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Topic · Physiology

Pain Mechanisms and Treatments

Pain Mechanisms and Treatments is a research topic within Physiology. Science Explorer counts 55k 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 explores the mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment of neuropathic pain, focusing on central sensitization, neuroinflammation, glial activation, and the modulation of pain perception. It covers topics such as nociception, neuronal plasticity, chronic pain, hyperalgesia, and diabetic neuropathy.

  • Neuropathic Pain
  • Central Sensitization
  • Nociception
  • Neuroinflammation
  • Pain Modulation
  • Glial Activation
  • Neuronal Plasticity
  • Chronic Pain
  • Hyperalgesia
  • Diabetic Neuropathy
Research works
55k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
5.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+5%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
33% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Pain Mechanisms and Treatments

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

Which countries lead Pain Mechanisms and Treatments research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (2k and 1.7k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 2k works
  2. 2 China 1.7k works
  3. 3 India 436 works
  4. 4 Japan 355 works
  5. 5 Germany 319 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 304 works
  7. 7 Brazil 252 works
  8. 8 Canada 229 works
  9. 9 Italy 225 works
  10. 10 Spain 197 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: 33.2%China: 28.4%India: 7.2%Japan: 5.9%6 others listed: 25.3%33%largest
United States2,000 · 33.2%China1,711 · 28.4%India436 · 7.2%Japan355 · 5.9%6 others listed1,526 · 25.3%

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

Which institutions lead Pain Mechanisms and Treatments research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Pain Mechanisms and Treatments research, followed by Johns Hopkins University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 96 works
  2. 2 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 44 works
  3. 3 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 43 works
  4. 4 Aalborg UniversityDenmark 43 works
  5. 5 Sichuan UniversityChina 41 works
  6. 6 Sun Yat-sen UniversityChina 39 works
  7. 7 Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 39 works
  8. 8 University of TorontoCanada 36 works
  9. 9 Zhejiang UniversityChina 36 works
  10. 10 University of MichiganUnited States 35 works

Who are the leading researchers in Pain Mechanisms and Treatments?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Pain Mechanisms and Treatments include George Davey Smith, Shizuo Akira and Cyrus Cooper.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 Shizuo Akira Japan 342k citations
  3. 3 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  4. 4 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  5. 5 Matthias Egger Switzerland 326k citations
  6. 6 Graeme J. Hankey Australia 316k citations
  7. 7 Gordon Henry Guyatt Canada 315k citations
  8. 8 Gregory Y.H. Lip United Kingdom 311k citations
  9. 9 Karl John Friston United Kingdom 310k citations
  10. 10 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k 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 Pain Mechanisms and Treatments?

The most cited paper in Pain Mechanisms and Treatments is "The capsaicin receptor: a heat-activated ion channel in the pain pathway" (Michael J. Caterina, Mark A. Schumacher, Makoto Tominaga et al., 1997), with 9,220 citations. Next come "Quantitative assessment of tactile allodynia in the rat paw" (7,981) and "The McGill Pain Questionnaire: Major properties and scoring methods" (6,910).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The capsaicin receptor: a heat-activated ion channel in the pain pathway Michael J. Caterina, Mark A. Schumacher, Makoto Tominaga et al. · Nature Oct 1997 9,220
2 Quantitative assessment of tactile allodynia in the rat paw Sandra R. Chaplan, Flemming W. Bach, J W Pogrel et al. · Journal of Neuroscience Methods Jul 1994 7,981
3 The McGill Pain Questionnaire: Major properties and scoring methods Ronald Melzack · Pain Sep 1975 6,910
4 A peripheral mononeuropathy in rat that produces disorders of pain sensation like those seen in man Gary J. Bennett, Yuanyu Xie · Pain Apr 1988 5,403
5 A new and sensitive method for measuring thermal nociception in cutaneous hyperalgesia Kenneth Hargreaves, Ronald A. Dubner, Frederick J. Brown et al. · Pain 1988 5,230
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Pain Mechanisms and Treatments research done?

The largest centres of Pain Mechanisms and Treatments research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Guangzhou (China) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Aalborg.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 194 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 155 works
  3. 3 GuangzhouChina 109 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 91 works
  5. 5 TokyoJapan 88 works
  6. 6 BostonUnited States 87 works
  7. 7 HangzhouChina 81 works
  8. 8 SeoulSouth Korea 80 works
  9. 9 WuhanChina 79 works
  10. 10 New YorkUnited States 78 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. AalborgDK · 51.3 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Pain Mechanisms and Treatments than the world average.

See Pain Mechanisms and Treatments on the map

Where is the best place to study Pain Mechanisms and Treatments?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, Nantong University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology 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 18.36%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Huazhong University …Nantong UniversityUniversity of OxfordHarvard 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
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 75.115.7%4.1×96 -0.6%
2Nantong UniversityChina 68.522.9%8.2×27 +35.2%
3Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 67.326.5%3.0×39 +35.0%
4University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 61.015.9%1.9×20 +6.9%
5Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 60.931.7%8.3×9 +80.4%
6The University of Texas at DallasUnited States 59.517.5%12.4×18 +5.4%
7University of MichiganUnited States 59.112.7%3.2×36 +24.2%
8Aalborg UniversityDenmark 58.910.1%10.3×43 +6.0%
9Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 58.512.1%3.9×44 -1.3%
10Sichuan UniversityChina 58.418.5%2.5×41 +71.7%

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 Pain Mechanisms and Treatments, country by country

Is Pain Mechanisms and Treatments research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 5% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Pain Mechanisms and Treatments.

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 Pain Mechanisms and Treatments as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.032% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Pain Mechanisms and Treatments0.035% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Pain Mechanisms and Treatments 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%Pain Mechanisms and Treatments9.8% 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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