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Infrared Thermography in Medicine

Infrared Thermography in Medicine is a research topic within Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging. Science Explorer counts 25k 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 medical applications of infrared thermography, particularly in the detection and diagnosis of various medical conditions such as breast cancer, musculoskeletal injuries, skin disorders, and vascular diseases. The use of infrared thermography for non-invasive and early detection, as well as its potential in computer-aided diagnosis, is a prominent theme throughout the papers.

  • Infrared Thermography
  • Medical Imaging
  • Breast Cancer Detection
  • Skin Temperature
  • Non-invasive Diagnosis
  • Thermal Imaging
  • Body Surface Temperature
  • Computer-aided Diagnosis
  • Tumor Localization
  • Dynamic Infrared Imaging
Research works
25k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+36%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
26% of the 10 largest, 2022-now

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

Which countries lead Infrared Thermography in Medicine research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (1k and 815 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1k works
  2. 2 India 815 works
  3. 3 United States 717 works
  4. 4 Russia 235 works
  5. 5 Japan 228 works
  6. 6 Brazil 216 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 170 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 153 works
  9. 9 Germany 146 works
  10. 10 Indonesia 141 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: 26.3%India: 21.3%United States: 18.7%Russia: 6.2%6 others listed: 27.5%26%largest
China1,009 · 26.3%India815 · 21.3%United States717 · 18.7%Russia235 · 6.2%6 others listed1,053 · 27.5%

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

Which institutions lead Infrared Thermography in Medicine research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Infrared Thermography in Medicine research, followed by Saveetha University and SRM Institute of Science and Technology.

Who are the leading researchers in Infrared Thermography in Medicine?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Infrared Thermography in Medicine include Cyrus Cooper, Luigi Ferrucci and Jean‐Louis Vincent.

  1. 1 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  2. 2 Luigi Ferrucci United States 281k citations
  3. 3 Jean‐Louis Vincent Belgium 262k citations
  4. 4 Valentı́n Fuster United States 257k 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 Infrared Thermography in Medicine?

The most cited paper in Infrared Thermography in Medicine is "Thermal dose determination in cancer therapy" (Stephen A. Sapareto, William C. Dewey, 1984), with 2,492 citations. Next come "A new weighting system for mean surface temperature of the human body" (1,892) and "Remote plethysmographic imaging using ambient light" (1,742).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Thermal dose determination in cancer therapy Stephen A. Sapareto, William C. Dewey · International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics Apr 1984 2,492
2 A new weighting system for mean surface temperature of the human body Narayanan Ramanathan · Journal of Applied Physiology May 1964 1,892
3 Remote plethysmographic imaging using ambient light Wim Verkruysse, Lars Othar Svaasand, J. Stuart Nelson · Optics Express Open access 12 Dec 2008 1,742
4 Infrared and visible image fusion methods and applications: A survey Jiayi Ma, Yong Ma, Chang Li · Information Fusion 13 Feb 2018 1,737
5 Optical properties of human skin, subcutaneous and mucous tissues in the wavelength range from 400 to 2000 nm Alexey Nikolaevich Bashkatov, Elina Alekseevna Genina, Vyacheslav I. Kochubey et al. · Journal of Physics D Applied Physics Open access 22 Jul 2005 1,725
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Infrared Thermography in Medicine research done?

The largest centres of Infrared Thermography in Medicine research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Chennai (India), Moscow (Russia) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Chennai.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 155 works
  2. 2 ChennaiIndia 122 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 97 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 82 works
  5. 5 TokyoJapan 71 works
  6. 6 SeoulSouth Korea 54 works
  7. 7 Xi'anChina 53 works
  8. 8 BengaluruIndia 44 works
  9. 9 GuangzhouChina 41 works
  10. 10 LondonUnited Kingdom 40 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. ChennaiIN · 122.1 works4.3×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Infrared Thermography in Medicine than the world average.

See Infrared Thermography in Medicine on the map

Where is the best place to study Infrared Thermography in Medicine?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Ottawa, Saveetha University and Shanghai Jiao Tong 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 17.69%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of OttawaShanghai Jiao Tong U…Saveetha UniversitySRM Institute of Sci…
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
1University of OttawaCanada 66.532.4%3.5×12 +11.2%
2Saveetha UniversityIndia 61.49.4%7.2×35 +562.1%
3Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 54.822.2%1.2×17 +74.9%
4SRM Institute of Science and TechnologyIndia 53.16.9%5.9×30 +113.3%
5Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 49.721.0%2.1×9 +54.4%
6Vellore Institute of Technology UniversityIndia 49.210.9%4.3×22 +129.0%
7Boston UniversityUnited States 48.920.2%3.3×8 +96.0%
8Harvard UniversityUnited States 47.57.8%1.1×17 +21.4%
9Tsinghua UniversityChina 47.525.2%1.0×12 +69.3%
10Chongqing UniversityChina 43.420.9%1.6×9 +461.7%

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 Infrared Thermography in Medicine, country by country

Is Infrared Thermography in Medicine research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 36% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Infrared Thermography in Medicine.

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 Infrared Thermography in Medicine as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.028% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Infrared Thermography in Medicine0.027% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Infrared Thermography in Medicine 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%Infrared Thermography in Medicine10.3% 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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