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Topic · Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure

Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure is a research topic within Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis. Science Explorer counts 24k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the indoor air quality and its impact on human health, particularly in relation to exposure to airborne microorganisms, volatile organic compounds, and formaldehyde. The papers cover topics such as mold exposure, ventilation rates, bioaerosols, and the association with various health effects including asthma symptoms and sick building syndrome.

  • Indoor Air Quality
  • Airborne Microorganisms
  • Volatile Organic Compounds
  • Health Effects
  • Mold Exposure
  • Ventilation Rates
  • Bioaerosols
  • Formaldehyde Exposure
  • Asthma Symptoms
  • Sick Building Syndrome
Research works
24k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+11%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
31% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure

Which countries lead Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (944 and 762 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 944 works
  2. 2 United States 762 works
  3. 3 India 196 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 189 works
  5. 5 South Korea 182 works
  6. 6 Germany 180 works
  7. 7 France 175 works
  8. 8 Japan 158 works
  9. 9 Italy 141 works
  10. 10 Spain 136 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: 30.8%United States: 24.9%India: 6.4%United Kingdom: 6.2%6 others listed: 31.7%31%largest
China944 · 30.8%United States762 · 24.9%India196 · 6.4%United Kingdom189 · 6.2%6 others listed972 · 31.7%

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

Which institutions lead Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 43 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 37 works
  3. 3 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 33 works
  4. 4 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 20 works
  5. 5 Harvard UniversityUnited States 19 works
  6. 6 United States Department of Health and Human ServicesUnited States 19 works
  7. 7 Tsinghua UniversityChina 17 works
  8. 8 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 16 works
  9. 9 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 16 works
  10. 10 Peking UniversityChina 15 works

Who are the leading researchers in Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure include Rob Knight, Walter Churchill Willett and Hermann Brenner.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  3. 3 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  4. 4 Mika Kivimäki United Kingdom 318k citations
  5. 5 Frank B. Hu United States 281k citations
  6. 6 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  7. 7 JoAnn E. Manson United States 263k 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 Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure?

The most cited paper in Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure is "The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS): a resource for assessing exposure to environmental pollutants" (Neil E. Klepeis, William C. Nelson, Wayne R. Ott et al., 2001), with 4,843 citations. Next come "The colorimetric estimation of formaldehyde by means of the Hantzsch reaction" (4,405) and "The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost always do Better" (2,047).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS): a resource for assessing exposure to environmental pollutants Neil E. Klepeis, William C. Nelson, Wayne R. Ott et al. · Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology Open access Jul 2001 4,843
2 The colorimetric estimation of formaldehyde by means of the Hantzsch reaction T. Nash · Biochemical Journal Open access Oct 1953 4,405
3 The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost always do Better Ron J. Johnston · Political Geography Sep 2009 2,047
4 Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC): An Overview on Emission, Physiology and Ecology JÜRGEN KESSELMEIER, Michael Staudt · Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry May 1999 1,939
5 Environmental Exposure to Endotoxin and Its Relation to Asthma in School-Age Children Charlotte Braun‐Fahrländer, Josef Riedler, Udo Herz et al. · New England Journal of Medicine Open access 18 Sep 2002 1,836
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure research done?

The largest centres of Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Seoul (South Korea), Shanghai (China) and Guangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Helsinki and Chapel Hill.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 224 works
  2. 2 SeoulSouth Korea 92 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 71 works
  4. 4 GuangzhouChina 60 works
  5. 5 LondonUnited Kingdom 52 works
  6. 6 TokyoJapan 50 works
  7. 7 ParisFrance 46 works
  8. 8 NanjingChina 46 works
  9. 9 Washington D.C.United States 35 works
  10. 10 Chapel HillUnited States 33 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. HelsinkiFI · 23.0 works4.4×
  2. Chapel HillUS · 33.0 works3.8×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure than the world average.

See Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure on the map

Where is the best place to study Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure?

Among universities, judged by research, Guangdong University of Technology, Harvard University and Hong Kong Polytechnic 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%mean 17.65%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Guangdong University…Harvard UniversityHong Kong Polytechni…University of North …
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
1Guangdong University of TechnologyChina 58.640.0%3.8×9 +69.3%
2Harvard UniversityUnited States 50.018.8%1.4×19 +7.9%
3Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 46.717.2%2.8×10 +121.0%
4University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 42.12.4%4.4×33 -36.4%
5Peking UniversityChina 41.618.1%1.8×15 +0.1%
6Tongji UniversityChina 41.119.1%2.0×13 +49.8%
7Technical University of DenmarkDenmark 38.811.2%5.1×11 -17.0%
8Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 37.816.5%2.3×15 -6.6%
9University of Colorado BoulderUnited States 37.423.3%4.5×9 -39.2%
10Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom 37.29.9%2.5×10 +54.5%

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 Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure, country by country

Is Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 11% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2026. The fastest-growing topics are Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure.

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 Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.015% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure0.020% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure 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%Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure10.2% 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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