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Microplastics and Plastic Pollution

Microplastics and Plastic Pollution is a research topic within Pollution. Science Explorer counts 48k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the production, use, fate, and environmental impact of microplastics in marine and terrestrial ecosystems. It covers topics such as sources, distribution, accumulation, ingestion by organisms, potential health effects, and waste management strategies for mitigating microplastic pollution.

  • Microplastics
  • Marine Environment
  • Terrestrial Ecosystems
  • Pollution
  • Plastic Debris
  • Environmental Impact
  • Waste Management
  • Human Health
  • Freshwater Systems
  • Recycling
Research works
48k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+114%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
41% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Microplastics and Plastic Pollution

Which countries lead Microplastics and Plastic Pollution research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (6k and 2.1k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 6k works
  2. 2 India 2.1k works
  3. 3 United States 1.8k works
  4. 4 Italy 848 works
  5. 5 Indonesia 766 works
  6. 6 Brazil 732 works
  7. 7 Spain 643 works
  8. 8 South Korea 635 works
  9. 9 Germany 632 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 626 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: 40.5%India: 14.5%United States: 12.1%Italy: 5.7%6 others listed: 27.2%41%largest
China6,002 · 40.5%India2,142 · 14.5%United States1,788 · 12.1%Italy848 · 5.7%6 others listed4,034 · 27.2%

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

Which institutions lead Microplastics and Plastic Pollution research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Microplastics and Plastic Pollution research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 423 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 207 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 106 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 102 works
  5. 5 Tongji UniversityChina 98 works
  6. 6 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 97 works
  7. 7 National Research CouncilItaly 91 works
  8. 8 Nankai UniversityChina 77 works
  9. 9 Zhejiang UniversityChina 75 works
  10. 10 Hohai UniversityChina 72 works

Who are the leading researchers in Microplastics and Plastic Pollution?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Microplastics and Plastic Pollution include Rob Knight, Róbert Langer and Robert A. Weinberg.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 Róbert Langer United States 303k citations
  3. 3 Robert A. Weinberg United States 301k citations
  4. 4 Matthew M. Meyerson United States 280k citations
  5. 5 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  6. 6 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations
  7. 7 Lídia Morawska Australia 244k citations
  8. 8 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  9. 9 Lei Jiang China 214k citations
  10. 10 Guangming Zeng China 204k 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 Microplastics and Plastic Pollution?

The most cited paper in Microplastics and Plastic Pollution is "Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made" (Roland Geyer, Jenna Jambeck, Kara Lavender Law, 2017), with 18,485 citations. Next come "Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean" (13,155) and "Microplastics in the marine environment" (8,102).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made Roland Geyer, Jenna Jambeck, Kara Lavender Law · Science Advances Open access 7 Jul 2017 18,485
2 Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean Jenna Jambeck, Roland Geyer, Chris Wilcox et al. · Science 12 Feb 2015 13,155
3 Microplastics in the marine environment Anthony L. Andrady · Marine Pollution Bulletin 14 Jul 2011 8,102
4 Lost at Sea: Where Is All the Plastic? Richard C. Thompson, Ylva S. Olsen, Richard P. Mitchell et al. · Science 6 May 2004 7,767
5 Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments David K. A. Barnes, François Galgani, Richard C. Thompson et al. · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences Open access 15 Jun 2009 6,184
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Microplastics and Plastic Pollution research done?

The largest centres of Microplastics and Plastic Pollution research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Guangzhou (China) and Shanghai (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 1k works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 409 works
  3. 3 GuangzhouChina 365 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 353 works
  5. 5 HangzhouChina 260 works
  6. 6 SeoulSouth Korea 258 works
  7. 7 QingdaoChina 227 works
  8. 8 TianjinChina 222 works
  9. 9 ChennaiIndia 181 works
  10. 10 WuhanChina 172 works
See Microplastics and Plastic Pollution on the map

Where is the best place to study Microplastics and Plastic Pollution?

Among universities, judged by research, Northwest A&F University, Tongji University and Nankai 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 20.38%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Northwest A&F Univer…Nankai UniversityTongji UniversityWageningen Universit…
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
1Northwest A&F UniversityChina 70.023.6%7.1×55 +155.2%
2Tongji UniversityChina 68.917.8%3.2×98 +103.1%
3Nankai UniversityChina 68.519.5%5.6×77 +210.8%
4Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 67.111.7%7.9×58 +55.6%
5Universidad EcotecEcuador 65.230.5%70.5×25 -
6University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 63.018.5%2.1×70 +74.4%
7Nanchang UniversityChina 60.123.8%2.9×44 +248.6%
8ETH ZurichSwitzerland 60.027.6%1.7×23 +68.1%
9East China Normal UniversityChina 59.917.6%4.6×45 +3.9%
10South China Agricultural UniversityChina 58.813.2%7.8×55 +196.0%

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 Microplastics and Plastic Pollution, country by country

Is Microplastics and Plastic Pollution research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 114% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Microplastics and Plastic Pollution.

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 Microplastics and Plastic Pollution as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.11% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Microplastics and Plastic Pollution0.10% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Microplastics and Plastic Pollution 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%Microplastics and Plastic Pollution10.0% 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.

Questions people ask

How much research is there on microplastics, and is it growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 114% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Microplastics and Plastic Pollution.

Is Microplastics and Plastic Pollution research growing?

Who leads microplastics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Microplastics and Plastic Pollution research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Russian Academy of Sciences. By volume, China and India publish the most (6k and 2.1k works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

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