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Topic · Pollution

Heavy metals in environment

Heavy metals in environment is a research topic within Pollution. Science Explorer counts 62k 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 focuses on the environmental impact of heavy metal contamination, covering topics such as soil and sediment pollution, health risks associated with heavy metal exposure, remediation strategies, bioavailability of heavy metals, and the effects of urbanization on heavy metal distribution.

  • Heavy Metals
  • Contamination
  • Soil
  • Health Risk
  • Remediation
  • Bioavailability
  • Sediment
  • Pollution
  • Toxicity
  • Urban
Research works
62k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
6.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+12%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
47% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Heavy metals in environment

Which countries lead Heavy metals in environment research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (4.3k and 1.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 4.3k works
  2. 2 India 1.3k works
  3. 3 United States 762 works
  4. 4 Nigeria 678 works
  5. 5 Brazil 385 works
  6. 6 Iran 382 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 375 works
  8. 8 Pakistan 363 works
  9. 9 Russia 296 works
  10. 10 France 265 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: 46.8%India: 14.6%United States: 8.4%Nigeria: 7.5%6 others listed: 22.7%47%largest
China4,264 · 46.8%India1,332 · 14.6%United States762 · 8.4%Nigeria678 · 7.5%6 others listed2,066 · 22.7%

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

Which institutions lead Heavy metals in environment research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Heavy metals in environment research, followed by Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 393 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 161 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 103 works
  4. 4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 100 works
  5. 5 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 73 works
  6. 6 Central South UniversityChina 67 works
  7. 7 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 65 works
  8. 8 Zhejiang UniversityChina 62 works
  9. 9 King Saud UniversitySaudi Arabia 59 works
  10. 10 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural AffairsChina 58 works

Who are the leading researchers in Heavy metals in environment?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Heavy metals in environment include Walter Churchill Willett, Stuart Pocock and Xiaogang Wang.

  1. 1 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  2. 2 Stuart Pocock United Kingdom 273k citations
  3. 3 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  4. 4 Lídia Morawska Australia 244k 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 metals in environment?

The most cited paper in Heavy metals in environment is "Development of a DTPA Soil Test for Zinc, Iron, Manganese, and Copper" (W. L. Lindsay, Wendell A. Norvell, 1978), with 10,001 citations. Next come "An ecological risk index for aquatic pollution control.a sedimentological approach" (9,700) and "Approximation of terrestrial lead isotope evolution by a two-stage model" (9,132).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Development of a DTPA Soil Test for Zinc, Iron, Manganese, and Copper W. L. Lindsay, Wendell A. Norvell · Soil Science Society of America Journal May 1978 10,001
2 An ecological risk index for aquatic pollution control.a sedimentological approach Lars Håkanson · Water Research 1980 9,700
3 Approximation of terrestrial lead isotope evolution by a two-stage model J. S. Stacey, Jan D. Kramers · Earth and Planetary Science Letters Jun 1975 9,132
4 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
5 Hazards of heavy metal contamination Lars Järup · British Medical Bulletin Dec 2003 6,521
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Heavy metals in environment research done?

The largest centres of Heavy metals in environment research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Guangzhou (China) and Changsha (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 966 works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 241 works
  3. 3 GuangzhouChina 202 works
  4. 4 ChangshaChina 183 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 171 works
  6. 6 HangzhouChina 149 works
  7. 7 GuiyangChina 129 works
  8. 8 DhakaBangladesh 128 works
  9. 9 ShanghaiChina 124 works
  10. 10 TehranIran 119 works
See Heavy metals in environment on the map

Where is the best place to study Heavy metals in environment?

Among universities, judged by research, Giresun University, King Saud University and Zhejiang 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%20%40%60%mean 24.29%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Giresun UniversityKastamonu UniversityZhejiang UniversityKing Saud 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
1Giresun UniversityTürkiye 68.948.2%10.1×15 +108.5%
2King Saud UniversitySaudi Arabia 68.318.6%4.9×59 +105.4%
3Zhejiang UniversityChina 66.425.6%1.9×62 +16.7%
4Kastamonu UniversityTürkiye 65.327.7%12.2×23 +81.4%
5Central South UniversityChina 63.718.1%2.8×67 +51.0%
6Noakhali Science and Technology UniversityBangladesh 58.432.3%16.9×10 +38.9%
7University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 58.117.4%3.6×73 -6.6%
8China University of Geosciences (Beijing)China 57.912.0%13.3×48 +16.7%
9South China Agricultural UniversityChina 57.920.5%7.9×34 +53.2%
10Government College University, FaisalabadPakistan 57.622.5%10.2×20 -7.9%

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 metals in environment, country by country

Is Heavy metals in environment research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 12% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Heavy metals in environment.

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 metals in environment as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.059% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Heavy metals in environment0.056% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Heavy metals in environment 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 metals in environment10.1% 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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