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Topic · Mechanical Engineering

Material Science and Thermodynamics

Material Science and Thermodynamics is a research topic within Mechanical Engineering. Science Explorer counts 12k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on railway engineering, material science, and related environmental and operational aspects. It covers topics such as high-frequency vibrations in rolling stock elements, structural-phase transformations in alloys, thermoelectric properties of materials, energy efficiency in railway turnouts, and nanowaste treatment. The research also delves into the calculation of track component failure, dynamic behavior modeling of railway tracks, and heat distribution in electric heating systems for turnouts.

  • Railway Bridges
  • Structural-Phase Transformations
  • High-Frequency Vibrations
  • Thermoelectric Properties
  • Rolling Stock
  • Track Component Failure
  • Nanowaste Treatment
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Dynamic Behavior Modeling
  • Heat Distribution
Research works
12k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-7%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Russia
50% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Material Science and Thermodynamics

Which countries lead Material Science and Thermodynamics research?

By volume, Russia and the United States publish the most (580 and 120 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russia 580 works
  2. 2 United States 120 works
  3. 3 Ukraine 114 works
  4. 4 China 105 works
  5. 5 India 64 works
  6. 6 Uzbekistan 47 works
  7. 7 Kazakhstan 38 works
  8. 8 Japan 29 works
  9. 9 France 27 works
  10. 10 Germany 26 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.

Russia: 50.4%United States: 10.4%Ukraine: 9.9%China: 9.1%6 others listed: 20.1%50%largest
Russia580 · 50.4%United States120 · 10.4%Ukraine114 · 9.9%China105 · 9.1%6 others listed231 · 20.1%

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

Which institutions lead Material Science and Thermodynamics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Material Science and Thermodynamics research, followed by Lomonosov Moscow State University and National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 153 works
  2. 2 Lomonosov Moscow State UniversityRussia 26 works
  3. 3 National Academy of Sciences of UkraineUkraine 25 works
  4. 4 Siberian Transport UniversityRussia 16 works
  5. 5 Petersburg State Transport UniversityRussia 16 works
  6. 6 Russian University of TransportRussia 16 works
  7. 7 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 14 works
  8. 8 Weatherford CollegeUnited States 14 works
  9. 9 Ural Federal UniversityRussia 11 works
  10. 10 Moscow Aviation InstituteRussia 10 works

Who are the leading researchers in Material Science and Thermodynamics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Material Science and Thermodynamics include Mercouri G. Kanatzidis and Kazuo Shinozaki.

  1. 1 Mercouri G. Kanatzidis United States 196k citations
  2. 2 Kazuo Shinozaki Japan 170k 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 Material Science and Thermodynamics?

The most cited paper in Material Science and Thermodynamics is "Linear and Nonlinear Waves" (Gerald Beresford Whitham, Richard Fowler, 1975), with 8,303 citations. Next come "Nonlinear Systems Analysis" (2,033) and "Sums of independent random variables" (1,806).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Linear and Nonlinear Waves Gerald Beresford Whitham, Richard Fowler · Physics Today Jun 1975 8,303
2 Nonlinear Systems Analysis M. Vidyasagar, C. Desoer · IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics Aug 1980 2,033
3 Sums of independent random variables T. W. Körner · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter 28 Jan 1988 1,806
4 Thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of the crystal to glass transformation in metallic materials W. L. Johnson · Progress in Materials Science 1986 1,119
5 Properties and structure of vitreous silica. I R. Brückner · Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids Nov 1970 910
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Material Science and Thermodynamics research done?

The largest centres of Material Science and Thermodynamics research in 2022-now are Moscow (Russia), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Novosibirsk (Russia) and Kyiv (Ukraine). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 MoscowRussia 190 works
  2. 2 Saint PetersburgRussia 60 works
  3. 3 NovosibirskRussia 39 works
  4. 4 KyivUkraine 31 works
  5. 5 TashkentUzbekistan 30 works
  6. 6 YekaterinburgRussia 29 works
  7. 7 BeijingChina 22 works
  8. 8 AlmatyKazakhstan 20 works
  9. 9 Rostov-on-DonRussia 19 works
  10. 10 Kazan’Russia 18 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. NovosibirskRU · 39.5 works24×
  2. YekaterinburgRU · 28.9 works22×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Material Science and Thermodynamics than the world average.

See Material Science and Thermodynamics on the map

Where is the best place to study Material Science and Thermodynamics?

Among universities, judged by research, Russian University of Transport, Lomonosov Moscow State University and Moscow State 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%10%20%mean 8.68%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Moscow State Univers…Russian University o…Lomonosov Moscow Sta…Petersburg State Tra…
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
1Russian University of TransportRussia 68.38.5%198.0×16 -17.2%
2Lomonosov Moscow State UniversityRussia 66.86.8%24.6×26 -28.4%
3Moscow State UniversityTajikistan 59.914.4%24.0×8 +84.6%
4Petersburg State Transport UniversityRussia 50.64.1%190.7×16 +231.3%
5Weatherford CollegeUnited States 46.99.4%8.2×14 +41.0%
6Moscow Aviation InstituteRussia 46.99.4%50.0×10 -51.5%
7Ural Federal UniversityRussia 46.68.6%30.6×11 -31.8%
8Moscow Power Engineering InstituteRussia 46.113.4%44.0×8 -38.2%
9Bauman Moscow State Technical UniversityRussia 43.211.7%37.4×9 -61.0%
10Siberian Transport UniversityRussia 37.80.5%470.6×16 +311.0%

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 Material Science and Thermodynamics, country by country

Is Material Science and Thermodynamics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 7% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022.

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 Material Science and Thermodynamics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0057% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Material Science and Thermodynamics0.0050% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Material Science and Thermodynamics 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%Material Science and Thermodynamics10.2% 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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