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Topic · Soil Science

Irrigation Practices and Water Management

Irrigation Practices and Water Management is a research topic within Soil Science. Science Explorer counts 25k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the use of deficit irrigation and innovative water management techniques to improve water use efficiency and crop productivity in arid and semiarid regions. Topics include the effects of mulching, drip irrigation, soil moisture management, and the physiological responses of various crops to deficit irrigation strategies.

  • Deficit Irrigation
  • Water Use Efficiency
  • Mulching
  • Irrigation Management
  • Crop Productivity
  • Soil Moisture
  • Drip Irrigation
  • Water Scarcity
  • Arid Areas
  • Horticultural Crops
Research works
25k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+4%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
32% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Irrigation Practices and Water Management

Which countries lead Irrigation Practices and Water Management research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (1.2k and 981 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.2k works
  2. 2 India 981 works
  3. 3 United States 482 works
  4. 4 Brazil 286 works
  5. 5 Türkiye 180 works
  6. 6 Iran 172 works
  7. 7 Egypt 167 works
  8. 8 Ethiopia 164 works
  9. 9 Spain 150 works
  10. 10 Indonesia 122 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: 31.6%India: 24.8%United States: 12.2%Brazil: 7.2%6 others listed: 24.2%32%largest
China1,249 · 31.6%India981 · 24.8%United States482 · 12.2%Brazil286 · 7.2%6 others listed955 · 24.2%

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

Which institutions lead Irrigation Practices and Water Management research?

By volume in 2022-now, Indian Council of Agricultural Research publishes the most Irrigation Practices and Water Management research, followed by Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Indian Council of Agricultural ResearchIndia 150 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 120 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 77 works
  4. 4 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 77 works
  5. 5 China Agricultural UniversityChina 58 works
  6. 6 Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural ResearchEthiopia 56 works
  7. 7 Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization EngineersUzbekistan 46 works
  8. 8 Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityIndia 45 works
  9. 9 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural AffairsChina 42 works
  10. 10 Gansu Agricultural UniversityChina 41 works

Who are the leading researchers in Irrigation Practices and Water Management?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Irrigation Practices and Water Management include George Davey Smith, Jun Wang and Ejaz Ahmad Khan.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  3. 3 Ejaz Ahmad Khan United States 190k citations
  4. 4 Kalyanmoy Deb United States 171k citations
  5. 5 Josep Peñuelas Spain 160k citations
  6. 6 Seyedali Mirjalili Australia 154k 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 Irrigation Practices and Water Management?

The most cited paper in Irrigation Practices and Water Management is "Properties of Porous Media Affecting Fluid Flow" (Royal H. Brooks, A. T. Corey, 1966), with 2,356 citations. Next come "Estimating Generalized Soil‐water Characteristics from Texture" (1,994) and "Root Architecture and Plant Productivity" (1,937).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Properties of Porous Media Affecting Fluid Flow Royal H. Brooks, A. T. Corey · Journal of the Irrigation and Drainage Division Jun 1966 2,356
2 Estimating Generalized Soil‐water Characteristics from Texture K. E. Saxton, W. J. Rawls, J. S. Romberger et al. · Soil Science Society of America Journal Jul 1986 1,994
3 Root Architecture and Plant Productivity Jonathan Paul Lynch · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY Open access Sep 1995 1,937
4 Estimating Potential Evapotranspiration George H. Hargreaves, Zohrab Samani · Journal of the Irrigation and Drainage Division Sep 1982 1,928
5 Deficit irrigation for reducing agricultural water use E. Fereres, María‐Auxiliadora Soriano · Journal of Experimental Botany 6 Nov 2006 1,927
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Irrigation Practices and Water Management research done?

The largest centres of Irrigation Practices and Water Management research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Yangling (China), Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Lanzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Yangling, Portland and Shihezi.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 302 works
  2. 2 YanglingChina 77 works
  3. 3 TashkentUzbekistan 76 works
  4. 4 LanzhouChina 70 works
  5. 5 Addis AbabaEthiopia 67 works
  6. 6 GizaEgypt 65 works
  7. 7 ÜrümqiChina 64 works
  8. 8 New DelhiIndia 64 works
  9. 9 TehranIran 63 works
  10. 10 NanjingChina 61 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. YanglingCN · 21.7 works86×
  2. PortlandUS · 37.9 works46×
  3. ShiheziCN · 45.1 works38×
  4. YanglingCN · 76.8 works36×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Irrigation Practices and Water Management than the world average.

See Irrigation Practices and Water Management on the map

Where is the best place to study Irrigation Practices and Water Management?

Among universities, judged by research, Northwest A&F University, China Agricultural University and Gansu Agricultural 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 19.64%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Northwest A&F Univer…China Agricultural U…Shihezi UniversityGansu 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.

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
1Northwest A&F UniversityChina 80.035.9%39.6×77 -0.6%
2China Agricultural UniversityChina 63.922.1%21.1×58 -3.4%
3Gansu Agricultural UniversityChina 61.020.6%56.6×41 +115.1%
4Shihezi UniversityChina 58.021.6%45.2×40 +129.3%
5Jiangsu UniversityChina 57.831.1%6.5×26 +115.5%
6The University of Western AustraliaAustralia 52.530.2%4.0×8 +10.6%
7Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization EngineersUzbekistan 49.41.1%124.2×46 +70.1%
8Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural ResearchEthiopia 47.90.9%94.5×56 +40.0%
9Punjab Agricultural UniversityIndia 47.07.7%51.2×41 +9.3%
10Shanxi Agricultural UniversityChina 46.925.2%19.8×13 +62.0%

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 Irrigation Practices and Water Management, country by country

Is Irrigation Practices and Water Management research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 4% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Irrigation Practices and Water Management.

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 Irrigation Practices and Water Management as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.022% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Irrigation Practices and Water Management0.020% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Irrigation Practices and Water Management 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%Irrigation Practices and Water Management10.9% 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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