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Topic · Biotechnology

Marine Sponges and Natural Products

Marine Sponges and Natural Products is a research topic within Biotechnology. Science Explorer counts 25k research works in it since 1950. 19.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the evolution, ecology, and biotechnological potential of sponge-associated microorganisms. It explores the diverse microbial communities inhabiting sponges, their role in marine natural product production, and their potential as a source of new antimicrobial drugs. The papers also investigate the phylogenetic diversity, host specificity, and functional interactions of these microbial symbionts.

  • Sponge-Associated Microorganisms
  • Marine Natural Products
  • Microbial Symbionts
  • Bioprospecting
  • Evolution of Animal Complexity
  • Metagenomics
  • Antimicrobial Drugs
  • Pharmacology
  • Bacterial Community
  • Host-Specific Microbiomes
Research works
25k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
19.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
-6%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Marine Sponges and Natural Products research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (744 and 274 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 744 works
  2. 2 United States 274 works
  3. 3 India 242 works
  4. 4 Japan 149 works
  5. 5 Germany 93 works
  6. 6 Australia 87 works
  7. 7 Russia 85 works
  8. 8 Brazil 85 works
  9. 9 Italy 82 works
  10. 10 Indonesia 79 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: 38.8%United States: 14.3%India: 12.6%Japan: 7.8%6 others listed: 26.6%39%largest
China744 · 38.8%United States274 · 14.3%India242 · 12.6%Japan149 · 7.8%6 others listed510 · 26.6%

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

Which institutions lead Marine Sponges and Natural Products research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Marine Sponges and Natural Products research, followed by University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ocean University of China.

Who are the leading researchers in Marine Sponges and Natural Products?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Marine Sponges and Natural Products include Barry M. Trost, E. J. Corey and David W. C. MacMillan.

  1. 1 Barry M. Trost United States 3.8k citations
  2. 2 E. J. Corey United States 3.6k citations
  3. 3 David W. C. MacMillan United States 3.5k citations
  4. 4 Ove Hoegh‐Guldberg Australia 2.9k citations
  5. 5 Carl Djerassi United States 1.9k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Marine Sponges and Natural Products research done?

The largest centres of Marine Sponges and Natural Products research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Qingdao (China), Guangzhou (China) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Vladivostok and Haikou.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 124 works
  2. 2 Qingdao China 66 works
  3. 3 Guangzhou China 61 works
  4. 4 Tokyo Japan 46 works
  5. 5 Shanghai China 43 works
  6. 6 Vladivostok Russia 31 works
  7. 7 Chennai India 29 works
  8. 8 Nanjing China 28 works
  9. 9 Wuhan China 26 works
  10. 10 Rio de Janeiro Brazil 26 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. VladivostokRU · 31.1 works34×
  2. HaikouCN · 22.1 works9.2×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Marine Sponges and Natural Products than the world average.

See Marine Sponges and Natural Products on the map

Where is the best place to study Marine Sponges and Natural Products?

Among universities, judged by research, Ocean University of China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Universidade do Porto 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 20.62%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Ocean University of China: 19, 19.9%University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 20, 30.3%Universidade do Porto: 8, 39.4%Zhejiang Ocean University: 9, 10.5%Ningbo University: 10, 19.8%Shenyang Pharmaceutical University: 8, 28.6%Huazhong University of Science and Technology: 11, 33.8%Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College: 14, 17.6%King Abdulaziz University: 11, 6.3%Universidad de Ibagué: 13, 0.0%Universidade do PortoUniversity of Chines…Ocean University of …Zhejiang Ocean Unive…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Ocean University of ChinaChina 57.019.9%13.3×19 -21.5%
2 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 55.030.3%4.2×20 +79.5%
3 Universidade do PortoPortugal 54.439.4%5.5×8 +43.6%
4 Zhejiang Ocean UniversityChina 52.910.5%20.0×9 +361.3%
5 Ningbo UniversityChina 50.519.8%6.6×10 +481.0%
6 Shenyang Pharmaceutical UniversityChina 48.828.6%22.1×8 -24.0%
7 Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 41.433.8%2.5×11
8 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 41.117.6%5.1×14 +65.2%
9 King Abdulaziz UniversitySaudi Arabia 40.06.3%6.9×11 +55.6%
10 Universidad de IbaguéColombia 38.60.0%54.9×13

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Marine Sponges and Natural Products research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 6% lower than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2006. The fastest-growing topics are Marine Sponges and Natural Products.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

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.