Topic · Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Municipal Solid Waste Management

Municipal Solid Waste Management is a research topic within Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. Science Explorer counts 26k research works in it since 1951. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the challenges and practices in solid waste management, particularly in developing countries. It covers topics such as municipal solid waste, recycling, landfill, life cycle assessment, renewable energy, waste-to-energy, environmental impact, and sustainability.

Municipal Solid Waste
Waste Management
Developing Countries
Recycling
Landfill
Life Cycle Assessment
Renewable Energy
Waste-to-Energy
Environmental Impact
Sustainability

Research works: 26k
In the world top 10%: 2.7k
Top-10% rate: 10.2%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25: +52%
Largest producer: India

Municipal Solid Waste Management

Which countries lead Municipal Solid Waste Management research?

By volume, India and China publish the most (1.5k and 1.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

1 India 1.5k works
2 China 1.3k works
3 Indonesia 782 works
4 United States 512 works
5 Brazil 500 works
6 Nigeria 418 works
7 Türkiye 322 works
8 Malaysia 282 works
9 United Kingdom 266 works
10 Italy 221 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.

India1,463 · 24.1%China1,303 · 21.5%Indonesia782 · 12.9%United States512 · 8.4%6 others listed2,008 · 33.1%

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

Which institutions lead Municipal Solid Waste Management research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Municipal Solid Waste Management research, followed by Tongji University and Universiti Teknologi MARA.

By volume, 2022-now

1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 55 works
2 Tongji UniversityChina 43 works
3 Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 41 works
4 SRM Institute of Science and TechnologyIndia 32 works
5 University of IndonesiaIndonesia 30 works
6 Vellore Institute of Technology UniversityIndia 29 works
7 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 28 works
8 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 28 works
9 Diponegoro UniversityIndonesia 27 works
10 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 26 works

Who are the leading researchers in Municipal Solid Waste Management?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Municipal Solid Waste Management include Lídia Morawska.

1 Lídia Morawska Australia 244k 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 Municipal Solid Waste Management?

The most cited paper in Municipal Solid Waste Management is "Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean" (Jenna Jambeck, Roland Geyer, Chris Wilcox et al., 2015), with 13,155 citations. Next come "Inhibition of anaerobic digestion process: A review" (4,840) and "Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood" (3,875).

Most cited papers
#	Paper	Released	Citations
1	Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean Jenna Jambeck, Roland Geyer, Chris Wilcox et al. · Science	12 Feb 2015	13,155
2	Inhibition of anaerobic digestion process: A review Ye Chen, Jay Jiayang Cheng, Kurt S. Creamer · Bioresource Technology	31 Mar 2007	4,840
3	Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood Heather A. Leslie, Martin J. M. van Velzen, Sicco H. Brandsma et al. · Environment International Open access	24 Mar 2022	3,875
4	Predicted growth in plastic waste exceeds efforts to mitigate plastic pollution Stephanie B. Borrelle, Jeremy L. Ringma, Kara Lavender Law et al. · Science Open access	17 Sep 2020	3,202
5	Human Consumption of Microplastics Kieran Cox, Garth A. Covernton, Hailey L. Davies et al. · Environmental Science & Technology	5 Jun 2019	2,728

All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Municipal Solid Waste Management research done?

The largest centres of Municipal Solid Waste Management research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Chennai (India), Shanghai (China) and Jakarta (Indonesia).

Largest cities, 2022-now

1 BeijingChina 271 works
2 ChennaiIndia 109 works
3 ShanghaiChina 108 works
4 JakartaIndonesia 104 works
5 New DelhiIndia 102 works
6 DhakaBangladesh 94 works
7 NanjingChina 81 works
8 TehranIran 74 works
9 BandungIndonesia 70 works
10 São PauloBrazil 67 works

See Municipal Solid Waste Management on the map

Where is the best place to study Municipal Solid Waste Management?

Among universities, judged by research, Tongji University, RMIT University and Central Queensland 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.

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.

