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Topic · Ecology

Plant Ecology and Soil Science

Plant Ecology and Soil Science is a research topic within Ecology. Science Explorer counts 14k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the analysis of land cover, ecosystems, water resources, soil properties, and biodiversity. It includes studies on forest management, climate change impacts, remote sensing techniques, and sustainable development in various regions across the globe.

  • Land Cover
  • Ecosystem
  • Water Resources
  • Soil Properties
  • Forest Management
  • Biodiversity
  • Climate Change
  • Remote Sensing
  • Vegetation Analysis
  • Sustainable Development
Research works
14k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+32%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
56% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Plant Ecology and Soil Science

Which countries lead Plant Ecology and Soil Science research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (734 and 136 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 734 works
  2. 2 United States 136 works
  3. 3 Türkiye 106 works
  4. 4 Iran 68 works
  5. 5 France 57 works
  6. 6 India 51 works
  7. 7 Italy 47 works
  8. 8 Poland 46 works
  9. 9 Germany 41 works
  10. 10 Russia 33 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: 55.7%United States: 10.3%Türkiye: 8.0%Iran: 5.2%6 others listed: 20.8%56%largest
China734 · 55.7%United States136 · 10.3%Türkiye106 · 8.0%Iran68 · 5.2%6 others listed275 · 20.8%

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

Which institutions lead Plant Ecology and Soil Science research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Plant Ecology and Soil Science research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 114 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 22 works
  3. 3 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 22 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 19 works
  5. 5 Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 17 works
  6. 6 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 15 works
  7. 7 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 13 works
  8. 8 Inner Mongolia Agricultural UniversityChina 12 works
  9. 9 Lanzhou UniversityChina 12 works
  10. 10 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 12 works

Who are the leading researchers in Plant Ecology and Soil Science?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Plant Ecology and Soil Science include Philippe Ciais, Peter B. Reich and F. Stuart Chapin.

  1. 1 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  2. 2 Peter B. Reich United States 189k citations
  3. 3 F. Stuart Chapin United States 185k citations
  4. 4 Josep Peñuelas Spain 160k citations
  5. 5 Markku Kulmala Finland 145k 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 Plant Ecology and Soil Science?

The most cited paper in Plant Ecology and Soil Science is "Soil erosion and agricultural sustainability" (David R. Montgomery, 2007), with 2,217 citations. Next come "Two Categories of 13 C/ 12 C Ratios for Higher Plants" (2,029) and "The Climate Near the Ground" (1,898).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Soil erosion and agricultural sustainability David R. Montgomery · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open access 8 Aug 2007 2,217
2 Two Categories of 13 C/ 12 C Ratios for Higher Plants Bruce N. Smith, Samuel Abraham Epstein · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY Open access Mar 1971 2,029
3 The Climate Near the Ground Rudolf Geiger, Robert H. Aron, Paul Todhunter · American Journal of Physics Mar 1951 1,898
4 Running to stand still: adaptation and the response of plants to rapid climate change Alistair S. Jump, Josep Peñuelas · Ecology Letters 15 Aug 2005 1,626
5 Nature and properties of soils M. J. Vepraskas · Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment Jul 1986 1,553
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Plant Ecology and Soil Science research done?

The largest centres of Plant Ecology and Soil Science research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Lanzhou (China), Nanjing (China) and Guiyang (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Hohhot, Ürümqi and Guiyang.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 219 works
  2. 2 LanzhouChina 41 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 31 works
  4. 4 GuiyangChina 29 works
  5. 5 ÜrümqiChina 29 works
  6. 6 TehranIran 26 works
  7. 7 HohhotChina 23 works
  8. 8 HarbinChina 18 works
  9. 9 ChengduChina 16 works
  10. 10 KunmingChina 14 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. HohhotCN · 22.6 works15×
  2. ÜrümqiCN · 28.5 works14×
  3. GuiyangCN · 29.4 works12×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Plant Ecology and Soil Science than the world average.

See Plant Ecology and Soil Science on the map

Where is the best place to study Plant Ecology and Soil Science?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Normal University and Northwest A&F 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 19.38%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Beijing Normal Unive…Northwest A&F Univer…University of Chines…Beijing Forestry Uni…
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
1University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 70.322.5%8.6×22 +93.2%
2Beijing Normal UniversityChina 68.631.9%9.3×12 +56.3%
3Northwest A&F UniversityChina 63.329.3%21.8×13 +209.9%
4Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 60.019.0%38.0×17 +81.0%
5Guizhou Normal UniversityChina 54.530.9%61.0×10 +193.3%
6Lanzhou UniversityChina 53.918.4%10.9×12 +328.6%
7Guizhou UniversityChina 46.520.8%12.2×10 +236.0%
8Inner Mongolia Agricultural UniversityChina 41.410.2%57.9×12 +483.0%
9University of Silesia in KatowicePoland 36.61.3%31.4×10 +366.7%
10University of Veterinary Medicine in KošiceSlovakia 34.49.5%178.6×8 -

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 Plant Ecology and Soil Science, country by country

Is Plant Ecology and Soil Science research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 32% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2011. The fastest-growing topics are Plant Ecology and Soil Science.

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 Plant Ecology and Soil Science as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0091% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Plant Ecology and Soil Science0.011% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Plant Ecology and Soil Science 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%Plant Ecology and Soil Science10.9% 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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