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Topic · Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials

Iron-based superconductors research

Iron-based superconductors research is a research topic within Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials. Science Explorer counts 21k research works in it since 1954. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the high-temperature superconductivity observed in iron-based materials, particularly in layered compounds doped with fluorine (F) and other elements. The research covers topics such as unconventional pairing mechanisms, magnetic order, electronic structure, and nematicity in these superconducting systems.

  • Iron-Based
  • Superconductivity
  • High-Temperature
  • Layered Compounds
  • F-Doped
  • FeAs
  • Magnetic Order
  • Unconventional Pairing
  • Electronic Structure
  • Nematicity
Research works
21k
fractional, since 1954
In the world top 10%
2.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-14%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
36% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Iron-based superconductors research

Which countries lead Iron-based superconductors research research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (654 and 332 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 654 works
  2. 2 United States 332 works
  3. 3 Japan 246 works
  4. 4 Germany 135 works
  5. 5 India 122 works
  6. 6 Russia 108 works
  7. 7 France 68 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 46 works
  9. 9 Italy 43 works
  10. 10 Poland 42 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: 36.4%United States: 18.5%Japan: 13.7%Germany: 7.5%6 others listed: 23.9%36%largest
China654 · 36.4%United States332 · 18.5%Japan246 · 13.7%Germany135 · 7.5%6 others listed429 · 23.9%

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

Which institutions lead Iron-based superconductors research research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Iron-based superconductors research research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 158 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 59 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 31 works
  4. 4 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 30 works
  5. 5 Iowa State UniversityUnited States 28 works
  6. 6 The University of TokyoJapan 28 works
  7. 7 Max Planck SocietyGermany 26 works
  8. 8 Polish Academy of SciencesPoland 26 works
  9. 9 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 20 works
  10. 10 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 19 works

Who are the leading researchers in Iron-based superconductors research?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Iron-based superconductors research include Georg Kresse, Kostya S. Novoselov and Andre K. Geim.

  1. 1 Georg Kresse Austria 431k citations
  2. 2 Kostya S. Novoselov United Kingdom 331k citations
  3. 3 Andre K. Geim United Kingdom 315k citations
  4. 4 M. Weber Israel 267k citations
  5. 5 Yi Ping Cui United States 261k citations
  6. 6 Kenji Watanabe Japan 237k citations
  7. 7 Takashi Taniguchi Japan 227k citations
  8. 8 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  9. 9 Mercouri G. Kanatzidis United States 196k citations
  10. 10 Hua Zhang Singapore 196k 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 Iron-based superconductors research?

The most cited paper in Iron-based superconductors research is "Iron-Based Layered Superconductor La[O 1- x F x ]FeAs ( x = 0.05−0.12) with T c = 26 K" (Yoichi Kamihara, Takumi Watanabe, Masahiro Hirano et al., 2008), with 7,903 citations. Next come "A New High-Tc Oxide Superconductor without a Rare Earth Element" (3,631) and "Superconductivity at 38 K in the Iron Arsenide (Ba1−xKx)Fe2As2" (2,956).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Iron-Based Layered Superconductor La[O 1- x F x ]FeAs ( x = 0.05−0.12) with T c = 26 K Yoichi Kamihara, Takumi Watanabe, Masahiro Hirano et al. · Journal of the American Chemical Society 23 Feb 2008 7,903
2 A New High-Tc Oxide Superconductor without a Rare Earth Element Hiroshi Maeda, Yoshiaki Tanaka, Masao Fukutomi et al. · Japanese Journal of Applied Physics Feb 1988 3,631
3 Superconductivity at 38 K in the Iron Arsenide (Ba1−xKx)Fe2As2 Marianne Rotter, Marcus Tegel, Dirk Johrendt · Physical Review Letters Open access 5 Sep 2008 2,956
4 Superconductivity in the PbO-type structure α-FeSe Fong-Chi Hsu, Jiu-Yong Luo, K. C. Yeh et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open access 5 Sep 2008 2,896
5 Heavy-fermion systems Gregory R. Stewart · Reviews of Modern Physics Oct 1984 2,558
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Iron-based superconductors research research done?

The largest centres of Iron-based superconductors research research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan), Moscow (Russia) and Hefei (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Ames.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 196 works
  2. 2 TokyoJapan 66 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 56 works
  4. 4 HefeiChina 54 works
  5. 5 ShanghaiChina 50 works
  6. 6 NanjingChina 50 works
  7. 7 HangzhouChina 33 works
  8. 8 DresdenGermany 30 works
  9. 9 AmesUnited States 28 works
  10. 10 TsukubaJapan 26 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. AmesUS · 28.0 works33×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Iron-based superconductors research than the world average.

See Iron-based superconductors research on the map

Where is the best place to study Iron-based superconductors research?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Stanford University and University of Science and Technology of China 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%10%20%30%mean 15.42%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Stanford UniversityUniversity of Chines…University of Scienc…Iowa State 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
1University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 59.013.6%9.7×30 -15.4%
2Stanford UniversityUnited States 56.927.1%4.0×11 -23.2%
3University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 54.812.1%8.6×19 +43.1%
4Iowa State UniversityUnited States 53.97.4%38.1×28 -38.3%
5The University of TokyoJapan 52.06.4%11.7×28 -35.4%
6Southern University of Science and TechnologyChina 44.612.4%9.6×10 +226.9%
7Kyoto UniversityJapan 43.716.9%9.7×14 -26.4%
8Jilin UniversityChina 43.621.2%4.5×10 +67.5%
9Tsinghua UniversityChina 42.821.5%2.2×9 +29.2%
10University of FloridaUnited States 42.115.6%6.7×14 -28.6%

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 Iron-based superconductors research, country by country

Is Iron-based superconductors research research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 14% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2012.

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 Iron-based superconductors research as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0085% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Iron-based superconductors research0.0078% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Iron-based superconductors research 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%Iron-based superconductors research9.8% 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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