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Topic · Nutrition and Dietetics

Infant Nutrition and Health

Infant Nutrition and Health is a research topic within Nutrition and Dietetics. Science Explorer counts 33k 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 composition and health effects of human milk, particularly in relation to preterm infants. It covers topics such as the composition of human milk, the impact on growth outcomes and neurodevelopment, the role in preventing necrotizing enterocolitis, the significance of oligosaccharides and lactoferrin, the development of intestinal microbiota, and the use of probiotics. The papers also discuss the nutritional and immune developmental significance of human milk for preterm infants.

  • Human Milk Composition
  • Preterm Infants
  • Necrotizing Enterocolitis
  • Oligosaccharides
  • Lactoferrin
  • Growth Outcomes
  • Microbiota Development
  • Probiotics
  • Nutritional Significance
  • Immune Development
Research works
33k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+13%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
31% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Infant Nutrition and Health

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Infant Nutrition and Health research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.3k and 1.2k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.3k works
  2. 2 United States 1.2k works
  3. 3 India 375 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 224 works
  5. 5 Brazil 212 works
  6. 6 Indonesia 210 works
  7. 7 Italy 176 works
  8. 8 Türkiye 176 works
  9. 9 Canada 174 works
  10. 10 Japan 165 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: 30.6%United States: 28.4%India: 9.0%United Kingdom: 5.4%6 others listed: 26.6%31%largest
China1,277 · 30.6%United States1,187 · 28.4%India375 · 9.0%United Kingdom224 · 5.4%6 others listed1,113 · 26.6%

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

Which institutions lead Infant Nutrition and Health research?

By volume in 2022-now, Jiangnan University publishes the most Infant Nutrition and Health research, followed by Nanchang University and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Jiangnan UniversityChina 45 works
  2. 2 Nanchang UniversityChina 45 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 38 works
  4. 4 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 36 works
  5. 5 Harvard UniversityUnited States 35 works
  6. 6 University of TorontoCanada 31 works
  7. 7 Zhejiang UniversityChina 29 works
  8. 8 Chongqing Medical UniversityChina 29 works
  9. 9 China Agricultural UniversityChina 29 works
  10. 10 Northeast Agricultural UniversityChina 28 works

Who are the leading researchers in Infant Nutrition and Health?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Infant Nutrition and Health include Douglas G. Altman, Rob Knight and George Davey Smith.

  1. 1 Douglas G. Altman United Kingdom 862k citations
  2. 2 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  3. 3 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  4. 4 Peer Bork Germany 396k citations
  5. 5 Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta Pakistan 371k citations
  6. 6 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  7. 7 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  8. 8 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  9. 9 Róbert Langer United States 303k citations
  10. 10 Trevor Hastie United States 301k 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 Infant Nutrition and Health?

The most cited paper in Infant Nutrition and Health is "The “Golden Age” of Probiotics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized and Observational Studies in Preterm Infants" (Elda Dermyshi, Yizhong Wang, Chongbing Yan et al., 2017), with 24,491 citations. Next come "Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect" (8,227) and "Interleukin-10-deficient mice develop chronic enterocolitis" (4,325).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The “Golden Age” of Probiotics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized and Observational Studies in Preterm Infants Elda Dermyshi, Yizhong Wang, Chongbing Yan et al. · Neonatology Review 2017 24,491
2 Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect Cesar Gomes Victora, Rajiv Bahl, Aluísio J. D. Barros et al. · The Lancet Open access 2016 8,227
3 Interleukin-10-deficient mice develop chronic enterocolitis Ralf Kühn, Jürgen Löhler, Donna M. Rennick et al. · Cell Oct 1993 4,325
4 WHO Child Growth Standards based on length/height, weight and age Mercedes de Onís · Acta Paediatrica Apr 2006 4,062
5 Neonatal Necrotizing Enterocolitis Martin Bell, Jessie L. Ternberg, Ralph D. Feigin et al. · Annals of Surgery Open access 1978 3,580
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Infant Nutrition and Health research done?

The largest centres of Infant Nutrition and Health research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Wuxi (China), London (United Kingdom) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Wuxi and Hohhot.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 178 works
  2. 2 WuxiChina 83 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 78 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 75 works
  5. 5 GuangzhouChina 69 works
  6. 6 ParisFrance 56 works
  7. 7 TokyoJapan 53 works
  8. 8 NanjingChina 49 works
  9. 9 HangzhouChina 48 works
  10. 10 SeoulSouth Korea 48 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. WuxiCN · 83.3 works13×
  2. HohhotCN · 27.4 works5.1×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Infant Nutrition and Health than the world average.

See Infant Nutrition and Health on the map

Where is the best place to study Infant Nutrition and Health?

Among universities, judged by research, Jiangnan University, Nanchang University and Northeast Agricultural 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 24.48%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Jiangnan UniversityNortheast Agricultur…Nanchang UniversityChina Agricultural U…
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
1Jiangnan UniversityChina 89.630.2%13.4×45 +135.7%
2Nanchang UniversityChina 85.827.0%10.4×45 +180.3%
3Northeast Agricultural UniversityChina 71.729.1%19.2×28 +69.2%
4China Agricultural UniversityChina 68.722.1%9.1×29 +99.4%
5Dalian Polytechnic UniversityChina 66.533.9%11.6×11 +182.2%
6Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 59.514.8%7.2×15 +3.5%
7Jilin UniversityChina 59.228.7%2.7×18 +111.8%
8University of California, DavisUnited States 58.119.1%5.4×24 -37.2%
9The University of Western AustraliaAustralia 58.116.4%7.7×19 +1.8%
10University of CalgaryCanada 57.523.5%3.4×13 +34.4%

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 Infant Nutrition and Health, country by country

Is Infant Nutrition and Health research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 13% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Infant Nutrition and Health.

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 Infant Nutrition and Health as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.027% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Infant Nutrition and Health0.027% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Infant Nutrition and Health 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%Infant Nutrition and Health10.0% 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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