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Topic · Nutrition and Dietetics

Selenium in Biological Systems

Selenium in Biological Systems is a research topic within Nutrition and Dietetics. Science Explorer counts 21k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the role of selenium in human health, focusing on its importance as an essential nutrient, its involvement in selenoproteins and glutathione peroxidases, its impact on antioxidant mechanisms, cancer prevention, immunity, and its potential toxicity. The papers also cover selenium's role in nutrition, biofortification, and its diverse metabolic effects.

  • Selenium
  • Selenoproteins
  • Glutathione Peroxidases
  • Antioxidant
  • Nutrition
  • Cancer Prevention
  • Immunity
  • Toxicity
  • Metabolism
  • Biofortification
Research works
21k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+25%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
49% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Selenium in Biological Systems

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

Which countries lead Selenium in Biological Systems research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.5k and 307 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.5k works
  2. 2 United States 307 works
  3. 3 India 302 works
  4. 4 Egypt 219 works
  5. 5 Iran 204 works
  6. 6 Russia 152 works
  7. 7 Brazil 126 works
  8. 8 Türkiye 125 works
  9. 9 Iraq 99 works
  10. 10 Poland 79 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: 48.8%United States: 9.8%India: 9.6%Egypt: 6.9%6 others listed: 24.9%49%largest
China1,536 · 48.8%United States307 · 9.8%India302 · 9.6%Egypt219 · 6.9%6 others listed785 · 24.9%

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

Which institutions lead Selenium in Biological Systems research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences publishes the most Selenium in Biological Systems research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 63 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 49 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 42 works
  4. 4 Northeast Agricultural UniversityChina 33 works
  5. 5 Wuhan Polytechnic UniversityChina 28 works
  6. 6 China Agricultural UniversityChina 28 works
  7. 7 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 27 works
  8. 8 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural AffairsChina 26 works
  9. 9 Huazhong Agricultural UniversityChina 25 works
  10. 10 Indian Council of Agricultural ResearchIndia 22 works

Who are the leading researchers in Selenium in Biological Systems?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Selenium in Biological Systems include George Davey Smith, Walter Churchill Willett and Hermann Brenner.

  1. 1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  2. 2 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  3. 3 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  4. 4 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  5. 5 Luigi Ferrucci United States 281k citations
  6. 6 Frank B. Hu United States 281k citations
  7. 7 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  8. 8 JoAnn E. Manson United States 263k citations
  9. 9 Jean‐Louis Vincent Belgium 262k citations
  10. 10 Amirhossein Sahebkar Iran 258k 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 Selenium in Biological Systems?

The most cited paper in Selenium in Biological Systems is "Selenium: Biochemical Role as a Component of Glutathione Peroxidase" (John T. Rotruck, Alun Lloyd Pope, Howard E. Ganther et al., 1973), with 7,831 citations. Next come "The importance of selenium to human health" (4,171) and "Keap1 represses nuclear activation of antioxidant responsive elements by Nrf2 through binding to the amino-terminal Neh2 domain" (3,637).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Selenium: Biochemical Role as a Component of Glutathione Peroxidase John T. Rotruck, Alun Lloyd Pope, Howard E. Ganther et al. · Science 9 Feb 1973 7,831
2 The importance of selenium to human health Margaret P. Rayman · The Lancet Jul 2000 4,171
3 Keap1 represses nuclear activation of antioxidant responsive elements by Nrf2 through binding to the amino-terminal Neh2 domain Ken Itoh, Nobunao Wakabayashi, Yasutake Katoh et al. · Genes & Development Open access 1999 3,637
4 Selenium and human health Margaret P. Rayman · The Lancet 28 Feb 2012 3,542
5 Glutathione peroxidase activity in selenium-deficient rat liver Richard A Lawrence, Raymond F. Burk · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications Aug 1976 3,541
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Selenium in Biological Systems research done?

The largest centres of Selenium in Biological Systems research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Wuhan (China), Guangzhou (China) and Tehran (Iran). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Ya'an.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 228 works
  2. 2 WuhanChina 101 works
  3. 3 GuangzhouChina 88 works
  4. 4 TehranIran 66 works
  5. 5 HarbinChina 52 works
  6. 6 Xi'anChina 50 works
  7. 7 NanjingChina 49 works
  8. 8 GizaEgypt 49 works
  9. 9 MoscowRussia 48 works
  10. 10 CairoEgypt 47 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Ya'anCN · 23.2 works19×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Selenium in Biological Systems than the world average.

See Selenium in Biological Systems on the map

Where is the best place to study Selenium in Biological Systems?

Among universities, judged by research, Northeast Agricultural University, Al-Azhar University and Jinan 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 19.86%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Jinan UniversityAl-Azhar UniversityNortheast Agricultur…China Agricultural U…
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
1Northeast Agricultural UniversityChina 76.224.1%33.9×34 +23.7%
2Al-Azhar UniversityEgypt 76.027.9%9.1×13 +71.3%
3Jinan UniversityChina 74.128.1%7.8×16 +49.5%
4China Agricultural UniversityChina 72.517.8%13.2×28 +45.6%
5Wuhan Polytechnic UniversityChina 71.018.4%64.2×28 +768.3%
6King Saud UniversitySaudi Arabia 65.415.5%4.6×17 +68.9%
7Huazhong Agricultural UniversityChina 64.017.0%19.6×25 -2.8%
8Jiangnan UniversityChina 59.121.0%6.2×14 +342.2%
9Saveetha UniversityIndia 58.413.4%5.9×21 +106.2%
10Northwest A&F UniversityChina 57.315.4%11.1×16 +15.4%

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 Selenium in Biological Systems, country by country

Is Selenium in Biological Systems research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 25% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Selenium in Biological Systems.

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 Selenium in Biological Systems as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.018% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Selenium in Biological Systems0.019% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Selenium in Biological Systems 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%Selenium in Biological Systems10.1% 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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