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Topic · Geometry and Topology

Morphological variations and asymmetry

Morphological variations and asymmetry is a research topic within Geometry and Topology. Science Explorer counts 14k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on advances in geometric morphometrics, statistical analysis, and quantitative genetics to study shape variation, morphological integration, modularity, and cranial evolution. It explores methods for landmark-based analysis, phylogenetic analysis, and developmental stability in the context of evolutionary biology.

  • Geometric Morphometrics
  • Morphological Integration
  • Modularity
  • Phylogenetic Analysis
  • Developmental Stability
  • Cranial Evolution
  • Quantitative Genetics
  • Landmark-based Analysis
  • Shape Variation
  • Evolutionary Biology
Research works
14k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+7%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
30% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Morphological variations and asymmetry

Which countries lead Morphological variations and asymmetry research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (472 and 227 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 472 works
  2. 2 China 227 works
  3. 3 France 143 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 124 works
  5. 5 Russia 120 works
  6. 6 Brazil 118 works
  7. 7 Germany 102 works
  8. 8 Spain 87 works
  9. 9 India 85 works
  10. 10 Japan 75 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: 30.4%China: 14.6%France: 9.2%United Kingdom: 8.0%6 others listed: 37.8%30%largest
United States472 · 30.4%China227 · 14.6%France143 · 9.2%United Kingdom124 · 8.0%6 others listed587 · 37.8%

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

Which institutions lead Morphological variations and asymmetry research?

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

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 65 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 58 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 24 works
  4. 4 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasArgentina 24 works
  5. 5 Altai State UniversityRussia 15 works
  6. 6 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 12 works
  7. 7 Indiana UniversityUnited States 11 works
  8. 8 Max Planck SocietyGermany 10 works
  9. 9 University of MichiganUnited States 10 works
  10. 10 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 9 works

Who are the leading researchers in Morphological variations and asymmetry?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Morphological variations and asymmetry include Karl John Friston, Sudhir Kumar and Koichiro Tamura.

  1. 1 Karl John Friston United Kingdom 310k citations
  2. 2 Sudhir Kumar United States 295k citations
  3. 3 Koichiro Tamura Japan 268k citations
  4. 4 Nicholas G. Martin Australia 228k 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 Morphological variations and asymmetry?

The most cited paper in Morphological variations and asymmetry is "PAST: PALEONTOLOGICAL STATISTICAL SOFTWARE PACKAGE FOR EDUCATION AND DATA ANALYSIS" (Øyvind Hammer, David A. T. Harper, Paul D. Ryan, 2001), with 17,990 citations. Next come "Estimates of the Regression Coefficient Based on Kendall's Tau" (13,754) and "Statistical parametric maps in functional imaging: A general linear approach" (9,877).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 PAST: PALEONTOLOGICAL STATISTICAL SOFTWARE PACKAGE FOR EDUCATION AND DATA ANALYSIS Øyvind Hammer, David A. T. Harper, Paul D. Ryan · Palaeontologia Electronica Open access 2001 17,990
2 Estimates of the Regression Coefficient Based on Kendall's Tau Pranab Kumar Sen · Journal of the American Statistical Association Dec 1968 13,754
3 Statistical parametric maps in functional imaging: A general linear approach Karl John Friston, Andrew P. Holmes, Keith J. Worsley et al. · Human Brain Mapping 1994 9,877
4 Voxel-Based Morphometry—The Methods John Ashburner, Karl John Friston · NeuroImage Jun 2000 8,780
5 Geodesic Active Contours Vicent Caselles, Ron Kimmel, Guillermo Sapiro · International Journal of Computer Vision Feb 1997 5,275
All 97 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Morphological variations and asymmetry research done?

The largest centres of Morphological variations and asymmetry research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Buenos Aires.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 63 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 61 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 36 works
  4. 4 MoscowRussia 34 works
  5. 5 New YorkUnited States 26 works
  6. 6 MadridSpain 24 works
  7. 7 São PauloBrazil 22 works
  8. 8 Buenos AiresArgentina 20 works
  9. 9 TokyoJapan 20 works
  10. 10 Mexico CityMexico 17 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Buenos AiresAR · 20.2 works4.5×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Morphological variations and asymmetry than the world average.

See Morphological variations and asymmetry on the map

Where is the best place to study Morphological variations and asymmetry?

Among universities, judged by research, Indiana University, University of Michigan and Altai 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%mean 11.3714%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Indiana UniversityUniversity of MichiganCharles UniversityAltai State University
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
1Indiana UniversityUnited States 71.529.2%5.4×11 +74.2%
2University of MichiganUnited States 49.018.8%3.0×10 +106.9%
3Altai State UniversityRussia 45.00.1%114.5×15 -
4Charles UniversityCzechia 39.812.0%8.7×9 -5.2%
5Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 30.95.3%4.3×9 +27.8%
6Florida State UniversityUnited States 25.94.5%11.3×8 -36.2%
7University of WashingtonUnited States 22.89.7%3.4×8 -27.7%

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 Morphological variations and asymmetry, country by country

Is Morphological variations and asymmetry research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 7% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Morphological variations and asymmetry.

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 Morphological variations and asymmetry as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0081% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Morphological variations and asymmetry0.011% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Morphological variations and asymmetry 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%Morphological variations and asymmetry9.8% 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.

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