Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity

Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity is a research topic within Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis. Science Explorer counts 42k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the impact of metal-induced oxidative stress on human health, with a focus on lead and cadmium exposure, neurodevelopmental effects, carcinogenic potential, chelation therapy, and biomonitoring. It delves into the mechanisms of toxicity, oxidative damage, and the potential role of antioxidants in mitigating the adverse effects of metal exposure.

  • Metal Toxicity
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Lead Exposure
  • Cadmium Carcinogenesis
  • Neurodevelopmental Effects
  • Environmental Health
  • Manganese Neurotoxicity
  • Heavy Metal Poisoning
  • Chelation Therapy
  • Biomonitoring
Research works
42k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+3%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
40% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity

Which countries lead Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2k and 1.1k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2k works
  2. 2 United States 1.1k works
  3. 3 India 619 works
  4. 4 Nigeria 250 works
  5. 5 Iran 248 works
  6. 6 Brazil 226 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 177 works
  8. 8 Egypt 149 works
  9. 9 Italy 148 works
  10. 10 Spain 146 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: 40.2%United States: 21.1%India: 12.2%Nigeria: 4.9%6 others listed: 21.5%40%largest
China2,044 · 40.2%United States1,071 · 21.1%India619 · 12.2%Nigeria250 · 4.9%6 others listed1,094 · 21.5%

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

Which institutions lead Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity research, followed by Anhui Medical University and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 98 works
  2. 2 Anhui Medical UniversityChina 44 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 35 works
  4. 4 Zhejiang UniversityChina 33 works
  5. 5 Harvard UniversityUnited States 32 works
  6. 6 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 32 works
  7. 7 King Saud UniversitySaudi Arabia 31 works
  8. 8 Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 31 works
  9. 9 Sun Yat-sen UniversityChina 29 works
  10. 10 University of BelgradeSerbia 28 works

Who are the leading researchers in Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity include George Davey Smith, Walter Churchill Willett and Guido Kroemer.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  3. 3 Guido Kroemer France 386k citations
  4. 4 Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta Pakistan 371k citations
  5. 5 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  6. 6 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  7. 7 Farshad Farzadfar Iran 298k citations
  8. 8 Luigi Ferrucci United States 281k citations
  9. 9 Frank B. Hu United States 281k 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 Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity?

The most cited paper in Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity is "An Association between Air Pollution and Mortality in Six U.S. Cities" (Douglas W. Dockery, C. Arden Pope, Xiping Xu et al., 1993), with 8,197 citations. Next come "Selenium: Biochemical Role as a Component of Glutathione Peroxidase" (7,831) and "Heavy Metal Toxicity and the Environment" (7,216).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 An Association between Air Pollution and Mortality in Six U.S. Cities Douglas W. Dockery, C. Arden Pope, Xiping Xu et al. · New England Journal of Medicine Open access 9 Dec 1993 8,197
2 Selenium: Biochemical Role as a Component of Glutathione Peroxidase John T. Rotruck, Alun Lloyd Pope, Howard E. Ganther et al. · Science 9 Feb 1973 7,831
3 Heavy Metal Toxicity and the Environment Paul B. Tchounwou, Clément G. Yedjou, Anita K. Patlolla et al. · Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Polarization Phenomena in Nuclear Reactions Book chapterOpen access 2012 7,216
4 Hazards of heavy metal contamination Lars Järup · British Medical Bulletin Dec 2003 6,521
5 Toxicity, mechanism and health effects of some heavy metals Monisha Jaishankar, Tenzin Tseten, Naresh Anbalagan et al. · Interdisciplinary Toxicology Open access Jun 2014 6,413
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity research done?

The largest centres of Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Guangzhou (China), Nanjing (China) and Wuhan (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Port Harcourt.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 328 works
  2. 2 GuangzhouChina 128 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 98 works
  4. 4 WuhanChina 89 works
  5. 5 ShanghaiChina 86 works
  6. 6 HefeiChina 80 works
  7. 7 TehranIran 76 works
  8. 8 HangzhouChina 71 works
  9. 9 New YorkUnited States 63 works
  10. 10 DhakaBangladesh 57 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Port HarcourtNG · 28.0 works9.4×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity than the world average.

See Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity on the map

Where is the best place to study Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity?

Among universities, judged by research, Northeast Agricultural University, Zhejiang University and Anhui Medical 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%30%mean 18.71%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Northeast Agricultur…Zhejiang UniversityKing Saud UniversityAnhui Medical 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
1Northeast Agricultural UniversityChina 74.526.8%15.2×26 +8.6%
2Zhejiang UniversityChina 71.119.4%1.8×33 +33.3%
3Anhui Medical UniversityChina 70.512.5%14.2×44 +158.4%
4King Saud UniversitySaudi Arabia 70.414.7%4.7×31 +12.0%
5Central South UniversityChina 68.422.6%2.1×27 +30.6%
6Government College University, FaisalabadPakistan 65.226.2%8.2×8 +30.1%
7Yangzhou UniversityChina 63.921.8%5.8×21 +44.8%
8Nanchang UniversityChina 60.017.9%3.9×19 +36.2%
9Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 58.910.1%2.2×23 +68.6%
10Nanjing Agricultural UniversityChina 58.615.1%6.0×15 +36.6%

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 Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity, country by country

Is Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 3% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021. The fastest-growing topics are Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity.

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 Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.032% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity0.029% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity 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%Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity10.0% 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

Ask a question or share a note about Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity. Posts are plain text and can be reported.