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Topic · Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health

Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects

Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects is a research topic within Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health. Science Explorer counts 19k research works in it since 1951. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on offspring, including the prevalence, diagnosis, and long-term consequences of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and related disorders. It also explores maternal substance use, neonatal abstinence syndrome, and the impact on neurodevelopment and behavior.

  • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
  • Prenatal Alcohol Exposure
  • Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
  • Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  • Maternal Substance Use
  • Cognitive Impairment
  • Epidemiology
  • Brain Development
  • Behavioral Deficits
  • Teratogenic Effects
Research works
19k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
1.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-1%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
65% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects

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

Which countries lead Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects research?

By volume, the United States and Canada publish the most (1.8k and 240 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.8k works
  2. 2 Canada 240 works
  3. 3 Australia 155 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 134 works
  5. 5 China 113 works
  6. 6 Brazil 84 works
  7. 7 France 67 works
  8. 8 Spain 57 works
  9. 9 India 55 works
  10. 10 Germany 53 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: 65.1%Canada: 8.7%Australia: 5.6%United Kingdom: 4.9%6 others listed: 15.6%65%largest
United States1,790 · 65.1%Canada240 · 8.7%Australia155 · 5.6%United Kingdom134 · 4.9%6 others listed428 · 15.6%

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

Which institutions lead Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects research, followed by Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 53 works
  2. 2 Harvard UniversityUnited States 49 works
  3. 3 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 35 works
  4. 4 University of TorontoCanada 30 works
  5. 5 University of KentuckyUnited States 25 works
  6. 6 University of New MexicoUnited States 24 works
  7. 7 Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States 24 works
  8. 8 Yale UniversityUnited States 23 works
  9. 9 Brown UniversityUnited States 22 works
  10. 10 Indiana UniversityUnited States 22 works

Who are the leading researchers in Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects include David Moher, George Davey Smith and Ronald C. Kessler.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  3. 3 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  4. 4 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
  5. 5 Frank B. Hu United States 281k citations
  6. 6 Ted R. Miller United States 279k citations
  7. 7 Louisa J Degenhardt Australia 269k 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 Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects?

The most cited paper in Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects is "Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries" (Ruth E. Gilbert, Cathy Spatz Widom, Kevin D. Browne et al., 2008), with 3,909 citations. Next come "Critical periods of vulnerability for the developing nervous system: evidence from humans and animal models." (2,897) and "Tet-Mediated Formation of 5-Carboxylcytosine and Its Excision by TDG in Mammalian DNA" (2,817).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries Ruth E. Gilbert, Cathy Spatz Widom, Kevin D. Browne et al. · The Lancet 5 Dec 2008 3,909
2 Critical periods of vulnerability for the developing nervous system: evidence from humans and animal models. Deborah C. Rice, Stanley Barone · Environmental Health Perspectives Open access Jun 2000 2,897
3 Tet-Mediated Formation of 5-Carboxylcytosine and Its Excision by TDG in Mammalian DNA Yufei He, Bin-Zhong Li, Zheng Li et al. · Science Open access 4 Aug 2011 2,817
4 RECOGNITION OF THE FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME IN EARLY INFANCY KennethL. Jones, DavidW. Smith · The Lancet Nov 1973 2,796
5 Adverse Health Effects of Marijuana Use Nora D. Volkow, Rubén Baler, Wilson M. Compton et al. · New England Journal of Medicine Open access 4 Jun 2014 2,786
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects research done?

The largest centres of Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects research in 2022-now are New York (United States), Boston (United States), Baltimore (United States) and Chapel Hill (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Lexington, Providence and Albuquerque.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 New YorkUnited States 69 works
  2. 2 BostonUnited States 64 works
  3. 3 BaltimoreUnited States 60 works
  4. 4 Chapel HillUnited States 54 works
  5. 5 PhiladelphiaUnited States 43 works
  6. 6 AtlantaUnited States 41 works
  7. 7 TorontoCanada 39 works
  8. 8 San DiegoUnited States 34 works
  9. 9 LondonUnited Kingdom 33 works
  10. 10 Los AngelesUnited States 33 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. LexingtonUS · 25.3 works16×
  2. ProvidenceUS · 25.8 works13×
  3. AlbuquerqueUS · 26.7 works12×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects than the world average.

See Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects on the map

Where is the best place to study Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, University of California San Diego and University of Calgary 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%mean 14.34%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Harvard UniversityUniversity of Califo…Johns Hopkins Univer…University of Calgary
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 83.016.8%5.3×49 -8.3%
2University of California San DiegoUnited States 67.416.1%6.1×17 +17.3%
3University of CalgaryCanada 67.214.8%9.5×18 +24.4%
4Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 67.114.9%7.8×35 -18.2%
5University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 65.015.3%9.7×20 +45.6%
6University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 63.07.1%10.3×53 +2.3%
7The University of SydneyAustralia 61.816.7%4.2×15 +28.6%
8University of New MexicoUnited States 61.610.6%31.9×24 +7.6%
9University of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusUnited States 60.617.4%13.2×10 +71.4%
10University of British ColumbiaCanada 59.913.7%5.7×20 -27.7%

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 Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects, country by country

Is Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 1% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

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 Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.013% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects0.013% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects 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%Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects9.9% 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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