraisBrazil 75 works
  6. 6 Universidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 75 works
  7. 7 Universidade Federal do CearáBrazil 73 works
  8. 8 Universidade Federal da ParaíbaBrazil 72 works
  9. 9 Universidade de BrasíliaBrazil 71 works
  10. 10 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do NorteBrazil 71 works

Who are the leading researchers in Geography and Environmental Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Geography and Environmental Studies include Paulo César Sentelhas, Gerd Sparovek and Clayton Alcarde Álvares.

  1. 1 Paulo César Sentelhas Brazil 2.1k citations
  2. 2 Gerd Sparovek Brazil 2k citations
  3. 3 Clayton Alcarde Álvares Brazil 1.9k citations
  4. 4 Yadvinder Malhi United Kingdom 1.5k citations
  5. 5 Meinrat O. Andreae Germany 1.4k citations
  6. 6 Philip M. Fearnside Brazil 1.3k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Geography and Environmental Studies research done?

The largest centres of Geography and Environmental Studies research in 2022–2025 are São Paulo (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Recife (Brazil) and Belém (Brazil). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Sobral, Cáceres and Diamantina.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 São Paulo Brazil 407 works
  2. 2 Rio de Janeiro Brazil 270 works
  3. 3 Recife Brazil 218 works
  4. 4 Belém Brazil 161 works
  5. 5 Brasília Brazil 158 works
  6. 6 Belo Horizonte Brazil 148 works
  7. 7 Fortaleza Brazil 139 works
  8. 8 Manaus Brazil 116 works
  9. 9 Curitiba Brazil 104 works
  10. 10 Campina Grande Brazil 92 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. SobralBR · 30.4 works189×
  2. CáceresBR · 35.4 works84×
  3. DiamantinaBR · 34.4 works82×
  4. MossoróBR · 57.3 works80×
  5. ItajubáBR · 29.3 works73×
  6. Boa VistaBR · 20.6 works71×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Geography and Environmental Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Geography and Environmental Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte and São Paulo State Technological College 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%5%10%mean 2.59%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro: 9, 7.5%Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte: 71, 2.5%São Paulo State Technological College: 11, 6.1%Universidade Federal de Alagoas: 37, 2.9%Universidade Federal do Amazonas: 64, 1.6%Universidade Federal de Pernambuco: 121, 0.5%Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP): 47, 1.4%Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro: 66, 0.6%Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais: 75, 2.0%Universidade Federal do Pará: 89, 0.8%Pontifícia Universid…São Paulo State Tech…Universidade Federal…Universidade Federal…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 71.97.5%10.7×9 +536.8%
2 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do NorteBrazil 66.42.5%41.0×71 +188.4%
3 São Paulo State Technological CollegeBrazil 63.86.1%38.5×11 +149.9%
4 Universidade Federal de AlagoasBrazil 63.12.9%37.9×37 +336.3%
5 Universidade Federal do AmazonasBrazil 62.31.6%63.6×64 +226.7%
6 Universidade Federal de PernambucoBrazil 61.50.5%52.0×121 +177.7%
7 Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)Brazil 60.21.4%13.3×47 +364.9%
8 Universidade do Estado do Rio de JaneiroBrazil 58.60.6%31.2×66 +210.9%
9 Universidade Federal de Minas GeraisBrazil 58.22.0%22.3×75 +77.6%
10 Universidade Federal do ParáBrazil 57.80.8%48.0×89 +132.4%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Geography and Environmental Studies research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 15% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2017. The fastest-growing topics are Geography and Environmental Studies.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

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.