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Topic · Physiology

Physical Activity and Health

Physical Activity and Health is a research topic within Physiology. Science Explorer counts 37k research works in it since 1951. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the effects of physical activity, exercise, and sedentary behavior on various health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, mental health, and chronic diseases. It also discusses intervention strategies and public health implications related to physical activity.

  • Physical Activity
  • Exercise
  • Sedentary Behavior
  • Health Benefits
  • Cardiovascular Disease
  • Mental Health
  • Public Health
  • Physical Fitness
  • Chronic Diseases
  • Intervention Strategies
Research works
37k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
3.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+14%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
30% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Physical Activity and Health

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

Which countries lead Physical Activity and Health research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (2.2k and 1.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 2.2k works
  2. 2 China 1.3k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 724 works
  4. 4 Germany 535 works
  5. 5 Australia 520 works
  6. 6 Canada 437 works
  7. 7 Brazil 421 works
  8. 8 Spain 379 works
  9. 9 Japan 338 works
  10. 10 South Korea 264 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: 30.3%China: 18.8%United Kingdom: 10.2%Germany: 7.5%6 others listed: 33.2%30%largest
United States2,154 · 30.3%China1,335 · 18.8%United Kingdom724 · 10.2%Germany535 · 7.5%6 others listed2,360 · 33.2%

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

Which institutions lead Physical Activity and Health research?

By volume in 2022-now, Witten/Herdecke University publishes the most Physical Activity and Health research, followed by Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Witten/Herdecke UniversityGermany 71 works
  2. 2 Justus-Liebig-Universität GießenGermany 70 works
  3. 3 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 64 works
  4. 4 Harvard UniversityUnited States 61 works
  5. 5 The University of SydneyAustralia 48 works
  6. 6 University of British ColumbiaCanada 42 works
  7. 7 Deakin UniversityAustralia 32 works
  8. 8 The University of QueenslandAustralia 32 works
  9. 9 University of TorontoCanada 32 works
  10. 10 Peking UniversityChina 31 works

Who are the leading researchers in Physical Activity and Health?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Physical Activity and Health include Theo Vos, George Davey Smith and Ali H. Mokdad.

  1. 1 Theo Vos United States 439k citations
  2. 2 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  3. 3 Ali H. Mokdad United States 429k citations
  4. 4 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  5. 5 Richard M. Ryan United States 395k citations
  6. 6 John J.V. McMurray United Kingdom 349k citations
  7. 7 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  8. 8 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  9. 9 Emelia J. Benjamin United States 341k citations
  10. 10 Isabelle Soerjomataram France 327k 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 Physical Activity and Health?

The most cited paper in Physical Activity and Health is "International Physical Activity Questionnaire: 12-Country Reliability and Validity" (Cora L. Craig, Alison L. Marshall, MICHAEL SJ??STR??M et al., 2003), with 22,204 citations. Next come "World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour" (11,799) and "The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans" (9,860).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 International Physical Activity Questionnaire: 12-Country Reliability and Validity Cora L. Craig, Alison L. Marshall, MICHAEL SJ??STR??M et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Aug 2003 22,204
2 World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour Fiona Bull et al. · British Journal of Sports Medicine Open access 25 Nov 2020 11,799
3 The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Katrina L. Piercy, Richard P. Troiano, Rachel Ballard et al. · JAMA Open access 12 Nov 2018 9,860
4 ‘Small Changes' to Diet and Physical Activity Behaviors for Weight Management Andrew Peter Hills, Nuala Mary Byrne, Rachel C. Lindstrom et al. · Obesity Facts Open access 2013 9,508
5 Compendium of Physical Activities: an update of activity codes and MET intensities Barbara E. Ainsworth, William L. Haskell, Melicia C. Whitt et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Sep 2000 8,615
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Physical Activity and Health research done?

The largest centres of Physical Activity and Health research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Seoul (South Korea), London (United Kingdom) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Witten, Giessen and Jyvaskyla.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 180 works
  2. 2 SeoulSouth Korea 139 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 121 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 118 works
  5. 5 TokyoJapan 113 works
  6. 6 MelbourneAustralia 101 works
  7. 7 SydneyAustralia 86 works
  8. 8 São PauloBrazil 86 works
  9. 9 GuangzhouChina 77 works
  10. 10 WittenGermany 71 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. WittenDE · 70.6 works56×
  2. GiessenDE · 70.2 works18×
  3. JyvaskylaFI · 35.7 works17×
  4. LimerickIE · 23.2 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Physical Activity and Health than the world average.

See Physical Activity and Health on the map

Where is the best place to study Physical Activity and Health?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, Shanghai University of Sport and University of Leicester 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 21.67%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Chengdu Sport Univer…Shanghai University …University of Leices…Harvard 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
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 67.718.8%2.1×61 +13.0%
2Shanghai University of SportChina 62.422.6%56.8×30 +68.5%
3University of LeicesterUnited Kingdom 59.921.9%8.9×22 +5.9%
4Chengdu Sport UniversityChina 59.237.8%53.8×10 -
5Deakin UniversityAustralia 58.914.8%7.9×32 +8.4%
6The University of SydneyAustralia 58.615.2%4.3×48 -3.7%
7Sichuan UniversityChina 57.825.7%1.2×25 +621.7%
8Beijing Sport UniversityChina 57.316.5%50.0×31 +463.9%
9Shandong UniversityChina 56.823.4%2.0×24 +326.1%
10University of South AustraliaAustralia 56.620.0%11.2×22 +10.0%

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 Physical Activity and Health, country by country

Is Physical Activity and Health research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 14% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Physical Activity and Health.

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 Physical Activity and Health as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.040% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Physical Activity and Health0.044% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Physical Activity and Health 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%Physical Activity and Health9.9% 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.

Questions people ask

How much research is there on exercise and health, and is it growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 14% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Physical Activity and Health.

Is Physical Activity and Health research growing?
All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

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