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Topic · Geophysics

Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques

Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques is a research topic within Geophysics. Science Explorer counts 52k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on seismic waveform inversion in exploration geophysics, covering topics such as full-waveform tomography, elastic properties of rocks, frequency-dependent anisotropy, seismic data processing, and inverse problems. The papers also discuss the application of adjoint methods, rock physics, and wave equation migration in the context of geophysical imaging.

  • Seismic Waveform Inversion
  • Full-Waveform Tomography
  • Geophysical Imaging
  • Elastic Properties
  • Frequency-Dependent Anisotropy
  • Seismic Data Processing
  • Inverse Problems
  • Wave Equation Migration
  • Rock Physics
  • Adjoint Methods
Research works
52k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
5.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
53% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques

Which countries lead Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (4k and 1.4k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 4k works
  2. 2 United States 1.4k works
  3. 3 France 337 works
  4. 4 India 322 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 308 works
  6. 6 Russia 269 works
  7. 7 Germany 249 works
  8. 8 Brazil 244 works
  9. 9 Saudi Arabia 211 works
  10. 10 Japan 203 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: 52.9%United States: 18.9%France: 4.4%India: 4.2%6 others listed: 19.5%53%largest
China4,030 · 52.9%United States1,439 · 18.9%France337 · 4.4%India322 · 4.2%6 others listed1,485 · 19.5%

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

Which institutions lead Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques research?

By volume in 2022-now, China National Petroleum Corporation (China) publishes the most Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques research, followed by China University of Petroleum, Beijing and China University of Petroleum, East China.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China National Petroleum Corporation (China)China 332 works
  2. 2 China University of Petroleum, BeijingChina 239 works
  3. 3 China University of Petroleum, East ChinaChina 233 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 197 works
  5. 5 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 158 works
  6. 6 Chengdu University of TechnologyChina 147 works
  7. 7 Sinopec (China)China 144 works
  8. 8 Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia)Saudi Arabia 136 works
  9. 9 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 113 works
  10. 10 China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 96 works

Who are the leading researchers in Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques include Xiaogang Wang, Andrew Zisserman and P. Jackson.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  2. 2 Andrew Zisserman United Kingdom 255k citations
  3. 3 P. Jackson France 230k citations
  4. 4 Donald G. Truhlar United States 230k citations
  5. 5 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  6. 6 G. Mitselmakher France 223k citations
  7. 7 David P. Bartel United States 200k 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 Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques?

The most cited paper in Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques is "Ten Lectures on Wavelets" (Ingrid C. Daubechies, Christopher Heil, 1992), with 15,440 citations. Next come "A Practical Guide to Wavelet Analysis" (15,178) and "De-noising by soft-thresholding" (9,709).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Ten Lectures on Wavelets Ingrid C. Daubechies, Christopher Heil · Computers in Physics 1992 15,440
2 A Practical Guide to Wavelet Analysis Christopher Torrence, Gilbert P. Compo · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Open access 1998 15,178
3 De-noising by soft-thresholding David L. Donoho · IEEE Transactions on Information Theory May 1995 9,709
4 Theory of Propagation of Elastic Waves in a Fluid-Saturated Porous Solid. I. Low-Frequency Range M. A. Biot · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Mar 1956 8,176
5 Atomic Decomposition by Basis Pursuit Scott Shaobing Chen, David L. Donoho, Michael A. Saunders · SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing 1998 7,009
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques research done?

The largest centres of Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Qingdao (China), Chengdu (China) and Houston (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Brentwood, Weybridge and Road Town.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 1.4k works
  2. 2 QingdaoChina 365 works
  3. 3 ChengduChina 324 works
  4. 4 HoustonUnited States 196 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 169 works
  6. 6 Xi'anChina 162 works
  7. 7 ChangchunChina 144 works
  8. 8 ParisFrance 141 works
  9. 9 ShanghaiChina 139 works
  10. 10 LondonUnited Kingdom 102 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BrentwoodUS · 22.4 works538×
  2. WeybridgeGB · 23.4 works178×
  3. Road TownVG · 41.5 works152×
  4. ArbroathGB · 23.9 works96×
  5. San RamonUS · 20.8 works77×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques than the world average.

See Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques on the map

Where is the best place to study Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques?

Among universities, judged by research, China University of Geosciences, Nanyang Technological University and China University of Petroleum, East China 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 18.98%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Nanyang Technologica…China University of …King Abdullah Univer…China University of …
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
1China University of GeosciencesChina 63.917.9%20.0×79 +49.2%
2Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 63.728.4%2.0×14 +63.7%
3China University of Petroleum, East ChinaChina 62.48.7%57.7×234 +64.4%
4King Abdullah University of Science and TechnologySaudi Arabia 62.315.5%35.0×84 -1.4%
5China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 61.515.8%14.1×96 +86.2%
6Central South UniversityChina 60.821.7%3.0×50 +73.4%
7Chengdu University of TechnologyChina 59.611.0%44.3×146 +80.1%
8China University of Petroleum, BeijingChina 57.912.5%70.8×239 -9.0%
9Cairo UniversityEgypt 56.828.0%2.4×16 +75.9%
10Guizhou UniversityChina 55.830.3%1.9×8 +437.4%

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 Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques, country by country

Is Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques.

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 Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.045% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques0.042% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques 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%Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques9.7% 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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