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Topic · Molecular Biology

Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms

Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms is a research topic within Molecular Biology. Science Explorer counts 81k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the molecular mechanisms underlying photosynthesis, including the structure and function of photosystems, light harvesting complexes, electron transport pathways, and photoprotective processes. It delves into topics such as chloroplast proteins, cyanobacterial genomes, photoinhibition, Rubisco structure, plastid gene expression, and singlet oxygen production.

  • Photosystem II
  • Light Harvesting
  • Electron Transport
  • Chloroplast Proteins
  • Cyanobacterial Genomes
  • Photoinhibition
  • Rubisco Structure
  • Plastid Gene Expression
  • Singlet Oxygen Production
  • Photosynthetic Acclimation
Research works
81k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+1%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
45% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms

Which countries lead Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (3.3k and 1.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 3.3k works
  2. 2 United States 1.3k works
  3. 3 Japan 553 works
  4. 4 Germany 526 works
  5. 5 India 492 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 296 works
  7. 7 France 282 works
  8. 8 Russia 275 works
  9. 9 South Korea 199 works
  10. 10 Spain 175 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: 44.6%United States: 17.6%Japan: 7.5%Germany: 7.1%6 others listed: 23.2%45%largest
China3,300 · 44.6%United States1,302 · 17.6%Japan553 · 7.5%Germany526 · 7.1%6 others listed1,718 · 23.2%

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

Which institutions lead Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences publishes the most Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 308 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 245 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 146 works
  4. 4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 118 works
  5. 5 Max Planck SocietyGermany 79 works
  6. 6 Nanjing Agricultural UniversityChina 70 works
  7. 7 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural AffairsChina 67 works
  8. 8 Huazhong Agricultural UniversityChina 65 works
  9. 9 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 61 works
  10. 10 Lomonosov Moscow State UniversityRussia 51 works

Who are the leading researchers in Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms include Michaël Grätzel, George Davey Smith and Peer Bork.

  1. 1 Michaël Grätzel Switzerland 458k citations
  2. 2 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  3. 3 Peer Bork Germany 396k citations
  4. 4 Steven L. Salzberg United States 372k citations
  5. 5 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  6. 6 Matthias Mann Germany 308k citations
  7. 7 Sudhir Kumar United States 295k citations
  8. 8 Chris Sander United States 276k citations
  9. 9 Heng Li United States 270k citations
  10. 10 George M. Whitesides United States 267k 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 Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms?

The most cited paper in Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms is "Features and development of Coot" (Paul Emsley, Bernhard Lohkamp, William G. Scott et al., 2010), with 30,245 citations. Next come "The C. elegans heterochronic gene lin-4 encodes small RNAs with antisense complementarity to lin-14" (13,024) and "Reactive oxygen species and antioxidant machinery in abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants" (11,846).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Features and development of Coot Paul Emsley, Bernhard Lohkamp, William G. Scott et al. · Acta Crystallographica Section D Biological Crystallography Open access 23 Mar 2010 30,245
2 The C. elegans heterochronic gene lin-4 encodes small RNAs with antisense complementarity to lin-14 Rosalind C. Lee, Rhonda L. Feinbaum, Victor Ambros · Cell Open access Dec 1993 13,024
3 Reactive oxygen species and antioxidant machinery in abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants Sarvajeet Singh Gill, Narendra Tuteja · Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 16 Sep 2010 11,846
4 REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES: Metabolism, Oxidative Stress, and Signal Transduction Klaus Apel, Heribert Hirt · Annual Review of Plant Biology Review 29 Apr 2004 11,793
5 Photoperoxidation in isolated chloroplasts Robert L. Heath, Lester Packer · Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics Apr 1968 11,394
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms research done?

The largest centres of Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Wuhan (China) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Pushchino, Xiaodian and Lin’an Shi.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 648 works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 168 works
  3. 3 WuhanChina 157 works
  4. 4 MoscowRussia 152 works
  5. 5 TokyoJapan 136 works
  6. 6 HangzhouChina 123 works
  7. 7 ShanghaiChina 123 works
  8. 8 ParisFrance 119 works
  9. 9 GuangzhouChina 119 works
  10. 10 HarbinChina 88 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PushchinoRU · 27.0 works42×
  2. XiaodianCN · 23.2 works20×
  3. Lin’an ShiCN · 27.9 works20×
  4. Tai’anCN · 41.9 works18×
  5. Ya'anCN · 40.3 works16×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms on the map

Where is the best place to study Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms?

Among universities, judged by research, China Agricultural University, Peking University and Huazhong Agricultural University 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%10%20%30%mean 17.46%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Peking UniversityChina Agricultural U…Huazhong Agricultura…Nanjing Agricultural…
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
1China Agricultural UniversityChina 70.622.4%11.1×49 +48.6%
2Peking UniversityChina 64.024.5%2.1×34 +12.0%
3Huazhong Agricultural UniversityChina 63.513.6%24.6×65 +7.8%
4Nanjing Agricultural UniversityChina 58.79.0%22.9×70 +6.2%
5Yangzhou UniversityChina 58.612.8%9.6×42 +83.1%
6Zhejiang UniversityChina 58.416.8%2.1×46 +17.7%
7Southern University of Science and TechnologyChina 57.528.5%1.9×8 +61.3%
8University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 56.917.2%3.7×48 -5.2%
9Fujian Agriculture and Forestry UniversityChina 56.913.9%21.6×40 +47.9%
10Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 56.915.9%8.3×24 +10.9%

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 Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms, country by country

Is Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 1% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms.

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 Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.037% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%0.30%Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms0.034% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms 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%Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms9.9% 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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