Science Explorer Interactive view Map

Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology

Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology is a research topic within Pathology and Forensic Medicine. Science Explorer counts 73k research works in it since 1950. 13.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the pathophysiology, treatment, and outcomes related to lumbar disc degeneration, including topics such as intervertebral disc biology, surgical interventions, low back pain, spinal fusion, and biological aging of the discs. It covers a wide range of research from clinical studies to basic science investigations.

  • Lumbar Disc Degeneration
  • Intervertebral Disc
  • Spinal Surgery
  • Low Back Pain
  • Surgical Treatment
  • Nucleus Pulposus
  • Degenerative Disc Disease
  • Biological Aging
  • Spinal Fusion
  • Clinical Outcomes
Research works
73k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
9.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
13.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+21%
the tick is no change

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

Which countries lead Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.5k and 2.6k works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 3.5k works
  2. 2 China 2.6k works
  3. 3 India 796 works
  4. 4 Japan 738 works
  5. 5 South Korea 641 works
  6. 6 Germany 488 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 425 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 418 works
  9. 9 Italy 348 works
  10. 10 Canada 306 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: 33.9%China: 25.7%India: 7.7%Japan: 7.2%6 others listed: 25.5%34%largest
United States3,486 · 33.9%China2,649 · 25.7%India796 · 7.7%Japan738 · 7.2%6 others listed2,626 · 25.5%

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

Which institutions lead Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Hospital for Special Surgery publishes the most Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology research, followed by Neurological Surgery and Capital Medical University.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Hospital for Special SurgeryUnited States 88 works
  2. 2 Neurological SurgeryUnited States 78 works
  3. 3 Capital Medical UniversityChina 69 works
  4. 4 Rush University Medical CenterUnited States 65 works
  5. 5 University of Missouri–Kansas CityUnited States 45 works
  6. 6 Peking UniversityChina 44 works
  7. 7 Sichuan UniversityChina 42 works
  8. 8 University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 41 works
  9. 9 Cornell UniversityUnited States 39 works
  10. 10 Cairo UniversityEgypt 37 works

Who are the leading researchers in Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology include Andrew Zisserman, Roger Chou and Laura Weeks.

  1. 1 Andrew Zisserman United Kingdom 25k citations
  2. 2 Roger Chou United States 14k citations
  3. 3 Laura Weeks Canada 4.7k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology research done?

The largest centres of Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Seoul (South Korea), New York (United States) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Rockville Centre.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 386 works
  2. 2 Seoul South Korea 324 works
  3. 3 New York United States 266 works
  4. 4 Shanghai China 224 works
  5. 5 Tokyo Japan 161 works
  6. 6 Istanbul Türkiye 156 works
  7. 7 Guangzhou China 154 works
  8. 8 Philadelphia United States 148 works
  9. 9 Chengdu China 120 works
  10. 10 Chicago United States 115 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Rockville CentreUS · 78.2 works39×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology than the world average.

See Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology on the map

Where is the best place to study Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology?

Among universities, judged by research, Capital Medical University, Brown University and University of Missouri–Kansas City 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 17.36%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Capital Medical University: 69, 21.2%Brown University: 33, 26.2%University of Missouri–Kansas City: 45, 3.5%National University Health System: 10, 11.9%Università Campus Bio-Medico: 14, 26.2%Tokai University: 15, 29.8%Hebei Medical University: 26, 18.7%Hamamatsu University School of Medicine: 13, 9.1%Thomas Jefferson University: 26, 17.6%SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University: 12, 9.4%Brown UniversityCapital Medical Univ…National University …University of Missou…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Capital Medical UniversityChina 59.521.2%8.9×69 +40.6%
2 Brown UniversityUnited States 58.426.2%6.1×33 +182.7%
3 University of Missouri–Kansas CityUnited States 58.03.5%23.3×45 +386.8%
4 National University Health SystemSingapore 55.211.9%11.1×10 +357.2%
5 Università Campus Bio-MedicoItaly 54.626.2%14.1×14 +49.8%
6 Tokai UniversityJapan 54.329.8%11.0×15 +23.5%
7 Hebei Medical UniversityChina 53.918.7%9.2×26 +110.3%
8 Hamamatsu University School of MedicineJapan 51.79.1%18.8×13 +662.7%
9 Thomas Jefferson UniversityUnited States 51.217.6%9.8×26 +26.5%
10 SUNY Downstate Health Sciences UniversityUnited States 50.29.4%10.7×12 +201.8%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 21% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

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.