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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. 27.7% 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%
21k
per year above
Top-10% rate
27.7%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+14%
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 Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.5k and 904 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 3.5k works
  2. 2 China 904 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 849 works
  4. 4 Brazil 820 works
  5. 5 Australia 651 works
  6. 6 Spain 516 works
  7. 7 India 504 works
  8. 8 Canada 455 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 363 works
  10. 10 Germany 286 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: 39.3%China: 10.3%United Kingdom: 9.6%Brazil: 9.3%6 others listed: 31.5%39%largest
United States3,459 · 39.3%China904 · 10.3%United Kingdom849 · 9.6%Brazil820 · 9.3%6 others listed2,776 · 31.5%

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

Which institutions lead Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research, followed by Deakin University and Harvard University.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States 119 works
  2. 2 Deakin University Australia 84 works
  3. 3 Harvard University United States 59 works
  4. 4 The University of Sydney Australia 55 works
  5. 5 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil 53 works
  6. 6 Johns Hopkins University United States 50 works
  7. 7 University College London United Kingdom 42 works
  8. 8 University of South Carolina United States 39 works
  9. 9 Pennsylvania State University United States 37 works
  10. 10 The University of Queensland Australia 36 works

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

The most-cited researchers publishing on Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet include James Thomas, Isabela M. Benseñor and Yousef Khader.

  1. 1 James Thomas 13k citations
  2. 2 Isabela M. Benseñor 7.7k citations
  3. 3 Yousef Khader 7.7k citations
  4. 4 Young‐Ho Khang 7.6k citations
  5. 5 Paulo A. Lotufo 7.2k citations
  6. 6 Cyrus Cooper 7.2k citations
  7. 7 Zulfiqar A Bhutta 7k citations
  8. 8 Tommi Vasankari 6.9k citations
  9. 9 Walter C. Willett 6.8k citations
  10. 10 Mika Kivimäki 6.7k citations

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

Where is Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research done?

The largest centres of Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research in 2022–2025 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, Newcastle and Temuco.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 220 works
  2. 2 Beijing China 180 works
  3. 3 São Paulo Brazil 147 works
  4. 4 Chapel Hill United States 121 works
  5. 5 New York United States 114 works
  6. 6 Sydney Australia 113 works
  7. 7 Madrid Spain 109 works
  8. 8 Seoul South Korea 108 works
  9. 9 Melbourne Australia 100 works
  10. 10 Washington D.C. United States 94 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BurwoodAU · 84.2 works14×
  2. NewcastleAU · 37.5 works9.5×
  3. TemucoCL · 21.9 works8.1×
← 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, Shanghai University of Sport, Deakin University and Universidad Autónoma de Chile 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 34.98%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Shanghai University of Sport: 20, 41.6%Deakin University: 84, 31.3%Universidad Autónoma de Chile: 14, 29.1%Beijing Sport University: 11, 38.1%London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: 15, 35.9%University of Newcastle Australia: 20, 44.3%Warsaw University of Life Sciences: 17, 24.3%Harvard University: 59, 36.4%University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources: 10, 31.8%Flinders University: 18, 37.0%Shanghai University …Beijing Sport Univer…Deakin UniversityUniversidad Autónoma…
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
1Shanghai University of Sport China 76.041.6%25.6×20 +335.3%
2Deakin University Australia 70.331.3%13.8×84 +7.5%
3Universidad Autónoma de Chile Chile 68.729.1%16.7×14 +642.6%
4Beijing Sport University China 63.938.1%11.9×11 +116.4%
5London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine United Kingdom 61.035.9%7.4×15 +48.4%
6University of Newcastle Australia Australia 60.244.3%6.8×20 -6.2%
7Warsaw University of Life Sciences Poland 57.624.3%7.7×17 +245.2%
8Harvard University United States 55.936.4%3.5×59 +30.6%
9University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources United States 55.931.8%88.3×10 —
10Flinders University Australia 53.437.0%6.0×18 +31.1%

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 Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 14% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2020. The fastest-growing topics are Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet.

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.