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Topic · Behavioral Neuroscience

Stress Responses and Cortisol

Stress Responses and Cortisol is a research topic within Behavioral Neuroscience. Science Explorer counts 64k 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 explores the effects of stress on brain function, behavior, and cognition, with a focus on the role of cortisol, neurobiology, and the HPA axis. It covers topics such as the impact of stress on the immune system, neuroendocrine regulation, and the association between stress and disorders like depression. The research also delves into the neurobiology of resilience, hippocampal volume reduction, and the long-term consequences of prenatal stress.

  • Stress
  • Brain
  • Cortisol
  • Neurobiology
  • HPA Axis
  • Immune System
  • Depression
  • Hippocampus
  • Psychological
  • Adaptation
Research works
64k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
6.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+0%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
41% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Stress Responses and Cortisol

Which countries lead Stress Responses and Cortisol research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (2.7k and 1.4k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 2.7k works
  2. 2 China 1.4k works
  3. 3 Germany 469 works
  4. 4 Japan 380 works
  5. 5 Canada 323 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 318 works
  7. 7 Russia 306 works
  8. 8 India 300 works
  9. 9 Brazil 271 works
  10. 10 Italy 258 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: 40.7%China: 20.3%Germany: 7.0%Japan: 5.6%6 others listed: 26.4%41%largest
United States2,742 · 40.7%China1,369 · 20.3%Germany469 · 7.0%Japan380 · 5.6%6 others listed1,776 · 26.4%

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

Which institutions lead Stress Responses and Cortisol research?

By volume in 2022-now, Russian Academy of Sciences publishes the most Stress Responses and Cortisol research, followed by Harvard University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 125 works
  2. 2 Harvard UniversityUnited States 109 works
  3. 3 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 81 works
  4. 4 University of TorontoCanada 48 works
  5. 5 Emory UniversityUnited States 45 works
  6. 6 United States Department of Veterans AffairsUnited States 44 works
  7. 7 National Institutes of HealthUnited States 42 works
  8. 8 Yale UniversityUnited States 40 works
  9. 9 University of California, Los AngelesUnited States 38 works
  10. 10 McGill UniversityCanada 38 works

Who are the leading researchers in Stress Responses and Cortisol?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Stress Responses and Cortisol include Rob Knight, George Davey Smith and Richard M. Ryan.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  3. 3 Richard M. Ryan United States 395k citations
  4. 4 Julian P. T. Higgins United Kingdom 390k citations
  5. 5 Guido Kroemer France 386k citations
  6. 6 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  7. 7 Shizuo Akira Japan 342k citations
  8. 8 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  9. 9 Emelia J. Benjamin United States 341k citations
  10. 10 Jun Wang China 340k 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 Stress Responses and Cortisol?

The most cited paper in Stress Responses and Cortisol is "Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults" (Vincent J. Felitti, Robert F. Anda, Dale F. Nordenberg et al., 1998), with 18,997 citations. Next come "Molecular Mechanisms of Depression: Perspectives on New Treatment Strategies" (8,499) and "Influence of Life Stress on Depression: Moderation by a Polymorphism in the 5-HTT Gene" (8,164).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults Vincent J. Felitti, Robert F. Anda, Dale F. Nordenberg et al. · American Journal of Preventive Medicine Open access May 1998 18,997
2 Molecular Mechanisms of Depression: Perspectives on New Treatment Strategies Undine Emmi Lang, Stefan Borgwardt · Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry Open access 2013 8,499
3 Influence of Life Stress on Depression: Moderation by a Polymorphism in the 5-HTT Gene Avshalom Caspi, Karen Sugden, Terrie E. Moffitt et al. · Science 17 Jul 2003 8,164
4 From inflammation to sickness and depression: when the immune system subjugates the brain Robert Dantzer, Jason C. O’Connor, Gregory G. Freund et al. · Nature reviews. Neuroscience ReviewOpen access 12 Dec 2007 7,434
5 Protective and Damaging Effects of Stress Mediators Bruce S. McEwen · New England Journal of Medicine 15 Jan 1998 6,716
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Stress Responses and Cortisol research done?

The largest centres of Stress Responses and Cortisol research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia), New York (United States) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Belmont and Columbia.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 199 works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 130 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 127 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 112 works
  5. 5 TokyoJapan 99 works
  6. 6 ShanghaiChina 89 works
  7. 7 GuangzhouChina 83 works
  8. 8 BostonUnited States 81 works
  9. 9 Chapel HillUnited States 80 works
  10. 10 SeoulSouth Korea 76 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BelmontUS · 20.2 works51×
  2. ColumbiaUS · 24.1 works6.6×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Stress Responses and Cortisol than the world average.

See Stress Responses and Cortisol on the map

Where is the best place to study Stress Responses and Cortisol?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Medical University of Lodz 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 20.89%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Chengdu University o…Medical University o…Harvard UniversityMcGill University
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 69.915.8%4.1×109 +1.5%
2Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 58.333.5%4.3×9 +227.3%
3Medical University of LodzPoland 55.333.2%8.1×10 +54.6%
4McGill UniversityCanada 55.113.0%4.6×38 -9.6%
5Medical University of BiałystokPoland 54.832.3%11.3×8 +37.7%
6Yale UniversityUnited States 54.513.0%4.4×40 -15.6%
7Fudan UniversityChina 54.029.0%1.5×20 +41.2%
8Emory UniversityUnited States 53.812.0%6.7×45 -15.2%
9Karolinska InstitutetSweden 53.212.0%5.9×28 +3.9%
10University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 51.015.1%1.8×21 +15.9%

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 Stress Responses and Cortisol, country by country

Is Stress Responses and Cortisol research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 0% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Stress Responses and Cortisol.

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 Stress Responses and Cortisol as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.038% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Stress Responses and Cortisol0.039% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Stress Responses and Cortisol 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%Stress Responses and Cortisol10.1% 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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