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Topic · Molecular Biology

Gut microbiota and health

Gut microbiota and health is a research topic within Molecular Biology. Science Explorer counts 63k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the diversity, function, and impact of the gut microbiome on human health, including its role in metabolic diseases, immune responses, and the effects of diet. It covers topics such as microbial communities, short-chain fatty acids, metagenomic analysis, host-microbial interactions, and the association of the gut microbiome with conditions like obesity and inflammatory diseases.

  • Gut Microbiota
  • Microbial Communities
  • Short-Chain Fatty Acids
  • Metagenomic Analysis
  • Host-Microbial Interactions
  • Obesity-associated Microbiome
  • Immune Responses
  • Metabolic Health
  • Inflammatory Diseases
  • Dietary Impact
Research works
63k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
6.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+57%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
51% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Gut microbiota and health

Which countries lead Gut microbiota and health research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (11k and 4.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 11k works
  2. 2 United States 4.3k works
  3. 3 India 1.2k works
  4. 4 Italy 783 works
  5. 5 South Korea 730 works
  6. 6 Japan 706 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 681 works
  8. 8 Germany 630 works
  9. 9 France 567 works
  10. 10 Spain 559 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: 51.3%United States: 20.7%India: 5.8%Italy: 3.7%6 others listed: 18.5%51%largest
China11k · 51.3%United States4,335 · 20.7%India1,223 · 5.8%Italy783 · 3.7%6 others listed3,873 · 18.5%

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

Which institutions lead Gut microbiota and health research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Gut microbiota and health research, followed by Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Zhejiang University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 316 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 239 works
  3. 3 Zhejiang UniversityChina 204 works
  4. 4 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 189 works
  5. 5 Nanchang UniversityChina 186 works
  6. 6 Sun Yat-sen UniversityChina 167 works
  7. 7 Sichuan UniversityChina 162 works
  8. 8 Harvard UniversityUnited States 156 works
  9. 9 China Agricultural UniversityChina 143 works
  10. 10 Southern Medical UniversityChina 141 works

Who are the leading researchers in Gut microbiota and health?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Gut microbiota and health include Eric S. Lander, Rob Knight and George Davey Smith.

  1. 1 Eric S. Lander United States 524k citations
  2. 2 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  3. 3 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  4. 4 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  5. 5 Mark J. Daly United States 403k citations
  6. 6 Peer Bork Germany 396k citations
  7. 7 Guido Kroemer France 386k citations
  8. 8 Steven L. Salzberg United States 372k citations
  9. 9 Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta Pakistan 371k citations
  10. 10 Elaine R. Mardis United States 346k 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 Gut microbiota and health?

The most cited paper in Gut microbiota and health is "DADA2: High-resolution sample inference from Illumina amplicon data" (Benjamin J. Callahan, Paul J. McMurdie, Michael Rosen et al., 2016), with 37,958 citations. Next come "Reproducible, interactive, scalable and extensible microbiome data science using QIIME 2" (25,165) and "Introducing mothur: Open-Source, Platform-Independent, Community-Supported Software for Describing and Comparing Microbial Communities" (22,073).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 DADA2: High-resolution sample inference from Illumina amplicon data Benjamin J. Callahan, Paul J. McMurdie, Michael Rosen et al. · Nature Methods Open access 23 May 2016 37,958
2 Reproducible, interactive, scalable and extensible microbiome data science using QIIME 2 Evan K Bolyen et al. · Nature Biotechnology Open access112 authors 24 Jul 2019 25,165
3 Introducing mothur: Open-Source, Platform-Independent, Community-Supported Software for Describing and Comparing Microbial Communities Patrick D. Schloss, Sarah L. Westcott, Thomas Ryabin et al. · Applied and Environmental Microbiology Open access 3 Oct 2009 22,073
4 Naive Bayesian Classifier for Rapid Assignment of rRNA Sequences into the New Bacterial Taxonomy Qiong Wang, George M Garrity, James M. Tiedje et al. · Applied and Environmental Microbiology Open access 22 Jun 2007 20,801
5 UPARSE: highly accurate OTU sequences from microbial amplicon reads R. C. Edgar · Nature Methods 18 Aug 2013 17,573
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Gut microbiota and health research done?

The largest centres of Gut microbiota and health research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Guangzhou (China), Shanghai (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Cork, Wuxi and Lhasa.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 1.5k works
  2. 2 GuangzhouChina 725 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 648 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 480 works
  5. 5 HangzhouChina 468 works
  6. 6 ChengduChina 375 works
  7. 7 ChangshaChina 334 works
  8. 8 SeoulSouth Korea 324 works
  9. 9 WuhanChina 315 works
  10. 10 ParisFrance 249 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. CorkIE · 112.9 works11×
  2. WuxiCN · 230.7 works8.7×
  3. LhasaCN · 21.3 works8.1×
  4. Ya'anCN · 63.1 works8.1×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Gut microbiota and health than the world average.

See Gut microbiota and health on the map

Where is the best place to study Gut microbiota and health?

Among universities, judged by research, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Nanchang University 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%mean 15.3%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Chinese University o…Harvard UniversityShanghai Jiao Tong U…Nanchang 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.

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
1Chinese University of Hong KongChina 76.318.7%3.7×66 +98.4%
2Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 74.217.2%2.7×189 +88.2%
3Nanchang UniversityChina 73.814.8%10.2×186 +150.4%
4Harvard UniversityUnited States 72.417.6%2.0×156 -0.2%
5Southern Medical UniversityChina 71.215.3%9.4×141 +123.5%
6Zhejiang UniversityChina 70.713.7%3.1×204 +73.7%
7Sun Yat-sen UniversityChina 68.913.6%3.3×167 +107.2%
8China Agricultural UniversityChina 67.612.7%10.7×143 +87.3%
9Northwest A&F UniversityChina 66.116.1%7.5×71 +96.4%
10Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 65.513.3%4.8×122 +87.6%

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 Gut microbiota and health, country by country

Is Gut microbiota and health research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 57% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Gut microbiota and health.

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 Gut microbiota and health as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.11% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Gut microbiota and health0.12% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Gut microbiota and health 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%Gut microbiota and health9.8% 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.

Questions people ask

Who leads research on the gut microbiome?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Gut microbiota and health research, followed by Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Zhejiang University. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (11k and 4.3k works in 2022-now).

How much research is there on the gut microbiome, and is it growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 57% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Gut microbiota and health.

Is Gut microbiota and health research growing?
All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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