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Topic · Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet

Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet is a research topic within Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health. Science Explorer counts 75k 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 covers a wide range of topics related to obesity and overweight, including global prevalence, health effects, childhood obesity, physical activity, dietary risks, and public health implications. The research encompasses epidemiological studies, systematic analyses, and reviews aimed at understanding the causes, consequences, and potential interventions for addressing the obesity epidemic.

  • Obesity
  • Overweight
  • Childhood
  • Prevalence
  • Health Effects
  • Physical Activity
  • Dietary Risks
  • Epidemiology
  • Public Health
  • Adolescents
Research works
75k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
7.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-8%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
39% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet

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

Which countries lead Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.8k and 1.1k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 3.8k works
  2. 2 China 1.1k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 944 works
  4. 4 Brazil 886 works
  5. 5 Australia 703 works
  6. 6 India 588 works
  7. 7 Spain 562 works
  8. 8 Canada 505 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 397 works
  10. 10 Germany 321 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: 38.7%China: 11.3%United Kingdom: 9.6%Brazil: 9.0%6 others listed: 31.4%39%largest
United States3,795 · 38.7%China1,104 · 11.3%United Kingdom944 · 9.6%Brazil886 · 9.0%6 others listed3,075 · 31.4%

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

Which institutions lead Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research, followed by Harvard University and Deakin University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 142 works
  2. 2 Harvard UniversityUnited States 110 works
  3. 3 Deakin UniversityAustralia 91 works
  4. 4 The University of SydneyAustralia 66 works
  5. 5 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 65 works
  6. 6 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 63 works
  7. 7 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 55 works
  8. 8 University of TorontoCanada 53 works
  9. 9 Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States 47 works
  10. 10 The University of QueenslandAustralia 45 works

Who are the leading researchers in Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet include David Moher, Douglas G. Altman and Ahmedin Jemal.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 Douglas G. Altman United Kingdom 862k citations
  3. 3 Ahmedin Jemal United States 761k citations
  4. 4 Christopher J L Murray United States 583k citations
  5. 5 Freddie Bray France 550k citations
  6. 6 Simon Iain Hay United States 452k citations
  7. 7 Theo Vos United States 439k citations
  8. 8 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  9. 9 Ali H. Mokdad United States 429k citations
  10. 10 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k 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 Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet?

The most cited paper in Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet is "International Physical Activity Questionnaire: 12-Country Reliability and Validity" (Cora L. Craig, Alison L. Marshall, MICHAEL SJ??STR??M et al., 2003), with 22,204 citations. Next come "Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey" (16,616) and "Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013" (12,158).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 International Physical Activity Questionnaire: 12-Country Reliability and Validity Cora L. Craig, Alison L. Marshall, MICHAEL SJ??STR??M et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Aug 2003 22,204
2 Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey Tim James Cole · BMJ Open access 6 May 2000 16,616
3 Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 Marie Ng et al. · The Lancet Open access140 authors 28 May 2014 12,158
4 World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour Fiona Bull et al. · British Journal of Sports Medicine Open access 25 Nov 2020 11,799
5 The Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence: a revision of the Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire Todd F. Heatherton, Lynn T. Kozlowski, Richard C. Frecker et al. · British Journal of Addiction Sep 1991 10,879
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research done?

The largest centres of Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Beijing (China), São Paulo (Brazil) and Chapel Hill (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Burwood, Cuernavaca and Newcastle.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 244 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 205 works
  3. 3 São PauloBrazil 158 works
  4. 4 Chapel HillUnited States 141 works
  5. 5 New YorkUnited States 124 works
  6. 6 SydneyAustralia 121 works
  7. 7 MadridSpain 119 works
  8. 8 SeoulSouth Korea 119 works
  9. 9 MelbourneAustralia 109 works
  10. 10 ShanghaiChina 104 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BurwoodAU · 91.1 works14×
  2. CuernavacaMX · 21.0 works9.6×
  3. NewcastleAU · 39.6 works9.2×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet than the world average.

See Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet on the map

Where is the best place to study Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet?

Among universities, judged by research, Deakin University, Harvard University and Shanghai University of Sport score highest, combining citation 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 19.85%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Shanghai University …University of Cambri…Harvard UniversityDeakin 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.

Citation 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
1Deakin UniversityAustralia 65.115.2%15.3×91 -5.3%
2Harvard UniversityUnited States 64.217.3%2.6×110 -18.5%
3Shanghai University of SportChina 59.921.5%29.2×22 +70.4%
4University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 57.419.7%2.7×44 -32.4%
5The University of QueenslandAustralia 56.915.4%3.6×45 +12.7%
6China Medical UniversityChina 56.836.4%1.7×10 +18.4%
7Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 55.920.0%6.3×30 -5.5%
8University College LondonUnited Kingdom 55.517.1%2.6×55 -22.2%
9University of LiverpoolUnited Kingdom 55.319.4%3.0×23 +10.7%
10The University of SydneyAustralia 53.616.5%4.0×66 -28.2%

Universities only. The score blends citation 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 Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet, country by country

Is Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 8% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020.

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 Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.065% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet0.061% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet 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%Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet9.8% 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.

Questions people ask

Who leads obesity research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research, followed by Harvard University and Deakin University. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.8k and 1.1k works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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