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Topic · Ecology

Polar Research and Ecology

Polar Research and Ecology is a research topic within Ecology. Science Explorer counts 13k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the microbial diversity, adaptation, and ecological roles of microorganisms in Antarctic ecosystems, including permafrost, glaciers, and extreme cold environments. It explores the impact of climate change on Antarctic microbiota and the biogeographical distribution of extremophiles. The research covers a wide range of topics such as psychrophilic lifestyles, biodiversity, and the influence of human activities on Antarctic environments.

  • Antarctic
  • microorganisms
  • biodiversity
  • permafrost
  • glaciers
  • psychrophiles
  • climate change
  • ecology
  • biogeography
  • extremophiles
Research works
13k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-5%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Polar Research and Ecology

Which countries lead Polar Research and Ecology research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (390 and 357 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 390 works
  2. 2 China 357 works
  3. 3 Russia 188 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 169 works
  5. 5 Australia 126 works
  6. 6 Germany 114 works
  7. 7 France 104 works
  8. 8 India 84 works
  9. 9 Brazil 82 works
  10. 10 Italy 76 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: 23.1%China: 21.1%Russia: 11.1%United Kingdom: 10.0%6 others listed: 34.7%23%largest
United States390 · 23.1%China357 · 21.1%Russia188 · 11.1%United Kingdom169 · 10.0%6 others listed586 · 34.7%

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

Which institutions lead Polar Research and Ecology research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Polar Research and Ecology research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 93 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 79 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 42 works
  4. 4 University of TasmaniaAustralia 26 works
  5. 5 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 25 works
  6. 6 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 22 works
  7. 7 British Antarctic SurveyUnited Kingdom 20 works
  8. 8 Polish Academy of SciencesPoland 17 works
  9. 9 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 16 works
  10. 10 Korea Polar Research InstituteSouth Korea 14 works

Who are the leading researchers in Polar Research and Ecology?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Polar Research and Ecology include Rob Knight, Peer Bork and Mark A. Bradford.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 Peer Bork Germany 396k citations
  3. 3 Mark A. Bradford United States 268k citations
  4. 4 Huanming Yang China 246k citations
  5. 5 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  6. 6 Didier Raoult France 232k citations
  7. 7 Peter B. Reich United States 189k citations
  8. 8 F. Stuart Chapin United States 185k citations
  9. 9 Ruth E. Ley United States 177k citations
  10. 10 Noah Fierer United States 175k 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 Polar Research and Ecology?

The most cited paper in Polar Research and Ecology is "Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica" (Jean‐Robert Petit, Jean Jouzel, Dominique Raynaud et al., 1999), with 6,729 citations. Next come "The biomass distribution on Earth" (3,799) and "MICROBIAL STRESS-RESPONSE PHYSIOLOGY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION" (3,103).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica Jean‐Robert Petit, Jean Jouzel, Dominique Raynaud et al. · Nature Open access Jun 1999 6,729
2 The biomass distribution on Earth Yinon Moise Bar-On, Rob Phillips, Ron Milo · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open access 21 May 2018 3,799
3 MICROBIAL STRESS-RESPONSE PHYSIOLOGY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION Joshua P. Schimel, Teri C. Balser, Matthew David Wallenstein · Ecology Jun 2007 3,103
4 A communal catalogue reveals Earth’s multiscale microbial diversity Luke Thompson et al. · Nature Open access303 authors 30 Oct 2017 2,968
5 Life in extreme environments Lynn J. Rothschild, Rocco L. Mancinelli · Nature Feb 2001 2,266
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Polar Research and Ecology research done?

The largest centres of Polar Research and Ecology research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia), Hobart (Australia) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Hobart.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 109 works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 73 works
  3. 3 HobartAustralia 41 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 38 works
  5. 5 Saint PetersburgRussia 38 works
  6. 6 CambridgeUnited Kingdom 34 works
  7. 7 LanzhouChina 27 works
  8. 8 LondonUnited Kingdom 24 works
  9. 9 SantiagoChile 23 works
  10. 10 MadridSpain 21 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. HobartAU · 41.5 works69×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Polar Research and Ecology than the world average.

See Polar Research and Ecology on the map

Where is the best place to study Polar Research and Ecology?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Aarhus University and University of Tasmania 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%10%20%30%mean 10.46%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Chines…Aarhus UniversityUniversity of Colora…University of Tasmania
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 70.524.1%4.3×16 +71.2%
2Aarhus UniversityDenmark 57.918.3%6.4×12 +6.9%
3University of TasmaniaAustralia 56.55.2%51.2×26 -19.1%
4University of Colorado BoulderUnited States 50.011.1%12.5×13 -40.1%
5Lanzhou UniversityChina 49.119.2%6.7×10 +399.2%
6University of CopenhagenDenmark 47.411.3%4.8×10 +20.7%
7Lomonosov Moscow State UniversityRussia 31.11.0%5.7×11 +24.3%
8UiT The Arctic University of NorwayNorway 25.82.9%21.0×8 -34.7%
9University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 24.210.8%3.4×9 -28.3%
10St Petersburg UniversityRussia 22.50.7%12.4×13 -38.6%

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 Polar Research and Ecology, country by country

Is Polar Research and Ecology research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 5% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2026.

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 Polar Research and Ecology as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0081% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Polar Research and Ecology0.0095% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Polar Research and Ecology 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%Polar Research and Ecology10.4% 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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