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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact

Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 7.6k research works in it since 1952. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the social, environmental, and economic impacts of dam-induced displacement and resettlement, with a focus on hydropower projects. It discusses the challenges, risks, and opportunities associated with large dam construction, involuntary resettlement, and the long-term effects on communities and ecosystems.

  • Resettlement
  • Hydropower
  • Social Impact
  • Environmental Impact
  • Displacement
  • Development
  • Sustainability
  • Livelihoods
  • China
  • Policy
Research works
7.6k
fractional, since 1952
In the world top 10%
789
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+16%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
India
21% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact

Which countries lead Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact research?

By volume, India and China publish the most (301 and 279 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 India 301 works
  2. 2 China 279 works
  3. 3 United States 213 works
  4. 4 Brazil 156 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 116 works
  6. 6 Ethiopia 89 works
  7. 7 Germany 71 works
  8. 8 Nigeria 71 works
  9. 9 Australia 59 works
  10. 10 South Africa 57 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.

India: 21.3%China: 19.8%United States: 15.1%Brazil: 11.0%6 others listed: 32.8%21%largest
India301 · 21.3%China279 · 19.8%United States213 · 15.1%Brazil156 · 11.0%6 others listed463 · 32.8%

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

Which institutions lead Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact research?

By volume in 2022-now, Hohai University publishes the most Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact research, followed by Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy and Addis Ababa University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Hohai UniversityChina 21 works
  2. 2 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 14 works
  3. 3 Addis Ababa UniversityEthiopia 13 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 13 works
  5. 5 Universidade Federal de Minas GeraisBrazil 11 works
  6. 6 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 10 works
  7. 7 University for Development StudiesGhana 10 works
  8. 8 University of NairobiKenya 9 works
  9. 9 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 9 works
  10. 10 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and TechnologyGhana 9 works

Who are the leading researchers in Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact include Элинор Остром, Johan Rockström and Christopher B. Field.

  1. 1 Элинор Остром United States 149k citations
  2. 2 Johan Rockström Sweden 128k citations
  3. 3 Christopher B. Field United States 101k 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 Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact?

The most cited paper in Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact is "A global boom in hydropower dam construction" (Christiane Zarfl, Alexander E. Lumsdon, Jürgen Berlekamp et al., 2014), with 2,197 citations. Next come "Collective Action, Property Rights, and Decentralization in Resource Use in India and Nepal" (950) and "Paradoxes of participation: questioning participatory approaches to development" (859).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A global boom in hydropower dam construction Christiane Zarfl, Alexander E. Lumsdon, Jürgen Berlekamp et al. · Aquatic Sciences 24 Oct 2014 2,197
2 Collective Action, Property Rights, and Decentralization in Resource Use in India and Nepal Arun Agrawal, Элинор Остром · Politics & Society Dec 2001 950
3 Paradoxes of participation: questioning participatory approaches to development Frances Cleaver · Journal of International Development Open access Jun 1999 859
4 Damming the rivers of the Amazon basin Edgardo Manuel Latrubesse, Eugenio Yatsuda Arima, Thomas Dunne et al. · Nature Jun 2017 840
5 Hydrosocial territories: a political ecology perspective Rutgerd Boelens, Jaime Hoogesteger, Erik A. Swyngedouw et al. · Water International Open access 2 Jan 2016 782
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact research done?

The largest centres of Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), New Delhi (India) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Addis Ababa and Nairobi.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 66 works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 37 works
  3. 3 New DelhiIndia 32 works
  4. 4 Addis AbabaEthiopia 30 works
  5. 5 NairobiKenya 29 works
  6. 6 LondonUnited Kingdom 28 works
  7. 7 WuhanChina 19 works
  8. 8 São PauloBrazil 18 works
  9. 9 Washington D.C.United States 16 works
  10. 10 HamburgGermany 16 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Addis AbabaET · 29.8 works20×
  2. NairobiKE · 28.7 works15×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact than the world average.

See Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact on the map

Where is the best place to study Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact?

Among universities, judged by research, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Hohai University and Wageningen University & Research 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%mean 13.5444%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Kwame Nkrumah Univer…Wageningen Universit…Hohai UniversityAddis Ababa 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
1Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and TechnologyGhana 64.429.4%21.2×9 +31.4%
2Hohai UniversityChina 59.09.4%19.0×22 +51.1%
3Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 58.824.0%11.9×8 -17.4%
4Addis Ababa UniversityEthiopia 48.57.6%29.9×14 +77.1%
5The University of QueenslandAustralia 48.029.8%4.6×8 -38.4%
6University for Development StudiesGhana 47.413.8%54.9×10 +28.7%
7Universidade Federal de Minas GeraisBrazil 32.42.3%8.0×11 +131.8%
8Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 25.95.5%6.3×9 +254.3%
9University of NairobiKenya 19.10.1%32.5×9 -9.8%

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 Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact, country by country

Is Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 16% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact.

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 Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0087% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact0.0099% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact 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%Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact10.8% 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.

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