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Topic · Environmental Chemistry

Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena

Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena is a research topic within Environmental Chemistry. Science Explorer counts 70k 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 anaerobic oxidation of methane, particularly in relation to gas hydrates, microbial communities in subseafloor sediments, and the biogeochemical processes involved. It explores the role of archaea, nitrite-driven methane oxidation, and denitrification in marine environments.

  • Methane Oxidation
  • Anaerobic
  • Gas Hydrates
  • Microbial Communities
  • Subseafloor Sediments
  • Biogeochemistry
  • Archaea
  • Nitrite-Driven
  • Denitrification
  • Marine Methane Biogeochemistry
Research works
70k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
6.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-11%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
44% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena

Which countries lead Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (5.8k and 4k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 5.8k works
  2. 2 China 4k works
  3. 3 Russia 1.1k works
  4. 4 Germany 419 works
  5. 5 Japan 399 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 377 works
  7. 7 France 369 works
  8. 8 Canada 310 works
  9. 9 India 282 works
  10. 10 Australia 211 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: 43.8%China: 29.9%Russia: 8.4%Germany: 3.2%6 others listed: 14.7%44%largest
United States5,812 · 43.8%China3,966 · 29.9%Russia1,111 · 8.4%Germany419 · 3.2%6 others listed1,947 · 14.7%

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

Which institutions lead Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of California, Berkeley publishes the most Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Purdue University West Lafayette.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of California, BerkeleyUnited States 874 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 633 works
  3. 3 Purdue University West LafayetteUnited States 502 works
  4. 4 United States Department of AgricultureUnited States 373 works
  5. 5 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 368 works
  6. 6 Michigan State UniversityUnited States 313 works
  7. 7 Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryUnited States 302 works
  8. 8 University of California, Los AngelesUnited States 257 works
  9. 9 China University of Petroleum, East ChinaChina 159 works
  10. 10 Washington State UniversityUnited States 157 works

Who are the leading researchers in Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena include Rob Knight, Peer Bork and Jun Wang.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 Peer Bork Germany 396k citations
  3. 3 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  4. 4 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  5. 5 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  6. 6 P. Jackson France 230k citations
  7. 7 Donald G. Truhlar United States 230k citations
  8. 8 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  9. 9 Eugene V. Koonin United States 217k citations
  10. 10 Lei Jiang China 214k 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 Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena?

The most cited paper in Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena is "XDS" (Wolfgang Kabsch, 2010), with 17,173 citations. Next come "Trends, Rhythms, and Aberrations in Global Climate 65 Ma to Present" (10,656) and "Quantitative Film Detection of 3H and 14C in Polyacrylamide Gels by Fluorography" (4,688).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 XDS Wolfgang Kabsch · Acta Crystallographica Section D Biological Crystallography Open access 21 Jan 2010 17,173
2 Trends, Rhythms, and Aberrations in Global Climate 65 Ma to Present James C. Zachos, Mark Pagani, Lisa C. Sloan et al. · Science 27 Apr 2001 10,656
3 Quantitative Film Detection of 3H and 14C in Polyacrylamide Gels by Fluorography Ronald Alfred Laskey, Anthony D. Mills · European Journal of Biochemistry Aug 1975 4,688
4 Climate change and the permafrost carbon feedback Edward A. G. Schuur, Anthony David McGuire, Christina Schädel et al. · Nature Open access Apr 2015 3,927
5 Microbial diversity in the deep sea and the underexplored “rare biosphere” Mitchell L. Sogin, Hilary G. Morrison, Julie A. Huber et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2 Aug 2006 3,804
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena research done?

The largest centres of Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena research in 2022-now are Berkeley (United States), Beijing (China), West Lafayette (United States) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Hiram, Richland and Lisle.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BerkeleyUnited States 1.2k works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 1.1k works
  3. 3 West LafayetteUnited States 502 works
  4. 4 MoscowRussia 464 works
  5. 5 QingdaoChina 450 works
  6. 6 Washington D.C.United States 407 works
  7. 7 East LansingUnited States 313 works
  8. 8 Los AngelesUnited States 271 works
  9. 9 GuangzhouChina 206 works
  10. 10 ShanghaiChina 161 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. HiramUS · 32.7 works203×
  2. RichlandUS · 72.1 works164×
  3. LisleUS · 23.3 works143×
  4. BerkeleyUS · 1,175.4 works63×
  5. CheyenneUS · 24.7 works56×
  6. MoscowUS · 92.1 works54×
  7. Virginia BeachUS · 30.4 works42×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena than the world average.

See Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena on the map

Where is the best place to study Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Kansas, Stony Brook University and Montana 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%20%40%60%mean 32.86%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of KansasMontana State Univer…Stony Brook UniversityMichigan State Unive…
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
1University of KansasUnited States 76.849.7%14.0×93 +1512.9%
2Stony Brook UniversityUnited States 64.039.3%9.9×43 +1090.0%
3Montana State UniversityUnited States 62.539.7%27.2×37 +412.0%
4Michigan State UniversityUnited States 60.818.0%32.2×313 +437.2%
5University of California, BerkeleyUnited States 58.76.4%69.1×874 +703.8%
6University of WyomingUnited States 58.333.8%19.7×31 +542.1%
7Khalifa University of Science and TechnologyUnited Arab Emirates 57.839.3%3.5×11 +230.7%
8Dalian University of TechnologyChina 57.626.2%7.2×90 +15.4%
9King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 57.032.1%7.2×33 +287.9%
10Washington State UniversityUnited States 56.344.1%34.3×157 -80.8%

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 Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena, country by country

Is Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 11% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

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 Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.070% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena0.051% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena 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%Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena10.4% 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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