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Topic · Pollution

Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts

Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts is a research topic within Pollution. Science Explorer counts 43k research works in it since 1950. 23.5% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the occurrence, impact, and removal of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes in aquatic environments and wastewater. It explores the presence of pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic contaminants, as well as their effects on microbial communities and ecological systems. The cluster also delves into the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, horizontal gene transfer, and the environmental risks associated with antibiotic pollution.

  • Antibiotics
  • Resistance Genes
  • Wastewater Contaminants
  • Aquatic Environment
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Environmental Impact
  • Microbial Communities
  • Removal Methods
  • Ecotoxicity
  • Horizontal Gene Transfer
Research works
43k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
10k
per year above
Top-10% rate
23.5%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+66%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (3.6k and 819 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 3.6k works
  2. 2 India 819 works
  3. 3 United States 724 works
  4. 4 Brazil 451 works
  5. 5 Spain 343 works
  6. 6 Germany 278 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 270 works
  8. 8 Italy 256 works
  9. 9 France 254 works
  10. 10 Canada 200 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: 50.0%India: 11.4%United States: 10.1%Brazil: 6.3%6 others listed: 22.3%50%largest
China3,594 · 50.0%India819 · 11.4%United States724 · 10.1%Brazil451 · 6.3%6 others listed1,600 · 22.3%

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

Which institutions lead Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts research, followed by Zhejiang University and Harbin Institute of Technology.

Who are the leading researchers in Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts include Guangming Zeng, Yong Sik Ok and David L. Paterson.

  1. 1 Guangming Zeng China 5.6k citations
  2. 2 Yong Sik Ok South Korea 3.3k citations
  3. 3 David L. Paterson Australia 3k citations

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

Where is Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts research done?

The largest centres of Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Guangzhou (China) and Hangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Wageningen.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 747 works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 285 works
  3. 3 Guangzhou China 236 works
  4. 4 Hangzhou China 194 works
  5. 5 Shanghai China 189 works
  6. 6 Wuhan China 116 works
  7. 7 Tianjin China 112 works
  8. 8 Qingdao China 100 works
  9. 9 Harbin China 100 works
  10. 10 São Paulo Brazil 77 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. WageningenNL · 32.9 works7.9×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts than the world average.

See Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts on the map

Where is the best place to study Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts?

Among universities, judged by research, China Agricultural University, Northwest A&F University and South China Agricultural 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%20%40%mean 29.3%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →China Agricultural University: 39, 36.9%Northwest A&F University: 25, 38.3%South China Agricultural University: 41, 28.2%South China Normal University: 25, 34.3%Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences: 17, 19.7%Nanjing Agricultural University: 43, 24.1%Northeast Agricultural University: 23, 35.3%Czech University of Life Sciences Prague: 9, 23.1%Wageningen University & Research: 32, 18.3%Guangdong University of Technology: 22, 34.8%Northwest A&F Univer…China Agricultural U…South China Normal U…South China Agricult…
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
1 China Agricultural UniversityChina 66.536.9%6.5×39 +156.9%
2 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 65.438.3%6.0×25 +497.4%
3 South China Agricultural UniversityChina 64.528.2%11.0×41 +65.7%
4 South China Normal UniversityChina 64.534.3%6.8×25 +392.6%
5 Swedish University of Agricultural SciencesSweden 61.719.7%10.1×17 +133.8%
6 Nanjing Agricultural UniversityChina 59.824.1%10.2×43 +20.5%
7 Northeast Agricultural UniversityChina 59.735.3%8.2×23 +82.5%
8 Czech University of Life Sciences PragueCzechia 58.723.1%8.7×9 +402.9%
9 Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 55.618.3%8.3×32 +46.5%
10 Guangdong University of TechnologyChina 55.434.8%3.7×22 +401.9%

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 Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 66% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts.

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.