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Topic · Biomedical Engineering

Lignin and Wood Chemistry

Lignin and Wood Chemistry is a research topic within Biomedical Engineering. Science Explorer counts 30k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the catalytic valorization of lignin for the production of renewable chemicals, with an emphasis on biorefinery processes, lignocellulose fractionation, depolymerisation, and bioengineering. It explores various thermochemical methods and the use of nuclear magnetic resonance for characterization.

  • Lignin Valorization
  • Catalytic Transformation
  • Renewable Chemicals
  • Biorefinery
  • Lignocellulose Fractionation
  • Depolymerisation
  • Bioengineering
  • Polymeric Materials
  • Thermochemical Methods
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
Research works
30k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+20%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
55% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Lignin and Wood Chemistry

Which countries lead Lignin and Wood Chemistry research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.9k and 524 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.9k works
  2. 2 United States 524 works
  3. 3 India 491 works
  4. 4 Brazil 248 works
  5. 5 France 233 works
  6. 6 Indonesia 213 works
  7. 7 Japan 207 works
  8. 8 South Korea 172 works
  9. 9 Canada 166 works
  10. 10 Malaysia 159 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: 54.6%United States: 9.9%India: 9.2%Brazil: 4.7%6 others listed: 21.6%55%largest
China2,901 · 54.6%United States524 · 9.9%India491 · 9.2%Brazil248 · 4.7%6 others listed1,150 · 21.6%

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

Which institutions lead Lignin and Wood Chemistry research?

By volume in 2022-now, Nanjing Forestry University publishes the most Lignin and Wood Chemistry research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Forestry University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Nanjing Forestry UniversityChina 194 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 116 works
  3. 3 Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 90 works
  4. 4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 85 works
  5. 5 South China University of TechnologyChina 77 works
  6. 6 Northeast Forestry UniversityChina 63 works
  7. 7 Guangxi UniversityChina 56 works
  8. 8 Southwest Forestry UniversityChina 46 works
  9. 9 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 45 works
  10. 10 KTH Royal Institute of TechnologySweden 44 works

Who are the leading researchers in Lignin and Wood Chemistry?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Lignin and Wood Chemistry include Jun Wang, Kai You Wang and Lei Jiang.

  1. 1 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  2. 2 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  3. 3 Lei Jiang China 214k citations
  4. 4 Guangming Zeng China 204k citations
  5. 5 Hua Zhang Singapore 196k citations
  6. 6 Seeram Ramakrishna Singapore 186k citations
  7. 7 Markus Antonietti Germany 185k citations
  8. 8 Qiang Zhang China 184k citations
  9. 9 Avelino Corma Spain 176k citations
  10. 10 David Lee Kaplan United States 171k 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 Lignin and Wood Chemistry?

The most cited paper in Lignin and Wood Chemistry is "Characteristics of hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin pyrolysis" (Haiping Yang, Rong Yan, Hanping Chen et al., 2007), with 8,117 citations. Next come "Cellulose nanomaterials review: structure, properties and nanocomposites" (6,746) and "Cellulose Nanocrystals: Chemistry, Self-Assembly, and Applications" (5,952).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Characteristics of hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin pyrolysis Haiping Yang, Rong Yan, Hanping Chen et al. · Fuel 11 Jan 2007 8,117
2 Cellulose nanomaterials review: structure, properties and nanocomposites Robert J. Moon, Ashlie Martini, John A. Nairn et al. · Chemical Society Reviews Review 2011 6,746
3 Cellulose Nanocrystals: Chemistry, Self-Assembly, and Applications Youssef Habibi, Lucian A. Lucia, Orlando José Rojas · Chemical Reviews Review 4 Mar 2010 5,952
4 Pyrolysis of Wood/Biomass for Bio-oil: A Critical Review Dinesh Mohan, Charles U. Jr. Pittman, Philip H. Steele · Energy & Fuels 10 Mar 2006 5,627
5 The Catalytic Valorization of Lignin for the Production of Renewable Chemicals Joseph Zakzeski, Pieter C. A. Bruijnincx, Anna L. Jongerius et al. · Chemical Reviews Review 10 Mar 2010 4,459
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Lignin and Wood Chemistry research done?

The largest centres of Lignin and Wood Chemistry research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Guangzhou (China) and Jinan (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Lin’an Shi.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 427 works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 326 works
  3. 3 GuangzhouChina 191 works
  4. 4 JinanChina 111 works
  5. 5 ShanghaiChina 95 works
  6. 6 WuhanChina 93 works
  7. 7 TianjinChina 88 works
  8. 8 HarbinChina 87 works
  9. 9 HangzhouChina 83 works
  10. 10 KunmingChina 79 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Lin’an ShiCN · 27.2 works22×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Lignin and Wood Chemistry than the world average.

See Lignin and Wood Chemistry on the map

Where is the best place to study Lignin and Wood Chemistry?

Among universities, judged by research, Nanjing Forestry University, Guangdong University of Technology and Beijing Forestry 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 20.88%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Guangdong University…Beijing Forestry Uni…Nanjing Forestry Uni…KTH Royal Institute …
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
1Nanjing Forestry UniversityChina 69.714.3%64.0×194 +74.0%
2Guangdong University of TechnologyChina 66.821.8%9.3×34 +123.0%
3Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 64.118.3%47.1×90 +15.5%
4KTH Royal Institute of TechnologySweden 62.212.3%17.5×44 +11.1%
5Jiangsu UniversityChina 60.923.5%4.8×25 +105.5%
6Tianjin University of Science and TechnologyChina 60.828.4%21.6×28 +21.5%
7Shandong Academy of SciencesChina 59.319.4%26.3×29 +54.2%
8Hunan UniversityChina 58.131.0%2.0×10 +152.6%
9Tianjin UniversityChina 57.123.7%3.0×25 +32.1%
10Qilu University of TechnologyChina 56.816.1%28.2×44 +33.7%

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 Lignin and Wood Chemistry, country by country

Is Lignin and Wood Chemistry research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 20% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Lignin and Wood Chemistry.

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 Lignin and Wood Chemistry as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.032% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Lignin and Wood Chemistry0.032% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Lignin and Wood Chemistry 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%Lignin and Wood Chemistry9.8% 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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