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Topic · Global and Planetary Change

Radioactive contamination and transfer

Radioactive contamination and transfer is a research topic within Global and Planetary Change. Science Explorer counts 28k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the environmental and health impacts of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, including the release and dispersion of radionuclides such as cesium-137 and iodine-131, contamination of soil and marine environments, uptake of radionuclides by plants, and the long-term consequences on wildlife and human health.

  • Fukushima Daiichi
  • nuclear accident
  • radionuclides
  • radioactive contamination
  • environmental impacts
  • marine radioactivity
  • radiocaesium
  • soil contamination
  • radioactive fallout
  • health effects
Research works
28k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Japan
20% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Radioactive contamination and transfer

Which countries lead Radioactive contamination and transfer research?

By volume, Japan and China publish the most (539 and 526 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Japan 539 works
  2. 2 China 526 works
  3. 3 United States 507 works
  4. 4 Russia 347 works
  5. 5 India 177 works
  6. 6 France 158 works
  7. 7 South Korea 123 works
  8. 8 Germany 121 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 110 works
  10. 10 Ukraine 87 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.

Japan: 20.0%China: 19.5%United States: 18.8%Russia: 12.9%6 others listed: 28.8%20%largest
Japan539 · 20.0%China526 · 19.5%United States507 · 18.8%Russia347 · 12.9%6 others listed776 · 28.8%

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

Which institutions lead Radioactive contamination and transfer research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Radioactive contamination and transfer research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 134 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 56 works
  3. 3 Japan Atomic Energy AgencyJapan 52 works
  4. 4 Department of Atomic EnergyIndia 47 works
  5. 5 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 40 works
  6. 6 Fukushima Medical UniversityJapan 38 works
  7. 7 National Academy of Sciences of UkraineUkraine 36 works
  8. 8 Fukushima UniversityJapan 36 works
  9. 9 Los Alamos National LaboratoryUnited States 28 works
  10. 10 Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies AlternativesFrance 27 works

Who are the leading researchers in Radioactive contamination and transfer?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Radioactive contamination and transfer include Gad A. Getz, Xiaogang Wang and Lídia Morawska.

  1. 1 Gad A. Getz United States 364k citations
  2. 2 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  3. 3 Lídia Morawska Australia 244k citations
  4. 4 Kenji Shibuya Japan 242k citations
  5. 5 Norito Kawakami Japan 202k citations
  6. 6 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k 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 Radioactive contamination and transfer?

The most cited paper in Radioactive contamination and transfer is "Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis" (E.M. Southern, 1975), with 32,849 citations. Next come "A simple efficient liquid scintillator for counting aqueous solutions in a liquid scintillation counter" (7,511) and "Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediments: reproducibility and comparability of results" (4,951).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis E.M. Southern · Journal of Molecular Biology Nov 1975 32,849
2 A simple efficient liquid scintillator for counting aqueous solutions in a liquid scintillation counter George A. Bray · Analytical Biochemistry Dec 1960 7,511
3 Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediments: reproducibility and comparability of results Oliver Heiri, André F. Lotter, Gerry Lemcke · Journal of Paleolimnology Open access 2001 4,951
4 On the Isotopic Chemistry of Carbonates and a Paleotemperature Scale J. M. McCrea · The Journal of Chemical Physics Jun 1950 3,749
5 Dose-rate conversion factors: update Guillaume Guérin, Norbert Mercier, Grzegorz Adamiec · Ancient TL Open access 15 Jun 2011 2,418
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Radioactive contamination and transfer research done?

The largest centres of Radioactive contamination and transfer research in 2022-now are Moscow (Russia), Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan) and Fukushima (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Fontenay-aux-Roses, Obninsk and Tōkai Mura.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 MoscowRussia 170 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 170 works
  3. 3 TokyoJapan 118 works
  4. 4 FukushimaJapan 86 works
  5. 5 KyivUkraine 59 works
  6. 6 Tōkai MuraJapan 52 works
  7. 7 MumbaiIndia 52 works
  8. 8 TsukubaJapan 50 works
  9. 9 DaejeonSouth Korea 46 works
  10. 10 ParisFrance 41 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Fontenay-aux-RosesFR · 20.4 works220×
  2. ObninskRU · 30.1 works173×
  3. Tōkai MuraJP · 51.9 works169×
  4. FukushimaJP · 85.7 works141×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Radioactive contamination and transfer than the world average.

See Radioactive contamination and transfer on the map

Where is the best place to study Radioactive contamination and transfer?

Among universities, judged by research, Fukushima University, University of South China and Fukushima Medical 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%10%20%30%mean 13.49%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →China University of …University of South …Fukushima UniversityFukushima Medical Un…
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
1Fukushima UniversityJapan 61.86.8%485.8×36 +5.7%
2University of South ChinaChina 56.514.1%23.2×21 +77.4%
3Fukushima Medical UniversityJapan 56.44.4%131.4×38 +6.7%
4China University of GeosciencesChina 56.426.4%5.5×8 +6.9%
5Tsinghua UniversityChina 53.616.2%3.1×24 +72.7%
6Southwest University of Science and TechnologyChina 51.120.4%13.9×10 +66.4%
7East China University of TechnologyChina 48.821.0%27.8×8 +43.2%
8The University of TokyoJapan 46.110.0%6.1×26 -49.0%
9University of TsukubaJapan 46.012.3%11.8×16 -50.3%
10Lomonosov Moscow State UniversityRussia 42.73.3%6.4×18 +1.6%

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 Radioactive contamination and transfer, country by country

Is Radioactive contamination and transfer research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025.

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 Radioactive contamination and transfer as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.014% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Radioactive contamination and transfer0.016% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Radioactive contamination and transfer 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%Radioactive contamination and transfer10.2% 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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