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Topic · Global and Planetary Change

Land Use and Ecosystem Services

Land Use and Ecosystem Services is a research topic within Global and Planetary Change. Science Explorer counts 59k research works in it since 1951. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the global analysis of ecosystem services and land use, including the impacts of urbanization, biodiversity conservation, and sustainability. It explores the spatial dynamics of human-nature interactions and provides insights for environmental policy and the management of social-ecological systems.

  • Ecosystem Services
  • Land Use Change
  • Urbanization
  • Global Impact
  • Biodiversity Conservation
  • Sustainability
  • Spatial Dynamics
  • Human-Nature Interactions
  • Environmental Policy
  • Social-Ecological Systems
Research works
59k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
5.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+43%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
60% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Land Use and Ecosystem Services

Which countries lead Land Use and Ecosystem Services research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (9.3k and 1.5k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 9.3k works
  2. 2 United States 1.5k works
  3. 3 India 1.3k works
  4. 4 Italy 755 works
  5. 5 Germany 620 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 609 works
  7. 7 Brazil 455 works
  8. 8 Spain 396 works
  9. 9 Australia 374 works
  10. 10 Japan 368 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: 59.6%United States: 9.4%India: 8.2%Italy: 4.8%6 others listed: 18.0%60%largest
China9,316 · 59.6%United States1,470 · 9.4%India1,275 · 8.2%Italy755 · 4.8%6 others listed2,821 · 18.0%

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

Which institutions lead Land Use and Ecosystem Services research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Land Use and Ecosystem Services research, followed by Beijing Normal University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 814 works
  2. 2 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 213 works
  3. 3 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 179 works
  4. 4 Ministry of Natural ResourcesChina 171 works
  5. 5 Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 152 works
  6. 6 Wuhan UniversityChina 135 works
  7. 7 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 121 works
  8. 8 China University of GeosciencesChina 110 works
  9. 9 Peking UniversityChina 110 works
  10. 10 China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 102 works

Who are the leading researchers in Land Use and Ecosystem Services?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Land Use and Ecosystem Services include Simon Iain Hay, Jun Wang and Mark A. Bradford.

  1. 1 Simon Iain Hay United States 452k citations
  2. 2 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  3. 3 Mark A. Bradford United States 268k citations
  4. 4 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  5. 5 Lídia Morawska Australia 244k citations
  6. 6 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  7. 7 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  8. 8 David Tilman United States 209k citations
  9. 9 Guangming Zeng China 204k citations
  10. 10 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k 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 Land Use and Ecosystem Services?

The most cited paper in Land Use and Ecosystem Services is "Global Consequences of Land Use" (Jonathan A. Foley, Ruth DeFries, Gregory P. Asner et al., 2005), with 13,282 citations. Next come "Local Indicators of Spatial Association—LISA" (13,022) and "High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change" (11,936).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Global Consequences of Land Use Jonathan A. Foley, Ruth DeFries, Gregory P. Asner et al. · Science Open access 22 Jul 2005 13,282
2 Local Indicators of Spatial Association—LISA Luc Anselin · Geographical Analysis Open access Apr 1995 13,022
3 High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change Matthew C. Hansen, Peter V. Potapov, Rebecca Moore et al. · Science 14 Nov 2013 11,936
4 A Computer Movie Simulating Urban Growth in the Detroit Region Waldo Tobler · Economic Geography Jun 1970 9,808
5 A soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) ALFREDO R. HUETE · Remote Sensing of Environment Aug 1988 7,978
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Land Use and Ecosystem Services research done?

The largest centres of Land Use and Ecosystem Services research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Wuhan (China), Nanjing (China) and Guangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Malda, Potenza and Lin’an Shi.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 2.4k works
  2. 2 WuhanChina 555 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 553 works
  4. 4 GuangzhouChina 327 works
  5. 5 ShanghaiChina 309 works
  6. 6 Xi'anChina 283 works
  7. 7 LanzhouChina 246 works
  8. 8 ChengduChina 228 works
  9. 9 HangzhouChina 220 works
  10. 10 ChongqingChina 190 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. MaldaIN · 20.4 works28×
  2. PotenzaIT · 26.0 works16×
  3. Lin’an ShiCN · 41.1 works12×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Land Use and Ecosystem Services than the world average.

See Land Use and Ecosystem Services on the map

Where is the best place to study Land Use and Ecosystem Services?

Among universities, judged by research, Beijing Normal University, University of Hong Kong and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences 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%10%20%30%mean 19.98%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Peking UniversityUniversity of Hong K…Beijing Normal Unive…University of Chines…
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
1Beijing Normal UniversityChina 80.218.1%14.2×213 +31.7%
2University of Hong KongChina 75.221.4%2.6×46 +91.1%
3University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 74.817.9%5.8×179 +31.9%
4Peking UniversityChina 74.822.0%2.8×110 +45.8%
5Wuhan UniversityChina 72.918.0%5.0×135 +35.5%
6China University of GeosciencesChina 72.916.8%12.8×110 +107.6%
7National University of SingaporeSingapore 72.226.2%1.6×37 +29.9%
8Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 70.715.7%28.2×152 +166.5%
9East China Normal UniversityChina 65.722.1%4.8×44 +27.8%
10Mykolas Romeris UniversityLithuania 64.521.6%21.2×12 +62.6%

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 Land Use and Ecosystem Services, country by country

Is Land Use and Ecosystem Services research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 43% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Land Use and Ecosystem Services.

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 Land Use and Ecosystem Services as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.091% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%Land Use and Ecosystem Services0.087% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Land Use and Ecosystem Services 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%Land Use and Ecosystem Services9.9% 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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