#	University	Score	Top 10%	Specialisation	Works	Growth
1	Tongji UniversityChina	70.0	18.8%	3.1×	43	+58.2%
2	RMIT UniversityAustralia	69.6	26.4%	5.0×	18	+40.5%
3	Central Queensland UniversityAustralia	67.9	32.7%	10.2×	10	+120.6%
4	Tsinghua UniversityChina	67.0	30.8%	1.2×	25	+22.4%
5	Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina	66.3	25.0%	2.1×	17	+39.9%
6	King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia	63.3	37.4%	3.4×	11	+304.8%
7	University College LondonUnited Kingdom	58.8	32.7%	0.8×	11	+193.7%
8	Beijing University of TechnologyChina	58.1	17.9%	4.0×	25	+231.7%
9	Vellore Institute of Technology UniversityIndia	57.4	14.0%	3.3×	29	+353.2%
10	Dalhousie UniversityCanada	55.7	32.2%	2.4×	8	+59.6%
11	Monash UniversityAustralia	55.6	32.1%	1.2×	11	+189.5%
12	Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and TechnologyGhana	55.3	12.3%	10.2×	20	+66.0%
13	University of LeedsUnited Kingdom	55.3	32.8%	1.7×	9	-4.9%
14	Saveetha UniversityIndia	55.1	19.5%	2.2×	19	+568.3%
15	University of Technology SydneyAustralia	55.0	29.8%	2.0×	8	+123.0%
16	National University of SingaporeSingapore	54.5	19.6%	1.1×	12	+89.8%
17	University of Hong KongChina	54.2	29.5%	1.1×	9	+11.6%
18	University of Petroleum and Energy StudiesIndia	53.5	22.0%	7.9×	12	+164.3%
19	University of JohannesburgSouth Africa	53.4	7.1%	4.9×	28	+18.3%
20	Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina	53.1	32.0%	0.7×	12	+156.3%
21	University of Technology MalaysiaMalaysia	52.3	8.9%	4.6×	20	+25.8%
22	Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia	52.2	1.3%	5.9×	41	+67.4%
23	SRM Institute of Science and TechnologyIndia	51.4	5.8%	3.4×	32	+177.6%
24	The University of AdelaideAustralia	51.2	23.2%	2.3×	9	+64.0%
25	University of ReginaCanada	50.8	14.6%	16.1×	16	+83.3%
26	Qatar UniversityQatar	50.6	25.3%	3.2×	8	+76.2%
27	Khulna University of Engineering and TechnologyBangladesh	50.0	13.1%	18.7×	16	+190.6%
28	ETH ZurichSwitzerland	49.2	24.9%	1.5×	10	+42.9%
29	China Agricultural UniversityChina	49.1	20.2%	2.3×	12	+70.0%
30	Indian Institute of Technology RoorkeeIndia	48.9	17.9%	3.7×	15	+120.2%
31	Universiti Sains MalaysiaMalaysia	48.8	10.8%	3.4×	20	+16.2%
32	University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina	48.8	21.7%	0.9×	14	+49.7%
33	Xiamen UniversityChina	48.8	26.4%	1.2×	10	+158.3%
34	Lappeenranta-Lahti University of TechnologyFinland	48.4	11.5%	15.0×	14	+34.4%
35	King Saud UniversitySaudi Arabia	48.4	15.7%	1.6×	14	+91.3%
36	Bangladesh University of Engineering and TechnologyBangladesh	48.4	20.2%	8.4×	11	+248.2%
37	University of British ColumbiaCanada	47.6	28.7%	0.8×	8	+16.3%
38	Lovely Professional UniversityIndia	47.3	6.3%	5.3×	24	+537.0%
39	Tribhuvan UniversityNepal	46.9	3.5%	4.1×	28	+184.5%
40	Tianjin UniversityChina	46.0	20.7%	1.2×	14	+110.5%
41	Parthenope University of NaplesItaly	45.8	18.6%	12.6×	9	+10.1%
42	Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands	45.2	13.1%	2.9×	10	+16.8%
43	University of SharjahUnited Arab Emirates	44.2	8.8%	4.5×	11	+85.3%
44	Częstochowa University of TechnologyPoland	36.2	17.2%	11.7×	10	-1.3%
45	Rivers State UniversityNigeria	35.3	0.0%	11.5×	18	+112.3%
46	National Institute for Environmental StudiesJapan	34.9	7.5%	23.4×	8	+33.8%
47	Diponegoro UniversityIndonesia	33.7	3.5%	3.8×	27	-14.2%
48	Islamic Azad University, TehranIran	33.0	4.9%	1.7×	26	-26.5%
49	University of IndonesiaIndonesia	32.6	0.3%	2.8×	30	-13.2%
50	University of Da NangVietnam	31.1	6.2%	11.0×	8	+111.8%

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 Municipal Solid Waste Management, country by country

Is Municipal Solid Waste Management research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 52% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Municipal Solid Waste Management.

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 Municipal Solid Waste Management as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.044% in 2024.

Fractional works of Municipal Solid Waste Management 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.

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

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Which countries lead Municipal Solid Waste Management research?

By volume, 2022-now

How concentrated that is

Which institutions lead Municipal Solid Waste Management research?

By volume, 2022-now

Who are the leading researchers in Municipal Solid Waste Management?

What are the most cited papers in Municipal Solid Waste Management?

Where is Municipal Solid Waste Management research done?

Largest cities, 2022-now

Where is the best place to study Municipal Solid Waste Management?

Is Municipal Solid Waste Management research growing?

Its share of all research

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Which topics inside it are moving

Related research

Discussion