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Topic · Pharmacology

Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis

Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis is a research topic within Pharmacology. Science Explorer counts 39k research works in it since 1950. 22.5% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the exploration of natural products, particularly from microbial sources, as potential sources of new drugs. It covers various aspects such as genome sequencing, biosynthetic gene clusters, secondary metabolites, and their role in drug discovery. The cluster also emphasizes the significance of marine natural products and the potential of endophytic fungi in providing bioactive compounds for pharmaceutical applications.

  • Natural Products
  • Drug Discovery
  • Secondary Metabolites
  • Antibiotics
  • Microbial Metabolites
  • Genome Sequencing
  • Endophytic Fungi
  • Marine Natural Products
  • Nonribosomal Peptides
  • Polyketide Biosynthesis
Research works
39k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
8.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
22.5%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+13%
the tick is no change

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2k and 631 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 2k works
  2. 2 United States 631 works
  3. 3 India 548 works
  4. 4 Germany 280 works
  5. 5 Japan 275 works
  6. 6 South Korea 159 works
  7. 7 Egypt 134 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 128 works
  9. 9 France 113 works
  10. 10 Indonesia 109 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: 45.9%United States: 14.4%India: 12.5%Germany: 6.4%6 others listed: 20.9%46%largest
China2,013 · 45.9%United States631 · 14.4%India548 · 12.5%Germany280 · 6.4%6 others listed918 · 20.9%

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

Which institutions lead Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis research, followed by Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 70 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 47 works
  3. 3 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 40 works
  4. 4 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 37 works
  5. 5 Zhejiang UniversityChina 29 works
  6. 6 Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 28 works
  7. 7 Shandong UniversityChina 27 works
  8. 8 The University of TokyoJapan 26 works
  9. 9 Yunnan UniversityChina 25 works
  10. 10 Ocean University of ChinaChina 25 works

Who are the leading researchers in Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis include Barry M. Trost, E. J. Corey and K. N. Houk.

  1. 1 Barry M. Trost United States 3.8k citations
  2. 2 E. J. Corey United States 3.6k citations
  3. 3 K. N. Houk United States 2.8k citations
  4. 4 Robert H. Grubbs United States 2.7k citations

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

Where is Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis research done?

The largest centres of Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Guangzhou (China), Shanghai (China) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Braunschweig, Saarbrücken and Jena.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 355 works
  2. 2 Guangzhou China 140 works
  3. 3 Shanghai China 139 works
  4. 4 Tokyo Japan 103 works
  5. 5 Hangzhou China 94 works
  6. 6 Qingdao China 94 works
  7. 7 Wuhan China 86 works
  8. 8 Nanjing China 84 works
  9. 9 Kunming China 66 works
  10. 10 Seoul South Korea 63 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BraunschweigDE · 27.9 works13×
  2. SaarbrückenDE · 22.9 works12×
  3. JenaDE · 23.5 works9.7×
  4. HaikouCN · 45.8 works9.3×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis on the map

Where is the best place to study Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis?

Among universities, judged by research, Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, Hainan Normal University and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College 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 26.11%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research: 17, 17.0%Hainan Normal University: 13, 24.5%Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College: 47, 18.7%China Pharmaceutical University: 21, 27.8%Zhejiang Ocean University: 10, 15.8%Yunnan University: 25, 16.8%Jiangnan University: 22, 35.0%University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 40, 26.4%Leiden University: 8, 50.7%Shenyang Pharmaceutical University: 12, 28.4%China Pharmaceutical…Hainan Normal Univer…Chinese Academy of M…Academy of Scientifi…
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 Academy of Scientific and Innovative ResearchIndia 52.917.0%9.3×17 +629.7%
2 Hainan Normal UniversityChina 52.224.5%32.3×13 +114.1%
3 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 51.218.7%8.5×47 +23.6%
4 China Pharmaceutical UniversityChina 51.027.8%17.2×21 -7.4%
5 Zhejiang Ocean UniversityChina 50.215.8%10.8×10 +470.8%
6 Yunnan UniversityChina 48.416.8%11.3×25 +24.7%
7 Jiangnan UniversityChina 48.335.0%6.2×22 +23.9%
8 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 48.026.4%4.2×40 +93.3%
9 Leiden UniversityNetherlands 47.750.7%4.3×8 -4.5%
10 Shenyang Pharmaceutical UniversityChina 47.628.4%16.6×12 +21.9%

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 Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 13% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Microbial Natural Products and Biosynthesis.

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.