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Topic · Water Science and Technology

Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies

Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies is a research topic within Water Science and Technology. Science Explorer counts 67k 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 hydrological modeling, water resource management, and the impact of climate change on global hydrology. It covers topics such as model evaluation guidelines, watershed simulations, sediment transport, land use change, and uncertainty assessment in hydrological modeling. The papers also discuss the effects of human interventions and climate change on water resources, as well as the evaluation of streamflow trends and the implications for water availability.

  • Hydrological Modeling
  • Water Resources
  • Climate Change
  • Model Evaluation
  • Global Hydrology
  • Uncertainty Assessment
  • Watershed Simulation
  • Sediment Transport
  • Land Use Change
  • Streamflow Trends
Research works
67k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
6.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+4%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
40% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies

Which countries lead Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (4.5k and 2.2k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 4.5k works
  2. 2 United States 2.2k works
  3. 3 India 1.5k works
  4. 4 Germany 500 works
  5. 5 Iran 454 works
  6. 6 Canada 445 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 403 works
  8. 8 France 388 works
  9. 9 Italy 388 works
  10. 10 Australia 344 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: 40.3%United States: 19.8%India: 13.7%Germany: 4.5%6 others listed: 21.8%40%largest
China4,475 · 40.3%United States2,197 · 19.8%India1,522 · 13.7%Germany500 · 4.5%6 others listed2,423 · 21.8%

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

Which institutions lead Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies research, followed by Hohai University and Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 559 works
  2. 2 Hohai UniversityChina 233 works
  3. 3 Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of ChinaChina 195 works
  4. 4 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 145 works
  5. 5 China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower ResearchChina 135 works
  6. 6 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 121 works
  7. 7 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 114 works
  8. 8 Wuhan UniversityChina 111 works
  9. 9 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 105 works
  10. 10 United States Geological SurveyUnited States 105 works

Who are the leading researchers in Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies include George Davey Smith, Jun Wang and Sudhir Kumar.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  3. 3 Sudhir Kumar United States 295k citations
  4. 4 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  5. 5 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  6. 6 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  7. 7 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  8. 8 Guangming Zeng China 204k citations
  9. 9 F. Stuart Chapin United States 185k citations
  10. 10 Carl Folke Sweden 182k 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 Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies?

The most cited paper in Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies is "River flow forecasting through conceptual models part I — A discussion of principles" (J.E. Nash, John V. Sutcliffe, 1970), with 24,392 citations. Next come "Model Evaluation Guidelines for Systematic Quantification of Accuracy in Watershed Simulations" (13,590) and "A Multiscalar Drought Index Sensitive to Global Warming: The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index" (9,596).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 River flow forecasting through conceptual models part I — A discussion of principles J.E. Nash, John V. Sutcliffe · Journal of Hydrology Apr 1970 24,392
2 Model Evaluation Guidelines for Systematic Quantification of Accuracy in Watershed Simulations Daniel N. Moriasi, Jeffery G. Arnold, Mike W. Van Liew et al. · Transactions of the ASABE 2007 13,590
3 A Multiscalar Drought Index Sensitive to Global Warming: The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index Sergio Martín Vicente-Serrano, Santiago Beguerı́a, Juan Ignacio López‐Moreno · Journal of Climate Open access 19 Nov 2009 9,596
4 LARGE AREA HYDROLOGIC MODELING AND ASSESSMENT PART I: MODEL DEVELOPMENT 1 J. G. Arnold, Raghavan Srinivasan, R. S. Muttiah et al. · JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association Feb 1998 8,054
5 The use of the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) in the delineation of open water features Stuart K. McFeeters · International Journal of Remote Sensing May 1996 7,778
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies research done?

The largest centres of Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Wuhan (China) and Zhengzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Yangling, Arba Minch and Wallingford.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 1.4k works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 452 works
  3. 3 WuhanChina 324 works
  4. 4 ZhengzhouChina 213 works
  5. 5 Xi'anChina 182 works
  6. 6 TehranIran 180 works
  7. 7 GuangzhouChina 141 works
  8. 8 ParisFrance 122 works
  9. 9 LanzhouChina 118 works
  10. 10 RoorkeeIndia 103 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. YanglingCN · 40.6 works57×
  2. Arba MinchET · 44.5 works41×
  3. WallingfordGB · 22.6 works32×
  4. RestonUS · 73.1 works20×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies than the world average.

See Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Beijing Normal University, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hohai 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%20%40%mean 21.12%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Northwest A&F Univer…University of Chines…Beijing Normal Unive…Hohai 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
1Beijing Normal UniversityChina 65.716.3%12.9×145 +13.3%
2University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 62.416.6%4.9×114 +18.0%
3Hohai UniversityChina 61.912.4%28.1×233 +10.3%
4Northwest A&F UniversityChina 61.618.4%10.6×58 +66.0%
5China University of GeosciencesChina 60.021.1%6.4×41 +79.6%
6King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 59.631.7%2.5×12 +339.8%
7Indian Institute of Technology GandhinagarIndia 58.925.9%11.1×15 -12.0%
8Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 58.628.4%0.8×10 +36.6%
9United Arab Emirates UniversityUnited Arab Emirates 57.824.8%3.9×13 +174.6%
10North China University of Water Resources and Electric PowerChina 57.715.6%39.2×83 +252.0%

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 Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies, country by country

Is Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 4% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021. The fastest-growing topics are Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies.

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 Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.063% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies0.062% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies 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%Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies10.0% 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.

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