Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Magnetic confinement fusion research

Magnetic confinement fusion research is a research topic within Nuclear and High Energy Physics. Science Explorer counts 49k 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 covers a wide range of topics in plasma physics and fusion research, including turbulence, transport, MHD stability, edge localized modes, zonal flows, confinement, neoclassical tearing modes, energetic particles, and diagnostics. The research spans from theoretical modeling to experimental observations in various fusion devices.

  • Turbulence
  • Tokamak
  • Transport
  • MHD Stability
  • Edge Localized Modes
  • Zonal Flows
  • Confinement
  • Neoclassical Tearing Modes
  • Energetic Particles
  • Diagnostics
Research works
49k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-6%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
26% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Magnetic confinement fusion research

Which countries lead Magnetic confinement fusion research research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.1k and 1.1k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.1k works
  2. 2 China 1.1k works
  3. 3 Russia 483 works
  4. 4 Germany 341 works
  5. 5 France 321 works
  6. 6 Japan 273 works
  7. 7 Italy 259 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 223 works
  9. 9 India 196 works
  10. 10 South Korea 124 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.

United States: 25.6%China: 24.9%Russia: 10.8%Germany: 7.6%6 others listed: 31.1%26%largest
United States1,150 · 25.6%China1,118 · 24.9%Russia483 · 10.8%Germany341 · 7.6%6 others listed1,396 · 31.1%

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

Which institutions lead Magnetic confinement fusion research research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Magnetic confinement fusion research research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Max Planck Society.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 331 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 190 works
  3. 3 Max Planck SocietyGermany 190 works
  4. 4 Princeton UniversityUnited States 136 works
  5. 5 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 98 works
  6. 6 Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies AlternativesFrance 96 works
  7. 7 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 88 works
  8. 8 Southwestern Institute of PhysicsChina 80 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom Atomic Energy AuthorityUnited Kingdom 72 works
  10. 10 Kurchatov InstituteRussia 72 works

Who are the leading researchers in Magnetic confinement fusion research?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Magnetic confinement fusion research include M. Shoji, Xiaogang Wang and Kenji Watanabe.

  1. 1 M. Shoji Japan 806k citations
  2. 2 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  3. 3 Kenji Watanabe Japan 237k citations
  4. 4 P. Jackson France 230k citations
  5. 5 Takashi Taniguchi Japan 227k citations
  6. 6 A. Meyer France 224k citations
  7. 7 G. Mitselmakher France 223k citations
  8. 8 L. Li France 211k citations
  9. 9 M. Costa France 207k 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 Magnetic confinement fusion research?

The most cited paper in Magnetic confinement fusion research is "A family of embedded Runge-Kutta formulae" (John R. Dormand, P.J. Prince, 1980), with 3,681 citations. Next come "Advanced LIGO" (3,511) and "Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research" (3,406).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A family of embedded Runge-Kutta formulae John R. Dormand, P.J. Prince · Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics Open access Mar 1980 3,681
2 Advanced LIGO J. Aasi et al. · Classical and Quantum Gravity Open access701 authors 3 Mar 2015 3,511
3 Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research Stephen M. Gibson, Tadashi Sekiguchi, Karl Lackner et al. · MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) 1987 3,406
4 Fully multidimensional flux-corrected transport algorithms for fluids Steven T. Zalesak · Journal of Computational Physics Jun 1979 2,630
5 Finite-Resistivity Instabilities of a Sheet Pinch H. P. Furth, John Killeen, M. N. Rosenbluth · The Physics of Fluids Apr 1963 2,601
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Magnetic confinement fusion research research done?

The largest centres of Magnetic confinement fusion research research in 2022-now are Hefei (China), Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia) and Garching (Germany). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Vinon-sur-Verdon, Plainsboro Center and Abingdon.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 HefeiChina 289 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 254 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 226 works
  4. 4 GarchingGermany 122 works
  5. 5 AbingdonUnited Kingdom 120 works
  6. 6 ChengduChina 118 works
  7. 7 Plainsboro CenterUnited States 93 works
  8. 8 ParisFrance 92 works
  9. 9 RomeItaly 91 works
  10. 10 San DiegoUnited States 90 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Vinon-sur-VerdonFR · 58.9 works967×
  2. Plainsboro CenterUS · 93.0 works650×
  3. AbingdonGB · 119.6 works475×
  4. Saint-Paul-lès-DuranceFR · 37.1 works428×
  5. GarchingDE · 121.6 works237×
  6. TorranceUS · 24.5 works73×
  7. Grand RapidsUS · 30.4 works64×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Magnetic confinement fusion research than the world average.

See Magnetic confinement fusion research on the map

Where is the best place to study Magnetic confinement fusion research?

Among universities, judged by research, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Princeton University and Sorbonne Université 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 20.71%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of YorkÉcole Polytechnique …Princeton UniversitySorbonne Université
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
1École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneSwitzerland 79.519.4%35.3×65 +38.0%
2Princeton UniversityUnited States 73.517.7%68.8×136 -14.4%
3Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 70.614.5%18.5×56 +19.8%
4University of YorkUnited Kingdom 64.627.3%8.0×12 -0.3%
5University of Milano-BicoccaItaly 61.327.3%7.2×9 +34.0%
6Fusion AcademyUnited States 60.018.7%857.5×30 -10.7%
7Columbia UniversityUnited States 58.915.5%6.3×31 +56.0%
8Technical University of DenmarkDenmark 58.726.4%6.4×15 -12.5%
9University of Wisconsin–MadisonUnited States 58.113.5%9.4×39 +19.7%
10Eindhoven University of TechnologyNetherlands 57.526.8%8.0×13 +5.0%

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 Magnetic confinement fusion research, country by country

Is Magnetic confinement fusion research research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2002.

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 Magnetic confinement fusion research as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.025% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Magnetic confinement fusion research0.020% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Magnetic confinement fusion 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%Magnetic confinement fusion research9.5% 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.

Questions people ask

Who leads fusion energy research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Magnetic confinement fusion research research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Max Planck Society.

Which institutions lead Magnetic confinement fusion research research?

How close are we to nuclear fusion? Who leads the research?

Magnetic confinement fusion research is a research topic within Nuclear and High Energy Physics. Science Explorer counts 49k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Magnetic confinement fusion research. Posts are plain text and can be reported.