Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Water Science and Technology

Membrane Separation Technologies

Membrane Separation Technologies is a research topic within Water Science and Technology. Science Explorer counts 49k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores advancements in water purification technologies, focusing on membrane technology, desalination, nanofiltration, forward osmosis, graphene-based membranes, membrane fouling, sustainable water treatment, polymer membranes, membrane distillation, and antifouling strategies.

  • Membrane Technology
  • Desalination
  • Nanofiltration
  • Forward Osmosis
  • Graphene-based Membranes
  • Membrane Fouling
  • Sustainable Water Treatment
  • Polymer Membranes
  • Membrane Distillation
  • Antifouling Strategies
Research works
49k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+23%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
56% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Membrane Separation Technologies

Which countries lead Membrane Separation Technologies research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (5.9k and 1.1k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 5.9k works
  2. 2 India 1.1k works
  3. 3 United States 937 works
  4. 4 Iran 529 works
  5. 5 South Korea 431 works
  6. 6 Saudi Arabia 379 works
  7. 7 Malaysia 354 works
  8. 8 Egypt 290 works
  9. 9 Indonesia 280 works
  10. 10 Japan 265 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: 56.2%India: 10.7%United States: 9.0%Iran: 5.1%6 others listed: 19.1%56%largest
China5,877 · 56.2%India1,116 · 10.7%United States937 · 9.0%Iran529 · 5.1%6 others listed1,999 · 19.1%

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

Which institutions lead Membrane Separation Technologies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Membrane Separation Technologies research, followed by Tiangong University and Harbin Institute of Technology.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 278 works
  2. 2 Tiangong UniversityChina 166 works
  3. 3 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 139 works
  4. 4 Tongji UniversityChina 135 works
  5. 5 Nanjing Tech UniversityChina 123 works
  6. 6 King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 96 works
  7. 7 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 90 works
  8. 8 Tsinghua UniversityChina 89 works
  9. 9 University of Technology MalaysiaMalaysia 84 works
  10. 10 Beijing University of TechnologyChina 81 works

Who are the leading researchers in Membrane Separation Technologies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Membrane Separation Technologies include Zhong Lin Wang, Kostya S. Novoselov and Andre K. Geim.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 Kostya S. Novoselov United Kingdom 331k citations
  3. 3 Andre K. Geim United Kingdom 315k citations
  4. 4 Yury G. Gogotsi United States 313k citations
  5. 5 Róbert Langer United States 303k citations
  6. 6 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  7. 7 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations
  8. 8 Omar M. Yaghi United States 254k citations
  9. 9 Rodney S. Ruoff United States 231k citations
  10. 10 Kai You Wang China 224k 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 Membrane Separation Technologies?

The most cited paper in Membrane Separation Technologies is "Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades" (Mark A. Shannon, Paul W. Bohn, Menachem Elimelech et al., 2008), with 8,492 citations. Next come "The Future of Seawater Desalination: Energy, Technology, and the Environment" (6,750) and "The solution-diffusion model: a review" (3,500).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades Mark A. Shannon, Paul W. Bohn, Menachem Elimelech et al. · Nature 19 Mar 2008 8,492
2 The Future of Seawater Desalination: Energy, Technology, and the Environment Menachem Elimelech, William A. Phillip · Science 4 Aug 2011 6,750
3 The solution-diffusion model: a review J.G. Wijmans, Richard W. Baker · Journal of Membrane Science Nov 1995 3,500
4 Reverse osmosis desalination: Water sources, technology, and today's challenges Lauren Fay Greenlee, Desmond F. Lawler, Benny D. Freeman et al. · Water Research Open access 19 Mar 2009 3,425
5 Maximizing the right stuff: The trade-off between membrane permeability and selectivity Ho Bum Park, Jovan Kamcev, Lloyd M. Robeson et al. · Science 16 Jun 2017 3,357
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Membrane Separation Technologies research done?

The largest centres of Membrane Separation Technologies research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Tianjin (China) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Bhavnagar, Dhahran and Shanghai.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 895 works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 412 works
  3. 3 TianjinChina 388 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 367 works
  5. 5 HangzhouChina 274 works
  6. 6 TehranIran 232 works
  7. 7 Xi'anChina 203 works
  8. 8 WuhanChina 201 works
  9. 9 QingdaoChina 193 works
  10. 10 HarbinChina 189 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BhavnagarIN · 20.1 works33×
  2. DhahranSA · 106.0 works15×
  3. Shanghai26.9 works13×
  4. RendeIT · 38.1 works12×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Membrane Separation Technologies than the world average.

See Membrane Separation Technologies on the map

Where is the best place to study Membrane Separation Technologies?

Among universities, judged by research, Kafrelsheikh University, Zhejiang Normal University and Tongji 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%20%40%mean 21.81%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Kafrelsheikh Univers…Zhejiang Normal Univ…Tongji UniversityHarbin Institute of …
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
1Kafrelsheikh UniversityEgypt 73.036.4%13.2×20 +153.9%
2Zhejiang Normal UniversityChina 68.229.8%10.5×38 +151.9%
3Tongji UniversityChina 63.718.2%6.9×135 +43.3%
4Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 61.714.6%6.6×139 +36.7%
5Tanta UniversityEgypt 60.834.0%4.3×18 +43.5%
6King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 60.310.2%21.7×96 +161.0%
7Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz UniversitySaudi Arabia 59.827.7%4.3×14 +174.9%
8Tiangong UniversityChina 59.09.5%54.2×166 +30.1%
9University of Hong KongChina 58.028.8%2.0×24 +5.4%
10Nanjing Tech UniversityChina 57.78.9%19.5×124 +43.7%

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 Membrane Separation Technologies, country by country

Is Membrane Separation Technologies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 23% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Membrane Separation Technologies.

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 Membrane Separation Technologies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.058% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Membrane Separation Technologies0.057% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Membrane Separation Technologies 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%Membrane Separation Technologies9.8% 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.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Membrane Separation Technologies. Posts are plain text and can be reported.