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Topic · Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Optimization and Packing Problems

Optimization and Packing Problems is a research topic within Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. Science Explorer counts 16k research works in it since 1956. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the optimization of cutting and packing problems, including knapsack problems, bin packing, heuristic and metaheuristic algorithms, three-dimensional packing, rectangular packing, genetic algorithms, and strip packing. The research explores various approaches to efficiently utilize space and resources for packing objects into containers or arranging them for optimal use.

  • Cutting
  • Packing
  • Knapsack Problem
  • Bin Packing
  • Heuristic Algorithms
  • Metaheuristic Algorithms
  • Three-Dimensional Packing
  • Rectangular Packing
  • Genetic Algorithm
  • Strip Packing
Research works
16k
fractional, since 1956
In the world top 10%
1.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+7%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
41% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Optimization and Packing Problems

Which countries lead Optimization and Packing Problems research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (708 and 199 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 708 works
  2. 2 United States 199 works
  3. 3 Indonesia 153 works
  4. 4 Germany 126 works
  5. 5 India 114 works
  6. 6 Brazil 101 works
  7. 7 France 92 works
  8. 8 Türkiye 86 works
  9. 9 Russia 71 works
  10. 10 Italy 62 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: 41.4%United States: 11.6%Indonesia: 8.9%Germany: 7.4%6 others listed: 30.7%41%largest
China708 · 41.4%United States199 · 11.6%Indonesia153 · 8.9%Germany126 · 7.4%6 others listed526 · 30.7%

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

Which institutions lead Optimization and Packing Problems research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Optimization and Packing Problems research, followed by Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 27 works
  2. 2 Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 27 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 17 works
  4. 4 Wuhan University of TechnologyChina 17 works
  5. 5 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 14 works
  6. 6 Northeastern UniversityChina 13 works
  7. 7 Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 11 works
  8. 8 Shanghai UniversityChina 11 works
  9. 9 Tsinghua UniversityChina 10 works
  10. 10 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 10 works

Who are the leading researchers in Optimization and Packing Problems?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Optimization and Packing Problems include Kalyanmoy Deb, Seyedali Mirjalili and Stephen Boyd.

  1. 1 Kalyanmoy Deb United States 171k citations
  2. 2 Seyedali Mirjalili Australia 154k citations
  3. 3 Stephen Boyd United States 142k citations
  4. 4 Philip S. Yu United States 141k citations
  5. 5 Thomas L. Saaty United States 122k 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 Optimization and Packing Problems?

The most cited paper in Optimization and Packing Problems is "Integer and Combinatorial Optimization" (H. P. Williams, George L. Nemhauser, Laurence A. Wolsey, 1990), with 5,550 citations. Next come "Algorithms for the Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problems with Time Window Constraints" (4,300) and "Variable neighborhood search" (4,232).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Integer and Combinatorial Optimization H. P. Williams, George L. Nemhauser, Laurence A. Wolsey · Journal of the Operational Research Society Feb 1990 5,550
2 Algorithms for the Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problems with Time Window Constraints Marius M. Solomon · Operations Research Apr 1987 4,300
3 Variable neighborhood search Nenad Mladenović, Pierre Hansen · Computers & Operations Research Nov 1997 4,232
4 Algorithm 97: Shortest path Robert W. Floyd · Communications of the ACM Open access Jun 1962 4,080
5 Scheduling of Vehicles from a Central Depot to a Number of Delivery Points Graham Clarke, J. W. Wright · Operations Research Aug 1964 3,908
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Optimization and Packing Problems research done?

The largest centres of Optimization and Packing Problems research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Wuhan (China) and Xi'an (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 103 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 64 works
  3. 3 WuhanChina 64 works
  4. 4 Xi'anChina 27 works
  5. 5 NanjingChina 27 works
  6. 6 HangzhouChina 25 works
  7. 7 ChengduChina 24 works
  8. 8 ShenyangChina 24 works
  9. 9 TokyoJapan 23 works
  10. 10 JakartaIndonesia 22 works
See Optimization and Packing Problems on the map

Where is the best place to study Optimization and Packing Problems?

Among universities, judged by research, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Shanghai University and Tongji 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%10%20%30%mean 18.9%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Tongji UniversityShanghai UniversityTsinghua UniversityHuazhong 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
1Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 87.320.8%6.5×27 +104.0%
2Shanghai UniversityChina 60.123.1%6.4×11 +47.1%
3Tongji UniversityChina 58.726.9%2.3×8 +17.5%
4Tsinghua UniversityChina 58.021.2%2.0×10 +23.4%
5Wuhan University of TechnologyChina 56.416.1%9.2×17 +102.4%
6Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh CityVietnam 55.917.0%9.5×9 +324.6%
7Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 47.114.2%6.1×11 +103.0%
8Northeastern UniversityChina 46.015.3%6.6×14 +8.9%
9Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 38.915.8%3.2×9 +241.0%
10Zhejiang UniversityChina 38.718.6%1.4×9 +102.4%

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 Optimization and Packing Problems, country by country

Is Optimization and Packing Problems research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 7% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Optimization and Packing Problems.

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 Optimization and Packing Problems as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.013% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Optimization and Packing Problems0.012% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Optimization and Packing Problems 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%Optimization and Packing Problems10.2% 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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